June 20, 2015:
Following the lead from the Necromancer they questioned, Zee and Fenris along with May find … a typewriter ….
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions:
Plot:
A Dark Hold
Apocalypse: Only the Strong
Blood versus Family
Bones Of The City
Breaking the Universe
Cyberdata War: First Strike
Dangerous Esterikos Wonderous Mystikos
Dark Gods & Times
De Oppresso Liber
Demon Lord of New York
Diaz de Muertos
Don't Tell Thanos The Babysitter's Dead
Empire of Tears
Escape from Sakaar
From the Ashes
Gateway to the Stars
Genosha: Rebirth
God Of The Dead
Hacker, Sass-Mastah, Engineer, Spy
Himmel und Hölle in Bewegung Setzen
Mood Music: None.
Fade In…
The information that Fenris and Zee had gained from the mage they interrogated in Neverwhere lead to a house, a fairly large one, in Metropolis just off Queensland Park. It's warded which probably isn't unexpected but there's a decent chance that its otherwise unoccupied. "Alright. High tide is in about forty minutes…" Fenris eyes the door, his magesight allowing him to see runes swirling. Necromatic power. Yay. "We'll have to get in there, find out where she recieved the sending from the Silent One."
Zee's seen the runes and is already working on decoding them, creating the spell in her mind as she murmurs to Fenris "I think I've got the pattern, do you want me to try?" She shivers a little, she still remembers what the necromantic power that hit her feels like.
Sharing the details of what she believes will work, the Mistress of Magic defers to the Wolf-God… he may be diminished but he's got far more experience than her.
"Yes." Fenris murmurs. "I'll need to conserve my power for this if at all possible." He watches the patterns swirl and shift. It's a fairly good looking bit of ward work. Frankly, though, he thinks Zee could probably whip up something better given an hour or two to read up and prepare. "Please, go ahead."
Drawing her magic to her, the light in Zee's eye begins to glow as she nods to Fenris and considers the ward in front of her. With a murmur of words, spoken backwards naturally, the young mage controls the flow of magic towards the rune, tickling and teasing at the edges, unravelling the spell… very carefully.
It takes a while, well many minutes anyway, for the ward to be undone… Zee's testing for traps within the ward as much as simply undoing it.
Letting her breath out slowly, the teen mage relaxes slightly "There… I think it's done."
The wards on the door shatter and Fenris grins, stepping up to to pick the door's lock. They're at the house of one of the necromancers that Fenris and Zee interrogated. One that they're fairly certain will be the recipient of some kind of communique that will, hopefully, allow them to start tracing up Darque's network. Of course… there may be things inside. It is a mage's house. Backup might be advised.
Melinda May did receive the message that backup might be needed, however, she got the message while en route back from a mission in the DC area. Yes, there are still some occasions where May and only May is considered for piloting duties. Thus, she's arriving as soon as she can.
Watching as Fenris picks the lock, Zee can't help smirking. "I'm sorry Fenris, I know you're going to say you have thousands of years of experience… but lock picking?" It amuses the young mage. "Dad, taught me the rudimentaries but I've never really practiced it. I guess, I should by the looks of it."
Her eyes are still glowing and she's positioned herself just slightly behind and to the side of the Wolf-God, waiting for him to open the door. Sensing something through the Leylines, Zee allows herself a quick glance behind her "Agent May is here, Fenris." she sounds a little relieved.
Fenris tries the latch. And there it goes. "Well… you know, always liked learning things." He smiles. "And it's handy. As you can see. Ah good."
The wolf pushes the door open and pulls his sword out. "May, I'm not quite sure what's in here… but it is a necromancer's house so be careful what you touch and keep an eye on the shadows. Zee… we're looking for the sanctum. See what you can sense." And with that he steps into the deep shadows of the unlit house and begins to move through the foyer.
Melinda May nods to Zee in greeting then to acknowledge Fenris' words before pulling her butterfly swords and following them into the house. She has no intention of touching ANYTHING. Well, unless it makes a swipe at her first, then she'll try to bisect it.
That's why Zee hadn't dropped her power… well that and she didn't want to get caught by surprise. She'll lead the way, but try to leave room for May to get by her if needed… Zee's no fool when it comes to physical combat. For now, the Mistress of Magic lets the feeling of the power in the house draw her along "This way, Fenris, May… I can sense it." and she can, it feels wrong, cloying, dead… if she could smell it… rotten.
That'd be the best way to find it. That or follow your nose, depending on what kind of necromancer. Fenris nods and moves along the path that Zee indicates. There's whipers. Cloying touches. All three can feel them. "Haunts." Fenris murmurs. "Spirit servants and guardians. One will probably be-"
"Halt!"
They come to a door and a glowing figure materializes. He's got a sword. And looks visibly dead. Cuts all over him. Died violently. "None may enter the sanctum but with-"
Fenris cuts the ghost off, lashing out with his power. The ghost rocks back and its eyes narrow. "So be it." It drops into a stance as other ghosts materialize. "Huh. More than one. Wasn't expecting that."
Melinda May actually gives Fenris a brief flat look, then steps to one side of Zee, mentally ignoring the creepy sensations on her arms and neck. "Let's get this over with." She brandishes her swords and glares at the ghosts. She had a craptastic day. Bring it.
Zee steps back, giving May and Fenris room to fight as they need. She can support from a distance. "I'll try banishing them… " It might work. Her eyes glow a little more brightly and she speaks
~~ yaL esehT stsohG oT tseR yltnenamreP ~~
The ghosts lunge. It's cramped in here. Fenris knows how to work in these spaces. Two of them lunge right at Zee… and that's as far as they get. Her magic takes hold and they just vanish into the ether. Two lunge at May from behind, sure her blades can't hurt them. They are quite wrong about this. Fenris, in the mean time is… rather irritatedly beating on the ghost in front of him. It's not so much mortal combat as it is man with a newspaper repeatedly smacking a dog.
Melinda May pivots in place, all to aware of their limited freedom of movement, and slashes at the two ghosts vertically. She's probably going to make EVERY ghost in the area really angry all at once.
Zee takes another step back involuntarily as the ghosts lunge at her, but stops as they disappear. Watching May slash at her ghosts and Fenris doing whatever it is he is doing… Zee's brows furrow, why is he doing that and not simply despatching it? "Do you need help, Fenris?" If he does, she'll cast the same spell again to banish the remaining ghosts.
May has upset the ghosts. But she also has scared them. Her blades cut through their formes and they burn shrieking. The other spirits in the house immediately draw away from her. Which gives Fenris an opening to finish 'discipling' his ghost. "I'm good thanks Zee. We need him to open the door. Speaking of…" He glares.
"Okay, fine…" The ghost turns and vanishes into the door. Which reveals the inner sanctum. Its dark… and dank… and bloody. Really unpleasant place.
Melinda May tilts her head toward the doorway. "Go, Zee. I'll make sure everyone else stays out." Now that they know what kind of oil she used on her blades and all. Once the others enter the inner sanctum, she'll put herself in the doorway to keep any of the other ghosts from trying to get past her toward Zee.
Zee nods to Fenris, she'd suspected as much and is kind of glad she didn't waste the energy on the magic. Wrinkling her nose as the stench assaults her, Zee then nods to May and steps through the door, pausing just inside and letting her senses roam… what can she sense here… maybe some light will help
~~tghiL sihT mooR oS eW naC eeS ~~
She's not really sure she does want to see what's in there.
It's… clean. Damp, but clean. Mostly. There's bloodstains on a large slab sided altar in the center of the room.
Rather abruptly there's whirring and clacking in the corner. An ancient typewriter comes to life and begins to type on its own. "The sending." Fenris murmurs. "They've not gotten word that she was captured yet." He glances over. "It's in code… we'll need to crack it. May, or Zee, one of you, might I ask you to hold on to it? I have a couple notions where the key might be. It won't be here though. And I'll need some help getting it." He pauses. Ghosts are still staring at May. She really freaked them out. They're staying well back from her.
"I'll hang on to it. And if it's a non-magical code, I might know someone who can break it." It's not often May asks for help from Romanoff, but if they can crack this code quickly enough, it'll be worth calling in the favor.
"Well, that's…. antiquated and odd." Zee gives the typewriter a quick once over. "Sometimes I don't think they're particularly original… I'm sure I saw this in a movie somwhere." Looking at the message, then Fenris, May and the ghosts "Where do you think the key is, Fenris?" The young mage keeps facing the ghosts as May takes the message to hold. "You know I'll help retrieve it, if I can." But now, if this is what they came for… "What do we do with the house, Fenris? They'll know we've been here."
"Something a bit on the old side. And european if I'm not mistaken. No the code's not magical and if you can crack it May, please do. Zee when it's done take the Typewriter. See if you can use it to trace the spell back and get us a location. Oh and if it spits anything else out…" Fenris knows it'll be in good hands.
Melinda May nods in reply to Fenris and Zee's words, but she doesn't look away from all of those unhappy ghosts. One second of inattention and they'll be all over her like fleas on a cat. "Are we burning this place, Fenris?" She probably has enough of the consecrated oil on her person to do the job if need be.
Waiting for the message to complete, Zee takes the typewriter. She could carry it out of the building, instead, with a murmur she sends it back to Shadowcrest, in her workroom. It will be safe(ish) there till she arrives and can ward it more appropriately. "Of course, Fenris."
Zee watches May watching the ghosts, if he says torch it, she'll do it… "Maybe we could watch the house, see who else turns up…. maybe."
"Not yet. Might make people suspicious. We want to preserve our element of surprise as long as possible. Once they realize we're trying to roll up the network they'll take steps." Fenris glances back to Zee. "Keep a watch if you can. May, I'll be coming to visit you shortly. Soon as I dig up what I'm looking for."
Melinda May considers, then pulls the oiled rag in its plastic protector out of her jacket. "Oil all the windows and doorframes. That should buy us some extra time." Hopefully, considering the way the ghosts reacted, it'll keep them locked inside this house long enough for them to get clear and decipher the coded message that just arrived.
"Sure thing Fenris, I'll set up some stuff when we leave." Taking the rag from May, she does as May suggests and waits for the others to join her.
When they leave, the Mistress of Magic will setup some subtle wards, nothing that will hurt anyone that trips them, but they will let Zee know the house has a visitor.