[Tamesh]

@ Khali, Red, Masquerade, Arc & Feathers  The professor finishes listening to Raven and . . . . . . . .
Then he turns to the rest of you, listening to your answers. "I need to teach Feathers some things to aid him in this. Specifically a ritual that will bind the creature for a short time to enable you to try and kill it. The biggest problem is getting it to that location. The ritual takes some time to prepare and perform. So it won't be possible to go to wherever it shows up and perform it there. By binding the creature you will have a much easier time focusing fire to try & kill it. That will also give those who's job it is to kill the mage their only opportunity to do so. My home can accommodate all of you if you wish to accompany us. It might be helpful to have someone or even several some ones who understand magic able to perform this ritual. Who would like to accompany us?" 

Red nods as the professor finishes speaking. "It does make me comfortable that we have a plan now. Though I am curious. I don't have anything in the way of magical talent, and assassination is well outside of my area of expertise. Are there any other leads a more resourceful individual might be able to follow up on? I know powerful acts of magic need some sort of expensive components. Drams of something. Does anyone think I might be able to find a paper trail that leads us to our target?"

[SgtBoomCloud]

Hearing that he turns to you Arc and says, "That's one. What about the rest of you?"

@ Khali, Red, Masquerade, Arc & Feathers  The professor finishes listening to Raven and . . . . . . . .
Then he turns to the rest of you, listening to your answers. "I need to teach Feathers some things to aid him in this. Specifically a ritual that will bind the creature for a short time to enable you to try and kill it. The biggest problem is getting it to that location. The ritual takes some time to prepare and perform. So it won't be possible to go to wherever it shows up and perform it there. By binding the creature you will have a much easier time focusing fire to try & kill it. That will also give those who's job it is to kill the mage their only opportunity to do so. My home can accommodate all of you if you wish to accompany us. It might be helpful to have someone or even several some ones who understand magic able to perform this ritual. Who would like to accompany us?" 

Red nods as the professor finishes speaking. "It does make me comfortable that we have a plan now. Though I am curious. I don't have anything in the way of magical talent, and assassination is well outside of my area of expertise. Are there any other leads a more resourceful individual might be able to follow up on? I know powerful acts of magic need some sort of expensive components. Drams of something. Does anyone think I might be able to find a paper trail that leads us to our target?"

Crossing her arms, Arc gave a little grin.  Finally, we're talkin' about some fragging action here~  Giving nod, she waited her turn after Red to pipe in.  "Well, paper trails and mojo rituals and drek don't suit my talents for squat.  If it's drivin' a car, fixing some machinery, or making things go boom, I'm your breeder, chummers~"  She lifted her fingers as mock pistols and clicked her tongue casually.  "Aight...If it's cool with people, I gots a chummer what needs my help back in the Barrens.  Decent ork, little rough but he's gonna want in on this...drek's gotten personal for him."  She threw her hands in her pockets, drifting back to a frown.  "Hmm...my Awakened friend what got marked by it is gonna want in too.  Haven't heard much from him today, I'll see what I can do"

Pulling up her AR, she fired a quick message off to Arachnid after she spoke, waiting for approval to step out for a few hours whilst they learned the ritual and stuffs.

<<Message to: Arachnid
<<Hoi, chummer.  We got a crew, we got a plan, we can take this fragger down but gonna need Awakened help.  Where you at, omae?

Sending that off, she gave a little sigh.  "Like I said, I can's be back in a few hours more or less to pick people up to save a bus trip.  Anyone who wants to go back to the Barrens, speak up now I guess?"

[Csjarrat]

the safehouse I'm lodging in may be able to provide a couple of extra awakened. How willing they'll be is another matter, they're in a safehouse for a reason after all. Perhaps Nbungu would be able to organise a few volunteers too.
I'm ready when you are

[ismilealot]

@ Duckdown  Your comm rings as your emptying the bullets out of the clip to make an iron. >>Yo, Duck. I dun talked to Blindside an he say you need, you got, no talk 'o payment. He say if'n you kin find this fragger Ancients won't leave enough of him to make a positive ID in this world or the next. Word.<<

@ Feathers  He nods at you.

[Poindexter]

>>Yo, Duck. I dun talked to Blindside an he say you need, you got, no talk 'o payment. He say if'n you kin find this fragger Ancients won't leave enough of him to make a positive ID in this world or the next. Word.<<

Hells yeah! The hood comes through!

<<@Lil Mik [Duckdown] Big up! That's what the fuck I'm talmbout! Shoot me a location and tell Blindside I'll meet him there tonight after dark. Give him my code if he wants more before the meet.>>

[SgtBoomCloud]

Once the plan was set, Arc gave a nod of her head to Dr. Tatsami, a courteous grin on her face.  "Thank y'much, man.  Best of luck to the learnin' and drek.  Let's bounce."  And with that, the short girl led the way out of the office, giving a nod to the troll front desk girl as they left.  Hopping in her car, she fired up the engine in two clicks and zoomed off, leaving the office in Snohomish behind her.  During the drive, Arc was in thought, figuring out ideas that she could contribute to a job that she possesses almost no skills for.  Hmm...

[Outside Arc's garage, the Barrens, WA , about 3:25 PM]

Having dropped off anybody she needed to, Arc pulled up outside her garage, not opening the door as she figured they would be heading out quickly.  She checked herself in the rear view mirror, face and skin still mucked up from the day before, hair crazy with poorly contained bedhair.  Nnnh, this is grungy even more me.  Frag.  Hopping out of her car, she entered her abode, pausing as her ears picked up the sound of music.  Hmm, nice to see Duck made himself at home..  A mischievous grin spread across her face as she slipped off her hoodie and armored vest, tossing them over her couch and investigating the source of the sound.  When she did get to the garage, she froze in the doorway, eyes going wide.

The tall skinny ork is facing away from the door in his blue boxer shorts, standing in the garage with his clean and still damp hair dripping down his back. He's rocking his head back and forth to the beat of some old turkish funk concert footage trid from what looks like over a hundred years ago while ironing a pair of dark brown slacks, using Arcs workbench as an ironing board and an empty spare clip from his ingram as a makeshift iron. The bullets from the clip sit on the workbench next to him and a dark brown suit jacket hangs from an electrical wire running near him. He doesn't hear Arc when she comes in, due to how loud the music is playing.

[OOC: Song playing is http://youtu.be/OoC4qAcwtbc?t=48s]

She stood frozen, jaw hanging open at the rather...vulnerable sight the ork was in before her.  She put one arm up, leaning against the doorframe with her other hand on her hip, her mouth still open as she shifted to a grin, making silent laughter at the rather silly display she was bearing witness to.  She watched for a moment before deciding to announce her presence, putting her lips together and making a low wolf whistle.  "Owwoooo, didn't realize I ordered a cool drink'a water.  Frag~" 

She caved in, busting out laughing, slumping against the doorframe.  "Glad the code worked.  Nice threads...going somewhere nice?  Frag man, that means I gotta clean up if I'm driving you...nnh, no dresses.  The frag am I takin' you, omae?"  She stepped forward, eyeing the suit jacket curiously.  "Didn't even think someone like y'self would sport a fraggin' suit...who's the lucky lady, hm?"  She poked his ribs, grinning playfully.

[ismilealot]

@ Duckdown  Lil Mik answers, >> He say meet him tonight 21:30 at Downfall. Corner of NE 175th and 140th Ave NE. He'll holla atcha then. He say you best be prepared to tell 'im something real omae, not some hopefull "I think maybe/wannbe/could be" drek. He aint extending this offer for some half-cocked crazy fragger who's just wishful thinking.<<

[Tamesh]

Red returns to her apartment shortly after being dropped off by Arc. For an hour or so, she takes care of chores, just to clear her head. After finding out about malevolent spirits and blood mage conspiracies, it's nice to get a little of the routine and mundane taken care of to keep yourself sane. But after laundry and taking out the trash and all the rest, it's time to get back to business.

The elf paces around her apartment considering her options. There's no way whoever did this was going through legal avenues, so that means there's probably no records to find. But at the same time, an operation like this means at some point money had to have changed hands. Red sends a quick message to all of her contacts, just to fish for leads. "Looking to get my hands on some magical reagents from a discrete, local source. Any help would be much appreciated."

[Triskavanski]

Masqurade nods slowly. "I'll have to be in, No matter what I do, that creature will be after me. If nothing else.. I'm bait. Unfortunately however, I'm not a spellslinger, my talents lie in fields outside of direct confrontation. Primarily spy work." She sighs softly, shaking her head a little. Well, might as well give them a show of her abilities... "If any of you breath a word of this outside of our crew.. I will hunt you down, even if the creature gets me."

With that her face begins to shift taking on the appearance of the Professor's own. Color shifts and swirls through her hair as it begins to shorten and match his.

Diguise as professor: 9d6t5 0 Well that didn't go as intended.

[ismilealot]

@ Red The professor nods at you "There aren't many specialty reagents unique to blood magic. And the most unique element, the fresh blood from a metahuman is sometimes our best lead, as the few blood magic practitioners we have on record have an all to human tendency to choose their victims based on their own personal  prejudices, good old fashioned profiling is our best ally at finding them." He pauses and looks at you, "As this is a malevolent spirit using a mage, that does not apply.. But, there are a couple of things that they can use before they gain enough strength to be able kill and use their freshly slaughtered prey. Entrails. They still must be fresh, and it must be a large quantity. So, a slaughter house. But, Bernie and his crew are already following up that lead. They have far more powerful computers and trained deckers at their disposal to perform that search' He looks hard at you. "You will have to pardon my saying this, but, given the neighborhood you're in, and it's activities there is another possibility.." He looks thoughtful, "It's occurred to me that this creature may be the result of gang violence, or a particularly horrific crime. It would have had to involve torture. And again given the neighborhood. That torture would have had to be far in excess of the norm. And the survivor would have most certainly had to be Awakened. I say survivor, because it would most certainly have had to be during the process of murder and torture that the mage bonded with the spirit. If you can find that event, that triggering event, if it even exists, than we will have our mage, and knowing that, have a far, far better idea of where to find them." And this is something Bernie and his crew can't do, because the denizen's of your neighborhood have a very long history of hiding facts and events from the police, or any public record."

@ Masquerade  They look at you, some slightly repulsed by the shifting of your features. Not unlike Qausimodo, your face is only half formed,

[Tamesh]

@ Red The professor nods at you "There aren't many specialty reagents unique to blood magic. And the most unique element, the fresh blood from a metahuman is sometimes our best lead, as the few blood magic practitioners we have on record have an all to human tendency to choose their victims based on their own personal  prejudices, good old fashioned profiling is our best ally at finding them." He pauses and looks at you, "As this is a malevolent spirit using a mage, that does not apply.. But, there are a couple of things that they can use before they gain enough strength to be able kill and use their freshly slaughtered prey. Entrails. They still must be fresh, and it must be a large quantity. So, a slaughter house. But, Bernie and his crew are already following up that lead. They have far more powerful computers and trained deckers at their disposal to perform that search' He looks hard at you. "You will have to pardon my saying this, but, given the neighborhood you're in, and it's activities there is another possibility.." He looks thoughtful, "It's occurred to me that this creature may be the result of gang violence, or a particularly horrific crime. It would have had to involve torture. And again given the neighborhood. That torture would have had to be far in excess of the norm. And the survivor would have most certainly had to be Awakened. I say survivor, because it would most certainly have had to be during the process of murder and torture that the mage bonded with the spirit. If you can find that event, that triggering event, if it even exists, than we will have our mage, and knowing that, have a far, far better idea of where to find them." And this is something Bernie and his crew can't do, because the denizen's of your neighborhood have a very long history of hiding facts and events from the police, or any public record."

Now that's a lead Red can act on. Once she's back in the safety of her apartment, and after sending out the message to her contacts, the elf gets to work looking for possible occurrences. She searches the Matrix, not for police reports of brutal violence in the area, but for more subtle indicators. Unexplained missing persons in the area around the time the murders started. Noise complaints. Forum messages kept out of the public eye discussing unusually loud or strangely behaved neighbors. Anything that might fit the bill.

((Spending an Edge on a Search Matrix roll. 4 Intuition + 2 Computers +2 Edge for 8 dice and 4 hits http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4740995/))

[Poindexter]

[Redmond Barrens, Seattle, Arcs garage. 3:56pm]

Duckdown is still ironing when he gets the reply from Lil Mik.

>> He say meet him tonight 21:30 at Downfall. Corner of NE 175th and 140th Ave NE. He'll holla atcha then. He say you best be prepared to tell 'im something real omae, not some hopefull "I think maybe/wannbe/could be" drek. He aint extending this offer for some half-cocked crazy fragger who's just wishful thinking.<<

He grins. Good. Stipulations mean I probably aint walkin into a trap. "Stiiiiiiil briiiingin the gat thouuuuuuuugh!" he sings out loud along with the melody of the crazy distorted guitar as he irons. He's just reheated the clip with Arcs blowtorch and started working on the other leg when he hears a long, low whistle from behind him.

"Owwoooo, didn't realize I ordered a cool drink'a water.  Frag~" 

He turns his head to the left over his shoulder and grins at her all tusky and arrogant for a moment before giving the mental order to turn the music down a couple notches. He takes in her appearance in all its greasy grimy glory and thinks about a couple things he really ought not considering the timing and all. Naw dude, naw. Too much... and there's the... plus I gotta... and Deen... Just naw dude. For a second he thinks she's giving him that look that humans sometimes get before they- but then she busts out laughing, slumped against the doorframe and he knows the look was just her fuckin around. Or maybe the laugh was to cover the look... Shut the fuck up. No. Just no dude.

"Glad the code worked.  Nice threads...going somewhere nice?  Frag man, that means I gotta clean up if I'm driving you...nnh, no dresses.  The frag am I takin' you, omae?" 

While putting on the freshly ironed brown dress slacks, he responds sheepishly, "It's not where we're going. It's who we're picking up. This is a serious VIP here and she need to be treated with respect... But, you and me gotta convince her that I'm ballin a bit harder than I actually am, Wiz? So that's what's up with the suit, and that's why you gotta look classy, but still tough, cause you gotta be my driver. Like, my hired professional driver... from the record label."

"Professional driver?!" the human spits back at him. "Motherfucker, best I got to wear is like, a blouse from forever ago and some jeans that probably dont have holes in em."

"It's gonna be ok. She don't see so well these days. Long as you wear it right, you'll look fine. You aint gotta have a suit."

"Didn't even think someone like y'self would sport a fraggin' suit...who's the lucky lady, hm?" 

The strange little human moves up real close to him as she says that last bit, then elbows him in the ribs all playful like. For a second, his brain goes there again. Nope. Just nope, man. No breeders, no extra-curriculars, no nothin. Just no.

All the goofy, playful rockstar "duckdown" bullshit drains out of Huey for a moment. He gets really still and answers her almost apologetically. "She's my mother. Her name is Marjory Wilson." He takes a deep breath and then exhales again before continuing. "She thinks I'm still with the band. Thinks I just got off tour and her son is successful and living the high life like she always dreamed he would." He looks the little human dead in the eye and says, "We aint bout to do nothin to make her think otherwise, aight?" Then, like someone flipped a switch, all the bluster and goofy is back in him. "Now go get your ass cleaned up so we can be on the way. I left you 6 of your nine minutes left on that shower."

As she walks out of the room, he watches her for just a moment. Naw dude. Just naw. Not today anyway...

-----------------------
[Redmond Barrens, Seattle, Arcs Americar. 4:11pm]

Later, after having fed her all the gridguide info she'll need to get around for the trip, Duck sits in the backseat of Arcs freshly cleaned and vacuumed Americar. He'd done the cleaning himself while Arc was in the shower and was pretty happy with the job he'd done. He feels strange in the tan turtleneck, brown slacks and jacket with his hair in a ponytail, like some corp wageslave, but at least he doesn't have a tie, and he still wears the boots. Who the hell looks at a trogs feet any fuckin way? Halfway to his mother's house, he nonchalantly calls out to Arc up front. "Oh yeah. So, there is one more stop after this. We're going to see a high ranking Ancients loan shark about getting some funds for hunting down this thing from last night. But he's going to want some actual ideas as to what we plan to do about it. You learn anything today? I aint gonna tell him everything, but i gotta tell him somethin, feel me?"

[Triskavanski]

Masqurade attempts to play it cool, not missing a beat  "My face can shift to a near infinite number of possibilities. Even take on those I wish to impersonate. However this isn't any match for the creature's ability to mark me. What could be however.. My mind. Every little detail about everything, ever, I can pick up and record into my mind. I can memorize the lay out of a whole room easily, just by stepping in it."

Play it cool: 15d6t5 6

Letting her form slowly fade back, "Perhaps.. we create a death room. The entire room would be electronically timed to go off and begin firing bullets in a pattern, that I memorize, allowing me to move through the hail of bullets and letting it get caught in the room."

[SgtBoomCloud]

Arc's eyes were lit up with that mischievous glee that is rare for her..well, lit up as well as glaringly obvious cybernetic eyes can at least.  Straightening up, she walked over to Duckdown's spot as he spoke, playfully biting her lip and wagging her eyebrows all the while.

"It's not where we're going. It's who we're picking up. This is a serious VIP here and she need to be treated with respect... But, you and me gotta convince her that I'm ballin a bit harder than I actually am, Wiz? So that's what's up with the suit, and that's why you gotta look classy, but still tough, cause you gotta be my driver. Like, my hired professional driver... from the record label."

"Professional driver?!" the human spits back at him. "Motherfucker, best I got to wear is like, a blouse from forever ago and some jeans that probably dont have holes in em."

"It's gonna be ok. She don't see so well these days. Long as you wear it right, you'll look fine. You aint gotta have a suit."

Her own funky demeanor had dropped at his explanation of his need for her services once again, brow raised.  Drek...sounds like some serious stuff.  His girl?  Gotta be his girl.  Ain't no drekker gonna try to impress a girl unless he be sweet on her.  Arms akimbo, she leaned over to one side, tilting her head inquisitively at him.  Her smirk returning, she went bold and straight out asked him, ribbing him playfully.

All the goofy, playful rockstar "duckdown" bullshit drains out of Huey for a moment. He gets really still and answers her almost apologetically. "She's my mother. Her name is Marjory Wilson." He takes a deep breath and then exhales again before continuing. "She thinks I'm still with the band. Thinks I just got off tour and her son is successful and living the high life like she always dreamed he would." He looks the little human dead in the eye and says, "We aint bout to do nothin to make her think otherwise, aight?" Then, like someone flipped a switch, all the bluster and goofy is back in him. "Now go get your ass cleaned up so we can be on the way. I left you 6 of your nine minutes left on that shower."

She listened intently, stock still as her eyes grew wide at the realization she was in error.  Mother!  Fraaag, it all makes sense now.  With what happened, he needs all the help he can fraggin' get.  Nodding roughly, she clapped her shoes together, giving a firm salute.  "Null sweat, Skraa'cha!"  With a grin, she turned back to the door to her living space, a definite swagger in her step as she walked through the doorway and out of sight.

Arc spent every six minutes of water she had that day in that shower of hers, and lucky for her it was hot!  The anti-grease soap burned into her skin and scalp as she scrubbed vigorously, her mind reeling as she was about to do something she didn't think possible: look nice.  Frag, this is unexpected...heh, once a street kid, always a street kid, aye?  She timed her rinse off just as the shower shut itself off with a clunking sound, the drip of the water breaking the silence of the bath as she toweled off, the steam lingering in the room as she stepped in front of the mirror, eyeing her appearance.  Drying, she bit her lip apprehensively as she smoothed out her hair, debating how to wear it, finally deciding on keeping it loose and straight, framing her face..no headband, no goggles to keep it back.  Darting quickly to her bedroom, she rummaged through her clothes, finding that dark purple blouse she mentioned, and an actual intact pair of jeans.  Clean too!  Slipping them on, she smoothed out the fabrics before rejoining the skinny ork, clearing her throat.  "Hoi, bout ready as will be....fraaag, you cleaned my baby?  Aww, and I don't got no flowers or drek.  Such a sweetheart, I take back all I said about yeh."  Slapping his back, she slipped into the car, stuffing her "drek hits the turbo fan" gear into her glove box, locking her house up and taking off once ready.

[Redmond Barrens, Seattle, Arcs Americar. 4:11pm]

Halfway to his mother's house, he nonchalantly calls out to Arc up front. "Oh yeah. So, there is one more stop after this. We're going to see a high ranking Ancients loan shark about getting some funds for hunting down this thing from last night. But he's going to want some actual ideas as to what we plan to do about it. You learn anything today? I aint gonna tell him everything, but i gotta tell him somethin, feel me?"

Arc was taking it fairly easy on the drive, mostly letting GridGuide^TM do the driving to avoid attention, skirting around Glow City to get to their destination.  Perking up, she raised her brow again.  Fraag, you're just fulla surprises tonight Duck...oh wait, suppose I can't call yeh that in front of yer fraggin' mom, huh? Ahaha, aight...you toolin' up with Ancients?  Frag. At least it ain't Howlers...work up a favor with them, they won't let you fraggin' forget it."  She took a breath, recollecting her thoughts on the meeting with Tatsami and their new friends.

"Aight...so the meetup with the wizzie guy was good.  From what I understood of the whole fraggin' thing, looks like the thing we faced is some kinda mojo beast what tryin' to fully 'manifest' on this world or what the drek ever.  Bad news?  All the guns and explosives and other drek what we got ain't gonna do drek to it.  Good news?  This thing is tied to this world like some kinda bungee cord, and the hook is a fraggin' mage.  Blood magic drek possibly, but that's beside the point.  The guy, some Tatsami or whatever, is believed that this fragger got this power by being part of some big fraggin' gang violence, which we need to find out why.  Our new friends are on that: got a breeder chick, goes by Red, some kinda social nut, gonna be askin' around."

As she spoke, she punched up images of the people she described, sending them to him for reference.  "Raven you already know...Awakened apparently, but no mojo slinging type.  She apparently is some kinda spy and drek and changes her face and stuff..." She visibly shuddered at the memory of her..interesting demonstration.  "I think she's following some leads on that front as well.  Red's also following another drekking lead on finding the mage through financials, we'll see how that goes.  Tatsami's got another team following another type of that front, hehe...but that's research.  I know you want action:"

"As far as taking this fragger down, it's gonna be in two fronts.  The beastie is in some kinda sewer system, too hard to fraggin' assault that way.  Tatsami paired us off with a mage...Feathers, older breeder...who found the location somehow.  The Tatsami guy is with him now, teaching him some kinda ritual he'll need...the keebette Khali what Red knows is probably with him now...she's Awakened too, remember that 'Rack clone I told yeh about?  That ritual or whatever mojo drek is meant to bind the beastie, which means we gotta lure it out and hold it off to the ritual site to hold it down.  That's gonna take a team we need: mages.  A whole fraggin' team of them to be able to handle the thing while its bound..your jing you're trying to score probably gonna be needed there."

"There's a second front though...while that beastie is being fought, team two is gonna track down and geek this fragging mage.  What that's gonna take is easier...it's a meatsack, not a mojo beast, so a hitsquad should do it...guns, knives, a good boom.  Pending what we gotta get through to cut this drekhead, might need more of a team, but it sounds like most of our crew we got's gonna be on the geek squad.  Should be wiz."  Giving an affirming nod, she noted that they were merely  couple blocks away.  Clearing her throat, she sat up in her seat straight.  "Approaching the pickup point, sir.  Might I recommend you inform Mrs. Wilson we will be arriving shortly?"  Her stomach grumbled, hopefully not too audibly as they approached the location.

[ismilealot]

@ Duckdown & Arc  You arrive at the building where Mrs Wilson lives.

@ Red  You narrow your filters to only have the data from a month before the murders start and the chatter involves a kid. "Only survivor", "No relatives", "Found her laughing and laughing." "She couldn't answer a single question, it drove her insane." No mention of a name or a place. Just speculation.

@ Masquerade The prof looks at you and says, "No, this creature can't be killed by normal means. A cannon wouldn't be able to affect it, much less a bullet. But, if you can memorize things that precisely you would be able to help the professor in setting up the elements for the ritual. If you wish you may observe us and we will see."