Mage the Ascension: Rule of Shade

[frigidmagi]

Boxer chuckled at that.

"Has to do with the whole rotation of the Earth and natural periods of dark and light I think. I heard you don't get that out in the dark black?" Boxer asked.

[SirNitram]

"Nope. Part's that we bring our light; if you've got a day-night cycle, it's probably not Earth's, so the lights go by shifts. Second.." A shrug. "Look. You've got a few inches of metal between you and instant death via vacuum. You've got Marauders, Nephandi, and wierder. You don't have a chance to mess about. You either live by the schedule to the heartbeat, or chances are your ship goes down."

[frigidmagi]

"Well the Homeworld is a bit more forgiving all things told. Here you can let an hour or two slip every now and again without killing anyone. Although you don't want to do it to often I think. I have to admit being out there must have been... something. How far have you gone?" Jones asked.

[SirNitram]

"Pegasus. There's a gorgeous triple-stellar system we've got a research outpost on, and I was given security detail. It wasn't a bad post. The local wierdness was alot more benign than most, and the only Maurader within a few kilolights was more interested in breeding space whales than annoying us or heading back towards Earth." A shrug. "So, it was precious downtime."

[Cynical Cat]

"See?" said Arkady. "Took no time at all and we are here. Now you use some Ars Mentum and everyone happy with us getting look at bodies."

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Natasha hopped up to the roof, found a likely looking spot, and settled down for a sunbath.

[Cynical Cat]

Russell seamed somewhat hesitant. "No worry. I take care of this. You stand watch and reserve." He walked into an alley near the morgue and drew forth with laser pointer. "Make sure no one comes in."

"Perdo Imagium," he whispered as he waved the laser pointer from the tips of his toes to the crown of his head. He faded from sight. Even the sound of his movements were deadened.

He tapped Russell to let him know that everything was good and then headed over to morgue, moving to keep away from any knots of people who might bump into him and discover his presence while maintaining the spell. He had done this before, but it was trickier than one might think. In ordinary life, people made room for another pedestrian. Not anymore.

[Dark Silver]

The street the Morgue was located on was in a more deserted, decidedly darker portion of town. The streets were still well maintained, this is true, but everything - from the light shining down from the sun, to the color of the buildings just made the day seemed "washed out".

The people wandering these streets were few, mostly officials moving from their vehicles, police men, city officials, workers at the Morgue and it's associated offices themselves. Not very many sleepers.

Arkady and Russell would find themselves with plenty of breathing room once they got to those streets, but the morgue itself, a low two story building. The stairs leading from the street to the raised first floor were muted worn concrete, the doors in the front of the building a drab greyish-brown color, with one window apiece looking over the street.

Once through those doors, the drab coloration would continue, the banal enviroment of a government office building. The reception area was done in muted tans and blues, meant to relax the occupents of the waiting room, but it only seemed to annoy them. No stairs or elevators were visible behind the tan wall, but two dull green doors lead deeper in, both holding a card scanner on their frames.


{ GM NOTE: Every post he spends in the Morgue, Cat must make an Arete Roll, Difficulty 5, to maintain his "Invisiblity" spell. Failure means the spell will drop the next post, and if in view of Sleepers, Storyteller will roll for Paradox. }



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Rowin smiled a bit as Mandalay strolled down, and listened as the big cat spoke. "Well...isn't that nice...I wasn't expecting him so soon."

Gren, for his part, had taken his dishes to the sink, and began washing them. He could have let the glowing eyes do the work, but he liked do something manually every once in awhile.

While they talked and joked and did their things, the lights in the room dimmed, not a great deal, but enough to be noticable, as a man in his early 50's, if one took his looks as a sign of his age, strolled through the side door dressed in a darkblue Brooks Brothers suit. The salt and peppered hair was tied in the back, in a respectable (in the late 80's maybe) pony tail, and his nut brown face bore some semblence of a smile, "Good morning all," Darek Steele spoke, the words leaving his lips easily, with a undercurrent of base like the pleasent sound of distant thunder. He sat in his place, at the head of the table, and looked around, "Boxer, so nice to see you again...Tony your looking well for a hunk of amalgamated metal...James, still fiddling on that electronic contraption are you? Doctor, we need to see about your Time Box machine...I'm sure we can figure out the problem." He seemed to switch so easily in this greeting, going one at a time, never skipping a beat.

One wouldn't think that this man, who seemed to enjoy the sound of his own voice was the Chantry's Primus.

[LadyTevar]

<Oh good, he put pants on first> Mandalay muttered, tail flicking in distaste as her minds-eye recalled the private viewing she'd had of the Primus. To put her mind off it, she strolled over to James and shoved her head into his lap like any true feline wanting attention. She wasn't quite sure if James knew she was more than just a large black panther, but if it got him to pet her (and her a peek at his computer), it was worth it.

Besides, it would make the night she showed up naked in his bed more amusing....

[Cynical Cat]

Arkady walked up the stairs and headed for the door to the morgue. He quickly stepped to the side as a woman walked out, almost brushing him as she passed by. He slide in through the door and quickly moved to the side to avoid the man following in her wake.

He stepped carefully around and people and slipped away from the reception area and toward the stairs. He walked down the stairs, ready to retreat and give room if he couldn't move around someone coming up. So far, so good. He was at the basement.

[Dark Silver]

As Arkady descended, the stairwell changed from the muted tans and blues, to a starker, colder grey color. The walls stopped being drywall, and more became cement blocks. The morgue was stark, and already he could feel a chill in the air.

Undoubtedly he had felt the chill in the air, and the quiet in the air. Even the employees that wandered the halls seemed glum. Cheerfulness was out of place here.

To his immediate left, was the stairwell which lead down, a sign next to the door marked it as the stairway to "Cold Storage". Further down the hall, along the wall a door was stenciled "Supply Closet" in block letters. The sounds of a elevator could be heard through the wall to his right, and voices spoke from down the hall.

The air itself felt wrong though, he felt as if something was watching him, looking over his shoulder.

[Cynical Cat]

Arkady had been in worse places, which was no comfort at all. That something was better than getting chased through the Moscow metro system by a pair of Nephandi allied werewolves was damning with faint praise. He crept toward the sound of the voices.

[Dark Silver]

The closer Arkady got to the corner near the elevator, the more distinct the words became.

"....shed with the Jane Doe. He's getting her ready to move to C.S."

"Word is that we got the Sunglass Brigade interested in this one. Mayor Taylor called and told us to co-operate with them..."

The sound of metal doors opening on a automatic system could be heard, though around the corner, it was impossible to tell which one it was.

[Cynical Cat]

Arkady moved closer, trying to continue eavesdropping while keeping an eye open for files or reports that might be lying around.

[Dark Silver]

The area infront of the elevators was clear, aside from a rotating security camera making calm, methodical scans.

"Hey Trish. We were just talking about the Jane Doe from the College."

"Hey George. Yeah, Travis should be zipping up the body bag soon."

"Any idea what happened to her?"

"Looked like a wolf or something tore into her. Never saw something so bad...whose up for Chinese for lunch?"

The rest of the talk was innane gossip and smalltalk, mostly about what restaurant the two would go to for lunch. The security desk was clean, aside from a small grid display of security cameras, one for each of the Examination rooms, the security camera down the stairs, and the camera in front of the elevator.

Trish was a black haired women with a dusky complextion and a build just on the chubby side of "full figured", dressed in a white lab coat and sporting "librarian" hornrimmed glasses. Under her arm was a manila folder. George looked to be in his late twenty's, with ginger colored hair, and a pale complexion, dressed in the blues of a security guard. They were the only two in the security area it seemed.

[Cynical Cat]

Wolves brought back bad memories. Wolf attacks were almost unheard of in North America, with the exception of rabid ones. The cameras weren't an issue, they wouldn't see him either, but getting the folder would be tricky. He moved toward the woman, keeping close to the wall. The trick would be to grab the folder if she put it down and wasn't looking.

[Dark Silver]

Trish smiled at George, and turned from the security desk, "I'll meet you in fifteen. I have to go file this report upstairs before Travis gets a shit-fit."

George smiled, waved and turned back to his screens, watching the monitor that showed a older, portly man zipping up a body bag.

Trish seemed to stopafter she turned on her heel, looking around for a moment. She seemed to shake whatever it was off, glancing a curious brown eye around, before making for the elevator.

The elevator itself dinged before she reached the metal doors. The twin doors slide open, revealing two men, both in dark black suits, with white neatly pressed shirts, and black ties. Despite the decidedly bad quality of the light in the morgue's reception area, they wore darkly tinted sunglasses.

Trish stepped to the side, eyes widening for a moment as the two men left the elevator, and she hurried her way into it.

[Charon]

Jason sighed and plopped back on his bed, dropping the book at his side. This was boring. Amazingly boring. Boring enough in fact that he had to break up the monotony of it all.

Shutting off his music, Jason moved to the window and pushed the curtains aside, wincing some as his eyes adjusted to the light, then he slid the window open and looked across at the Trellis. It was a short leap, but hey, it could work.

Jason stepped up on the window seal and rubbed his adjacent fingers on the ring he had on his middle finger, conjuring up magic to reinforce the trellis to take his weight without shattering. Of course, he didn't think to make is squishier so as to not hurt him when he jumped, but you can't think of everything.

Jason leaped and grabbed at the trellis, smashing into it fairly hard. His fingers scrambled for a handhold and managed to catch something just as he started to slide down. Jason took a deep breath in relief and then smiled. Now this was fun. Jason slowly descended the trellis until he reached the ground. The young man reached into his pocket and grabbed his cellphone, reaching beyond that and out to his window again, he shut and locked it. Jason took his hand out of his pocket with a smile as he stretched.

[B4UTRUST]

James glanced down at his lap which was now occupied by a rather large panther head. He ceased his typing and mousing and reached down to rest his hand on the 'cat's' head without scratching it, though if she moved her head back and forth it would get the same effect.

While he didn't recall ever having seen her in another form, a simple use of the Life sphere had long ago told him she was far from a normal cat. Of course common sense could have told a blind, deaf, mentally challenged corpse that little tidbit of information just by observing said feline. She could play cute kitty all day long, but he knew better. All looks were decieving. He was just thankful that she wasn't one of those cats that insisted on sleeping on one's head. Someone would have surely died by now.
"What, you want scratchies? Is that what you're after?"

A soft series of three beeps sounded from his laptop. He glanced up at the screen.
"Oh, crap! It's time for Gargoyles," he stated with about as much excitement as a kid on saturday morning ready to watch his favorite cartoons. Which was fairly close since Gargoyles was a cartoon and he was fairly excited to watch it.

He hit a few keys on the keyboard and a small program loaded up in a window with what looked like a remote control with a large LCD screen. Using his mouse he clicked several 'buttons' on the emulated remote's 'touchscreen' before turning the laptop and pressing the 'on' button on the remote. The TV across the room snapped to life, letting off a soft electric hum. Absently he went back to scratching the panther's head.

[LadyTevar]

<No, I want to annoy you as much as possible.> Mandalay answered silently. <Scritches are a bonus.> So was watching what James was doing to with the laptop. She wasn't sure yet if he was using magick through it, or just something the laptop itself did. One day she's have to see if she could speak to the spirits inside it. For now, however, she let the boy enjoy his toys and his cartoons and amused herself by rubbing her chin over the zipper of his pants. The ridged fabric felt nice against her jaw, and those with some inkling of her true nature usually got embarrassed by it. A pity... men had the nicest musky scents..........

[Cynical Cat]

The suits could be just Feds, but they could also be Mirrorshades. Arkady wasn't eager to find out. He was still invisible to them and if he avoided attracting any attention, like throwing any more magic around, he had a good chance of avoiding them even if they were Technocrats.

On the other hand, they would probably be heading straight for the data motherload. If he shadowed them through the morgue and eavesdropped, he could learn everything he was after. He waited for them so he could follow in their wake.

[Dark Silver]

Normally, there wouldn't be a Television in one of the chantry's dining rooms, but it was luck that Rowin had one put in for the little family's meal times. She knew conversation wouldn't keep everyone entertained.

As the Television turned on, the sounds of the cartoon show played.

"....trapped by a magic spell for a thousand years....Now here in Manhattan, we live again!"

Rowin shook her head, as she and Gren both rose from the table, "We'll be in the gardens should anyone need us," she said, as she and her husband both disappeared.

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The two black suited men appraoched the security guard behind his desk. "Agents Fury and Courage," the one on the left spoke in his bland voice, "We have a appointment with Doctor Travis Jones ."

As the name was spoken, the doors slide open again, and a grey haired man in white lab smock and skewed glasses came out.

The two black suits turned to the man, "Doctor Jones?"

The man looked flustered for a moment, before responding in a high pitched voice, "Yes, that's me. And you are?"

"Agent John Courage, this is Agent James Fury. You were told to expect us."

Ahem..yes..about the young girl," the man said, "Her body is being moved to cold storage later today."

"Agent Fury, remain here to watch the body," the man identified as Courage spoke, "Doctor, let's go get some lunch and you can tell me what you found."

The The black suit called Fury walked through the heavy metal double doors, and disappeared as they closed, while Fury turned, and for a moment, seemed to stare straight through where Arkady stood.

Arkady got the distinct impression something wasn't right then, even as Courage took the good doctor's arm, shifting it just enough where a folder fell, unnoticed by the high pitched doctor, as they rounded the corner to the elevators, and headed for the stairs.

[Cynical Cat]

Arkady froze. Had the Mirrorshade, and by now he was almost positive they were Technocrats, spotted him? He moved slowly and silently to the side, in the direction of the dropped folder, watching to see if the Technocrat's gaze followed him. His laser pointer was in his hand. It would take just a moment for things to get very, very bad.

[Dark Silver]

The black suit and the doctor didn't turn back, they walked into the stairwell, and vanished behind the door. Neither turned back for the dropped folder, nor to harrass Arkady.

The folder lay sprawled on the ground, on it's yellow tab lay the words "Jane Doe" attached was a written report, and pictures. The pictures showed the girl's body, once she may have been lovely, even beautiful, but the body was so ravage, so corrupted, one would be hard pressed to even tell it was human once, much less it's gender.

What Arkady could glean from the folder, was that he would need the others in order to figure this out.


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Steele and Zoom both disappeared from the breakfast area not long after Rowin and Gren did, heading off to some forsaken part of the Chantry house which was Zoom's laboratory.

That left Mandalay, James, Boxer and Stark at the breakfast table.

Watching Cartoons.

The begining of a good, wholesome relaxing day.

[Cynical Cat]

Sometimes it seemed that God, whoever he was, hated all Russian and wanted them to suffer. It did not appear that today was one of those days. Arkady kept his eyes in the direction of the Mirrorshades as he scooped up the file and made a hasty retreat. No sense in pressing his luck.

Outside he passed Russell. "Back to Chantry. Hurry. Mirrorshades around."

[SirNitram]

Stark finished off his vile mixture of nutrients and had already locked out the remote for the television. He leaned back, utterly unaware of the goings on of fellow mirrorshades in the city.