Debriefing

[Animus]

Tug's question jars a memory, his recent conversation with Jordan. "There is a greater threat, but the banishers are one piece of the puzzle, and, I think, the piece we are best equipped to handle. The Mysterium discovered a journal documenting generations-long efforts to Awaken Proximi through adjustments to the Ley Lines and, more recently, the use of soul stones. Jordan didn't say, but those efforts are probably tied to the spell on the tower bridge drawing the Abyss. There were seven soul stones, one at the Church of Final Atonement, a second at the Kruegans' Sanctum. Which gives us yet another reason to deal with them."

He takes a deep breath, trying to fight back the hint of worry that begins to creep into his voice. "But for now, Joshua is scouting the most likely area for them to have settled. Hopefully he'll have news that will help us form a strategy." And not end up like Falx. And if it's my punishment that keeps him from coming back ... He shivers, sliding into a brooding silence.

[West (The Mage)]

"If they're part of the same spell, won't all the Stones have Sympathy with one another?" West asks, surprised.

Proxim?

[Darren Nash]

Ash smiles at Tug's promotion but resists the urge to smack him on the shoulder; he'd hate to damage the Sentinel's babies any further. Then, the conversation changed, and he is forced to listen once more, he wonders how the hell he could possibly help here.

[Tug]

"So if we take out the Banishers and get the soul stone they took with them when they left Kruegan's, we could use it to track the others down and stop the spell?" Tug asks, thinking he was getting the drift here. He smiles grimly. If the key to unraveling the city's problems lead through the rogue mages that killed his brother, so much the better.

[West (The Mage)]

West let the words from earlier catch up as he listens to the newest first Talon. He understands things like revenge, and obsession.

The luxuries of the idle, my friend.

"No... we use the Stone we recovered at Plotski's... and that way, we don't have to find the malcontents...," West clarifies.

"They're only part of this as necessary -- they are a distraction. Breaking the Tower Bridge spell is the priority. Understood?"

West speaks to Tug, but his words include everyone -- even the Hierarch of the Consilium. He could feel the whisper thin hand of Fate, beginning to move pieces toward the endgame.

[Animus]

Animus nods briefly, hating the fact that they might be leaving the Banishers to continue to prey on mages. But then ... we all know what comes next if that spell activates. The melancholy, it can only be people I failed to protect. Once it activates, we've lost. The thought seems to spark something, and he looks up suddenly, once again flinching away from West's face. "Dr. Primoria had suggested that the ... temenos? ... might have memories of the other reality? I'm not sure if it'd be worth taking effort away from finding the stones, but ... " He shrugs, letting the thought trail off.

"Who has the Plotski stone currently? I suppose Epopt Pym might be able to investigate its sympathy. Do you know of anyone else, just in case?"

[West (The Mage)]

There was a long silence, and West studied the other mages. One, the Hierarch; another, a newly raised First; and Ash, as much dead as alive but always willing.

"Ash and I are going into the Temenos," he said finally.

He exhaled, decision made, and moved onto the next. A smile appeared as that decision was made and his eyes crinkled in mirthless humor. Tyria had never trusted the Plotski Stone in the Museum, so he'd helped her hide it.

"You have the Plotski Stone, Hierarch."

[Animus]

"What?! How can I --" The words are cut off as realization dawns, accompanied by a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. A hand reaches toward the copper ring, strung up around his neck to not create problems when shifting, a look of amazement tinged with the slightest hint of revulsion. A gift directly from the Curator, what else could it be? All this time, I've held, attuned to my own pattern, a shard ripped from someone's soul? And yet, after so long, it felt almost a part of him, so that he would have been loathe to simply throw it away even were it not stil needed, a thought perhaps more disturbing. Niles Plotski, former Cultist of the Doomsday Clock and brother to the disgraced former Hierarch. Such an auspicious keepsake.

Finally he nods, still seeming a bit dazed. "Then I guess it's up to me to talk to him."

That any sympathetic connection between the stones would be bidirectional hasn't even crossed his mind.

[Darren Nash]

Ash perked up at mention of his name, and glad to have the weight of the sap gloves in his pockets and the pistil in his jury-rigged car.

"Sweet."

[Tug]

Tug nods at West as the soul stone, and the plan to journey to the Tenemos, are revealed. He's glad he didn't draw the straw for a trip to inner space, in fact. Terra firma worked for him. "Understood. The Banishers will get theirs later. Breaking the spell on the Bridge is the priority. I'll go with you to talk with Henry, Animus."