(AGToO) Risk of R(*)in

[Vincent]

@Alastor The spider, with its sinuous legs of platinum and its eight gemstone eyes running the gamut of the rainbow, gleams under the halogen lighting.
The Arrow's sight goes past the cryptic signifier to unearth its meaning. It could be a mere coincidence, but given the strangeness of the meeting, it likely isn't.
He has heard about it, one more battle tale circulating among the order, a story but also a vicarious lesson taught to the rest of them by one of their itinerant Adamant Sages.
Spiders is the name the Architects of the Future go by, and he knows they are dangerous.

The umbrella is a finery piece of handmade artisanship. A peacock shaped handle of enameled teak plated with a layer of nacre resting atop a tube of polished obsidian, separated by it only by a cylinder of lunargent metal. A Swarovski crystal rest in each of the peacock's eye-socket and its plumage reminds of so many irises.
The elegant double cloth canopy is woven in blue cotton, the pattern of the fabric matches the bird's feathering. Sewed inside the canopy, embroidered in threads of golden silk, is the name of the owner.

[Vincent]

Another text, another message. This time from Shodan

Problems?

[Vincent]

The gallery is a rib-cage of glass and polished steel several stories high, more telling about the hubris of its ideator than of its resident. To the right side, leading toward a back entrance and a deposit, a narrow alley loses itself amid the jet black shadows.
From the outside, through the shatterproof glass of the entrance, the gallery appears to be pitch black, the only pulse of light coming from the blinking red light of the lone CCTV device above the magi heads. It's still raining but slightly, nevertheless the exterior of the gallery provides ample shelter from the weather.
There's an intercom in a small alcove right by the glass doors.

[Campanella]

Campanella takes advantage of the shelter provided by the building: first by quickly shaking off excess water from his coat as any weather oppressed Sleeper would; second by checking his phone. There had been vibrations from his pocket.

"Did you see anything... off... about that couple? I feel like her face is familiar." Campanella knew he'd be scouring his soul about that woman until he remembered something. The confusion and annoyance slipped into his voice as he checked that Alastor did not feel the same. "I thought I ... saw something. Must have been the rain."

He responds to both texts, tapping quickly.

To Kaze: Good.

To Shodan: Rain. Campanella add nothing further, unable to convince himself that the couple presented anything more than an odd footnote to their mission.

He waited for the Arrow to respond before pressing the intercom.

"Hello, friend. It is Bartram. I come bearing gifts."

[Vincent]

James Gagosian was one of those talentless individuals who despite lacking any redeeming quality other than their dazzling smile and a somewhat fake but extrovert personality, always landed on their feet... mysteriously.
A lousy businessman if the Moros had known any, the man was intellectually mediocre, but again his profligacy and deep pockets, alongside a light heartened nature made him a staple among the circles of the high society. And he had a good eye for certain pieces of contemporary art, which certainly helped.

Campanella: He presses the button of the intercom. Once, twice. Nothing happens other than the faint echo of the doorbell ringing through the gallery.
But a Magician's will is an object of wonder, always questing for the details. He can spot them around the intercom, the telltale ripples left by the movements of several minds. Multiple consciousnesses, some stronger - higher - than the rest, herd beasts of a more basal nature. Two signatures in particular are familiar, recent. They have been preceded. [wits + occult, 1 suxx, will reveal that there have been two groups of visitors. A single success on a willpower roll, and Campanella will recognize that the first group of signatures belongs to the couple they had just met. Their patterns however had undertaken a shift, the man's remained calm, stoic but callous. The woman's moods however mutated, from a sophisticated quietness at the time of her entry, to utter disgust, a faint and weak aura on exit. The second group of signatures is few hours older than the previous, and it's also entrenched in the texture of the building, inveterate among the glass spires, as if they were from recurring visitors. Ill-gotten thoughts that likely belonged to more brutish, basal minds. Mixed with the older group's but not the couple's, there's Gagosian own pattern. Traces of interaction?]

Alastor: Countless semesters in the school of Hard Knocks have thought Alastor the importance of being ready and not leave anything at the behest of chance.
Maybe it's his gut feeling, maybe it's just his mage sight. But the Arrow can smell a rat when sees it. First there's the spatial deformation around the handles of the glass door [wits + occult, 1 suxx, to know somebody has used an apportation like spell to open it from the inside, and then close it again on leaving], and then there's this heavy feeling coming from the alley [wits + occult or streetwise, 1 suxx to catch the "heaviness" coming from the side alley, as if it had been a well trodden and heavily walked path. Something had been carrying important stuff, and not once or just twice, but dozen of times]

The camera above them keeps blinking and recording every detail.

[Campanella]

Campanella waited. And waited. He pressed the intercom once more and listened to the faint echo, ringing from within the gallery.

And he frowned.

"Shit," the Moros murmured. He glanced once at the camera and sighed loudly. His foot tapped as he debated what to do. He switched the boxed whisky from one hand to the other. The indecision was not entirely honest - and for once savvy watcher's might have picked up his true motives from his stilted actions. He turned and walked away.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-03-09 00:07:16		Campanella to play act rolls 4 to Manipulation + Subterfuge (10 Again)		7, 7, 1, 2		failure

"James is... Not In," Campanella's jaw pulsed as he made to walk away. He did, slipping out of sight of the camera while trying to find some shelter from the inclement weather.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-03-09 00:01:13		Campanella to put the evidence together rolls 7 to Willpower (10 Again)		6, 2, 7, 7, 9, 9, 5		2 successes
2019-03-09 00:00:37		Campanella to gain insights rolls 5 to Wits + Occult (10 Again)		3, 2, 7, 7, 2		failure

"Someone got to James first," The Moros hunkered back into his coat. Alastor needed some explanation. "I felt the echoes. He met with some people. And I believe we may have passed them in the street. I definitely felt her presence. And her giant companion definitely left an... impression. Whatever secrets he was going to reveal are lost... For the moment."

Annoyance seeped at last into the Mystogogue's voice. Annoyance turned into an impotent scowl as the Arrow added his own thoughts.

Campy failed the wits roll, so he is unable to unpack the welter of images / background noise that he gets from his Sight. He succeeds on the willpower check, so he is able to pick out the signature of the two mages they passed in the street.

NOTE FOR CLARITY: I know the description says that there was two groups. Campy failed that roll so he has collapsed the two groups into one. Even the Awakened make mistakes!

[Vincent]

Alastor: The repetition of an identical pattern, time and time again, alters the structure of space itself. Habits can shape reality, and so, the cyclical movements of a fork-lift up and down an alley not only leaves tire tracks - like many furrows in the soil - but alters the natural flow of sympathy itself. Sympathetic threads that sometimes can be as strong as iron chains.
The Arrow sees this tangled mess of ropes all heading toward the end of the alley, past the side entrance and to what Shodan identified as the deposit. What's more curious is the direction those chains take at the opposite end, they shoot away from the building, spanning the area seemingly into random directions. It's a known connection and it's heavy, the kind of sympathetic graph you'd trace observing the front of a McDonald or the exterior of the cell of prison smuggler.
[Perception, no penalties, 1 suxx, Despite the rain, the Arrow notices several footprints leaving the alley, rough heavy boots, large, bulky, belonging to different people walking together]

Campanella: Astutely, the Hierarch slips below the camera's angle, where neither of them can be detected. They could attempt to break in [any of you could roll dex + larceny, 2 suxx, or you can deal with the camera, the alarm and the door however you see fit], or they could request Shodan's assistance in dealing with the security measures inside.
What the Warlock understands from the warp and weft of space, the Necromancer unearths by trawling the secrets of the human mind.
Several minds, sharing the same signature he had just detected, have crossed that alley in the past. The most recent traces are just a few hours cold, a brutish, violent resonance. He can't discern the exact timing, but this group is smaller than the multitude he sensed across the intercom.

[That's puzzling for the Moros, a reflexive wits + occult roll allows Campanella to witness the resonance of the space spell casted on the handle of the door, the one Alastor missed. While he can't fully reconstruct her resonance, he recognizes her presence, it's the same mind flare he first witnessed on meeting the Mysterious woman]