(Dry Hallow) Empty Shop

[Anima]

<Oh! Hello! So happy to met you. So you more inside with you now? Others? What kind?>


Anima walks over towards the shop.

"The essence of the shop appears to be quite friendly. Anyone know what kind of shop this place once was? It's interesting that this wellspring was drained yet a spirit remains. I'd be curious to know if it was perhaps the culprit, or at least has memory of what the inciting incident was."

The Shaman no longer sees a point in the supernal vision, releasing the spell he summons his imago again to protect himself should the spirit prove hostile.

Hasty protections take hold around the eccentric doctor, he stops a few paces from the door.

  1 success Numinous Shield

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-01-15 09:48:40		Anima rolls 6 to Numinous Shield (10 Again)		9, 7, 7, 7, 4, 3		1 success

  1 success Spiritual Bulwark

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-01-15 09:48:52		Anima rolls 6 to Spiritual Bulwark (10 Again)		9, 2, 3, 7, 7, 5		1 success

[Yumyumcrow]

Winter is moving quickly, words of power on his lips. Postcognition takes effect, hurling his vision back to that midnight a week and a half before. He finds himself situated on the exact spot he has been standing in, taking in the darkened street in the deep of night.

A figure appears at an upper storey window, staring out into the night with an air of cautious contentment: a pale and thin woman with very short hair dressed in rags and cast offs. He would recognise her again if he saw her - her frail form, coupled with her brutally short hair, makes her very distinctive.

Pixel and Abacus converse while Anima walks to the old shop, cycling though spells as he goes.

The spirit moves to one side and makes a welcoming gesture.

<There are none here besides yourself and your friends. Many people have sought out this place because it is safe. They come to this place tired and hungry with no possessions beyond what they can carry. I stand guard while they sleep and they rest easy. You are welcome here>

[Winter]

"T's alright", he says, mumbling off a Thank you shortly afterwards.
His sight returns to the present, leaving him with as many - perhaps more - questions as he had started with. Who was this woman, why did she drain the Hallow and what was the origin of her hunger?
"It was a woman", he says, "right over there", he points a finger at the window.

[Anima]

"Oh, are there many such weary souls residing in you now? Has there been a recent incident that weakened the uh... vitality of this place?" Anima inquires of the spirit.

He motions towards the others, one moment please, as he converses in the Spirit Tongue with the Unseen.

[Pixel]

"If you can describe as precisely as possible I can try to Find her."

Or Scry. Either way the Warlock offers his best to the Guardian before returning his attention to Abacus.

"Car to where? Do we want to head out or wait for..... that."

A finger points to Anima.

[Winter]

"Hmm", he says, acknowledging the younger mage's words with a nod. Unknowingly, the kid has just given him one great idea.
"Let me see what I can do for you", thus he begins chanting anew. Cyan and White glyphs come into life, and the Guardian's hands plunge forward as if they were taking hold of something invisible. His tongue rolls in his mouth, and silky strands of prima materia start dancing across the air, spurn into a pattern.
The girl's jacket, he thinks. If those rags could be called one, that's it.

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-01-18 16:34:58		Winter rolls 6 to Temporal Phantasm imp + HS (10 Again)		3, 6, 4, 4, 1, 9		1 success

He postcognited the scene, so he's gonna summon an echo of the girl's clothes. Temporal phantasms don't have any ability superior to the original, though the spell description says it physically duplicates the original object’s external properties in every detail, down to the last nick, scratch, marking and resonance imprint.
I assume the resonance imprint would hold a generic sympathetic link to the owner

[Winter]

Bookkeeping

[Abacus]

"Deeper into the...oh --"

"You've a point."

Abacus backtracked yet again, standing behind Anima and tapping him on the shoulder.

"Care to share or are you going to just keep talking to things we can't see but have a sneaking suspicion that they're present?"

[Yumyumcrow]

<No. I am quite alone, now> the spirit responds to Anima .

Continuing their conversation, the entity frowns deeply when the mage indicates the environment has changed. The entity withdraws within itself. And then...

<There is nothing to draw here. Then I must find sustenance elsewhere>

The mask of friendliness fades into a blank mask with human features and the entity prepares to leave.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-01-18 21:17:54		Guardian Spirit to Draw Essence rolls 6 to Power + Finesse - Gauntlet (10 Again, WillPower)		5, 1, 2, 4, 4, 7		failure

Anima will know that spirits act strangely; he will also be aware that they congregate where they can find sustenance. Evidently the change to the local Resonance is already having an impact.

A cursory investigation of the building will confirm that people have passed through recently but there is no one there now. The lead is exhausted.

Winter summons forth an incredibly detailed image of the woman's clothes - or what he had seen of them. There is a grimy T shirt, under a checked red-and-black shirt, with the upper portions of some mangey looking jeans. The jacket she wore over the shirt is revealed to be so shredded and worn it barely counts as protection for the cold nights. The garments hover in the air, pale and ethereal like fairy lights.

[Anima]

Anima glances back over to the others, seeing Winter hard at work. He walks inside, speaking with the spirit as he does.

"I can help with that, I can lead you to a new a home, but I need some help first. Do you know what happened here to remove the source of your sustenance?"