(Dry Hallow) End of Line

[Anima]

A grunt of acknowledgement as he interrupts his own study. He grabs some rags and wraps up the device, stuffing it in his bag for further study later. Scooping his bag he walks towards Winter. "Let us erase evidence of our presence and retreat to a secure location, an ambulance should be called for the woman."

He gazes around the room, ensuring he hasn't left anything behind that could betray him.


4 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-03-16 15:34:21		Anima rolls 5 to Perception (10 Again)		8, 5, 10, 9, 6, 8		4 successes

Dismissed Spells: Analyze Enchanted Item, Transform Base life. Active Spells: None

[Pixel]

Pixel watches the doctor work silently. He doesn't know anything about medicine and Winter scared him out of helping anyway.

"A person in need?"

The tone clearly marked Pixel's words as a question, but the look he was giving Winter was clearly defiant.

"Did you actually see her eat the hallow in your postcognition? She had a box in her stomach, a box we should study before making further assumptions."

And while Anima and Abacus examine the box and Winter watches the woman, Pixel is content watching Winter.

[Winter]

He shakes his head, again there was an unbridgeable divide between his perception and theirs. "It doesn't matter if she's the culprit or not". Guilt, morality, those were all fallible human categories. The Obrimos was a man of numbers, and all they had right now were the ruthless odds of survival and a drained Hallow. The woman was the only known witnesss. "We don't know what's causing this. If we're wrong and the device's influence runs deeper, we're sending a potential infectious hazard into a hospital. Are you willing to gamble away the life of dozens if not hundreds for the benefit of one?", there's no empathy in his tone. "Study the box and see what you get. Until then, she needs to be quarantined"

[Yumyumcrow]

Physical and metaphysical exhaustion was beginning to eat into Anima as he turned his attention to the box, the weight of his ever shifting tide of spells growing heavier and heavier. It was a relief to drop them all.

The good doctor has no idea what he is looking at, as he examines the box. With a bit of effort, he clears away some of the liquid covering the device and confirms the box is made from a variety of woods - ash, oak, rowan; wood with magical overtones. The liquid is beyond his ken at present, but the crystals are... Tass. Poor quality Tass but Tass nonetheless.

With the Sight he discerns the object is not Supernal. It is of the Fallen World. And for some reason it registers as a weak Hallow.


Abacus is working hard as well, pushing into a very uncomfortable place as he layers his aura with spells.

A familiar pile of faintly glowing spaghetti - the filaments of connection and interconnection - warp into view. The layer of glowing filaments do indicate a connection between the woman and the box - obviously - but they also fan away to the north. The woman has connections away to the west. The box's few connections point north-west, or else lightly entangle the woman.

Filaments of connection between the woman and the box also point south. And these connections are moving, curving slowly (but with increasing rapidity) to the east.

[Abacus]

Fate did weave around this woman. And the item. But its reach was wide. Too many variables. He had to narrow it down. Eyes closed and brow knit in contemplation, the Enchanter placed himself in the midst of these threads, spreading his vision across the expanse of their linkages and connections. He sat at the epicenter of their correlations, diving into and out of these threads once they revealed what they could to him.

Establish likelihood. Determine the strength of covariates. Compare the arithmetic means of Destiny itself.

Weigh the odds.

3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-03-17 07:21:54		[01] Abacus rolls 8 to Study the Threads (Box & Woman) -- Wits + Empathy + Fate (10 Again)		1, 1, 1, 10, 9, 7, 8, 1, 4		3 successes

3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-03-17 07:21:54		[02] Abacus rolls 8 to Study the Threads (Box & Woman) -- Wits + Empathy + Fate (10 Again)		7, 7, 4, 2, 8, 10, 2, 9, 7		3 successes

3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-03-17 07:21:54		[03] Abacus rolls 8 to Study the Threads (Box & Woman) -- Wits + Empathy + Fate (10 Again)		3, 3, 9, 1, 7, 8, 1, 8		3 successes

3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-03-17 07:21:54		[04] Abacus rolls 8 to Study the Threads (Box & Woman) -- Wits + Empathy + Fate (10 Again)		7, 5, 8, 4, 5, 6, 9, 8		3 successes

[Anima]

Wearily the shaman listens to the Guardian's complaints. He's too tired to argue with Winter. Then there's the fact that he's right, sort of.

"Medically, there is nothing further wrong with her. The object was is registering as a source of energy. I believe it was the cause of this issue. If you're afraid of her being a further issue, open your eyes and examine her for yourself. Some evil ass fucker created this device and implanted it in her, I'm willing to bet that mother fucker will be looking for her. My recommendation, is we stash her at a safe house, but I'm going to need actual medical supplies and a sterile environment to keep her alive. We'll also need to set up a defensive position for when el sicko comes looking for her, unless you want to go hunt down the bastard yourself. Please, by all means. I welcome you to do so."

He looks back at the woman resting. "We'll need to bring the car around to move her."

[Pixel]

Quarantine? That was an acceptable middle ground, if she hadn't just been cut open in the middle of a warehouse.

"Give me the box. I'm taking a look before we go anywhere."

Medical supplies and a sterile environment sounded like hospital to Pixel. Last he heard, people didn't just go in and take supplies. Not even doctors. The most liberal of hospitals was still meticulous in their inventory and spending.

"And if we can determine she's a sleeper and this was done to her, we're taking her to a hospital."

The doctor wasn't wrong that this was likely done to her, or that the person would in theory look for her, but those sympathetic ties used to trace someone would be severed long before they arrived at the hospital.

  10 suxx scrutiny assuuming the box is at least brought into view

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-03-18 10:10:05		[05] Pixel rolls 6 to Scrutinize (Int+Occ+DM1) (10 Again)		8, 5, 4, 9, 3, 3		2 successes
2020-03-18 10:10:05		[04] Pixel rolls 6 to Scrutinize (Int+Occ+DM1) (10 Again)		3, 3, 4, 10, 8, 9, 1		3 successes
2020-03-18 10:10:05		[03] Pixel rolls 6 to Scrutinize (Int+Occ+DM1) (10 Again)		7, 7, 7, 9, 4, 9		2 successes
2020-03-18 10:10:05		[02] Pixel rolls 6 to Scrutinize (Int+Occ+DM1) (10 Again)		1, 7, 2, 1, 1, 9		1 success
2020-03-18 10:10:05		[01] Pixel rolls 6 to Scrutinize (Int+Occ+DM1) (10 Again)		7, 8, 7, 10, 5, 3, 5		2 successes

[Yumyumcrow]

Abacus focusses his will and cycles through the varying layers of connection surrounding the woman and box.

The woman is not under any supernatural mind control or suffered any alteration of her destiny. There is Destiny attached to her, either. Her Known connections (for she has none that are Intimate) all streak away to the west. To the north, she has a series of Encountered and Described connections - nearly all of them are snarled together and head toward a single point; one of these is Acquainted. The connections that spiral away to the south (now south east as they begin to slide across his view with increased rapidity) are all Encountered.

The woman and the box share a fragile Known connection - this was not a fate made by choice but she did carry the box within her, and it did act upon her.

The box has much fewer strands to investigate. The box has connections to the north, following the exact line of connection as the woman. These connections are a mix of Encountered, Known and Intimate. The box has connections to the south-east just like the woman as well and these are Acquainted, Encountered, and Described - mostly Encountered and Described.
Pixel gets to look at the box. There is too much going on as Anima finishes up and Abacus completes his examination of the relevant threads, for there not to be an opportunity for the Libertine to examine the box.

Like Anima, he discovers that object is non-Supernal and a weak Hallow. He also picks out the objects chaotic Resonance. There is evidence of a number of signatures attached to the object but they are all obscured by the woman's signature as it is much more current.

[Winter]

This woman was present when a Hallow was drained, circumstances point toward her being part or somehow being related to one of the most heinous crimes imaginable to an Awakened. Provided that such Awakened was attentive when the Orders scooped him in for their usual how to be a Mage 101 Tutorial.
"Yo", to a Guardian the word Safehouse rhymes a bit too uncomfortably with the words Demesne, Hallow, Artifact. Doh, Circle. And sure as hell he isn't risking it.
Besides, sympathetic links, yo. "Is any of you an EOD expert?", because he's the Resident Obrimos and for all their talk, he's probably just one spell away from figuring the thing.

[Anima]

Yo, yo, yo, like his mouth was sponsored by Duncan.

"Exploitation of Dank? Eradication of Dirt? Entropic obfuscating death? Edge of Darkness? I am an Expert of Dope. Or an Example of Durability. Anyone with any material potential can see what's up. Its soul speaks to me bro. It's not a bomb. And I can guarantee you, she's not a bomb nor does she have one." And if it was, what's it gonna do, blow a whole in my bag? There is caution and there is paranoia. And paranoia is counterintuitive to wisdom.