(AGTOO) Curing Hangover

**Kaze** · Mar 10th, 2020 05:49 PM

Kaze shakes his head. Someone was going to have to get into details. "So, one minutes I'm walking across the dance floor, and then everyone is frozen and distorted, and then we all fall down into some kind of pit, and then I am pushing on a wall, and it gives way and a tentacle with sharp blades cuts me and tries to pull me through." Kaze says. "Mind bending like that."

He shakes his head. "I got away from it, and then my phone rings with a blocked number, and a voice, all distorted and electronic tells me to start a fire, then hangs up." Kaze shrugs. "I didn't have any better ideas at that point, and when I did it, the fire door opened and the sprinklers came on, and we got out of there."

Mar 12th, 2020 05:37 PM

He rolls his shoulders when she speaks of traps. Could he have done more to ensure the place was safe? Nah, impossible. No amount of hacking or research could've possibly prepared them for what was inside.

"One of my contacts gave me an IP address, which I traced back to that club. The whole point of that trip was to convince an Oracle - an independent informant - to tell us the address of a warehouse in Oakland, from which a certain group of people - I'm guessing the Seers or their mundane agents - operated. Because go figure, this mystery had another layer to it, one involving stolen art and bogus offshore companies. I'm all but certain these trails are ice cold by now, though" Any other scenario seemed grossly improbable. Whoever was behind this had to know they are being investigated by now, so they must've either switched operations or at least hide them under so much magical and mundane occultation uncovering it would take years "That whole exchange I had looks suspicious in hindsight, so it's possible someone got convinced, intimidated or duped into selling us out, but there's no way to know at this point" And he'd rather not rattle anyone by asking at this point.

"To be honest... we're not sure" He admits when Phoenyx asks about the USB's contents "We know it had sympathetic connection to Campanella, and its aura was soaked in Mind, Space and Death magic. But there was more than that. A strong undertone of the Abyss, which both partly explains why it was so unique, and why it was impossible to crack without knowing a password"

He wants to somehow acknowledge Kaze's experience of pits, tentacles and robocallers, but what can you say after hearing something like that? Well, at least it seems their experiences were similar in theme, if not details. Still, something needs to be said, so Shodan uses the go-to phrase for situations like that:

"Damn, that's crazy"

**Phoenyx** · Mar 13th, 2020 07:56 AM

The Arrow nods to Kaze. "I has similar - dozens of arms reaching out from an epheric wall overlaying the original, filling the corridor and pursuing me. It was... distrubing."

Phoenyx sips her tea, listening to Shodan. By the end she is frowning. "So.... leaving aside that we didn't know the informant, the short version is we didn't know what the address was for, or who was operating out of it, or why?" She sets her tea down. "I do not understand. What made this warehouse different form all the thousands of warehouses operating every day? Why were even looking into this?"

She looks up. "If an item with a sympathetic connection to Campenella is missing, he needs to know. Those connections need to be severed." The Arrow sighs lightly. "It seems this whole event was a failure. Not only did we fail to acquire our sought information, we lost several resources in the process." The tone isn't critical, but clearly irked.

**Kaze** · Mar 15th, 2020 05:27 PM

"Definitely sounds like we need to follow up with Campanella, and probably Winter too." Kaze agrees with Phoenyx.

He looks at Shodan. "Sounds like we're at a dead end anyway, right?"

Mar 16th, 2020 03:10 PM

He sighs, then looks at Phoenyx "Look, I told you there were other clues and leads to this, which we would've investigated if things went according to plan. And like I said, the Seers likely had a stake in this warehouse, in which they kept stolen art that was related to Campanella and his... dreams, I guess. I think he mentioned something like that. The point is all of this would've made a lot more sense if we weren't derailed by Abyssal monsters. I hope" They had some breadcrumbs, but not nearly enough to make a coherent picture. If only that meeting actually went as planned...

The Libertine thinks for a moment before responding to the other thing "Do we really need to involve Winter in this? I mean, he's not Sentinel anymore. And unless there are any objections, I will tell Campanella about this thing. Technically speaking I was the one who lost the stick, there's no need for either of you to be associated with this fuckup" It brought a weird kind of comfort that he'll bear the brunt of the Moros' likely displeasure. After all, he can't fall much lower in terms of status here, so what can the man do to him?

**Phoenyx** · Mar 16th, 2020 05:33 PM

Phoenyx fixes Shodan with a stare. "You literally just said you were guessing Seers operated there. In other words, we don't know, likely as not, and trying to tie these things together with possibility doesn't make it true." She sips her tea, eyes not leaving Shodan. "No, the point is we did not uncover anything we started out to find. The point is never "if things had gone a different way we would have the result we wanted", because that is only a wishful thought."

She shrugs. "Three Obrimos walk into an abyssal trap and fall dependent on a mysterious cabal of strangers for their successful escape, and you are suggesting that the Councillor of the Obrimos remain unaware, so the Council and the other mages of Sacramento are not made aware of this potentially dangerous location and group living here in the city." The sentence is delivered in a level deadpan. Hopefully Shodan would realise the absurdity of his suggestion.

**Kaze** · Mar 16th, 2020 10:19 PM

Kaze nods. "Yeah, as Obrimos Councillor, we really have to tell Winter first...before anyone else." He winces visibly at the thought even as he agrees with Phoenyx.

He looks at Shodan. "I'll go with you, to tell him. You will have to do most of the talking though, because I still don't have the whole picture of how we ended up there and who were were dealing with."

Mar 17th, 2020 08:18 AM

He sighs heavily "We had exactly as much information as we could have hoped for in that moment. I'm sorry it doesn't stand up to your ideal, but I think we can all agree no one could have predicted... this" Because really, a cabal of rival mages or a limited Abyssal intrusion was well within Shodan's expectations. But this? No way.

The Libertine throws up his hands in defense, not feeling like fighting about it - they are, after all, telling others, namely Campanella, and Shodan would feel a hell of a lot better if this stayed discreet until the ex-Hierarch permits them to share all the details "Fine. You can tell Winter. I personally would like to avoid contact until my trial is finally resolved" And after that there will be other things to talk about "And sure, when we meet up with Campanella, I can do the talking" He says to Kaze.

**Phoenyx** · Mar 18th, 2020 06:08 AM

Really? Shodan thought he got to be long-suffering now?

"Yes, we did. And we have exactly the same now," Phoenyx says matter-of-factly. "This isn't anything to do with ideals, and I'm not saying anyone should have predicted it. What I am saying is we attempted to follow a trail to acquire evidence to support a theory, and gained none, so any ideas of the warehouse operatives remain a theory. This is a fact."

She nods. "I can talk with Winter." Having either of the other two bring him bad news did not seem like the best idea. She wasn't overly fond of it herself, but passing such information along was still right, which made it easier to do so.

**Kaze** · Mar 18th, 2020 10:12 PM

"I didn't mean, Ca-" Kaze starts to say, then he listens to Phoenyx and nods, sighing. "Yeah, okay. That's definitely the Wise way to do it." He says.

He looks at Shodan, "So, we let Phoenyx tell Winter first, then me and you go tell Campanella? Deal? Maybe let Winter check out the situation, like if the place is still there, and if anyone was hurt, I mean, permanently."

(AGTOO) Curing Hangover

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