Shadows of San Francisco: Next moves

[ReubanBrightwood]

Skye LadySin
Abyssalstar Thirteen

Skye had stepped over a line and the enchantress made sure the shaman knew it. Mages, even those of the free council are a private bunch, and jealousy keep what is there's if for no other reason then their own safety. Still despite the clearly cold and angry demeanor of he Councillor Skye's previous good deeds seem to have won her enough grace that the offence is being counterbalanced. But the point has been made, do not do that again.

As for song well Elvis does not have strong ties to Sacramento directly even if there is a lot of tribute bands and plays performed about the king of rock and roll, however Thirteens fate attuned senses pick out certain words from those Skye repeats from the song and its themes.

caught
trap
cant walk out
mistrust
doubt
broken dynamics

Narrowing the field of possibility, painting a clearer picture about what fate was trying to lead them to regarding this unknown mage and his fate.

Something that they might have an opportunity to explore sooner then later because Thirteens phone dings a message, one from a contact that she has not heard from in some time ,MillieZapper has sent an e-mail, with the subject, you still into cryptids?

[Thirteen]

The words jumped out at her, as if visually brightened against the darker static of reality. Thirteen's anger softened as her attention was focused on the message. Trapped? Mistrust? The last one, broken dynamics, felt the most odd. Was the Mage trapped somewhere?

The email surprised her, then sent a chill down her spine. MillieZapper, one of the Hunters.

"This can't be a coincidence..." she muttered, as Jinx hopped onto her shoulder to see the phone clearly.

"Oh, is that the Hunter girl you met? Hey, wasn't she chasing this turtle guy you're looking for? What great timing!"

The Libertine merely nodded, not really sure it was so great, and opened the email to see what it said.

Equipment

Dedicated magical tool, light revolver (2L), knife (1L), motorcycle, motorcycle helmet, motorcycle jacket (1/0), smartphone, ID and some cash, keychain with keys, driving gloves, bottled water, ink pen and notepad, backpack, duct tape, flashlight baton, toolkits (electronics & automotive) in motorcycle saddlebags.

Spells and Stats

Active spells: (R6) Sybils Sight (Mage Sight, cloaked), (R6) Fortunes Protection (Mage Armor, cloaked).
Health:
Mana:
Willpower:
Defense: 3
Armor: 3 (spell), 1/0 (jacket)
Initiative: 6
Speed: 10
Spell Tolerance: 2/2
Spell Control: 2/6
Paradox: 1

[ReubanBrightwood]

The fate aided hint to her goals certainly seemed to contain the theme of being trapped of caught, although it has offered no clear hint as to where? But it is also worth bearing in the mind the fate imbued hint was a product of Skye's spell casting and the hint therefore would be something that she in theory should have a chance of being able to interpret or work out as it was intended to the arrow not the libertine. so Does Skye know where already? is it something the force of fate deem she should be able to work out from that hint alone?

The e-mail so suspiciously timed and so alarmingly e-mailed contained a link to a video

The video link if opened

A short eight second clip not dissimilar to the one of the tortoise only this is of a bug in a jar, it looks like a cockroach except that it it has the mandibles of an ant the legs of a spider. A fresh new chimera for the nightmare fuel as it scuttles up and down the glass walls snapping those mandibles that for the heck of it seem to be dripping some kind of venom, the ants own just scaled up or another product of it's spider heritage? and most importantly it does not explode

[Thirteen]

Thirteen, internet savvy since a young age, was very wary of opening email links from people she didn't know or trust. They were often an invite for viruses and identity theft. But since she intended to destroy this phone soon (thanks to Skye getting her Resonance cooties all over it), the Acanthus threw caution to the wind and checked the video.

"Shite," she grumbled. "Looks like Leonardo has a new cousin. Some sort of bug amalgamation. Millie has it, or knows where it is."

"That guy you're looking for, he made those weird little critters, right?" the familiar asked.

"They were a side-effect of whatever he was tryin' to do, or so he claimed. If Millie has video of this, then he's still around town, and still doin' things he shouldn't."

A thousand questions jumped into her head, and Thirteen rewatched the video as she sorted through her thoughts. Perhaps it was their empathic link at work, but Jinx echoed one of the Libertine's ideas.

"Sooooo.... how do we find this mad scientist without getting involved with the Hunters again?" The crow spoke as if he'd been there during the redhead's original encounters with MillieZapper and her angry friend. He hadn't, of course. He was just including himself in Thirteen's past adventures.

"Not sure we can."

Her brown eyes flicked towards the Arrow, who, despite being on the Enchantress' shit list at the moment, was still her partner in this escapade.

"Thoughts?"

Equipment

Dedicated magical tool, light revolver (2L), knife (1L), motorcycle, motorcycle helmet, motorcycle jacket (1/0), smartphone, ID and some cash, keychain with keys, driving gloves, bottled water, ink pen and notepad, backpack, duct tape, flashlight baton, toolkits (electronics & automotive) in motorcycle saddlebags.

Spells and Stats

Active spells: (R6) Sybils Sight (Mage Sight, cloaked), (R6) Fortunes Protection (Mage Armor, cloaked).
Health:
Mana:
Willpower:
Defense: 3
Armor: 3 (spell), 1/0 (jacket)
Initiative: 6
Speed: 10
Spell Tolerance: 2/2
Spell Control: 2/6
Paradox: 1

[ReubanBrightwood]

The hunters do prove a dangerous if however effective means of possibly locating the errant mage again. Or the bug might if they can get a hold of it, it must have a history after all a point of creation to it's current form. However something looks a little off about the critter, given the Enchantress experience of the unknown mages handiwork it niggles her brain as the video plays on auto loop and the bug scrambles about the glass jar. Strange beyond the fact it is not exploding under the pressure of disbelief, because well if Millie is a bonafide hunter ... it wouldn't ... disbelief did not seem to apply to those who had seen past the lies of reality and made the choice? been chosen? pushed into? the role of hunting down everything that should in their view never be.

Can Thirteen make a wits+Occult roll

[Thirteen]

Here you go

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-08-19 13:50:48	Thirteen rolls 5 to Wits + Occult (10 Again)	4, 5, 8, 10, 9, 10, 1	4 successes

[ReubanBrightwood]

Seeing it play again and again Thirteen picks up on a subtle but possibly important difference. Leonardo and his fellow horrors had been perfect fusions of creature. The blend of feature seamlessly integrated to create well the new and or mythical. This bug lacks that total perfection, it looks more like the handiwork of a Dr. Frankenstein figure, parts more grafted together and stuck into each other. That is except of course for the size each part does looks correctly sized for the shape and mass of the bug as a whole. Yet clearly an inferior (yet still magical) method has been used to bring this bug into it's current state.

[Thirteen]

"Wait..." Thirteen muttered.

She peered more closely at the video, working to pick out details in the moving images. Something about it was bugging her (pun unintended) and took a moment to figure out why. The patchwork nature of the insect wasn't right.

"This is amateur work. Not on the same level as his previous critters." The Acanthus frowned. "Either he's gotten sloppy, or this isn't him."

Jinx tilted his head to one side, a very bird-like gesture, "If it's not your guy's work, then who's?"

She shrugged. "Millie and her crew couldn't pull off somethin' like this. Hunters aren't Sleepers, exactly, but they don't do magic."

"We sure the video just isn't fake?" her familiar proposed the possibility.

The idea was considered, then rejected with a shake of her head. "Nae, this isn't some A.I. slop."

Once more she looked at Skye, who'd been awfully quiet.

Equipment

Dedicated magical tool, light revolver (2L), knife (1L), motorcycle, motorcycle helmet, motorcycle jacket (1/0), smartphone, ID and some cash, keychain with keys, driving gloves, bottled water, ink pen and notepad, backpack, duct tape, flashlight baton, toolkits (electronics & automotive) in motorcycle saddlebags.

Spells and Stats

Active spells: (R6) Sybils Sight (Mage Sight, cloaked), (R6) Fortunes Protection (Mage Armor, cloaked).
Health:
Mana:
Willpower:
Defense: 3
Armor: 3 (spell), 1/0 (jacket)
Initiative: 6
Speed: 10
Spell Tolerance: 2/2
Spell Control: 2/6
Paradox: 1