They Knew Too Much

Location	Sacramento
Date Began	2014/05/21
Storyteller(s)	Cross
(TKTM) Some Things Don't Belong Online (TKTM) You Never Know Who People Are Online (TKTM) Guardians Today Do Work Online (TKTM) People Act Bigger Online (TKTM) More Complicated Than It Seemed Online (TKTM) A Fustercluck 'Cause of Peeps Online
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They Knew Too Much began when the Awakened noticed a Veil breach in progress on an internet forum, darksidesacramento.com, wherein two witnesses to a magical murder were openly discussing what they had seen.. Subsequent investigation and consultation with Fate led the Mages to a lower class neighbourhood in South Sacramento. After some misadventures, the Awakened pulled together and determined that the breach was caused by two police officers. Through a clever ruse augmented by magic, the Mages were able to persuade them to shut their mouths. They were given a photograph of the perpetrator of the murder, and the breach was sealed.

• Chronicled from 21 May 2014 to 14 August 2014

Some Things Don't Belong Online

The team, comprised of Zodiac, Star and Nous of the Guardians of the Veil and Autolycus of the Mysterium, gathered at the Circle of Creation to meet and discuss what had been found online. After greeting one another and making introductions, the Awakened compared notes. They determined that the posters were named Blue17 and Decimal, and they were posting about an electrocution that occurred in South Sacramento.^[1] Apparently, a man was shooting lightning out of his hands. They also discovered a great deal on Viagra^[2]. There was a debate as to how to proceed: some suggested that the priority ought to be the murderer, while the others were concerned about the witnesses.

The team split up to look into different angles. Star attempted to set up an interview with the witnesses by sending them a private message on the site, to no avail^[3]. He then enjoyed The Best Shower In History, coming out smelling like a champion. Nous prepared for the interview that never quite came.Zodiac traced the IP addresses of the accounts, following both to a single IP in South Sacramento and finding a name: David Barton^[4]. Autolycus found the details of the murder in the newspaper after researching it at the library. Apparently, powerlines had come down on the deceased, a schoolteacher named Felix Harris. Using a magnifying glass, he found an address: 5600 Mendocino Boulevard in South Sacramento.^[5] He prepared folders. They were well-received by all, and provided additional information on follow-up.^[6]

Narrowing the address down for David Barton was a matter of Fate. Applying the Synchronicity spell to the situation, Nous found the address: an apartment building at 5610 Mendocino^[7].

And so the team went, preparing to find the witnesses and silence them.

You Never Know Who People Are Online

The team split up to face the situation before them. After all, there was a lot of ground to cover. Star and Nous started off on overwatch outside the building, while Autolycus and Zodiac moved into the building to try to figure out where David Barton lived^[8]. Some suspicion had arisen among the Mages that their breach involved police officers. Police officers were around. Caution ensued.

Autolycus and Mandy approached the building, the door to which the Mystagogue opened with Loosen the Threads^[9]. Meanwhile, Star and Nous discussed Nous's possible involvement in the pornography industry. She was unimpressed. Very. Unimpressed. The team inside discovered a camera. Zodiac called Star in to deal with it^[10]. The Obrimos quickly and efficiently disabled and cleared the cameras.

Autolycus magically opened the mailroom off the lobby^[11]. They searched the mail with incredible speed, finding David Barton's address in Suite 305. A lucky find in a different mailbox determined that Officer Leah Penderson lived with him – and that Penderson had a child living with her as well.

The team in the mailroom had a complication: someone was coming. Autolycus attempted to kiss Zodiac as a distraction^[12], but without avail; the lady Guardian was having none of it. Unfortunately, the interruption was a big construction worker who asked them what they were doing back there^[13]. Zodiac convinced him that Autolycus was a suitor giving her trouble about sex^[14], which caused the big guy to get up in Autolycus's face.

A potent hex was administered. The construction worker was defeated by a crippling temporary loss of testosterone^[15].

Armed with their newfound information, Autolycus and Zodiac proceeded upstairs. Star and Nous reunited outside the building.

People Act Bigger Online

Autolycus and Zodiac went to Suite 305 to confront their breach. After a cunning ruse relating to her mail and a harassing ex-boyfriend that the cops saw right through, they got their first look at Leah Penderson^[16]. A stunning blonde with a serious attitude, Penderson asked Zodiac for her name and told her to contact the police if he kept bugging her^[17].

Zodiac cut to the chase, using Passion Link to excite Penderson about talking about the subject of the man throwing lightning around before beginning to ask her about it^[18]. Inside the apartment, though, they heard a suspicious sound of a closet door quietly closing inside.^[19] They were invited inside by Penderson, and the dynamic duo joined her.

Excited by the magic's application, Penderson revealed that she had indeed seen someone shooting lightning out of his hands^[20]. She asked the Mages how they'd found out about it. They tried to play it off as coincidence, but Penderson was having none of it.

Weapons were drawn, and Barton came out of the closet with a shotgun. Pepper spray was deployed against Autolycus, whose armor protected him^[21]. The pair tried to talk the cops down^[22], with Autolycus explaining that they were investigating the situation on their own, and Zodiac putting some realism into the situation by claiming that the lightning man was using a technological device like Iron Man^[23].

The conversation ended the fight, and Penderson demanded their real names^[24]. Zodiac cast Eternal Now to create memory issues in both police officers – and her partner, Autolycus, who immediately became suspicious of her^[25]. Zodiac provided her name. Autolycus refused and was ejected by the cops. Confusion was abound, and the cops weren't believing anything anybody was saying.

Guardians Today Do Work Online

Meanwhile, Star and Nous were outside, looking into the scene of the crime at the intersection near 5600 Mendocino Boulevard. The scene was too old for mundane investigation, but throgh the use of Fate, they found a couple of children playing in the street who appeared resident to the area^[26]. One was a gangsta gal riding a lean-back bicycle named Shaniqua^[27]. Her friend was an older boy always texting on a cellular phone named Alejandro.

After receiving significant attitude from Shaniqua, Nous paid her off with a ridiculous sum of money for useful information on what had happened in the intersection^[28]. Sure enough, the local girl had learned something important: there was a third witness, a child by the name of Tommy Burns, who was telling everyone he knew about Lightning Hands^[29]. The Quiescence had worked its magic on Shaniqua, but the little boy was still talking.

Armed with that information, Star and Nous joined the others inside.

More Complicated Than It Seemed Online

Zodiac was alone inside the police officers' apartment, trying to complete the mission and convince the skeptical cops of her idea that Lightning Hands was using technology^[30]. Meanwhile, the other three were trying to figure out a way to get someone inside – but when he left, Autolycus's Eternity Now ended and he found himself dazed and confused as to what was going on at all due to gaps in his memory^[31].

The cops were more and more suspicious by the sheer number of people they could hear outside their door, and it looked like they were preparing for more violence^[32]. Zodiac and Nous talked them down enough to allow a phone call to be opened up between those outside and those within^[33], and the negotiations revealed that the child, Tommy, was entirely and distinctly separate from the police officers^[34]. It seemed that the breach was wider than expected.

While Autolycus and Star exited the building to watch for any incoming police backup, Nous and Mandy made a last-ditch effort to try to persuade the police officers that they were all on the same side and that they should let Nous inside^[35]. Unfortunately, they were not successful, and were ordered to leave by the police^[36].

Defeated, or so it seemed – but the Eternal Now was still in play. Chaos reigned within the team as tensions between Autolycus and Zodiac rose and rose. The Awakened regrouped to put together their next move.

A Fustercluck 'Cause of Peeps Online

Nous persuaded her new friend Shaniqua to invite Tommy Burns out, using Flo-Rida as a bribe^[37]. After all, it'd be creepy if some random woman was asking a child to come outside. The others stepped away, and Autolycus and Zodiac's working relationship ended with middle fingers^[38] and angry words shared between Guardians in a car^[39]. The police officers seemed to be a wash...

...but Fate worked in strange ways, and an old spell cast by Nous bore unexpected fruit.

The police officers came out just after Tommy, and suddenly, opportunity arose^[40]. Leaving the car and Zodiac, Star did something he knew well how to do. Lie. In the biggest way he could.

Adopting the personality of Toby Esterhase, a young but serious Assistant to the Deputy Special Agent in Charge, Star got the others to back his play^[41]. Zodiac provided magical support through Emotional Urging, and as a group, they sold the cops a huge lie: an Other Government Agency was on the case, and they needed to be quiet for the sake of their careers and the protection of the public. The play went off perfectly. After all, the cops just wanted to protect people, and teaching a kid that Iron Man was involved^[42]?

Gangbusters.

For their efforts, the Awakened received assurances of silence from the cops and a still photograph of Mr. Lightning Hands. Useful for sympathy, in the right hands^[43]. Victorious, the Awakened departed from Mendocino Boulevard. Their teamwork may have been shaken, but between silencing the breach, getting a lead on their killer, and Nous gaining a new contact in the form of a gangsta gal, the investigation was successful.