Blue Octavo

Location	Sacramento
Date Began	2015/03/18
Storyteller(s)	Casitive
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A Double murder. A major crime. Possible Occult links. That’s what draws Star to the scene to investigate. Under the cover of a student reporter Star gained entrance to the crime scene, led through it by Detective Barton. Inviting Pepper and Einstein to the scene to assist, Star followed Barton inside to find the smell and sight of blood along with a nerve-wracking message on the wall written in Higher Speech disguised as gibberish.

Inside Star found connections to corrupted versions of Prime and Spirit in the words, as well as a spiral of Death. Outside, Pepper and Einstein tried to piece their own things together. Pepper confirmed Molina’s role in the hierarchy as well as the location of the bodies in the van, while Einstein opened her eyes to the Twilight and the spirits. What Einstein saw outside the house was a nightmarish spider-like spirit with a false human head and angler fish-like teeth that patrolled the front of the house like a guard dog. Then, the spirit of violence and blood scratched at the door to the house, where the violence and blood had come from.

As he looked around, Star could see that the victims were an older couple, married for a long time, with no thoughts that their blood would one day be used to spell out a crazed message. He could tell that the man was murdered in the living room while the woman was murdered in her own bed. And Barton worried it would happen again.

Meanwhile Pepper witnessed the moment that the bodies were found, and the scream that followed it. Einstein, at the same time, lured the spider-like spirit towards her. The words “Blood. Hate. White. Rage.” escaped the spirit's mouth. Einstein asked why it wasn’t anchored, and all it said was “Opportunity,” “Mine”, and “Anchor”.

Back inside the house, Barton revealed that the hearts of the victims were taken, ripped from their chest, while outside the Spider Spirit continued to approach Einstein before finally shambling away.^[1]

Later, in Einstein’s van, Star wrote out the words written in victim’s blood on the walls and Einstein set to deciphering them. What she uncovered was, first, that the words were part of a ritual, and second, that they contained fragments of different Arcana. Prime ad Unmaking, with a spiral of death and perverted Life were present. But the real Rune that stuck out, the calling card of the killer, was Compelling, Spirit, and Obrimos.^[2]

Soon after, Star brought Arthur and July into the investigation where July connected the writing to the Demiurge.^[3] After reaching out to their contacts, July and Arthur both received notifications of another murder.^[4]

Around that same time, Einstein had brought Crowley in and the two of them went back to the first crime scene for another look. After many minutes of crashed entrances and neighbors nearly missing Crowley, the duo finally got inside the house. Crowley became overcome with the smells emanating from the room of death, so Einstein decided to look around and found a flyer that said:

'“Recover Your Lives. Change it. Take Charge of It. Let us Show you The Way.

Ever Forward“

Back in the murder room, Crowley recovered from his aversion to the smells and slowly looked back in time, finding the sight of a man in shadows over the body of the woman, her heart in his hand. Upon a further look, Crowley could make out a tall, broad, Caucasian man with a very particular nose. Hopefully he could remember the pieces he saw.^[5]

In another part of the city, a down and forgotten area, July, Arthur, and Star arrived to find a new victim. Talking to Detective Barton, Star discovered that the new victim was a Jane Doe, found in an alleyway and most likely a prostitute, with no clear connection to the first victims. Protesters against the violence in their streets stood beyond the police line, disinterested in talking to former marshals about their fears. The same words were scrawled on the wall of the alley in the victim’s blood and this victim too had heart taken. ^[6] In an old church serving as a community center, Einstein and Crowley arrived at the Ever Forward meeting with a desire to look for clues about the identity of the killer. The meeting was for those who wanted to fight addiction and the two magi enter under that guise. Bankers, businessmen, prostitutes, and addicts; all types of people sat in the room, all suffering from their own problems. A woman led the discussion, but above all in the front was a man name Jason who radiated charisma. Neither the woman nor the man at the front showed any signs of being awaken to the Truth.

As the two mages did their best to blend in, Crowley continued to look around, trying to find a face that matched his memory. During his search he found three potential suspects. Jason, the obvious, most likely suspect, as well as two others who may fit the description of who he saw.

After they both spoke about their personas, Einstein tried to shift the conversation towards the murder of the older couple. Silence filled the room and Jason mentioned how terrible it all was. Only then did Crowley notice that Jason had a nose similar to the particular one swaddled in darkness. Then, without much more, Jason killed the meeting, ending it for the night. ^[7]

In an attempt to merge the information of the two groups, Star, Arthur, July, Einstein, and Crowley all met at a diner to speak and plan their next move. After some sharing of information, the group split up again to continue their respective investigations, with Jason and two unknown people as the most likely suspects. ^[8]

Inviting Faust to the Veiled Threats sanctum to try and find more pieces to the puzzle, the four mages looked over the clues they have thus far and came up with a plan to attend the meeting and see Jason for themselves. ^[9]

At the Ever Forward meeting, Star, Arthur, July, and Faust tried to find more clues to confirm who the murderer was. As Faust gazed across the Gauntlet he saw grotesque Gluttony-Addiction spirits shambling around that connected to a woman with a clear drug addiction.

Looking at Jason, the man in the front, Star saw that he had an array of colors in his aura; gold, bright green, and violet tango. Strangely though, Jason’s aura was muted and weak. July on the other hand noticed that Jason was different than the host of people around them, sitting still and calm with hawkish eyes.

Eventually, Faust went into the history of his ‘nickname’ with the group, revealing an obsession with demons as a way to try and drag out the suspect. Meanwhile, Star attempted to view Jason’s very soul, only to discover that the Underworld waited for Jason. He clearly suffered from one of several derangements, but was he a delusional witness, suffered from suspicion, zealotry, or a supernatural fascination? All Star knew for sure was that something was deeply wrong with Jason.

July on the other hand reached out through Time to see if Jason would kill again, receiving a simple ‘’Yes’’. Upon Faust picking the new name ‘Ainos’ Jason revealed his knowledge about Greece, clues of his potential connection to the writing on the walls. Upon leaving, July attempted to take a piece of Jason’s sympathy home with him, only to fail miserably. ^[10]

Back at the Veiled Threats sanctum the team came up with two new plans to proceed. Arthur and July headed to the original crime scene while Faust and Star looked into meeting Jason again. July’s contact gave him the date and time of death for the victim before they head out, to make sure he caught a glimpse of the killer. ^[11]

Star and Faust went to the next meeting of Ever Forward, but unfortunately the plan fell apart for any new information was gained. ^[12] At the first crime scene, Arthur created a sound bubble to hide the sound of July as he shot out a window on the back door in order to gain them entrance. July postcognitioned the living room, only to reveal a man crumpling to the ground along with a shadowed man holding a blood knife in his hand, just as the figure went to make his way upstairs.

They found their way to the upstairs bedroom and July looked back in time again, his connection much stronger this time, and found the woman dead, her heart being removed from her lifeless body. He moved around the room to get a better sight of the past, reconnecting again to see the man even better. As time went back to that very moment, but from a different angle, July saw a smile that would haunt his dreams forever. The smile of someone Dangerous and Mad. He could also tell the man was Caucasian and older.

But as they were leaving it all clicked together for July. Jason had salt and pepper hair, and the murderer was older. Both Jason and the murderer were Caucasian. And the murderer that he had the exact same build as Jason. He knew that Jason was the Murderer.^[13]

Back at the Sanctum July passed on the information he had gained while the group debated about Jason when they all remembered information about the Mad that drove them all to the conclusion that Jason truly was Mad. At the same time Star connected Jason to the Echo Walkers. The pieces had finally fallen into place for the group, though some still had doubts, so after bringing in Avis the four of them went to go to confront Jason and, if they confirmed he was the killer, end his reign of terror. ^[14]

Arriving at the meeting, Star easily managed to blend in with the group, while Arthur, July, and Avis all attempted to disguise themselves. But Jason easily saw through their disguises and called them out, one by one. Standing up, July directly confronted Jason, accusing him of being a Murderer in front of all. Avis and Arthur both attempted to distance themselves from the Acanthus, while Star tried to scare the sleepers into leaving by screaming about July’s guns.

In response, Jason said, “I am the chosen of the Ones before.” and transformed himself into a golden winged angel with eyes all over his wings. He shouted ”I am Yaltabaoth. Agent of the End and Shepherd of the Kingdom of Heaven. Murderer? I'm a Savior” just as everything turned to pandemonium.

As Star turned off the lights to the room, Avis attempted to read Jason’s mind to seek some form of confirmation for herself. After a counter battle between Jason and Star ensued, Avis learned the answer she was looking for, that Jason, without a doubt, was the Murderer. But the fight was not over yet…^[15]

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