[IC] Mage:The Awakening - Anthology of Power

[crapcarp]

It was fortunate that one of Phoenix's neighbors was nice enough to lend a shovel, since he didn't have time to get one yesterday. It was also fortunate that many blizzard-related incidents had reduced the attendence of his classes enough that he could take the day off. So he took the opportunity to get a shovel of his own before heading over to the hospital. With both shovel and bo staff in the backseat, he donned the magnetic gloves as he strolled in.

"Hey pops!" he greeted with a shot up hand as he approached the two.

[NoiseConspiracy]

The Nest

Astoria took off her glasses and set them on the table, slowly rubbing her temples. She had tried to work on the scroll immediately after taking it back to the Nest, but the cold combined with yesterday's attack had made her restless and running on something less than a full night's sleep. Even now, after a mostly restless night in her bed, she was feeling the ghost of exhaustion hanging around and continuing to torment her.

"You know that if Fell were still around he'd still be at it. Would you say the same to him?" She muttered with fingers against her eyelids, soft spots dancing in her eyes while she did so. "Don't answer that. He wouldn't have listened anyways. He didn't listen to me when I said the same thing."

Shaking her head, she blinked back the exhaustion and looked back at the scroll, taking her pen and continuing to take notes as she did so. "Either way, if we hadn't been attacked, you can rest assured I wouldn't be pushing. Someone else wants this. They may know what it is, and I don't. You don't need to guess how much that gets under my skin."

[Thorbes]

-Ah, we were just talking about you, son.- Doctor Bates shoock the young man's hand efusively. -I think both of you remember each other from yesterday's fateful night, but I'll make some formal introductions anyway: Stacey, this is Garrick Royce; Garrick, this is Stacey Collins.

After the introductions and some polite greetings were exchanged, Bates excused himself and Garrick from Ms. Collins and left for the patients' room. Bates had made sure they were treated as potentially dangerous and so they were restrained on their beds. His initial idea was to keep them into separate rooms, but the peak in activity due to the last night's accidents made it unadvisable. If there were going to be any witnesses of what they were about to do, they'd better be the other thugs.

-Good Morning! Please, do not get up.- Dr. Bates entered the room greeting the "patients" with a wide smile while they tried in vain to escape the restrains. -Well, it seems everything is in order, you will be leaving these facilities in no time. -he fliped through the chart pages, nodding at some points. -Just a few questions before you go, if you don't mind.-he said, pulling a syringue and bottle of liquid from his doctor's bag.

Giving his "patients" the back, he performed the secret mudras unseen over the bottle of distilled water. The liquid soon changed on a molecular level under the transmutative influence of Bardo's will. He filled the syringe from the bottle thrice, each time administering it through the intravenous dropper the three of them still had injected.

-Good, I think we are all ready, right?- He smiled. -Please, if you are so kind, my friend here has some question for you gentlemen. I advise you to be thorough and truthfull in your answers, otherwise I cannot guarantee you wont be leaving this room just to be taken to the morgue. Thank you. -he added without changing his cheerful demeanor.

-You can proceed, son.- The doctor said to Phoenix.

[crapcarp]

As they entered the room, Phoenix plopped onto a seat sitting across from all three of them. He had the smuggest smile all over his face as he shifted gazes between the three. "How's the nose, Reddy?" he mockingly chuckled in between Bardo's words. He complimented Bardo's veiled threat with a hearty crackin' of his knuckles. "Thank you, pops," he replied, all too eager to get started.

"So Reddy, Hogan, and Fox," he looked at them as he stated their names, "If those are your real names, that is, which we'll find out of course. But first, what I wanna know is: Are you after the briefcase yourselves, or are you just a bunch of grunts following orders? Also, who was your little back-up outside?"

[Techpriest]

Massachusetts General Hospital
Talat Reddy tried in vein to resist the effects of the drug, but you can't fight biology, especially when combined with a healthy (or unhealthy) dose of intimidation. After all, the convenient combination of a blown circuit and suddenly damaged shoes, then the sudden appearance of their adversary as a Doctor in the hospital to which they'd been sent...well that would have been disconcerting even without the mind affecting substance. Even so, Reddy would have had a much better chance to maintain the same level of composure he had showed at the Lower Depths without the pharmaceutical coursing through his veins.

"Cortex Industries..." Reddy spoke through a drug induced haze, his words slurred and disjointed "We were sent...for the scroll...but not just about orders...have to protect my team...the thing in the paintings...can't quit...die if you quit...have to keep pushing...have to get...free..."

The Nest
The letters and sentences of the Scroll twist and writhe, forming an unidentifiable and inconsistent pattern. The letters seem somehow incomplete, as if more were needed to make full sense of them. Meristoktrix remained mostly silent as you worked, busying himself with various pointless distractions. After a time though, he continued the previous conversation as if not a second had passed since it began.

"I see Fell passed on his dangerous curiosity to his prized student. It may not be the safest trait, but it certainly is highly valuable for a young Mystagogue. He would indeed be proud my dear. I suppose it's best to stop whatever it is these Sleepers are doing before it causes even greater trouble down the line."

[NoiseConspiracy]

"Trouble is where it starts, not ends." Astoria looked up from the scrolls after what seemed like an eternity. She looked over her scribbled notes, frowning at her own poor recreation of the scripting that she'd made while looking away. "It's that paranoia that kept him alive, as far as we know. There's a reason that the saying isn't 'Fortune Favors the Prudent.'"

She scoffed at her own bad joke, standing up and putting on a kettle of hot water, leaning against the counter as she looked back at the desk. "This scroll, it's...jumbled? Is that the word you'd use? Backwards, somehow...or just not whole. Bits missing in the text, in whatever formed it. Strange stuff." She looked towards Meristoktrix, raising an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you had a look at it at some point. What did you make of it?"

[Thorbes]

Bardo kept himself busy, taking blood samples from each of the thugs and then labeling them with the names that figured in their IDs. He should confirm if they were indeed their real ones and not asumed identities. He also took a quick picture from each of the patients with his cell phone's camera, hoping that that would be enough for someone actually versed in the Mysteries of Space to track and find those three if it ever became neccesary.

Bardo procured his notebook from inside Dr. Bate's coat and took note of the rather rambling answers of the man known as Reddy. When he mentioned the creature in the painting his heart skiped a beat. He certainly didn't expect that those people had actually notice the thing, less so that they were working for it under death threats. He felt almost sorry for them.

He made a quick nod to Phoenix to continue with the interrogation, he would take care of noting down anything of importance.

[crapcarp]

Phoenix recalled the emotions "Reddy" felt back at the Lower Depths as he rambled about the Abyssal. So that's why he knew, and why he was afraid before. I wonder...

"So did this 'Cortex Industries' set that..." Phoenix trailed off, searching for a more polite word, "...entity, of the paintings on you to make sure you'd retrieve the scroll?"

[Techpriest]

Massachusetts General Hospital
Reddy was still clearly being affected by the drugs, but his words began to string together more cohesively. "Cortex started collecting artifacts. Started to see how things really were. Some of the artifacts had...thoughts. They got into our heads, started pushing us to work harder, sleep less, push ourselves past our limits. It was working, so the higher ups seemed content to let it happen. But the whispers in our heads started becoming shouts, then visions. They haunted our every waking moment. A lot of us quit...then died right after. We're trying to make it stop."

The Nest
Meristoktrix sighed. "I'm affraid I'm no cypher expert my dear. That's why I contacted you. It is curious that Fell prepared this document to be sent to me in the event of his disappearance. That means he knew it was a possibility. And since he sent the scroll to me, instead of you, that suggests he wanted us working together. Perhaps he simply wanted you to have another crotchety old Mystagogue in your corner. Although an association with me might do more harm to your aspirations than good I'm afraid."

[Thorbes]

The drugged revelations of the man know as Reddy became increasingly disturbing with each added word. This Cortex Industries not only where in the know about the existence of magic, wich was worrying enough, they were actively hunting artifacts and worst of all using them on their own employees. The increased eficiency and deathly withdrawal created by this objects (and maybe, the entities bound to them, Bardo was not keen on that point) sounded like magically enforced slavery to the good doctor. That simply could not be allowed to continue.

Bardo wondered how much did the responsibles at Cortex truly know about what they were unleashing. Could it be just misguided and greedy, yet otherwise normal CEOs taking advantage of forces beyond their comprehension? Bardo knew all too well the backstabing world in wich powerful and rich people lived and how they tended to grab anything that could represent and advantage over the competition without giving much thougth to the consecuences as long as those consecuences didn't apply to them. What if some workers died horribly? That would serve as deterrent and motivation for the rest of them, right? He felt how his stomach churned, he was disgusted beyond reason.

On the other hand, maybe Cortex was nothing but a bunch of dupes themselves, pawns in a game they didn't manage to even glimpse. An experiment. The dehumanization of the workers certainly had the signature of the Seers all over it, though the Abysal conection didn't seem to make sense. Maybe a rogue faction? Left-handed Scelesti Seers? The mere thought made him shiver.

-"Please, continue, son"- he encouraged Phoenix. He felt sudenly dirty and disgusted at himself.

These people were not the enemy. They were just victims.

[crapcarp]

At first, Phoenix thought the trio to be a bunch of smack-talking losers who had no idea what they were dealing with. But hearing Reddy's answers, he wasn't so sure now. Their situation was brought on them, and they were trying to deal with it as best they could. This isn't right, Sleepers shouldn't be dealing with this kinda stuff. That's what we're supposed to do. We have the means to deal with it.

His heart went out to the three, even though he tried to hide for practical reasons. Deception clearly wasn't his strong suit however, as sympathy has shown through his eyes.

"Sure, pops," he replied weakly, then cleared his throat to speak more forcefully, "So, back at the bar we saw three guys across the street. I doubt they were hanging out freezing their asses off in the cold, so do you have any idea who they were and why they were there?"