Mage the Ascension: Rule of Shade

[Charon]

Jason came to a dead stop and some of the color drained from his face. The boy didn't turn around but was very quickly taking steps back towards the way he came. "Right. Leaving. Don't mind me."

Well, so much for that idea.

Jason continued backing up until he reached Supiyaw again. "Ok. That's one of our nodes... But uhh... It doesn't recognize any of us." Jason paused for a second. "Oh... That makes it very interesting that whatever it was actually managed to do the kill and ritual in the quad like that." Jason pursed his lips.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Russell did not want to draw attention to himself or the rest of them, anymore than their strange behavior already was

[russian] "We should turn, and leave casually"[/russian] he said as he did so. Walking quickly, but not fast enough to draw too much attention.

[LadyTevar]

"I am hoping that is one of the Chantry's nodes," Supiyaw corrected him, keeping her voice low. "If it is not, then we may now know why they are murdering young women -- to attempt control." Her copper eyes looked Jason over carefully. "What scared you enough to make you back off."

[Charon]

"Right, hoping." Jason non-chalantly shrugged off the correction. "I'm not worried if it's not one of ours, that means they probably don't have complete control yet and we can try to sneak in and grab it, and punish whoever has been restarting life cycles before they've run their course. I'm worried about what it means if the node is under our control." Jason was quiet for a second before he answered Supiyaw's question. "The guardian said to leave."

[LadyTevar]

One eyebrow raises. "There is a guardian?" Supiyaw glanced over at the Quad, thinking hard. A caern would need rituals to keep it awake. Perhaps a jamaa summoned by the mages? It does not seem to bother the Sleepers, or they would avoid this area as well. It is risky... but perhaps... "I will try to speak with it," she informed Jason. "But if it is a Guardian, it may speak only to those who set it here, or those who know the right phrase to give it. Perhaps you might wish to call the Chantry."

With that said, Supiyaw stepped away from Jason, walking into the parameter of the node. The Guardian had chased the magi away. It was time to see if it would accept one of Luna's Children.

[Charon]

Jason was about to reach out and grab her arm to stop her but she was gone too quickly. Jason cursed and came to a stop, watching Supiyaw carefully.

[Dark Silver]

As Arkady and Russell left the Quad, the feeling started fading from their minds. With each step, the presence which felt heavy faded a bit more, and the colors seemed to come back into the world around them.

For Sipuyaw, on the other hand, things changed. The hair on the back of her neck seemed to stand straight up, the area was charged. What it was charged with, she could not say - it felt like a taste of fear and protectiveness.

But she did not feel it completely hostile, the malevolence lacing underneath was there. A glance at the police and the students would reveal they felt nothing at all, they just moved and did things if nothing was the matter.

With reaching the center of the Quad, she felt the heavy, oppressive presence, hanging over her shoulder. The sky did not darken for her yet, but a feeling like a heavy, warm breath covering her entire body from behind washed over her.

Fromt he crowd, a young, dark haired boy dressed in jeans and a t-shirt stepped. He looked to be in his late teens, maybe old enough to be a freshman. Her eyes caught his for a moment, pure black and reflective, with small golden slits for pupils in the direct center.

"You should leave here," he said, his voice deep and silibant, only loud enough for her to hear. "You will leave this place, and run, or I will rip you apart, tear your body to shreds, and use your remains as a incubator for my spawn.....You do not belong here.." The boy's visage darkened as he watched her, and Sipuyaw felt the tightening around her, like something wrapping about her, yet nothing was there.



To Jason, Arkady Russell and everyone else who would look upon the two, it would seem as if some small, harried college student stopped to talk and flirt with a lovely young woman.

[LadyTevar]

"My pride and I will leave," Supiyaw replied respectfully to the 'student', meeting his slitted eyes with her coppery human eyes, "Once we know who is trying to defile this sacred place. Will you help us, Jamaa?"

She used the respectful term for a greater spirit, looking to appease it enough that it would talk to her and perhaps answer her questions. Right now, the spirit was corporal, or at least a part of it. If it came to a fight, Supiyaw was going to be hampered by the humans around. The spirit had the position of strength, and most likely knew that. If the spirit got angry, it was going to be painful.

[Dark Silver]

"Interlopers. Defilers. You will leave here now," the boy spoke again.

It didn't care what honorific was used, it had a mission, the protection of this place against those who would corrupt or usurp it. They were usurpers.

"You are a usurper. You will leave now. In one piece, or many. Chose quickly."

[LadyTevar]

Supiyaw bowed her head respectfully. "I will tell the Silverguard of your plight," she answered, before turning her back on the 'student' and calmly walking away from him, back to where Jason stood. She did not rush, she did not run, yet it was clear she was leaving of her own choice.

[Dark Silver]

With Sipuyaw gone, the boy disappeared back into the crowd. Once lost in the maze of humans, the corporeal form was diminished.

Whatever happened here, was not going to be easy to find out.

[LadyTevar]

She stopped walking when she reached Jason, looking at him calmly. "Let us join Arkady and Russell, then I will tell you what happened."

[Charon]

Jason only nodded as he skirted around the quad with Supiyaw in tow, keeping one eye on Arkady and Russell as he kept the other on the Quad. This was bad, it was very bad. Jason was almost certain that the node belonged to the chantry, a node this powerful and this close had to be. But it wouldn't let anyone near it who wasn't a sleeper. Which only confused things with these murders. Jason's mind ran in circles at the questions and possibilities.

[LadyTevar]

"I've never seen you this deep in thought, Jason," Supiyaw commented as they walked. The boy was surprising her, now that she was finally seeing him outside the Chantry and actually -doing- something. "What are you thinking?"

[Charon]

"About the culprits. I'm gonna assume that since you came back so quick that the guardian was about as short with you as he was with me. So that leaves three options, assuming it's one of our nodes. But seeing as it's as close as it is I'm gonna assume it is. First option is that someone it knows is doing the rituals, which means it's someone from the chantry. Second option is that it's a sleeper, but enacting a ritual like that would get it's attention I'd think. Third option, something that's powerful and sneaky enough to get the ritual off without being spotted." Jason was quiet for a second. "Oh! Hmmm... maybe..." Jason pursed his lips before continuing. "Maybe it was the guardian who killed those kids. That they had some sort of potential or something to that effect but didn't know it. So when they passed through the quad the Guardian took offense and slaughtered them." Jason was quiet again. "Need to know what year the victims were in. Need more details..."

[LadyTevar]

"He offered to rip my body apart and feed it to his spawn," Supiyaw answered off-handedly, seeming unconcerned by the threat. "If the Silverguard did place him there, would it not be as simple as asking Lady Rowin for aid?" Supiyaw herself was thinking of talking to Rumor.

[Charon]

Jason shook his head. "No. Well, maybe. I don't want to ask for the masters help unless we absolutely have to. Let's see what else we can learn first." Jason seemed to have taken the threat to Supiyaw's life as off-handedly as she had mentioned it.

[LadyTevar]

She rolled her eyes. It was clear Jason wanted to do as much as he could without aid. Supiyaw decided to go ask for the Elder's advice and aid herself, once they got back to the Chantry. "There is Russell. Let's see what the Guardian said to them."

[Comrade Tortoise]

"before you ask. Jason, when I take the trouble to send you a telepathic warning to stay the fuck away, you god damn well better listen to me. Your mindless bravado could have gotten us killed. Not that you will listen and heed my words next time or anything." Russell sighed

"There was a voice in my head, and the sky darkened. I barely even knew things like that existed. I did not use prime magics so I dont know what was here, but I am going to guess that what spoke to us was some sort of guardian of a place of power. If it is, it could very well be responsible for the killings, either directly, or by someone trying to appease it"

[LadyTevar]

"Oh, so it didn't manifest to speak to you?" Supiyaw asked, blinking. "I must have been blessed." Russell and Arkady would have seen her speaking to the young student -- who it was should become clear now. "He called me an usurper and a defiler, and told me to leave before he ripped me up and fed me to his spawn." Again, she was blaise as she recited the death threat. "Where is Arkady and Tasha?"

[Charon]

Jason rolled his eyes as Russell tried to start something with him. Idly the boy raised his right hand and began opening and closing it in time with Russell's words. "Blah blah blah blah yeah anyway. What we have here is a node, caern, whatever you want to call it. Considering how close it is to the chantry it's a good bet that the node belongs to someone in the chantry, which makes this all sorts of more complicated. And unfortunately, I think we're gonna have to do research somewhere else, maybe get some details on the people that were murdered, learn who owns this node, and figure out who's using it."

[Cynical Cat]

Arkady retrieved Tasha, holding the frightened familiar tightly. [Russian]"It's alright. I'll keep you safe like I always have." [/Russian] He stroked her lightly. [Russian] "Tell me what you saw."[/Russian]

[Dark Silver]

Tasha shivered still under the care of her Mage, her voice small as she kept glancing back to the quad, "Zmei...." she spoke in Russian.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Russell restrained his urge to use a telekinetically augmented bitchslap on the young idiot

"Thinking it is someone from the chantry who owns this node is a faulty assumption. There are more than just us that use them, and it is not so close that we should consider it one of ours. We should ask, rather than be sneaky"

[Charon]

Jason rolled his eyes. "Show of hands, who has lived in the chantry their entire lives?" Jason raised his hand and stared at Russell for a few seconds before he put his hand down. "Point one, a node like this doesn't pop out of nowhere, well, they usually don't, so this node has been around for awhile. Point two, I could spit from the chantry to here and I'm relatively weak, distance isn't much of an issue. Point four, no wait, three, there's a guardian on this node, guardians are meant to keep other people from using a node and therefore whoever owns this node is the only person that can reliably use it. Point four, the chantry has at least three nodes that I can think of off the top of my head that we own that are not in the chantry proper." Jason smiled at the much older man. "So chances are, yeah, it's one of ours."