So You Survived

[Nathan Spriggs] It had been a few hours since they set foot in a trap and got thrown through the Avatar Storm and into a nice little compact area of the Umbra. A few hours since they arrived at the priest's house and decided to stay there. Nathan had been drawing what he remembered of the scrying for a while now, finally deciding to take a break for a promised call he owed someone.

Phone taken, he dials a number and hears the ringing, waiting for an answer.

[K. R. J.] This time, the call doesn't go to voicemail. Doesn't even ring more than twice before Nathan can hear the Orphan's voice, moonlight-cool, composed - "Kage speaking." A beat. "T.H.?"

[Nathan Spriggs] A quick pick-up, not unexpected even with the hour taken into consideration. She had been warned, funny and good to know that she took it so serious though. "T.H. speaking. We're alive, was messy but we're alive. Found new stuff. Enough to make the difference between making an actual plan and stumbling around in the dark."

[K. R. J.] "Glad to hear it," she says, and she sounds sincere; why wouldn't she be? Information that means an actual plan instead of just hoping the things one does is gong to make the [right kind of] difference: good. "Anybody get hurt?" A beat, and, "New stuff, huh? You want a celebratory 'I'm alive' coffee?"

[Nathan Spriggs] A moment of silence there, hesitation? Or something else? He's thinking, then finally. "We all got hurt pretty bad, but luckily Israel and Solomon had some... healing charms on hand. Coffee sounds good, I'll update you then. Don't trust things over the phone."

[K. R. J.] Kage doesn't seem inclined to rush the paranoid Cultist of Ecstasy. The silence: hesitation, something else - whatever - doesn't get an interruption.

"You want me to pick you up?" If he does, she'll ask for an address, and she'll be there eventually. If he doesn't, they'll pick another address, a convenient open-24-hours coffee shop, maybe something with dougnuts, and that's where they'll be. Either way, Kage: Kage is a simple girl. It occurs to her that Nathan could be possessed [or have fallen (or be followed)], but deal with that as it comes.

[Nathan Spriggs] "Got somethings I need to handle first." A moment there, considering, "Name a spot, we'll meet around 12 there?" With that, the Cultist will wait until a spot's arranged, handle the morning planning and reunion with the priest and his blind companion and be off.

[K. R. J.] "Like sleep?" Amused. And, "Hokay," the Orphan [solitary (secluded)] says. "How about -- " and it's a little-known Italian Deli with great coffee and gelato that she gives Nathan the name of, the address if he needs it, but hopefully he won't. That's good food.

[Nathan Spriggs] "Sleep's on the list, yeah." And with that, the Cultist hangs up once the minor details are arranged.

----

It was now a new day. A new, much-less-Umbra-filled day with luck. Less wraiths too. Already a step up from the day before. The blond Cultist stepped through the streets of the city under patches of sunlight that made it through the thick clouds, searching for something. For a Deli to be exact.

Location and directions had been obtained, but that didn't mean anything if he couldn't actually find the place itself. It took a few minutes of walking around and searching, but Nathan stumbled across it at long last. Following look around the area for something, he shrugs and enters the store at last. Good thing he'd arrived early.

[K. R. J.] [Awareness because things go Bump in the Night, And Sometimes the Day?]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 1 at target 6)

[K. R. J.] [and roll]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8 (Failure at target 6)

[K. R. J.] [really?]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 7)

[Nathan Spriggs] [Pestilence, is that you? Or is that Death? Awareness]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 6, 7 (Failure at target 6)

[Nathan Spriggs] [S'it War then? Famine maybe?]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 6, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 7)

[K. R. J.] He's there first. Not by a lot, but even with leaving early, he gets there beforehand. There are a couple tables. Inside, it's all nooks and crannies after an industrial-simple gelato bar and a specials today menu. The prices aren't too bad.

He'll have time to get himself some coffee -- they make it Italian-style, here, and the espresso'll wake the dead (ha, ha), and he can sense the Orphan's approach [burning, amorous; kindling, immanent; withering, draining - Spring-heat and Winter-cooling, the cut between] before she opens the door. There's no bell on the door.

Door opens, and in she comes. Big messenger bag, a lot of pockets. She looked tired, but not that tired. " - Hey, T.H.," she says, if he's at the counter when she approaches, or at a table, after she glances around. Doesn't approach first, then. Orders some gelato, collects it. "What're you having, my treat?"

[Nathan Spriggs] He's at the counter when she arrives, leaning forward onto it as he sits on a stool. Cup of coffee already in hand, the Cultist sips quietly, body turning as his eyes shifted to the woman as she stepped through the door.

Placing the cup of coffee back down on the counter surface, he gives her a casual smile and a nod in greeting. Today, the man wore a white shirt and black pants, with black leather shoes. Smart casual, really. Gaze moving back to his cup of coffee and the counter, he orders a pistachio gelato in response to her question.

"So, how're you doing?" Odd that the question is coming from his side, but she seemed tired. Not that the Cultist seemed all that better off, he wasn't well-rested that's for sure.

[K. R. J.] It's hot for Chicago outside, but there still aren't other people (yet, anyway) in the Italian Deli. With the economy going the way it is, maybe the deli won't be long for life. Nathan orders pistachio; Kage is getting dark chocolate and lavender.

"I'm okay," she says, not as if she thinks the question [the courtesy] is odd. She glances away from the counter, scoping up alternate seating arrangements, then cants her head toward a booth away from the guy who's working the counter. A nook, a cranny. A better place to talk about the unbelievable. A beat, and then, "Sometimes I forget to sleep when I'm doing research."

[Nathan Spriggs] A look to Kage, then to the location she signals to. Calmly, Nathan gets up from the stool and picks up his coffee and gelato to follow the woman to the booth. All the while, his eyes study the surroundings, make mental notes of how many people there and how they looked.

Once he's taken a seat, comfortable and near a corner, he drops some of the gelato into his coffee and stirs it before sipping. A nod to the Orphan's statement, 'forget to sleep', he knew how that was. "Yeah, tell me about it."

Left hand placing the cup back on the table surface, he digs around for something in his pocket. A folded piece of paper, unfolding it and placing it on the table as he slid it over to her side. A drawing on it, not the most... artistically masterful but understandable for whatever point he wanted to get across. "Recognize that by any chance?"

[Nathan Spriggs] OOC: Description of what he drew as copypasta'd from the other (relevant) scene. 'an enormous chiseled Opal, all white and incandescent and fire trapped within. It is worked and formed into the shape of a prism with two pyramid ends.'
to†K. R. J.

[K. R. J.] The Orphan, howsoever tired she may be -- and it's a normal tired, a sleepless tired, not because bad dreams were too bad, not because bad days were too bad, just because, honestly, she stayed up too late reading and making notes, even after Nathan called to say, Hey, the Speech, It Did Not Kill -- isn't too tired for a quip. Her eyebrows flick up as she examines the paper, the drawing, commits that to memory too. Says, "Can't say I've seen it before. Looks unwieldy."

[Nathan Spriggs] Taking the note back, he folds it up and pockets it again, nodding to Kage as he did so. So she didn't know it, or was that a lie? But she didn't seem like she was lying... For a moment, he's pensive. But snapping out of it. "I think that's the Unholy Grail we're seeking. Nothing else seems to fit, I saw it in Edom's hand. Not to mention the words he said according to Solomon."

Leaning back against the chair, the Cultist closes his eyes for a moment and sighs. "What we found was threefold, A. location of where he, or it, is planning to move. B. What seems to be a valuable ally of his. And C. A general idea of where the Chalice is hidden, and the level of protection behind it. Starting with C, it seems Edom's had it hidden in the Umbra, where we got thrown into for a bit due to a trap. From what we saw and encountered from just grazing the surface? Protection on it must be insane. We had swarms of... wraiths or something of the like on us in an instant."

[K. R. J.] Kage isn't lying. The truth is: Kage doesn't often lie. Not to her enemies. Not to her allies. Not to her aquaintances. Of course: a big part of her life is a lie; she pretends to be normal (average [just one of you (asleep)]) when she interacts with her friends and family. They aren't awake. They aren't consors. They aren't in the know, so they don't know, can't know, and Kage hasn't yet seen the good idea behind filling them in (how'd you like to be committed [how's it feel to have a vision (to be crazy)]). Kage is solitary because she chooses to be, but when it comes down to it: well, she is concerned; an involved creature. Shh, don't tell.

"Jesus," she says, after he explains that he and Solomon were thrown into the umbra and beset upon by wraiths. Kage is one of those lucky mages who, when the bridge collapsed, felt the backlash two-fold. "And you made it out, no ill-effects?" The spoons they give for gelato are small, shovel-shaped; she shovels some chocolate gelato. Doesn't lick it yet. "You want me to take a look at you?" Make certain you're not ridden, scarred-up, spiritually-scratched.

And then, thoughtful: "All right. He's hid it on the otherside -- but not the otherside where you were dragged, right? Do you know where, as it corresponds to the city of the living?" A beat. "The bridge, maybe? What'd Solomon say he said?" Another beat. And, "Can I see the picture again?"

[Nathan Spriggs] Once more taken out, once more unfolded, the picture is placed on the table, though not without a warning. "Solomon and Israel both warned against going after it just yet. We need to gather, all four of us for now, and plan this out properly. I think we know enough to spread the information soon too."

A shrug to her concerns for their health, though he seemed... reluctant to talk about the experience. "We got hurt pretty bad. Israel and Solomon covered me while I did the rote to scry so I got the least of it." A pause there, and a change in tone, like to say 'thank god'. "Luckily, Israel had healing charms on hand and could heal herself." Act disconnected... volatile too, as he might at times, the Cultist very much didn't enjoy seeing people get hurt. Especially not people he knew (and actually liked).

Pensive, Nathan considers the rest of the information he had to give. More pistachio for the coffee, a delicious little mix there. "Hm, we don't know an exact location. But relating to B, it seems he has a... pestilence spirit, or so Solomon called it and it looked horrifying, working for him. He left it's protection to it. So right now our work: Get the chalice back, figure out how to stop the pestilence spirit and company, then kill what can't be killed or at least lock it back into whatever it escaped from."

[Nathan Spriggs] "What Solomon translated was basically what I just told you about hiding it in the Umbra. He had the object in the drawing in his hand when he said it."

[K. R. J.] Nathan mentions Israel's name. Kage is studying the drawing, the colour added afterward, but when Nathan mentions the blind woman's name Kage glances upward. He hadn't mentioned her before; just Solomon Ward. He's been mentioned a lot in the last week or so, ever since just before the bridge collapsed, and almost every time, it's been done as casually as if the name should (done [now]) mean a thing. It's starting to. Israel, though: Kage knows Israel from before. She's already said that she's glad they're okay. That hasn't changed, she doesn't say it again; doesn't squander words, Kage, for all her inclination to banter.

"Okay," she says. And, "Was there a name in any of that mess? A name for the grail, I mean? Something that can be conjured by?" A beat, and, "Repeat that question for the pestilence spirit. Any insight gained on the locations marked off on that map you mentioned?"

A beat. And, "What do you think of the gelato; place is pretty decent, huh?"

[Nathan Spriggs] He notices her gaze for a moment, choosing not to comment on it or ask why. Instead, he focused on the drawing again, on the details of what he saw. "None. For either, every spoken word was in what I think might have been Enochian from everything I've heard of the language. Only Solomon seemed to understand it, in any case." He shook his head as he spoke, remembering the language and how it sounded.

"In any case, I don't doubt it's been warded against such forms of interference. So we might need to research more on this chalice." He speaks, repeating his doubts and conclusions from a night of considering. Another folded paper taken out his pocket in the meantime, this time much bigger and recognizable as a folded map.

He spreads it on the table, or at least part of it, and then he points at a spot. Fingers in the same positions as he remembered in the scrying. Index and middle finger touching the spot, it was along the coastline of Chicago and Lake Michigan, roughly half a mile from the Navy Pier. "There."

[Nathan Spriggs] (Half a mile down from the Navy Pier*)

[K. R. J.] More research on this chalice, Nathan says, and Kage eats some of her gelato. The lavender. The lavender tastes like smoke; is cool on her throat; is cold on her tongue. Lavender is a protective (protection [sanctuary]) herb; Kage is not a Verbena; it likely does not matter to her (Orphans have their own paradigms [their own tools, little influenced]). Nathan'll know, if Nathan is very perceptive, that inside Kage's messenger bag, there's a gun, just in case. This isn't the time to be legal (law-abiding citizens [they're often blood-sacrifices]).

"I'm still looking," she says, "But the people I know who I thought might have a clue turn out not to have one, at least, not without looking into it a little themselves. We'll see if there's anything else in the record." The record, she says: like there's just one. This is a trick of the tongue, a slip of it; a hint at how Kage believes things to be. There is one record, there is one story, inside the one story and record: a lot of stories, a lot of records. Academic superstition. Then again: Kage doesn't think that she's found all she'd be able to find in just a couple of days. There's always a likelihood of more.

He unfolds a map; she lifts her gelato, so it doesn't drip on the map. Wipes a spot of gelato off the table with her thumb.

"There? What'm I looking at?"

[Nathan Spriggs] A spoonful of the remaining gelato in his mouth, the portion that hadn't been dumped as sweetener for a coffee, the Cultist doesn't answer immediately. A moment passes, a look down at the map, the location. Arguably one of the biggest keys to resolving this. "Yeah, the gelato's pretty good by the way. Bit late, sorry. Got my attentions elsewhere."

He doesn't comment on her statement, on this 'record' she mentioned. Though the curiosity's there, yes, he wonders about it for a moment. Gets lost in thought. Reality beckons back however, as she questions what they're looking at.

"Hm, I'm not quite 100% sure. But I think there's a reason it's in Chicago, not just for the chalice. Didn't need to come here for it, could've gone to Toronto and stolen it. I think if it needs a specific date to do what it wants to, it also needs a specific location. And I think this is it." The only thing he has is guesses for her, educated but still guesses.

[Nathan Spriggs] "For now, we need to check it out. Do legwork. Both Earth-side and Umbral-side. Given the chalice's position and the Shadow in question, I'm guessing it's the latter mostly."

[K. R. J.] "Do you mind if I take a picture?" Kage says, slipping her cellphone out of her bag. If he says he doesn't mind, she will: take a picture of the map, Nathan's hands spread, just like that, the points

"I wonder if they're going to have fireworks there on the 4th, or nearby," Kage says, thoughtful. Within a big city like Chicago, especially a big city like Chicago where its history is full of disastrous fires, of tragic burnings, firework celebrations are always city-planned, "Whether whatever ritual they're going to do needs that kind of cover. Whether," a beat, she raises an eyebrow, "that would be good cover for anyone poking around."

He apologizes for late, for his attention being elsewhere. Kage offers him the spark of a smile, something close to true; something almost real. "Didn't dream anything big when you finally slept, did you?" The spark stays true, fans into the hint of something luminous, when he mentions legwork: good. "There aren't too many people in Chicago right now who can deal with things that are across the -- and it's so crazy right now; I wonder if it was forced to be like that -- if it's like that because of the Star, although I know it's just Chicago that's reacting that way -- or if, well. It's got nothing to do with anything."

[Nathan Spriggs] He slaps his head, not quite hard but hard enough to make a sound. Why not? It was so obvious but he hadn't considered the idea. This was a fallen angel they were dealing with, not some criminal mastermind. It probably didn't expect them to get this far. Get all this out.

"Didn't quite 'sleep' so to speak. In any case, I think that's worth looking into. I can check for parties and the like." A quick answer there, wrapping that up properly before moving up to the realization he'd had. "I have an idea on where the chalice might be though. So fuckin' obvious at that. I doubt it expected us to get this far, to know all this. I mean, it entrusted the chalice to a spirit instead of protecting it though I don't doubt it could. The chalice is probably Umbral-side alright... At the point already. Waiting to be used. Why bother transporting it? Why hide it somewhere else?"

[K. R. J.] "I think that's a reasonable assumption," Kage says, quietly. "The time's almost nigh; it's been moved so many times. I wouldn't bank on it not expecting us to find out 'this much' -- that's just not the way to reason out a plan. I mean, I tend to assume that my opponent is two steps ahead already; you know? But it makes sense. A pestilence spirit means ... I imagine ... that there will be signs, signs that we can check into, around this location. Maybe we can figure a way to trip it out and see -- just to check -- "

And this is when Nathan'll get a call, and Kage will be quiet. Finish off her gelato, waiting. Looking at the map, the different points.

[Nathan Spriggs] And so he does, the Cultist, Robin to the priest's Batman (wooh, enter even MORE jokes of pedophilia for him!) is called by the man. Asked to get in contact with people, to head over to the Chantry. It was emergency meet time.

Hanging up, Nathan starts dialing for others as he explains the situation to Kage. And they no doubt head off to lands... well, pretty well known.

[K. R. J.] [roll credits]