All rested up and ready to go back to Finland. Ohm and I believe this creature is using mage sight to determine who has mana. Ohm alters our auras so we look like sleepers and he invests Danno with mana. This should hopefully trick the creature into wanting to go after Danno first. We portal right into the spot we left from and it's empty. There is most likely going to be a lot more mages awake this time and we take it slowly as we move towards our original goal. As we round the last corner a couple of mages are waiting for us. We do our best to take them down quick and without killing them. One of them starts to attempt to raise the dead mages laying around into zombies, Danno beats him to and the zombies start to beat down that mage. We take out the other mage and start down the corridor and I can see the set of doors where my twilight projection was getting slowed down in. I catch a glimpse of a trench coat through a window into a room near the end. That has got to be Sojiro. And just as things were looking up we hear a crashing sound behind us and the creature comes bounding through a wall. We get the two mages down and start to work on the creature. Our plan works and the creature is confused as he looks at Ohm and I. He sense the mana in Danno and goes after him. Just as things seem to be in hand, a greyish icky mist comes flowing out from under a door at the end of the corridor and that is soon followed by missing mage #3 who is floating above it. Danno breaks off to take this guy on but the mage conjures up some black tentacles that we have seen before and uses them to form a wall between him and Danno. The mage unleashes this very nasty wave of black energy at Danno and his skin actually starts to look like it was being eaten away. We are now stuck in between a mana draining, sleep inducing fubar of a creature and a batshit insane Master of Death who looks to be powered by pestilence. I keep expecting Sojiro to jump in at any moment since things just aren't bad enough yet. We need to take this creature out real quick so I get up right in it's face so I can befuddle it's senses. I need to reduce this thing's resistance to my magic so I can weaken it's scales. I take some good hits that hurt a lot but I finally manage to weaken it's resolve and that allows me to slip through it's defenses and collide it's particles. That should help Ohm and Red fill this thing with lead. I focus on the death mage now. I am rather fond of my skin and would rather he not eat it away. The creature finally bites it but the death mage is still beating on us. I can barely stand up and one more hit will be the end of me so I withdraw back through the portal. I am soon joined by Ohm. As I'm watching Danno through the scrying window he finally kills the death mage. As the death mage dies he releases a blast of energy that seems to move through walls and causes some serious damage to Danno and Red. Danno sucks it up but it causes Red to go into a death rage and he starts running away. After the wave subsides a sickly green mote of energy leaves his corpse and floats in the corridor. Danno tries to grab it but it kinda bounces off him. Apparently the motes don't like sharing. I run back through the portal and ask Danno if it is possible to temporarily hold onto a mote and he confirms that it can be given away voluntarily. With the possibility of Sojiro here and who knows what other creatures lurking about I don't think we should sit around and discuss who will hold onto the mote. Plus the fact I've seen the death mote heal Danno back from the vampire version of dead and if I stub my toe right now I would probably be a dead parrot, so I grabbed the mote.
The mote did indeed heal my wounds and I felt a lot better. I still wanted to know who that cloaked figure was in the other room so I ran in there followed by Danno. I didn't see anybody but I could sense somebody. I told whoever it was that I knew they were here and they should come out of their hiding place or I will have Danno whirlwind around the room until he hit somebody. And sure enough one Sojiro the Tenken drops down from his hiding place in the ceiling. My first question is "Why the hell didn't you take the mote?"
Ohm and Danno really want to attack Sojiro. Ohm got really mad earlier at the death mage and pulled a Danno and tried to just outright rip his face off. He realy does need to get laid, too much testosterone build up in that one and Danno just wants to kill everything regardless. I remind them that Sojiro has never actually threatened or attacked any of us. We have only actually seem him a few times and don't know that much about him. They calm a little bit and we continue asking Sojiro what he is up to.
Sojiro claims he never really wanted the mote, he is not a big fan of people telling him what to do and he is only really here as a curiosity. When you live to be hundreds of years old you need to find things to do I guess. He also didn't like the prospect of having to work with Donovan's other horsemen. He does mention that Donovan isn't really that concerned with the 4 motes, he is looking for something else. We sorta strike a deal, he stays out of our way and we will leave him alone, we don't really have any beef with him. Before he goes he gives us one "free" piece of information. Apparently our friend Puck was on his payroll and he knew all about Janice's plans. He informs us that Janice and the autumn sorrows bitch have been working together all along. Janice isn't really working for Donovan, most likely just trying to use him for something. And with that he disappears up into the ceiling and is gone.
Ohm goes to check if anything else is alive down here. If Red didn't kill the other mages as he raged then the death blast from the mage probably did. Since I'm standing in what appears to be their data center I hook up to the mainframe and copy all the information I can, it could prove useful at a later date. As all that is going on I try to analyze this mote. I need to know if I can use it's power to put an end to this magical disease. As the others clean up I prepare an exit portal back to the containment area and to our patients.
As I approach the diseased mages I can feel as though they are connected to me. I can now see the weave of this disease and it is quite simply brilliant. With a little work this could spread like a wild fire and cleanse some of the more potent diseases in this world. But now is not the time for that. After studying the patients I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I can cure the disease, the bad news is the victims will probably be more insane then the fae and the marks on their souls from their forced acts of hubris will stay. I'm not even sure how to deal with that. For the meantime we will leave then sedated. I can feel thing strings connecting me to the other infected mages. I believe I can seek them out and cure them. So the pressing order of business is to put a stop to this disease and then we can go from there.
We track down most of the mages and subdue them with little issue. The last two mages are actually in the same house and apparently have some prisoners. We attempt to go in quietly but someone trips over their own feet and we lose our surprise. As soon as I unlock the door and Thomas opens it one of the mages is there and ready. His lightning bolt veers a bit and doesn't hit Thomas that hard. Danno runs and tackles the other. It doesn't take long to knock them out and we return them to the containment area.
Now we have to deal with the hard part. There is no way we can release mages with this kind of wisdom degeneration. Ohm suggests we ask the Lady Abigail for help. I feel this is to much to ask of her but considering the alternative it seems the best choice. She understands and says she will call back tomorrow with word. Now that the disease and the mages are dealt with on to the next order of business. We need to talk about this mote.
We sequester ourselves in an interrogation room and put up various wards to keep our conversation secret. The mote of pestilence was originally slated for the Padre but that was before he devolved into Thomas and lost all our trust. At this point I feel that we can not trust him with this kind of power. Red seemed the next logical choice but he does not want it. He is still leery of his own power. So that leaves myself and Ohm. No one seems to have an issue with me holding onto it until we find the others so thats that. The conversation went a bit easier then I thought. So the next order of business was to get a drink and figure out what we were going to get the Lady Abigail for Christmas. We had recently received our invitations to the 1st annual Christmas Ball at the palace and we need to come up with some thing good. It needed to be something grand and appropriate to the palace and it needed to represent the winter solstice and pagan festivals of old. We decided that we would make a life size snow angel sculpture. There was plenty of snow here in Finland. I tapped into the universal consciousness and channeled the very likes of Michelangelo himself and created a beautiful snow rendition of the Lady Abigail. Ohm used his knowledge of Forces and makes the statue self cooling so it would stay in this condition for years to come. After the statue is complete we say screw it and let's go sleep in our own beds. We can always come back tomorrow if needed after we hear back from the Lady Abigail. With Cygin airlines everywhere is an hour away.
Cygin
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I hope the Lady Abigail can help with these mages. I know their condition is not my fault but yet I still can't help but feel responsible somehow. If she can't help them they we have no choice but to put them out of their misery and I'm not ready for that kind of weight on my shoulders. I also feel kind of bad for the changeling formerly known as the Padre, Thomas. He worked hard to get here and he was a great ally in the beginning. This mote should have been his. I have decided that the Padre I knew is no longer. It will be easier for me to now call him Thomas. I must separate the two. While I consider this a bad thing, who am I to say this isn't his true path. I do not trust him and he has a long way to go until I can. I will try to look beyond his past and try to accept him for what he is now but it will not be easy. Until then I will hold onto this mote.
Speaking of the mote. It has only been a part of me for a short time now but I feel like I have known it forever. Within I feel a spark of divinity. I never was much of a religious man and then awakening and seeing the world for what it really is has put the concept of a god even farther out of my mind. Even being in the presence of an Angel didn't change that. Perhaps her curse dulls her aura or we mere mortals can't handle witnessing her full glory. I see her not so much as an Angel in the divine sense but a greater power beyind our understanding, perhaps an Oracle, perhaps something else. But now with this mote things are different. This power that ancient texts have labeled as the divine is real. It is nothing like other powers I have seen and felt, it is foreign yet familiar. I look forward to the christmas ball and seeing her again. I am very curious as to how I will feel near her now. Perhaps my eyes will open a little further. The thought is comforting. With all the pain I am currently feeling with the fate of the mages and with Thomas it is good to have something to lighten up my mood.
For now I will put such thoughts of gloom behind me. There is another source of light and warmth back in the warehouse. But just as that thought brightens my mood I have to go and remember that christmas is a few days away and I have absolutely no idea what to get her. And shit it has to be a whole better than a giant hand sculpted snow angel.
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