Mystery Machine (Anselm)

[Rayage]

Ray waited allowing his body to sink into the chair, or at least get as comfy as he could in that wooden chair of his. Time was something he had a lot of. Waiting didn’t bother him, he had all the time in the world, but sadly other people didn’t have the luxury of time that he did. Thus the world forcing him to go on their schedule, or at least try to keep a step ahead of the competition. He had been failing at that thus far. That frustrated him. She was getting ahead of him, and now the box was in unknown hands. That item couldn’t be allowed to go into wrong hands. Then again, there was the possibility that the box was a fake, but why go through all the trouble of crafting the box? The pearl is all he really wanted. The pearl which lay inside the box. He was acting on the presumption that she actually constructed the box to shield the pearl.

His thought was interrupted by a voice behind him, and he could only smile, knowing that the man couldn’t see it. ”My my,” he said, ”so hostel to one who only wants his fortune read.” he said, making a couple ‘tsking’ noises, clicking his tongue. ”Fortuneteller, perhaps you could enlighten me on a subject?” he said not turning around, not moving, not even craning his head to see the other. ”Or maybe it will be more fun for me to tell you your fortune?” he said in a mocking way. ”Have a seat.” he said, gesturing to the empty chair in front of him. There was a cool calm about the nuit and his words. Confidence radiated off of him, and his words seemed to be overflowing with an almost corporeal confidence. Magic was present in the air, his words weaving this aura around the tent. Though confidence was present, there also were the claws of an artificial fear created by the same magic that radiated the confidence.

Regardless if the other took a seat Ray would continue, ”Fortunetelling happens to be a specialty of mine.” he lied, ”And when I heard of your presence in the city I just had to come investigate.” he explained, making up this story, a hand flying in the air waving about as if nothing really mattered, waving off worries, fears, there was absolute confidence in his actions. His magic has set the tone, but now he must keep it with his actions, ”Now, lets get down to business.” Ray liked to think himself quite the actor.

Falling silent for a moment the nuit thought up of what he was going to say, but it was only a moment. To the observer it was a slight hesitation, a breathe taken. He had been lying and making up stories for over five hundred years, this was something he was good at, ”I see that you have gotten yourself caught up in something unexpected.” he grinned, ”A delivery was made, and the truth was hidden with deception. This unexpected event set in motion a series of events and your fate was intertwined with many others. Consequences are coming.” he said ominously.

”Yes,” he went on, ”You were caught up in a game of cat and mouse, but where do you belong? Are you just another mouse?” he asked his pointed question, ”For I see this is something that is over your head, out of your league, I cannot see any possible good outcome for you.” he said, ”So, why don’t you remove yourself from the situation and give up the box?” he asked. ”If you give it to me, I can assure you no one else will come after you.” Djed filled his words, overflowing the meaning, augmenting it. Making him seem reasonable. Ray even slipped in a subconscious thought Maybe I should listen

[Anselm]

The old Nuit made his way around the table and dropped into his chair as the man spoke. He folded his hands together in front of himself and peered at his mystery visitor. The air was heavy with danger and intimidation. Anselm had no doubt that this was a dangerous man. And the man was right. Anselm was in over his head. The judicious thing would be to extricate himself from this as quickly as possible. That might put Tock in danger, but that was no concern of his. Then he realized what was happening. In the silence that followed his guest's speech, Anselm assembled the facts. Sarcastic, intimidating, devious, he thought. A mediocre hypnotist. Knows that I had the device and thinks I still have it. 'Just another mouse.' Apparently there are multiple parties involved. It is likely that they are competing to get hold of the device, or rather 'box'. He said 'box'. So Tock was right. It does contain something. Something of value. And this man wants it badly. Badly enough to kill, I suspect. On the other hand, he would prefer to settle the matter through persuasion rather than violence. As a general rule Anselm chose to neither like nor dislike people. They were what they were and that was the end of it. But this man, he thought. This man I do not like. This man is cold, hard, unyielding, without heart. The irony of that assessment escaped him completely. “I do not have the box in my possession,” he said. “It has passed to another.” He quickly reached out with his left hand and touched the back of his visitor's hand with two fingers. He concentrated his awareness in his fingers and felt for the man's aura. But it wasn't there. Something was there, but it wasn't a man. It wasn't animal at all. Nor vegetable. It was mineral. His hand was made of stone. Now that is odd, he thought. This merits further investigation. With his right hand he reached out equally quickly to grab the man's other hand.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

A pearl. Nestled in the box was a rather large pearl. It was about the size of an eyeball, and pristine white. It also had some metal wires wrapped around it, holding it securely in place. The wires flexed when she poked at them; clearly this was Boxy's last attempt at securing his precious cargo. She pressed her finger against the wires and pulled it back with a yelp. She was bleeding... the wires were razor sharp! "It's dangerous," the man on the floor told her. "Don't touch it!" She briefly glanced back at him, then returned her attention to the pearl. It was probably magic, and she had no way of guessing what kind of magic it could be. Though she knew enough about Magecrafting to know it could be anything. "Still ain't gonna play nice?" she asked Boxy. He just quivered at her; she had too many of his parts held down for him to do much more. "Awright," she told him. "I'll try ta be gentle, sweetie." She was developing affection for the box. He was stubborn and brave, and very loyal to his task of protecting this pearl. She could respect that; he had clearly been made with love. And if Floorman was telling the truth, then Boxy's mother was dead. The poor little Automaton was an orphan. But she'd take care of him. Once she got the pearl out, she'd introduce Boxy to the rest of her family. He could have a home here. She gently prodded him, searching for a release. Boxy had been flicking little levers at her earlier, but now he wasn't. Why? She ran her fingers along his sides until she found the grooves that indicated where the levers were hidden. She used a tool to pry one out, and saw some of the metal wires loosen a bit. Ahah... The levers were connected to the wires, and when they were closed, it clamped the wires in place and tightened them. She started prying out and securing the levers as she had done with the screws, but she encountered a snag. Some of them tightened the wires instead of loosening them. After some experimentation, she found it depended on what order she pulled them in. She had to deduce the pattern, and pry out the correct levers in the right order, before all the wires finally loosened. "An' yer mine!" she cackled. A wicked grin crossed her lips. "Don't..." Floorman said. "You don't know what it'll do to you..." He had a point. She frowned at the pearl, quite curious about its nature. She couldn't let this go without finding out... She glanced back at Floorman, her lips twisting into a wicked smile. "Ya wanna 'elp me experiment?" she asked him. When he saw the wild look in her eyes, he started squirming and struggling to get free. Tock used a pair of tongs to lift the pearl free. It seemed to glimmer in the light, showing off definite signs of a mystical nature. As soon as the pearl was free, Boxy relaxed. His Directive to protect his contents was negated once he was empty. He stopped struggling against his bonds, and Tock gave him a comforting pat. "Good boy," she told him. "Ya did the best job ya could." She leaned down to kiss the box, giving him a loving smile. Then she turned to Floorman, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Open up," she told him, leaning down. His eyes went wide, and he clamped his mouth shut tight. Cackling, Tock pulled out Grippy, and shoved the metal hand between the man's lips and teeth. Then she opened the hand, the metal plates sliding apart to slide the man's mouth open, releasing a horrified scream. She dropped the pearl into his mouth, watching with wide, eager eyes to see what happened. This would teach him for trying to hurt her baby!

[Rayage]

”It has been passed to another?” he asked as if reassuring himself of the reality of the situation. With that bit of news a frown crossed his face, ”How unfortunate.” he said, ”It would have been a lot easier to get the box from you.” no doubt that she knows of Flensers demise and probably already is one step ahead of him. Most likely already sent a person to retrieve the box no doubt… Ray faced an opponent that was out of his league too, but he dared not admit it. He had to keep up appearances.

Leaning back a little in the seat, the nuit balanced the chair on its two back legs, ”How sure can you be of this other persons safety?” he asked, his voice more challenging and daring than concerned. Ray was watching him, his eyes observing every movement the other made. When the man reached for his arm, he let him touch it. There was more magic in this place than just his own. That much he could feel, but what kind? He dared not find out. He already used a lot of djed tonight and he didn’t want to push his abilities. The frown deepened, ”You are using magic.” he said, the statement sounding more of a question than anything. Though he was sure of it. He felt other djed.

He didn’t worry himself though, nothing happened to him yet. He felt this djed slightly before right before the man entered. He let out a dry laugh, putting the pieces together, ”Its very useful isn’t it?” he asked, the chair coming down on all four legs again, the nuit braced himself on the table with his good hand, ”Sight beyond sight.” he said, ”The sixth sense.” he smiled. While the other was investigating the nuit, Ray was listening and watching for any clue he might get, ”But, I do not need to be a magician to tell that you are like me.” he said, ”You don’t breathe.” he made that observation, ”Your chest doesn’t rise and fall. When you touched me, your aura didn’t indicate life.” he claimed.

Now Ray was an expert on life and what it was in auras. He had been studying the subject of life for well over five hundred years, and knew the indications of living and dead just by the aura. This man was not alive. That was one of the first facts he got from the aura, ”You, my good fortuneteller, are undead. Dare I say, you are a nuit.” he smiled, ”That is the only logical conclusion. Yes, but you are still a mouse.” He chuckled, as if he amused himself, ”And you shouldn’t be worrying about what I am. If I were you, Id be more worried about your friend.” he said. ”The box has something very important to my research.” he told him, ”And if it gets in the wrong hands the effects could be devastating.” he explained, lying through his teeth. It wouldn’t be devastating, but more so a setback for his plans, ”You see, what is in the box is living. I research life.” he said, ”I need it back so I can continue my research.” the story was beginning to unfold, but it was told by a snake.

The nuit opened his mouth to continue, but was cut off by a sound. His lies and half-truths would have to end for now. ”It seems you have more visitors.” he said, getting up from the chair, almost falling over from the unbalance. He still wasn’t used to his arm being stone. Taking the gold miza off the table he waited for the first man to come in the tent and he slipped a thumb under the coin and flipped the miza at the man. The coin hit the man in the face and there was a flash of light. The glyph had activated and the man was now a stone statue. ”There might be more than one.” Ray warned waiting for another to come in, but after a chime or two he decided it was safe.

Walking over he picked up the miza and pocketed it. ”Well now,” he said, ”I must be going.” with that he patted the stoned man on the shoulder with a cocky smile and walked out. Not getting far he stopped. There was two others blocking his path. Looking at them, their features mostly shadowed by the darkness, but he could tell they were huge, muscled beasts.

He grinned, ”Now, now,” he started putting his hand in the miza bag again, drawing out a gold miza, ”How about I give you both a gold miza and we be done with this?” he offered, being more of a business man than a fighter. This wasn’t going to end well. She was impressive, having caught up with him so fast.

[Anselm]

Nuits versus brutes. It's not looking good for the Nuits, thought Anselm. As a general rule, Anselm was a proponent of non-violence. This was not out of any moral or ethical convictions. It was a matter of practicality. Nuits tended to be somewhat fragile and not particularly agile, which is to say, they usually came out on the losing end of toe-to-toe fights. But in this case he couldn't see any obvious way to avoid it. Two things bought him a few precious seconds in which to act. First, the mystery Nuit was trying hard to talk his way past them. Anselm thought it unlikely he would be successful. Second, the brutes would have to go through him to get to Anselm. He didn't know if the other Nuit had any more impressive tricks up his sleeve, but if he did, a little breathing space might be just what he needed. He concentrated his Djed in his left wrist and used it to push the astral hand out. He formed it into a fist with the index finger pointing away. Then he thrust it at the first of the two brutes, who was standing in clear view at the tent entrance, and poked the fellow in the left eye. It wasn't an especially powerful poke, but even a little poke in the eye can cause a disproportionate amount of pain. The surprised man slapped his hand over his eye and stumbled backward, causing the man behind him to tumble over backward. Having purchased a few more seconds, Anselm focused on his inner Djed and concentrated it in the palm of his hand. As the glowing green Res emerged, he willed it into a ball and ignited the outer layer, which burst into flame. He would have liked to have had more time to create a larger fireball, but he didn't. He aimed it at the tent entrance. The brute who had fallen over had gotten to his feet again surprisingly fast. The brute with the red, watering eye looked unhappy. They both looked angry. Anselm said to the other Nuit, “Perhaps it would be best if you moved a little to the left.” Then he used his will power to propel the fireball at the first brute, igniting it's core as it flew across the two or so meters separating him from his target. He was already secreting more Res to form another fireball. This, as it turned out, was a good thing because the first fireball was something of a dud. It struck the red-eyed man full in the chest and exploded impressively. But the actual fire damage it did was minimal and the man was able to slap out the flames without too much trouble. Now both brutes were standing shoulder to shoulder eyeing Anselm. He fired the second fireball, this one aimed at their feet.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

The man continued to scream as the pearl was placed into his mouth, but soon his scream choked off and he started gagging. His lips shrank in and his eyes bulged. He started convulsing on the floor. The frantic motions made Bitey, and Tock's pet hammer Naily, both scurry away into the far corners of the room. Tock just stared. Her eyes grew wider with each passing moment. 'E's dyin'... she realized. She'd never actually seen someone die before. She didn't let herself blink. The man's body shook and convulsed, his head banging against the floorboards. Light started streaming from his mouth. His eyes started to sink into his head. I done killed 'im, she thought. I's a murderer... She felt nothing. Nothing but the intense scientific curiosity to watch the process complete. The man's skin started to turn ashen. His flesh sunk in, pulled taught against bone. His hair withered away, and even his clothes started to corrode. The effect started getting faster and faster, and soon Tock had to move back, putting distance between her and the dying man. His body dried out and was reduced to flakes and ash, and before long even the bones cracked, dried, and were turned to dust. The air tasted dry. Tock looked at the table where she'd been working on her hydraulics homework, and saw that every vial and beaker was bone dry. Her mouth was parched. It was like the pearl had sucked all the moisture from the man, and the room. Tock grinned. "Oy, didja SEE 'at?" she asked her pets. They were still hiding, but luckily they didn't have any parts that would be affected by this. She looked at Boxy, and hobbled over to him, pulling off all the little pieces she'd been using to keep him open. With them removed, he snapped shut, closing his lid and pulling in his screws. Tock held him up and asked him, "Didja know yer treasure could do 'at?" He flicked his lid open in what she interpreted as a shrug. She tapped him on the lid now and asked, "Ya still gonna be a stubborn boy? O' can ya open fer me now?" He obediently opened his lid, and she grinned. She had deduced it correctly; however he'd been programmed, his Directives only required him to protect something that had been placed inside. Empty, he was a sweetheart. She looked down at the pearl, lying smugly on the floor, surrounded by a pile of dust. Now she had to decide what to do. Anselm would be back at some point, and he'd be curious about the contents of the box. Plus, someone else might be along sooner or later searching for the pearl, or for the box, or both. She had to decide what to do. She held up Boxy. He was so cute. She petted him, and he twisted his screws contentedly. Her priority was now to protect him. The pearl didn't matter to her by comparison. Sure, it was clearly some powerful alchemical device related to water in some way, but she didn't know the first thing about such magic. She knew Automatons, however, and she didn't want someone to hurt this little guy because they were seeking what was once inside him. "We's not gonna put 'at stinky ol' pearl back inside ya, is we now?" she asked him, pouting and shaking her head. He snapped his lid shut in compliance. She took the fake box, the one she'd lined with silver plating, and tucked it under her bed. If someone came looking for Boxy, they'd likely find the fake box hidden there. Then she tucked Boxy into her backpack, not intending to leave him alone for a moment. He needed protection from the big bad men that might try to hurt him. Then she grabbed one of the jars from the table, hoping no one would notice when she didn't return it to the University along with the other borrowed equipment. She used a pair of tongs to retrieve the pearl and dropped it inside, sealing the jar tight. If its magic was somehow water-related, then a waterproof jar seemed like the ideal container. She then tucked the small jar into a pocket and climbed into her crutches. She didn't even notice that the ashes of the dead man were still all over her floor, except for an idle mental note to animate a living broom soon. Her house was a mess. Ordering all of her babies, Choppy, Bitey, Naily, and poor malfunctioning Cutty, to stay and behave, she rode the crutches out of the house. She needed to decide what to do with this pearl, and keeping it in her house was not an option.

[Rayage]

Rayage gave the brutes a sly smile, it seemed they were not accepting the money he was offering, ”Perhaps miza isn’t what you want” he said putting the coins away, but quickly thinking of something else to do. Grinning, ”How about I buy you some ale and spirits?” he offered, but no sooner did he offer than one brute stumbled backwards from some unseen strike.

Preparing mentally for an attack, the nuit placed a hand on his sword. He didn’t know a lot, and it was heavy, but if he could get in a good swing then he could do some real damage. Drawing it rather awkwardly he stepped to the left as suggested by the other nuit. No sooner did he do that a fireball flew past him and hit one of the thugs. So, this nuit was using magic. Interesting. He stored that bit of information in his mind for later use.

The second fireball flew and hit the ground, spreading near the brutes feet causing them to stumble back. Taking that moment of awkwardness he stepped forward charging the two, slashing at both them in a long arc, missing. Though being a nuit he was slower than the average human, and before he got near them one of them donned an axe. Swinging it at the nuit he didn’t have time to dodge and just let it hit him. The axe luckily hit his stone arm. The nuit smiled, feeling nothing as the axe sunk into his arm. The man seemed more than surprised when he didn’t cleave through his arm. Normally he would have, with the strength the man had, but not cutting though stone. That was what his arm was.

Taking the surprise to his advantage the nuit trusted with his ancient blade managing to stab the one who slashed at him in the shoulder. The blade biting into the flesh and sinking till it hit the bone. He felt the blade hit the bone and knew he could go any farther. He didn’t have the strength. Pulling it out, the axe came for another swing, hitting the nuit in the shoulder, luckily isurian steel plate blocked his shoulder. His cloak has more than paid off now.

Backing up the nuit looked at the two, ”Run.” he told them, ”You cannot win. You will die.” his words were once again poison. Ray falling into the trap of overgiving. He could cast just one more spell, one more spell, just one more and he would be good. Stringing together a feeling of doubt, fear, and confusion, along with the subconscious thought of run he waited for a reaction blood dripping off his blade.

[Anselm]

Anselm felt Djed surging through his body, as though he had tapped into some extraordinary source that was fueling it. While the other Nuit attacked, he formed a third fireball, this one bigger than the previous two. He lit it up and fired it off at the man without the axe, igniting its core as soon as it left his hand. The thought flitted vaguely through his mind that he should have targeted the axe man since he was the greatest thread, but he wasn't taking time to think now. He was all about action. The fireball struck the brute full in the face and set his hair on fire. The man was probably going to come out of this without any eyebrows and with a good deal of scaring. But Anselm wasn't thinking about that. He was forming his fourth fireball, which he fired off at the axe man. It went wild and hit a nearby bush which immediately burst into flame. The power was welling up inside him. He had never felt anything like it. It was exhilarating. And it was taking him less time to emit the requisite Res. His fifth fireball went wild too and sailed off into the indeterminate distance. The ground abruptly tilted to one side and he had to grab the table for balance. Unfortunately he had to do that with his right hand since he had not re-attached his astral left hand. Glowing green Res smeared across the end of the table, which began disintegrating under his hand. He lost his balance and fell on to his side. Then he saw something that terrified him. The stone brute began to move, and it was moving toward Anselm. OOC : Anselm is hallucinating.

[Minerva Agatha Zipporah]

OOC : Is he hallucinating from Overgiving? I'm not 100% sure how all that works since I haven't gotten into any Personal Magic yet. Unaware of the battle going on not far off in the city, Tock headed for the University. She passed through the residential district, never quite coming close enough to the market district to notice the lights of the fireballs being flung about. Her crutches carried her through the city, and she paused in front of a small house when she spotted a flower garden. She dug one of the flowers, a bright pink chrysanthemum, out of the garden with her bare hands. She took care to preserve the roots, and tucked the flower, along with the huge chunk of soil that clung to the roots, into the pocket of her apron. Once she got to the university, she made her way down to the East Wing, then climbed out of her crutches and stashed them in a corner. She hobbled down the hall, taking care to avoid being seen, until she made her way to the hall with the Professors' offices. There was a hidden door there, not a 'secret passage' per say, but a door that was concealed behind several turns of the hallway and some carefully sculpted decorative architecture. The artistic touch kept the hall from being visible to passerby, though it was obvious where it was if you knew where to look. Tock only knew about it because she had been here once before. Most students didn't know this passage existed, even if they walked by it every day. And even if they did find it, the area was off limits to students. Not that that would stop Tock. The passage led to a door that opened into an inner courtyard, which was inaccessible by any other means. Students walking by the East Wing halls could look down into the courtyard from the windows there, but no one was allowed down here. It wasn't safe. In the center of the courtyard were a series of toadstool-shaped metal vents, from which colorful smoke and sparks of energy could occasionally be seen. Right below the ground here was the Toadstool Cluster, the University's Magecrafting labs. The vents expelled excess Djed and other potentially dangerous side effects of the Magecrafting process. Students were forbidden from going need the vents for their own safety, and the passage that led to this courtyard was normally reserved only for maintenance personnel. Tock knelt down by a shrub near the wall and started digging, using her crowbar to loosen the dirt. She dug as deep as her arm could reach, up to her shoulder, then pulled out the glass jar. The pearl was glimmering softly unaided the jar. She turned it over, examining it from all sides. It didn't look dangerous, but she had seen what it did to that man, and that was likely only a small piece of this puzzle. She needed time to study. And find out what this pearl could be. Time in the University Library, or to consult her teachers (with all possible subtlety) until she could deduce what the pearl was. She wouldn't have the time she needed to research it if someone stole it, or tried to kill her to get it. So she set it in the bottom of the hole and covered it with dirt. It would be safe here. The jar should prevent the magic of the pearl from affecting anything else (or so she hoped). No one was allowed in this area, so she was confident people wouldn't be snooping around here and trying to dig anything up. And the Djed vents from the Toadstool Cluster would likely cloud any attempts to use Auristics or other magic to locate the pearl. She wasn't quite sure how that kind of magic worked, but it was a reasonable guess that with all the energies that came out of those vents each day, they would disrupt any magic used around here. She planted the flower atop the hole, gently patting the dirt into place. She would be able to see the flower from the windows up above when she came to class each day. As long as she saw the flower was undisturbed, she would be able to know the pearl hadn't been found. She brushed the dirt off herself and scattered some leaves around to cover the signs of her digging. Then she hobbled back inside and found a washroom to clean up, washing away all the dirt from her skin and clothes. The she reclaimed her crutches, leaving the University and heading back for the city. She headed towards Anselm's tent. She didn't know where he had gotten to, but it had been many hours since she'd seen him. The streets were mostly empty so late at night, so if he was still out and about, it shouldn't be too hard to find him.

[Rayage]

The nuit kept up with the pace of the battle. Some more fireballs flung by the other nuit made contact with the others, Ray kept up his intimidation factor, ”I told you that you cannot win. Run” he said, more and more djed pouring out him. This power was all his and he was using it to his fullest potential. ”Run.” he yelled, commanding, enticing djed empowering his words more than he normally could, subconscious thoughts shooting at the both of them blasting their minds with run, run, run and emotional responses to those thoughts setting the tone for the entire battle. Fear, anxiety, confusion all mixed in the air, coming out in an aura around him. The djed poured out of him, staining the air with the thoughts and feeling.

The two brutes began to move back, affected by the not so subtle hypnosis making the nuit seem a lot more dangerous than he actually was. Slashing again at them, he missed as they started to turn and run. ”Rayage.” the nuit heard his name being called out and he looked towards the sound. Never in his life was he happy enough to see those two idiots. The people he had hired. He let his guard down and sheathed his sword after it was cleaned on his black cloak, ”Don’t let them escape. Kill them.” he pointed at the two brutes that were running. Rays hired thugs gave chase. They were injured enough.

He looked back at the mages whose fireballs kept on getting bigger and bigger and he smiled, ”As I said, I must be going now.” with that he calmly started to walk away, not a care in the world, but his inside world was in turmoil. He wanted to cast more and more, and he could feel the ichor drip out of the sides of his eyes. His vision was blurred, and was going black. It wasn’t long until he went blind in one eye, cursing all the magic he had to use. Thinking back, his djed probably still was affecting the area which he loosed it in. No matter. It would dissipate soon enough.Besides he had all the information he needed. The man knew of the box, and thanks the seers business Ray knew where he could find him if he ever needed more information. He laughed to himself, he was sure they would meet again.