Sophie’s Wednesday afternoon odd encounter(Obadiah)

July 24, 2025

Date: 2025-07-23 12:50

(Sophie’s Wednesday afternoon odd encounter(Obadiah):Obadiah)

[Wed Jul 23 2025]

On Prospect Avenue/span>/spannoon, about 81F(27C) degrees, and the sky is partly covered by dark grey clouds. The mist is heaviest At Maple and Lake/span>/spanSophie steps into line with Obadiah and gives Arachne a soft smile, “I don’t know a situation where I’d be calling in a favor, but that’s pretty good to know. Thanks for the tips.”

Shiloh follows along silently, hands shoved into his pockets as he moves behind Obadiah, mismatched gaze flicking around curiously.

“Your fabulous backside is showing,” Arachne casually informs Lorelei when she drifts over, threading their arms together. “Unless you mean to use it as a distraction while we work to put an end to the Hollow Conclave’s scheming here in the borough, you might want to cover up before you’re arrested for public indecency.”

Sophie counters Arachne’s words with, “But it is a damn cute bathing suit. Hardly indecent.”

Lorelei arches a brow and gives a little toss of her curls, the mirrored glint of her nails catching the sun. “It’s a bikini, Arachne,” she replies, voice light and teasing. “If anyone’s distracted, that’s a them problem. And it’s never been a problem with the law in the past…” She flounces along.

leads the way, but he is only human, and when Arachne makes her comment about Lorelei, he stops, looks, nods appreciatively, then continues forward wordlessly. Once they all step inside the perfumery to the counter he goes pulling a manila envelope from his brown leather messenger bag. As he begins spreading pictures, documents, and other clues over the glass counter top he mutters, to no one in particular, “Many Bothans died to bring us this information.”

When all of the documents are arranged he points at each piece of evidence in turn, “It appears, from what I have found, that Anna Lee did not exist. She is a figment, a memory. Something between a fatecraft and a dreamchild.” He pauses and looks to Sophie, “If I start using terms you are unfamiliar with, just stop me, ok?”

Sophie nods to Obadiah, “I got the Star Wars reference at least.”

Lorelei leans in over the glass, resting her elbows lightly as her gaze scans the photos with curious focus. “Wait… was she that mysterious public transit ghost girl?” she asks, nose scrunching slightly.

“Yes,” Arachne confirms to Lorelei as she drifts along, subtly using the siren as support, injured as she is.

Shiloh moves to lean against the countertop, eyebrow lifting upwards as he looks over the evidence presented “Okay… This is just getting creepier. You know, last night when everyone was looking for her, I swore I heard her giggling behind me in the Lodge. I may have ran.”

Shiloh says “The fog machines were not helping the atmosphere.“

Lorelei presses two fingers to her temple, then lets out an ominous, rhythmic uhn tiss, uhn tiss under her breath, as if summoning a bass drop from the beyond. She offers her good shoulder to Arachne for support, the cute one.

Shiloh jumps a bit, looking behind himself.

Obadiah grins at Sophie, “Don’t tell anyone I am a nerd.” He squints then and adds, “Though that may be common knowledge.”

Turning back to the evidence, he tells Shiloh, “There is a fine line between bravery and stupidity. Don’t be a Mercer.” Running his tongue over his teeth after the vague admonition he continues, “It appears the ritual was cast in the door using blood stain totems. We can either go door to door in the dorms to find the bloodstains or we can go into the dreams and find the tether on that side. Either way it is a basic something on this side is connected to something on that side and we gotta chomp chomp sever that link. Thoughts?”

“That is generally because of the effects of the magic she has at work,” Arachne murmurs in supposed theory toward Shiloh. “It’s good for inflicting foreign thoughts, images, feelings, and the like with people within the borough.” Her gaze flicks toward Obadiah when he lays out the situation, opining, “It’s likely less burdensome to utilize MyHaven’s network to get the students and locales to play Scooby Due Finds A Clue on our behalf, and challenge them to find ritualistic signs and submit it to our chats,” in an easy offer. “Or, those of with sensitive noses, might likely be able to trace out those totems, though that’d be a bit harder since it’s likely muddied and obfuscated to prevent it from being so easy.’

Shiloh lets his gaze linger on the shop behind the group, as if searching for something. When he doesn’t find it he shakes his head and runs a hand down his face, attention turning to Arachne. “I keep hearing it.” He sighs before nodding between Obadiah and Arachne “I’m out of my league here, so I’ll defer to whatever can get her giggling out of my head the fastest.”

Sophie shifts her weight, arms loosely crossed. “Could I push out a call through the student council channels? Turn it into a campus scavenger hunt. If the ritual messes with perception, the more affected reports might help us triangulate real tether points.” She looks around the group, curious if she’s even on the same page as everyone.

Lorelei blinks once, then tilts her head with exaggerated innocence. “Dreaming?” she echoes. “I didn’t bring any sleepwear.” Her lips curve slow, teasing. “Was that supposed to be on the packing list?” With the air of beautiful women who things just work out for them frequently, she sort of just, looks around, as if an obvious clue would likely present itself here.

“I mean myhaven and student councils would work,” Obadiah says with a nod, “Maybe contacts in general. I mean Lorelei is a pretty girl, I bet she could get college boys to do her bidding.” He takes another sip of cheap black coffee, “I dunno. someone want to 29try something?”

Sophie asks, “Wait, is this connected to the dreaming thing?” She doesn’t say more but something seems to have sparked her interest as she glances around.

Shiloh rubs at the back of his neck as he looks around cluelessly. He really knows nothing about magic and totems, basically all of this. But he does at least try to be helpful, “I’m pretty fast. I can run around the dorms and look for any of those signs you mentioned.”

Arachne tongues lightly at the interior of her bottom lip, delicately unraveling her arm from Lorelei’s to stand upon her own two feet, albeit with difficulty and strain in the tension of her shoulders, rather than anything exhibited in her cool demeanor. “I’ll see what I can string together. I don’t cultivate a near two hundred thousand following on MyHaven simply to for nothing,” she vocalizes her work to the group.

Lorelei tucks a lock of coppery curl behind one ear, her tone light and teasing. “Guess I could try some hot witchy stuff, see what answers bubble up.”

Arachne is able to flex those socialite skills and that Kim Kardashian level influence to bring to bare all of the students of Widermere. Within minutes of whatever socish med post she puts up, reports start flocking in. Granted a fair number of them are bullshit, but with the assistance of Lorelei’s hot witchy stuff, it is pretty easy to figure out which are real blood ritual markings and which are just Fight Club gone horribly awry.

To his credit Shiloh is able to clear all the floors of the dorms like the Flash, but he is moving just too fast. He sees motor oil, chocolate, and cola stains mixed in with the blood all over the place but at his speed of travel he is unable to determine which is which.

There are 6 blood stains total that need to be removed, destroying any four of them will break the ritual. Their locations are First floor room 1, second floor room 2, third floor room 6, fourth floor bathroom, first floor laundry room, basement trash chute.

Shiloh stops after combing through the dorms, eyebrows furrowed as he scratches at his cheek, frowning “Well, I guess I didn’t really think that one through entirely…” He exhales a small groan before tilting his head, relaying his lack of information through comms channels, “Hey Obie, uhhh. I was moving a bit too fast, couldn’t really make out any useful information. Should I head back?”

Lorelei glances down at her manicured nails like maybe they could double as ritual tools, then back up with a bright, unbothered smile. “Okay, so Let’s not go for extra credit here” Her tone lilts breezy and amused as she glances toward the others. “Just tell me which ones are the least gross to touch and I’ll handle it. We draw the line at the trash chute though, Queen and Princess privileges.” She asserts as she grabs Arachne protectively.

The flood of messages to Arachne’s accounts are enough to nearly bring about a migraine as she systematically puts her moderators and auto-moderation tools to sorting out false flags, leaving behind a wealth of information that’s then verified by two Revelers and Chamberlains at her disposal as Summer Sovereign. “Alright, we have several locations,” she informs the group their findings, “There’s six stains, and we may need to only target four and destroy them.” She quickly taps out a text chain, sending it all to everyone’s phones with successive buzzes and chimes:

“You could always split the party,” Obadiah says taking a sip of his coffee as he starts gathering the documents to put in the folder and putting them into his messenger bag. “I dunno, Lorelei and Arachne could tackle one of the dorm rooms, and Shiloh and Sophie maybe the kitchen? Two on the first floor though seems like a good place to start.” He grins a moment behind bloodshot eyes, “I can drive but I may need more coffee.”

“I’m fine with either circumstance. We can take a couple of these, and I’ll have the courtiers deploy to the ones we can’t make it to,” Arachne offers, content to be claimed and drawn off for adventure in the campus with Lorelei.

Lorelei gives Obadiah a sympathetic glance, as if his coffee dependency is both relatable and terminally uncute. “Mmm, I do love a good dorm room rendezvous,” she hums, glancing to Arachne with a conspiratorial glint. “Lead the way, your majesty. We’ll go see if first floor room one is feeling… receptive.” She waves vaguely toward the others. “Try not to get too heroic without us.” She helps Arachne along.

Shiloh curses as his headset doesn’t seem to work, but he blinks down at his phone, reading the text, “Oh.” He laughs, sending a text back: ‘I’m literally at the dorms rn, how do I destroy them?’ He fires off to the group chat.

‘Idk bleach and elbow grease?’ comes Obadiah’s response to the group chat as he heads over with Sophie in tow so she doesn’t get left behind. Able to swing both ways in this little group he takes his pupil to Shiloh and hands her off so she doesn’t get left behind in the fracas and then wanders his way to another room, probably on the top floor where no one will notice him taking his sweet time as he flirts with coeds and otherwise Mercerizes the situation on floor 6.

When Arachne and Lorelei arrive at their room they find the door open and one college bro rocking out with large headphones, the blood marking on the frame above the door, out there for the whole world to see like some weird Blue Oyster Cult fan dedication.

Sophie follows along without complaint, phone in hand and thumb already tapping out a draft message for the student network. She gives Shiloh a quick nod as Obadiah redirects her, then drifts after the group, half-present, half focused on wording the scavenger hunt to sound fun instead of alarming.

With the Scooby Gang splitting up to handle their respective assignments, Arachne slips a ring onto her finger that renders her invisible, which saves her the hell of trying to pretend she’s not injured and people repeatedly asking if she’s okay. Her hand stays linked with Lorelei to ensure her stalwart defender knows her location, her steps obfuscated.

In the group chat, she opines: Disturbing the wards should be enough to disbalance the power. We only need 4. How you go about it doesn’t matter, so long as you’re careful and don’t get yourself or anyone else hurt.

She looks up at the blood-marked doorway, then nudges Lorelei, pointing at it.

Shiloh blinks at Sophie as she just seems distracted on her phone. “I’m going to handle the trash chute.” He tells her before running off by himself, moving at blurring speeds, toward the basement. He fires off a text on his way: ‘I’m going to scorch the metal. Easier than finding bleach.’

Sophie lifts her brow, “Uh, okay?” She comments to nobody as she’s now standing alone, in a hallways glancing around.

Lorelei leans into the doorway, weight shifting to one hip as her curls tumble forward and those vivid blue-green eyes catch the college guy’s in a locked, glittering stare. The flicker in them is sudden and a little wild, something unspoken crackling just beneath the surface as she flashes a slow, crooked smile. “Up,” she says simply, voice honey-smooth with a dangerous edge. “That thing above your door? You’re scrubbing it off, handsome.” Her gaze doesn’t break, lashes low, voice a purr. “And if you do it well, I might even say thank you.”

Beautiful woman in a bikini promising a reward for manual labor? Check. Psychically encouraged to do the same? Check. Without much resistance at all the first symbol flares red briefly and then is gone under the vigorous rubbing of a lonely college guy.

Shiloh arrives in the basement, once the totem has been spotted on the trash chute, he would then place his hand against the metal, heating it as flames lick around his hand. Only doing enough property damage to disrupt the totem, of course!

Sophie glances as her phone buzzes, a little laugh following, “Scavenger for the win, laundry room has been found and blood is being scrubbed,” She reports to nobody in general as she’s standing there. “And all it took was the promise of free pizza.”

The heat from Shiloh’s touch is enough to warp the metal of the chute. This one looks a little like the Chaos Undivided symbol from Warhammer, these are college kids after all. The symbol flares red and then flakes away. That’s 2.

Sophie is as good as Lorelei at getting people to do shit they don’t want to do normally. Everyone knows free food, specifically free pizza, is how you get college kids to do anything. Sure enough shortly after the first text comes in about the laundry room being cleaned, our magical friends feel a release of tension in the air. That’s three. One more and everyone can go home.

Lorelei hums idly as she circles the room, hips swaying with absent confidence. One hand trails across a cluttered desk before dipping into a half-zipped backpack, rooting around without concern. “Do college boys still eat candy like raccoons?” she wonders aloud, pulling out a crumpled protein bar wrapper with a wrinkled nose. Her other hand lifts a hoodie, inspecting it with vague interest, then discards it over the bedframe. “You really live like this?” she asks, not unkindly, as she crouches to peek beneath the bed. She sighs and trails off out of the room sort of aimleslly, following whatever instincts hot girls do.

For her part, Arachne/span>/spanSophie checks in with the others as she’s lost track of which item still requires attention. Trash chute done, laundry room done and she assumes the first floor is done. With a skip in her skep she heads off to the second floor to check on it.

Lorelei leans casually against the doorframe of the next dorm, lips parted in a sigh as she surveys the mess. “Ugh. Do none of you own a broom?” she mutters, stepping lightly over a tangle of laundry. Without waiting, she gestures vaguely toward the chaos. “You, with the socks. Start folding. You, corner goblin, wipe down that desk. Princess inspection in five.” She taps her nails together, sharp and gleaming. “Chop chop.” She vanishes from their doorway never to be seen again.

“I, uh, like candy yeah,” the boy tells Lorelei watching her rummaging through his things. Hot girl things. When she instructs them to clean up the room, they do exactly what she orders. Is it the bikini, or is it the powers of the mind? We may never know.

Arachne brings the full power of the court to bear, or at least some of the power of the court to bear, and the last couple of symbols are scrubbed free. Except for on the sixth floor.

Whatever is happening up there, no one probably wants to know. While everyone else was doing real work, a peel of manic laughter fills the sixth floor followed by a small explosion and the smell of sulfur and citrus. A few moments later Obadiah walks back down the stairs and comments to Sophie, Lorelei, and Arachne, “Uh… Don’t go up there. Anyway I think that is all of them. Anyone have anything else we need to do? The affects should fade here soon.” (OOC: I’ll give everyone one more pose then I’ll close us out.)

Shiloh has finished his part of the job and meanders up the stairs and away from the campus, firing off a few texts, one to the group chat: Gotta run, got plans for the afternoon. Good show.

Sophie looks up from her phone and shakes her head, “Nope! I need to order and deliver half a dozen pizzas but hey, worth it.” She gives Obadiah a content little smile.

Lorelei crouches, pops open the mini fridge, and grabs a can of something called “Zorp! Hypermelon Blast”, the label is all jagged fonts and violent green lightning bolts. She taps the top twice, then cracks it open with a sharp hiss, careful not to break a nail, and takes a loud slurping sip as she strolls off.

Arachne melts back into view once the rest of the gang returns, features pinched, and breathing a labored thing she endures. “Thank you for taking initiative to do this, Ser Mercer,” she tells Obadiah. “I should go and rest, unless there’s more to be done?”

“You have all been a huge help,” Obadiah comments to all of them but gives Sophie a particularly encouraging smile. “And now, Shiloh you and Sophie know what to do when some pop up. Sword and a Scroll can take on most problems, yeah? Brains and Brawn. Don’t need to wait for one of the Masters to do anything, just… you know. Do it.”

He glances to Lorelei and Arachne, giving the second a deferential nod, easily switching between his twin roles as easily as an octopus fills a jar, “That should take care of it all, milady. Thank you for your assistance.”

Arachne squeezes Lorelei’s arm gently before peeling away, a murmur of gratitude to Shiloh and Sophie given before sehe’s headed toward her car.

Shiloh waves as he hops on his bike.

gives a flick of his wrist to the group and starts heading away to his van. “Be good,” he winks at Sophie. “We’ll talk more later.”