Esme’s Monday afternoon odd encounter(Obadiah)
Date: 2025-08-04 13:01
(Esme’s Monday afternoon odd encounter(Obadiah):Obadiah)
[Mon Aug 4 2025]
At Thornberry and Franklin/span>/spannoon, about 83F(28C) degrees, and there are clear skies. The mist is heaviest At High and Darkwater/span>/spanstands on the edge of the borough in question with Esme and Sophie in tow and looks in, grabbing his hat and holding it down on his head for a moment as he peers in. “I think the three of us will be enough. We’re Librarians after all. This is what we do.” He doesn’t seem completely convinced by this, but it is what it is. They’ll have to do.
“Alright, the Bothan spy I called in a favor to get this information. It seems, ah,” he glances at someone then continues, “A Hand opportive has set up something called a Storm Chapel in Highgate.” He mutters under his breath, “That would have been nice to know,” before continuing, “So… looks like we can cast an opposing ritual, find whatever is tethering this storm to this borough, or try to redirect the storm.” He pause then and shrugs, “Or go to Highgate and blow up this chapel.”
Sophie stands near the majestic vehicle and watches Obadiah with a curious eye, “Let’s have some fun, shall we.” Her gaze moves to Esme and she gives her a little smile, “You’re obviously Daphne.”
stands on the edge of the borough in question with Esme and Sophie in tow and looks in, grabbing his hat and holding it down on his head for a moment as he peers in. “I think the three of us will be enough. We’re Librarians after all. This is what we do.” He doesn’t seem completely convinced by this, but it is what it is. They’ll have to do.
“Alright, the Bothan spy I called in a favor to get this information. It seems, ah,” he glances at Sophie then continues, “A Hand opportive has set up something called a Storm Chapel in Highgate.” He mutters under his breath, “That would have been nice to know,” before continuing, “So… looks like we can cast an opposing ritual, find whatever is tethering this storm to this borough, or try to redirect the storm.” He pause then and shrugs, “Or go to Highgate and blow up this chapel.”
Sophie folds her arms, brow furrowed as she processes the options. “So we’re either performing magic against an unknown ritual, rooting around for some mystical anchor, or committing arson in a holy place run by one of the most dangerous covert factions in the galaxy.” Her lips twitch as she makes that final commment, “At least we’ve got variety.”
She glances around, “Personally, I vote we go look at this ‘chapel’ before we start tossing spells or grenades. Might learn something useful without getting smote or sued.”
Esme wrinkles her nose a little at the options. “We’re not blowing up anything in Highgate.” She says, “But we should investigate the chapel first to see if we can figure out a dispelling ritual that we can do from there or something. “She figures to the group. There’s a belated bit of amusement to Sophie, “Here I was sure I was Velma.” She looks to the paper that Obadiah sends her way and rolls her eyes. “Yeah. Chapel first.”
“Right, well I dibs Shaggy,” Obadiah says as he slides into the van again and pumps up the tunes to something rockin’, and floors it to the Highgate neighborhood. “You girls take all the fun out of my life. We totally could have blown it up but noooo you have to be responsible adults.”
Between the three of them, it is pretty easy to find this so called Storm Chapel. Unlike a place of worship, their research leads them to an abandoned brownstone, the front door ajar with no one, seemingly, around. Just an empty house with an open door… oh and a bluish light emanating from an upstairs window.
Sophie eyes the brownstone warily as the van slows to a crawl. “Thats not ominous at all,” she mutters, unbuckling her belt and grabbing her satchel from the floor. She glances at the bluish glow leaking from the upper floor, then at the slightly open door. “Empty house, suspicious light, zero resistance — this is totally a scooby episode.”
“Listen, if it was anywhere other than Highgate I mighta letcha.” Esme figures to Obadiah with a grin. When they arrive at the Chapel there’s a small frown. “Totally is.” She agrees with Sophie and shakes her head. “No place t’ go but in I figure.”
“Oh, right, Sons,” Obadiah says to Esme before nodding towards the door. “Ladies first. I’ll stay outside and make sure no one interrupts. And get us snacks. You want slurpies? I am getting slurpies.” And with that he kicks the door open with his foot and lets them enter. “If it is a shrine to some sea god, I am pretty sure you can just destroy the summoning circle, or, like shoot the effigy or something and that should stop it.”
Sophie snorts at Obadiah’s commentary, casting him a sidelong look as she steps past. “Blue raspberry but with a bit of orange crush and root beer” she says with a smirk before turning her attention forward. To Esme, she adds in a lower voice, “Let’s hope it’s just a creepy room with candles and not some full blown ritual mid cast.” She moves carefully with the other woman, eyes sweeping the space as a little flame jumps between her fingers as they start up the stairs.
“You know what I like.” Esme figures to Obadiah. “If you hear us screaming, it’s probably already over.” She snickers and then draws in a breath and follows Sophie in. “Just don’t go fireballin’ shit unless we know for sure we gotta.” She murmurs to the woman, gaze flicking about for signs of the ritual as they head up.
As Esme and Sophie enter the house it is, as one would expect: furniture covered in blankets, dust and cobwebs everywhere. If someone were to move in, there would need to be a lot of decorating. Foot traffic leads to upstairs, and it is pretty clear that whoever set this ritual up did so to not be disturbed. There is a thruming sound coming from somewhere, like many drums beating out of time.
Sophie glances around, her voice low and steady as she moves alongside Esme. “Well, I was expecting something more dramatic. This is a bit, cliche.” She looks around, the space some more, “That thrum is off, not that I’m musically inclined. But, I guess this is the part we either split up or we stick together. Which way we doing?”
It is exactly as Obie had predicted. When Esme and Sophie get to the top of the stairs, there is a shrine set up to some god or another with seashells, blood vials, salt and sand around the whole thing. This was clearly set up to maintain some sort of storm ritual
Esme considers the set up and asides to Sophie, “So, when I banished that demon the other day with Hester, we mucked up his circle. Do you think that’ll help or make things worse here?”
Sophie eyes the shrine as they reach the top of the stairs, taking in the seashells, the blood vials, the salt and sand. The air hums with pressure, like the storm is waiting just outside the walls. She glances at Esme, lips pressing into a thin line. “Depends,” she says. “If this is keeping the storm in place, breaking it might let it loose. But if it’s feeding the storm, smashing it might shut the whole thing down.” She studies the pattern of the ritual for another beat, then adds, “I hate that it’s a coin flip as to which option works.”
Realistically the only way to find out, is through further investigation or to just… do something.
Esme sighs, “Well. Elliot was the one that put together and he’s smart, but I’d hedge my bet on this maintaining it. I don’t think he’d risk it letting loose over any other borough.”
Esme is in favor of team fuck shit up, apparently.
Sophie lifts her brow, “Elliot did this?” She smirks, “He’s damn smart and cute.” She moves a little closer to the shrine to try and see if anything pops out to her on it, “Well, I mean in Scooby Doo if they pull the wrong lever it just means they have to work together to find the right one.”
Well, between Sophie and Esme you figure out exactly what this is: It is, in fact, a storm chapel, a ritualistic focal point for casting and maintaining large weather based spells, however the connection to Aurora Heights is tenuous. Destroying the main focal point, whether through brute force, or just moving stuff around, will sever the tether allowing the storm to dissipate.
Sophie flashes a little smile at Esme, “C’mon, let’s have a little bit of fun.” She walks over to the shrine and picks up a crystal, moving it to an entirely different area of the table. She then proceeds to move, empty and adjust the shrine in a rather Martha Stewart style fashion.
Esme grins a bit and follows suit, moving things around the space – maybe breaking a few vials here and there while she does so. In short order they’ve got that ritual space looking entirely different.
As Sophie and Esme have there fun, they can feel a surge of energy coming from the various devices. There is occasionally a spark, like steel rubbing against flint, and some of the things don’t want to move at all.
But when they are done, there is a final release of energy and everything seems more or less inert. The storm was large, and might take a few hours to dissipate completely, but for now the ritual is broken and people will soon be able to live their lives.
Obadiah came back sometime later, drinks in hand, and drove them all back to the spa to gather their cars and stuff. “Alright, friends,” he says cheerfully, “Thanks for your help on this. I knew you two were the right people for the job. Looks like it will all pass peacefully.” He motions towards Elysia, “Maybe later we can tackle that nonsense too.”
Sophie nods, “Please.” She accepts the drink happily, “I’ve been wanting to get rid of that nonsense for a bit. Just needed some people to help with it.” Checking the time, a soft groan follows, “I’ve got to get shit done for the wing event, why does it always feel like last minute chaos even though I’ve spent a week working on this?
Esme accepts the drink with a hum. “Because this city is chaos.” She grins to Sophie. “I’ll probably be late. But I’ll try to make it. I want to eat wings.”
Obadiah says “I can drive you hope Sophie, I just need a moment by myself once we get to the spaw“
Obadiah says “Sigh “