It is about 65/i>18C) degrees. The mist is heaviest At Autumn and Blackstone/span

(Your target and their allies are charged with tracking down a supernatural criminal on the run from the factions, what they do with them then is up to the players to decide.
)

The latino professor and the newly graduated Eloa are in a kitchen in the midst of renovation from water damage from a recent storm. Despite the torn out walls and the faint lingering scent of mold and wood progress is being made. Matias is standing at a stovetop cooking sunny side up eggs and some bacon on two separate pans when there is a *BANG BANG BANG* on the front door just before 7am in the morning. Looking over his shoulder towards Eloa he squints and then shrugs saying in a careless brazilian accent, “Go see who is banging on door, maybe Lykaia or Fields.”

“Who is banging at door at this time?” Eloa grumbles as she goes go the door. “We need like peep hole.” She calls out as she opens the door to look out, seeming abit grumpy to be disturbed.

Standing before Eloa is someone in their late teens, maybe early twenties, he is dressed in thrift store chic with an oversized jacket (in this heat!) and a 90s t-shirt and tatty jeans and converse shoes. He is holding a book to his chest and looks up at Eloa with big brown eyes and a youthful expression. “Help hide me and good fortune will find you today.” he says in a new yorker’s accent, strong desires of hopefulness and fear coming off him and clinging to Eloa’s angelborn senses. Meanwhile Matias is still cooking letting the young latina handle the door.

Hazel eyes look outside past the boy at the busy madison street which is one of the main streets in town and Eloa frowns at the boy before letting him in. Not because she wanted to help him that much but more because the door is paper thin so if he really wanted to come in he probably would anyways. “Um… Why do you need be hidden?” She asks as she crosses her hands over her chest, seeming not super impressed.

Eliot stumbles in the moment that Eloa yields, like he half-expected she would not. The second hes inside, he exhales like hes been holding his breath for hours, eyes darting around the small space like hes cataloging every exit and shadow. The book he clutches is thick and leather-boundtoo ornate for a college kid, too ancient for a bookstore find. He presses it tighter to his chest, like it might vanish if he lets go. Because they know I saw it, he says, voice low now, conspiratorial. I didnt mean toI was just trying to borrow something small, something shiny. But it was open, and it showed me. He swallows hard, then takes a cautious step further into the east coast home under renovation, lowering his voice again. Now I got every creepy ghoul, mage, and thing-with-too-many-teeth looking for me. And Im not a fighter, Im just fast. Just lucky. And maybe… He glances at Eloa, his hopeful expression returning for a flicker. Maybe good at picking who to trust. Eliot suddenly jerks his head toward the window, his eyes narrowing. Do your curtains always breathe like that? Or is that… new?

Matias calls from the kitchen as he begins to plate the sunny side eggs, crispy bacon, and the toast. “Is that someone from Hand for you?” his resonating baritone carrying from the kitchen as he slides one plate with a fork to where Eloa has been sitting and starts to break the yolk of his own sunny side egg with the bacon, remaining in the kitchen.

“No is random boy with maybe cursed book? And things after him.” Eloa calls out to Matias in the kitchen, not looking too impressed at the boy. “What did it show you anyways? We can’t help you unless you actually tell us what you saw.” Not seeming impressed the boy is delaying dinner, Eloa leans against the couch and crosses her ankles.

Eliot looks at Eloa with a squint and then back to the window curtains and then back to Eloa. “What?” when she mentions the curse he partially hides the chest sized grimoire under his oversized jacket. “What do you know about curses?” he wonders in his new yorker accent with footsteps circling him away from the door he had just come through and towards the open archway towards the kitchen, his eyes looking now towards Matias who is munching on bacon seemingly unconcerned and then to Eloa. “Did you lure me here? Did one of you call me while I was running through the streets?!” he accuses in an increasingly high pitched and paranoid voice.

Matias munches on some bacon and then points the remaining half of the stick of pork at Eliot. “No I did no call you here and neither did she. Where did you get book?” to which the young man blatantly lies and asks, “What book?”

“That point.” Eloa points to the book in the boys chest that he’s still clutching. “If you not want tell is okay. We open door, you go back out? Is disturbing breakfast.” Eloa tells the boy crossly, seeming somewhat upset that her breakfast which smells heavenly in the kitchen is being delayed.

Those big brown eyes look right and left and then in a direction that may not exist on this plane (or he just went cross eyed) before settling on Eloa looking over the latina woman and her visible symbols. “You are with -them-!” he declares as he backpedals until he bumps into a wall that had been partially torn out and thick paper currently covers it, he trips and falls through the paper getting stuck in the damaged wall between two support studs!

Matias finishes his bacon and begins to use his toast to scoop up the soppy runny yolk of his sunny side eggs and then chomp on the crisp toast and savory egg yolk. Meanwhile Eliot struggles to free himself from the wall and as he does the book partially opens and a spirit appears within Eloa’s sight but not Matias’s own. The spirit is small, shadowy, and grabs Eliot by the oversized coat struggling to help him to his feet. The young man says exasperatedly, “I just want to be free, I only want to help the book be free too. It spoke to me, it told me the library chained it up and hurt it.” upon closer inspection of the partially hidden by a coat book it is missing a chunk in the bottom left corner of the cover like it had been cut or torn out.

“Huh.” Eloa was about to go join Matias at the table eating crispy breakfast when the book shows its spirit. “There is cute little spirit in the book … Spirit seems to be helping the boy.” She comments with a squint before offering a hand towards the boy to help him out of the studs. “Should we just banish it before breakfast?” She asks, slowly being drawn towards the delicious smell of bacon.

The spirit makes a face at Eloa its shadowy form having reddish glowing eyes. Meanwhile Eliot exclaims, “No! If you banish the spirit, I’ll be alone and no one will believe me the book wanted to be taken.” and with that he takes the latina hand with his clammy sweat soaked palm. “I was in library, seemed to go on forever and ever. I saw book chained up, it begged me to help. It said we both wanted to be free, so I help. Now people are after me, with magics and teeth and… and… I just want to get out of town. You can give me bus money and let me go right? Help me get to bus station?” he begs Eloa leaving Matias out of it since the man is still technically in the other room and has said barely a word.

“Not until you show us what’s in the book. Matias here is …professor at university. He study alot of books. He will be able to say if dangerous. And chained down book seem pretty dangerous to Eloa.” Eloa lifts an eyebrow at Matias as she gestures for the boy to go into the kitchen. Following him there, she pops her egg before it can become too hard and starts buttering up her own toast.

Eliot seems reluctant but when Eloa just walks away from him like her breakfast is more important than his escape to freedom he does what any ignored teenager would do… Follows along to get attention. Thus does Eloa get to butter her toast and Eliot walk into the room with Matias who simply looks at him with bespectacled slate-grey eyes. “Is from Endless Library if was chained. You should not have it.” to which Eliot immediately recoils as if struck and insists empathetically, “Do you want to be chained on shelf, stuck forever unable to be read or seen or heard? It is a torture to do that to a book as smart as this one. This one talked! It asked to be saved! It offered to save me, but I saw some of the pages. Pages with circles, now people tell me I have to join book in library!” and while he ‘explains’ his situation he lets the book partially open and several more spirits slip out of the pages and down to the ground where they move like extra shadows towards Eloa and Matias’s own shadows.

Siiiiiigggggghhhh. The sigh in breath from Eloa is almost audiable as she watches the spirits slip out. “You know Banish rituals are instant.” She tells the spirit, spinning her chair away to try and spin her shadow away which.. doesn’t work so instead Eloa starts to glow like the moon. “If you spirits no behave we will banish you.” A finger is wagged at the spirits before Eloa noms into her toast.

Even as Eloa threatens to banish the spirits, Eliot who surely cannot know better screams “No!” and pulls out what appears to be a fairly blunted switch blade. Judging by the hunk cut out of the books cover and pages it was likely blunted freeing the book from its chains. Meanwhile one of the spirits merges with Matias’s shadow and the latino man puts his plate down and pulls out his rosary making a gesture towards Eloa’s glowing body as a gust of wind bursts into existence in doors and knocks her several feet into one of the partially renovated walls with only thick paper to cover the studs. While Eloa is distracted the other shadowy spirit tries to rush to her shadow, but her glowing innerlight keeps it from getting close enough and eventually it dissipates. Eliot looks at Matias and tells him, “Help me get out of town.” and the latino man begins to pull out his wallet, in silence.

“Oh no Matias REALLY?” Eloa grumbles as the man knocks her into the wall. “This is domestic violence!” She tells him grumbling grumpily as she pushes off the wall, rubbing her shoulder and then stalks towards Matias. She disappears, becoming invisible to the man and the spirits before walking forward next to Matias’s shadow, lighting it up as she’s invisible. “Do not help him! You are possessed by spirit!” Grumbling, Eloa starts casting a mindguard ritual on Matias.

As Eloa approaches and then vanishes Matias is enveloped in smoke and transitions to a shadowy furred maine coon using its feline agility to flee from Eloa and jump onto the island breakfast counter and then up onto the fridge, now far to mobile and shadow to small for Eloa to attack with her angelic light. Meanwhile Eliot runs forward as Eloa begins to cast and grabs the dropped wallet from the arcanist changed to cat. Opening up the wallet he finds a 100 bucks! … and 1000 Real (that is brazilian bucks)!

“Oh there’s your kitty form.” Eloa calls out as Matias turns into a cat, but Eloa sighs as she continues to chant under her breath, runes darkening her skin in crimson letters as she remains lit up. “You’re mind controlling Matias now. That is bad.” She tells the child and the book, frowning as the kid suddenly sees an illusion of all the gnolls and goblins through the window peering inwards like they want him. “Let him go. Or will call all those goblins to come get you.” Eloa threatens with a frown.

Eliot looks at the window and yelps! “Okay… You can have him, just do not follow me!” and he scrambles towards the front room again and the door he had come through. It may be the busier street with a higher chance of being spotted by Eloa has a goblin army! As he tries to flee a shadowy spirit separates from the maine coon cat and flies after the book, entering the pages once more. Meanwhile the maine coon cat shakes its head and begins to exude smoke as it leaps down and lands on a mans feet brushing himself off and looking at the hole in the paper covered wall. “I hate that I cannot see spirits.” he mutters in an irate brazilian accent.

“Goodbye! Don’t come back!” Eloa calls out toward the door, going over to slam it shut once it looks like the shadow has left Matias. “Aww you turned back into man already? Eloa wanted to pet the cat.” Eloa comments with a sigh, “No seen Pixel in a few days hope he’s alright…”

With that Eloa lets a supernatural fugitive and paranoid teenager out into the world all because she wanted a nice breakfast and to pet a kitty. Truly the world would be a better place had she stopped Eliot, but maybe that is someone elses problem… She also let him rob Matias of 100 dollars and in New Haven with the property taxes they pay it may cause them to go homeless. A morning to remember perhaps and the consequences of which may be felt at a later date.

(Your target discovers a mundane human has accidentally acquired a dangerous magical artifact from an estate sale or thrift shop. The artifact is beginning to corrupt them, and the target must retrieve it before the human either transforms into something monstrous or attracts the attention of darker supernatural forces.)

Lykaia stretches out before she moves to sink into her chair behind the desk. She lets out a yawn, closes her eyes and looks… intend to take a nap, actually. She does play her phone down, putting it onto the desk in front herself.

The day continues on for Lykaia, peaceful, relaxing, and of course, without obstruction from idealistic Orderites ranting about nonsensicle subjects they don’t like.

The weather is cool for New Haven, with All Saints going through one of those temperature falls that usually means that someone is upto something. (Likely because they are)

As Lykaia sets her phone down, there’s a report over the Temple coms. The operatives note that there’s a human at risk. An item that was being observed in a local store has gone missing.

It’s suggested that if not stopped, or the item retrieved, the human may be corrupted.

Following the report, a notification is sent out, Lykaia’s phone vibrating. The artifact is an amulet that draws power from the Other which if left unchecked may activate the human, corrupting them.

“Oh boy, what could possibly go wrong with a latent touching that artifact.” Lykaia says out loud, her shaded green eyes scanning over the file. “Absolutely nothing. I see it.” Her tone is still even, as if reciting data and her words are followed by a long and slow exhale before she slides her phone into a pocket of her jacket, checks her neutralizer grenades at her thigh, and then grabs the baton to keep it down on one hand, ready. “I’m seeing it. Absolutely nothing that could go wrong.”

A final message flashes and Lykaia is provided an address; It’s A previously abandoned residence, a brownstone that’s not too far from Nyx armory.

The same notification causes Lykaia’s phone to buzz seconds later, the Court see the issue and would like the amulet removed from public access. They are sending Roberta to aid.

The only difference in this report is that the Court know exactly what this artifact does. The info package notes that it offers the powers of winter, and with it only being 18 degrees outside, it may be the first indication of the item’s activation, especially with it being so deep into summer where temperate temperatures in New England, even somewhere close to the ocean such as New Havenn are usually higher.

Lykaia is requested then to go to this property and convince the human to return, discard, or remove and pass over the amulet before corruption can take hold.

Roberta however likely has different ideas.

Hiding a yawn behind her hand, Lykaia still moves to her bike. She leans onto it and drives forward. “Bob might be fun. Maybe she’ll wake me up some. Can always throw a neutralizer at her head and tell her merry christmas, and she’d be all for it.” That has her laugh, and then take a deep breathe in, driving the short distance fast and comes to a stop outside the Brownhouse.

Roberta is already waiting there as Lykaia arrives, and in contrast to everything around the two, this brownstone is curiously out-of-place.

The home itself remains unchanged, however the weather around it is not. It’s freezing, as though in the dead of winter, and snow is already beginning to gather.

The windows are all coated in ice, and the door is rhimed with hoarfrost.

As Lykaia arrives, Roberta is just finishing her entry attempt– Not a knock on the door, but of course, she’s working lock picks.

The door’s lock gives a satisfying click, and– fails to open. It’s so cold that it sticks.

Standing to one side, Roberta allows Lykaia first entry. She’s likely not strong enough, or doesn’t want to open it.

From within, there’s a pale flash of blue light, and even through the frosted windows and closed, moth-eaten curtains, strobing begins to take place.

Lykaia recognizes this as a cryomantic ritual. The corruption has already begun.

“It’s almost like winter.” Roberta observes. (No shit)

“Looks like we need to steal the thingy. It’s apparently an amulet that looks like a blue crystal.”

“I’ll grab it.” Lykaia admits to Roberta, a white cloud of air puffing past her lips with an exhale. And this time, instead, she tries to just kick the door in.

The door rattles in its frame, but a cascade of ice tumbles from the front of it, as well as from the roof above, slipping down to clatter on the garden.

Roberta steps to one side, suggesting, “Try again.” as once more a flash burns from within the building, the air steadily growing cooler and cooler.

From within, a voice begins to be heard. It’s chanting, the language unknown by Lykaia and Roberta, and what ever it is, it’s animated, and growing louder.

Lykaia groans when stuff starts to fall from above the door and the roof. She takes a step back, but now, draws a flashbang from the release holster. She detaches it, removes the pin and holds the clamp before trying to do another kick, flashbang at the read to go in once it opens. Just in case. She does however warn Roberta “Don’t look at it directly. Once you see the flash, you can look. Else you’ll risk being blinded for a bit, Bob.”

turns her back, palms over her eyes as Lykaia shares her intentions to throw the flashbang, eyes covered and waiting for the flash so there will be no blinding.

Lykaia feels the door give way, and immediately throws the flashbang into the building, letting it smack against the wall before it falls back to the ground. She shields her own eyes with her lower arm and partially looks away. The flash happens, and she begins moving into the building.

The door rattles, the light from within flashes and finally–

The door hammers inwards, the chain snapping from cold damage and Lykaia’s powerful kick.

The flashbang goes off as it’s tossed, and once the stars vanish from Lykaia’s eyes, she sees inside.

The open plan living area is coated in piled snow, the stair case almost hidden behind a pile of snow, and far across the living space, standing behind a frosted casting circle, a man chants. He looks scared, paniced and confused, though his eyes glow. His hands are frozen to the amulet which resembles an ice crystal fixed to a silver chain.

He continues to chant, his hands trying to pull from the amulet, but his glowing eyes and the flashes of power from him suggest that the amulet is in control.

The man’s clothing is coated in frost. Ice crystals are on his cheeks as if he were crying, and his words escape his lips in gusts of white air.

Roberta turns, follows Lykaia in, and produces her pistol. She doesn’t shoot though, which is likely a shock, as Roberta usually shoots first and asks questions later.

The casting circle appears frozen, yes, but with Lykaia’s occult knowledge, she can see that it’s a summoning circle. Apparently the man, knowing or not is trying to summon something from the Other, and the light from within the ritual and the light of the amulet are pulsing in unison.

Bobby doesn’t shoot, and while Lykaia is not exactly responding in a lot of ways about it, it still shows through with the lightest chuckle that is then followed by another, calmer exhale and a focus back onto the man and the summoning circle. “Fuck me.” She says, and then makes to move quickly. “Didn’t bring a saw. Hope you don’t mind a broken arm.” She says before then raising her baton, and reaches for a silver grenade. “Or having an arm paralyzed.” She stops before getting too close, keeping her distance from the neutralizer’s effect, and then tries to throw-bonk the neutralizer against the man’s head, lightly.

As the neutralizer is produced, Roberta steps back. She knows what’s coming next, and claps to show she’s entertained– Or that she’s insane. Who knows.

The grenade flies and the man continues to chant, his eyes glowing, the circle and amulet pulsing.

The temperature drops again a few degrees, and it’s now below zero, the air flowing towards Lykaia and Roberta with the man as its origin.

The grenade flases on impact and that buzz releases, the perfect sphere of supernatural neutralizing energy pulsating, and the amulet goes silent. The ritual circle seems to shatter in all directions and the man drops to his knees.

Glowing eyes now turning dull and brown direct themselves to Lykaia and now he’s not chanting, he shivers, pneumonia setting in in an instant.

The amulet remains frozen to the man’s hands, but he’s now mouthing “Help me… Help me…”

Now that the man is not a threat, Lykaia moves closer. She does not even register what it is that he is mouthing and instead makes to attempt to take the amulet from his hand, from the chain specifically. “Might be harsh for you, mister. If I can’t take it, I’ll just have to amputate you. Don’t worry. Some specialists will regenerate it for you. Welcome to New Haven.”

She makes to try, her other hand however does already reach for the hunting knife placed into one of her belt’s pouches, drawing it out.

The amulet is easily removed from the man, the top layer of skin from his hands tugged off with it– Frost burn is a horrific thing.

The man slumps, unconscious, the shock of the experience causing the only reaction someone could expect. He passes out.

Roberta raises a ring to her lips, reporting to the Court, and cleanup crews are sent out.

The man is taken to the Haven hospital, where healing rehabilitation is conducted over the next couple of weeks.

When the situation is fully looked into, it becomes obvious that this amulet was deposited by a fae playing a prank. It was baught by the man, where the curse upon it triggered, compelling him to summon the fae into the city-between.

The day itself returns to normal, and Roberta and Lykaia are now able to return to their perfectly average (in Haven) lives.

“Guess I didn’t get to cut.” Lykaia mentions to Roberta, her even tone actually delving into the faintest level of sarcasm. “To be fair. Was about to just drag the guy along and just throw him at someone in the temple to handle.” She tells to Roberta, as by the end of it, they find themselves in her office at NYX.