Encounterlogs
Tabithas Odd Encounter Sr Emmelline 241020
In a serene setting within a shrine house, dappled sunlight through wooden slats and the scent of sandalwood incense set a tranquil atmosphere, disrupted only by the unexpected dilemma faced by Ritsuka and Tabitha concerning a new employee named Lina who has failed to report to work. Tabitha speculates commonplace reasons for Lina's absence, suggesting she might have found the job unsuitable or became lost. Ritsuka, concerned for Lina's safety, decides to reach out to her, navigating the complexities of communication with an absent employee in the enigmatic town of Haven. The dialogue unfolds with efforts to contact Lina and speculation about her whereabouts, highlighting the characters' concern and determination to ensure her well-being amidst potential risks lurking within the town.
The narrative then shifts towards the intriguing practice of scrying, embarked upon by Tabitha to locate Lina. Through this mystical endeavor, Tabitha discovers that Lina is merely lost in the woods, attempting to navigate her way to work through a supposed shortcut. Despite the unconventional method, the revelation prompts Ritsuka and Tabitha to embark on a rescue mission, with Ritsuka's motorcycle as their vessel. The story concludes with the duo prepared to journey through Haven's mysterious and potentially perilous landscape to retrieve Lina. Their willingness to assist a new, disoriented resident emphasizes their compassionate and protective nature towards those within their community, even when faced with the unknown elements that Haven might present.
(Tabitha's odd encounter(SREmmelline):SREmmelline)
[Sat Oct 19 2024]
In The Heart of a Shrine House
Soft sunlight filters through narrow wooden slats along the ceiling, casting dappled patterns on the polished wooden floors. A branch of a tree seems to carry along just enough above one slat by the side, and some green, mistletoe, manages to just peer into the room. At the room's center is a low, circular table made of rich, dark wood, surrounded by zabuton cushions arranged with precise care. Hanging scrolls adorned with calligraphy of sacred Shinto prayers and natural landscapes line the walls.
In the northeast corner of the room rests a larger kamidana, its small torii gate framing the sacred space. Fresh offerings of water and evergreen sprigs sit before the altar, paying homage to the kami that protect the home. A subtle scent of burning sandalwood incense lingers in the air, and the rhythmic tinkling of a nearby wind chime adds a layer allows for an occasional peaceful sound.
An elaborate and expensive looking statue of a nine-tailed kitsune stands right besides the altar in a resting position. A small ball of golden light shimmers from between its ears and a bowl with dry rice stands besides it.
It is afternoon, about 61F(16C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey clouds in the sky.
"Does she not just live in town?" Tabitha wonders. "People new to this place should be warned that the woods can be rather risky to live when the mists are high." The redhead seeks a window, to look out. "It's also just possible that she decided the job was not for her? A rude way to let you know as the hirer, though." She chooses the latter as the possible option over the former, but -- it is Haven, afterall.
Ritsuka does wait until Tabitha spoke up before she does say something to her phone, and there is a light but thoughtful nod to Tabitha. "Hai, this is Ritsuka, and of course. I don't have her address in front of me, can you check the files to take a quick look, please? It is as the other person says, does she live outside the city? And can you give me her number, too? I will try and see if I can reach her. Thank you for calling me about it, I will attempt to look for her, but I can't promise I will find Lina."
"It's probably nothing, Ritsuka," Tabitha says, with a twist of her lips. "She could have also just gotten confused on her start time?" There are plenty of mundane options as to why a woman wouldn't show up to work. But then.. there are also many other not so mundane reasons. "If you have a picture on file of her, I could use it to scry her."
"Oh I'm sorry," comes the voice on the other end of the line, sounding apologetic, "I didn't realize you had company. yes of course, I'm texting you now," she says, and just at that moment, a text flashes across Ritsuka's screen, showing the address. "And she lives fairly close to town," the colleague goes on. "I told her to stay to the roads, and she told me not to worry. She seemed fairly comfident... or so I thought in her texts. And yes, she may have just quit, but I mean... I texted with her. She said she'd be in. We only just hired her."
"If you have a photo of her on file, please send it to me, as well." Ritsuka adds, as she looks down to her own phone, reading the address and Lina's phone number after giving another nod to Tabitha. "A photo is a very good idea, I don't keep track about everyone's MyHaven, I don't have an online presence, so I don't know who is who on MyHaven or if she made an account."
"Scry her?," The voice comes over the line sounding definitely confused. "I can send you a picture if you like sure," the colleague goes on, sounding a touch dubious. It's another moment, before Ritsuka's phone flashes and a text comes through with a photo attached. "Not sure if she's on my haven though. I mean like I said, she's very new to town. That photo is just the one we took for her staff pic."
Tabitha doesn't explain to whomever is on the phone what she had meant. She just nods to Ritsuka. "I'm sure she has a footprint. Everyone tries out MyHaven, even if briefly." She looks down at her phone at the time. "It's probably nothing," she again says, but she sounds skeptical enough of it. "If you get a photo, foward it to me?"
"Thank you, I will call you when I find out more. I don't think police is going to be very helpful. I am going to tend to it now, please take care about the pharmacy while I do this. Please apologize that I am going to hang up now to get to it quickly." Ritsuka softly says into her phone before, indeed, hanging up, not waiting for an answer there and she does go on to nod again to Tabitha "I know, I am just very careful about making sure my employees are safe, Tabi-sama. I would offer you to feed for the cost in life-force but I think you can't." She grimaces and does send the photo over to Tabitha. "If she left it will be alright and I wouldn't be upset. But this is haven city and I think kidnapping is much more likely than someone leaving when the economy is very bad and I do pay my employees very well. I do not make a lot of profit and do not need to."
As the photo is forwarded, Tabitha's phone flashes with the forwarded photo. The girl looks average enough, nothing screaming suspicion. Though as Tabitha looks for her in my haven, she would find there are no matching profiles. If Tabitha were to deepen her internet search, she'd come up with an ordinary facebook profile, though of course no details can be seen beyond the photo and some normal cursory details one can find on facebook without being friends.
"It's okay, Ritsuka. I am not asking that, anyway. If I need to, I will find another way anyway, for it. I prefer something like that against those who are deserving. But that also means they are oftentimes much stronger than me anyhow." Tabitha is, afterall, who she is. She brings up the fowarded picture and expands it to a larger size. Closing her eyes, she begins to chant, low, slow, a whisper of something to the breeze, however still it might be in the house of shrines.
"We could visit the shrine, when I visited I started to feel full of life, far more than ever and well defended-" Ritsuka tries to add, but then there is the chant and she shuts up, starting to watch Tabitha attempting to scry Lina.
Tabitha pops an eye up at Ritsuka. "We could try that, but it is also temporary I think. But I am not sure, to be honest." She puts a finger to her lips for Ritsuka, so as to continue that chant. Before doing so, "If she is near, I should be able to tell you where she is. If she is just with someone though... Sometimes there is just not enough bleach."
As Tabitha begins to scry, she would see the woman is standing in the middle of the woods somewhere. She appears to be quite lost. Looking between her phone, which shows a map or gps system, and her surroundings, as she tries to find her bearings. As Tabitha continues to look through Lina's eyes, she would recognize the woods aren't too far from the road. Perhaps the girl was attempting to take a shortcut and is getting herself rather horrifically lost.
Ritsuka remains quiet, she slips her phone into a pocket and patiently waits.
The next time Tabitha opens her eyes, her eyes are not the pretty blue they normally are, but of a milky white, like cataracts. "She is in the woods. Not far from a road. But I do not see a road sign to know where exactly she is. If only I could .... see her phone better. Or the road...." She says to Ritsuka, or at least in her general direction, in this zone, "But she's definitely lost." She closes her eyes again. Breathing deeply, to center herself further.
Again, Tabitha looks through Lina's eyes, and the phone comes into clearer view. It appears the woman was attempting to cut through the woods from her house to the pharmacy. She is not far from the road that would lead her to the pharmacy, only about a quarter of a mile off if that. Tabitha could make out the road where the pharmacy sits on the phone, though it is not visible through Lina's eyes, as she appears quite lost and surrounded by the woods.
"If her phone is working, I could try and see if the Order is allowing me to spend its resources to trace it and compensate for the cost if it later, I can afford it, but I do not own a computer, so it would need to be someone else in the Order to do the trace," Ritsuka quietly says as she does huff in a breathe. "Let me try and ask Lucienne. She is a contact I keep within the Order, I became friends with her a while ago." She does pick up her phone, starting to go through her contacts and calling a number if not stopped.
"It is definitely on." Tabitha says to Ritsuka. "She has service with GPS, but she's not really paying attention to the GPS. I imagine a call alone might be helpful from a number she recognizes."
"That is a good idea, Tabi-sama," Ritsuka smiles to Tabitha and nods. "My instinct makes me want to drive out and just to make sure, but I am more worried like that." She does not click call for her contact, and instead enters the number of Lina's phone into her own.
The phone rings, and it only takes two rings before Lina's voice comes over the line. 'Hello?""
Ritsuka turns it to speak again "Lina-san, are you alright? This is Ritsuka. Someone at work called me to try and check on you because you havn't gotten there yet. Do you need help? Have you gotten lost? The Haven forests are very dangerous if you are in them you have to go to the street, very important."
"Oh Ritsuka!," comes Lina's voice sounding rather relieved. "Yeah I know I'm overdue for work. Sorry, I'm a bit lost. A friend of mine showed me a shortcut through the woods from my place to the pharmacy. And I thought I knew it. Only... I've gotten a bit turned around. The gps shows," a moment as if the woman is consulting the map, "I'm not far from the road. I just can't spot it. I think I'm headed generally in the right direction? Oh I'm so sorry," the woman goes on. "I thought it'd be quicker this way. It was the last time."
"It is easy to get turned around in the woods, afterall, and just the little bit of mist? Well, soon you are heading in a direction you never intended," Tabitha remarks of the girl's situation, her eyes slowly turning back to their usual oceanic blues.
"Look at your phone, please, Lina-san," Ritsuka quietly recommends. "Do you remember where you came from?" She actually starts to look worried when she hears a wolf howl in the distance. "Can you send me your GPS location? I will just go and pick you up. I think that is the easiest to do without trying to make it more difficult. And who was the person that tried to show you a shortcut?" She does hold a finger at the bottom of her phone to numb the microphone out "I apologize, Tabi-sama. I will go and pick her up. Is it alright if I leave you here alone for a little bit if you don't feel like coming along?"
"Why would I not come along?" Tabitha asks.
Ritsuka smiles to Tabitha and nods "Then we go together! I just did not want to be too burdensome. I apologize" She dips her head to Tabitha.
'It was just a neighbor. Said she'd been in town for ages, and wanted to show me the shortcut. And it's worked before," Lina's voice comes over the line. As Ritsuka asks for the gps coordinates, the woman replies, "Yeah sure..." a moment, and the phone flashes showing the coordinates to Ritsuka. Were she looking, she'd see Lina isn't too far from the pharmacy at all. That she's veered off course a bit within the woods, which is causing her to miss the road she needs to get on to report to work."
"I will, of course, come along to go get her! At least she is not far from the road," Tabitha says to Ritsuka, looking to her shoes she's been holding onto, but not putting them on just yet. "I think that is the first step." She says, thoughtfully, "It is not too far out, as I saw the road, myself, but if she ventures deeper, it may be a different mission entirely." She waits for Ritsuka's lead to the woman's car, only pausing to put her boots back on for the trip.
Lina is still on the line as Ritsuka has yet to hang the call up. "Um... so should I just stay put then? I assume you're coming to get me?"
"She is actually really far out into the forest, the Pharmacy is very central in the commercial area-" Ritsuka notes, but then shakes her head. She does then step towards the door leading back to the kitchen at the front and, unfortunately, no car right now, instead, she has a motorcycle available. "I- is this too much, Tabi-sama? I had to switch to another vehicle to- We had terrible mist in the city a few days ago when Viktorin quit the Order, so I had an accident." She does remove her finger from the microphone and says "Yes, please don't move. I will bring you to work, and please don't listen to anyone in Haven-city and never enter the forest. There is a lot of dangerous animals around. The last few days we had a lot of foxes and other animals attack people. It was very difficult for some."
(During their investigation, your target and their allies discover signs of activity related to The Black Flame. They stumble upon an eerie ritual site in the town's abandoned warehouse. There, they find a group of cultists mid-ritual, attempting to summon an eldritch horror. The characters must disrupt the ritual and prevent the horror from fully manifesting into their world. They also need to gather information about the cult’s future plans and find out who in town might be secretly associated with The Black Flame.)
Oh, Irene looks incredibly pleased with herself. She's just secured a lucrative deal with the Sheriff's Department for her employer, after a short discussion at the Town Hall. She scrolls through her new contact details in her phone, grinning at the win.
Photographs of old sheriff's deputies from two centuries past hang on the walls, and just as Irene celebrates her own little victory, someone straight up tries to bump into her! How rude! It is dusk, the sun is setting, the person, a male sheriff apologizes but then hurries past, definitely moving further back into another room. Maybe to clock out, maybe something to report on, he certainly tries to not linger with Irene.
But there, by chance, lies now a slip of paper in front of Irene on the ground, and there is just this horrid, strange feeling, of someone watching. Someone watching from somewhere, and yet, somehow, there is nowhere to be seen in the way through, back, forth, left or right, up and down.
Here is Irene's deepest, darkest secret: someone is always watching. She is never entirely calm. She always has this strange and horrid feeling, but she just has to live with it, and to an extent, maybe she even chooses to encourage it; it makes her good at her job. So she looks over her shoulder, back and then to the side, even letting her eyes linger on the passing deputy's back after he's bumped into her. Was it him? Was that a coincidence? Irene's paranoid little brain doesn't know; anything's possible, which is why one must prepare for everything.
But hey, a note! That's an opportunity. And best not linger if people are watching, right? She leans down, tries to quickly pick it up, and then hurry on out of the building before anyone comes back to look for whatever was on it. Of course she tries to steal a peek as she goes, before she stuffs it up her sleeve. How else will she know who to return it to?
The way out is, at first empty, and then starts to fill more and more again, at first with passing by people, but then there is just the strange thing going around, a person passes Irene by, wearing a mask made from gold. It is a woman, her skin as white as alabaster at the shoulders, garbed into a golden gown, shoulders freed, with a golden choker that surrounds her neck. Her mask is intricately woven from little golden veins that stick together and conceal everything from above the nose. Her hair, is an auburn to blonde gold in a very similar hue. A sort of symbol is subtly etched onto the neckpiece, and even her handnails are painted with shimmering metal gold. All in gold, except for her lips, which carry a deeply dark red shade. Her gaze turns to Irene and she closes her eyes, a hand raising to the side of her mask on the side of her cheek that fades, and she stays like that.
A glance on the note does reveal some text, an important above it, and a map pointing to some location in the city, near Arkwrights. Warehouses likely. And underneath, brief glimpses of something that looks lined together like a poem.
If Irene passes the woman, no one stops her on the way out, but the feeling of being watches does not fade.
Irene looks shy. Whatever's going on underneath the surface in her head, it doesn't match her outward presentation. The look this strange, golden-masked woman gives her earns a self-conscious blush from Irene, who shrinks like a violet, making herself seem as small as possible. With her head down, she then carries on to the building's exit, the map she'd glimpsed now shoved all the way up the stretchy sleeve of her shapeless, fuzzy jumper.
But she's not shy, she's suspicious, and when she thinks she's in the clear, she turns back again to squint over her shoulder, loitering under the awning at the Town Hall porch. Here, she tries to make a quick study of the surroundings, looking for any obvious vehicle from which the sudden influx of people have been emerging. She also searches for a window, from where she might be able to observe these proceedings without herself being in direct line of sight.
The innocuous woman pulls out her shitty, broken phone, thumbs down its cracked screen, and then starts firing off a series of texts ...
> Something going on at the Town Hall.
She lifts up her camera just a touch, and surreptitiously tries to snap a few photos -- including of a relevant number plate if she can find one, alongside some of the costume party-goers.
> Recognise the style of dress?
And then she waits for further orders, or insights from her employer.
Looking back, there is no longer a woman of gold, and what people Irene had passed, they are all gone now. A feather-light touch draws over Irene's neck, and when looking at the map, a specific building, corresponding to the address is marked right on it. Sadly, there is nothing to provide in numberplates, the street houses little more in the way of cars than it held before.
And the reply from Wolf comes with a question for more information, and then hold, and then for more information to confirm a suspicion.
And then, there is a distant tune. It is carried from somewhere, not the town-hall, no, more distant. It is a classical piece of music, like one might hear on a ball accompanied with an orchestra. It is faint, and yet sounds far too clear. There is the random passerby that does come by, but they do not pay attention to Irene, no one that looks odd or draws suspicion.
Irene slowly closes her eyes, sinking her back against the concrete of the Town Hall building. It starts to hit her, this sneaky fox of a woman who must think she's so clever -- that here, unfortunately, she is woefully out of her depth.
She starts to mentally run down a list of possibilities upon realising that the people she passed were not really there after all. And then, clutching at the Nightmare charm round her neck, she slips on in, and starts walking back towards where she'd passed the woman in the golden mask, seeking further answers not from natural, human sources, but the psychic realm.
Irene pockets away her phone for now. Her contact, Mr Wolf, likely can't help her with this sort of investigation. He will still of course be interested in whatever it is she learns.
Irene steps back into the hallway, but laying one foot further, close to where the woman was, the scenery suddenly changes.
Scene: The exterior on a balcony with a view over a city, the air, or more specifically, the atmosphere is a dark golden hue, almost as if it was late evening to night, and a city resides beneath made entirely from darkened stone. With her on the balcony are many other people, all garbed, from head to toe in fineries and every single one of them wears a golden mask, but none as exquisite as that of the golden lady earlier. One of them stands tall, and he does turn towards the guests with welcoming arms. With jubilation, he speaks out towards the guests.
Host: Greetings stranger, fortuned fellow! 'Tis a party for which I bellow. I invite The King In Yellow, so come all ye in Ythil. Wear thine masks upon you to my masquerade until... 'HE' may come to lost Ythil! Hope for us there may be still!
A stranger with a golden mask: Shadows lengthen, streets darken, to the curfew thou must harken! Why so loudly dost thou bark in the dimmed city of Ythil? Only much attention quite unwholesome you'll instill... from the souls of poor Ythil. Why attract so much ill will?
Host: That is just what I must seek, see, hidden somewhere 'mongst the meekly, 'tis one invitee I seek he - shall all my mistakes undo. 'Tis the King In Yellow whose great wealth I shall accrue. When his shadow passes through, wealth will come to I and you!
A stranger: Lo, your plans shall surely languish, and this whole town will know anguish! For the King is whom they say which shall this city indeed smite. If he comes, Yithil, and you, and I will know his might. All'll be lost within a night. What reward is worth this price?
Host: wearing this expensive clothing, pardon from my family's loathing . lasting til' I'm decomposing, all my friends who've strife I've caused; Yes - preparing for this night, their forgiveness is the cause, they shall all be proud because, I ha brought the king to us.""
Whatever Irene just saw disturbs her so much that she simply exits the Nightmare, departs, and then completely forgets it ever happened, due to traumatic memory loss.
The narrative then shifts towards the intriguing practice of scrying, embarked upon by Tabitha to locate Lina. Through this mystical endeavor, Tabitha discovers that Lina is merely lost in the woods, attempting to navigate her way to work through a supposed shortcut. Despite the unconventional method, the revelation prompts Ritsuka and Tabitha to embark on a rescue mission, with Ritsuka's motorcycle as their vessel. The story concludes with the duo prepared to journey through Haven's mysterious and potentially perilous landscape to retrieve Lina. Their willingness to assist a new, disoriented resident emphasizes their compassionate and protective nature towards those within their community, even when faced with the unknown elements that Haven might present.
(Tabitha's odd encounter(SREmmelline):SREmmelline)
[Sat Oct 19 2024]
In The Heart of a Shrine House
Soft sunlight filters through narrow wooden slats along the ceiling, casting dappled patterns on the polished wooden floors. A branch of a tree seems to carry along just enough above one slat by the side, and some green, mistletoe, manages to just peer into the room. At the room's center is a low, circular table made of rich, dark wood, surrounded by zabuton cushions arranged with precise care. Hanging scrolls adorned with calligraphy of sacred Shinto prayers and natural landscapes line the walls.
In the northeast corner of the room rests a larger kamidana, its small torii gate framing the sacred space. Fresh offerings of water and evergreen sprigs sit before the altar, paying homage to the kami that protect the home. A subtle scent of burning sandalwood incense lingers in the air, and the rhythmic tinkling of a nearby wind chime adds a layer allows for an occasional peaceful sound.
An elaborate and expensive looking statue of a nine-tailed kitsune stands right besides the altar in a resting position. A small ball of golden light shimmers from between its ears and a bowl with dry rice stands besides it.
It is afternoon, about 61F(16C) degrees, and there are a few dark grey clouds in the sky.
"Does she not just live in town?" Tabitha wonders. "People new to this place should be warned that the woods can be rather risky to live when the mists are high." The redhead seeks a window, to look out. "It's also just possible that she decided the job was not for her? A rude way to let you know as the hirer, though." She chooses the latter as the possible option over the former, but -- it is Haven, afterall.
Ritsuka does wait until Tabitha spoke up before she does say something to her phone, and there is a light but thoughtful nod to Tabitha. "Hai, this is Ritsuka, and of course. I don't have her address in front of me, can you check the files to take a quick look, please? It is as the other person says, does she live outside the city? And can you give me her number, too? I will try and see if I can reach her. Thank you for calling me about it, I will attempt to look for her, but I can't promise I will find Lina."
"It's probably nothing, Ritsuka," Tabitha says, with a twist of her lips. "She could have also just gotten confused on her start time?" There are plenty of mundane options as to why a woman wouldn't show up to work. But then.. there are also many other not so mundane reasons. "If you have a picture on file of her, I could use it to scry her."
"Oh I'm sorry," comes the voice on the other end of the line, sounding apologetic, "I didn't realize you had company. yes of course, I'm texting you now," she says, and just at that moment, a text flashes across Ritsuka's screen, showing the address. "And she lives fairly close to town," the colleague goes on. "I told her to stay to the roads, and she told me not to worry. She seemed fairly comfident... or so I thought in her texts. And yes, she may have just quit, but I mean... I texted with her. She said she'd be in. We only just hired her."
"If you have a photo of her on file, please send it to me, as well." Ritsuka adds, as she looks down to her own phone, reading the address and Lina's phone number after giving another nod to Tabitha. "A photo is a very good idea, I don't keep track about everyone's MyHaven, I don't have an online presence, so I don't know who is who on MyHaven or if she made an account."
"Scry her?," The voice comes over the line sounding definitely confused. "I can send you a picture if you like sure," the colleague goes on, sounding a touch dubious. It's another moment, before Ritsuka's phone flashes and a text comes through with a photo attached. "Not sure if she's on my haven though. I mean like I said, she's very new to town. That photo is just the one we took for her staff pic."
Tabitha doesn't explain to whomever is on the phone what she had meant. She just nods to Ritsuka. "I'm sure she has a footprint. Everyone tries out MyHaven, even if briefly." She looks down at her phone at the time. "It's probably nothing," she again says, but she sounds skeptical enough of it. "If you get a photo, foward it to me?"
"Thank you, I will call you when I find out more. I don't think police is going to be very helpful. I am going to tend to it now, please take care about the pharmacy while I do this. Please apologize that I am going to hang up now to get to it quickly." Ritsuka softly says into her phone before, indeed, hanging up, not waiting for an answer there and she does go on to nod again to Tabitha "I know, I am just very careful about making sure my employees are safe, Tabi-sama. I would offer you to feed for the cost in life-force but I think you can't." She grimaces and does send the photo over to Tabitha. "If she left it will be alright and I wouldn't be upset. But this is haven city and I think kidnapping is much more likely than someone leaving when the economy is very bad and I do pay my employees very well. I do not make a lot of profit and do not need to."
As the photo is forwarded, Tabitha's phone flashes with the forwarded photo. The girl looks average enough, nothing screaming suspicion. Though as Tabitha looks for her in my haven, she would find there are no matching profiles. If Tabitha were to deepen her internet search, she'd come up with an ordinary facebook profile, though of course no details can be seen beyond the photo and some normal cursory details one can find on facebook without being friends.
"It's okay, Ritsuka. I am not asking that, anyway. If I need to, I will find another way anyway, for it. I prefer something like that against those who are deserving. But that also means they are oftentimes much stronger than me anyhow." Tabitha is, afterall, who she is. She brings up the fowarded picture and expands it to a larger size. Closing her eyes, she begins to chant, low, slow, a whisper of something to the breeze, however still it might be in the house of shrines.
"We could visit the shrine, when I visited I started to feel full of life, far more than ever and well defended-" Ritsuka tries to add, but then there is the chant and she shuts up, starting to watch Tabitha attempting to scry Lina.
Tabitha pops an eye up at Ritsuka. "We could try that, but it is also temporary I think. But I am not sure, to be honest." She puts a finger to her lips for Ritsuka, so as to continue that chant. Before doing so, "If she is near, I should be able to tell you where she is. If she is just with someone though... Sometimes there is just not enough bleach."
As Tabitha begins to scry, she would see the woman is standing in the middle of the woods somewhere. She appears to be quite lost. Looking between her phone, which shows a map or gps system, and her surroundings, as she tries to find her bearings. As Tabitha continues to look through Lina's eyes, she would recognize the woods aren't too far from the road. Perhaps the girl was attempting to take a shortcut and is getting herself rather horrifically lost.
Ritsuka remains quiet, she slips her phone into a pocket and patiently waits.
The next time Tabitha opens her eyes, her eyes are not the pretty blue they normally are, but of a milky white, like cataracts. "She is in the woods. Not far from a road. But I do not see a road sign to know where exactly she is. If only I could .... see her phone better. Or the road...." She says to Ritsuka, or at least in her general direction, in this zone, "But she's definitely lost." She closes her eyes again. Breathing deeply, to center herself further.
Again, Tabitha looks through Lina's eyes, and the phone comes into clearer view. It appears the woman was attempting to cut through the woods from her house to the pharmacy. She is not far from the road that would lead her to the pharmacy, only about a quarter of a mile off if that. Tabitha could make out the road where the pharmacy sits on the phone, though it is not visible through Lina's eyes, as she appears quite lost and surrounded by the woods.
"If her phone is working, I could try and see if the Order is allowing me to spend its resources to trace it and compensate for the cost if it later, I can afford it, but I do not own a computer, so it would need to be someone else in the Order to do the trace," Ritsuka quietly says as she does huff in a breathe. "Let me try and ask Lucienne. She is a contact I keep within the Order, I became friends with her a while ago." She does pick up her phone, starting to go through her contacts and calling a number if not stopped.
"It is definitely on." Tabitha says to Ritsuka. "She has service with GPS, but she's not really paying attention to the GPS. I imagine a call alone might be helpful from a number she recognizes."
"That is a good idea, Tabi-sama," Ritsuka smiles to Tabitha and nods. "My instinct makes me want to drive out and just to make sure, but I am more worried like that." She does not click call for her contact, and instead enters the number of Lina's phone into her own.
The phone rings, and it only takes two rings before Lina's voice comes over the line. 'Hello?""
Ritsuka turns it to speak again "Lina-san, are you alright? This is Ritsuka. Someone at work called me to try and check on you because you havn't gotten there yet. Do you need help? Have you gotten lost? The Haven forests are very dangerous if you are in them you have to go to the street, very important."
"Oh Ritsuka!," comes Lina's voice sounding rather relieved. "Yeah I know I'm overdue for work. Sorry, I'm a bit lost. A friend of mine showed me a shortcut through the woods from my place to the pharmacy. And I thought I knew it. Only... I've gotten a bit turned around. The gps shows," a moment as if the woman is consulting the map, "I'm not far from the road. I just can't spot it. I think I'm headed generally in the right direction? Oh I'm so sorry," the woman goes on. "I thought it'd be quicker this way. It was the last time."
"It is easy to get turned around in the woods, afterall, and just the little bit of mist? Well, soon you are heading in a direction you never intended," Tabitha remarks of the girl's situation, her eyes slowly turning back to their usual oceanic blues.
"Look at your phone, please, Lina-san," Ritsuka quietly recommends. "Do you remember where you came from?" She actually starts to look worried when she hears a wolf howl in the distance. "Can you send me your GPS location? I will just go and pick you up. I think that is the easiest to do without trying to make it more difficult. And who was the person that tried to show you a shortcut?" She does hold a finger at the bottom of her phone to numb the microphone out "I apologize, Tabi-sama. I will go and pick her up. Is it alright if I leave you here alone for a little bit if you don't feel like coming along?"
"Why would I not come along?" Tabitha asks.
Ritsuka smiles to Tabitha and nods "Then we go together! I just did not want to be too burdensome. I apologize" She dips her head to Tabitha.
'It was just a neighbor. Said she'd been in town for ages, and wanted to show me the shortcut. And it's worked before," Lina's voice comes over the line. As Ritsuka asks for the gps coordinates, the woman replies, "Yeah sure..." a moment, and the phone flashes showing the coordinates to Ritsuka. Were she looking, she'd see Lina isn't too far from the pharmacy at all. That she's veered off course a bit within the woods, which is causing her to miss the road she needs to get on to report to work."
"I will, of course, come along to go get her! At least she is not far from the road," Tabitha says to Ritsuka, looking to her shoes she's been holding onto, but not putting them on just yet. "I think that is the first step." She says, thoughtfully, "It is not too far out, as I saw the road, myself, but if she ventures deeper, it may be a different mission entirely." She waits for Ritsuka's lead to the woman's car, only pausing to put her boots back on for the trip.
Lina is still on the line as Ritsuka has yet to hang the call up. "Um... so should I just stay put then? I assume you're coming to get me?"
"She is actually really far out into the forest, the Pharmacy is very central in the commercial area-" Ritsuka notes, but then shakes her head. She does then step towards the door leading back to the kitchen at the front and, unfortunately, no car right now, instead, she has a motorcycle available. "I- is this too much, Tabi-sama? I had to switch to another vehicle to- We had terrible mist in the city a few days ago when Viktorin quit the Order, so I had an accident." She does remove her finger from the microphone and says "Yes, please don't move. I will bring you to work, and please don't listen to anyone in Haven-city and never enter the forest. There is a lot of dangerous animals around. The last few days we had a lot of foxes and other animals attack people. It was very difficult for some."
(During their investigation, your target and their allies discover signs of activity related to The Black Flame. They stumble upon an eerie ritual site in the town's abandoned warehouse. There, they find a group of cultists mid-ritual, attempting to summon an eldritch horror. The characters must disrupt the ritual and prevent the horror from fully manifesting into their world. They also need to gather information about the cult’s future plans and find out who in town might be secretly associated with The Black Flame.)
Oh, Irene looks incredibly pleased with herself. She's just secured a lucrative deal with the Sheriff's Department for her employer, after a short discussion at the Town Hall. She scrolls through her new contact details in her phone, grinning at the win.
Photographs of old sheriff's deputies from two centuries past hang on the walls, and just as Irene celebrates her own little victory, someone straight up tries to bump into her! How rude! It is dusk, the sun is setting, the person, a male sheriff apologizes but then hurries past, definitely moving further back into another room. Maybe to clock out, maybe something to report on, he certainly tries to not linger with Irene.
But there, by chance, lies now a slip of paper in front of Irene on the ground, and there is just this horrid, strange feeling, of someone watching. Someone watching from somewhere, and yet, somehow, there is nowhere to be seen in the way through, back, forth, left or right, up and down.
Here is Irene's deepest, darkest secret: someone is always watching. She is never entirely calm. She always has this strange and horrid feeling, but she just has to live with it, and to an extent, maybe she even chooses to encourage it; it makes her good at her job. So she looks over her shoulder, back and then to the side, even letting her eyes linger on the passing deputy's back after he's bumped into her. Was it him? Was that a coincidence? Irene's paranoid little brain doesn't know; anything's possible, which is why one must prepare for everything.
But hey, a note! That's an opportunity. And best not linger if people are watching, right? She leans down, tries to quickly pick it up, and then hurry on out of the building before anyone comes back to look for whatever was on it. Of course she tries to steal a peek as she goes, before she stuffs it up her sleeve. How else will she know who to return it to?
The way out is, at first empty, and then starts to fill more and more again, at first with passing by people, but then there is just the strange thing going around, a person passes Irene by, wearing a mask made from gold. It is a woman, her skin as white as alabaster at the shoulders, garbed into a golden gown, shoulders freed, with a golden choker that surrounds her neck. Her mask is intricately woven from little golden veins that stick together and conceal everything from above the nose. Her hair, is an auburn to blonde gold in a very similar hue. A sort of symbol is subtly etched onto the neckpiece, and even her handnails are painted with shimmering metal gold. All in gold, except for her lips, which carry a deeply dark red shade. Her gaze turns to Irene and she closes her eyes, a hand raising to the side of her mask on the side of her cheek that fades, and she stays like that.
A glance on the note does reveal some text, an important above it, and a map pointing to some location in the city, near Arkwrights. Warehouses likely. And underneath, brief glimpses of something that looks lined together like a poem.
If Irene passes the woman, no one stops her on the way out, but the feeling of being watches does not fade.
Irene looks shy. Whatever's going on underneath the surface in her head, it doesn't match her outward presentation. The look this strange, golden-masked woman gives her earns a self-conscious blush from Irene, who shrinks like a violet, making herself seem as small as possible. With her head down, she then carries on to the building's exit, the map she'd glimpsed now shoved all the way up the stretchy sleeve of her shapeless, fuzzy jumper.
But she's not shy, she's suspicious, and when she thinks she's in the clear, she turns back again to squint over her shoulder, loitering under the awning at the Town Hall porch. Here, she tries to make a quick study of the surroundings, looking for any obvious vehicle from which the sudden influx of people have been emerging. She also searches for a window, from where she might be able to observe these proceedings without herself being in direct line of sight.
The innocuous woman pulls out her shitty, broken phone, thumbs down its cracked screen, and then starts firing off a series of texts ...
> Something going on at the Town Hall.
She lifts up her camera just a touch, and surreptitiously tries to snap a few photos -- including of a relevant number plate if she can find one, alongside some of the costume party-goers.
> Recognise the style of dress?
And then she waits for further orders, or insights from her employer.
Looking back, there is no longer a woman of gold, and what people Irene had passed, they are all gone now. A feather-light touch draws over Irene's neck, and when looking at the map, a specific building, corresponding to the address is marked right on it. Sadly, there is nothing to provide in numberplates, the street houses little more in the way of cars than it held before.
And the reply from Wolf comes with a question for more information, and then hold, and then for more information to confirm a suspicion.
And then, there is a distant tune. It is carried from somewhere, not the town-hall, no, more distant. It is a classical piece of music, like one might hear on a ball accompanied with an orchestra. It is faint, and yet sounds far too clear. There is the random passerby that does come by, but they do not pay attention to Irene, no one that looks odd or draws suspicion.
Irene slowly closes her eyes, sinking her back against the concrete of the Town Hall building. It starts to hit her, this sneaky fox of a woman who must think she's so clever -- that here, unfortunately, she is woefully out of her depth.
She starts to mentally run down a list of possibilities upon realising that the people she passed were not really there after all. And then, clutching at the Nightmare charm round her neck, she slips on in, and starts walking back towards where she'd passed the woman in the golden mask, seeking further answers not from natural, human sources, but the psychic realm.
Irene pockets away her phone for now. Her contact, Mr Wolf, likely can't help her with this sort of investigation. He will still of course be interested in whatever it is she learns.
Irene steps back into the hallway, but laying one foot further, close to where the woman was, the scenery suddenly changes.
Scene: The exterior on a balcony with a view over a city, the air, or more specifically, the atmosphere is a dark golden hue, almost as if it was late evening to night, and a city resides beneath made entirely from darkened stone. With her on the balcony are many other people, all garbed, from head to toe in fineries and every single one of them wears a golden mask, but none as exquisite as that of the golden lady earlier. One of them stands tall, and he does turn towards the guests with welcoming arms. With jubilation, he speaks out towards the guests.
Host: Greetings stranger, fortuned fellow! 'Tis a party for which I bellow. I invite The King In Yellow, so come all ye in Ythil. Wear thine masks upon you to my masquerade until... 'HE' may come to lost Ythil! Hope for us there may be still!
A stranger with a golden mask: Shadows lengthen, streets darken, to the curfew thou must harken! Why so loudly dost thou bark in the dimmed city of Ythil? Only much attention quite unwholesome you'll instill... from the souls of poor Ythil. Why attract so much ill will?
Host: That is just what I must seek, see, hidden somewhere 'mongst the meekly, 'tis one invitee I seek he - shall all my mistakes undo. 'Tis the King In Yellow whose great wealth I shall accrue. When his shadow passes through, wealth will come to I and you!
A stranger: Lo, your plans shall surely languish, and this whole town will know anguish! For the King is whom they say which shall this city indeed smite. If he comes, Yithil, and you, and I will know his might. All'll be lost within a night. What reward is worth this price?
Host: wearing this expensive clothing, pardon from my family's loathing . lasting til' I'm decomposing, all my friends who've strife I've caused; Yes - preparing for this night, their forgiveness is the cause, they shall all be proud because, I ha brought the king to us.""
Whatever Irene just saw disturbs her so much that she simply exits the Nightmare, departs, and then completely forgets it ever happened, due to traumatic memory loss.