Nazareth Awakened - Chapter 02: Wives of Solomon

[Mosier]

Faye closes the book, keeping her forefinger wedged inside to save her place, and looks across the counter at Agnasci. "A ride home? Yes. But not to anywhere involved with whatever scheme you're cooking up." She continues to address Agnasci, her tone witheringly disapproving in a way that reminds Law of his mother. "And if you're planning on ignoring whatever it is Penrose has lined up for you I'm going to have to tell him."

"Suit yourself," Agnasci says. He doesn't care what she tells Penrose. Even as much as Penrose trusts her, Agnasci knows that he would never consider her (or anyone else's) advice. The mages will do what Penrose told them to, and investigate the hallows. Nothing else will matter to Penrose.

Agnasci waits a few moments for any other arguments from the others. Once the discussion's over, Agnasci leaves the book store and heads toward Ninja Comics on foot.

 

[GlassEye]

Harper, Thyrsus mage

[section]

Harper pretty much ignores Faye only giving her a glance before turning back to the other newly-minted mages. They have said what needs to be said about Penrose and the jobs given to them, Harper doesn't need to add anything there. They'll do what Penrose tells them but they aren't as willing to ignore this strange occurrence.

"So, what do the rest of us do while Agnasci is off playing Rust Cohle? I keep trying to draw lines between everything that has happened but it just doesn't quite fit yet. And I'm really interested in the hallows at the abandoned church."
​

[/section]

 

[TillForPie]

Note: If ever the player characters are unsure what to do they can return to their daily lives and the game will fast-forward. This isn't my way of hinting that you should stop your investigations - it's just a heads-up for the future so you know you don't have to try to come up with things for your characters to do in order to fill time.

Agnasci
Agnasci cuts through the shopping center's parking lot on his way to the sidewalk. The huge Super Value Mart is open 24/7 but the Easy Cuts, Gold Dragon Buffet, and others are still closed. He checks the time on his phone: 7:30 AM. It's unlikely the comic place is open this early, especially on a Sunday. He could always wait at the door once he's there.

 

[Rubberneck]

Law nods to the others and follows suit, returning to his squad car. Tonight is going to be a busy night.

 

[TillForPie]

After Law's abrupt and wordless departure Chance and Harper are left alone in the bookstore with Faye. The two mages look at each other.

Once I ran to you,
Now I run from you,
The tainted love you've given,
I give you all a girl can give you -

It's Gloria Jones's Tainted Love playing over the store's speakers. Faye's music is always quiet as a whisper and only audible in these silent moments.

Take not give and that's not nearly all!
Tainted love, tainted love...

 

[Mosier]

Orlando pulls out a cigarette as he approaches the front door to Ninja Comics. Through puffs of smoke, he takes a glance at the store hours and notes the time it will open.

Agnasci knows how people work. At the end of the day, all anybody really wants is to be able to stand the sight of themselves. They fight ferociously against the parts of themselves they hate. Only a man who hates his own cowardice would dare stand up to the likes of Big Rich and the Dogs of War. Without even having met the man, Agnasci feels like he already knows Dr Weinberg. He's a coward, fighting his own nature so he can stand to look at himself in the mirror.

But as long as Big Rich keeps pushing, Weinberg might just push back. Only something subtle can disrupt that self-destructive arrangement. Sure, if Agnasci just spoke to Weinberg directly he could probably get the man to change his mind...but there was no elegance in that. It would be a crude, unsatisfying victory. Agnasci doesn't plan on just doing the job, breaking Weinberg like a dropped clay pot. He's going to dismantle the man, take him apart carefully, and put the pieces back together the way Agnasci wants them arranged.

Until the store opens, Orlando is across the street, leaning against a building and keeping a casual eye out until a vehicle or person comes near the Ninja comics store. Since the Dogs of War apparently know about this place, Agnasci will also cast Third Eye, and examine the store and nearby areas.

 

[TillForPie]

You didn't specify, but I'm going to go ahead and have Agnasci scrutinize some of the stuff in his environment.

All mages, once they have some form of mage sight up, can attempt to read the resonances of the world around them with extended Intelligence + Occult rolls. Everything has a resonance: You, me, a coffee cup, a car, a street, a building, an entire town - everything has got a certain vibration that can be seen and potentially interpreted with mage sight.

When using mage sight to scrutinize something, be sure to specify what it is you're scrutinizing, what it is you're looking for, and how much time you're willing to spend doing it. You can attempt to detect the identity of someone and thus see that person's unique "fingerprint" (in this way you can potentially see through disguises and transformations, assuming you've scrutinized them before), the nature of a person (though so far your characters will only be familiar with two natures - sleeper and awakened), or the qualities of a person, place, or thing (this is what it will be assumed you're doing if you ever scrutinize something without specifying what you're looking for). It's even possible to scrutinize active spells to learn more about them. Whenever you scrutinize another mage they have a chance to notice your doing so - Penrose has stressed that this is something some mages take offense to.

Agnasci has a while to wait so he has plenty of time to scrutinize things.

Agnasci
It takes about fifteen minutes for Agnasci to reach Ninja Comics. It's a tiny store about a third of the way between Nazareth Secondhand Books and Tuxedo Springs, near the road that leads north to the highway. As he anticipated, it's not open yet. According to the white card hanging in the door the place is open from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM on Sundays. On Fridays it's open 8:00 AM to 11:00 PM. Rest of the week it's 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM. So Agnasci has a bit of a wait ahead of him.

He jogs across the street to the south side where he leans against the wall of a chiropractor's office. He pulls a cord in his mind and shutters his eyes with mage sight. It's as if he's viewing the world through a pair of colored lenses. The first and most obvious thing he notices is the pulsing vein of light that seems to run along the skin of the earth from east to west here, parallel and just north of Main Street. It vanishes beneath buildings only to reappear running through parking lots and across streets. By the looks of it it must go straight to the bookstore. Is there more than one ley line running under the old man's sanctum?

Agnasci directs the Third Eye away from the ley for now. There's no sign of any mental mischief the likes of which he detected back at the trailer, and no active magic that he can see. With nothing to do but wait he focuses on the comic shop in the way Penrose had taught, scrutinizing its resonance. It's like peeling back the layers of an onion. It just takes time and concentration...

The place has a bitter hum of excitement and desperation. Not too surprising. Agnasci can imagine the gaggle of card-slinging gamers and comic book readers that must pack this place every night. He turns his focus on the occasional passing car. Most of them he can't get a bead on in time - he starts to focus, keeps reading, and... they're out of sight before he can unveil their resonances. But a few of them he manages to read. This one has a resonance of frustration and anxious anticipation. That one has a resonance of optimism and... love?

This is how he passes the time.

 

[TillForPie]

In the interest of keeping things moving (KTM) I'm going to assume Chance, Harper, and Law return to their normal daily activities with the intention of regathering later in the evening to continue their investigations into the dormant hallows and/or the Dogs of War.

Agnasci
At about ten minutes until 10 a portly Hispanic teen arrives at Ninja Comics on his bike. He's probably not the Weinberg kid. He loiters outside.

Five minutes later an old Ford Taurus pulls into the tiny parking lot outside the store. A red-haired woman with glasses and a messenger bag gets out and makes for the entrance, greeting the kid with a wave on her way, before unlocking the store and heading inside. She closes the door behind her and the kid keeps waiting. A few more minutes pass and she appears in the doorway to turn over the CLOSED sign and welcome the kid in. He leaves his bike leaning against the outside of the building.

Law and Harper
Harper is at a bench on a walkway in the familiar shopping center. He plays for the occasional passerby, crow watching from a nearby lamp post. It's nice out. Winters in Arizona are mild and today it's about 60°F, enough to justify a coat or jacket, but not uncomfortable. His morning's off to a good start - he's only been at it for two and a half hours or so and he's already made about $5 in change.

It's around 10:00 AM when three police cruisers pull into the parking lot and come to a stop nearby, outside the Gold Dragon. Crap. The cops like to give him a hard time. Be cool. One by one the cops get out of their cruisers. The first is a thickly-built officer with the worst cop mustache Harper's ever seen. Harper knows this one - not his name, but this one has chased him away from one prime spot or another at least five times in the last few months. The next one is none other than Law. Law and Harper make brief eye contact but don't say anything to one another. Out here in the real world they're not Law and Harper, they're... whatever their real names are. The last officer is an Hispanic woman, slightly overweight and much shorter than her two companions. The trio passes Harper without incident and heads into the Gold Dragon.

Harper and Crow exchange a look.

Law
Twenty minutes later and Senior Officer Dominic Hawthorne, Senior Officer Jason Bailey, and Officer Yolanda Estrada are finishing up their meal. The three are beat partners today and as usual they're having an early meal at the Gold Dragon buffet, at Jason's insistence. Though Dom and Jason are of the same rank, Jason has been with the NPD considerably longer and out of respect for his seniority the others typically yield to his preferences.

Jason looks across the table at Dominic and Yolanda while wiping his hands with a napkin. "I've told that bum a hundred times," he's referring to Harper, "I don't want to see him around here." Of all the officers a civilian would want to annoy, Jason is close to last on the list. He has a reputation among the department for getting rough with suspects. Stick time, Dom's heard him refer to it as on a few occasions. Still, Jason is known as a great cop within the department and a shoe-in for sergeant further down the line. "Might need some flashlight therapy to get the point across." Dom considers Jason for a moment and determines that he's probably not serious, just blowing off steam, but the situation still has edge to it.

 

[Rubberneck]

Law shuffles in his seat, he certainly doesn't want to make enemies on the job, especially one that might become a ranking officer that could make his life hell. At the same time if his fellow officer got violent, Law would be forced to get involved.

"I'll go have a chat with him, don't think I've met this one yet."

Law excuses himself but before leaving he grabs a to go box and piles some food inside, paying the waitress on his way out. He approaches Harper and hands him the box of food,

"You might want to vacate, I have a feeling you've had run ins with Officer Bailey in there. He's feeling a bit... Hostile today."

 

[TillForPie]

Law
Jason watches Dom get up. "Yeah, probably better that you do it." He too gets to his feet, newspaper in hand. "I gotta drop a deuce." He tucks the newspaper under his arm and makes for the bathroom.

Law and Harper
Just as Law is finished speaking, his arm still outstretched with the box of Chinese food, a woman's voice interrupts the pair from behind. "This is Nazareth?" She's in her late 20s or early 30s, blonde hair in pin curls, wearing a sleeveless seersucker dress that looks like it was ripped right out of the 50s. "This is where it all started." She gives the two a crooked smile, briefly revealing white teeth between bright cherry lips. "You're Law of course. And you..." She looks Harper up and down. "Agnasci? No. You're Harper."