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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zubkavich" data-source="post: 897770" data-attributes="member: 8810">Session Seventeen continued...Irritated, she stomps around the bookstore for a bit and heads into the kitchen. She’s quite surprised to see Buzzard there, drinking some coffee and reading a newspaper. He looks up at her as she enters, and she can instantly tell that he doesn’t recognize her.“Um, hi...” Karen says, unsure of how to start the conversation.“Hello.” says Buzzard, with no trace of his old accent or attitude.“How are you feeling, Mr... um...” she stammers.“William. You can call me William. It was written on all the ID in my wallet.” he says with a slight grin.“William? Your name is William. How weird...”They talk for a bit about his recovery. Buzzard thinks he’s in some sort of casual recovery center and that everyone there is a doctor or nurse. Karen doesn’t go into any details about the reality of things, and walks away feeling sorry for him.Sandra comes by soon after to talk to her. Karen asks if Sandra can psychically hypnotize Buzzard or if there’s any other way they can bring back his full memories and find out more about Morfuseid’s plans.“The human mind can be quite fragile when it’s been traumatized psychically. We can’t push that along too fast or he’ll just retreat.” indicates Sandra.“You can’t help him to see that, to remember his encounter with the Shadows?” asks Karen.“Think about it. There are studies showing that people have heightened mental illness and stress during times of war, disease or economic trouble. Now imagine we convince him that there are spirits, ghosts, monsters that take over people’s bodies and that the world may be destroyed by invaders from another dimension. How do you think his already wounded mind would deal with it?”“Point taken.” says Karen.Sandra changes the subject and explains to Karen that Evan’s been doing some extensive research on the burned writing they found in the alleyway before their fight with the fire-breathing dogs. He’s found symbols and letters from all sorts of different cultures and time periods, including some Babylonian and Aztec connections.“These Shadow-Borne seem to have been here before, maybe a whole bunch of times.” Sandra says.“Yeah, Sedrick mentioned that they’re on some sort of ‘cycle’, trying to shift their dark god over to Earth each time. You know, Evan should work with Sedrick. The two of them putting their heads together could make some serious inroads into this stuff.”“Well... I know that Sedrick kind of freaks out Evan a bit.” says Sandra sheepishly.“Why’s that? Sedrick is one of the nicest guys I know.” says Karen with surprise.“Except that he’s dead and all...” whispers Sandra.Karen indicates that Evan has to get over his fear of Sedrick. Before all of this happened, Evan was used to being just an observer, but now he’s involved lock, stock and barrel. Everyone has to pull together and find some way to stop the Shadow-Borne permanently. Sandra agrees and when they see Sedrick, they indicate to him that he should approach Evan and research together.Figuring this is as good a time as any, Karen asks Sedrick some important questions about their battle with the Shadow-Borne.“Okay Sedrick, I know that your group wasn’t successful at permanently stopping the Shadows, but I’m curious… how did you delay them in the end?”“Good question, my dear. The Shadows are building up power, preparing for a ceremony to bring their god over to this side. I didn’t know exactly what they were planning to do, but we did find ways to disrupt their flow of power, hurting key individuals or wrecking their ability to organize for that final ritual. It cost me my life in the end, but stopped their progress until recently.”“Okay sounds good, any idea how to stop them permanently?” she asks, hopeful.“I’m afraid that I’m still searching for that.” he replies, sheepishly.Leaving Sedrick to his studies, Karen starts to get antsy about the amount of time Onan’s been gone. Grabbing Setakawa, they drive to Onan’s house to see if he’s still there. When they arrive, Karen doesn’t see any of the lights on in the house or any movement. Then, after creeping around to the back yard, she sees him. He has a shovel and looks like he’s getting ready to dig a hole.“Burying evidence of some horrible deed?” she asks with a smirk.He turns, surprised.“Nice. No... I’m digging something up. I need some more advice and figured I’d try to contact a powerful spirit.”“Which one?” she asks, her curiosity piqued.“Owl... one of the avian lords. His sight reaches far and his knowledge is vast.”“Y- you’re not gonna have to chew on something like Tupilak did for Snake, are you?” she asks him, grimacing. He laughs.“No. An owl died here last winter and I buried it in the backyard. I’m going to talk to the bones.”Digging for a few minutes, he finds a small leather pouch where he had put the bones. Karen watches as Onan carefully pulls them out and places them on the ground in a small circle. Concentrating for a few minutes, Karen listens carefully for any changes in the air or tingle of spiritual energy. Then, Onan’s eyes widen in horror.“They’re gone.” he says, flabbergasted.“Who? Owl?”“Owl... eagle, all of them... the avians are gone! It’s just an echo...” he says in a harsh whisper.Onan is obviously quite disturbed by this and Karen does her best to console him. Onan shakes, afraid of the forces that could cause the avian spirits to flee or be destroyed in such a way. The protectors of the sky are no longer present, and Onan explains to her that without them, things could get much, much worse. Karen tries to understand, but isn’t sure what she can tell Onan to make him feel better. Leading him back to the car, she reminds him that they’re all going for dinner, hoping that it’ll distract him a bit. Onan tries to be calm and smile a bit, but it’s obvious that this revelation has affected him quite a bit.Heading out for her meeting with Mr. Finley, Onan is disappointed that he’s going to be having dinner with Setakawa instead of Karen. Karen laughs it off and tells them to keep their eyes peeled for anything suspicious. Surprisingly, the transaction goes off without a hitch as Karen talks to Finley about jewelry making and enjoys a nice meal. Glad to have the emerald in her possession, she bids Mr. Finley farewell and heads back to the bookstore with the boys.When they arrive, Sedrick is there waiting for them. He seems a bit nervous.“What’s up, Sedrick?” Karen asks.“Well, Sandra had some sort of psychic flash, I don’t know the specifics. She immediately headed out... she was in quite a rush.”“Why the hell didn’t she call my cel phone before she took off? Okay, let’s get Tupilak and Evan and go find her before she gets herself killed.”Sedrick shrugs.“Um... well that’s the other thing. Tupilak went with her, knife drawn and everything.”</blockquote>

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