The Apocrypha War IC

[Gareth3]

Isaac nods.

"Fair point, but if it's a Sleeper organisation, how could they infiltrate us?"

[SiuiS]

"When Mage fights Mage, they come in with a bit more than a couple of Tommy guns and machine gun grenades. If the Thule Society knew we were coming, they would have probably made sure we got taken out. You have any better ideas?"

Evanesce sighs. "Indeed.

"Rockets and bombs can tend awoken flesh as easily as sleeper skin. If they do know where we are and we don't have sufficient protections, then we're done. Maybe even with protections. A good fire bomb is a fourth magnitude forces event, after all. The fallen reflects the Supernal."

A thoughtful look, and then "though it would be an excellent learning experience should you survive. Fixer, do we have other arrangements? And is there possibly time for a bath?"

[Gareth3]

Isaac starts to reply to Evanesce, but he catches another glimpse of the necklace and stares at it.

"Where did you get that necklace? Were the attackers wearing it?"

[SiuiS]

Isaac starts to reply to Evanesce, but he catches another glimpse of the necklace and stares at it.

"Where did you get that necklace? Were the attackers wearing it?"

"You gave it to me moments ago, after awakening it's spirit for some questions. You do not recall?" That gets an eyebrow raise. "Fetch a pad then. Pen. We should record what we know before we lose any more knowledge. Quickly, they're in my bag if you don't have any. And can you still see the spirit you roused?"

[Gareth3]

Isaac keeps staring at the necklace, obviously disturbed.

"I've never seen it before. Are you sure I had it? It could be a false memory someone's implanted in you, not a real one erased from me. As for the spirit, I don't usually see anything, but I could try talking to it."

He bends over towards the necklace but avoids touching it.

"Uh... Hello, spirit, are you still there?"

[Lentrax]

The very disturbing thing is that when you focus on the necklace again, you feel your distinctive tingle of magic on it.

But you don't remember a thing about it.

I am still here.

[JennTora]

"Interesting." Ghost says, and grabs he items evanesce suggested, and writes 'on our way to our temporary sanctum we were attacked, and discovered a strange necklace on one of them. Isaac examined it, but we found when he passed it on to evanesce he forgot about it's existence. Currently evanesce holds the necklace.'"Alright, so, unless someone has prime, I suppose we should pass the necklace around, and see if it masks itself somehow?"

[SiuiS]

Isaac keeps staring at the necklace, obviously disturbed.

"I've never seen it before. Are you sure I had it? It could be a false memory someone's implanted in you, not a real one erased from me. As for the spirit, I don't usually see anything, but I could try talking to it."

He bends over towards the necklace but avoids touching it.

"Uh... Hello, spirit, are you still there?"

"No, I am not sure. So we write everything down."

"Interesting." Ghost says, and grabs he items evanesce suggested, and writes 'on our way to our temporary sanctum we were attacked, and discovered a strange necklace on one of them. Isaac examined it, but we found when he passed it on to evanesce he forgot about it's existence. Currently evanesce holds the necklace.'"Alright, so, unless someone has prime, I suppose we should pass the necklace around, and see if it masks itself somehow?"

"Too risky, non? Too many options. It could be mystical. Or it could be a skin poison in the metal. Or it could be someone who uses this as a focus, targeting. The many faces of paranoia are why both occultation and demesnes exist. Ghost, let's add some more detail, yes?"

[Gareth3]

Isaac jumps in shock as the spirit speaks.

"I cast the spell, but I don't remember any of it."

He grabs paper and pen and writes a description of how they were attacked and travelled to the cottage, as he remembers it. He turns back to the necklace.

"Do you remember me?"

[Lentrax]

Yes. I do.

Fixer frowns at you. "What are you doing? We may have been compromised in a very bad way, and we're playing pawnbroker?"

[Gareth3]

Isaac ignores the criticism, and reaches for the necklace.

"Quick, do something memorable, something you wouldn't normally do on a mission. Any of you."

He firmly grasps the necklace, and looks at the others.

[SiuiS]

Evanesce looks panickedly between the other members of the cabal, and then swiftly kicks Loeb in the shin.

[Gareth3]

Isaac writes THE NECKLACE WIPED YOUR MEMORY on his hand, and EVANESCE KICKED LOEB on the paper. He holds his hand in front of his face, and lets go of the necklace.

"Thanks for that. Let's see what I remember."

[Lentrax]

You watch the necklace fall, chain delicately winding through your fingers. You remember the note, the kick everything, until someone draws your attention by asking if you remember. Once your eyes leave the necklace, you forget that it even existed.

All you know is, Issac's shin hurts for some reason, and Fixer just asked if you had any ides about being sold out.

You do not recall the necklace with the stones. At all. You don't even remember writing the note. Well, at least it clears the mystery about the shin, anyway.

[JennTora]

"The necklace seems to wipe memories of itself, Fixer, we found it on one of our attackers,"Ghost explains at his protest about playing pawnbroker.

"Evanesce, do you remember the necklace, now?"

[Gareth3]

Isaac looks puzzled at the necklace, then sees the notes and sighs.

"Just to get up to speed, we found this necklace with the attackers, and I asked you to kick him as some kind of memory test. Am I right so far? If so, that gives us some idea what it's doing. It's not only erasing memories of itself, but anything arising from its presence. The kick has nothing to do with the necklace - except it only happened because we were testing my memory, because we found the necklace."

He thinks for a minute.

"Not really sure where to go from here. One thing we do know, it wasn't a Sleeper organisation attacking us. This is a little beyond the Abraham Lincoln Brigade."

[Lentrax]

"Then we should put it away for now and focus on who it was that hit us. And why the Scryers saw nothing of this to warn us."

[Gareth3]

Isaac nods, grabbing a cloth from the kitchen and wrapping up the necklace before pocketing it.

"So they have a magical artifact, but their attack means they weren't expecting us to be Mages. Who does that suggest?"

[Lentrax]

"Don't be so sure. It could also be a ruse, to convince us they did not know what we were. It could have been anyone." Fixer lights another cigarette, and soon the heavy smell of smoke is in the air.

"Hell, I wouldn't put it past the Vamps. Words don't mean a whole lot to them, though they speak to the traditions of the past they try to cling to."

[SiuiS]

"Let us set that aside for now. I've examined it quite thoroughly; if we meet anyone even tangentially connected to it through fate or sympathy I will know.

"Our primary issues are restocking any spent supplies and getting somewhere safer. I could guide is somewhere good enough, through providence, but that is difficult and not guaranteed. Thoughts?"

[Gareth3]

Isaac scratches his head.

"It seems a bit much for a ruse. They had to be looking for some tangible result..."

He straightens up.

"I didn't get a good look at them. Were they specifically shooting at the Mages, or at the Sleepers? Could they have been killing off the Sleepers so someone could cast vulgar magic?"