final investigation

[arsholes]

[It's been almost a week since Orthrus' lucky escape. Almost a week, of all calls to Heisenberg going (metaphorically) to voicemail. Almost a week, to rest and recover from the harrowing losses of the previous Friday.

It's been almost a week. And the storms are getting worse.

You know the locked door on the first floor? The one that goes into the center of the tower, right across from the great entry hall doors?

Today, there's a heavy iron key sticking out of the lock. With a familiar crest on the head.

The key is sticky with wet yellow paint, and wetter blood.]

Comments

[arsholes]

[You bet your sweet ass it is!

Along the wall that the door is on, is a large, cracked standing mirror in a gilded frame. The mirror is about as big as a person is tall and is, at the moment, uncovered.

[spitessier]

Then the one who left all that paint and blood was the Alchemist...?

[Even though Katsuya seriously dislikes that man, he looks around as if he's going to find him on his death throes around here. Golly, what may have happened to him? Did the Patron lost his patience with him already?

Katsuya eyes the mirror]

From experience I can tell you mirrors aren't good news sometimes. We should be careful approaching that one.

[rikonstructed]

It seems likely at the moment.

[Nuadha gives him a slightly bemused look as he does just that, approaching the mirror to inspect the cracks and look for blood or anything odd about it.]

They're tools, the same as any other. I've used this one often enough.

[spitessier]

You get to be wary of random mirrors after being trapped in an alternate, empty version of a TV studio because of one.

[Persona 2 had some funky stuff, haha]

[replacementshield]

...I don't even know what the hell you're talking about.

[ Is it that much of a surprise? TV is a novel concept for him. As Nuadha approaches, though, Felix will keep a close eye but also cast his eyes across the room before them to be on the lookout for other things.

His other hand is also on the hilt of his blade, ready to strike. ]

[rikonstructed]

[at least that makes two of them]

Of course you shouldn't carelessly go through one without knowing where it leads. A mirrist could find themselves in the Void outright, doing something like that.

[Whatever a TV studio is, from the parallel he's guessing nothing good!]

[sunshade]

[ Yeah, no, she's with Felix on this. The fuck are they talking about? Patchouli shoots them A Look and will wander off just a bit. She's still within sight, but is there anything else to poke at in Heisenberg's workshop, besides the mirror? ]

[arsholes]

[There is! The first and easiest to notice is that the Alchemy equipment, that fills up an entire work table, looks like it hasn't been touched in over a week. There's a thin film of dust on all of the components and bottles.]

[sunshade]

[ Can she at all tell what was being made, the last time it was used? ]

[arsholes]

[There's a single, small eyedropper vial of liquid, just as covered in dust as everything else.

The only component left out is a bottle of oil of tartar.

The liquid in the vial smells... Like a very powerful alcohol.

Has she heard of the Ens tinctures?]

[sunshade]

[ Considering she's spent the past week reading every book on alchemy she can get her hands on, probably!

(I don't, tho, pls explain) ]

[arsholes]

[It's a series of tinctures that can be made for each of the seven planetary alignments. There is also an uber tincture called the Primum Ens Melissae, which if taken daily is believed to have at one point caused a 70-year-old woman to start menstruating again, and an elderly hen to start laying eggs.

...It's a health potion, of a sort, is what I'm getting at here.]

[arsholes]

[The mirror is in fact old as balls. Probably at least six, maybe seven hundred years old. It has all of the things you might associate with that, a little bit of built up dust and grime and discoloration along the edges where the glass meets the frame, etc.

There are runes carved along the frame of it, as well.]

[rikonstructed]

[Anything about the runes that Nuadha would recognize as being similar to common alchemy symbols? Or are they a different style?]

[arsholes]

[They are not alchemical runes. One of them looks to have been amended with something sharp, like a knife or a claw.]

[rikonstructed]

[Do those changes look recent, or just relative to the rest of the mirror? Also Nuadha will touch the surface and the runes, any reaction or possible traces of magic he could feel from that?]

[arsholes]

[Just relative to the rest of the mirror.

Using magic to examine it, Nuadha will find that it's a communication mirror.

In other words, his scrying being picked up on this mirror was basically like the mirror's natural enchantment in reverse.]

[rikonstructed]

[Oh, now isn't that interesting. Nuadha will at least glance over his shoulder to give the others fair warning first.]

It's made to connect to something, like a mirrage communicator. Once we finish our search I'll try to activate it. Since we don't know what it could connect to we should be prepared first.

[replacementshield]

[ from over here: ]

Don't worry. If something pops out I'll make sure to kill it on sight.

[arsholes]

[Speaking of things to pop out...

There's a pile of something in a dark corner of the workshop.]

[spitessier]

[Alright, let's check over there. What's this pile and is it bad news?]

[rikonstructed]

[Not what he was worried about, but you know what, appreciated just the same.]

I never doubted that.

[rikonstructed]

[Okay, since he has agreement and has things to do that are not being tormented by Baldr, Nuadha is going to try to channel his mirror communication powers into activating that. Does this thing turn on?]

[arsholes]

[What is he trying to see?]

[rikonstructed]

[No contacts list on this thing, huh? Nuadha will try to see anything that would be outside the tower, or rooms they haven't otherwise discovered.

And barring that, the next thing on his plan would be looking for the Patron.]