There've been a series of break-in at three different cathedrals in the city.  But the perpetrator hasn't stolen anything or desecrated anything.  Rather, on all three occasions, they've returned religious relics or other items of great significance to the church.

There are three existing "crime-scenes"

• St James Cathedral, Emerald city's oldest Roman Catholic cathedral
  Item returned: documents related to the ordination of the first bishop ordained at that church.  Removal date is unknown.  Church officials were actually unaware that they were missing, but have verified their authenticity.
• St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral (Anglican)
  Item returned: "horizontal trumpets" associated with the largest pipe organ in Emerald City.  Removed in 2011 and disappeared from storage.
• First Baptist Church
  The written speaking notes
  of the sermon given at the first service in the church Sanctuary, dated September, 1912.

On their own, none of these warrant any real police investigation.  But in all three cases, the churches were locked up or had staff in attendance when the items were "returned".  No signs of entry or exit was visible.

Classified information indicates the presence of  small traces of a powder or dust in a dark purplish color around the rooms in which the artifacts were discovered.

Your police contact is Detective Horowitz.

You can attend any of the churches in question and I'll provide a contact there (or you can make up a name... whatever works for you).


So... What's the first step?

Given there was no reason to go to one church over the other first, Sphere decided to just start with the St. James Cathedral as he was a Catholic himself. Mind you, he wasn't a super hardcore one and in some ways was a liberal recovering Catholic, but Catholic was the religion he identified with currently none the less not to mention how he was raised.

Anyone who wanted to come with he offered to draw into his orbit and fly over there with him.

So the first step he made was to contact Horowitz and introduce himself and establish a rapport, and ask if he knew who their contact at the cathedral was.

Sphere also gave some orders to some lower-ranked AEGIS agents and technicians to go to the Cathedral and gather samples of the mysterious powder that the report says was found at the scene, and return to headquarters and run lab work on it, and report the results to him (and Ember and Alicia) as well as Director Maddox immediately once analysis was completed.

"I'll go with you Sphere.  Might be beneficial to have multiple eyes on a scene."  Ember Saint announced while the other man was requesting the AEGIS Forensics team to the scene.  "Might also be good to compare the powders between each scene to see if we are dealing with a single source--or multiple sources."  He looked to Alicia.  "You coming with or doing your own thing?"  He offered a smile.  "Your choice."

Preferring to fly himself, Ember Saint, being slower than Sphere in the air decided to leave first.  He covered himself in his plate mail type of armor and sprouted his golden feathered wings before taking off towards the Catholic Church.  When standing still, his wings just appeared to be smoldering, but in flight they flared brighter and trailed small flames as he went.  It was harmless visual effect, but obvious that Ember Saint's powers were not suited well for subtlety it seemed.


OOC: Activating Armor and Wings!

Ember Plate Armor: Protection 7 (armor, fire, psychic, +7 Toughness;
 Impervious [4 ranks only]; Noticeable: heavy plate armor)

Smoldering Golden Feathered Wings: Flight 7 (when they appear, they
seem to smolder at the edges when still and trail harmless flames
when flying, fire, psychic, Speed: 250 miles/hour,
0.5 miles/round; Wings)

"I agree. I'll have Forensics collect samples from each of the three sites and compare them. Good call. Ember." He said as the other man flew off in a blaze of fire.

He focused and activated his wind mantle, because why not? Better safe than sorry. He looked at Alicia.

"If you're coming with I'll orbit you with me. Let me know love." he said as he suddenly began to slowly float in the air a foot off the ground.

OOC: Activating Wind Mantle. Will fly over to the cathedral and join ember unless Alicia is coming, in which case he'll devote energy to full-power orbit so she can fly at 250 MPH and he'll fly them both over.

"I am so jealous of the two of you right now," Alicia responded after seeing that both of her companions had possessed the ability to fly. "I wasn't lucky enough to get flight as a power so it looks like I'll be coming with you," she told Sphere.

OOC: GM Sphere will orbit her and fly them over to the cathedral.

Alicia, Ember Saint, Sphere @ St James Cathedral

When the three arrived at the cathedral, the main hall was open and there were perhaps fifteen to twenty people within.  An older man in a full-collared shirt and cassock entered the confessional and moment later a young man entered the other side.

Towards the front, a younger priest, with dark hair and an easy smile talked with a trio of older ladies, while two women moved industriously up and down the rows spraying and cleaning the furniture...

When they entered the main hall virtually all discussion came to a sudden halt as all eyes turned towards them.

Or, more specifically, all eyes turned to the fiery winged plate-mail covered figure that seemed almost like one of the angels right out of scripture.

The young priest offered a few more quick words with the ladies, then quickly--very quickly--made his way to meet the trio...

"You..."  he almost fell over himself as he approached.  "What are you... Can.. can I help you?"


Entirely your call if you'd given them notice you were coming or not...   The police detective in charge would probably also be able to give you access to the powders collected at the scenes, but that's a police thing, not a church thing...

Under his helm, Ember Saint's face fell into a teeth clenched frown that spoke of the awkwardness he now felt.  Thankfully his expression was hidden from view of everyone else.  Still, he realized too late the spectacle he just unintentionally created by walking in with his wings still out.  In a church.  He looked like a...  oh damn.  Why didn't he think about this before?  In a blink the smoldering wings disappeared leaving him in his heavy plate armor only at the moment.

He reflexively made a half step forward when the priest stumbled.  "I'm Ember Saint."  He said his name when asked and then let out a barely audible groan that he hoped the priest at least would not hear.  This, only afterwards realizing the situation was in danger of awkwardness overload.  He turned the expressionless helm to the others as he continued.  "From AEGIS.  We, um, are here, um, about the, um, break in?"  While it was not intended to be a question, he found his mouth betrayed his uneasy feeling due to the hundreds of butterflies currently stampeding in his stomach.


OOC: Switch off the wings!  Keep the armor!

Upon entry of the cathedral, Alicia Alvarado takes a moment to respectfully stop at the holy water font, dip her fingers in, and make the sign of the cross -- an act that would be familiar to a fellow Catholic like Sphere.  Going to church regularly was expected in her cultural background.  She had put in plenty of time in churches during her childhood praying for family members who shared the same struggles against cancer that would eventually afflict her as well.  Although she knew that her cure was the result of the colony that she carried inside her, Alicia's faith had to allow that divine intervention in setting up those circumstances played a part in that.

"We've been asked to assist Detective Horowitz," Alicia chimed in after Ember Saint had introduced himself and the reason for them being there.  "We know that you probably already discussed this in great detail with the police already.  They're experts at what they do and we're not here to interfere with their investigation.  Because of the unusual nature that your items were returned, they seem to think that a group like us might be able to explain something that's out of the ordinary," she explained.  "Will you let us take a look around and maybe direct us to anyone that may want to talk about it?"

Sphere waited politely while everyone spoke and waited till they finished before he spoke up.

"I am Sphere, from AEGIS as well. A pleasure to meet you Father..." he said.

"We're here for the investigation like my peers just mentioned. I also wanted to give you forewarning that there will be agents under us coming soon to do some forensic work. We will do our best to respect the relics in this holy place though while we're here." he said.

"We need to piece together what happened, as we don't know if a true crime has taken place yet or not as the motive of the perp is unclear. Could you please tell us what you know and also show us the relics and the areas with powder?"

The young priest's face relaxed immediately.  his hands clasped in front of him, he was, however, acutely aware that all eyes in the cathedral were on them.  "Of course.  MY apologies.  I was expecting you... just not.  Well, it's been a strange couple of days.  Please, follow me."

He introduced himself as Father Angus Murphy, and led them back out f the main hall through the lobby and a storage area that opened out into the adjoined parish building.

"Detective Horowitz and--well, all the ECPD rally--have been very accomadating, but the presence of the forensics technicians upset some of our , ah, elderly parishioners.  If it's at all possible, the church would appreciate some discretion in your work.  We rally hadn't expected three of you for what must be a relatively minor issue."  He led them through the parish hall and unlocked one of the three plain wooden doors that led to the classrooms and office-spaces.   Past the mechanical room and the electrical room, was the archives.

The room was perhaps ten feet across.  There was a window, but it had been painted over and looks like it had been undisturbed for several years.  There were two locked filing cabinets on one side and two small book-cases on the other, on either side of a medium-sized reinforced safe.  there was a small desk up against the far wall, (with the window) and another door leading to a closet-sized office-space to the right hand side.  "We store records here for ten years, before archiving off-site.  Key documents--such as the ones returned, are usually stored here, in the safe.  There are other things stored here, too.  Mostly regalia."

"The documents were discovered on top of the safe."  Murphy sid.  "Here.  In a locked room.  There are perhaps five of us who have the key to this room."

"The dust was located here, before the safe." Murphy said.  "ECPD took most of it, but they let us keep some for our own purposes--mostly to justify to the Bishopric that something strange had happened and to perhaps exculpate us from responsibility for the documents having gone missing in the first place."

"I'm afraid we weren't expecting any kind of follow-up.  So, the room was cleaned after the technicians were here. "  Murphy offered.   "But, I'm afraid matters are becoming more.... um... complicated."

Father Murphy took a breath.   "Since the return of the documents--documentation of the ordination of Bishop O'Dea, there have been... unexplained phenomena.   Some of the buildings here have long been held to be haunted.  We like to call them our 'Kindred spirits'"  he said with a bit of a smile.   "It adds character it's never manifested as anything more than unexplained noises, the sound of feet shuffling and the occasional voice heard in an unoccupied room.   But..."

Murphy opened the door to the little office space.   "This appeared yesterday.  Detective Horowitz told us to preserve the room."

The closet-space office was dark and featured little more than a writing desk and a standing lamp, a circular metal garbage can with wast-paper within, and a several small photographs of a group of priests, gathered outside the cathedral proper.  None of them appeared to be formal photographs, more of relaxed casual memories...

But at the very front of the desk, perhaps an inch from the seating edge, the words "Omnia possum in eo qui me conforta" appeared to have been burnt into the wood.

"The documents were discovered on top of the safe." Murphy sid.  "Here.  In a locked room.  There are perhaps five of us who have the key to this room."

"The dust was located here, before the safe." Murphy said.  "ECPD took most of it, but they let us keep some for our own purposes--mostly to justify to the Bishopric that something strange had happened and to perhaps exculpate us from responsibility for the documents having gone missing in the first place."

"I'm afraid we weren't expecting any kind of follow-up.  So, the room was cleaned after the technicians were here. "  Murphy offered.   "But, I'm afraid matters are becoming more.... um... complicated."

Father Murphy took a breath.   "Since the return of the documents--documentation of the ordination of Bishop O'Dea, there have been... unexplained phenomena.   Some of the buildings here have long been held to be haunted.  We like to call them our 'Kindred spirits'"  he said with a bit of a smile.   "It adds character it's never manifested as anything more than unexplained noises, the sound of feet shuffling and the occasional voice heard in an unoccupied room.   But..."

Murphy opened the door to the little office space.   "This appeared yesterday.  Detective Horowitz told us to preserve the room."

The closet-space office was dark and featured little more than a writing desk and a standing lamp, a circular metal garbage can with wast-paper within, and a several small photographs of a group of priests, gathered outside the cathedral proper.  None of them appeared to be formal photographs, more of relaxed casual memories...

But at the very front of the desk, perhaps an inch from the seating edge, the words "Omnia possum in eo qui me conforta" appeared to have been burnt into the wood.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:40, Sun 02 Aug 2020.

Sphere nodded.

"We apologize for causing you or the parishioners any surprise, Father Murphy." Sphere replied to the man as they made their way to the back room.

"The truth is that we don't KNOW for sure yet if this is a minor situation or not, so we're choosing to be cautious rather than make assumptions. We also are unsure if a crime has been committed or not, or if one is going to be committed later in the future regarding this. So that is why my colleagues are here too instead of just one of us. As for the forensics team...I'll go ahead and give them instructions to try and so their surveying in between main mass times. And I'll have some of my people get in touch with the detective about their dust as well." he continued.

"But they do need to do their assessment of the scene regardless so I want to apologize up front but again will get them to try and come between mass times. I was raised Catholic myself so would never intentionally disrespect a church building. But we also have a duty to this city and if forensics can help us uncover more clues then maybe we can potentially locate other missing church artifacts or prevent their theft. Among other things. Not to mention get more information about our third party and their mysterious motives."

While Sphere spoke to the priest, Ember Saint walked forward just bit to get a better view of the words burned into the table.  He concentrated and activated one of his powers that was relatively minor and unobtrusive:  thermovision.  Able to see the patterns of heat in the area around him, he was trying to see if there was any residual heat at the site at all.  After a moment of staring and trying to pronounce the words out loud, he looked back to the Father Murphy. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but I am not sure, are those words latin?  And does anyone know what they mean?"

"Philippians 4:13" Murphy responded almost immediately.  "I can do all things through he who strengthens me."  The Apostle Paul's epistle to the Philippians, to thank them for their support.

Murphy  stood back to let the heroes get a closer look.   "Also, and perhaps more relevant, is that it was Saint Cabrini's personal motto.   Mother Cabrini was a parishioner here... the only one to have been venerated.  Patron saint of immigrants and finding a parking spot."  he said with a half smile.

"And you are welcome here, any time."    Murphy said.  "Your arrival was simply unexpected.   We worry because any unexplained phenomena has a chance to encourage religious seekers... While we certainly appreciate the increase in attendance, too much of a good thing is a thing, after all.  Word will get out, and the path we must tread is frought with the treachery of public opinion..  We must do everything we can to invstigate and verify.

So... What's the next step?"


--
Philippians 4:13 - https://www.bible.com/bible/59/PHP.4.ESV
Mother Cabrini https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Xavier_Cabrini

Even though there was a risk of disturbing the evidence, Alicia had to climb to the top of the writing desk to see the inscription that had been burned into the wood.  Upside down and written in a language that she couldn't understand, it was meaningless until Father Murphy provided the explanation.

"Father?"  the doll-sized woman spoke up.  "This seems like a very specific message.  Writing it in Latin means that they either know the language or would be familiar enough with what that phrase means to memorize it or copy it."

"I know that you can't violate any counsel that you may provided to someone, but has there been anybody who may have claimed to have experienced some form of divine intervention recently?" she asked, working on a theory.

Sphere nodded at Alicia - she was making a good point with her question!

He considered something that was bothering him himself though.

"Hmmm...Alicia's question is a good one. But I also wonder if the Saint herself is a clue?" he said as he pulled out his cell phone and ran the name mother cabrini onto google. Because Google was the best search engine and knew all sorts of stuff he sure didn't. And of course, he saw on Wikipedia she was of Italian descent.

"Father? It says here that she was an Italian immigrant. I know that lately when you hear the word immigrant you think of latinos and such, but we can't forget that there were once waves of white immigrants roughly 100 or more years ago. I remember hearing about that in school although I'm no historian. And of course there's asian and other waves of immigration historically too." he said.

"But that makes me ask the question...does this church happen to have any immigrant support groups, or perhaps groups of ethnic enclaves be they white, latin, asian, or any other focused ethnic group?"

Ember Saint listened in silence to the translation provided by Father Murphy and then Alicia's and Sphere's questions.  "Sounds ominous really to me."  He continued to look around using his thermovision trying to look for clues...


OOC:Do I see anything heat related or do I need a roll here?

"Not that I am aware of." Father Murphy let his brow furrow,  "Something like a visitation or an episode of speaking in tongues is taken very seriously.  I would know about it.  Mostly, I read this as an optimistic sign, a reminder that faith transcends.  But the location of the message...  it's more directed at us--the clergy--than the community."

As Murphy spoke, they was a knock at the door and a young woman in conservative clothes--jeans and a simple blue short-sleeved short--stood in the main door to the office.

"Father?  I'm sorry to interrupt."  The young woman said.

Murphy acknowledged her.  "Ah,  Claudia.  What is it?"

"There's something going on in the Sanctuary."  Her face was ashen, her eyes wide and she was sweating.  It was hard to tell whether she was more afraid or excited.  "Father Montgomery has ordered the hall cleared."

Claudia led Father Murphy--and Ember Saint and Sphere back the way they'd come to the main hall of the cathedral.

At the center of the cathedral--the meeting point of both wings and the actual architectural center, stood the raised alter, in which the relics of the Saints were placed.

While normally, the altar was bathed in naturral light, due to the enormous oculus dei above, the light that fell upon the raised marble altar and it's black base was vibrant and stunning, corruscating with hues of gold and amber and ivory...

And suspended in the air above it was a form clothed in light body extended, arms out to either side, head back and chin to the sky a if bathing in the light.

It was had to tell the gender of the form--so vivid was the light that it obscured enough detail.

There were maybe two-dozen people in the sanctuary.   Most were on their knees, some were crying.

AN older man with puffy skin and deep-set eyes clutched a rosary, his eyes wide, himself, face reflecting the light of the awesome vision.

"It just...  appeared."  He said as the Spehre and Ember Saint joined them.    "Sister Claudia was pointing out cracks in the base of the altar, when..., well, this..."

Alicia calmly descended from the writing desk to the floor to follow Claudia and the rest of her group into the center of the cathedral.

She stayed near the front of the group, not just for the better visibility because these towering people would have obstructed her view, but to also be in a better position to protect them if there was some kind of threat about to emerge.

Her gaze went to the figure floating above the altar as she raised one hand in an attempt to shield away the excess illumination that made it difficult to see exactly what or who this was.

If it weren't for her own unusual experiences in the past few years, she might have been as awestruck as the others in the sanctuary.  Just by coincidence, she had traveled here with two guys who were also capable of suspending themselves in mid-air.

"Can one of you guys go up there for a closer look?" Alicia suggested to her team.  "Just take it slow and easy... be as non-threatening as possible.  We're not trying to confront them.  They haven't done anything yet."

Sphere nodded.

"I'll fly up there and take a look. See if the figure is some sort of projection or hologram or if its a live person. See if it's harmful." he replied to Alicia with a nod.

He turned to the priest.

"Excuse me, father." he said as he gently began to hover a couple feet off the floor, his clothes and hair tussled softly by his own personal breezes. Sphere was calm although clearly intrigued by the figure's sudden appearance.

He flew into the main sanctuary, over the heads of the gathered parishoners. He stopped about 10 feet away from the floating figure of light, himself effortlessly floating in place in the air. He wondered what the parishioners would think, seeing two beings floating there in the middle of the church's main sanctuary area.

"Hello and greetings. If you can understand me, I mean you no harm - especially in a place of worship. I'd just like to talk. How are you doing today?" he asked the figure of light, not really sure how else to more diplomatically open a conversation than that.

"Uh right... Non-threatening... right go get 'em Sphere." Ember Saint said encouragingly to his companion.  Even though he had hopes that this would be a diplomatic situation, there was a doubt in his mind.  The armored man kept an eye on the figure and how it interacted with Sphere, but also tried to keep his eyes scanning for any other interlopers who might decide to show up here.

"Oh Sweet Mother." Father Murphy murmured, clearly awe-struck.

Sphere levitated up until he was roughly on level with the entity...

She seemed completely unaware of him.

Up close, though, she didn't seem quiet as radiant, and Julian could see specific details.  The texture of the woman's skin, the slightly off-center curve of one eye, the thick scar that seemed to extend vertically along the side of her neck.


She appeared to be a naked woman in her mid to late thirties, in reasonable physical shape.  The muscles of her calves and thighs rippling as if she was flexing them or as if there was some sort of electrical current running through her.   She didn't appear to be in pain, so much as... transfixed?   But with her arms out to either side and her legs mostly crossed at the heels, the similarity to the position of the crucifixion would be recognized by everyone here.




If the spacing is weird in this post it's cause there's a bunch of secret lines...
This message was last edited by the player at 20:52, Fri 30 Oct 2020.

And then, slowly, the light dimmed, though the naked woman remained suspended in the air.

Sunlight streamed through the oculus dei, but it somehow seemed drab and muted in comparison.

So... you're up close and personal... what now?

"Sphere?  Does she look okay?"  Alicia said quietly over the communicator before pausing as though she wasn't sure about whether to ask her next question."Is she crying?"

The tiny woman turned her gaze upwards again to see if she could figure out the source of the mystery.

OOC:  Perception roll if it is needed.
17:05, Today: Alicia rolled 20 using 1d20+6.  Perception.
Blank lines/Weird formatting is because I think that my character may have received information in the post which was not yet revealed to the other players here.

Sphere turned to Alicia.

"She definitely is no angel or being of light. Up close she had solidity to her. But she's definitely not a normal human person though but clearly has human traits. Like a surgury scar and so on." he said as he turned back and flew closer to the floating lady.

Jake looked at her a bit sorrowfully. This woman, whoever she was, had obviously gone through a lot. She didn't seem to be in pain right now, although what was going on with her body and muscles wasn't natural and he wondered if she had some sort of underlying condition. Something maybe he could help her with if he applied his healing winds.

"Ma'am? My name is Sphere. Please let me know if you can understand me." he asked her firmly but kindly.

"I don't know what's going on with your body but it can't be comfortable for you. I am going to use my healing winds on you to see if it helps and I promise I'm not trying to hurt you. Please let me know if you're ok if you can." Sphere said as he gestured at the woman, and a swirl of golden mist snaked around him once before flowing into the floating woman like a gentle breeze.

OOC: He's cranking second wind up to max to give her regeneration 10. His winds are persistent so can cure even normally incurable things. He's hoping this can fix something in her brain or with her other physical health that might be causing her muscles to tense like that and her to be out of it.

The woman screamed.

It was high-pitched and full of anguish.  The tears on her cheeks glistened and her eyes brimmed with more.

But something else happened...  The light that emanated from her dimmed noticeably.  Until she emitted barely more than a slight luminous glow about her.

She was still a naked woman floating unaided in the middle of the church's sanctuary under the Eye of God.  But to Sphere, she seemed more... tangible than she had moments before.

Then her eyes closed and her body went limp.  But she still remained suspended in mid-air.




--
OOC:  Alicia, As Sphere hasn't actually touched the woman, this is the only direct evidence that suggests that she's actually corporeal and not, say, a projection or an illusion. 

Sphere frowned.

"Something odd is happening, but she is starting to seem more...physical the more time passes. My current guess is that all the light and such is the result of something physically wrong with her or her body becoming unstable, and my healing winds are slowly patching her up. At least...I hope that's what is happening. I've never quite seen anything like this before but I am wondering if she's in some sort of distress and doesn't even know it?" he said.

"Alicia or Ember or Father? Can someone please bring me a blanket for me to wrap around this poor woman? She's not well and this is unseemly for a house of God."

Ember Saint recoiled a bit as the woman screamed.  He seemed initially to be expecting this to be some sort of attack--but when none came, he was inclined to slip back into his medic mode.  Turning to the priest just as Sphere called for a blanket he quickly eyed the priest, the man wearing his robes possibly in preparation for some upcoming service. Or perhaps to try to help the flock of his church deal with the strange happenings.  Either way, this was a blessing the hero was glad to have here.

"Father!"  Ember Saint said in a commanding tone to gain attention quickly without having to shout in the man's face.  "We need one of your robes!  Now!"  Perhaps the man knew what he was getting at as he hurriedly took the robe off, or he just was listening to him due to the urgency he put into his tone.

Ember Saint didn't want to debate which as he had more pressing matters here.  His golden smoldering wings spouted from the back of his armored form and with a single beat he was up and behind the woman floating and seemingly unconscious.  Quickly throwing the robe over her nude form he hovered there waiting for both to see if she was as solid as she seemed--and to catch her should she begin to fall.


OOC: Activate Smoldering wings!
Ember Saint used move:  put some clothes on girl!
Was it effective?

The woman's shrill scream triggered a flashback of a memory from a day not that long ago when Alicia was the most frightened that she was about to die, not because of her cancer, but because of people being sent to kill her.  A hotel in Elfin Cove, where she and several others had been recovering after the Project Starfish treatments.  The scream, followed by a deafening blast and an eruption of broken glass, wood fragments, and a column of fire.

"Please don't blow up.  Please don't blow up," Alicia repeatedly whispered quietly to herself, almost like the silent prayers offered by the worshippers at other times in this cathedral.

When the immediate threat diminished because the woman appeared to pass out but continued to remain up in the air, Alicia became concerned that maybe this wasn't that woman's power but was the result of someone else using powers against this woman to suspend her in mid-air against her will.  She scanned the faces of those in the room, looking for someone that might be showing a hint of cruelty rather than awe and wonder.

OOC:  Using Perception to find people and Insight to determine their intentions
22:24, Today: Alicia rolled 19 using 1d20+5.  Insight.
22:23, Today: Alicia rolled 23 using 1d20+6.  Perception.

The presiding priest didn't hesitate.  The old man seemed initially startled out of his awe-full reverie.  He shrugged out of his robes immediately and held them out, first towards Sphere who was flying higher than he could reach, then to Ember saint.

There hadn't, actually, appeared to be any malice or malevolence in the crowd who was there.  It didn't preclude the possibility that  malevolence was a factor--simply that it didn't appear to be present on-site at the moment.

As Saint and Sphere managed to clothe the woman, she opened her eyes, though she still remained unresponsive.   She blinked, her eyes--a startling ice blue, rimmed with gold flecks--were focused in the distance.


Then, as her eyes focused, a sense of weight slowly seeped into her, until she weighed about as much as either of them would expect from a young lady of her relatively smaller size and stature.

"Is this..."  she said, her voice quavered, but it was a a low, contralto, surprising for one so small.  "Is this heaven?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:54, Mon 07 Dec 2020.

For a moment, Sphere put his hand to his head and shook it a bit. As if he was trying to shrug something off. Whatever was bothering him seemed to abate quickly though, as he blinked in surprise but a few seconds was alert again.

"That...was interesting..." he muttered as the woman began to speak.

Sphere shook his head at the woman, and spoke gently to her.

"No miss, you're still alive and we're on Earth. Yes, I know I am floating on air and healing wounds like an angel, but I promise you this isn't heaven and we're both very much alive. And yes my friend there has wings but again...still on Earth." he replied with a pleasant smile.

"We're inside a church, actually. You seemed in trouble and seemed like you were hurting, so I'm trying to help you any way I can. My name is Sphere, and you are in a safe space right now. What is your name, ma'am?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:27, Wed 09 Dec 2020.

Stranded on the ground, Alicia couldn't exactly participate in the conversation that Sphere and Ember Saint were having the woman.  As far as she could tell, the woman's body language suggested that she may still be a little bit overwhelmed after that initial scream.

"Father, do you recognize her at all?" she asked the priest without taking her gaze off of the group in the air.  "Is she a member or your parish or someone who may have come here recently just looking for help?"

Is she one of us? she thought, wondering if the colony inside her would recognize one of their own if this woman now had a colony insider her too.

"No. She isn't one of the parishioners. Well, I mean, not one that I"m familiar with.    There are thousands, who come here..."  Father Murphy responded, his voice slowing down as he glanced around, almost uneasily.   "Not everyone needs to talk to the clergy.  Some just come to pray...  Oh.  Oh my."

Murphy's face went very still for a moment, then his jaw dropped and his eyes went very very wide.  "Oh, sweet mother." he whispered with a tone of absolute reverence

He licked his lips and lifted a hand to scratch idlely at his chin.   "May I show you something?"  he knelt down to one knee to get closer to Alicia.  "Do you mind if I carry you?  It's not far.  But...  not here."

Actually, I'll give it to you...

In the walk through the church of St James Cathedral, there were several statues, not the least venerated was Mother Francis Xavier Cabrini (who's favorite quote was burned into the desk in the archives office).   The woman in Sphere's arms bore an uncanny resemblance to the likeness of the statue of Mother Cabrini.

Father Murphy will also have taken Alicia to one such statue.

I rolled for Sphere to recognize.  Ember Saint is out of the loop on this on due to proximity, but I'm sure that's only a temporary thing.

Sphere considers a moment as a sudden realization flashes across his face.

"Oh my...hmmm..." he mutters to himself as he notices her gold-flecked eyes.

He wonders if he can use his colony to try and determine if the woman before him is colonized as well. He knows his colony has "flashed" or otherwise communicated somehow with those of the other Aegis metas (i.e. the PCs), so maybe he can ask them to try and identify any microbes in the woman who looks like Cabrini.

He thinks to himself, inwardly.

"Hey you guys? Do you see this woman here before me with the gold flecked eyes? Can you please try to flash her or otherwise try and sense if she has a colony within her that you can communicate with?"

"Oh...!", Alicia exclaimed after Father Murphy brought her to the statue.  Despite not having seen the floating woman up close, she immediately picked up on the similarities to the representation of Mother Cabrini that Father Murphy was trying to show her.

"This has to be a coincidence," the tiny woman blurted out in disbelief.  She didn't know what Father Murphy was thinking but there was no way that she was going to be sacrilegious to think that this might be some form of resurrection or reincarnation.  Maybe there was something with being around people with superhuman powers that reduced her belief in actual miracles.

"To go that far to model her appearance after Mother Cabrini is either an act of extreme devotion or else someone is using her to cruelly mock the church, just like they did when they burnt her motto into your desk."

"Whoever she is, it looks like she needs our help," Alicia explained.  "Let's go back and see if we can figure this out."

OOC: I'm making the assumption that Father Murphy's reaction was his realization as to who this woman resembled.  If not, what was he looking at when he commented "Oh, sweet mother"?  If this seemed to come out of the blue, she might start to wonder about some type of mind control affecting people within the church, and if so, she would be concerned that it might eventually affect her as well.

Hah!  I'm not going don the mind-control route here.    Good call, though...

Sphere
"Hey you guys? Do you see this woman here before me with the gold flecked eyes? Can you please try to flash her or otherwise try and sense if she has a colony within her that you can communicate with?"  Jake asked his colony.

And moment later, the speaker responded.
If they are there, they are not responding.   But the energies around this one...  She is... new.  A child.

"My name?" the woman said slowly, moving her mouth as if speech was unusual or uncomfortable to her.   "I'm...  Irene?"  But she didn't sound so certain.   "No.   I...  I don't know.   I should know that.  It's  probably just chemo-brain... It'll come to me..."

After a moment in Sphere's arms, she seemed immensely more aware, and cognizant that they were still floating high above the altar.  "I was naked, wasn't I?"  she whispered.   "And there's a bunch of people watching us.  Can... can we go down now?"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:33, Wed 23 Dec 2020.

Alicia

Father Murphy took a long moment to consider ALicia's words.  "It will have an impact on the parish, this is true."  His words were slightly slower, more considered than he'd used earlier in their interactions.

He carried Alicia back to the altar where Sphere had wrapped the woman in one of the priestly robes offered to him.  "I'm not going to suggest a hostile or antagonistic reason.  Not yet."

In the short-time they were gone, two of the other staff had corralled many of the parishioners and ushered them out the door, leaving perhaps a scattered dozen folks inside the latge main chambers of the church.   But it was difficult, as the presence of Ember Saint had also gathered an enormous amount of attention.  Cel-phones were out and the whole thing was captured and streamed live...

Sphere smiled at her, although in a friendly funny way rather than anything mean. Situations like these called for pleasant rated-G humor to lighten the mood.

"I definitely don't think you're dressed currently in your best Sunday church clothes right now, but it does indeed beat being in your birthday suit. Some suits simply aren't a good fit for church after all." he replied to the floating woman with a chuckle.

"So with that said, I'm going to carry you in my arms and we're going to float our way into the priest's office in back, where we'll come up with a better clothing scheme for you."

Sphere tapped his left ear a moment, and muttered as he used his communicator.

"AEGIS this is Sphere. Please have one of my junior agents go fetch a complete set of women's clothes and bring them to the church ASAP. Notify me upon arrival. Thanks."

He turned his attention to the woman again.

"The lovely gentleman with the wings and the cute little lady are my good friends and can be trusted. Let's get you in back now as I'd like to treat you a bit more with my healing wind just in case, and we can relax and let you get your bearings until the clothes I ordered for you arrive."

Sphere motioned to Ember with a nod of his head letting the man know he was going to head to the priest's office now, before taking the woman fully into his arms and gently flying across the room and hovering through a hallway to the priest's office with her. He hoped Alicia and Ember would follow.

As Sphere carries the woman into the office, Alicia delays slightly to try to catch Ember Saint for a brief private conversation before joining them.

"Did she say anything about who she was or what happened to her?" the doll-sized woman whispered her question.

Before allowing him a chance to answer, Alicia revealed what Father Murphy had shown her. "There are some statues here in the church.  One of them was of Mother Cabrini -- the one whose motto was burned into the desk?  Well, this woman looks a lot like the woman depicted in that statue."

"I'm not saying that it's her," she immediately followed up so that there was no confusion as to the point that she was making, "but there's something going on for that to be just another coincidence."

Father Murphy led them to one of the smaller meeting rooms.  Like the office, it had dark wood-panel walls and a thick carpet.  A small window looked over the street but most of the view was covered by trees.

There was a short bookcase on the far-wall with a bunch of children's books, and an little dollhouse in garish colors in the corner.  There was a red leather divan against the near wall, and a dark wood desk and chair on the other side.  It a quiet place, probably used for one-on-one meetings and family-counseling.

The woman seemed grateful to be out of the public eye.  Though she still seemed largely bewildered.

Father Murphy led the way in and set up a small electric kettle.

"Okay." the woman said, a little more strongly, once she'd taken a seat on the divan.   "So... who are you?  and what am I doing here? I don't... I don't remember anything.  I don't.  Who am I, again?"

Sphere had made sure to set her down on the Divan, before floating to the office too and flagging in his fellow Aegis agents and the priest. The door closed with a quick flick of his hand as a soft gust blew it shut gently. His feet touched the floor as he began to walk normally again.

He flicked his hands again and an empty chair that was set near a corner of the room began to float through the air before being set gently down near the Divan, where Sphere sat down on it so he could talk to the woman more sociably rather than standing over her.

"So the year is 2020 AD. We are currently in the United States in a newer city called Emerald City, in the United States. We're in the Saint James Cathedral." he said, trying to help her orient as he was unsure what she did or didn't passively know.

"My name is Sphere, and yes I have weird powers but we're on Earth and this is no dream. With me is a priest here named Father Murphy, and my friends here are Alicia and Ember Saint, and before you ask again no we're not angels and this isn't Heaven. Sure some worship us as gods or call us metahuman or other things good and bad alike, and I suppose some other time we could have a long and exciting philosophical discussion about what a god with a small g is and what's a human and so on, but now is not the time. If we do though - coffee and lunch is on me. But suffice to say that we think of ourselves a simply being very uniquely talented humans thrust into very uniquely weird circumstances." he replied.

"We are part of a special organization that's affiliated with the United Nations called AEGIS that helps normal people with both normal and not-so-normal problems. And today, we're here to try and help you and this Cathedral." he continued.

"We don't know who you are, but we'll do our best to do right by you and find out. You do have a striking resemblance to a famous nun that has passed away, but you are alive now so I'm not convinced you are her. You mentioned the name Irene before. Does that mean anything to you as you think about it? And do you have any memories about how you got here or what you were doing floating in the center of the church? I infused you with my healing power as you seemed to have been injured at some earlier time, but something like this will take you trying to help us as well if we're gonna figure anything out."

OOC: He is using his features to get an automatic 24 on a persuasion check similar to how he did in the bus tunnel accident scenario to basically crank on his trademark charisma to help her further trust him and be helpful, as well as retain control of the situation socially.

"I'm not a nun.  Not particularly religious.  I mean, I liked the singing.  The singing was nice.  And Irene's my..."  she shook her head, a sudden impulsive movement rife with frustration.  "Agh.  Why can't I remember?  Did someone do something to me?

The woman flicked her wrist out as if she were trying to wick water from wet fingers.  She sat a moment, her head cocked to one side, her face scrunched up in confusion.  "that... was weird."

"If you are talking about your reaction just now, don't worry about it," Alicia said compassionately.  "We have a special appreciation when it comes to weirdness."  That point seemed to be unintentionally emphasized when one considered the size of the miniature woman who was speaking and her scale in relation with the children's toys in the room behind her.  She allowed everyone else to be seated first before settling into one of the child-sized seats in which these other fully grown adults would not have been even to fit.

"But if something weird happened right before that, can you tell us what you think it was or what it felt like?" she asked, "No matter how strange it seems."

"Sphere, I think that you had a similar reaction earlier when you were floating in the air with her, like you kind of zoned out on what you were doing momentarily," Alicia explained.  "Do you remember that?"
Perhaps if Sphere related what happened to him first, the woman may feel more inclined to speak about her experience as well, she reasoned.

Sphere was about to respond to her, when he waited silently for her to be dazed and un-dazed.

Then Alicia spoke.

"Hmmm...well it was weird. When I was healing her it seemed ok, but when I talked to her to try and snap her out of whatever fugue state she was in, it was like I heard the sound of a church bell echoing. Like it were reverberating through a large cavern or something. but the sensation...as quickly as it began, it stopped a short moment later." he said.

He turned back to the woman.

"Ma'am? Just now...did you hear an echoing sound or something? Can you tell us if that means anything to you?"

"No," she said. "I'm sorry.  no sound.  No. uh. epiphany.  It was a reflexive motion."

She did the motion again, like Spider-man flinging webs.  "I was expecting a graphical UI.   Time, weather, where the hell I am.  Is it wrong that I can handle eight-inch people and guys with big wings, but I'm more freaked out that I can't call up my Agent?"

She stopped for a moment and made a self-satisfied little smirk.  "My Agent."

She lifted her right hand and examined her wrist.  "There's no scar."  And, almost reflexively, one hand went to her chest, massaging her sternum.

Then, in a very small voice, she whispered.  "This isn't my body."

OOC: I'm assuming her scars vanished under Sphere's powers. Please correct me narrator if I'm wrong.

Sphere shook his head.

"Actually...when you were floating in the middle of the church, you were all yellow and glowing and stuff so no one could see your body clearly. But when I got closer, I saw that you had scars on your body. Like you had undergone some surgury...or multiped ones for that matter." he replied.

"Except my healing power is really potent when I commit all my energy into it. I can heal wounds and even regenerate lost organs in ways even the best technology available can't. I thought something horrible had happened to you, so I started healing you thinking you had possible brain injuries." he continued.

"So that's why you don't have any scars anymore. You were muttering something about being ready to die and then went catatonic and then there was the echoing bell sound. I don't know what you mean about your body being different, but it's likely due to me that you don't have scars anymore."

I'm assuming her scars vanished under Sphere's powers. Please correct me narrator if I'm wrong.

It's a reasonable assumption, but I can neither confirm nor deny.

OOC: Understood.

And how does she respond to post 53?

When this woman first mentioned about not being able to call her agent, Alicia initially thought that she might have been delusional, as if she was actually some type of celebrity with professional representation.  The search for a scar on the wrist ended that speculation.  It was like this woman was missing something... a piece of technology... some type of implant?

"It's not just the scars that are missing," Alicia contributed.  "It was what was underneath them.  Some kind of technology, right?"

"What do you think is missing?" she asked.  Keeping her talking might help to jog something in the woman's memories.

"When you're feeling up to it, we'll help you find a mirror so that you can see what you look like.  However, if you're having problems with your memory, you might not be able to recognize yourself to remember what your body should look like," the shrunken superheroine cautioned.

Alicia had her own special understanding as to what is was like to find yourself in what seemed to be the wrong body.  At one time, she had been a normal-sized adult but had to face the challenges of adapting to her current size.  That didn't happen overnight so there was no way that they should expect this woman to handle this situation any better than she did.

"I... yes."  the woman said.

"I should have an implant here." She touched her wrist. "And, I think, a pace-maker here."  she said.  "I think my name is Sam.  Samantha.  But it might be the name of my agent."

After a moment, Mary regarded Sphere with very a very clear, unflinching gaze. "I was ready to die, young man." and her voice resonated with age and authority... neither of which she actually had.   "I remember that I was waiting for someone, that there was one last thing I needed to do before I could just let go.  and... I think I did it."

"Yes." she said after a moment.  "That feels true.  I mean, I could be pulling this out of thin air and I'm really on the verge of a nervous breakdown.  All of you could just be figments of my imagination, a morphine-dream to help me transition.  But I've fought too many wars to doubt myself."

"So, tell me.  You're an armored angel, a very small woman, and a..."  She looked Sphere up and down. "Well, I don't really know quite how to define you in an off-the-cuff and offensive stereotype manner.  Where on Erde did you three come from?"

Sphere smiled.

"It's just the reality that I'm very hard to characterize in an offensive and off-the cuff manner. I mean come on...I've got an award winning smile that's literally been on tv, and yes I can regenerate but really the secret behind my skin and hair are a whole lot of facials and spa treatments and really good shampoos without those nasty sulfates in them. Oh and I can fly and stuff which most people find to be pretty neat." he replied in a playful, gregarious manner.

"But if you REALLY want to call me something off-the cuff, you wouldn't be lying if you called me flighty. Oooo better yet, an air head! Head in the clouds! Ha!" he added with a chuckle.

"But no you're definitely not hallucinating and we're definitely real. As for where we come from...well, like I said we work for a government agency called AEGIS that focuses on helping people and governments alike with both mundane and highly unusual problems alike. But if you mean us three specifically? We are humans born on Earth. We just aren't like most humans is all due to special circumstances." he replied.

"And how about you miss maybe-probably-Samantha?" he asked.

"Are you from Earth too or from someplace else? And why would you have implants and pacemakers? Not that you probably need them anymore after I healed you but usually they'd have popped out of your body or something if they were invasive after I healed you. If they are benign then they may still be in there and we'd have to run an MRI and CT scan and take a look - which we'd cover of course. I told you - we're here to help."

Alicia smiled when Irene/Samantha speculated that this was some elaborate dream and was someone who must have known what it was like when they were under the influence of morphine.  There were plenty of times when she thought that maybe she was the one who was trapped in a dream and that her sick, but normal-sized, body was still stuck in a bed at some resort-turned-clinic trying to recover from whatever treatment she agreed to go through out of sheer desperation.

"These wars that you said that you fought, were you talking about health challenges?" Alicia asked, "Or do you remember being a soldier somewhere?"

Her mouth dropped open as she searched for words.  "Everything is a fight.  everything is a war.  I can still taste the bitterness of regret.  Frustration.  The apver dogs everyone, whether they know it or not." her voice trailed off...  "I'm sorry.  I"m grasping but it is just not there.  This is like trying to remember the name of the boy you kissed once a party a decade ago when you were a giddy schoolgirl and drunk on apple wine.   If I try to think, the thoughts, images, ideas... they flee like gossamer shadows."

She lifted a hand to her head. "I know this is probably inappropriate, but I'm really tired.  Maybe there is a eugenics test that might be able to help identify me?"

I have more for Samantha to share, but it just doesn't make sense for her to access this information yet.  She needs some down-time so I can have her come to you with it later...

I'd like to start wrapping this thread up so I can start in on the next scenes...

And, I'd like for you to figure out what the next step is--if there is a next step for this case...  It's okay if there isn't.  I can always conjure up more incidents, now that I have an overarching story-idea...

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:55, Sun 31 Jan 2021.

OOC: The next step is that Sphere is going to have Samantha taken into protective Custody by AEGIS, and will leverage his status and influence to make sure she doesn't get transferred around, messed with by others, or otherwise lost in the shuffle and I suspect Ember and Alicia feel the same. But right now I cannot think of a reason that we shouldn't do anything other than immediately take her into protective custody and let her rest, get some food in her, run some labs on her to assess her health, and of course some clothes on to the poor woman.

If you don't have any preference, then Sphere has AEGIS flunkies get her some clothes and take her back to the player characters official AEGIS homebase that was given to them and let her stay there as a guest, under clear expectation that Samantha please act like a good guest while under their care as well and not do anything to violate the hospitality they're showing her. He will ask Maddox if she could help with Samantha's memory issues and any other basic needs although will stress to her that she is a Guest of the AEGIS metas and that they won't tolerate any weird black-ops government style crap happening to her and expect her to be treated humanely and not as an experiment or prisoner.

Sphere will also have some other AEGIS flunkies get more powder samples from the church and other sites and take it to the lab to do testing and analysis.