"D'accord.  They will remain where you wish them to, and arrangements will be made for sustenance."  She then added, "If there is trouble with ghosts, do recall that you know un nécromancien.  He is rather depleted at present, but may advise."  She turned to Michael and said, "Michael, you may be interested to know that a gruesome crucifixion scene has been left for your former superiors.  I believe it is intended to send a message.  I thought you might wish to know."  If requested, Mistral would provide the location (which was accessible via the multi-destination portal she'd provided), as well as a general description of the scene.  Ten hunters crucified with railroad spikes and their faces painted with bloody crosses, all pinned up to a brick wall.  With that, Mistral took a step backward and dissipated into a swirl of glowing vapor, then faded into nothingness.

Back at Sal's manor, the gaunt mortal figure of Mistral arose from where she'd laid with Noah and began to move toward a basement.  She beckoned for Noah and Fate to follow and said, "More prisoners are incoming.  I am unsure what ought be done with them, except that they cannot be left abandoned in their cages."  She reached the bottom of the stairs, where there was a large basement space with cots.  Mistral paused and sat cross-legged on the floor near the stairs, and bowed her head.

In small groups of twos and threes, prisoners began to appear.  Twenty one in total, in various dreadful states of abuse and neglect.  Mistral quietly and succinctly explained the essential qualities of the nine werewolves, eight mages, and four changelings as they arrived.  On a table against a wall began to appear several 24-packs of bottled water and boxes of trail mix, protein bars, and beef jerky.

Noah was reluctant to let the moment go but did follow along when he was beckoned. The new body had tiny lower legs and he was not yet able to switch forms so he opted to still walk slowly upright out of pure stubbornness. When Mistral sat down Noah flopped down nearby to resume his unrepentant laziness. "What should be done with them?" He rocked his head side to side shaking the mana flame that was his hair, dragon pattern baldness wasn't going to be an issue. "I see seeds in need of a gardener. The first batch looks like a few young ones. But each of the races have their own magic. The wolves work alongside the very spirits of nature and cast their own breed of rituals."

"The hedge born of their own magic."

"Prometheans, the same."

"Even vampires have deep magical rituals."

"If I didn't know any better, with a careful hand, you may here have the seeds for your new tower. Far enough away that they can acclimate to society slowly to avoid setting deep PTSD roots. Each with their own form of magic that would extend your reach. The races may take exception to this but then they shouldn't have let their people get caught by hunters."

"We have seen just a few come in so far, but I'd bet they will all be either fresh or young as the old crusty bastards are a bit too clever or old to get caught."

"Freedom isn't chaos, it's structure. You need people who can fight the paradox, they need structure to move forward."

"Femme de la Liberté; Donnez-moi votre fatigue, votre pauvre. Vos masses entassées aspirent à respirer librement, Les misérables déchets de votre rivage grouillant."

Fate was hesitant leave the girls and the changeling alone, but then would they really be alone with Mistral watching? Deciding that Sal's home should be safe enough Fate asked the small group of them to stay put here in the kitchen for now as she turned and left to speak with Mistral. Once down the steps to the basement Fate listened to the two with folded arms across her chest. Mistral's concerns were valid, but Noah made an excellent point, if that's what the newly freed prisoners wanted. "I agree with Noah as long as it is what the prisoners want. They should be free to choose for themselves and we should be willing to help them where we can, not that I expect we aren't already willing."

Sal shook his head, "I'm afraid I can't summon ghosts, no. Trap them in bottles, borrow their knowledge and skills, feed on them, if I must, but not summon. To be honest, its still quite new to me. I assumed ghosts were those that hadn't met judgement yet. Either way, perhaps we should talk to the priest?"

Michael nodded and motioned to the priest. “Sure. Is there anything specific you want to talk about with him?”

Sal says, "You're a priest, right? I doubt the poor soul got last rites. If he was not party to the torture of those kids, the least we could do is see he gets a respectful send-off. So first, lets find out how much he knew about what happened here."

He walks over to the ghost priest, "Excuse me, father. I'm Sal, and this is my friend, Michael."

 The priest looked up at Sal and Michael and then turned to look back at the door. "Such tragedy. Why would a place like this even exist?"

Michael made the sign of a cross over his chest while holding the rosary. “Unfortunately, men with good intentions can succumb to using heinous methods to achieve their goals. They lost their way in the pursuit of self righteousness. Can you tell us about anything these men were talking about? It may help us to prevent this from happening again.”

The specter of the priest shook his head, "Trapt so is mine eyes in this regrettable purgatory. Blood so stained as if from the hands of Christ himself, a sin so aged and rotten but kept fresh by new devotions to twisted theologies of liberation from bonds imagined."

"If I could do so I would set such tortured tools and their confines to flame. Through my sine of what I have failed to do others have fallen to the torturer's irons. Mea culpa."

"Memorare, O piissima Virgo Maria, non esse auditum a saeculo, quemquam ad tua currentem praesidia, tua implorantem auxilia, tua petentem suffragia, esse derelictum. Ego tali animatus confidentia, ad te, Virgo Virginum, Mater, curro, ad te venio, coram te gemens peccator assisto. Noli, Mater Verbi, verba mea despicere; sed audi propitia et exaudi. Amen."

Noah, Fate, & Mistral
---------------------

 The young men and ladies suddenly all found themselves in Sal's basement with basic supplies (food and drink). Nearly all were in serious need of medical attention but Fate, Noah, and Mistral combined couldn't manage a bandage between them.

 The young men and women were exhausted and disoriented, confused and taking the current moment to regain their bearings.

"Mist, could I bother you to snatch the good doctor Meep from the headquarters? He has been lost without people to care after." He clapped once and rotated until he was sitting. "Hello there one and all. I am Noah, you are under the care of the Ark. We started in Synth services but have taken a real antiterrorism bend as of late."

"For now take a moment and rest. We will make sure you are A OK before we go through a debriefing and get you back in contact with your friends, families, or allies. You are currently still within the state of New York, but once we are sure everyone is recovered, safe and sound, we will get you back to normal."

"We have contact with a number of major groups in New York, be assured everyone gets to go home."

Fate listened to Noah's short speech and couldn't help closing her eyes when he mentioned that everyone would get to go home. It was a hasty promise made to try and calm these people down, but it wouldn't be good if they were to find that he couldn't deliver. Who's to say these people even had homes to return to or that it'd be safe to return them to wherever it was they called home. Fate dreaded the outcome this would bring, but she couldn't, wouldn't speak out in front of all these people and tell them that the ones they needed to be able to trust had already made an empty promise to them. She put on a neutral expression and tried her best to keep from showing any emotion. This was going to be a very long night and who knew how long after that. Only time would tell...

Mistral considered Noah's notion, and found an appeal in aiding these many and varied supernatural victims.  She remarked quietly while working her spells, "There is something to this notion, je pense.  You are idealistic, mon dragon, but perhaps a touch of light is what this dark situation needs.  We have no means to instruct many of these in their own formes de sorcellerie."  The prisoners began to arrive, and she went on, "It will depend on the individuals.  Many will have elsewhere they prefer to be, or responsibilities to be upheld.  Those without such ties and with a desire to learn, may find a place avec nous."

When Noah requested to summon Meep, Mistral inclined her head.  She privately inquired directly with Meep to ask his availability and what he might need to care for the situation.  If he should wish to come, he would arrive within a minute on a swirl of mist alongside all of his supplies he might require.

 The growing crowd looked on Noah with a mix of fear and apprehension (as he was now an awe inspiring supernal visage of blue flame and claws), but his words were calming and those able to do so took tentative bites of the offered food and water. Many were just too injured to move so the more able ones took to aiding the more injured in whatever manner they could.

PM

Sal lowers his head sadly, and says, darkly, "You heard the Padre, Michael. Once we're done here, we should burn this place down. But first, perhaps we fill it with the bodies of those who did this. Mistral, I know you've taken on a lot already, so if you want, I'd be happy to take the time to pull those bodies down and bring them in, so you don't have to. Up to you, Michael, if you wish to grant them last rites. I won't judge you either way."

Sal looks at the nearby buildings. He's looking to see if there is a nearby building with a door facing the church, especially if that door is elevated from the ground.

PM

Michael nods and moves to stand in front of the church. He closes his eyes and performs a mass Last Rites for all those past and present that died in the church. Once complete, he used his enhanced speed to toss the bodies in the church and setting a controlled fire that wouldn’t spread to the surrounding buildings.

Sal helps by clearing anything that may spread the fire to nearby buildings, then once the has grown, he tries one his newest tricks on a nearby door. He says to Michael, "If you hear me talking about umbrellas, head for the portal post-haste."

Sal uses Shift Threshold, and fails, then tries again, and succeeds. He creates a link for 1 hour between a wooden door positioned so that if a lot of water happened to flow out of it at high pressure it would smother the fire (Door 1) and the door to his cabin in the sunken ship (Door 2.) Door 1 also needs to be positioned so that Sal and Michael don't have to cross the path of the water to get to Mistral's portal. The key is to hold the doorknob while saying, "I hope you brought an umbrella," count to 3 in his head, then open it. After the fire burns for 45 minutes, or if it begins to spread beyond the church, he'll open the door.(Sal started the discipline once the fire spread to all corners of the church.)

16:24, Today: Secret Roll: Sal rolled 1 success using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 6,1,2,6,9.  try again.

16:23, Today: Secret Roll: Sal failed (no successes) using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 4,2,2,5,7.  Manipulation + Occult + Carrefour (Shift Threshold).

 It took a bit of effort to get things set up but soon the fire began, spreading to all corners of the profaned church, burning it and those inside with cleansing fire. The plume of smoke was likely to get attention... but Noah seemingly had taken care of that.

 The fire burns without interference until Sal spoke the words "I hope you brought an umbrella." and opened the door, releasing a deluge from within and drenching the fire (while flooding the immediate area with salt water).

Sal went into the portal, "Saying, don't worry, Michael, the water will stop in 15 minutes" going to the next agreed upon location.

Michael admired Sal’s work before nodding and stepping through the portal after him.

Sal steps aside to let Michael approach his Haven first. "Perhaps there are ropes we can use, inside. Hopefully some fresh water, bandages, and alcohol, as well."

Michael looked at his devastated Haven in sadness. What was once a beacon of light and hope in this ruined city now lay in shambles. With the explosion, the ward he had placed there previously had dissipated. He motioned for Sal to follow and pointed in the area that was once the pantry. “If it hadn’t already been moved or destroyed, it would be around there including zip ties and duct tape. We should bind them and tape their mouths. Check them for any sort of electronic devices that may have survived the explosion. I will close their wounds enough to keep them from bleeding out once bound.”

Once the Hunters were gathered, bound, and their mouths taped he used his connection with the higher being to stop the bleeding in each of the Hunters but not completely heal the wounds in their wrists and ankles. It would keep them from causing too much trouble until after their talk. He sat on a big piece of rubble and addressed the most coherent one. “So I will inform you that you all are the lucky ones this night. All the other Hunters at the other bases are dead or worse. All of this could have been avoided if you had just listened to me when I last approached my former Haven. Unfortunately, you didn’t listen and awoke a sleeping dragon who came in full force to correct your mistake. Too many men and women were killed tonight. Some had the right intentions but the wrong way to go about it. I’m asking you now to consider what I have to say.”

Meanwhile, in the basement of Sal's mansion...

There was a long delay after Mistral called upon Meep, during which Mistral frowned sadly.  Eventually she nodded, and there came a swirl of supernal mist near herself and Noah.  When the mist cleared, there stood Meep in all his flower-headed glory, clutching a doctor's bag but looking despondent.  Mistral said quietly, "Merci beaucoup for coming, Doctor.  We will provide any further assistance or equipment you require, if we can."