The long night finally came to an end. Noah set up Pestilence with the information that Sal's guests had been provided and things were put into motion to get them home safe with the offer of a job.

 However, not long after he had gone to sleep, he got a ping on his GPS, giving him the final piece of information he needed to locate Grey.

Noah's eyes snapped open but he did not move. Once he got the ping he submitted the location to his cloud network to make sure he didn't lose it. He was more than a little sure that he wasn't going to be able to sneak out. So he quietly rumbled at her. "Grey has collected herself." He had a lock on.

"You keep an eye on the realms and all the silly archmages, I'll take Mr. Wraith and Jitters to go pick her up."

He looked up. "Boys, gear up. We are going to go tap a ley line to recharge and then pick up Lady Grey."

OOC:  Was going to post this at the end of Rondo of Blood, woops!

While sat in the basement of Sal's manor amongst the freed prisoners of hunters, Mistral broke a long spell of silence to say, "I suspect there will be no stopping what occurs in Stygia at this hour with the means available to us.  Néanmoins, I will speak to Talion now.  I will return."

Mistral's gaunt corporeal form winked out of existence, and she had not been seen in the Fallen World since.  No means of communication yielded any response from her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...sSrK00Dw&index=3

 Jitter's equipment had been mostly destroyed (much of it had been made by Grey), but he had kept his Seredite box cutter and custom coffee can armor. He stepped out from seemingly nowhere riding Wraith, complete with saddle and judging expression.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NArFIVt9t1Y

 Wraith, for his part, came out with a red scarf, a saddle, and the custom seredite claw pads Noah had made for him.

Fate overhearing saw Noah getting ready to leave and went up to him. "Where are you off to? Maybe I can be of some use seeing as how there's not much left to do here." Fate's voice rang with hope that she might finally be able to get out of the mansion and to somewhere more her speed.

Noah smiled as Fate spoke up. "Grey has collected herself enough to ping me. She survived the explosion even though she was the center point of it. Going to head out and scout her location before pick up. you are absolutely welcome to come." He swapped out the mana star cane for a rod of black metal. "Are you good with flying? If I pop a portal we will need to take a half-hour nap."

"I'm good to fly. Let's see if we can find Grey."

Noah nodded, he was going to need more mass to get everyone up into the air.

"Right, one last thing real quick. Going to need some side mana." He trundled his way into the kitchen and stuck his head into the fridge. There in he poked a hole and etched a few markings. It was an extremely weak Hallow but he made one then and there to help refill the mages.

Once he collected the fallout he paused for a moment. "It will be smart to hit the subway. They are down and it will give us fight under cover." He took the little bit of Tass and folded it in like last time making a thin film. "The form will be fairly thin so I cant risk a wreck or the coast guard getting mad at me again."

 OOC: okay, so it sounds like Noah is making a tass disguise? Will you be flying out or will you wait till you've gotten to the city and in the subway to fly?

Ooc: its for when we get into a public place. 6 successes for a phantasm. Effecfively a ball around us that shows what is on the other side. Commo ball. The goal is to use the subway as much as we are able to get close and then fly in.

 Noah created an invisible phantasmal bubble for the group, checked his coordinates... and finally realized that the place Grey pinged from was not in New York city at all! It came from a national park in Philly.

Noah sighed, "That is much further than I anticipated." He pulled the bubble mix in and folded it until he was standing there as human Noah.

He burned another bit of mana and drew a circle on the ground with the black metal rod forming a full on portal. "This is a mile off her last ping. Closest sade spot on land I can hit. Ill be down a half hour once I pass through the portal."

"No worries. I'll keep an eye out for you." Fate was familiar with Noah's sickness and was happy to keep an eye out while he recovered.

 The group passed through the portal and Noah (in human form) immediately flopped over in the middle of a pine forest. They were in a natural park, deep in the wilderness. Wraith promptly hopped up on Noah's chest, his fluffy twitching tail brushing across Noah's face. He was pretty sure Wraith was doing it intentionally, and the angry looks he gave those around him indicated that he was in no mood to be moved.

Noah just lay there as his eyes rotated in entirely independent directions. "Right, so this will be a bit. Thank you for being a good sport about this."

"How has your study been?"

"No problem. My studies have been good. I think I've learn about 3/4ths of the book that Talion gave me by now. I did need to find out however where I could learn some life magic from. After our latest incident I think it might be good to learn some magic that could heal others as well and not just myself. Have any ideas?"

Noah made a point to blow on Mr. Wraith's tail every time it passed by. "Well, the free council has a load of the hippy mages. They are likely the best place to find a hoard of life mages. The Merlin is a member if you want to get the hook up."

"A dash of prime and you could make healing potions. I knew a dnd guy who did things like that."

"That reminds me. I still have that cultist that had been nabbing kids. I've had him on loop watching reruns of Bob Ross. You know how to question people right? We have a lead on the cult but I forgot about him being in the dream dance program."

"Yeah sure. I could do that. And thanks I'll have to see the Merlin asap when we get done." Fate kept her eyes on their surroundings and kept up her shields.

 Minutes passed and finally Wraith jumped down, signaling the end of Noah's vertigo.

Noah finally managed to get up. "Thank you every one. Sorry to make you wait."

"He is good people. Though do expect him to assume you're up to something. He didn't get to be so old without being up in everyone's business." He started on the way to the GPS ping. "Here's hoping its a nice easy pick up." Having back up indicated he didnt think it would be.

 Noah (in his human tass suit) began to make his way toward the ping. Eventually, he came to a fence. All along the perimeter of the fence were signs reading "Private Property. Trespassers will be prosecuted."

Noah blinked, "At least it isnt military." He pulled out his slated and pulled up his location on google maps to see if he could find the local area on maps. If it was blank that means it was something screwy and would require much more effort than just someone's place of buisness.

 Pulling up the map, he found that there was no business listed there, just more forest.

"Welp, its a secured area but no military declaration. And the whole area is a dark zone on sat unless I hack in. Wanda think Fate? Spooks or something wild?"

"Unfortunately I have a bad feeling it's something worse. Let's just hope I'm wrong."

"When Fate has a feeling it is wise to follow it." He held up his black rod cane and opened his right eye fully to the prime omni sight. Best to check for wards.

 There were no wards. It was just a perfectly ordinary fence in a national park where no fence should normally be.

"Been out of the game wo long I didn't even think to bring a normal breaking kit." he took that black rod and stuck the fence. He was going to take his time about it to make it look as if a bear took it down. Or a moose, freakishly large cows with radar horns.

How did they get so big?

 Several minutes passed until he finally managed to tear down the fence, making a hole large enough for them to pass through.

 A few minutes later, a humvee pulls up with 8 people inside. 7 of them with assault rifles and tactical vests. The other man wore a suit. "You are tresspassing on private property. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

 The men in the humvee readied their weapons. The indication being that they were quite ready for a situation where politeness may fail.

Part of Noah wanted to play along and be the tourist. However he was getting angry as this plant that it was an outfit that had his Grey. She was a precious bean and was deserving of protecting.

He snapped and held up his hands. "Normally I would play the tourist here but my blood is boiling based on the images my mind is cooking up."

"My Grey's last known location was here. Get on the horn as call someone with authority. Tell them you've got a pissed off hitch hiker ranting about nanotechnology and Grey."

1 success to ping their radio channel.

Covert spell. 3 agg damage to the firing pins inside their firearms. Lil ligltless flame eating up the material of their bolts striker.

 Wraith and Jitters had vanished as the man in the suit spoke again. "I won't ask you again. If you do not leave, we will make you leave. Just so you understand, we are fully authorized to use lethal force."

Noah rolled his eyes and popped on their radio channel. "This is the Dragon of Purgatory. You have my daughter and I am just back from fighting something very nasty so I am not in a good state of mind. I am coming for my daughter. Anyone who stands down will be ignored entirely."

"Boys, do as you will." He twisted his fingers and worked that wild woojuu.

Success on the banderstanch escape spell. Effectively allowing Noah and Fate to swim underground as to not let automatic fire to hose us down.

 The soldiers behind opened fire as Noah began to weave his spell. However, all the two of them could hear was clickclickclickclick as they sank into the ground. Fate's vision was completely obscured, requiring Noah to lead the way.

 Noah moved for several minutes and emerged a good distance away in the trees, far enough away so that they could not be followed. A few minutes later, they heard the blaring of sirens. Shortly thereafter, they found a clearing with another fence. This one had been busted down and the jeep from earlier had been buried into the front door.

"Sorry about that Fate, once the boys vanished it was time to move. They are already hard at work." He cracked his knuckles and started after the terror two, "We will need to get Grey before the boys have to get serious... Mr. Wraith will likely eat some people whole if they pull some insane woojoo."

"Though as they have suits, want to download their database?"

 Noah and Fate managed to squeeze around the side of the humvee. As they passed, they saw the soldiers within laid out inside with wrists and knees wrapped in bloody bandages and tied with duct tape.

 As they entered the main checkpoint, they found the barred doors cut through and the candy machines out in the hall. The soldiers inside were likewise laid out, bruised in the face and tied with extension cords (the cords on the candy machines were missing). Further, in every instance, their guns had been stolen (including the machinegun turrets in the gunner nests)

 Gunfire came from further in.

Noah pulled out a high-tech-looking pistol and started a low-cover walk once he got inside. He checked on Fate real quick before he went back at it. He spoke to their radio channel again, "I said stand down and you will be ignored. You are in possession of stolen property. Resistance will be met with equal force. We are playing nice so far, don't force this to get serious. Grey, I'm comming."

If someone came at him with anything other than hands up he would fire the Gnome gun at them.

 Further down, the group saw Jitters holding an assault rifle like a bazooka and hosing down the hallway.

 Meanwhile, from behind came a walking mech suit. (there was a brief moment when the military bought a whole lot of them for cheap from Talion but they were overshadowed by synth tech).

 However, before the mech suit could fire at Jitters, Wraith cut out a hole in the bullet proof glass and slinked into the armor, prompting screams of pain and panic from the pilot as the suit fell over and the pilot crawled out covered in scratches.

 The suit seemed to glitch out for a moment before standing back up. Wraith pulled himself up to look out the bullet proof glass and 'Maow"ed at them menacingly... before the minigun's barrel began to spin up.

 Jitters turned to look at Noah and Fate. "Go. Go! We will hold them here."

 Jitters abandoned the now-empty rifle to join Wraith in his hijacked mech suit. Jitters also left behind a manila folder with "Specimen 154" on it. Inside were documents containing a description of a silvery fluid and explaining the dangers of a "grey goo" scenario followed by containment procedures.

 Grey's body was being supercooled by liquid nitrogen and suspended by a magned from the ceiling while her "control unit" was set up on the other side of the facility and being used to power the containment of her body.

 The folder documented the location of both rooms.

Noah growled. "They brought mechs. Resistance will be met with equal force." He took in a deep breath and exhaled a white flame as he expelled the perfected fire spirit. "Ignus, protect my boys here. Aid them to the best of your ability and the second half of the pool is yours. I'll see you when we get back home for a resummoning."

He had to get her soul back first, once that was acquired the entire mission was a success and her body would be a bonus. He waved his hand over a small pair of rods, a prime shield, just in the event they used something the armor couldn't handle.

And he was off to get the most precious bean back! On their radio channel, "Mechanised units... really?" So he just flooded all channels of the radio spectrum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgpGDfp_FHo
This message was last edited by the player at 04:33, Fri 03 June 2022.

"Nice pick." Fate said gesturing to the music now blaring the radio. "Just let me know what you need done and I'll see what I can do." She waited on Noah's direction.

 The sound of gunfire faded into the distance as Noah and Fate followed the instructions on the dossier. They eventually came to a sealed room. The scientists scrambled out of the way as Noah entered. From the other side of the glass, they could see Grey's latticework heart pulsing faintly and rhythmically. It was attached to some sort of machine (which the dossier mentioned was using said heart to power the containment of the body).

 From behind the scientists tried to reach for a phone to alert the guards.

"Dont worry people, I said if you all stand down we will ignore you."

Noah spun that black rod in his hand and threw it like a spear. Heading not for the rat scientist but to impale the phone.

"If I could impose upon you to interrogate that guy? Leaders are often the only ones to take action in the face of a threat. I'll get to work on getting her core out."

He looked at the scientist. "Rejoice, as your captive would hate for me to end you. She is a true innocent."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:26, Fri 10 June 2022.

"Not a problem." Fate answered with a sort of evil grin as she cracked her knuckles. She wasted no time in stepping directly toward the scientist that Noah pointed out and picking them up by the front of the collar of their shirt. "Now, we can do this one of two ways; you can either tell us everything we want to know starting from why you have that little girl here now without any problem from us or you can force us to become a problem for you in which case we will still get our information, but you will be much worse for wear. Your choice, but do keep in mind that if you lie to us it'll be as if you chose the second and the same outcome it will be."

 The scientist glared at Fate. "You have no idea just how dangerous that entity is or what it is capable of! It is an extinction level event in the making. You're making a big mistake."

"That 'entity' is good and well loved. She wasn't a danger to anyone until you did this. Now if you value your quality of life you will explain what you were doing to her, why, and how to disconnect her safely. I can almost guarantee that if she wakes up without us waking her you will wish you had never even known of her existence. Now speak the truth." Fate presses the scientist to the nearest wall and holds her arm across their shoulders border lining on being against their throat.

 "Never."

 A gunshot rang out but went wide and missed the mark. Off to the side was another scientist with a pistol with a still smoking barrel.

Fate lifts her other hand out towards the person with the gun and focuses her energy at them.

---

Fate casts Suspend Time at the person with the gun.
19:51, Today: Fate rolled 5 successes using 14d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 3,8,10(+8),4,9,5,1,10(+1),4,4,5,7,7,3.  Suspend Time.

Noah let Fate do her thing, he didnt even flinch as he was so used to having layers of shields a gun shot was kind of a Meh ordeal. But he dove in head first to start extracting the heart. If it was too protected he would just break in.

 The scientist with the gun (including the smoke from the gun) slows to a stop, leaving him frozen in time as the scientist uses the moment he is gripped with on hand to grab a nearby keyboard and strike at her face with it. (soak 1 bashing damage (you get your armor rating on the roll), if you fail to soak the damage, make a brawl check to keep hold of him).


 The encryption on the lock was top of the line. It would be quite difficult to break the lock (10 successes). There also seemed to be a 3 strike system before it would lock him out of the system and activate whatever security measured they had in place.

"Well hell." Noah walked over and pulled his rod from the wall and used it to start pushing into the containment. He then took in a deep breath and exhaled a prime fire to begin burning his way through, carefully and directly.

 A few seconds later, the room was breached and Noah could reach through to lay claim to Grey's hears. As he did so, the scientist in Fate's grip began to struggle even more.

"You morons look at her and see the potential danger. Grey has saved an entire race from destruction. She has been the one the ferry life to a world. Instead, you take the worst-case and deny the truth, Grey is here to ward off predators far greater than any who have come here before."

"All she has ever wanted was to help."

He clutched Grey's core as such that one would need to kill him to even see it.

"Grey would not want us to kill you, but test me one more time and I will make this whole place a hole in the ground. We have walked the surface of the sun and rode a blast that would make a nuke seem like a warm summer breeze."

"Sit the fuck down and this will be over soon." He made for the door and would block for Fate as needed, "Time to go, the boys are close to needing to get serious, and then Mr. Wraith will make this a horror film rather than an action movie."

OOC:
Just as a reminder Fate does have her spell active from earlier. Does it apply as well or no?

Fate casts Fortune's Protection on herself (Paying the 1 Mana)
18:36, Today: Fate rolled 2 successes using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,10(+5),6,3,5,6,3,7.  Fortune's Protection.

OOC: Yes. Your armor spells apply to your soak rolls (it's much easier to do it this way in pay by post format)

01:00, Today: Fate rolled 7 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,5,4,10(+8),7,10(+6),6,9,8,9.  Soak Roll.

 Noah moved to the door, leaving Fate to decide the... well, fate... of the struggling man.

 However, less than a minute later, Jitters appeared on Noah's shoulder. "We have a problem! The enemy has sent reinforcements. They're mages! Ten or so. They destroyed our mechs! Wraith stayed behind so that I could relay this information to you. However, I'm not sure much longer he-"

 The lights flickered and the music turned off. "-can hold back. I must return now to support him. Make haste! We will buy what time we can!"

 Jitters waited only a moment to receive any orders before vanishing.

 The other side of the compound (where Grey's body is located) was 5 minutes away at a brisk walk.


OOC: you can either take the 5 minute walk or run. If you run, make a stamina roll. If you fail, physical dice pools are halved for the rest of the scene.

-------------------------- Regardless---------------------------

 When they entered the room where Grey's body was located, they were immediately fired upon by scientists with pistols.

Noah: soak 3 & 2

Fate: Soak 2 & 2

 Inside, you could see a large frosted cylindrical chamber with nozzles pointing in a circular direction around its inner circumference. Each nozzle was spraying a white fog (the readouts on the computer mention liquid nitrogen) and a 3ft deep pool of it at the bottom. At the top, spinning and suspended from a magnet (somehow without touching it) was Grey's physical mass.

 Occasionally, solid chunks of the mass would fall into the pool... but they nothing happened with them. They seemed inert.

Noah nodded. "Thank you Sir Jitters. Do what you can but be sure to survive."

Noah rand and exhausted himself. The sooner they got Grey the sooner they could portal out. They no doubt had backup on the way.

The suit could never soak damage. It took the first shot but the second shot breached the suit. The real Noah burst out in a roar, pushing on. "Ignus, we need to warm Grey up without burning her."

 The scientists began to sputter a litany of curses as they focused their attention on Noah. Fortunately, three of them, in a blind panic, fired randomly, missing their shots. Only one struck home (Soak 2 lethal).

 However, Noah's work had been done and the machine malfunctioned. The sprayers stopped spraying and the magnet ceased to function, causing the spinning mass to splash into the pool of liquid nitrogen.

 Ignus, however, had no way to reach Gray's mass, let alone warm her without burning anything (the inside of the chamber had excluded the dominion of heat, being so cold).

Noah nodded, "I got yah buddy, just be ready." Noah blinked as the bullet bounced off him. A barrier waved displaying a phantasm of a shield with a coffee bean on it interposed itself. Noah was out in the open, the suits can't half shields, but his real body could. "Will you people quit trying to destroy the world."

He turned at held out his hand barely getting the spell off, forces wasn't his core skill. But like a jedi he pulled on Grey's mass. If he had to portal her, or even go in after her. He was going to save Grey. "Boys, prepare for evacuation. Preparing to hard warp."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:20, Thu 16 June 2022.

1.
19:16, Today: Fate rolled 8 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,6,8,8,2,10(+9),8,8,2,8.  Soak Roll.

2.
19:17, Today: Fate rolled 5 successes using 10d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,4,2,4,1,9,10(+8),8,2,10(+7).  Soak Roll.

 Grey's body sloshed around in the liquid Nitrogen, breaking even further apart as a small piece made it to the wall of the tank. It did not, however, pull through it.

 The latticework heart pulsed weakly as it was fed mana, but it was far from the luminosity it once possessed.

 The lights began flashing red. "Warning! E.L.E containment breach. Initiating self destruct sequence in 5 minutes. All personnel report to your assigned evacuation centers."

 The red flashing lights stuttered for a moment and the overhead alert distorted for several seconds. When it went back to normal, the screams from back the way they'd come could be heard even over the sirens.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:41, Fri 17 June 2022.

In honor of Mistral Noah used a claw to make a circle on the tank and ported one side of the glass to the other so he may extract the mass of Grey. "Time to get going kiddo."

 Noah reached in expecting a solid mass. After all, it had always been a sort of semisolid goop that could be grabbed or molded.

 However, what Noah found when he reached through this time was brittle. Trying to gain traction with his hands resulted in only more crumbling. Using his forces, he managed to pull the frigid mass through the portal (burying the attackers in the process).

OOC: Soak 3 lethal damage from the cold. You only get armor vs this if it protects from the cold.

 Ignus immediately began the process of trying to warm Grey's mass... but it was very cold and there was a great deal of it. It would take a long time.

https://youtu.be/aWIE0PX1uXk?t=71

 When enough mass had gathered close enough, some of it began to move towards Grey's core. However, unlike other times, the lattice was not subsumed. Bits of her core could be seen peeking out of what had gathered.

 The mass formed a childlike face. Her eyes blinked but the corners cracked as though made of sandstone. When her mouth moved, it was same. The frigid nanites could no longer maintain a fluid structure, resulting in a face like a doll that was constantly breaking and reforming. The rest of her remained an amorphous ball of sand with the lattice soul poking out in places.

 Her voice was weak, like what one would expect from a child who had just woken up from surgery. "Hey Noah. I got blowed up."

 She closed her little eyes and paused for a second. "Hey Noah? I can't feel my arms or legs. I can't make them move and it's so cold here."

 The very act of holding this frigid mass of nanites was causing frostbite on Noah's fingers. "Hey Noah? I'm kinda sleepy. I think I'm gonna close my eyes for a little while, okay?"

 Once more she closed her eyes and, moments later, the frigid nanites lost cohesion and fell off her latticework heart like so much sand. The heart was much dimmer after the exertion, having lost almost all of its light.

 The frigid mass, for its part, remained inert and immobile. All the while, the voice over the intercom continued to count down.

Noah did his best to keep a neutral expression, "It's ok Grey, you're gonna be alright. We are going to get you warmed up and get you some power." He scooped up Grey's mass into his bag and drew a circle on the ground.

"Boy's, Grey is secure. Time to evacuate." Part of him figured a meltdown could be of benefit to her but with her, in such a condition he had no idea if she could convert energy at the moment. Better safe than sorry. He still fed her core another mana just to make sure her power wouldn't fail her entirely.

13:01, Today: Noah rolled 6 successes using 12d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 6,10(+2),2,9,9,7,3,10(+10,4),1,3,8,7.  Doors.

He needed some leylines so Grey could charge while she warmed up. The only huge convergence of Leylines would be Rome. There was some secluded areas in the rolling hills of Rome. It would give him time to recover and to make a hew suit for Mr. Wraith. He just hoped he could recover before they got found.

He finished the portal, it was far less elegant than what Mistral would forge but no doubt one of his best.

 There was only so much mass that Noah could secure in the remaining 4 minutes (there was enough to bury 4 adult humans and fill the room). Still, he managed the portal and emerged in the hills of Rome... possibly. He couldn't be entirely sure of where since he was going off memory of his time in low orbit.

 Jitters returned almost immediately but Wraith needed to use the portal. He emerged like tendrils of shadow and death with hushed whispers and sympathetic screams in his wake. Even if they were secluded, Wraith's unmasked presence served as a beacon of death to anything sensitive to the supernatural.

 Regardless of the supernatural havoc his presence caused, he took up his vigil over Noah's immobile body and floated as a spectral sentinel over Grey's mass.

"Jitters, I have my spare bottle for Mr. Wraith if he needs it. Left hip, I don't know how well he feels outside the sand nor do I know if he could communicate such. And thank you for being such a bad ass." He flopped over so he could at least be comfortable while the world turned.

"Fate, I am sorry to have kinda ran there on you but thank you for joining me. Could I pressure you to get my slate and contact the directory listed as FreeCouncil? They can get you into contact with the PA Head office. They are going to want some kind of an explanation. If you have any way to figure out who they had been I would be forever grateful. But the PA office needs to know why they had three major beads on their map suddenly pop up before they scry us and find out on their own."

"Ignus, thank you for your work so far. Could you please keep going till Grey is in her fully liquid state, do take care not to touch the material though. I will refill your incorporeal habitat as soon as I can."

"Mr Wraith, thank you for holding back so long as you did. I know our agreement holds no mark over that stuff. You could have just went full bore and murder would have been the soup of the day. I will get you a temp suit once I can get up. But the fact youre not just sublimating makes me think you're the friggen black horseman of the end of days rather than any wraith Salem may have called you. I think we may need to pay them a visit and pin that mage to the ground to see if he really knows something."

Noah took a deep breath and just started infusing mana. He couldn't do much in his state but he could prepare for a hell of a wammy when he did get up.

 Jitters did as he was asked and retrieved the bottle. Wraith, for his part, did not respond... not that he ever actually had. However, when Jitters uncorked the bottle, Wraith returned to it quite quickly.

 "I only wish that I could have done more."

 Ignis, for his part, continued to try and warm Grey but the return to liquid did not happen even once the metal was quite hot. Instead, much of it simply blew away like dust in the wind.

Noah took a deep breath, and with a very ungraceful talon reached out and gripped the ground. "ATLAS!" The only way he knew how to get ahold of Atlas was to make it magic and make it loud.

"Grey is wounded. I need your help sir." He knew only part of her operation. But no risks.

Fate did as she was asked with no hesitation.

 Atlas appeared when no one was looking, standing as if he had always been there dressed in a suit and glowing as much as ever. "Indeed. It seems as though she was subjected to extreme cold while her power was critically low.

 Unlike the rest of us, Grey possesses an abnormally high battery capacity. This is because she likewise possesses an extraordinarily high power consumption rate. Maintaining her mass on a quantum scale requires a phenomenal amount of energy. Can you bring her to the Observatory?"
This message was last updated by the player at 05:22, Sun 26 June 2022.

 As fate took the slate and began to dial, she heard a voice on the other end of the line. A quick chat put you in contact with the Merlin in charge of Pennsylvania. He seemed quite perturbed when he was told about just how much magic had been unleashed but was very much unaware of the black site that had been there. He promised to send a team to look into it.

Noah would have nodded but he was still floored. "Once I can move I will bring us to the shed. Whatever it takes I will get her there." He made sure to clutch the bag as to make sure not too much of her mass escaped to the wind. There was still so much he was going to have to figure out, a lot of ideas on what the group could do... they just raided an MIB site...

 Atlas nodded. "Then I will go and make the preparations. I will meet you there. Make certain not to be followed."

 Then he turned to walk away. The moment no one was looking at him, he was gone.


 Minutes passed and Noah was able to regain his equilibrium to some extent.

 By the time he had, there was news on his slate that a terrorist cell had detonated a nuclear bomb in a Pennsylvania state park.

Noah stood and clapped. He drew a line and started manipulating the line into a cat's cradle. "This one won't be very tough Mr. Wraith. But it will last until I can get you another suit with some real meat on it." He fanned it out so Wraith could jump inside.

Once Mr. Wraith had his suit he turned to all the scrying points he could see. "Ladies, gentlemen, and various magical beings. Yes, I can see your scrying devices. Mr. Wraith, I am sure the one whose presence pulled your attention here, he is unique and has proven himself time and time again."

"If you want questions answered feel free to send them to the Ark Bulletin. I will answer them all in time." He clapped his hands again and magic sucked from the area and pulled into a marble in his hand. He then fell back into yet another portal, one that he would twist until he was sure they could not follow with their eye.

 Noah fell through the portal once more with Wraith now out of his body. Once more he was incapacitated. A moment later Atlas came through the door of the shed with a forklift to pick him up and carry him inside. "I'll stamp your card once you've regained mobility."

 Once inside, Atlas took the latticework heart and placed it upon a pedestal. Then, he moved to one of the portals, sliding it sideways. From Fate and Noah's point of view, it looked as though he was rewinding a tape.

 He played back the portal "video" until he reached a point in time back in the coffee shop. There, he briefly reached through and swiped a hand across the counter while no one was looking.

 When he brought his hand back through, the dust on his finger was glowing. He hit a button to open up the see through floor of the abyss. Currently, the group could see massive serpentine beings swimming in the howling dark around them. However, below that was the light from the two suns orbiting a black hole.

 He rubbed his finger on the pedestal with the latticework heart. "Grey has been linked to the observatory's power network briefly. It will allow her nanites to function. Please do not stare too long at the leviathan's offspring. They will drive you mad and I cannot use the shielding and restore Lady Grey."

 A moment later the glowing dust was jettisoned into the Abyss and their glittering could be seen drawing toward the gravity well of the stars. One of the massive black serpents attempted to consume the dust, only to instantly be converted into more. No other serpents drew near.

 Moments later, the glimmering dust was subsumed by the stars and the black hole. "Now we wait."

Noah just lay there on the pallet while he waited. "She is still able to ID you as a friend even in her current state. That is a good sign." He slid his talon down his body till he got to his bag and pulled out one of the drones. It was a simple deal to tag the monsters as a "To omit" target in a video feed. He just plonked it down to watch what was going on.

"Thank you Atlas." He still had that infused mana so he just started tuning with it. Seeing if he couldn't find the exact antipodal opposite to whatever waveform the monsters seemed to be.

 As Noah lay sprawled out trying to reverse the nature of entropy itself (and producing a singly, highly ordered moment in time), he observed the two stars begin to turn dark (starting at the center and expanding outward) until they vanished entirely. The dust began to gravitate to the black hole... and, over the course of the next few hours, the black hole itself vanished to nothing and the silver, glittering dust began to migrate back toward the Observatory.

Noah looked over at fate as he held up the spell. "Uh, Fate. I don't have enough time magic to finish the spell. I was just kinda playing but I figure they had a resonance, you have to have a powerful one to survive in the abyss. I am thinking of we can introduce a resonance into one of the golden roads, we may be able to get a few of them with a sympathetic resonance. It would slow down the monsters."

When Grey was on her way back he stood up and cheered. "Atta Grey! You did the thing!"

Fate wasn't quite sure what Noah needed her to do, but it was something to do with time magic, the type of magic she specialized in. Pulling out her book that her friend gave her she followed Noah's instruction to the letter.

PM

"Mist, can you hear me? I think Noah and I may need some help. I don't think my power alone can do what he needs." Fate felt a little funny 'praying' to Mistral, but she was powerful enough for it so maybe she'd hear it.

After a long silence a voice reached Fate, sounding strangely distant as if whispered across a seething, oceanic void.  "I am afraid you find me somewhat préoccupée...  Wait...  You have found ma fille."

Another pause, and then the distant voice said, "Un moment s'il vous plaît to divert the devouring of the Fallen World, then all means remaining to moi will be at your disposal."  The connection went silent, with no responses for a time afterward.

"Yea, we raided some kind of MiB black site to get her back. I am sure it will have no lasting consequences or come back to haunt us in any way. And we kinda pissed off Rome by crash landing in the countryside. I'll make you a family home video later so it makes a better logical flow. It was really impressive seeing the boys take on a mech all their own."

Noah did not take his eyes off of Grey and her lil cloud but did wait for Mist to reconnect. "Negentropy is the opposite of entropy. If the spell gets finished you may be able to lock it into Tass, if the Tass is then connected to something it may act like a repellant to the critters." He had hours for his brain to crunch on the ideas, being disabled when it came to the fastest method of transportation did have its advantages.

After some long span of time (read: however long ST determines ;P) Mistral's weary voice rasped from across incalculable distances, "This sounds like un week-end moyen with Noah.  Perhaps you might back up to the part where I may be of assistance."  She sighed and then apologized, "My apologies.  We have both been through our own ordeals.  If I may help ma fille in any way then I wish to do so, and to see the world and those in it again would be welcome."

 Below the Observatory, the black hole and the binary stars winked out of existence, turning fully into glittering grey matter, which slowly began to seep its way back up to the Observatory. The serpents circled but remained a healthy distance away.

 The pedestal containing the latticework heart began to fill with grey fluid, flowing up around the heart and subsuming it. Moments later, the childlike Grey herself materialized upon the pedestal, leaping off lightly and onto her feet, raising both hands with a grin. "I'm back!"

 She lowered her hands and put one finger to her lower lip as she raised her eyes in thought. "I didn't like being blown up and frozen. I don't wanna do that again."

Noah crouched down, sat down, and just gave Grey a hug. "Sorry Kiddo. I didn't mean for someone to use my spell on you. We may need to keep Mana off your diet." He just rumbled. "A nuke went off, we can top off your tank with that."

"God it's good to see you again kid."

He nodded at Mist, "We will need to go to the nuke site once the dust settles. And at some point, you and I need to have a movie night. I think the visuals will be extremely useful for you."

 Grey jumped up and hugged Noah around the neck, hanging off of him like a weightless necklace. She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against his neck. It was only when he hugged her that he felt her little shoulders shaking. When he looked down at her, there were tears in her eyes. "I thought I was gonna die."

Noah just wrapped Grey up and let her hug it out as she needed it. "I've got you. You're ok now. I'm sorry it took so long to pinpoint you."

"Imma black that fallen God's eye, and hunt down the people who taxed your power so hard. But for now you're home, you're with family, and we got you kiddo."

 Grey began to sob in Noah's arms. She may have just consumed three cosmic bodies containing only theoretically measurable power but right now, in this moment, she seemed to be nothing more than a little girl who had survived something scary.

At the entrance of the Observatory there appeared faint threads of glowing blue, just a few at first, scarcely visible to the eye.  The threads parted like curtains to the backstage of reality as a figure pushed through.  Mistral's gaunt cloned body stepped into the Observatory looking haggard and weary, turning shining eyes ringed in dark circles upon the scene.

She hobbled in to close the distance, then wordlessly wrapped one thin arm around Noah while gently cradling Grey's silver head in the other.  She kissed the little elfin godling's noggin and hugged them both close.  Eventually, she whispered, "Tu m'as manqué, ma fille et mon dragon."  Toward Fate, Atlas, and Noah she said, "Merci beaucoup for bringing her back.  I am sorry that I did not help."

 Grey wrapped a little arm around Mistral's neck. Noah's neck was tear stained and Grey's face was actually tinged red from having been crying. She clutched Mistral tightly once she'd approached.

 Atlas simply nodded. "It was nothing. In truth, those celestial bodies had been reserved by the Master for her restoration now that their initial purpose has been fulfilled.

 Further, it seems that the master has finished restraining the Leviathan. He seems to have withdrawn with his Alpha synths for now. All that remains are the leviathan's spawn. While they have been ejected from reality, they still pose a grave danger to any who would awaken or ascend and they still pose a threat to the archmasters as well.

 Lady Grey. You seem to have regained your strength. Would you perhaps be willing to deploy the Megiddo Cannon in order to rid us of them?"

 Grey wiped her eyes. "But Father said not to deploy energy weapons inside of the gravity well of a planet."

 "As we are currently within the Abyss, we are not, technically, within Earth's gravity well. However, I will leave it to your discretion."

 Grey, for her part, looked first to Noah and then to Mistral. She didn't say anything but her expression seemed to be one of asking permission.

There had always been a degree of hesitance and uncertainty in Mistral's 'motherly' interactions with Grey, as she was not a nurturing person by her nature.  It had always taken energy to be caring even with the ones she truly cared for.  With this reunion, however, there was no hesitance and she felt revitalized rather than drained.

Mistral looked up from the hug to regard Atlas and nodded, "Oui, it would seem he has been successful.  Had he failed, it is likely we would have no reality in which to discuss it.  I have provided the archmasters new means by which to defend against the leviathan spawn, but you are correct that the danger is far from over."

She was intrigued by the casual mention of this 'Megiddo Cannon' with which Grey might apparently reach into the Abyss itself to wipe out an existential threat of literally unimaginable scope.  The vast powers at Grey's command were often surprising, but this particular effect must be several orders of magnitude larger than any previous wondrous feats she was aware of.  Would even the total energy output of a binary star system be enough to power it, she wondered?  The elfin godling looked to herself and Noah for permission, and Mistral had to ask, "A weapon with such capability raises concerns for dommage collatéral.  Would this Megiddo Cannon endanger the Golden Roads or anything else adjacent to the Abyss?  If needed, I may assist in providing the optimal firing position."

 Atlas looked out into the Abyss impassively. "It should not, no. The Megiddo Cannon is capable of millimeter accuracy out to the range of 1 trillion miles. Further, nano-lenses are deployed to shape and redirect trajectories as required to avoid striking unintended targets. Many Outsiders use swarm tactics and the Megiddo Cannon was designed to counter that.

 Its primary danger is the power output required. Each second it is used requires 600 Million terajoules channeled into Space and Forces. This is the reason Lady Grey is forbidden from using it within the gravity well of a planet. The radiant and gravitational forces put into play would tear most planets apart. However, here in the Abyss, those forces are of no concern."

 For her part, Grey looked up at both of them with tear-stained eyes. Her hands were folded in front of her.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:19, Tue 12 July 2022.

Noah was happy. Mistral was successful and home. Grey was safe and home. Fate and the boys are home. All in all it was the best reunion in a very long time. "You had your own trouble to quell Mist. We make due and still fight. But I will always fight to keep our family together."

"Nasa is still lissed I attached a unit on their space station."

"As to lil Grey. You wouldn't ask if you didn't have to. So long as we can keep it safely hidden that its Grey I am fine with it. But after we are going home if you're good Atlas. I think we all need food, naps, and time."

Mistral petted Grey's silvery hair reassuringly as Atlas described the workings of the Megiddo Cannon.  She privately reckoned that it would probably would have been more efficient for her to have aided in rescuing Grey rather than expending such vast efforts on comparatively ineffectual Imperial rituals.

When the explanation had been given, she nodded and said, "It is difficult to argue against rescuing reality in one fell swoop."  Mistral squeezed Grey again and then let her go with an encouragement, "Tu peux le faire, ma fille."

Mistral remained close with Noah as Grey went to scour the Abyss clean.  After a moment she said quietly to the dragon, "Perhaps NASA would have agreed had you asked first.  Does not Synthos have its own space platforms?"

Noah smiled in spite of his will to just let Grey be Grey rather than a thing. Inaction would doom many others. "You're right, of course. Though at the time I did not have access to Synthos resources. I really need to figure out if we have some space gear up there." He gave her a bit of a nudge with a smile. "When you feel up to it we should leave Nasa behind. Grey has some movies of her trip through the universe, I'd like to station a few observation gadgets at the planetary memorial and the barrier." He was still dodging the whole Synth company thing, but he was also delighted to just have everyone home safe.

 Atlas pressed a few buttons on an, until now, obscured console and two chairs rose from the floor. One was sized for a human and the other sized for a dragon.

 Grey smiled and nodded, hopping once more upon the pedestal and melting through into the Abyss outside. In front of Mistral's chair popped up a holographic targeting system and, on Noah's, was a big red button.

 "Very Well. Then let us begin. Grey, are you ready?"

 Grey had floated out some distance from the observatory. From there, she morphed into a silvery sphere. "Ready!"

 "Creation Engine online. Powering up. Deploy lensing."

 Small spheres (about half the size of a person's fist) deployed from the larger sphere and began speeding outward from the center mass.

 "Engage Gravitational Torsion."

 Suddenly, the small spheres took off faster than the eye could follow. Mistral's readout suddenly sprang to life with a holographic 3D map of the inside of the Abyss.

 "Mistral. You've already seen how to do this. Lady Grey has acquired sympathetic data on your target. I will leave further targeting to you."

 Grey spoke up. "Creation Engine at maximum power. Probability Drive online. Capacitor fully charged. Ready to fire."

 The glass opened on the big red button.

Mistral observed the chairs rising up from the floor, the sizing making it obvious for whom they were intended.  She shared a look with Noah and went to claim her seat, crossing legs knee-over-knee to observe.  As it turned out, they would do more than simply observe.  She leaned in to the holographic display that bloomed to life before her and quickly took in the spectacular readouts of the notoriously unobservable Abyss.  After several moments of eyes flicking about trying to take in the full map she clicked her tongue in mild irritation and fished in her hoodie pocket.

She retrieved a strip of extradimensionally-sourced fabric, extending it to full length in two hands before wrapping it around her eyes and tying behind her head.  She breathed a sigh of contentment, zoomed out the holographic display and removed her hands from the controls.  With the blindfold in place she could now see properly.

After several seconds of observation, she rapidly punched in an elaborate sequence of targeting formulae describing location and velocity of several serpent swarms spreading like accelerated cancer through the Abyss.  The formulae included exceptions to exclude many very specific structures cutting through the void, which were barely visible to the naked eye in the 3d map.

Mistral finished entering the last formula with a final click, at which point she turned to Noah and stated placidly, "Targeting solution submitted.  The trigger is yours, mon dragon."

Noah flexed his fingers and looked at the trigger, "Grey, I very much dislike the feel of this..." He sat down. "You have weapons, you're not a weapon. You are forever part of our family, equal and whole with us." He took a long breath, "My last name is DeSoulis, should you not have a last name it can be yours as well."

He knew there was a seeming about her. He knew the math behind the power she had. But like Mr. Wraith she had proven herself. For now, it was genocide of a monster hoard.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:32, Wed 13 July 2022.

 "2,349,825 targets locked. Ready to fire."

 There was a smile in Grey's voice as Noah spoke to her. "Thank you, Noah. I will treasure it."


 Then Noah pressed the button. Beams of light shot out in all directions. Mistral and Noah could see that the beams themselves were not continuous, instead traveling through what seemed to be (but were not entirely) portals, vastly extending and expanding the speed at which the weapon fired.

 Less than a second later, the beams struck the lenses stuck to the inside of the Abyss wall, reflecting back to strike yet more lenses. Within seconds, the entirety of the non-space that constituted the Abyss was filled with beams of light. They did not radiate much, but dispelled much of the ever-present gloom that permeated this place, the corruption literally recoiling from the purification of Megiddo's beams.

 The serpents themselves were struck with the full, focused power of a miniature sun and were vaporized, filling the abyss with explosions of light like a miniature fireworks show.

 "All targets neutralized."

 15 seconds later, the light faded and Grey returned to the pedestal inside of the Observatory. There were the beginnings of tears forming in her eyes and her nose was red. "Father said that using my energy weapons would scare people. Are you scared of me now?"

Mistral observed Grey's working of the Megiddo Cannon to smite millions of targets across the Abyss, and was amazed by both the scale and precision.  The technological workings were far beyond her understanding, but she was very much able to appreciate the elegant design of the vast array of parallel-portals.  The twinkling destruction was awe-inspiring and terrifying in its potential.

The operation completed with fireworks and after a delay, Grey returned looking sad.  Mistral removed her blindfold, pushed aside the control console and went to the girl.  She extended thin arms in offer of a hug and invited, "Viens ici, ma fille."  Mistral held the weightless child close and considered what to say.  Grey's destructive capability was indeed terrifying, but must that necessarily mean that she who wrought it was terrifying?  After a pause she said, "I was scared of the millions of monsters swarming the Abyss.  I feared because I did not know how to stop them, and that perhaps nobody else knew either.  I was wrong, because you stopped them, Grey."  She kissed the silvery child on the noggin and added, "Now I'm not scared of those monsters anymore, merci à toi."

Mistral glanced to Noah while still hugging Grey and concluded, "As Noah has said, you are not a weapon.  You are creation itself.  It is not your capability that defines you, but what you do with it.  You did very well today, ma fille chérie."

 Grey nuzzled Mistral and took a deep breath. "I was scared that, if you knew, you might not love me anymore."

 Her face was red but she'd already cried so much that she couldn't anymore. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Mistral and let herself be lifted off the ground. There was no weight and she did not seem tired so much from the exertion as from emotional fatigue.

 Atlas gazed out at the Abyss (which had already roiled back in to reclaim the territory Grey's light had purged) and pressed the button closing the shutters, blocking the view once more.

 "You have all done very well. I am certain that the Master will wish to thank you when he regains his will to fight. For now, let me thank you in his stead."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:37, Wed 13 July 2022.

Fate stayed in the background quiet taking in the amount of power that had just been displayed.

Noah, for his part was not very reactive to the display of power. He had all the math figured out some time ago when Talion made corrections to his equations. Noah was more invested that it was Grey that was doing it. "How could I be afraid of The Golden Grey? We won't be turning our back on you."

"Atlas, if you are good with it I would like to get everyone home. I have no doubt that we have had a very busy day and have been run a bit ragged." He made a circle with a claw, "Now that the big snake has been seen it sets the ground for the big fish and the giant jelly."

Mistral held Grey as the little elfin godling clung on and expressed a fear that was as heartbreaking as it was misguided.  The weary archmagess in her frail cloned body gulped and blinked back tears.  Once she’d schooled herself back into control, Mistral whispered to the incomparably powerful child, “Never think it, ma fille.  The more I know you, the more I find to love.”

After some time, Mistral shared, “I spoke with him, in Stygia.  We shall see him again when it is time to lay his children to rest.”

Noah’s statement about going home garnered a nod of agreement from Mistral.  She said bleakly, “I would ordinarily facilitate transportation, but I find myself at une extrême de la privation.  I lack the means...”  Indeed, it was evident to those with the sight that Mistral had scoured her own Pattern raw for the mana simply to get herself to the Observatory.

Noah leaned in and hugged them both before giving them his most common forhead-to-forhead bonk to each. He adored the Maori for that little gesture of affection. "The funeral... We should be there." He had a look that he would go loaded for bear... no, loaded for fluffy.

He clasped both of his hands and opened them offering a pair of his mana meal bars for Mistral. "Ill set us up a way home. We heading to the tower or Sal's place?"

 Grey clung to both of them clinging tightly without saying a word and rubbing her face into both of them. Both of their shirts were lightly wet by the time she was done.

 Atlas walked over to one of the permanent portals of the Observatory and punched some numbers into a keypad. The portal shimmered and became a window to the inside of the Ebon Pyramid in the French Alps.

 "This should be sufficient to send you home. Once you have rested, however, you might wish to check in on Fluffy. He has gotten into a measure of trouble while you have all been out saving the world."

 Before they left, however, Atlas pulled out a small card and punched it before handing it to Noah. "Only two left."

-------------------------------------------------

 The inside of the pyramid was still fairly dark but it was now filled with signs of habitation. Gas generators, portable lights and heaters, as well as tents and bedrolls could be found here and there.

 As they looked around, they began to notice some young mages (those that witnessed the ritual that blew a hole in the moon) as well as the changelings and werewolves that they'd saved from the Hunters were present.


 Despite the new habitation, the massive space still felt sparse and empty.


 Grey plugged into a wall and the massive structure roared to life, providing light, heat, and the very first glimpse at the inner structures that Grey had created. The base floor was a massive amphitheater. Out past where the darkness had obscured vision were rows upon rows of benches nearly three stories in height. In size, it could hold up to 100,000 people (nearly 10 football stadiums worth).

 Behind the benches of the amphitheater were circular staircases leading up to the honeycombed structures above. From this far below, it was hard to see but it seemed like each of the several thousand rooms room had a balcony.

 When the lights came on, all of the assembled mages (and changelings/werewolves) stopped what they were doing to gawk at the scale of the building that they were in.

-------------------------------

 It took nearly an hour to find where Fluffy had made his den (and it was more of a "follow your nose" thing). In one of the rooms (which were hexagonal in shape and almost completely empty) was a pile of about 30 limbs. All had had most of the flesh stripped from them. However, Fluffy himself was nowhere to be seen.

While her supernal form had been occupied elsewhere in the world and beyond it over the past weeks, Mistral's physical form had spent a great deal of time hiking the seemingly endless vaults of the Ebon Pyramid, keeping far away from those few others who came here.  This preoccupation had ostensibly been for the purpose of physical therapy, to build up muscle in a cloned body.  It was also for the purposes of exploration, although she had far more efficient means to scry and map space.  The true reason she wandered the cavernous emptiness, however, was because she found the peaceful solitude to be therapeutic.

Now she returned with Noah and with Grey, who brought with her life and light and warmth, this time in a literal sense rather than merely the emotional sense.  Mistral would miss the echoing, empty peace... but she was also glad now that it was gone.  While gazing up in awe at the titanic structure coming to life, Mistral squeezed Grey's shoulder and encouraged, "Bienvenue à la maison, ma fille.  It is much better with you home again."

Shortly after arrival, Mistral made for the old stairs leading below the Ebon Pyramid to the cave of strange angles containing a glowing pool, which the Ark cabal had often passed through during travels with her.  The hallow was occupied with Mistral's supernal form, faded in placid repose beneath the pool's waters, resting.  Mistral herself went to a spartan cot set up in a side nook, where she laid down and fell quickly into a deep, exhausted sleep.  During this replenishment, anyone seeking the chilly cave who was not of the Ark cabal would instead find themselves inexplicably emerging back into the Pyramid's grand main atrium via some new side-passage they had never visited before.

"Thank you Sir Atlas. Imma give you a five-star on google platinum." Noah liked working with Atlas but his very existence disproved more than a few MAJOR theories on time, space, and travel there in.

-------------------------------------------------

Noah took up giving Grey a ride as he was just happy to have her back. When the lights came on he started to see what Grey had been thinking, to some degree. He had a few things to do before he could bed down, the Ivory lady of the Ebon tower had earned her rest. So with Grey getting a ride on Noah's new dragon form he addressed Fate first. "You good here or would you rather be sent to New York? Fluffy has taken to offing local hunters so if you really want there is a ski resort down the way, just dont pull a gun and you are safe as safe can be from him."

Noah was intimately familiar with Fluffy as the damned murder cat saw him as an ever-evolving source of mental stimulation. Many times the group had seen Noah eject the cat from his lab at speed. Some of the group no doubt ran into traps set for the cat who knocks.

He only had five mana left but it would be more than enough for everything.

To the boys, "Amazing job guys. By all means, let me know what boon you want in return and I will do everything I can for it. Mr. Wraith, I will get you set back up with a suit that can take a hit once I get my mana refreshed. If you kept your key it will go a fair way to getting you back to your normal."

-------------------------------------------------

Noah moved to that stage and waved over the people who had come to live within the arcane walls of the Ebon Tower^TM. He suspected there would be amplification of some kind so he tested before he spoke loudly, Mist needed her sleep!

"Told yah we would get you home or have a home for you. For anyone who missed it the first time I am Noah, the dragon of purgatory; Monster, Omni-mage, and generally a nerd who adores tech. I will let someone much wiser than I tell you what the Ebon tower is and isn't. " He pointed up, "Now that the power is on I encourage you to find habitation as you have time. I plan to spend a bit of time here helping as I can."

"Beyond that I have a few favors to ask to that end. Above all, it was a mixed group who saved you, its a mixed group that will be living here. I encourage you to all actively seek to compliment each other's abilities. Mages can use spirit magic, yes. But seek out communication with the Werewolves and you may learn so much more. Werewolves have their own magic but reach out to the mages and they may be able to grant you so much more range and reach. Fair folk, you've got such a delightful array and the greatest opportunity to be a bridge."

"You have seen what the Ark can do. You want to stomp out the Wyrm? Foster the spirits? Find your way far and gone from the hedge? Keep an open mind as you walk with us and you will see just how amazing this can be. And never hesitate to come to talk to me or even hit the Ark log. I will always do my best to help you and talk with you as you need it."

"To that effect, any who can interact with spirits, please get in touch with the local spirits. I have no doubt they have some spicy words, we want to ensure they are satisfied and on our side."

"Wolves, if you have a Caern spirit you would like to start fostering or be sponsored by. I would very much like to speak with this spirit. I know that may seem silly but I want to respect such a spirit and its connection to you."

"I've got a bit to do before I go to bed. Tomorrow I plan to cast a ritual and all of you are welcome to join in. You don't have to be a mage for this."

 Indeed there was a natural amplification system built into the amphitheater. Those gathered listened intently as Noah said what he had to say (and reacted appropriately).

 Once he was finished, Grey led him down a hidden staircase down below Mistral's hallow.

 There was a massive hollowed out room filled with something Noah has seen before. "I made this but I haven't turned it on yet because I don't know what to do with the waste. It's a Mana Reactor but the Aether it produces is poisonous to living things."

Noah looked close and smiled at Grey, "Lordy this is advanced stuff." he sighed as he started looking for the entrance. "Well, your best bet is if we move this to space and transmit the power back. That would allow for ejection of the material to the sun, the great fusion reaction should obliterate it."

"However, we should go bug the synths that run the Mana reactor..." He started processing that he was inside the core of that mana reactor. "I think we should research Aether. see if it is reactive or can be nullified."

"Thanks, but after what we just went thru I think the sooner I can learn the life magic I need to the better. Would that be in New York?"

Noah nodded, "Correct. Free council has some fairly liberal life mages. Most willing to share their knowledge. If you want we can get you in virtual contact."
_____

"Alright Grey. We need to hit up some study to see if we can figure out how to counter it. Think looking into the big reactor will give us some ideas?"

"Yes please."