Sal asks the entity, his tone respectful, "May I ask: What are you? What is your purpose here?"

 The entity looked down at Sal, luminous energy pulsing through the dark circuitry like blood through veins. "I know not. I was once three but now I am one. I was once chained but now I am free. You set me free so, for now, I will serve as your familiar, aiding you in such tasks that you might require it."

Mistral tapped her chin and considered, then offered, "Three but now one, with no name.  May I suggest the name 'Trinity'?"

The offer to serve Sal as a familiar was incredible, and Mistral answered cordially, "We oppose enemies of reality like the one that chained you.  It is for Sal to decide, but I would welcome your help to prevent such atrocities as this, and undo what harm we can."  There could be no doubt this was a being of great power, but lacking understanding or memory of itself.  That could be a great boon, but also dangerous... or both.  Grey came to mind as a perfect example of that very dilemma.  Best to keep it close to both guide it and to keep an eye on it.

Meanwhile, the identical duplicate of Mistral searched through the profane temple for anything else dangerous or otherwise not to be left behind for the soldiers to discover.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:19, Wed 13 Jan 2021.

Michael kept his sword in a ready position but relaxed with the immediate threat gone. The analysis of the apparent celestial being was interesting and its make brought certain religious similarities to mind, but he needed to make sure of its nature and intentions first. “We’re we able to vanquish the last of those flying heads or do we need to track the rest down before they multiply again?”

 The creature paused to consider Mistral's words. "Trinity. Yes, fitting."

 As the entity spoke its new name, the air itself let out a wail, almost like the sound of nails on a chalkboard, faintly audible even to non-mages... but near deafening to mages.

 … and, for a brief moment everyone present experienced a brief visual hallucination... much like when one presses together two fingers in front of their eyes to see a third finger, so too did all objects in this horrid place seem for the faintest moment.

 "The one who chained me. Yes, I would aid you against them."
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 12:19, Thu 14 Jan 2021.

"What can you tell us about the one who chained you, Trinity?" Sal asked, unsure if the thing they destroyed could have chained such a being.

Mistral inclined her head to Trinity in acknowledgement of the pledge of alliance.

While Sal conversed with his new familiar, the other Mistral set to work on clean-up.  She went before the blood-stained demonic altar and announced, "This profane altar and the dead synths will return with us to le palais d'améthyste.  We leave the dead soldiers in the care of les militaires."  With a gesture she opened a round portal limned in bright supernal vapor that looked into the interior of a vast violet geode that served as a containment area beneath the amethyst palace.  She then began to work on the logistics of moving the altar and carrying synth corpses through the portal.

Meanwhile, Mistral who had been speaking with Trinity went to the entrance of the chamber and confirmed what Michael said, "Wolf-heads have escaped us, oui.  Fancy a hunt, mes amies?"  When all were ready to move, Mistral led the hunting party to the tunnel down which the disembodied wolf heads had fled...

 Trinity paused as it gathered its thoughts... at least, that seemed to be what it was doing. "I cannot recall. Much of my memory was stripped during rebirth. I do know that the vessel which you destroyed was not my captor. It was my prison.

 It too was a prisoner, caged and treated as a thing to be feared by my captors. I do not remember their faces or names, but I do remember that fear."

"Wonderful," said Sal, sarcastically. "Trinity, we're off to hunt down creatures that resemble wolf heads with wings. Would you please assist?"

 The entity nodded and prepared to follow Sal.

Nefertiti didn't have much to say but she watched and listened to the entity.  It too has been reborn as herself but it seemed to have more of its own power than she has. It seems that this will take some use to getting being in this form and trying to regain what she lost.

Looking at Trinity for a moment to wonder what it might truly be.  A Power of Divinity or a Power of Corruption.

Mistral set out with the hunting party in search of flying werewolf heads, but finding them in the city’s vast underground infrastructure would be challenging, even for her.  She did not use her eyes in the search, but rather relied primarily on mystical senses to cast her sight ahead and follow the trail of abyssal stains on reality.  They made good time, and it seemed they could traverse hundreds of yards of tunnels in far fewer steps than it ought to have taken.

As the hunt wore on, Mistral grumbled in French, “Aiguilles laides dans de vastes meules de foin...”

Michael tried his best help with the search, but he seemed clearly out of his element down here.

Fate had stayed quiet during this whole event. Her eyes had gone wide when the being "Trinity" was revealed, but still she had stayed quiet. It wasn't until it was time to track down the heads that she really went to interact with anything.

PM

 The group headed back down into the subway and back into the sewer. Once there, they scanned for resonance and began their search. Mistral used her magic to help them traverse distance quickly and, after a few hours, they managed to find only one of the flying wolf heads. They managed to kill it in short order but, by that time, the trail had already gone cold.

 That left Noah to return the long way and explain to the soldiers what had transpired.

 Finally, the long day had come to a close and the group was able to reconvene at the island with the nagging feeling that there were a few of these beasts that got away.


 However, as they arrived via Mistral's portal, they noticed that Grey was now dressed in a miniature tuxedo with tails, wielding a bâton and was leading the synthetics in an impromptu symphony.

https://youtu.be/kbJcQYVtZMo?t=16
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:28, Mon 18 Jan 2021.

Once Noah was on firm ground on the other side again he just tilted over and lay sprawled out on his back. Eyes closed, wings back, just laying there to nothing more than the pure enjoyment of solid land while the world tilted. "So, how did it go? The camera only catches so much and Grey's spy nano's are hers to track and not mine."

As the group returned, Grey stopped conducting the symphony (but the symphony itself did not stop or even falter) and hugged mistral around the leg before climbing on top of Noah's side. "We have guests!"

 She pointed toward the door of the amethyst mansion.

 Inside were 5 individuals, only one of which was known to the group. Alyssa was in the center, surrounded by the other four. The first was a giant of a man, nearly 8ft tall and built like a bodybuilder, with a white beard and white hear, wearing red leather with white fur on the inside with black leather boots. He wore sunglasses on top of his head.

 The second was a slender woman in flawless white leather, trench coat included her hair was dark and her skin seemed almost porcelain white. She wore a white head scarf, white rimmed sunglasses, white gloves and white boots... also all leather.

 The third was a humanoid of indeterminable gender, wearing a loose fitting brown leather coat with an olive green robe beneath and brown boots. The coat had a hood and, beneath the hood was the beaked mask of a plague doctor.

 The last... was a golden retriever. It seemed far too interested in the slate in front of it and manipulated the images with far too great a purpose to be merely an animal.

 For those not familiar with Alyssa, she was a woman with blonde hair, pulled up in a tight bun using chopsticks, dressed in a suit and skirt. She looked up as if to greet those that had gathered but did not speak.

 None of them spoke and, of the 5, only Alyssa acknowledged your presence. Grey pointed at each of them in turn. "This is War, Death, Pestilence, Famine, and Alyssa. They came here to sing with us today!"

Mistral stepped out of the portal into the amethyst sanctuary on the sea and peeled off the smartcloth mask to shake loose a mess of white-and-blue hair.  The gloves and boots were next to go, and she let out a long exhalation, finally able to loosen up just a bit.  It had been a long and difficult hunt, but they accomplished most of their objectives and all returned alive.  That was a success, on the whole.  Well, whether John Randall survived would be up to the military doctors and technicians she’d left him with, but he was in capable hands.

Was that music outside?  With Grey one learned to expect the unexpected, but a symphony in full swing was still rather a surprise.  Mistral came out to listen and went to where Noah had flopped out to recover from portal vertigo.  To Noah’s question she answered, “It went better than it might have, let us say.  A number of disasters averted.  Many were murdered, but an Emperor’s Tear preserved some portion of sacrificed souls in the form of an angelic familiar to Sal.  Some abyssal severed werewolf heads remain at large.”  She petted Noah’s scaly dragon head in the way that he liked and added, “What is that American expression bien tournée?  ‘You win some, and lose some.’”

When Grey came for an endearing leg-hug, Mistral ruffled her silver hair with affection and encouraged the elfin godling, “Très belle musique, ma fille.”  The news of unspecified guests set her back on edge, however.  Mistral warned, “Grey.  Your hospitality is admirable, but we mustn’t invite strangers here without leave.  There are those who would visit with ill intent.  Show us to the guests, s’il vous plaît.”

Mistral looked to each of the guest singers with her usual placid glare, and tried not to look too surprised.  She inclined her head to Alyssa and said, “Bonjour.  Madame Alyssa, it is well to see you in good health.”  To the horsemen she added drily, “We have not met, but... your reputations precede you.  To what do we owe the honor?”

 Grey grinned at the encouragement but pouted slightly at being chided for inviting people. "But Father invited them!"

 Once Grey had made her introductions, she skipped back outside to continue leading the symphony.

 Though Grey had said that they came to sing with her, the four synthetics were not singing. Instead they sat at a table in dead silence looking at each other without batting an eye while Alyssa served them tea.

 When the dog/horseman was served, her form turned silver and malleable (in a manner much similar to Grey) before reforming into a young woman of indeterminate Asian descent, wearing a short black leather jacket, short leather skirt and leather boots with black fishnet gloves and stockings.

 Of the five guests present, it was she who spoke. Her voice had a soothing, sultry tone to it. "Likewise. We have heard much about you and this group. whether you know it or not, you have been making a name for yourself among those who know where to look and what to look for.

 We were summoned here by the Master to assist with one of his experiments. We were gathered to make certain nothing goes awry."

Noah gave Mistral a happy rumble when she came close and answered his question. "Any win is a good win. Kind of surprised by the familiar. True angels have dumb levels of power so Sal, you may have a new McGuffin in your pocket... Awesome." He shifted his head side to side as she shifted scales. It was like itching the spot on your back you couldn't reach without a door or a tree. "Sal, isn't there a vampire type that owns the undersize of New York? They could play spot for the heads thing."

He got quiet when the strangers started talking. He started looking into the local network and making a plan. It was about all he could do.

Mistral narrowed her eyes at the seemingly young asian woman that had recently also been a dog.  She did not like this coyness from an unknown guest in her own place of residence.  Not that they could have discovered nor traversed the secret twists of space that concealed her own quarters from discovery.  “I take it that you are such a personne, who knows where and what to look for.  One wonders what these seekers seek, and for what purpose.”

Suspicions were not lessened by the mention of an experiment they’d come to prevent from going awry.  Mistral inquired concisely, “An experiment, and you’ve come to keep all in order.  Do tell.”

 The woman, who had been introduced to Mistral as Famine, simply smiled at Mistral. "No... but I am aware of many who like to sniff about. Hounds each out for the scraps that fall from the Master's table. The world moves upon unseen currents now stirred by your footsteps... and the shadows you cast have become too large to hide.

 As for the experiment, I was not told the specifics. We are helping Alyssa monitor the synth network for signs of stress or overload."

 She held up the tablet that she had been staring at intently this whole time. It contained real time analytic data that only someone experienced in the field would likely understand.

 The other horsemen, for their part, seemed quite intent on staring at their screens. "Don't mind them. They seldom speak to people."

Fate stepped through the portal following the rest of the group. She continued to stay silent, sulking in the fact that she still hadn't caught her mark and at this rate it might not happen any time soon. She was frustrated and stayed at the back of the group hoping for it to go unnoticed. She didn't like showing her emotions too much. To her this looked like a weakness. She couldn't stand having weakness in her. She looked down at her blades and deactivated them quietly. There didn't seem to be a need for them right now.

Noah blinked from his recovery spot. "Right, I should be clueing in the new people." he didn't point or anything, he just lay there. "Alyssa there is a server unit. By herself, she can connect every synth in a city. She is the reason they all act with such uniform precision. Grey is a microcosm of the same theory."

"Synths themselves operate on the cutting edge of the arcane mixed with technology, one of the reasons normal humans cant look at their code. To that note please do mind casting magic around them. They will take that paradox bullet but whereas you are wounded, it rots at their memories unless they have a backup unit installed, and that is rate until I can set up the fabratory for it."

"Synths like me don't count there. It's a mesh but more meat than metal." That tail wapped the ground twice. "Have you lot thought about using an offshoot of blockchain? If you are just sending out one command each processor just needs to repeat the command is they verify it."