Noah nodded once looking at Grey, "Thank you Grey." He offered Fate the whole box of popcorn. "One moment, I have to make a phone call back home." Noah put his thumb and pointer finger to his head like a telephone and started a magical phonecall.

Fate accepted the box of popcorn as she watched somewhat surprised by Noah's casualness. She still didn't find the thought of watching these children to be amusing, but Mistral was here and she was doing a fine job. Fate popped some popcorn into her mouth. Amusing or not Fate would watch because to her this was guard duty and she would not fail Talion if it came to protecting these kids.

The copy of Mistral that had found the door to the stairs performed a gesture that opened a small, bright-ringed portal next to the handle, which she reached through like a window to open the door from the other side.  She answered the ghostly whisper in an even tone while opening the door wide, "I go where I wish to."  She then proceeded down the stairs to scout ahead by herself, while another Mistral took her place by the door.  The copy of Mistral by the elevator told the children there, "I have discovered stairs elsewhere.  I believe l'élévateur to be safe enough, though it is likely a ghost will visit during the descent.  Whichever path you choose, I will accompany."

In the lobby, Mistique glared at the door for a long moment.  She then relayed the same information to the children there and provided guidance to toward the two path downward.

There was a Mistral waiting at the elevator and at the door to the stairs, ready to descend with the children that preferred to attempt either path.  Mistique looked to Fate and Noah enjoying the show and asked, "Will you descend avec nous?  I believe the show now moves to the lower levels."  She reached a white-gloved hand into Noah's popcorn, took a few kernels and popped them into her mouth.

 It did not take but perhaps a minute to reach the bottom of the stairwell and the next door required the same trick (locked from the other side) and, like before, a giant "Exit" was placed on the door.

 Said door opened into the room with all the candy, wrapped in neat little orange packages. It seemed that Talion had planned this little excursion as a gauntlet of sorts.

 There were already children heading over toward the stairwell. However, a few of the braver ones were looking around the elevator.

Noah nodded to Mistral, "I'll head down here shortly. Michael just met Fluffy on the island when he had his sword out. Telling him how to stand down and calm Fluffy down." He held out his clawed hand with a black spark in it. A useable by other version of his death eye.

Fate followed Mistral down to the lower level with only a nod.

The Mistral at the bottom of the stairs closed the door into the room with the orange bags, leaving it as she found it.  She stepped backward beneath the final flight of stairs, where she melded into the shadows.  There she waited.

Above, Mistral stepped into the open elevator and turned to await the children who wished to join her.  Another Mistral held open the door to the stairwell, standing aside to let the children through.  Both copies spoke in unison to their respective charges, "Going down?"  When all the children who wished to were ready to descend, Mistral closed the stairwell door behind them and offered the youngest child in the elevator to push the button to descend.

Mistique remained in the lobby to accompany any children who did not wish to descend, or who wished to continue the search elsewhere.

Noah stopped talking on his hand phone and trundled far enough to talk to one of the Mistrals. "You may want to send a copy to back up Michael at the house. He has had a run in with a hunter but it didnt sound violent. I'm heading to his haven to see if I cant twist this to our profit." All in all the kids are more important but the hunter thing would be come a huge problem if not curbed early.

 With a few kids in the elevator, Mistral pressed the button and the elevator immediately began to fall (not descend but actually fall). The children inside immediately began to scream in panic but the elevator itself only fell for roughly 4ft before the hydraulics kicked in, delivering them safely to the floor below.

 However, at roughly the same time, the kids found the candy at the bottom of the stairs. The elevator didn't work from below but a version of Mistral at the top of the stairs was able to press the button to bring them back up (the elevator seems to have been meant to only go one way).

 Soon all of the kids had gotten their candy and Jenna, the young girl dressed as Mistral won the grand prize.

 Talion seemed mildly amused that they had skipped a fair portion of his gauntlet and held true to his word, pulling out a small cauldron and sitting Jenna inside. As she settled in, the pot began to hover around 3ft off the ground. "This was the prototype for the hoverboard. I redesigned it with a Halloween theme.

 The rest of you will be getting the first 30 hoverboards that are produced on your birthdays with the eldest getting the lowest serial numbers... but, for today, Jenna won the Halloween prize so she gets her flying cauldron."

 He had even stuffed dry ice and water in it so it was constantly boiling mist as she drove it around.

Mistral had expected further spectral manifestations on the way down to the treasure room, but it seemed that the elevator gag was the final challenge.  The tension of the ordeal was released and the children were happy to find their prizes.  They played and shouted and ran around all the way back up to the surface, as children do.  Little Jenna, however, declined an immediate celebration to instead hurry up the stairs with her candy bag to claim the grand prize.  Mistral found that she was exceedingly proud of the girl for her cleverness.  Mistique approached Jenna hovering unstably in the cauldron and said with a smile she failed to repress, "Bon travail.  You were quite brave.  Take care with your new toy."

Noah approached a plain-clothes Mistral who said, "That was less disastrous than expected.  Some of the children may yet have nightmares, but nothing serious."  He then reported on Michael's encounter, which caused Mistral to pinch the bridge of her nose and curse quietly.  "Merdasse..."  If Noah was observing the island remotely he would recognize by a subtle resonance shift that Mistral had arrived there, though no cameras or scrying eye would pick her up directly.

Noah looked back at the house, "Boss man didnt skip the kids for skipping the ordeal he isnt likely to skip you either. Even in the extremely unlikely event he does come see me later and I'll cover you. Yah did good. Just be sure to avoid the greater cat of bass."

He leaned down and smiled at the tiny baba yaga. "Flying lessons on friday lil one. Raise hell till then."

He nodded at Mistral. "I'll hit the other side of the portal from here. Fate, hunters have had a running with Michael. If you want to take the portals you'd be a hell of alot faster than I." He held up his slate as he connected a group call before taking off at best speed.

The kids would be safe with Talion. Safest in the world he thought.

Fate nodded and wasted no time in getting to the portal. She went through it without hesitation once she saw the coast clear.

OOC: Everyone except Noah head to The Incident thread.

Noah made the best time he could, even feeding Grey for an extra boost. Landing only so far from the building to duck into the supply truck and jump back out as Dapper Noah. If he was going to stall or even turn this hunter he had to get him asking questions. Though it would be interesting if he had true sight or something.

He had his suit, the green men's suit scarf that looked dapper as all hell, and his cane. He walked around the corner to the way leading to the portal and then started looking for the hunter in question.

 Noah found that the alleyway had been abandoned by the time he got there. The man had left but it was unlikely that he had gotten very far.

OOC: One success on a Wits + Investigation roll needed to find him.

In reply to Manofdusk (msg # 217):

05:40, Today: Noah rolled 1 success using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,3.

 Noah arrived on site and, with some difficulty, found the man as he was getting into a Hummer. Since it was practically a tank, it was good when heading into hostile territory... more likely to come out still running than more fragile vehicles.

 He looked up and narrowed his eyes. "The Dragon of Purgatory himself. To what do I owe the pleasure of this meeting?"

 His hand had drifted to his hip.

Noah kept his distance and leaned on his cane. "Demon worshiping Nephandi have been poking their nose around. I mean to crush every last one of them, even if I have to kill that earth-bound demon." He tilted his head to one side as he looked around for a sniper or something on a roof. "Takes a strong cultist to ping that hard on my senses."

"You know me, who are you?"

 The man raised an eyebrow, listening to Noah talk. "Demon worshipping witches and warlocks. Sounds par for the course. My name is Voscal. I came to check up on one of our wayward brothers. His tolerance of monsters and black magic seem to have clouded his judgement and he has strayed from the narrow path.

 But you... everyone who has even the slightest interest in the supernatural knows of you. An actual dragon. We have a great many things to ask you, all in due time of course."

 There was something vaguely threatening in how he spoke that last bit.

Noah's face turned to an iron smile ask he asked Grey to comb the area for one of his hairs, or a dusting of skin cells. The man was running after all and it would be good to give Mistral something iron clad.

"Protestants..."

"Ask your questions unless you mean something else. If you do mean something else I promise you it would not end well for anyone."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:15, Fri 19 Mar 2021.

 Voscal just smiled and shook his head. "Nothing ever ends well for the Vigilant. We each know our days are numbered. The most any of us can hope for is that someone remains to carry the light when we fall. You'll hear from us soon."

 Voscal slams the door to his Hummer and begins to drive off.

"Lev Grossman - The hero is the one who pays the price." He tilted his head.  "When you are ready to hunt a EarthBound demon, give me a call, we have corruption to burn." As Voscal drove away he blinked and took a picture of the man's license plate.

"Thank you Grey, we will see if there is a match at the portal location, see if there is a match."

 There was a moment and then Grey's notice pops up. "Samples acquired. 5 matches found."

Noah smiled, "Thank you Grey, No idea what I would do without your help. Please hold any samples for MIstral so we can fully ID them later." As he was in the area of the portal he reached down and touched the ground, just dumping hidden power into the ground until trying to trace the echo of magic would be like looking at a flashlight in the day. Hushing any magical traces in the area.

12:41, Today: Noah rolled 4 successes using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((4,10(+10,6),3,10(+4),1,2,10(+4),2)).
-4 10s to use prime to mask any use of magic in the area the portal had been.

He then pulled up his Slate and sent a text to The Merlin of New York. _Hunters in the area. Going to distance from the community to ensure no one else gets tracked. Earthbound was routed and had to move, he left behind a dangerous trap the Cabal cleaned up. You may want to meet with Sal about it on the island tomorrow._ He then sent that message not through the cell network but transferred the words with a bit of space and matter onto a slate with the Merlins synth.

OOC: To The Incident