Michael was sent to the last known sighting of Jay... which was at the site where they had battled the Husk. The military had moved out so investigating would be easy enough... but a great deal of time had passed since then. It would be hard to track where he'd gone since then.

Michael immediately moved himself against a building trying to keep out of sight. He knew Hunters may be out to get him and didn’t want them to find him. The Hunter started off the last place he saw him. It was the end of a fight with the pack of lycans meant that Jay would have sought someplace to recover from his injuries. He looked for abandoned buildings with any kind of blood trail.

19:57, Today: Michael rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 10(+6),5,7,7.  Investigation .
19:57, Today: Michael rolled 3 successes using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 6,4,9,3,8,9,7,1.  Stealth urban.

Prior to his departure, Mistral asked Michael, "I do not know this contact of yours, Jay.  Have you any other information or physical memento connected to him?  If so, I may begin you nearer to your quarry."  Using any tether Michael might have to offer or none at all, Mistral cast her mystical senses afar to attempt to trace the location of the individual in question.  She shared any results with Michael, then asked him, "Would you like further assistance in this search, mon ami?  If you wish I may 'watch your back' from afar, as les Américains say."

With all of that decided, Mistral shunted Michael halfway across the world within the space of moments.

 It took a few hours to search all of the nearby abandoned buildings (there were a lot of them). Most were filled with homeless people now, but he managed to find a promising lead. Up on a third story, there was a mostly intact room that was covered in bloodstains.

 They were old. It had been at least a month since that day. You had caught the trail but, if it was him, it was a month old.

Michael shook his head at Mistral. “I don’t have anything physical of him. That’s one of the things I am looking for. If I find something, I’ll give you a ring on the slate.”

Back in the third story room, he looked about the room. There didn’t seem to be any signs of a struggle despite all the blood which made him think this was where Jay holed up while he healed. He scraped up some of the blood and gave Mistral a call. “Got some of what I believe to be Jay’s blood. Is it something you might be able to use to help track him down? It’s about a month old.”

PM

Mistral answered remotely via the earpieces they all carried, "Certainement.  There are few things better than blood to trace a being.  Attendez un moment..."  The earpiece fell silent for several long moments, then Mistral reported simply, "I have him."  She then proceeded to relay the essential facts of her investigation, as she has descried them.

OOC: The search was a success, but waiting to hear from GM what exactly was found :)

 Mistral found Jay... but only had unfortunate news to share. He had been here, yes... but he did not leave under his own power. He was buried in a mass grave on Hart Island where all of the unidentified dead find their final rest.

Mistral asked over the earpiece in a careful tone that hinted the news was not good, "This Jay... A man of unusual height with long, dark hair, wearing chains, non?"  After receiving confirmation she reported, "I regret to inform you he is dead, mon ami.  I have located his remains amongst many others, buried on a place called Hart Island.  Une fosse commune for unidentified victims of the New York storm, I believe."

A long pause, then her voice came across the earpiece again, "Mes condoléances, Michael.  What will you do now?"

Michael heaved a big sigh and slid down a not bloodstained wall to sit on the floor. Jay had been his first step into leaving the Hunter life and mindset behind. To accept those of the supernatural that had a good heart despite what they were. His friend deserved better than to go out like that, but from what he understood about his kind it was not uncommon to die at the claws of another Lycan in battle. “I knew it was a possibility. When he, Nefertiti, and I encountered a cult of Lycans there was a major battle with their leader who is the toughest Lycan I have ever fought. He stayed behind so Nef and I could escape. As far as what now, I’ll head to Hart Island to at least pay my respects. Such a large unmarked grave will also need to be consecrated especially with demonic cults running around. His pack was made of wolf spirits that may be lingering around his grave. If they are, I will see if they will talk to me about what has been happening if they haven’t been corrupted by grief. Can you send me to the edge of Hart Island please?”He stood up and unsheathed his Zweihander ready to encounter any evil that patrolled the island.

 It was not particularly difficult for Mistral to open such a portal and close it behind him.

 Michael found himself standing on a small island. There were many abandoned brick buildings dotted around the island, in surprisingly good shape for having weathered the same storm that broke the city.

 This was not usually a place people could come without invitation (people normally needed to apply and then, a few times a year, they could be taken to visit the graves)… so anyone he saw would likely view him as an intruder here.

 However, despite the somber atmosphere, he did not feel much in the way of malevolence in the area... though it seemed to be an area now devoid of life. Trees grew but seemed sickly, grass grew but was a pale color. It was as though the concept of Death had taken up residence here... and small wonder too. The permanent hole between Stygia and the Fallen World was almost directly overhead.

As requested, Mistral opened a ringed portal limned in glowing mist which opened out onto the desolate Hart Island.

When Michael stepped through the portal he discovered that Mistral was already there, although it was always difficult to tell how much she was there.  She said simply, "He is this way."  The ghostly background figure began to stride off over the bleak landscape in a particular direction that would bring them as near as they could get to the remains she had traced.

 With Mistral in the lead, Michael soon found himself in front of a 10ft wide trench. It seemed that they dug down, stacked corpses one atop the other, and then buried them in 30ft lengths. This section of trench had been partially buried but was still deep, waiting to receive more corpses. Jay was somewhere among them.

Michael nodded to Mistral. “Thank you.”He walked and looked with sad eyes upon the mass grave. It was unfortunate that his body had been disposed of like this. The priest knelt down and said a prayer over his friend and the others in the grave. Holy water was then poured in a ring around the grave and a prayer said to ward away undeath after giving last rights. With the consecration done as much as he could in such a place, he looked over at Mistral. “I suppose it’s time to come back home. I don’t think the rest of his pack would dwell in such a place.”

Mistral waited in somber silence while Michael conducted his consecration ritual.  It was unnerving to see the human cost of the great storm that ravaged New York City, and she was left wondering if there was something she might have done differently that night to mitigate such terrible loss of life.  Most likely not, and it was hubris to think that she might have had control over the magical equivalent of a category-5 hurricane.

When Michael was done, Mistral inclined her head and turned to return to the portal that had brought them here.  It re-opened as they drew near, the vast interior of the Obsidian Pyramid visible beyond the supernal doorway.  Mistral stepped through and away from that desolate place.