limacharlie | [NIGHTRUNNER CHANNEL] D14

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[NIGHTRUNNER CHANNEL] D14

Nightrunners? This is Syrlya. [He clears his throat, quickly working out that faint nervousness in his tone so he can talk strongly and clearly over the radio.]

I understand the assault CY-Ren went poorly. Lambert is currently incapacitated, but alive, and has requested that I take over while he assesses the damage. However, at least Lavellan and Childermass are missing--if not more. I need all of you to report in now so I know who is still present.

First, was there anyone else at the concert itself? I want to know in more detail what happened, what CY-Ren is capable of, and where it went wrong.

Second--[A pause.] There was a Summer Fae by the name of Nightshade spotted at the concert, although she reportedly stayed away from the stage. You already heard the warning when we first arrived, so you know how troubling it is that they're present when we've obtained the Blue Rose. She works for the Rose Queen, but we do not want any of them to get a hold of it. Everyone should keep their eyes open, but those that are particularly sensitive or knowledgeable in signs of Fae need to keep a close eye on the carnival's borders.

[The last thing they need is Fae sneaking in when their attention is on their missing carnival members outside. He just hopes most of them are here.]

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I'm here. I didn't attend the concert, however, so I can't answer that part.

[ and....that's all from Strange! His voice is carefully controlled, like he's trying his hardest not to show any emotion. ]

Strange. [There's a bit of relief. That's one of them, and more importantly one of them whose abilities he needs.]

Your scrying--how quickly can you do it? Does it require a long set up for every person you look for, or can you do it in seconds?

I can do it rather quickly—and I've started already. Lavellan, Childermass, Taako, and Papyrus all are missing. We're also down a few more supervisors: Carly and West. Something odd's happening when I try to look for Peridot, but it's a different sort of odd than when I look for the others.

[ trying to scry for a poofed gem gets you some weirdass results. ]

When I scry for those except Peridot, I can't tell where they are. All I'm getting is blackness.

So whatever it is is hiding them. [That seems like a bad thing, but somehow Syrlya doesn't sound it.

It actually gives them a definite sign of who's been taken and who hasn't.] I want you to continue to do that for everyone in the carnival and tell me who you can't find.

Your spell does not give any sort of warning that someone is being watched, does it?

Of course, I'll simply try to recall every member in the carnival off the top of my head, [ Strange snaps. yeah, that trying to control his emotions only lasted a good hot five seconds. ] Get me a list and I'll go through it.

[ At Syrlya's other question, however, Strange makes a little noise of disapproval. ] It doesn't. Keep in mind that most of my magic was developed when England only had a handful of magicians to begin with.

[There's a pause.] There isn't already a list? With the Ringmaster, maybe?

[He at least keeps his own frustration carefully out of his tone, instead speaking evenly.]

Then I would like you to look for CY-Ren and Nightshade as well, if possible.

If I knew about a list, would I be asking you in the first place?

[ grump grump grump, bitch moan bitch. ]

Of course I'm going to try to look for Nightshade. [ and CY-Ren too, buddy.... ] Though if she's retreated to her own realm, it won't be much use.

We won't know until we try. [And it's very easy for Strange to report to Syrlya when they share the same trailer.

Maybe later he can ask what has Strange in such a sour mood, but right now he has other priorities.] I'll get your list. Let me know what you find.

I'll keep you and Lambert informed.

Oh, not Nightshade. That's exactly what we need right now, isn't it.

I didn't go! Ugh, is there anything I can do?

[Scout. Scout the... scout. Yeah, they can do a lot with scouting.]

We need eyes and ears around the carnival, but I also need someone who can look for signs of the missing around Wismuth.

Were they taken physically? Carried or led away? Or was it teleportation? I can sense people near me, and who they are if I know them, but it's not exactly long range.

I am afraid I don't know. Is that a spell you have to maintain? Area toy capable of upholding the sense for long periods of time?

No, it's... it's kind of like squinting, it's pretty easy but there's a little cost to doing it for hours on end. But it's not even the range of a shout, it's not practical at all to comb the city looking.

What about your abilities in physical reconnaissance? [The Prince's Manor was a poor opportunity for Syrlya to get familiar with Scout's expertise. But Wismuth is different, and they have an entire open ground to work with. They'd just need to be smart.]

Not too bad, but it's better if I know what I'm looking for. I need to hear more about what happened at this event, maybe whatever's known about this particular character.

Their name is CY-Ren, a performer who apparently has the ability to entrance others with music. I assume that's what happened with the missing members of the carnival.

I'm having Rita and 9S find more information, so I'd like you to join me on looking for signs of any of them around Wismuth.

So will it help to be able to shut off our hearing, or is it more of a magical effect? I know you don't know the answer, I'm thinking out loud. I can change the sensitivity of my senses, if that will help.

Absolutely. Is it better to do this cloaked?

I'd rather keep our ears open and be prepared to ward off any mental influence. Can you do that?

As for stealth, usually I say 'yes', but if we separate I just ask that you be very careful not to be caught.

I don't have a... it would depend, I'm not great at that but I can do some.

Right. I assume we're going to the concert venue, or else anywhere that this CY-Ren's been seen to frequent?

That's the idea. Right now we know too little about her, so I want to remain cautious... but we still need to be vigilant for any signs of her acting before it is too late.

All right. I'm afraid we're still going to end up reactionary, but that's how this goes, I know. The Ringmaster deactivated the radios of the disappeared, right?

I--[Shit.] I hope so?

Wait, what the hell happened to Lambert!?

Poisoned by Nightshade. He's tending to it, of course, but he wad uncertain of his recovery period.

[A pause.] It sounded serious, but he was capable of speech and movement so I assume it isn't immediately fatal.

[But she talked to him just after that, and he wasn't... no, he just didn't mention...]

Ugh... that jerk! I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind after this.

[Cutting in before Rita can get carried away.]

9S reporting in. I'm with Rita.

We were both at the concert, but under the stage to try and sabotage the stage equipment. We were able to disable the lighting and sound system--

[A nice way of saying, "we blew it up."]

--but it appears that her performance was powered by magic, so we couldn't stop her show. Shortly after, Noa started a fight with CY-Ren on stage. We couldn't clearly see what happened after that because they um. Broke the stage on top of us.

So you did not witness their disappearances, either. [Unfortunate.] Are either of you injured?

We're okay.

...

And, actually... before we sabotaged the stage equipment, I saw Childermass leave his post and head toward the stage.

Did you? Did you see what happened when he reached it?

No. I couldn't see anything after he got up the stairs.

But at the time... he was in a trance or something. I think it was the music. I tried to stop him, but he just trapped me with a shadow, turned into a bird, and flew off.

Yeah, I think the music holds some kind of sway over people.

The whole thing was weird. Even with everything going on, the audience didn't react. You'd think they would, I dunno, freak out when the entire stage was destroyed in front of them. But they didn't do anything until CY-Ren was already gone and even that reaction was really mild. It was kind of creepy.

Edited 2018-02-10 00:25 (UTC)

So she uses her music to manipulate people. I would not be surprised if it was her magic sedating the audience as well.

[There's a long pause as he considers things, here. For CY-Ren, who he really needs to talk to is Noa. She's his best option for filling in the holes to this story. He won't make the mistake of pursuing an enemy he doesn't know enough about again. There's a faint tapping sound from his finger against the table.]

I want both of you to keep an extremely close eye in and around the carnival for any signs of Nightshade or her ilk. If you see any, destroy it and report it, but do not touch it.

[Rita can see magic, and 9S has potent scanning abilities. He trusts that they have the best eyes for this sort of thing.] How confident are either of you on your ability to find more information on CY-Ren?

Got it. Guess I'll do a walk around the grounds now and then.

As for CY-Ren... I don't know. Maybe if I knew more about... [There's a pause, and a sudden revelation.] Come to think of it... Maybe Tamaki can help.

[9S is about to respond, but he gets distracted.]

Huh? Tamaki? How can he help?

[He's not terribly familiar with Tamaki, so.]

You are free to ask. I'll trust your judgement on how you do it, so long as we can get more information on CY-Ren. History, pseudonyms, locations, anything under her name.

He told me before that he's an 'idol'... some kind of singer, performer, whatever. [There isn't an exact equivalent in Rita's world.]

It sounded kind of like what CY-Ren does. Maybe he'll know a few things about how the industry works. I'll try talking to him, see if he can give us some direction.

Got it. I'll look for information about CY-Ren on the humans' network.

[He sounds more excited now.]

Have you heard about their Internet? You can find information about anything you want! I tried looking for information about fae on there earlier and it returned several databases of knowledge!

[A lot of it wrong, but he doesn't know that.]

Edited 2018-02-11 00:37 (UTC)

I haven't, but I won't object to any tool at our disposal. As soon as either of you find something, let me know.

Wait... it has that much?

Hey, 9S, you better print some of that out so I can see!

[Sorry Syrlya, you're surrounded by nerds.]

Yeah, yeah, I will.

[Some of it is going to have very questionable content.]

Hey, do you want what they have on cats? There's at least 2 million videos about cats, so I can't give you everything, but...

W, well... that's not really important, so...

[She trails off, and when she continues, her voice sounds quiet, as she's holding the radio away from herself and replying to 9S in person, since he's basically right there anyway.]

...yeah. Get them.

[9S nods eagerly. He doesn't personally have much interest in cat videos, but Rita might.

They're getting off track here.]

Anyway, we'll report back if we find anything. 9S out.

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