6447/The Rats in the Walls

The Rats in the Walls
Date of Scene:	04 June 2021
Location:	Priory, New York
Synopsis:	Rien helps Jovian investigate the Esray estate and avoid a ton of rats and learn more about his enemies.
Cast of Characters:	Jovian Anderson, Rien D'Arqueness
Tinyplot:	The Queen in Blue

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Jovian Anderson has posed:
The number of anomolies would make any obsessive compulsive analyst have fits. More duplicate SSNs, drivers liscences, dual streets, etc. More and more places that did seem to exist in dualities and outside of a 30 mile radius, no one had ever heard of several of the people who were entirely new. The mystical impact was even heavier. It was subtle, but perssitent, like an itch that couldnt be scratched.

Jovian had no such senses, but he had allies now who did, and they sent him here. The whole thing seemed to center around the Exham estate, of which the brotherhood, and thus nominally Jovian owned property to right next door, so officially, he was here looking into that, but in actuality trying to follow up on the nightmare that he had run into in Maine. This time, he was being a lot more subtle, moving from the grounds of the disused and overrun estate he 'owned' and moving towards the Exham compound in hunting gear with a rifle.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
With a silent flash of light, a woman steps out of thin air, looking around alertly (and sniffing, strangely). She's clad mostly in leather, black form fitting pants and a bustier which is black on the body and white over her chest. She wears high white boots, and a leather belt around her waist with several pouches hanging from it. Her hands are wrapped like a fighter, the wrappings extending to her forearms.

She looks to Jovian, taking in his outfit and weapon and raises a brow. "Hunting in the middle of town is a bit unusual." she remarks in a slight French accent "You should be careful, rifle bullets have quite a bit of penetration."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson arches a brow but as he examines the number of businesses nestled in among the trees below the ridgeline he can see how that might qualify as in town. To most, the impossibly compact non eucledian geometry, culdesacs and streets piled one on top of the other might cause dizziness or a blurring of vision but for some reason it doesnt bother Jovian at all. To him, he's 'in the woods' and hadnt given the proximity of the other dwellings a second thought. He spots the teleportation however, and has to ask, "Did the brotherhood send you?" As it is, he adds, "Moreover, are you here examining the Exham estate?" He motioned with his head to the second ridge, mixed amongst the trees that seemed more and more tortured from weather and wind that was not blowing almost as if silently screaming in rage and protest.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
She shakes her head, eyes narrowing as she looks over the strangely shaped buildings and layout of the 'town' below, remarking, "Nobody sent me. The feel of this place is wrong from some distance away, so I came to see what needs to be done. I do not know the names here, just the twisting of magic." She turns to look at the estate he points out, closing her eyes for a moment to reach out with other, perhaps more mystical senses as she raises a hand in that direction.

"Something is quite wrong here, that much is clear. I would need to look more closely to determine what that something is though." She opens her eyes and look at him again, saying, "Just to note, in matters of the mystic, something like a gun is almost certainly of no use. Though I will grant that if it is a sorcerer and not a mystic entity, you might get lucky."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson blinks and nods, "Yeah I ran into something similar to this in Maine," he rubs his face a moment, "I wouldnt know magic from a hat in the box, but it certainly ceels...wierd. Wrong." For that matter, so does Jovian in a slightly different way. "Well, the gun is really honestly more for blending in as an excuse to be here rather than just randomly walking up and saying 'hey guys I notice you're causing non existant streets and people to appear from out of nowhere. But I agree, its not normal. Name's Jovian by the way, nice to meet you."

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness chuckles at the picture of how that greeting would go over with a possible evil cult or entity and shrugs, "I suppose some sort of excuse is better than none when you're not really trained to deal with magic. Perhaps it is a good thing I came then, a disruption of this size indicates some power behind it. Because there is quite a bit here that feels wrong, not just that" as she waves a hand at the oddly shaped town below.

"Jovian, an unusual name. But then, among those of us who involve ourselves in such things, you do not find many Freds or Bobs." He nods her head politely, adding, "The pleasure is mine, Jovian. I am known as Rien." Another unusual name, since anyone who has even a smattering of French would know that 'Rien' literally translates as 'Nothing'.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson says, "I'm genuinely very mundane. I have one power but can't use it very much and that was the result of inflicted experimentation. Got involved in this crazy treasure hunt and now to keep said treasure out of the hands of bad people I run errands for I dunno...'sorcerers' is as good a guess as to the Nazca as any. I just really dont qualify as 'mystic' but the name is weird, I grant you that. Nice to meet you Rien." Jovian, himself, does not know a lick of French and yet for some reason the meaning resonates iwth him.

"If these are the same guys, two points of note, the first is that they took ..an extreme interest in me last time for reasons I dont understand and the second is that you are absolutely right, it was pretty high on the power meter. I cut and run last time but was hoping to learn more before they shut down what they are doing here."

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
With a slight shrug, she says, "Well, you should probably keep it ready to use then, just in case. The Nazca, you say? I know of the lines, of course, but I was unaware any group had taken then name for themselves. This may be something to look into once we are done here..

She looks over at him, then narrows her eyes a little, "Let us see." She walks around him, examining him closely, then mutters a few words and holds up her hand, glowing slightly as she extends mystical detection spells to search for anything unusual about him. "As for the power, then it is good I am here, for I am no lightweight either."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson nods, "I can fade out like a shadow or cause darkness....or make minor items like a knife out of shadow...Nazca as in the lines yes. They seem to specialize in being aware of or manipulating events at a macro scale but bear in mind I've only interacted with them about a month. Very hush hush and secetive."

The word the spells return on him is 'wrong', smells of the Old Gods, and the Negative Zone, though the one thing that is crystal clear in her analysis is that whatever Jovian does or is, it isnt magic though the effect around here IS magic, albiet of a very very alien one. "I'll take all the help that I can get.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Dropping her hand after examining him the glow fades and she says, "Well, let us begin then. This estate does feel very wrong, but you cannot sense such things, you say, so what brought your attention here?" She is already moving towards the gates of the Exham estate at aa walking pace, trusting that he will follow if he is interested in looking into the situation.

Upon reaching the gate, the sensing spell is brought into play once again to try and detect any magical traps before she attempts to enter the estate grounds. Looking over at him, she seems to have a thought. "If they are interested in you, we should probably make sure they don't get you. Should things look bad, is there a place you'd prefer to be? I'd rather not send you somewhere at random if I can help it."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson says, "As near as I can tell, the Nazca can monitor ley lines? I learned about it in a Civilization VI update so I didnt think they werer real until they had me monitor a bunch of them with a crystal. It felt like mowing the lawn with a rock but you can get the idea...." He quietly follows, not a master of stealth but able to hold his own.

There are no magical traps on the door but she does sense that something is very much alive inside of the fence and very near under the surface of the ground. Indeed, the entire place is teeming with life, overwhelming amounts of it...it is not a good feeling, and while Jovian seems unaffected there is a slowly impending sense of madness that slowly seems to seep into every thought int he area. "Well, not getting me does sound good. And here is where I need to be. The Nazca...asked me to be here, and I owe them 'favors' for when they do one for me. It's some kind of fate or destiny thing I think."

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness nods, "Not trapped. There's something... alive in there. I don't mean like people in the house, but like an overwhelming life force in the ground." She looks at him, then shakes her head, "I can't let you go in like that, you'd be almost helpless. Stand still a moment." She starts chanting in a strange language, walking a circle around him until she is in front of him again, then reaches out to touch his forehead. There is a shimmer of energy around him almost like a second skin that flares for a moment, then fades into invisibility.

"There, now you at least have some physical protection if something jumps us." She turns and three slightly glowing claws extend from her fist, which she uses to slash through any lock on the gate. Another set extends from the other hand as well, and she strides forward onto the grounds of the estate.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson suddenly cringes at the idea of walking into that. "Yeah, the town in Maine seemed harmless but the instant they saw me in town they all tried to capture me. I'm not anxious to have that happen again." Standing still he can do. As she casts the spell, it seems to augment, natural shadows and darkess surrounding him until he is basically just a shadow, well and truly invisible. While he might not be magical, magic seems to take to him very easily when cast on him, "I'll take it."

The gate is slashed, though stepping on to the grounds the sense of madness about the place increases. There is always something...there just in the corner of ones eye but when you turn your head, it isnt there. Or is there but you cant see it. The driveway to the estate curves upward in a long arc and Jovian follows.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
She moves gracefully and naturally, almost like an animal on the hunt, all of her highly enhanced senses, both natural and magical alert for any hint of trouble. As they move up to the main building, she tries to get a feel for the magic in use here, mentally comparing it to the many types of magic she's encountered in her life. In the meantime, she searches for any hint of where the effects are centered so she knows where to go to deal with the strangeness.

"So these Nazca just send you unprepared into situations you know nothing about? That doesn't seem like the wisest of plans if they want things to actually get dealt with. Might be a good way to get rid of you, if that were their goal, but generally you want a little training when trying to deal with mystical outbreaks."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The magic in this case would follow the weird cults, what some might call Mythos, those who worship the great old ones, but even then it is...odd, to say the least, but her lore is strong and it might MIGHT resemble a particularly rare cult she has heard of and might have dealt with in her future timeline called the Unspeakable.

No one has yet spotted or challenged them but she has the distinct feeling that they are definitely being watched, and while Jovian is seen, again her instincts tell her this so, they dont MIND Jovian being there. Her...not so much. The odd thing is that she is not immediately sure that whatever is watching them is intelligent, just a particularly large and nasty animal...waiting. Hungrily waiting.

He nods and replies, "They...are very much a sink or swim scenario. But its do that or a whole lot of resources go to very dark places. Plus in theory I'm trying to use my new wealth to up my game though granted I havent figured that out yet." He coughs a bit at the getting rid of him, "That's complicated. They wouldnt mind getting rid of me if I choose evil, in a heartblink, but if I dont turn evil they're pretty confident in their prophesies and divinatory projections. That's the opposite of getting rid of me, more like toughening me up for...something. Training is good, I have read...some books

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness hmms, thinking on the feel of the magic and pulling a few banishing spells to mind for that type of entity should anything particularly nasty rear it's ugly head. "This feels a little familiar. Not something I've encountered directly before, but similar. I wonder if we will find any of the main players here, they may have just summoned something that is warping the surrounding area by it's very presence."

She shakes her head, "They have a strange way of doing things, these situations tend to be 'sink or have the flesh stripped from your bones' for the uninitiated. I began my training to do this kind of thing when I was 5, and I still don't know all there is to know."

She pauses a second, then adds, "Well, honestly, nobody does. There's far too much knowledge out there, but you take my meaning, I imagine. There's a ton to know just to begin to identify a threat, much less to actually deal with it."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson says, "If you;ve got a name to the game you're a lot farther along than Nazca or anyone I've investigated them with...And 5 would be....wow I can't even imagine dealing with this crap when I was 5. And I definitely wouldnt mind knowing MORE. Your point is a good one. Even if I'm not gonna be slinging spells I could at least know what I'm dealing with. I'll look into it. If anything, I can afford occult books now."

The thing watching could in fact be banished. The whatevertheyare just beneath the surface, and there are a LOT of them, she can hear them scurrying back and forth in hundreds if not thousands of tunnels with her heightened senses...rats? Could it really be THAT MANY rats?

The doors to the estate have large half moon faces in almost ghostlike or moaning miens, made of silver and copper in a ying/yang style motiff. There are two enormous sphysical knockers with boar's heads on them.

"Do we knock?" He knows the answer but sometimes Jovian states the obvious."

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
"I hope you don't have a phobia about rodents, because I think there's rather a lot of them here. I can hear them all around us, and I don't know how aggressive they may get." She chuckles when he mentions occult books, "Just don't get them at a local bookstore in the occult section, those tend to be rather useless. Actual occult tomes tend to be both rare and unlikely to be on the market."

At his question, she shakes her head and again pulls up the detection spell for the doors. Should they prove safe, they are opened, and if locked, the claws will serve as her key so that she can open the doors and step in. She needs to be in the presence of the entity before she can attempt to banish it, so further exploration is the current plan until she can find the source of the wrongness. Should clues to those who brought it here come up, that is a huge bonus.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson says, "I do not have any phobias yet, except maybe the future." He shudders to think about that and the less said the better on that subject. He looks down on the ground. Rats are harder to run from though. "And yeah, I will avoid Barnes and Noble for occult tomes," he chuckles, "I will see if I can find an expert on putting them together.

The doors are not trapped, but they are lightly protected. Normal brute strength wont open them but her adamantium claws deifnitely will.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
With a slash, the doors surrender to her claws, then she walks openly into the entry foyer, looking around and trying to see if she can get a feel for where the main entity inhabiting the estate is. If she does get a bead on it, she works on making her way towards it.

"It's a dangerous field to get into on your own. Many aspiring occultists find themselves destroyed by trying something from a book they were in no way ready to deal with." She shakes her head, "It's foolish of these Nazca to be throwing you into things the way they are, if they know what they're doing, they should be giving you at least basic training to begin with. You should know at least enough not to hurt yourself."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The large hall goes deem into the darkness. Its still afternoon though time seems odd here on the manse grounds. The shadows are long, made longer by Jovian's presence, creeping almost like living things twisting around the backlit door.

"Not a bad idea. I'm doing this favor proactively past the two they initially asked me, maybe the Nazca themselves can instruct me. And...I may not like them but they dont strike me as foolish whatever their agenda is. But it does make sense. I was former federal law enforcement and you dont send a rookie in to get killed.

The busts in the hall lie beneath vast oil paintings that show the Esmay family, that looks a bit...well frankly swine like and as they move down the cooridor the more these features become more and more pronounced in the busts and the paintings. Jovian looks at them, "Well that's not creepy at-"

Footsteps echo far ahead and to the right as a barely visible T shows ahead.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness nods, "It wouldn't be a bad idea at all, and yes, it's exactly like your law enforcement example, you don't grab someone off the street and tell them to track down a serial killer. Training is key in any sort of investigation or combat scenario." The family portraits garner a moments examination and she nods, "Yes, I think it would be best not to be a part of this particular family, they seem rather unfortunately cursed."

When the footsteps sound, she drops into a crouch and seems to almost blend into the shadows as she slips down the hallway towards the sounds. She gestures at Jovian to follow using standard military hand signals which he probably knows from his federal training. She moves in, ready to try and capture whoever is here is it doesn't turn out to be some horrid beast from Beyond.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian might not have caught it but when you looked at the pictures in a particular light, Rien might have notice a vague family resemblance to one of the figures and Jovian if not so pig like. Jovian has been on tactical squads so nods and moves to the side, setting down the rifles and picking up a pair of pistols that seem very well cared for and crafted.

A man walks around the corner wearing a suit and has a duster in hand, but isnt dusting anything. Instead he is walking straight for the front door. He doesnt seem to have noticed either of them.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness extends her senses towards the man, trying to determine if he's actually what he appears. Depending on the result, she will either move to attack or take up position behind one of the stands the busts are on and ambush him as he passes in a non-lethal way, moving in to capture him with a joint lock.

Depending on the situation she will either be driving for a fast kill or asking "Who are you, and what do you know about what is going on here?"

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The man is and is not what he appears. He is a shadow like Jovian but something else, like a shadow projected on the wall of this reality from somewhere really really far away. Real and yet not real with the lens between them being what creates the slow maddening and reality warping effect. He is somewhat easily captured though she can tell he is VERY strong but her skills are superior to hers. Jovian remains hidden for now, and the man says, "I am the caretaker here." And yet those hands dont look like they have done an ounce of work in his life and there is no dust on the duster.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
She keeps him held carefully, casting a quick spell to try and identify the type of magic that has spawned this being. Even if he won't give useful information, the spell may identify the type of magic more directly so she has a better idea exactly what she's dealing with.

"Care to tell me what is going on here? I'm not a fan of letting chaotic magic spill over into the real world like is happening here. I'd prefer to do this the easy way and simply end this issue, but if needed, we can do this the other way."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The result of the spell is that she can tell it isnt magic. The magic is in the house but whatever is powering him is Weird Science, of the darkest and weirdest kind. But she has distinct images of a vast and endless city in the dreaming dark that is tied to all this and endless fields of blue and gold.

"We are watching for someone. Someone very important to my employer. The key to everything. You wouldnt understand."

Jovian smiles, enjoying how she is handling this and more than happy to let her keep going.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness snorts in a somewhat unladylike way, then says, "Try me. And while we're at it, who is your employer? Not that I really expect you to answer flat out, but I figure it's worth a try. You're here due to some form of twisted science, not magic, so I understand that much at least. Care to add anything to the understanding? Because if not, you're not really of any use to me at this point, so choose carefully."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The butler seems impressed, "Yes, we are not from your world but another; a darker reflection of it you might say. He is...someone else there, someone beloved by our Mistress. We serve her and seek to expand her power here."

A sense of dread trickles down Jovians spine as memories not his own seem to understand some of this. These were the people his doppleganger MEANT to find when the whole treasure hunt was started. He almost says something but Rien is getitng results so he is silent.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness nods and tries to get a good sense for the feel of the dimensional barrier this man is being projected through. She's accomplished in dimensional magic herself, so being able to identify the world of origin might come in handy in the future. "And does she have a name, or is she one of those "Too important to share her name with the minions" types? I like to know who I'm dealing with."

After he answers.. or doesn't... she adds, "As for expanding her power here, I'm afraid I can't allow that. What little has already been done is warping this world badly, it cannot be allowed to continue, and certainly cannot expand. This will have to end. And while he may be something to her there, there's a different him here, so why is she after a different version?"

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Its definitely a paralell earth at the origin point though from a really different 'direction' than her own timeline, but the through is DEFINITELY the negative zone. Dangerous and frankly insane technology. The butler looks at her and considers this, "I might tell you, if you can prove you are worthy. There is someone here you can speak to about that, I am merely second rank. And, she is inevitable." He shakes his head, "Clearly NOT worthy, a shame, you could be quite useful to her. Oh, she doesnt know he's alive. But we will bring him to her attention...all of you to her attention. There are ways. You likely want to leave now.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness shakes her head, "You're meddling with things no sane person would touch, and it sounds like your ruler doesn't even know about it. I think it's about time for you to go." It may be science, but there's still a connection and a flow of energy keeping him here, and that is what her spell targets, trying to disrupt the connection and send him back to his own world.

With a smile, she adds, "I never leave at the easy time, you don't get things done that way. I've been through literal Hell and back, a little Negative dimensional energy doesn't really phase me."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The connection is large, but her spell is able to disrupt nonetheless, like tipping a domino one after the other and just like he vanishes, unable to call the rats. But the entire manse begins to slowly fade and she still hears a slight chittering around her increase. The rats will swarm soon.

Jovian arcs a brow, "Did you banish him? And what about negative dimensional energy?

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness nods "I did, and we'll go into it shortly. But right here is not where we want to be at the moment." She steps over to him and puts her hand on his shoulder, then casts the teleportation spell that brought her here in the first place, this time taking him with her. Provided nothing interferes, they will pop out in the same place she first appeared earlier, slightly outside of the estate grounds, a much better position than being surrounded by rats in a mansion that is vanishing and might take them with it.

Jovian Anderson has posed:
The house begins to fade as do large parts of the town. There are no anchors holding the shadows here, though there will be later. Jovian was not spotted here, so they will have to try again to gain positive identification but they are also learning...each time is stronger and they learn more and more.

Jovian is used to weirdness and the teleportation effect isnt something that is COMMON for him but not totally disconcerting, "Thanks. I have a feeling it was about to get bad there

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness nods, "Yeah, it could have. Ok, this is probably bad." She takes a silver cigarette case from one of her pouches and pulls out a hand rolled cigarette, lighting it with a flick of her fingers. The scent is herbal, not pot herbal, but actual aromatics. "So, the bad news. They seem to be looking for you. They're from a parallel Earth, but one in the Negative zone, which makes it insane for them to be trying to come here. That's why their presence is warping things so badly. It's like matter and antimatter combining, it doesn't go well. Except instead of exploding, it's twisting reality. You.. possibly we.. need to talk to your Nazca friends and find out more about this. I also have some resources I can contact to try and get information on it." From another pouch she pulls a phone, "What's your number? I have the feeling we'll both be working on this for some time." She also shares her number so he can contact her.

"I suggest we both contact our various sources of information and try to find out everything we can. If anything comes up, give me a call. I can pretty much be anywhere I need to be fairly quickly."

Jovian Anderson has posed:
Jovian Anderson nods and takes out a business card, its not the first time he ever has been asked this ifnormation. He immediately enters her own number into his phone, "I certainly dont mind comparing notes over a beer. Frankly, you're a hell of a lot more compotent at this than the Nazca guys but they might be forthcoming more with you," he shrugs, "hard to say." He almost asks her for a cigarette but herbal or no, he had to work too hard to quite the first time so merely nods, "thanks for the backup there, I appreciate it.

Rien D'Arqueness has posed:
Rien D'Arqueness nods, "Glad to be of help. As I mentioned earlier, it's kind of what I have trained my whole life for, so it's what I do. And yeah, when we get the chance I'd like to talk to them. They obviously know something about what's going on, and I hate going into anything blind." She offers her hand, claws retracted now, and once he shakes he hand, adds, "For now, time to do some work, so I'll see you around." She waves, says a few words, and vanishes into another teleport spell.