Mage - Eric

"Sure"

[you head to the cafe, which is almost empty now and find a seat by the window]

Eric takes the note from his pocket, unfolds it and smooths it out on the surface of the table.

"I'll get a copy of this to my... colleagues in the morning. Hopefully they'll be able to shed some light on the matter. In the mean time we could try and find out what we can about this Austin Kittrell. Does the name sound familiar?"

[I'd like to take a peek at Jennifer's aura as she answers. Just curious.

It's improvised so costs 1 mana.

3, 3, 6, 8]

[Truthful but curious]

"It doesn't sound familiar," Jennifer says.

She offers to grab a drink for you whilst she gets a coffee for herself.

[roll Intelligence + Occult, diff 8]

"Coffee. Black, no sugar. Thanks."

[3, 3, 4, 9, 9, 10]

[The name is very familar to you, you've heard it recently. Maybe in a local news item]

While Jennifer gets the coffees (and pays - she £22.50 to pay back) Eric decides to Google Austin Kittrell. Followed by "mobius hornets" - they sound too creepy to ignore.

[Intelligence + Computer please, diff 7]

[Spending Willpower as this isn't his strong point. Seriously, he might not even be able to reliable use Google...

1, 3, 6, 7, 7, 7]

A few minutes of searching uncovers:

Austin Kittrell was featured in the Paddington Mercury a week ago at a community event. He is spearheading a new initative to get children back into the church.

You find a BBC article from a year ago connecting Dr Arthur Mobius and a new species of hornet, noticiable for markings that give them a vaguely human face

["Markings" like the moths in Silence of the Lambs, or "markings" like the hornets have little human faces?!]

Eric bookmarks the articles and email the links to Jennifer so that she has a record too.

[Is there a contact for Kittrell? And/or a names of any churches that he works with?]

[The latter]

The article mentions a church - The Church of Our Lady in St John's Wood - and his organization is called the Order of the Rebirth

Jennifer is starting out of the window, like she's seen something outside

[Lovely, going for the creepy-as-fuck option I see]

Eric notes down the details of the church and the name of the order to pass on to his contacts in the morning.

Glancing up at Jennifer he notices her staring. He warily turns to look out the window...

[]

There's nothing there, just people walking around

Jennifer sees the link and asks what it means

"Kittrell is involved in an organisation with possible connections to our line of work."

He pauses, before somewhat dismissively adding "Well, my line of work at least."

Eric rubs his eyes as he thinks about the argument with Susan that will no doubt await him when he finally gets home.

"Do you know anyone who might be able to get us more information on these hornets? Whoever wrote this letter seems to have been exposed to them. The more we know about them the more we can potentially learn about him."

Jennifer shakes her head. "No... I don't know anything about any hornets. At least I can't think of anything..."

She adds "Did you see the people outside? I mean really see them? They all look so sick... I don't like the looks of what's going to happen in London..."

"No matter, I'll pass the details on to my... colleagues."

Eric distractedly turns to look out the window again.

"We should probably check out the church in St John's Wood next. This Order of the Rebirth is probably a front for something unpleasant."

[I'm wondering if the Order has imagery of genderless babies with worms under their skin...]

The man behind the counter comes to your table and passes Jennifer a slip of folder paper. "I think you dropped this, luv" he says.

"Demons?" Jennifer suggests, showing Eric the second piece of paper. "The man at the counter suggested that I'd dropped it."

On the 3rd day after the 4th summit of the order, the demons of Hell have paused in their destruction, as if to take stock of the cruelties they have wrought. The brothers pray harder now and naturally I join in (for what other hope do I have) but my heart is not in it. We know now the End draws nears and we have been abandoned.

Eric reads the second note, remembering the previous warning about the author's possible mental impairment.

"Hmm, the Order mentioned could be the Order of the Rebirth... But it seems that they were - or will be? - praying for deliverance from these so-called demons."

We need to get access to the church. If the Order is linked to it then there might be more clues there."

[What time is it in game? We might need to come back in the morning maybe?]

[11pm]