The Danger of a Single Story (IC)

[aetherialDawn]

Clouds are gathering on the horizon, and the group has left the building where Arthur's apartment is with only a few pieces of information to show... all of them precious, but displeasing.

In the shadow of the multi-story building and its faux-Roman facade, there's enough time before the next bus going towards the Ontologist arrives to consider things.

Arthur is a jerk, personally...
Whatever he's doing, he won't stop or even explain himself just upon request...
The Ontologist is busy fighting Darkspawn halfway across the city, with only a pair of Changelings for backup...

But worst of all, Arthur knows more about the Dark than he lets on, and he tried to keep that concealed even when the topic came up.
No good can come of this.
Even with the distant clouds, it seems too sunny and bright to contemplate how he knows of the Dark, and if it has anything to do with the monsters he's let free.

[RdMarquis]

Jack is wearing a scowl as deep as anyone has ever seen on her. "I'd bet good money that he doesn't even understand whose name he's taken for himself." Arthur, indeed. She gives her phone another worried glance, then pockets it. "You think the Ontologist is okay?" Admittedly, that phone call would have been somewhat different if he was in trouble. A lot more screaming. "Because we need to keep an eye on His Majesty, up there." Which was something of an understatement. Given the choice, she would make sure the man had minders to prevent him from making any more awful decisions.

[Fortuna]

"He'd better be. There's precious little we can do for him, or without him." Loxley does not allow his worry to enter his voice, but shares Jack's glance back at the building. "I think, perhaps, I should remain here. Keep an eye on things. I'll phone if anything comes up, but," and here he allows a half-smile onto his face, "just being here may make that less likely."

[RdMarquis]

"You want us to just leave you alone?" And split the party? "We don't even know where Mr. O is, yet." It was much less of a mouthful than his Shadow Name. "We should stick together until he calls us back. Plus, Arthur might decide he really doesn't want us around."

[Moonwolf727]

"As she says, splitting up isn't the best idea." Milla shrugs noncommittally and sighs before continuing. "I'll go with whatever is decided but if we split up then I'm staying here with Loxley." She sends him a sidelong glance and privately adds running doesn't help if we're ambushed.

[aetherialDawn]

Jack's vision clouds over when she takes her next step away from Arthur's building. Suddenly the world is dim, except for her own body as writhing tendrils of Dark burst from her own fingertips and creep up her arm, drilling into her like terrifyingly fast and disgustingly beautiful black vines. At the same time, knowledge invades her mind - what she just left behind in that building.

The door is at the center of it.
A young boy, stopping before it, unwilling to move and then going dark.
He's a bloodstained, phantom corpse on the ground as another, slightly older girl does the same, and falls the same. The desperation to escape is palpable, but the door denies it, sealing their tragic Fate.
The next viewpoint, at once seeing the victim and being them, is higher - a woman, crying as she abandons her own son (behind, Jack can feel) to escape... and failing at the door, making her betrayal for nothing.

The door is at the center, and it is a thing of Fate. It demands its price in Fate and light, and it has consumed innocent after innocent to take it. Magic made it, magic hides its nature, but magic failed to suppress the Dark of it when it tasted Jack's Light.

---

The episode passes, leaving Jack with only two certainties - The Door is the focus of a concealed Tainted Place, and she could offer herself to end it, to free the souls it binds in chains of Fate. A black-and-purple tear, the color of a bruise, slides from her face. Is it hers, or a congealed bit of Dark, seizing the colors of Tears to remind her of those sins?

A bargaining Haunting, focused on the Arcana-Veiled Severity 14, Size 2 Tainted Place that is Arthur's home!
Jack gets a dot of Shadows, Senseless Martyr and Fresh Shadows. If you undo the harm or bring justice to the perpetrator in one scene, the dot goes away - otherwise, it will 'stick' and become harder to remove. Also, you subtract your Shadows (1) to resist supernatural powers.

Because this is a Taint-inflicted Haunting, you'll gain +3 dice to investigate the Tainted Place that forced it, and get insight into the Taint and, in this case, Focus that spawned it.

[RdMarquis]

Mercifully, the visions fade into a bright, stinging blur. It didn't occur to Jack that she had been crying until she realized how sore her throat was. The back of her left hand was aching, too. Even through the tears (now running clear), she could see her phylactery had become a deep red color. Jack wiped her eyes on her sleeve. Lastly, her knees were scratched. "What are you two doing up there?" She raises her head to offer Milla and Loxley a weak, brief smile. Apparently, she lost her balance at some point.

Jack struggles to her feet. "I know what he's doing." The memory of her vision lingers in painful clarity. "What he's done. He's killed at least three people, and their souls are now bound in that door. There were other kids, I-" She hugs herself, unable to continue. At the back of her head is the thought that her behavior in the past few minutes has drawn some unwanted attention. Which doesn't overly concern her right now. At last, she explains, "He could have caused plenty of pain and corruption from that act alone. But there's got to be more to his plan than that."

She stares up at the building. "I have to go back." It was just like last time. People were suffering, and she wasn't there to help them. There was only one thing she could do, now. "I have to at least set them free."

[Fortuna]

Loxley looks up to the apartment. "By breaking down his door? I don't think he'll appreciate that a great deal. It has to be done, but we need to be careful, do things properly.

"The Ontologist said he leaves reasonably often. He'll leave wards, or something of the sort, but those are bound to be easier to deal with than the man himself. I'll send the Ontologist a text, let him know what we're planning. You just sit down for a moment."