Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Jan 24, 2022 18:10:42 GMT -8
The nice thing about being a receptionist for the Wah Ching was that Yuan got to talk to many different people. And in return, those different people mostly found Yuan pleasant company. Some more than others.
It was those people that the Playmate reached out to. At Henley's behest, the Playmate started parsing through his connections to the underbelly of Las Vegas. In five years, he hadn't asked for anything and had managed to amass quite the social capital.
It was time to cash in.
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Post by Victor on Jan 25, 2022 22:13:08 GMT -8
Much of the time, Victor's habit of collecting mundies as friends and acquaintances paid off- many lost were lacking in the mundane department, and that meant he had a secure position as the guy who actually knew the police clerk or drug dealer. This, however, was one of the few situations he regretted pidgin-holing himself so thoroughly. Still, even the least mundane of things had an unfortunate track record of touching the mundane in one way or another, so it was worth the effort- Victor just needed to ask the right questions.
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Post by Krakenbox on Jan 30, 2022 0:18:08 GMT -8
The Black Dragon Key Smiths were a splinter connection of Blue Lanterns that had stronger ties to the Big Circle Boys. Former military connections, as Yuan found out, where they had taken heat for political leaks or were sitting on some other black listed secrets that the government had dangerous issues with. Victor found they were stockpiling antiques as third party auctioneers for big time collectors rolling through Vegas—438s to be exact—as well as offering security services with professional training that you just couldn't get on the streets.
Yuan tapped his friend for the service opportunity, while Victor leapt up the chain to get his hands on the itinerary and access to caring for the goods themselves. The mirror wasn't officially listed, which raised a flag, but Victor eventually mapped the location of the vault where the cargo was being illegally stored and hidden among other curiosities. Seemed too easy—how did the mundies get their hands on this item? Were the Hobgoblins going to retaliate or did they somehow secure the mirror fair and square? What was so special about this item that Machina himself was involved?
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Post by Gavin Graves on Jan 30, 2022 16:47:10 GMT -8
The Beast remained eager to help in fixing the ongoing issues with Spring's magic. Thanks to past efforts and now Saturday's apparent willingness to see beyond his original design, the next step had a clear name. Acquire the Janus Mirror.
He set himself to looking through the varied texts and stories Wayland had indicated as potential source materials for stories that included magic mirrors. Adding a few of his own, he ended up watching the horror movie Oculus as part of his research. He concluded it was more like a Hedge Ghost story that involved a mirror than a magic mirror story.
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Post by Henley on Jan 30, 2022 21:43:28 GMT -8
Once Wayland and Gavin had completed their bit, Henley went hard at the problem. Knowing the deed he sought to see completed, the Ogre turned his Fatespinning to his purposes. Ten minutes of preparation twisted Fate to his devices and he got to work assessing the value of the mirror. His natural sense of the value of things to Hobgoblins was helpful, but he'd recently been deep diving in the Market. Turning his mind to the issue, he chewed things over for a bit to figure out what this might mean to the creatures of the market to help make the pieces come together to give himself the angle to acquire the item.
Once that was done, he spent a little coin, pulling together the kinds of antiques and oddities of emotional significance that goblins thirsty for emotions might care for - a divorcee's veil, a pawned-off engagement ring, an unused child's toy sold by a poor mother to a consignment shop, that sort of thing - and made his way to the mini-market in Whitney where the Dollmaker and others made their shops. Working the goblins, the Spring Courtier sought the truth: what on earth was going on with this fuckin' mirror and why did everyone care so much about it?
Texts were sent, communicating the key points and passing along to the Lost on the investigation that he had a mortal asset who could potentially make a buy and blend in, and the funds that could potentially make it happen. After all, why not purchase the fucking thing? It made more sense than drawing attention by theft, if it was possible.
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Post by Krakenbox on Jan 31, 2022 22:30:31 GMT -8
Janus is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, and presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The title of the Token seemed oddly fitting for what Gavin explained they were trying to accomplish: the Low Season King trying to help Spring recover its Contracts.
The Summer engages Gavin's leads and has some discussions with other witches and artificers combing the darker aspects of the Market Trade to find the nugget of whispered secrets. What Wayland is able to uncover is that 1) it's an incredibly rare Token, and 2) it is a tool of prophecy. 'Remnants of a forgotten kingdom', whatever that meant.
Henley had a similar experience of confusing bread crumbs, but luck was on his side. Fanning himself with a handsome payment of a folder containing the spending habits of a financial colleague on Ashely Madison, the Broker happily mused that Baron Samedi himself had granted the mirror to King Machina with the founding of the Freehold, with the shadowy Cheshire Cat gauging the Ogre's own reaction. It only further served the Goblin to pull some gossip about the whole affair. A leaden mirror, in fact; where it was clouded, ashen and dull to offer no reflection to the beholder. A fine symbol for a political alliance where Autumn gained free passage through the Market as a respected class above the other courtiers. How did Gedeihen know this? Because the Ogre had stolen it from its master, the Tsarina of Umbra's sacred vault. Shit was legendary. Machina couldn't have just lost that to a gaggle of lucky mundies. Likely, a powerful supernatural was playing chess. The longer the mirror was floating in Vegas, it was only a matter of time before its top tier value attracted more attention.
With more context, Wayland muses that the mirror could likely grant answers to life's greatest mysteries.
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Hua Yuan
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Presence 2 - Nostalgic; SL 1 - Flawless
Posts: 304
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Post by Hua Yuan on Jan 31, 2022 22:52:09 GMT -8
Yuan wasn’t an investigator. What he brought to the table was his knowledge of the underbelly of Vegas. He knew which people were safe to talk to for reliable gossip and what they should be paid in exchange. He knew how to leverage a situation to get a mark talking. He was eager to help, as his mental health was quite literally on the line.
Others had provided him with a clear course of action. His job was to make sure Gavin got the info he needed.
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Post by Victor on Jan 31, 2022 23:14:08 GMT -8
Victor was happy that he wasn't taking lead on the investigation, though he was equally happy to assist in whatever way he could. This mostly amounted to him being another set of ears to bounce ideas off of and another set of eyes to draw the dots in a line, but hey- every little bit helped, didn't it?
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Post by Gavin Graves on Jan 31, 2022 23:29:15 GMT -8
The Beast wasn't really accustomed to leading a team of investigators around a target as involved as a group of secretive people, but this particular job resonated with him. He'd learned quite a bit about them in the fever dream that was the Ashen Hunt and astonishingly he managed to retain it in the interim. At least the two in his charge were people he was familiar with so the dynamic would at least gel well.
He directed Yuan to pick up the tattered threads that remained from his previous investigation and branch it over to this new effort, and Victor was set to gathering the available data from this new cell. Gavin himself diligently worked on the meta integration of the details brought to him with what he already knew of them to fill in the gaps between the details with their probable structures.
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Post by Henley on Feb 1, 2022 11:23:14 GMT -8
Henley slides Gavin a briefcase full of money.
"You know. For paying for things needed in the investigation."
Smile.
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Post by Krakenbox on Feb 1, 2022 23:34:41 GMT -8
The more Gavin and Victor dug with their salaried team, the more flags they found. The Black Dragons had been pulled together with too many conveniences, with the familiar beats of blessed fates. They were essentially a paramilitary mercenary contingent, armed to the teeth with black market supply chains and suddenly well networked among the Big Circle Boys and bankrolling some incredible contracts that Henley and Yuan pointed out normally require engaging guanxi. The fact that they rolled with high priced antique dealing meant that they might have a limited rare supply of Cold Iron.
They had access to magic, and were likely milking a Fairest or another wearer of the Arcadian Crown. They weren't from Las Vegas; they were from all over the place, popping up in random important business transactions. Being Key Smiths, were likely enjoying cleared roads of the Hedge to gain access to more opportunities to expand their wealth and freedom from government oppression. Stealing from Machina, however, rubbed Gavin the wrong way as a bunch of mundies wouldn't be able to pull this kind of maneuver with imprisoned Lost or an ambitious Loyalist. The abuses of fate were too obvious and indicating a bunch of amateurs, but at the same time they had secured a legendary item. This was quick and dirty empire building from a being that didn't comprehend patience in the pursuit of an obsession, and was brazen enough to step on the toes of a Freehold ancient King and a powerful Market King to get what it was looking for.
The mirror was meant to be hunted—a honey pot. This pilot wanted something else from the encounter and enjoyed social tactics to get its way. The annoying feature was that their representative even as an Avowed wouldn't have access to Royal Contracts, and yet- another incredibly small detail that stood out was a revolving door of operatives that were connected back to the BDKS with the single detail of death head moth jewelry, whether it was a man wearing cufflinks, a logo on a pair of glass frames, a bolo tie, or earrings.
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Post by Gavin Graves on Feb 2, 2022 14:33:56 GMT -8
Gavin put in a call with Callahan about getting a meeting with Chunhua about an important Occult and Political matter that he hoped to get her expertise on, or at the very least some time with one of the other Eternal Echoes if she were too busy. It would also be an opportunity to talk to the Flowering about the Goblin Fruit he'd seen with the Huntsman en route to meet with Machina. So many things going on. Hard to keep all the plates spinning at once.
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Post by Chunhua on Feb 2, 2022 22:05:25 GMT -8
The conversation felt like it had grinded to a halt as the Knight of Webs dug her roots into every. Single. Detail. With the refusal to dive into her Entitlement's blessings without clear boundaries to how wide the net was going to be cast. Gavin seemed to shrink over the phone as the placid monotone somehow managed to sound like a disappointed mother where the Beast's offerings of research never seemed to be good enough, before a quiet sigh explained that the symbol could be anything from an Entitlement based around crumbling ancient regimes (and applying Occam's razor to determine the wearer as a Mirrorskin Fairest), or a number of gentry: a Keeper of death and spirits; a Keeper of illusions and wayward souls; a Keeper of moons, dark paths, and forests; a Keeper of mysticism, gambits and betrayal; and a Keeper of chrysalis, mirrors and prophecy. She was clearly reluctant to evoke powerful names in a time of invasion.
Stephen asked for Gavin to send him a field journal with botanical sketches and details of the contents of the fruit such as seeds, colour, texture, and smell. A pomegranate-like Goblin Fruit was a little too vague for him to offer anything beyond the fact that it had fertility implications.
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Post by Henley on Feb 2, 2022 23:27:26 GMT -8
The next steps involved a confluence of influence from different sources, plenty of money moved into an offshore account for an online transfer, and one Anthony J. Cartwright, Senator's Son and budding occultist. Henley had pulled Victor, Anthony, Gavin, and Yuan together. He had given Tony a pre-prep to give him the gist of what he was going to be asked to do, but this was the detailed briefing.
"All right. Here's the situation."
He gestured with his mimosa to Anthony.
"There's a super powerful occult mirror stolen from a King in our society and a King in the hobgoblin world. Bad guys have it. I think it's a trap for our kind. You see, we can see one another, and some people -- like you -- can see us. Real easy to spot Changelings if we're not careful, like *that*." He snapped two fingers. "The mirror is being auctioned. I think if we go to try to steal it or buy it ourselves, we're going to get spotted and be in trouble..."
"But you, Tony?" He grinned. "You're human. Which means you blend in.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is this.
Victor here can get you into this underworld auction legitimately such that nobody will question that you're there. He can also give you a Plan to be outstanding at it, magically so. Your cover? You're Anthony Cartwright, son of a former Congressman and rich guy who wants to buy rare goods because you've got money to burn and you want to. You're willing to pay top dollar for the right goods. You're someone nobody's going to want to fuck with, because you come with heat if they do on account of who you are related to.
Yuan here can get you a Chinese translator from the Triad to guide you, and prep you for the meet beforehand. He knows all the niceties and social rituals of the people running the show there.
Gavin's available by phone to be your consultant if you have any questions about what's on sale. He'll also be on overwatch just in case you get beaten in the auction and we need to steal the item after.
We've got a lot of money in an offshore account, which you can pay by wire transfer to get the mirror at auction. Try your best not to fuck my wallet too bad, but I get this is going to be a number with a few zeroes after it. Fate's spun in your favor."
He described the mirror to Tony, giving the key details so he knew what to look for.
"Part of what we need to know is if you see any Fae shit in there, but your main job is to blend in, buy the mirror, and leave. Nothing fancy. Rabbit if it gets crazy."
Blink.
"I know this is a lot, Tony, but we're talking the stuff of prophecy and I think there's huge danger if a non-human goes in. If you're not feeling up to it, that's totally okay, but if you can pull this off, it would be huge."
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Post by Gavin Graves on Feb 3, 2022 1:38:42 GMT -8
With Chunhua's input received and it only minimally narrowing the range of possibilities, he had to lean into the circumstances and his instincts and make a best guess. If there was a player trying to work interdimensional tier chess on the field, there were going to be limited options to place protective resources. The Janus Mirror was clearly a honey pot trap. If it was the trap, and there were so many Avowed and mundane forces deployed with it, it was very possible this was a distraction from the real move. There simply wasn't enough information to know for sure. With the Death's Head Moth references universally pointing in the direction of a broad selection of True Fae or an Entitlement that sets about bringing down Kings, and the direct connection and predicted interest from Samedi, he was the only reasonable guess within the limited information. The Razorhand called Scorpio both in her capacity as his Liege and her role as Paladin of Shadows. She was reminded of his assignment and then updated on his concern for the King's safety, outlining his judgement including the loose reasoning. If it was the Entitlement, their appearance may simply be meant to cause paranoia and drive missteps in their quarry. Scorpio would have her own instincts to lean on here, she just needed the input to work with, assuming she didn't already know more. Samedi may have already foreseen all of this and made countermoves and this was all moot. In any case, Gavin worked within what he knew and made the best of it.
With the Mirror Job Gavin really wanted to be more directly involved. It chaffed at the Beast to be on the outside at a distance, but the overwatch position was important on plans with as many moving parts and changing variables. He was going to be there to adapt to the changing circumstances in the field and needed to be able to communicate openly. He drew a ponderous look from Tony when he asked if he'd ever ridden horse before during the comms check. Kai might have given him a run down on it at some point. The Beast was checking whether he could play emergency escape route for the young man if things went sideways.
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