18 Moons- Hunt For The Stolen Child (2nd Night)

--- Jon ---

When he got up in the morning he wasn’t surprised to find his ma was already gone, (if she came back at all.)

With Ms. Valentine in the hospital, and Kenneth missing his ma would probably spend the next couple of weeks living out of the station until she found Kenneth. He’d just have to check in with her every so often to make sure she was at least half way eating and sleeping, rather than living off of coffee and take out like she tended to when unsupervised.

It was a routine he was sadly familiar with, after all it wasn’t the first time his ma had become hyper focused on a case, and it likely wouldn’t be the last. Though given how the victims were people they actually knew, he actually couldn’t blame her for throwing herself so deeply into her work this time.

(Especially if it means I’ve got more time for my own investigation.)

Scene Consequences

-Morning training bonuses have been suspended until Kenneth is found, giving Jon an extra AP each turn.

---

The first (and probably only) advantage he had over the police was his magic, because while there was a ‘magical division’ within the police, there were only a handful of them and they were spread thinly between each of the city’s precincts. Meaning that no matter how much he and his ma thought it was warranted, the higher ups wouldn’t spare such a rare resource for what they saw as such a small case. (The jerks.)

What all this meant though was that he was going to have to be the one to come at this from a more mystical angle.

Unfortunately, he was still what could be considered a beginner in most of the magical skills he had. Which is why his first order of business was to visit the Witch’s Wares in the hopes that Ms. Delacroix had something that could help him find Kenneth.

“Surprised to see you back here after buying that affinity book.” Ms. Delacroix admitted as he stepped into her store. “I figured you’d be gone until you cracked an affinity or two.”

“Yeah, no, um, something’s sort of come up.” He admitted, trying to figure out how much he should tell the shopkeep. After all, while he had no problem asking for help when he needed it, he wasn’t going to give trouble to someone who wasn’t involved with him or the matter at hand.

(Though she’d probably offer to help if I told her it was for a kid.) People were cool like that, and he might’ve brought it up if it didn’t make him feel… De Sade-y.

“What kind of thing?” Delacroix asked, her eyes narrowing with a sensible amount of caution.

“My problem.” He assured her. “Though I don’t suppose you have anything that’s good at finding other things?”

Samantha Delacroix watched him for a moment, before eventually sighing. “Depends on what you’re looking for.”

“A lost thing.”

Delacroix tapped her fingers on her counter for a moment before nodding. “I’ve got a few options, but they depend on a couple of other things.”

(Options are good, though what they cost might not be quite so good.) He figured, before asking, “Such as?”

“Well, money obviously.” The shopkeep gave him a look.

“Not a problem.” And if it was, he had ways of fixing that problem as unpleasant as they were.

Ms. Delacroix continued to watch him for another moment before shrugging. “Alright, in that case is this thing you’re going to be looking for, is it going to be moving?”

“Possibly.” If Kenneth’s father was smart he’d stay still and lay low, but he wasn’t counting on the man’s intelligence at this point. (He wouldn’t have done this otherwise.)

“Trickier.” Ms. Delacroix admitted, before asking, “Know how large the search radius is?”

“Two miles.” He doubted they’d left the district, but he could always move around as necessary.

“So about three kilos...” Delacroix told him, before nodding. “Okay, I’ve got something guaranteed to help you, if you’re willing to wait a couple of days and pay a bit.”

“It’s called a Witch’s Compass, they require some powerful enchanting, divination, and a couple other things that make them cost a fair bit, but it can lead you to damn near anything.” Ms. Delacroix explained.

“What’s the catch?” Because even if it was expensive he was sure lots of people would want something like that.

Samantha grimaced. “It leads you to your greatest desire… at a given moment.”

“Meaning there’s a chance it’ll point you at something else.” Something he wasn’t actually worried about, since his only real desires at the moment was to find Kenneth and his father. (And either way I’ll find Kenneth so the point is kind of moot.)

“Especially when you take into account how abstract some desires can be, or how many desires shift through your head at any given moment.” Ms. Delacroix agreed. “That said, if what you're after is that important to you maybe you’ll be able to keep focused long enough to find it.”

“Any more reliable options?” He wondered, preferring not to put too much faith in an unreliable method.

“You know any other magic users?” Ms. Delacroix checked.

“In town? No.” He sighed, knowing that despite being an Incarnate Ying wasn’t exactly a ‘magic user’ at least not in the more traditional sense.

“Then with your skills, no.”

(Dang it...) He’d been hoping for more than a ‘possibly’ helpful compass, (though if it works right it’d lead me straight to Kenneth.)

Shaking his head he turned back to Ms. Delacroix, “You said I’d have to wait a couple of days? How long would that be exactly?”

Ms. Delacroix stopped to consider it for a moment. “Since you got here before lunch, I can probably get it here in about three, four days. Though the rush ‘ll up the fee a bit more.”

(Either way, it’s still faster than I’d find Kenneth on my own...) He had to admit at least that much to himself.

“So, what’s it going to be kid, you want me to order it or is it too much for too little?”

"Go ahead and order it." (Either it'll help me find Kenneth or it won't, but the possibility of another search avenue is more than worth it.)

Scene Choice

[X]-Order the Compass. (Gain Witch’s Compass, Lower weekly income by $15.)

[]-No, it’s too much for too little.

---

Given how the Witch’s Wares had been a bust beyond whatever aid the Witch’s Compass could theoretically offer him, he decided to try his hand at using what little magic he already knew, before trying anything new.

To this effort he went over his notes on both Script Craft and his sub-affinity of ‘Track’ in the hopes that whatever spell he could come up with would help him track the toddler and his kidnapper.

Of course, thanks to his previous experiment with the concept of ‘Tracking’ and enchanting, he had a rough idea of what the script would do, causing any clues related to a target in mind to begin glowing so long as they were within a certain distance of his spell. Something that could be accomplished by his enchanted LED, which is why he tweaked a few bits and pieces in hopes of letting the magics stack on top of each other. A detail Miss Edna had hinted towards when explaining some of the more complex items she sold at her store.

(Well, hopefully this’ll work as intended, because I need all the help I can get with this.)

With a copy of his experimental script in hand, he made his way across the hall and toward the Valentine’s apartment, knowing that with a full day and night to canvas the apartment the police had likely filed away whatever evidence they could and simply taped off the entrance so they could perform an actual investigation from their end.

(Which just means I can do mine.) He figured, slipping through the tape without removing it, a feat that was relatively straightforward with the agility he’d picked up running and hiding from both the Corrupted and his mother.

Once he was inside, he pushed some magic into the mark connecting him and Wolf as summoned his furred Contract into his reality. From there the hyper intelligent animal glanced around the foreign apartment taking particular note of the dried blood on the floor before turning to him with a curious tilt of her head.

“How good are you at tracking scents?” He asked, skipping straight to the matter at hand.

Wolf seemed to tilt her head from side to side in a ‘so-so gesture’.

“Right...” He sighed, before explaining the situation. “You remember that toddler I was watching when I first summoned you a few days ago?”

Wolf nodded.

“Well, his mother was stabbed and he’s been kidnapped. What I’m hoping is that between your canine tracking and my magic we might be able to eventually find him.” He continued, before giving Wolf a meaningful look. “You think you’ll be able to help?”

Wolf gave him a determined look before giving him another nod.

“Good, well this is their apartment so hopefully you’ll be able to pick up their scent from somewhere.” He told Wolf before pulling out his new Spell Script. “And while you do that I’m going to see if this can help me find anything the police may have missed.”

Wolf watched him curiously as he pushed his magic into the slowly glowing script before tearing it in two and unleashing the spell that had built up within the confines of the spell circuit drawn onto the paper.

A wave of pain tore through his head as his eyes began to burn, an ache spreading throughout his skull from behind the optical organs as his mind began to pick out and process a number of minute details that he hadn’t been able to notice beforehand.

Faint imprints in the carpet, scuff marks where the furniture had been moved, the patterns that the blood had hit the ground, all of this and more flooded his mind as his eyes darted around the room taking in every detail even as his headache steadily grew worse.

A phenomenon he recognized from several of his interactions with the man in the mask, whenever he was subjected to something just outside of human perception, and his brain was forced to adapt. And while he knew it hurt, he also knew that the pain would become less severe as his mind became used to the strain of whatever mental muscle his magic was overclocking.

Which is why he shut his eyes and forced his breathing to remain even despite the pain.

He heard a faint whine that had to be coming from Wolf and he reached his hand out to pat the worried wolf. “I’m fine, just… wasn’t expecting the rush is all.” (I can see why De Sade warned against mind magics until I had his approval… Too bad I didn’t realize this would be a mind magic… Really shouldn’t have tweaked that script at my level...)

Once his headache went from ‘ice pick’ to ‘drum beat’ he risked opening his eyes, and while it did worsen his headache it didn’t cripple him like it did a moment before. “Okay, I’ve probably only got… a few minutes left on this script… need to make them count.”

He gave Wolf what he hoped was one last comforting pat, before forcing himself through the pain and getting to work.

Scene Consequences

-New Script Recipe: Tracker’s Eye Script (5 MP)- For the next (Script Rank + Occult Rank) minutes user’s perception becomes enhanced by a small amount for all search actions. (Bonus is based on (Script Rank + Occult Rank))

--Jon has taken some physical damage, for what can be considered a critical success or failure.

-Wolf now knows the Valentines’ scents, and can track them if she gets close enough.

-Gained: ((3D6=11 for acquiring the Valentines’ scents) + (6 from Wolf’s Tracking Skill) + (D6=4 from Tracker’s Eye Script) =21) Intel.