[center][hider=Cast][img]https://i.imgur.com/6qHrGvs.jpg?1[/img] [img]https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/217175409903534080/310915267373039616/coollogo_com-32460972.png[/img] [/hider][/center] [center][h1][i]Transmutation and Conjuration[/i][/h1] [h3][i]Part 2[/i][/h3][/center] [center][b]Location: Croll Corner – Lost Haven Time: Morning - The Next Day[/b][/center] [hr] The morning sun had risen a couple hours ago; helping to save the city earned them some respite to sleep in. Charlie set an air mattress up with some spare bedding on the floor beside her bed for Maddi, Harry was still asleep as well. The oscillating fan was humming quietly in the background, the distant noise of work being done around the house. Things seemed to return to normal fast, eager to do so. Charlie stared up at the ceiling, feet hanging off the edge of the mattress toes poking out from beneath the sheets. Their shared bedroom relatively tidy save for the odd pile of clothes. The dusty desk with an old white computer setup, the monitor possibly the heaviest thing on the desk and covered entirely with stickers. Across the desk was Harry’s summer reading project, a glue gun and some green pipe cleaners. Over the desk was a shelf packed with jars of feathers and sea shells, leaning against it were Harry and Charlie’s respective staves. A bookshelf reaching from floor to ceiling was tucked in at the end of Harry’s twin sized bed, underneath the window while Charlie’s sat on the opposite side. Posters covered the wall around the window of various movies and pop stars. Old end tables covered with hair ties, assorted screwdrivers, and a glass half full with water nestled beside it was the alchemical mystery key. Charlie leaned over to the end table and scooped up the key. Examining it with a squint, playing with the weight again a thumbnail digging into the shaft of the key - softening it with alchemy. Footsteps heralded a series of heavy knocks on the bedroom door, a courtesy mostly, followed by the image of Madalena awkwardly opening the bedroom door and holding it in place with her knee, balancing a recyclable tray of coffee drinks and baked goods in one hand and a suspicious duffel in the other. [color=BE1359]”Morning!”[/color] she announced, softening her voice at the sight of a sleeping Harry. [color=BE1359]”Sorry,”[/color] she whispered, leaving her bag in the doorway and setting her tray of confectionaries on a mostly clean end table. [color=BE1359]”Did you know about the bakery on the other side of the block?”[/color] she said, rifling through a paper bag with the bakery logo. She pulled out a comically large muffin, tearing off chunks as she found a comfortable place to sit. [color=BE1359]”I woke up early this morning, it’s become a habit lately. I was offered breakfast, but I’ve never been to this section of Lost Haven and the bakery was too tempting. Help yourself, I bought enough to feed a small army.”[/color] Harry groaned from beneath her blankets shuffling the blanket up over her head. Grumbling, “Mornings suck.” Charlie sat up putting the key aside and gratefully taking a cup of coffee and the food. “[color=honeydew]Shut up Harry, Maddi got us breakfast from Pauline’s.[/color]” Dirty blonde hair falling down over her shoulders, she took a long gulp of coffee before taking a bite of her BLT sandwich. She sighed with content. Harry finally threw back the blankets and bolted out of her bed to snatch up the paper bag for a muffin. Through a mouthful of food she said, “phansks.” The resemblance between the sisters was pretty clear, while Harry was shorter than Charlie her blonde hair was streaked with various colours, bright grey blue eyes squinted before she retreated back to her bed to check her phone. “[color=honeydew]I can’t get over the relief that the Hounds are done but the Winter Court is still out there going strong. Like all that bullshit from yesterday was for nothing. So much happened.[/color]” Charlie said with a furrow to her brow. “[color=honeydew]I know Lost Haven will just shrug this off, in spite of the destruction. Before this week I could too, but I’ve got this. . .[/color]” She clenched her fist around her stomach, “[color=honeydew]This horrible twist in my stomach.[/color]” She took another bite of her sandwich chewing thoughtfully, she picked up the key again. “[color=honeydew]This better be worth the headache.[/color]” [color=BE1359]”Speaking of,”[/color] Madalena knelt forward, pulling the burner phone from her back pocket and presenting it to Charlie. [color=BE1359]”I got a text at 4:00 a.m. ‘Our deal isn’t over, we’ll be in touch.’ Pretty ominous, but I think it’s a good sign that our diversion paid off. The Witchfinder and his goons will be out of commission for a few days at least, plenty of time to figure out,”[/color] she pointed to the key, [color=BE1359]”whatever this is.”[/color] “[color=honeydew]Witchfinder ‘I don’t sleep at appropriate times’ General sending texts at 4am, but I think you’re right. This gives us more time.[/color]” Charlie agreed. Madalena sipped her coffee, looking around the room and finding her attention drawn back to the doorway. She gasped and hurried over. [color=BE1359]”Almost forgot,”[/color] she said, searching the duffle. A malodorous fume emanated from the bag, along with the rustling and clinking of glass, metal, and paper. Madalena produced the leatherbound journal from the bag, flipping through the pages and presenting those to Charlie as well. Charlie leaned over, Harry came bounding over landing beside her sister checking out the journal as well - curious as ever. The selected pages were inscribed with a series of strange seals, liken to alchemical formulae, but bearing letters and numbers in place of planetary insignias. To the right was an illustration of a tree, phrases written in some archaic tongue scribbled on select branches. [color=BE1359]”The page on the left is a cipher, or I think it is. I recognize this script; [i]Transitus Fluvii[/i], or Passing the River, created by the occultist, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa. He pioneered quite a few magical languages back in the day. This one is fairly uncommon. But, lucky for us, I can read it . . . maybe.”[/color] she scratched her head, setting the journal on the end table next to Charlie. [color=BE1359]”I just don’t know how it relates to this drawing.”[/color] Harry tapped the page, “I remember that name, magic history with Gramps.” She said proudly. Charlie pointed to the page, “[color=honeydew]You can read this?[/color]” She studied the image turning it on it’s side. Something familiar about it, she recognized some of the planet symbols, old alchemical symbols referred to the planets for various base elements like iron. The rest of the formulae made no sense in relation to the planets being used. “[color=honeydew]Start translating while I boot up the computer. Knowing if Gramps had anything to do with whatever secrets that are being kept in that journal, he would have kept it simple.[/color]” She said dragging the chair over for her to sit, the computer booted up pretty quick in spite of how it looked. She built it from scratch with some help from Harry, they scrounged for decent recycled parts and it costed them next to nothing. Harry piped up for Maddi’s benefit. “Which is why that key makes no sense, it’s complicated which is totally not his style.” She scooped up the key next, “It’s got a bunch of shifting, small parts, like. . . a rubix cube but a thousand times harder. Good luck I guess.” “[color=honeydew]Thanks for the vote of confidence.[/color]” Charlie said as she tapped across the keyboard bringing up Night Sky Watchers page, various posts as she scrolled noting times and different planets visible in the night sky on the east coast. “[color=honeydew]I don’t know if the visible planets or constellations have anything to do with the formulae, astronomy isn’t really in my specialty.[/color]” She shuffled out of the way for them to see. Harry shrugged, “It might be relevant.” Madalena looked between the two images, the web page and the tree illustration. She searched for meaning in the cipher, piecing together letters that correlated with the arcane script, made even more difficult considering the script was made in conjunction with Hebrew. She managed to translate an inscription at the bottom of the page, if only because of its structure. [color=BE1359]”When shall we three meet again, in thunder, lightning, or in rain.”[/color] Madalena read the phrase aloud, laughing under her breath. [color=BE1359]”Of course Puck would use passages from Shakespeare. Not sure how it relates to . . . hey Charlie, can you bring up a map of the sky above Lost Haven specifically? I don’t know exactly when this was written, but I’m guessing we just look for a time when these same planetary symbols appear overhead.”[/color] Charlie nodded, searching away and enlarged a photo of the night sky above Lost Haven specifically, She looked between the sky and the journal. “[color=honeydew]Does… Hey Harry does this look like South Point Beach to you?[/color]” Harry took a few moments staring at the journal. “What a nerd.” Charlie gave her a look, “[color=honeydew]Puck is way older than us combined kiddo, don’t fuck around.[/color]” Harry rolled her eyes, “Old but still a Shakespeare nerd.” After another moment of studying the journal she nodded, “Yeah that’s definitely South Point, it’s got that unique dip along the coast.” Charlie pulled up a map of Lost Haven itself next, tracing her finger along a line “[color=honeydew]That’s the old sewer line too. It’s been shut down and packed, depending on which big supes fight demolished the water line. Some parts were filled in when it was rebuilt but some areas I’ve poked around in before.[/color]” She scratched at her head, “[color=honeydew]Is this seriously a map of Lost Haven?[/color]” [color=BE1359]”Of course it is! How else would we know where to put the key if Puck didn’t give us a map, god I hate how clever he is sometimes.”[/color] Madalena looked back at the journal, taking note of where the phrases and celestial symbols fell, then following them to the map of the sky above Lost Haven. [color=BE1359]”The planetary symbols tell us where to look, and I’m guessing these phrases are clues too, maybe to narrow down the search. We match the branches to streets in Lost Haven where the planets are visible, we translate these remaining lines, and we use the key to find . . . something! Wow, this really is needlessly complex, probably a test of will or resolve, Puck loves tests.”[/color] “[color=honeydew]No fucking wonder Puck and Gramps get along.[/color]” She grumbled. “[color=honeydew]The key is well. . . the key.[/color]” Harry passed the key back to Charlie, “[color=honeydew]Can we. . . just-[/color]” She slid the key across the desk. “[color=honeydew]Maybe we need to take a step back, we’ve figured out some important stuff. Would it be worth it to talk to Puck directly about this? Tell him what we found yesterday?[/color]” “[color=honeydew]I’ll be honest, I’m exhausted. If talking to Puck ends up being kinda useless we can still relax, have a drink knowing we’ll be safe at least for a night.[/color]” She said quietly, taking another bite of her breakfast sandwich wiping at the corner of her mouth with her thumb. Harry noted sarcastically, “Yeah we’d appreciate a night where we didn’t suffer from heart failure too when you’re out of the house.” Charlie looked to Harry apologetically. “[color=honeydew]That too.[/color]” [color=BE1359]”I guess it couldn’t hurt,”[/color] Madalena agreed, closing the journal and placing it back in her duffel. [color=BE1359]”Puck’s likely working on Phase 2 of his ‘Destroy the Winter Court’ plan anyway, we should probably be on the same page. I’m also dying to tell him about my first night out as Lady Hex. It was a little rough, although that storm was honestly some of my best work . . . really my only work.”[/color] Charlie grinned at that, “[color=honeydew]It was fantastic, setting the bar high. I think we did amazing, we survived and came out with only a few scratches [i]and[/i] got some great dirt on the bastards.[/color]” Madalena chuckled, tapping Charlie’s shoulder. [color=BE1359]”Yeah, I guess it was pretty good, but that bat you fashioned for Pantheon, and that arrow inside the Hound base; if nothing else, you have a future as a blacksmith, who are surprisingly magical if you look through some old folklore. Did you know that faeries often fear human blacksmiths?”[/color] Charlie’s cheeks grew rosy and she turned away, “[color=honeydew]A blacksmith? Ha, I make the arrows and you enchant them. They won’t know what hit ‘em.[/color]”