Marking up the map (Attn: Vegas, Animus, Joshua, Ruby, Armstrong)

Theo had left a note at the sanctum explaining he was going to ley line mapping (again). All the Cabal had expressed ability to come on a mapping expedition and the encounter with "Wallflower" had convinced him that the help might be needed. The note had where and when to meet, as well as his number if they couldn't make it and wanted to come later. He'd also contacted Vegas with the information.
Now he was waiting in the Museum parking lot, waiting for at least Vegas to show up so they could get started.

Animus arrives at the parking lot and heads straight towards Theo. "Hey, Theo. Anything interesting happen yet."

"Hey, Animus. Nothing yet, your the first to arrive.
"Ran into a man who might be a Seer while I was mapping last time, though. It's why I thought I might need company this time around."
Theo explained again in detail and with slight embarresment what had happened last time. He left out the part at the end where he "talked" to Wallflower. That part might seem a little strange.

Vegas pulls up parks his bike. Dismounting he makes his way over to Theo and Animus. "Hay Theo how ya been? You ready to get started today?" He looks over at Animus and smiles. "Hi I'm Vegas."

Animus takes in Theo's story. So he's been doing more than attacking Calligan. We have to deal with Seers now, too.

He nods to Vegas. "I'm Animus."

"Animus and I are in the same cabal. He's going to be coming along today."
Theo checked his watch and feeling a little impatient went on. "The sooner we get started the better. There's still a lot of ground to cover and if any other cabalmates show up they know how to get a hold of me for directions."
Theo granted himself the ability to sense the lines and started over to the rental. He'd gotten up early to get it from the shop it had been sent to. There had been amused questions on how it lost all its wheels and gotten the battery drained. Theo thought the mechanics had enjoyed the joke a little too much.
"Did you want to ride in the car or follow?" he asked Vegas.

Spoiler:

Thistle wrote:Theo explained again in detail and with slight embarresment what had happened last time. He left out the part at the end where he "talked" to Wallflower. That part might seem a little strange.

(( OOC: FYI for future reference, everything said IC must be fully said IC. That way other players know EXACTLY what information their character has. Thanks! ))

Vegas looks at the rental appraisingly. Glad to see that it was up and running again. "I'll ride along with you guys if that's ok."

Spoiler:

"Ok, mind the spear in the back." He went over and got in the driver's seat.

Animus climbs in the passenger seat. "I'm ready if the two of you are."

Vegas jumps in the back, making a point to sit as far away from the stabby end of the spear as possible.
"Lets do it to it!" Sounding every bit like the college frat boy he appears to be as he says it.

(( Are y'all waiting for anyone else? Also, where are you going? ))

((Nope, Theo's ready and rarin' to go.
We will be mapping the area north of the Capital City FWY. If you extended the shaded area denoting "The Rack" to the northeast and northwest, that would be an approximation of where we'll be exploring.))

~~Narration~~

The trio pick up on a strong line, following it and marking it while going slowly and watching for Wallflower. Soon enough, they find more of the oddly-familiar glyphs, some seeming to center around around the Bismark hotel. The Resonance surrounding the hotel reminds Theo that this was the home of the late Peter Cartright.

It's also getting close to lunchtime.

Theo wasn't sure if the other two had brought lunches with them so he offered to stop at a passing Buger King. "If you guys are hungry, we can stop and get something to eat. I'm going to be stopping anyway to get a closer look around here. It looks like the hotel might be important somehow in the leyout of the city."

Rummaging through his messenger bag, to make sure he has everything, Vegas barely registers the offer of food. Lets see. Camera, check. Note pad, check. Gun, my god I hate this thing, check.

Looking up from his bag he finally answers. "If you guys are hungry I can just get a soda or something

Animus cringes at Theo's bad pun. "Yes, I'd like to eat something. Then we can have a closer look at the hotel."

Apotheosis pulls into the drive through and orders Animus' and Vegas' meal and drink. After getting the food at the pick up window he parks and gets out and goes around to the trunk.
He opens it and gets out his spear (peace bonded) and a plastic shopping bag. The bag apparently has his lunch because he rummages through it and pulls out a cheap purple tuperware container and spoon. The contents look like an off white sludge with lumps in it. Opening it you can see and smell that it is sprinkled with cinnamon.
"We can eat while we walk. You both set?"

Animus concentrates for a moment and mutters a few brief words in High Speech. As the spell takes hold, he gives Theo a nod, satisfied that the he'll know if this "Wallflower" comes near.

Spoiler:

Vegas secures his bag over his shoulder. "Ready when ever you are."

Theo starts off, tupperware and spear in one hand, eating with the spoon in the other and bag on his elbow. He goes to some of the "runes" that encircle the hotel. His pace slows as he studies them.

Animus studies the runes as well, choosing a section and staring at it for nearly ten seconds.

Spoiler:

Then he turns to Theo. "Have you been able to make any sense of these yet?"

"Not as yet , no. I have a difficult time enough reading things written in German in the style of graffiti. That they're in another language doesn't help."
He used his sheathed spear point as a pointer.
"If you contract this elongation and look at it more as an abstract form using right angles instead of flow strokes this character could be recognizable as a rune." He lowers his spear. "Or maybe an S," he sighed. "I don't like graffiti.

~~Narration~~

Animus notices the rune seems to be made up of much smaller runes, as well as numbers, and greek symbols. Almost like a stipple drawing.

The do have faint Resonance, but all he can tell is that it feel very... old.

As he looks at Theo, it almost seems as if one of the glyphs moved, in the corner of his eye.

Vegas studies the runes and takes several pictures of them while he is at it.

Spoiler:

He looks over at the other two. "You guys said you're in the same cabal. Does your haven have a library in it?"

Theo doesn't answer as he traces the runes with spear point and muttering in German.

Spoiler:

Vegas nodded understandingly. Geomancy was not really a hot topic for most libraries but he thought they might have had something on Atlantiean runes. It had been worth a shot.

~~Narration~~

The others are unable to discern much more, other than Theo gets the impression that it's definitely a formula of some sort.

Has Theo discovered the secret of Coca-Cola?

Theo stopped speaking for a couple seconds, licked off his spoon, relidded his meal and exchanged his utensil for a pen and some crumpled loose leaf paper. The paper had a circular damp mark on them. You hear him mutter something about "Aepfel".
Using the plastic container as a "desk" he started writing down numbers and symbols in order to start trying to solve whatever problem this might be. He wished he knew Greek. Of course, Greek symbols could represent many things within a math problem but knowing Greek couldn't hurt. He glances back up, pretending to reference the design again, even though he could picture it perfectly. He blinks twice. Had the symbols moved?

~~Narration~~

Comparing it to his mental image, the tail of one glyph seems slightly longer than before.

"Mensch." That made things more complicated. With a check on what had changed in the tail, he crouched on his haunches, examining the ley line that the graffiti followed. He waited for its flow to change, even slightly, and then looked back at the runes to see if they had shifted in some way. If they had, he made mental note of the changes. He did this several times, just to be sure and get a couple references if they were indeed connected.
Once satisfied, he went back to trying to figure the formula as he had seen it with the slightly elongated tail, as that was the first one where he had mental notes of both the ley line and the runes at the same time.
"Any of this looking familiar to either of you?" He asked, indicating the formula he was writing on the paper. He doesn't stop writing while they look over his shoulder. His handwriting is a little small and cramped.

~~Narration~~

The ley lines are unchanged, and no more runes seem to be changing.

Theo keeps working, glancing up occasionally to make sure the runes haven't shifted again and if they have to check the ley lines.

Spoiler:

Vegas looks at the formula shaking his head. "Me and math. We have a very special understanding. I leave it alone. It does not give me migraines."

((OOC I am going to be busy all this weedend doing Pride stuff. I will try to get on as much as possible but don't count on much.))

Animus shakes his head. "Sorry, I can't make any sense of it."

~~Narration~~

Theo can tell that it is a formula of some sort, not just random symbols, but more than that, he lacks the knowledge for. Staring at it for so long, though, makes him feel uneasy.

Giving up that pursuit for the time being, Theo replaces paper, pen and tupperware in his bag and pulls out an red apple to eat. He starts following the runes along the building. He examines each one closely, though quickly. The look was long enough for an accurate picture but not to enough time to start examining it for formula. Along the way he makes note of the line as well.
He stopped at the corner where the road turned and looked down the street with runes running the length of that piece of pavement as well. He sighed. The segment of wall he had just "recorded" would likely take him many hours and pieces of scratch paper just to transcribe and there was no way to be sure it wouldn't change.
"We might need Armstrong for this." he admitted.

Theo called on his handy. "Armstrong? Hi, it's Apotheosis. Listen there's something we found that I'd like you to take a look at. I think it's a math problem and given your in depth knowledge of the higher realms of mathmatics I thought you might be able to help. I can't make heads or tails of it beyond just seeing the variables and intergers but it makes no sense to me. I think Joshua's texting you about it now, too. Interested?"

"Joshua's here if wanted to track him. We're at the intersection of 5th and Capital Mall. There's a relatively hidden spot about 20 meters west of Joshua, if that helps."

Joshua feels his unseen senses trigger, it's not a spell.

"Alright, see you soon." Theo hung up and turned to Joshua.
"Joshua, back around 20 yards is a good place for you to go so Armstrong can come. Could you?" He motions to indicate he wants him to go hide so no Sleepers see the math teacher unfold herself into existance at their location.

Animus ducks into the place Theo indicated.

Animus' Unseen Senses keep fizzing, and once he makes it to the location indicated...

Then the two of them leave the secluded spot. She's wearing a pair of jeans and a maroon blouse. She's also adjusting her eye patch as she walks over to Apotheosis. "So, what's this problem that you need help with?"

Spoiler:

"This." He indicates the patterned runes.
"I got this from further along this street." he says getting out the crumpled pices of paper and hands them to her. He starts walking back in the direction they came from to show her the actual thing.
"I can tell it's a formula but like nothing I've read in any math book. It seemed just up your alley. It's also possible it's changing but I'm not sure what varible it's tied to in that regard. There is an association between the formula's spatial location and the ley lines though, so that would be my first guess." He did his best to phrase it in language she would understand but not being as versed in her area of expertise he was sure he was not doing too go a job.

Armstrong scrutinizes the runes before trying to decipher them.

Spoiler:

Then after the scrutiny, she tries to decipher the runes. She pulls out a notepad and sketches out the information, carefully checking and double checking her work.

Spoiler:

~~Narration~~

Armstrong get the definite impression that it's an equation. Rather, part of an equation. All of the Runes seem to be involved in it, and it makes her slightly queasy to stare at for so long.

After she does some figuring, Armstrong speaks up. "I'm getting the definite impression that it's an equation. Or rather, part of an equation. All of the Runes seem to be involved in it though. Does that match anything you've been able to put together?"

"Sounds about right. Does that mean we need records of all graffiti to make this out? They're all over the city and it's possible they are changing."
When he gestured to indicate how big the city he noticed Joshua.
"Hey, Joshua."

Animus takes the envelope. "Just be careful. We don't need any more deaths."