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

~~Narration~~

The man continues what he's doing, ignoring Animus' question.

Armstrong daintily removes her leg from the man's attention, and then she very carefully steps on his hand. She leans down, and there is a faint creaking of shoe leather as she moves. She smiles and says ever so sweetly, "My mother forced me to take ballet lessons practically at knife point, sir. I hated every second of it, but I can manage a fantastic sur la pointe. So unless you want me to practice it by putting just slightly more than one hundred and forty pounds of weight on about three square inches of your hand, you will stop pawing me and tell my friends what they want to know."

"I'm not sure if he can answer any more coherently than he has Armstrong. If I had to guess, I'd say was under some sort of mental curse. Everything he says seems to be some use of riddle or symbol. Who knows how much he can understand of what we say."
Theo had thought Animus had said he was unable to see ley lines, maybe it had something to do with the shadows he talked about. "Animus is there anyway you can track where the energy is being siphoned to?"

~~Narration~~

"No reason to get excited," the man squeals, giving Armstrong puppy dog eyes and pulling at his hand. He then turns his eyes back to her leg and licks his lips. Everyone gets the distinct impression that he may bite the leg, if his hand isn't freed soon.

Armstrong's voice stops being plesant. "If you even try, I will castrate you."

Animus shakes his head. "That is not within my ability, but I can show you what I see, and maybe you can track the siphoning." No longer worrying about the man trying to interfere, Animus briefly chants in the high speech to offset the distraction from his other active spells.

Spoiler:

~~Narration~~

Theo sees the ley lines without all the jumble of the material world, and sees the same shadows of the glyphs faintly overlaying them.

Studying the pulsing streams of energy, and their 'bleeding', he's reminding of spells that require Mana to maintain them.

Before scrutinizing, Theo veils his stare from the far off senses of other. The first attpemts fragmented but he got the spell on the second try. Prepared, he examined more in depth what he saw before him.

Spoiler:

~~Narration~~

Theo can't even tell if he's looking at a spell.

Mensch. Looking at it, you would think it was a natural phenomenon. The mentioning of bussinessmen contradicted that with the suggestion of entities. Of course, he couldn't trust to the man's babbeling to provide a good picture of what was going on. It was hard enough trying to figure out how the lines were being tapped at places other than intersections. Theo's best guess, this was caused indirectly by other effects, possibly the runes, without use of magic persay. Ley lines could be effected even by mundane environmental changes. Maybe this was a very, very skillful example of what could be achieved. Or the workings of the spell was very well veiled.
The old man had said the wine was being drunk, though. From what Theo could see, it was just being bled. Maybe the bleeding effect was directing the line somewhere to be tapped, rather than get the energy from the drain the shadows were having. The fact that the lines and the runes tended to follow each other supported this, if the sigils were in fact the cause. The Bismark Hotel? It had a surrounding of lines.
He would have liked to examine the runes more to be sure but was afraid that the man might become violent. There was also the chance they caused insanity as well.
"Where do bussinessmen drink wine?" he asked hoping the man would answer.

~~Narration~~

The man looks at Theo in response to his question, but his mouthful of denim jeans keeps him from replying.

The man lunges at her leg, and once he gets a good grip on them Armstrong whips her leg back and smashes her heel into his chest. "You attacked me and my friends without provocation. This means that you will answer our questions. So answer them."

Spoiler:

~~Narration~~

The man rolls over, moaning pathetically and grasping at his chest.

He curls up into a ball and lets out a loud fart.

"Armstrong!" Theo sounded exasperated "The guy is not metally well. What he does has provacation, it's just not understandable. We dug earth, that was his provaction. You need to calm down. It might be better if you back off for a bit." God, it felt like he was acting like Tyria. He would have liked to tell her that he thought the guy had attacked them to stop her from finishing her spell before it drove her mad, but he didn't want her thinking about the formula, it could make things worse. The increased violence didn't do anything to lessen his fears.
He went over the human ball and chided it a little "She did say she'd hurt you."
He sighed "I don't want it to be like this. No reason to get excited. The phrase good cop, bad cop came to mind when he gently shooks his shoulder, the mana running in his touch "Where do bussinessmen drink wine?"
Theo wasn't sure how the man would react. Answer in code or lick his fingers seemed the top choices in his mind.

Spoiler:

"All along the Watchtowers," came a muffled reply. "The hour is getting late," came a resigned sigh.

He looked up, suddenly, and gave Armstrong an accusing look. "The difference," he spat out, "the difference between a Master and a Grandmaster is protection."

Interesting phrase. You didn't go along watchtowers but the conotation of linear travel seemed to confirm his suspicions that the lines were traveling there. The plural form was what concerned him more. It meant decentralization, which could be a problem if this was something they needed to solve. It also meant more mapping to find out where they were.
Of course looking at it more from an Awakened prospective, it had greater implications with the Supernal realms. He was reminded of how the stones had had Supernal symbolism in thier design. They had also been on a time table and "the hour is getting late".
He wasn't sure what to make of his last statement at first. He sounded like he was talking about levels of Arcana understanding. Was he refering to Armstrong in comparison to himself? Trying to tell her with what he knew he had been trying to protect her?

Armstrong gets an ugly little sneer on her face, but she suppresses the urge to kick the man again.

The man appears to have fallen asleep.

Armstrong throws up her hands in disgust. "So what do you want to do with him now, Apotheosis? I assume that we aren't going to leave him here." Her tone of voice makes it obvious that she doesn't like the idea of taking care the man that attacked her, but if her cabal-mate wants to, she's willing to support him.

The sigh he gave had undertones of a groan. "No, we're not going to leave him." Theo rubbed his eyes. "I think the best thing to do would be to get him to the Museum and try to set him up with treatment for whatever he's suffering from mentally." That would make Starlings day for sure.
He checked the guy's breathing and and pulse. Make sure the late hour wasn't a reference to a death curse.
Theo ran his fingers through his hair thinking. "I want to try to get this mapping done as fast as possible, though. Some of what he said has me worried." He sighed again. "Would you and Animus mind taking him to see Starling while I keep going with Vegas?" He glances back the way they had come. "We should probably go check on Vegas."
"Here," he said handing his spear to Animus. With some effort, Theo managed to pick up the old man. He was going to need a shower after this.

~~Narration~~

Theo manages to pick the man up, and ignores his snoring and drooling. It's about this time that he realizes that they're about five blocks away from where they started.

Armstrong chants in the high speech, weaving space so that she can see into the alley that she appeared in earlier. It is extraordinarily difficult, and the spell crumbles after just a moment. She tries again, and the second time's a charm, as they say.

Spoiler:

~~Narration~~

The alley appears to be empty, just as Armstrong arrived.

"It would be faster for you to teleport. The car's not far from that location."
He fishes the keys out of his pocket and gives her directions to where its parked.

Armstrong takes the keys, and chants in the high speech, and forces the laws of space to ignore her through sheer talent and grit.

Only to have them suddenly snap back on her.

She yells as she shakes her fingers, which feel like she's stuck them in a electric socket. "SON OF A BITCH"

Spoiler:

"What happened? A ward?" There was a slight sense of urgency and fear to his voice.

Armstrong snarls at Apotheosis. "I don't know what the fuck happened. Wards feel different. My spell just fucking broke."

~~Narration~~

Theo's passenger snuggles into his chest, trying to get comfortable and smearing drool on Theo's clothing.

"Mensch," he wasn't sure what was going on but it might not bode well for Vegas of someone had been able to unravel Armstrong's spell.
"We'll go by foot then. Vegas could be in trouble."
Theo shifts his load around so he has one hand free. He performs a couple of gestures, while in his mind he perfects his body in regards to speed and ease of movement. It wasn't ideal but increasing his strength would cause Disbelief more readily.
Roiling storm clouds appear and engulf Theo like wings, bright flashes of light breaking through the mystic vapor. When it disperses he doesn't appear much differently and seems disatisfied.
He tries again, hoping for better results, speaking in high speech.
This time there is an almost inhumane way to his movements and posture. There is also a bruises along his arms from taking the paradox.
"Ok, let's go."

Spoiler:

(( I need a re-do of the 2nd 'dox roll on the Honing, and a re-roll on the spell. Please remember the +1 for 'dox accumulation, and HS does nothing to mitigate 'dox. ))

2009-06-22 18:52:28 Theo rolls 7 to Hone Dex Res4+Ath2+Life3-grapple1-repeat1 (10 Again, WillPower) 7, 1, 10, 8, 2, 5, 8, 8, 3, 5, 1 4 successes
2009-06-22 18:51:23 Theo rolls 2 to Paradox base 2+repeat1-rote1 1, 3 failure

~~Narration~~

The man rouses himself as they begin walking, but continues to be a dead weight. "You and I, we've been through that," he mumbles, eying Armstrong.

After about a block of walking, he seems to realize what's going on, and begins to struggle, pushing at Theo.

Theo probably couldn't have held onto the man, not while carrying him anyway.
"No reason to get excited." He didn't release the old man but he did set him down.
"I want protection for you and plowmen. You don't want to be like this. I don't want this fate for a plowmen." He gives a small indication with his eyes over to Armstrong.
"I want to stop this fate, to get protection." He did his best to keep with words the man had already spoken, he seemed to respond better that way. It was hard to express the ideas he wanted to convey through the limited vocabulary, though.
"Can't dig earth here to stop this. Or do you know a way to stop this fate?" For for the first time, Theo started to wonder if he wasn't the one going mad.
"I want protection through my," he hesitated not only to find the right word but afterwards because he wasn't sure he wanted to use it to describe the higher members of the Order and because of that hesitation it came out more as a question than an actual statement of intent "grandmaster?"

~~Narration~~

The man looked at Theo as if he had lost his mind. "The thief," he pronounced, "he kindly spoke." Shaking himself free of Theo, he began walking away.

Armstrong mumbles to herself angrily while all this happens.

Theo stood dumb for a few seconds. Cartography shouldn't have this sort of bagage attached with it.
"Come on." He sound distinctly frustrated and there was a creep of anger in his voice. "We need to go see if Vegas is still alright."