5351/Investigations Wizard Style

Investigations Wizard Style
Date of Scene:	12 September 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Strange gets his lead on the cursed Pied Piper flute. Molly makes bank for her services.
Cast of Characters:	Molly Carpenter, Doctor Strange

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Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter had situated herself to sit cross-legged in one of the many large rooms of the Sanctum to continue her work on deciphering the layers of spells on the Pied Pipers' Pan Flute. Several cans of empty soda are neatly stacked beside her in a good solid base to form a pyramid as she'd been at it more hours than she'd care to admit even to herself. Notepads of paper are scrawled on around her, and her gaze is upturned to fixate on the arrangement of different mystical patterns that compose the spells on the instrument.

"There. There it is," comes muttered under her breath with eyes narrowing. "That's the source. I just need something to link to it..." Her nose crinkles as she trails off and starts to search around her for something.

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Stephen is in another part of the sanctum, seated as well as he is at a table and he is holding a pair of black chopsticks. He has a meal prepared for himself on an old green plate with some of the paint long faded on the china. The ceramic dish is crawling with bugs, tentacles and stalks with eyes on them, and various combinations there of. Stephen is just about to dig into his breakfast when something in his dark house draws his attention.
    A feeling.
    An emotion.

    Stephen pushes away from his table, the chair screeching for a moment and then the wizard is up, his hand grabbing and ushering the cloak onto his back and he strides with purpose until he enters the room Molly is in doing her work. "You have news." Stephen says in his cryptic way.

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter has rolled onto hands and knees searching under her papers by the time Strange comes in. It gives her a little shiver of being startled, but she sits up straight again blowing her bangs out of her face with a puff of breath. "Yeah. Found the... 'flavor' of the magic, kind of. Took me awhile. I can tell you the caster isn't human, or wizard, or fae though which really only leaves a few options left. I have an idea to bleed some of the source magic into an object so I can focus better without the distraction of..." She trails off running a hand through her hair. "I need something new. Untouched by life, or..." Her hand waves helplessly trying to find the words.

"A seed. I need a seed. It's potential but not yet spent."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    Strange looks over his shoulder as he hears Molly's words and he seems to be looking at something that isn't there, but is right in his face. "I have a few things." The wizard says and disappears behind the open door way.

    Several moments pass before Stephen returns to the room holding a packet of rose seeds an avocado pit and a large, blue and green egg that appears like it's been painted in a decorative way, but it's completely natural and there's a specific buzz to the egg. "Which works for you?" The wizard offers all three.

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter has her notes sorted by the time he comes back and is frantically scribbling down some different ones. Ideas. How to shape the magic. How to funnel it. She looks as if she were obsessed with the concept as she formulates her own workings of magic instead of breaking down someone else's. Looking up at the Sorcerer Supreme again she regards the objects with a mixture of curiosity and bemusement.

"Avacado? I never took you for the gaucamole sort, Strange," she quips only to let her hand hover momentarily over the egg. "... Nah, that one already has life in it. ... I'm not sure WHAT life, but..." The packet of rose seeds are plucked up with an apparent nod of satisfaction. "Yeah, these will do."

The corner of the bag is torn open with her teeth as she reaches out to gently sweep a bit of chalk away from the circle surrounding the panflute to open the barrier she'd made. Then the seeds are sprinkled right on top of it before she fishes out her chalk to seal it away again.

"This is entirely new, I don't know if it's been done before, but hey that's what we do, right? Make things work." A smile is flashed as she turns her attention to the trickling of power. "See right now it's just energy being put to a certain purpose. I can't use that to track to the owner directly. I mean, you could, but not without activating the spell to begin with and that's when it gets messy so I'm trying to avoid that. Instead I'm going to just... nudge some of it over into the seeds. Since I don't have an item to link to the caster, I'm creating one." Even as she speaks her energy is working to do exactly that.

Lines of energy are drawn from the spell in question. Not to activate it, not to drain it entirely, but to... share the burden of power. The seeds take on a faint glow before returning to looking like regular old rose seeds again.

Molly licks her thumb, and dashes the chalk circle open again. The result is almost immediate as energy blooms forth from the seeds in the visual spectrum to take on the ghostly image of a bush of white roses. The branches and roots take on odd shapes, odd directions, until it's obvious as it 'grows' that it's a city map grid. Light flows along one particular series of branches, down to the roots, where the seed remains visible.

"Aaand there's our map. It's..." Molly leans in squinting. "Oh. Oh, fudge."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "It wasn't mine, Wong loves the avocado rolls and frequently makes himself some." The doctor says, using a quick slight of hand to move the pit and the egg out of sight after Molly takes the packet of rose seeds.

    Stephen takes a step back and crosses his arms as he waits and watches Molly's magic. "Oh. you're using magic circles." Stephen whispers to himself. "Effective." He says, not so silently judging Molly's method of magics.

    Then as the rose grows and splits and grows into a perfect copy of the city streets. "What? What fudge?" Stephen asks, his arms uncrossing as he looks to Molly. "What's the matter?"

Molly Carpenter has posed:
"Sometimes the basics are good for focusing without distraction," Molly shoots back blandly unaware if that was meant as a quiet insult or not. It works well enough though and since it was a new magic she was attempting... Precautions were usually a good idea.

"That what the fudge," she states as her hand lifts to gesture at the 'path' on the map. "We're here currently. Following the layout of the city roads, then this-" Her finger traces down to the seed. "Is our point of origin. Which happens to be right smack dab in the White Court Enclave."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "You could be doing so much, more if you learned to create the circles and mandalas and yantras from within yourself..." Stephen says, clarifies and smiles down at Molly for a brief moment before he tilts his head, unsure of "What is the White Court Enclave and why is that a bad thing?"

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter tilts her head as she looks up at Strange. It's about now that she realizes she's still seated, and he's standing. It made for quite the crick in her neck. Pushing up to her feet her hands dust off on her thighs more out of a need to work the feeling back into them than being dirty. "You can do that? I mean that sounds so much more effective. I'd thought of just using my illusion to create them before but not had the chance to try it." A soft hum comes before she shakes her head firmly to get back on track.

"White Court are vampires. Some are organized, some aren't, I think it's just kind of a name that was given to the few that are to differentiate their *type* of vampire," she explains breifly. "Black Court are like Dracula and stuff. Original flavor undead. The Red Court are... ghastly. Like giant ticks that can disguise themselves as human. Blood sacks. Then there's the White Court vampires. They're the... Uhm..." Her head tilts to the ceiling regarding it as she searches for the right phrase. "Succubus and Incubus kind of vampire."

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "I believe you may have been right. Fudge is a decent adjective." The Sorcerer says with a frown across his goateed face. "If that is the case." Stephen begins and turns towards the wall of the room and with his back to Molly he reaches into his pocket. There's a brick of paper handed to the girl and a clasp of his hand against the back of Molly's hand, "Then your work is done. I do not want you to get hurt trying to help me." The wizard claims, paying the woman as he said he would when her job was complete.

Molly Carpenter has posed:
"I've dealt with them before, kind of, but not directly." Even as Strange turns she starts to explain more. "The Raith family are in charge here. They like to use subterfuge to get power, but they're also not 'undead' at all so they don't have pretty much any of the standard flaws like the sunlight thing."

Molly blinks several times when he turns back to her and presses the paper into her hand. Oh, yeah. Paid. That's good. Instinctively she starts to tuck it away before deciding to glance down. Best to make sure he wasn't stiffing her. As she does, she continues, "I could actually put you in touch with one we've worked with on occasion but I can't gaurantee that he'd help at all."

Stopping her speech she stares at the check. And stares. "Strange. Are you *aware* how much you put on this check?"

Doctor Strange has posed:
    "Yes. I am. We're done as far as this case, I'm going to do the rest of the work alone. Or as much as I can, unless you'd like to be on retainner in case I need on going consulations." The wizard says with a nod and a chance to look towards the "You can put me in touch if you'd like, but maybe a surprise visit would be in order. Maybe catch them doing something white handed." Stephens says with an odd snort to himself at his awful pun.

Molly Carpenter has posed:
Molly Carpenter glances down at the check. Then back to Strange. She pockets it without protest. If it were someone loaning her money it would be one thing. He was paying for services rendered though. "If you'd like, though I would have to ask that you take care not to hurt this one. I mean... Sure he's what he is, but he's one of the younger ones. He hasn't been at this so long. Plus, I mean... He has helped Harry and I out in the past. For his own reasons I'm sure, but we kind of owe him." Lightly she clears her throat. "I'd suggest keeping me available in case you have further questions. I won't interfere though otherwise in your further pursuit. Good doing business with you, Doctor Strange." Molly flashes another smile, and gathers her things up to head off.