Emma Henderson - Pattern Recognition

[farothel]

Emma Henderson, FBI agent

 

"I'll start with some books," Emma said, "I don't need to know the process of making items, but I would like to compare the items I've seen with lists of items that the Mysterium knows exist, to be able to know what the items do."

[Anthr4xus]

Ingersoll provided Emma with directions to the relevant books and less than twenty minutes later she was settled in a small reading nook with several books of various age and size. The first reference that she found was to a powerful helm crafted by a Adamantium Arrow mage known as Zaridem a few centuries ago. The general description seems to closely match the smooth reflective helm that was listed as #AH05 on the inventory list. From the records it appears that Zaridem and his cabal (Masken der Heiligen Drei Könige, or Masks of the Magi) warred with another cabal of mages around Berlin at the time and Zaridem was noted as almost always wearing the helm when in public as it was nearly impossible to sneak up on the wearer due to the complex enchantments worked into the purified lead, known as apeiron. Zaridem was eventually assassinated and his helm, along with the rest of the "Masken", were lost for decades. It resurfaced in England about eighty years ago in the hands of a small group of Banishers, but it vanished again before it could be seized when the Banishers were destroyed. This was the last record of it before Emma spotted it in the van.

[farothel]

Emma Henderson, FBI agent

 

Emma puts the information she has as well as the pictures of the helm into the computer the mysterium is now using, crosslinking to the book and indicating that this helmet is now present in New York. Then she continues to search for the other objects on her list.

[Anthr4xus]

Using the computers allowed in the Mysterium always reminded Emma of the horror stories that Garrison had told her about what the equipment used to be like back at the shop. Because of security concerns raised both internally by the members of the Mysterium and with advisement from the Guardians, the computers were almost as archaic as some of the books. They had no internet access, no usb ports, and a locked network cable. It has proven to be far easier to setup protective wards and controls on physical books than on digital assets. It was really only due to pushing by the Free Council that had moved the members of the Diamond even this far.

The next item that Emma finds reference to is the diamond headed arrow. Buried in a rather flowery and romanticized account of a war between two native american tribes in the Missouri area, she finds a reference to a similar artifact. The account is low on specifics although recounts, "The chief of the Morrenmatick called the warriors of the Attenttatoc to cease their agitations against the Morrentick under the great peace. Black Clouds, the shaman of the Attenttatoc, came forward and held aloft the crystal arrow, but with it's point down. 'I have sundered the bonds of the great peace, and the Attenttatoc will bathe in the blood of the weak.'"

A note made in an unknown hand in the margin of the book adds "Similar to Thaumium Arrow from Cold Storage"

[farothel]

Emma Henderson, FBI agent

 

Emma checked to see if she could access that Thaumian Arrow to see if it was the same as she had seen (or a similar one), while adding she might have a lead on this item in the computer as well, also making a note to get some computer updates done. There existed spells to make computers very secure she knew, but she didn't know the spells yet. Something to put on the back burner for now while she continued her research.

[Anthr4xus]

Emma made her way down to the Cold Storage office. As she was making her way through the descending halls, her phone chirps with a text notification. Sebastian had sent her a short text reading: "Have tickets for new Avatar tomorrow night. Want to go?"

[farothel]

Emma Henderson, FBI agent

 

Emma texted back: 'I'll let you know in an hour or two when I see what work will be like. Big case at the moment.'

Then she moved on to the cold storage to have a look at the item to compare with what they had found in the case.

 

[Anthr4xus]

Sebastian replied: 'Cool. Fare thee well, fair maiden :)'

 

The same bespectacled raisin of a woman sat at the massive desk in the Cold Storage room, and the same gallery of portraits all glared down at Emma as she entered the room. The old mage woman smiled at Emma and said, "Oh, welcome back, dearie. Have you found the murderer yet?"

[farothel]

Emma Henderson, FBI agent

 

"No, not yet," she said, "But I'm here for something else. I've seen some magic items today and one of them was an arrow. I've been doing some research and I noticed that in the book it was mentioned we had something similar here in storage. So I wanted to have a look at it to see if it's the same thing."

She gave the information she had from the book and if needed, the picture she had taken of the arrow they had at the FBI.

[Anthr4xus]

The old woman listens to the description and pulls out her book of records. "Hmmm," she hums as she traces her finger down a ledger page, "Oh dear." She taps on the page. She looked up at Emma and blinked her magnified eyes. "Sorry, dearie. It looks like that has been missing from storage for some thirty or forty years. You say you have it?"

[farothel]

Emma Henderson, FBI agent

 

"We might have it," she said, "has there ever been a report with the police about the missing items?"

There most likely wouldn't be, but maybe they had filed a report about a theft and that would give Emma time to check the items a lot further and keep them blocked for a while longer.

[Anthr4xus]

The old lady shrugged. "It was reported to the Guardians and the Arrows, and subsequently to the Ladder. Who knows who else learned about it from there. It looks like you are the first person to come asking about it since that time." She gave Emma a small smile, "I am required to report your inquiry and mention of seeing it to the Guardians, you know. Since I now know that it is a missing item. Do you have a preferred way for them to follow up with you?"

[farothel]

Emma Henderson, FBI agent

 

"There's a detective in the NYPD who's with the Arrows," she said, "we've already spoken, so it would be less suspicious if he's my contact with the Arrows. And he knows about the items, although not that they were missing, but as he wasn't born when it went missing, that's probably logical. He might dig up the paperwork to hold them for a bit longer. In fact, let me call him."

 

She first texted the lab guys to hold the artefacts for a while longer and then looked for his number and quickly dialed it on her phone.

"Hey, it's Special agent Henderson, FBI," she said if he picked up, "remember those artefacts from the van. I have a suspicion one of them might be stolen from the Mysterium. Your superiors will be informed soon, but I've asked for you to be the liaison between the Arrows and the Mysterium. I hope there's some paperwork from those days hanging around that we can use to keep them with us for a while. Can you run that one down."

[Anthr4xus]

The old lady said, "The Arrows will assign who they assign, there's nothing the Mysterium can do about that, but if you know someone maybe they can do something for you. It is good to have friends." She smiles at the various clowns on her desk, and they began to cavort and gambol about the desktop. Three of them draw a long form from within the desk and set it before her. She pulls out a long quill and begins to fill out the form. Emma can read the title at the top as "Lost Artifact Inter-order Follow Up Report"

Emma has to step out of the Cold Storage room to get any kind of signal on her phone, but once she does Veo answers on the second ring. "I'll see what I can do. at the very least I can add some context. We'll see what we can do from our side, but do what you can to slow down that legal reclaim request. I've been trying to do some digging and I think that this may tie into a bigger investigation that is going on."

[farothel]

Emma Henderson, FBI agent

 

"I'll do what I can," she said, "but they've been lawyering up and it's going to be tricky. So hurry up on that. I don't think there's a theft report from that long ago, but if we have one, it's a lot easier. I've already texted the lab guys to hold everything until I'm back. I hope my boss isn't going to get involved. Well, if nothing else, we know where they are now."

 

While talking, she was heading back up to go back to the office.

Edited October 16, 2023 by farothel (see edit history)