Log:Test Your Metal, Scene 13

Test Your Metal 2017/03/26

13

Grimm and Daemon are seated at their usual table in The Hacker's Rage. Their usual waitress, Delores, has just dropped off two rounds' worth of drinks at the table. Plus Grimm has just passed along Daemon's transcription of Professor Mysterion's memory of The Codex Cadmius - or The Traveller's Log, if you prefer - to Ghostfist. It seems likely to Grimm that Ghostfist is stuck on another marital infidelity case, given how quickly she answered her phone before and how utterly bored the gumshoe seemed.

About a half-hour after Grimm forwards Daemon's notes to Ghostfist, Grimm's PDA starts to ring. It's probably just enough time for our heroes to enjoy another couple of rounds of booze and begin discussing how they will break into The Wizard of Mongolia's home dungeon and plunder its hallowed halls for its rich mystical treasure hoardes.

Someone may want to answer the phone, the screen is displaying Frankie's face and the ring tone is not at all suspiciously the old classic rock standard, Cold Hard Bitch. If that's not Ghostfist calling, it may well be Fate itself calling to harrass our heroes.

Grimm may be slow on the pick up on account of all that booze. Because right now, raiding the Mongolian vaults sounds like the best idea ever. She fumbles for her phone, which was resting face down on the table, and swipes to answer before bringing the phone to her ear. "Hello?" she tries her best sober voice.

"Back on the clock..." Daemon mutters before regarding his shot of whiskey a moment before slamming it back. He finds the ringtone fitting in everyway possible. Where most make a silly face or suck their teeth, what little of the Spider-Sleuth's face is visible shows it has all the bite of a swig of Powers-Aide.

Daemon snickers Grimm answers the phone.

Ghostfist ignores Gabrielle Grimm's sober voice. Daemon can probably hear Frankie's voice roaring out of the phone even though Grimm hasn't put it on speaker yet.

That... Probably means that Frankie has deciphered the hell out of transcriptions. Right? Right. Now all you two have to do is survive the withering verbal assault that is an irate Frankie Ghostfist.

Grimm has to jerk the phone away to save her hearing, and it may be too late for that particular eardrum. She winces and rubs at her ear before daring to bring the phone near her ear again, still leaving some space in case she needs to pull back again.

"I-I'm not! Well not directly. It's for a case!" she says in her defense to avoid more berating. As if that would help.

"I don't even fully understand what it is. Is...is it really that terrible...?" She looks around to make sure there aren't any other eavesdroppers before covering the receiver and murmuring in fearfulness, "It concerns Mal..."

Daemon sets one glass down in time to reach for another one. His nanocyte enhanced metabolism doesn't make him booze and poison proof- just a bit more resistant than your typical person.

He slams that shot in time for Frankie to cause it to cause a bubble on the way down. "Ooof." He says as he presses his fist just below his ris where the pain has settled.

The Spider grits his teeth, partially for Grimm and partially for his current blight. "Maybe it'd be easier- and wiser for you to find a new boyfriend." He says dryly- though there is the hint of a smirk around his mouth.

"BLAH, BLAH, BLAH! CASE BLAH BLAH!"

Ghostfist is still roaring and apparently furious about what her apprentice has forwarded. It's impossible to tell what's going on in the background on Frankie's side, so ponderously loud is her roaring voice. Maybe she's even given up on trying to photograph cheating spouses.

Yeah, Grimm. Does Malcolm know that you and Daemon took a trip down Mysterion's memory lane?

Grimm is so utterly shocked that one might think Frankie and reached through the phone and slapped her across the face. She's never heard Frankie lose it like this. Ever. She's even struggling to recall a time where she went off like this on a villain or monster.

Pale as she already is, Gabrielle's color has drained to being sheet white.

"I...I don't even know what this ritual is supposed to do. I..." she doesn't even really get a word in edgewise as the berating continues. Her color comes back, but this time in her cheeks as she blushes in shame as she gets yelled at in front of Daemon. She quarter turns away from him to mutter in the phone.

"N-no, he doesn't," she murmurs. There's a whole lot Malcolm doesn't know, including the illegal impersonations to get to Mysterion. Maybe she should just leave that part out, too. It won't improve Frankie's mood.

"It's something that happened to him when he was young. I'm trying to find a way to fix it! Now will you stop yelling at me and tell me what this was??"

Ghostfist must not be wearing her Helligator Skin Coat. She pauses to breathe, letting Grimm get a few words in edgewise. Daemon may be pretty sure that he can hear Frankie still seething on the other end of the line, even as Grimm turns away from him to better shield her phone conversation.

There is a long, long pause before Frankie lets out a heavy sigh. It's the sort of sound that brings to mind an image of a cloud of fog or smoke rolling out of Ghostfist's nostrils. She may or may not have also punched something in the background.

"You're messing with Fate, Gabrielle," intones Ghostfist, voice suddenly tired, "And I mean that literally. This ritual is meant to MESS. With. Fate. It needs ten powerfully symbolic artifacts to even set up the ritual space properly. And the magician performing the ritual needs to have a powerful personal reservoir of magic. You can't be using the blessings of gods, goddesses, or spirits of any stripe; it's gotta be /YOUR OWN/ mystical power on tap."

There is another pause. Ghostfist may be moving around for unexplained reasons on the other side of the phoneline. She punches something, solidly, in the background while she collects her thoughts.

"This thing is meant to let someone access a mystical plane that Fate has decreed is off-limits. It's not a place people are supposed to go to anymore. It's a realm so tainted and dangerous that Fate - /FATE/, Grimm, /FATE/ - is keeping gods and heroes and living legends out."

"Ten...?" That may be the wrong response from Grimm. She's trying to recall what ten artifacts Professor Mysterion had in his ritual circle, but to Frankie, it probably sounds like she's more seriously considering the logistics of how to perform the ritual.

She straightens up a bit at the talk of a tainted plane. "That...sounds a little like the...the...Col'vrassa," Grimm may be drunk-slurring the name. "At least, the tainted part."

Gabrielle frowns and thinks. "Is there anything about people being cursed by Fate for being involved in the ritual?"

Ghostfist sounds like she's getting irate all over again. Something gets hit hard enough that a bone is clearly heard splintering over the phone. What in the hell is going on wherever it is that Ghostfist is? Wasn't she supposed to be on a boring old infidelity case?

Breathe in. Ghostfist holds her breath, possibly waiting for a drunken Grimm to sober up and comprehend what she's being told. Breathe out.

Frankie seethes audibly on the other end of the line.

"....nooo," Gabrielle answers to the question of being drunk. Like a guilty child.

She listens to Frankie rant a little about the pages. "Well, at least now we sort of know what the villain was trying to do. We have more pages if it'll reveal more about what happened. I'm not planning on performing any rituals, so calm down already."

She thoroughly despises rituals after what was done with her. But she can't honestly say she wouldn't try to perform one if it meant saving Malcolm down the line. He wouldn't want that, of course, which is why she hasn't said anything to him yet.

"So wait, does this thing mess with Fate or, I dunno, neutralize it?"

Harlequin is not connected.

Dialydd is not connected.

"It bypasses Fate, Grimm," growls Ghostfist.

There is a long pause. No doubt the comic has several panels that jump back and forth between close-ups of Ghostfist, Daemon, and Grimm's faces with shadowy backgrounds. It emphasizes the pregnant silence between the two women on the phone.

Well that actually sounds perfect for saving Malcolm, but that also sounds awful and terrible. "Wait, wait, wait...so...is there any notes in the ritual about that cosmic retribution being redirected to someone other than the ritual master?" Gabrielle rubs her chin in thought. "Hmm...what if...Malcolm accidentally interrupted the ritual and got to the other side, but failed to get the blessing because he was just an innocent who got involved..."