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A discreet invitation by Walsingham comes to Hearth's attention. An address is provided to her and a general time and schedule is provided, a rather narrow one, which might speak to the disguised urgency of the polite request.
A person of interest has been captured trying to break into one of the secondary sanctum of our order. However it appears the man was under the influence of some form and he is terrified. We need you to acquire as much information as you can out of him. Fear seems like a bad initial approach, so I believe you would be ideal a candidate to conduct this intervention
It appears the invitation leads to said secondary sanctum.
Hearth arrived in her 'professorial' sartorial regalia- neatly tailored grey slacks and a sharp looking black linen blouse with the cuffs turned back. She'd also woven a veiled mind spell to improve her First Impression upon the subject she'd be meeting. She tapped at the door of the sanctum, taking a look around while she waited for admittance to see if there was any evidence of the break in on the exterior.
The Sanctum itself is accessed through the back door of a closed-down building with boarded windows. One tap on the door and it opens, quietly, from the inside, letting Hearth inside. The first room is filled with crates with three crowbar hanging from a rack within arm's reach the second you step inside of the building.
A Man is inside and quietly points toward a trap door, behind one of the crate. "The guy's in there. I'll watch in case more trouble comes."
"Very good, thank you" Hearth said. She gave him a little wink and produced a little single-size cupcake box for him. Strawberry with swiss meringue frosting. "What's the story with him thus far?"
"He triggered our perimeter alarm, I got here he was trying to open the door." A shrug. "He doesn't respond to my methods. Asked Walsingham for reinforcement." A man points to Hearth "That's you."
She moved over to the trap door, peering down through a slit, murmuring the Mantra softly as she ran her mistletoe pendant around the edge of a tiny granite pestle before releasing her spell.
The magic function as intended and the work Hearth does to contain the paradox causes a mild headache for a brief moment
Hearth grimaced as the paradox punched her, but smoothed her expression back to nonchalance before she turned back to the Man. "Alright, I'll see what's up then." She spoke up a bit louder, just enough for the man below to hear if he was listening. "I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation, no point in terrifying the poor man." She opened the trapdoor, and climbed on down!
The man is skinny, a washed red t-shirt with what seems to be a brand marking in the front, it's so faded it's almost impossible to make out the sigil over it, but it appears to be a lightning bolt. The jeans he's wearing ae way, way too big for him and in stead of a belt in the loop, there's a yellow rope that makes Hearth's hand itch just by looking at it. He's not wearing socks and it feets are sandy and dirty.
In fact he looks quite unwashed, though he doesn't smell too terrible. He's shaved bald, with only stubbles both in beard and hair.
He breathes in relief when Hearth enters the room, his wide brown eyes fill with tears. "What's happening? Why am I here?" His speech is stiff and odd
Hearth smiled kindly, dug into her purse and pulled out a (sealed) waterbottle. She passed it over to him and raised an eyebrow. "Just the questions I was going to ask you, actually! But what's your name? Please, call my Holly."
The man grabs the water bottle and downs it in one go, droplets of it falls down his chin, clearly he was thirsty. He takes a moment to be quiet and blinks several times, his eyes moving to the side as he struggle to remember "I think it's Jason?"
"You don't remember?" she asked gently. "What do you remember? Can you tell me how you got here?"
"I walked? I don't know where I was, I'm not even sure why I was getting here I..." A deep breath. "I was cold I think? Or I thought I was home?"
Hearth opened her sight as she nodded. "I don't think anyone could blame you if you were just looking for a warm place to rest," she said. "Do you live around here, Jason? Is there someone we can call?"
The sight lights up and even without trying to scrutinize and reveal anything, Hearth's sights reveal the presence of a soul, the advanced state of wear on his clothes and the presence of a single point of potentia in his pattern. Upon hearing the question.
"No, I don't remember a home, or ever having one? I remember I could call someone but I... don't have my phone on me anymore."
She kept studying him, focusing in on the potentia that clung to him as she spoke. The details of the conversation weren't as important as building rapport and getting him to get in the habit of talking to her. "I'm sure we could help you find your way home. Are you from Philadelphia? Did you grow up here?"
"I know of Philadelphia yeah, Is that where I am now?" He looks around, momentary panic rising again as if he doesn't recognize what's happening around him for a brief moment, but settles down rapidly.
"Well right now you're in my house," Hearth said, sounding a little amused. "Which is why my friends were so concerned to find you here. They weren't expecting you. Where did you come from?"
Hearth studies the mystical patterns around the young man, piercing through the soft layers of mysteries around him, around his condition. The first thing she reveals of note is that her First Impression spell effect? They seem to be implanted in a Indefinite fashion on the young man rather than the intended duration, she could pull the spell away still, but her Will has applied differently to him.
A flash of insight as she focuses on the potentia in his pattern it draws her attention to a slightly darker area of his red shirt, blood. The flimsy wisp of energy emanating from the pattern of that potentia? The Lower Depths seems to be the point of Origin of this mystery.
"I ... I don't know." His voice is fading as he stares up to her eyes full of nothing but fright.
"I'll help you," Hearth said gently. "We'll figure this out and help get you back home.
With those words he just stops replying and stares vaguely toward Hearth, a thin smile on his lips.
Hearth frowned slightly, still focused on the magic within him. The Lower Depths weren't particularly her area of expertise but as she reached out to pat him on the arm, she also reached for that spark of contaminated potential and tried to pull it out from him.
The potentia slips out easily at her pull, no resistance put up or anything, no reaction, no words, the man's eyes now completely empty, his smile still there as long as Hearth is in sight.
The potentia drawn out is a pale, crytalline substance that looks like any other tass she's held before. Further examination, however? May reveal more.
Hearth shivered, and took another quick glance with the Sight. With his empty eyes, did he even have a soul now that she'd removed the tainted power from him?
A soul is still present within the man, her Death sight confirms it.
"Well that's something," Hearth muttered as she rose. "I'll get you some dinner," she told him as warmly as she could muster. "You can stay here for a while, while we figure things out." Then she scurried up to the trap door- navigating surprisingly well in her pumps.
The smile on him dims when Hearth disappear from sight, he remains quiet and immobile.
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