The Witches' Road - Paris HFC Library
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xp_logsParis: 3:30pm. As arranged, Clea, Topaz, Amanda and Megan are granted access to the HFC's magical library.
The last time they'd been to the Paris Hellfire Club, it had been undercover. This time, they were there in their own identities, and their own clothes. Amanda could feel the disapproval radiating from the flunky who guided them through the catacombs to the library beyond and she felt a perverse urge to broaden her accent and wipe her nose on her sleeve, just to mess with him. Instead she waited until he held the door of the library open for them and thanked him in her best French. The twitch of his jawline was worth it.
As she crossed the threshold, she felt a strange sensation - or rather, a lack of one, as the ever-constant thrum of magic suddenly went silent. She could feel Paris surrounding her, alive and aware to her particular senses, but the magical energy was gone. She shifted her shoulders uncomfortably and turned to Topaz, who entered the room behind her. "That first step is a doozy."
Topaz stepped through rubbing the back of her head and squinting as she looked around. "Yeah." Her eyes, of course, went straight to the books. It was far more organized than the last magical library she had been in. She appreciated that.
"Merci Matheo." Clea said before walking through the threshold. She was glad she had earned favor quickly within the inner court since she joined the Paris HFC. "We don't have a time limit in here, but the magic in here should shield us from any outside interference." The red head put her hands on her hips. "Okay. There has to be something here that will help us. Books here span hundreds of years old."
"Any ideas on how to narrow it down?" Pixie asked, her eye drawn to a spine decorated in intricate gold leaf. She knew better than to judge a book by its cover in this situation, however, as she began scanning the shelf labels. "Should we look in magical history? Or grimoires? These grimoires probably have the weirdest illustrations." She rubbed her chest absently, hoping they wouldn't have to look at books of demon magic. "Or what about obscure occult lore?"
"I don't suppose there's a card catalogue," Topaz said, her eyes scanning the books. "Look for anything on the Winding Way. I'm certain this goes back to all their talk about picking a path."
"Check out anything about magical history too, especially Salem and the Salem Seven. There has to be some way to get these bitches off our backs," added Amanda as she picked a shelf and pulled a book at random - magic relied on coincidences enough that she was a firm believer in blind luck and who knew? Maybe it would go their way for a change.
Paris: 12:15 am. Many, many hours later, they finally get a hit.
Time passed. The piles of possibly helpful volumes grew then shrank as one after another was eliminated. Matheo came and went, bringing strong French coffee and pastries and carafes of water and tending to the fireplace as it burned low. The four women moved around the deceptively small space, working their ways through the shelves in their own particular ways.
"Ladies!" Clea called out as she emerged from the far end of the library holding two old leather bound books, one was small and the other was large and thick. "I found something." She set the large book and opened it to a page written in Latin with the words Via written on top. The grimoire looked to be from the 12th century, old but protected by magic. On the pages was a circle with engravings and a list of ingredients, and steps on how to perform the ritual.
Clea waited until everyone had gathered before reading what looked to be on the last few pages of the journal.
"February 9th 1710. I awoke to another nightmare. My mother made me drink the horrible brew again saying it will chase them away. The white and black rocks won't stop coming. My mother says to ignore them. She was part of a coven back during the trials, but left when her fellow sisters were killed. She wanted to protect me as I was only 2 at the time. We've been hiding since then. I've seen omens. My mother has too. The crow, coyote, snake, fox, rat, and an owl. I've seen them in the woods, just watching. Now they plague my dreams. I don't know what to do."
"February 15th 1710. They aren't just creatures, they are girls. They look to be around my age. My mom keeps muttering and has been fortifying our home with wards and has been looking through our family's grimoire every day looking for a solution. I haven't slept in two days because when I do, the nightmares are waiting. I haven't seen a rock since yesterday. Is this also a sign?"
"February 17th 1710. She found something in the grimoire about the strange looking rocks, the Winding Way. We have gained the attention of others, and they must have sent us rocks. But they had stopped coming for three days. And now those girls in the woods have surrounded us, they have turned our wards against us and we cannot even leave. My mother found another ritual. Via. It is called the Road. It is dangerous, but she says it might be our only way of escaping whatever it is that is after us."
"February 18th 1710. These girls, they are the Salem Seven. Daughters of those who perished in the Trials. I dreamt of them last night. They were calling to me. They had sold their souls for vengeance but in return, they were bound to serve anyone who summoned them. They were summoned to hunt my mother and I. When I told my mother, her face turned white and told me it was time to enter the Via. We will call upon the Road to give us the strength to escape our tormentors. If anyone reads this and you find yourself in the same position. Look for my family's grimoire. Look for the Witches' Road."
Clea closed the journal and looked around. "That was the final entry, but this is the family grimoire. And this is the ritual to summon Via. The Witches' Road."
Topaz peeked over Clea's shoulder, re-reading the passage. "Call me crazy, but I'd like to find out a little more about this Witches' Road before we stake our lives on it..."
Pixie startled at the mention of tainted souls. "This is it," she said, more to herself than the others. "The rocks, the signs. It all points to the Witches' Road. I don't know how much time we have, but ready or not, I think we have to try," she added resolutely.
Amanda hesitated. On the one hand, it would be sensible to continue to research, find something which collaborated the grimoire and move ahead in a logical manner. On the other hand... time was tight, and back in New York her teammates, her friends, her lover, her students, they were vulnerable to the Seven. Every hour they spent researching was another hour of peril.
Fire bloomed in her mind's eye. Pixie, Billy, Wanda, Strange - she'd seen them die at the hands of the Dark Phoenix. Would she have to do it again?
Her jaw tightened. No. Never again.
"Cross-reference for another half hour. Everything and anything you can get on the Salem Seven and The Witches' Road. But that's all - we can't do bugger all in here magic-wise and we need to get back." She barked out the orders in a tone totally unlike her. " If this Road is the way we can end this, then it's what we do."
Paris, 1:30 am. As they leave the library, they're in for a nasty surprise.
The catacombs and the labyrinth from the Hellfire Club library were dark and winding, the walls of the tunnels shored up with piles of human femurs, decorated with grinning skulls. In contrast, the exit door was almost too mundane, a plain metal fire door with a push bar and an almost comically normal "EXIT" sign glowing above it. Amanda paused before it to make sure everyone was through the catacombs.
They'd researched another half hour after finding the Witches' Road grimoire. The results had only emphasized the dire position they were in. The Salem Seven were essentially unstoppable - once on the scent of a target, nothing could be done to turn them aside, not even killing them. Whoever had recruited them against the Xavier's magic users was serious about the "join us or die" part of the Winding Way recruitment spiel. As for the Road, there'd been little in the way of collaboration, just hints and rumours and the magic user equivalent of urban myths. But there'd been no other solutions offered. So in the end, the Road was the only thing to try, and they'd left the library to attempt the ritual beyond the library's anti-magic field.
"I still don't love it," Topaz muttered, looking at the research they had gathered. "It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice, but I don't like it. Secondary problem that we should probably address at some point is who hired them. But that's for another time."
Clea had been reading the ritual throughout the catacombs as she had checked out the grimoire from the library and was beginning to stuff the book into her satchel. "The Witches' Road seems like the only option. I am just surprised there wasn't more on the subject. And I checked other grimoires. Seems this grimoire may hold other surprising secrets." She patted her satchel. "As for the arses who put the scary Seven on us, we'll have our revenge. Just need to survive first."
Pixie smiled grimly. "No one's claiming responsibility for the Seven yet, but we can figure all that out later. Do you think the information on the Witches' Road has been deliberately suppressed? Nevermind, that doesn't matter right now, either. Let's get out of here."
"Don't need to ask me twice," said Amanda, pushing on the exit bar, George the werelight flying out ahead of her. The street was empty and silent, let only by a few old-fashioned street lights. "All clear," she added, leading the way out.
The door clanged shut behind them, vanishing into the stone wall, and all hell broke loose.
A black owl swooped at Amanda's face with a screech, talons aimed at her eyes. She ducked, but only barely, only to be knocked down by the black coyote that barreled at her.
"Shit." Clea held up her hand as the Crow came up and peeked at her flesh. Purple swirled around her finger tips as she casted a shield, causing the Crow to bounce off. "How the bloody fuck did they get here so quickly?"
"Doesn't matter," Topaz said, bringing up a shield as well. "Pixie, cover Amanda. Clea, get us out of here."
"Go away!" Pixie shouted as she unleashed a bolt of pink energy, lighting up the stone walls. The blast struck Owl's wing, sending it crashing to the floor. Before Pixie could catch her breath, she caught a skittering movement along the wall. Rat lunged at her, jaws open, yellow teeth bared. Pixie's wings blurred as she twisted away, releasing another bolt that blasted it mid-air and sent its body flying. She brushed furiously at a stray feather that clung to her hair.
There was a flash of flame and a yelp as the Coyote was flung back and Amanda staggered to her feet, fresh gouges in the shoulders of her leather jacket and a scratch on her cheek from the Owl's claws. "For fuck's sake..." she grated, looking wildly around. "These fuckers don't bloody quit..."
On cue the animals turned into black smoke and swirled around before forming around a single individual who seemingly merged from the darkness. The figure was familiar to Clea and Topaz, as both of them had seen her lurking outside of the XF building. Her mask wasn't of an animal, but of a spiral circle. The smoke resumed shape into six figures standing behind Vertigo.
"Shit." Clea looked at the Salem Seven as they started to chant. Clea pulled her sling ring out of her pocket and started to concentrate to open the portal back home. The chant was growing louder, almost echoing in her ear. "GO NOW!" Clea yelled as soon as one of the offices in the XF appeared in the golden portal.
Pixie didn't recognize the woman, but something about the spiral mask twisted her gut. She grabbed Amanda's arm and bolted, hurling them both through the portal.
"Sorry, no passengers," Topaz said, raising a hand and firing off a flash of magical light. It exploded into little dots around their attackers faces, blinding them as she hurried into the portal as well.
Once Pixie, Amanda, and Topaz were through, Clea followed and closed the portal right on her heels, leaving the Salem Seven behind.
The last time they'd been to the Paris Hellfire Club, it had been undercover. This time, they were there in their own identities, and their own clothes. Amanda could feel the disapproval radiating from the flunky who guided them through the catacombs to the library beyond and she felt a perverse urge to broaden her accent and wipe her nose on her sleeve, just to mess with him. Instead she waited until he held the door of the library open for them and thanked him in her best French. The twitch of his jawline was worth it.
As she crossed the threshold, she felt a strange sensation - or rather, a lack of one, as the ever-constant thrum of magic suddenly went silent. She could feel Paris surrounding her, alive and aware to her particular senses, but the magical energy was gone. She shifted her shoulders uncomfortably and turned to Topaz, who entered the room behind her. "That first step is a doozy."
Topaz stepped through rubbing the back of her head and squinting as she looked around. "Yeah." Her eyes, of course, went straight to the books. It was far more organized than the last magical library she had been in. She appreciated that.
"Merci Matheo." Clea said before walking through the threshold. She was glad she had earned favor quickly within the inner court since she joined the Paris HFC. "We don't have a time limit in here, but the magic in here should shield us from any outside interference." The red head put her hands on her hips. "Okay. There has to be something here that will help us. Books here span hundreds of years old."
"Any ideas on how to narrow it down?" Pixie asked, her eye drawn to a spine decorated in intricate gold leaf. She knew better than to judge a book by its cover in this situation, however, as she began scanning the shelf labels. "Should we look in magical history? Or grimoires? These grimoires probably have the weirdest illustrations." She rubbed her chest absently, hoping they wouldn't have to look at books of demon magic. "Or what about obscure occult lore?"
"I don't suppose there's a card catalogue," Topaz said, her eyes scanning the books. "Look for anything on the Winding Way. I'm certain this goes back to all their talk about picking a path."
"Check out anything about magical history too, especially Salem and the Salem Seven. There has to be some way to get these bitches off our backs," added Amanda as she picked a shelf and pulled a book at random - magic relied on coincidences enough that she was a firm believer in blind luck and who knew? Maybe it would go their way for a change.
Paris: 12:15 am. Many, many hours later, they finally get a hit.
Time passed. The piles of possibly helpful volumes grew then shrank as one after another was eliminated. Matheo came and went, bringing strong French coffee and pastries and carafes of water and tending to the fireplace as it burned low. The four women moved around the deceptively small space, working their ways through the shelves in their own particular ways.
"Ladies!" Clea called out as she emerged from the far end of the library holding two old leather bound books, one was small and the other was large and thick. "I found something." She set the large book and opened it to a page written in Latin with the words Via written on top. The grimoire looked to be from the 12th century, old but protected by magic. On the pages was a circle with engravings and a list of ingredients, and steps on how to perform the ritual.
Clea waited until everyone had gathered before reading what looked to be on the last few pages of the journal.
"February 9th 1710. I awoke to another nightmare. My mother made me drink the horrible brew again saying it will chase them away. The white and black rocks won't stop coming. My mother says to ignore them. She was part of a coven back during the trials, but left when her fellow sisters were killed. She wanted to protect me as I was only 2 at the time. We've been hiding since then. I've seen omens. My mother has too. The crow, coyote, snake, fox, rat, and an owl. I've seen them in the woods, just watching. Now they plague my dreams. I don't know what to do."
"February 15th 1710. They aren't just creatures, they are girls. They look to be around my age. My mom keeps muttering and has been fortifying our home with wards and has been looking through our family's grimoire every day looking for a solution. I haven't slept in two days because when I do, the nightmares are waiting. I haven't seen a rock since yesterday. Is this also a sign?"
"February 17th 1710. She found something in the grimoire about the strange looking rocks, the Winding Way. We have gained the attention of others, and they must have sent us rocks. But they had stopped coming for three days. And now those girls in the woods have surrounded us, they have turned our wards against us and we cannot even leave. My mother found another ritual. Via. It is called the Road. It is dangerous, but she says it might be our only way of escaping whatever it is that is after us."
"February 18th 1710. These girls, they are the Salem Seven. Daughters of those who perished in the Trials. I dreamt of them last night. They were calling to me. They had sold their souls for vengeance but in return, they were bound to serve anyone who summoned them. They were summoned to hunt my mother and I. When I told my mother, her face turned white and told me it was time to enter the Via. We will call upon the Road to give us the strength to escape our tormentors. If anyone reads this and you find yourself in the same position. Look for my family's grimoire. Look for the Witches' Road."
Clea closed the journal and looked around. "That was the final entry, but this is the family grimoire. And this is the ritual to summon Via. The Witches' Road."
Topaz peeked over Clea's shoulder, re-reading the passage. "Call me crazy, but I'd like to find out a little more about this Witches' Road before we stake our lives on it..."
Pixie startled at the mention of tainted souls. "This is it," she said, more to herself than the others. "The rocks, the signs. It all points to the Witches' Road. I don't know how much time we have, but ready or not, I think we have to try," she added resolutely.
Amanda hesitated. On the one hand, it would be sensible to continue to research, find something which collaborated the grimoire and move ahead in a logical manner. On the other hand... time was tight, and back in New York her teammates, her friends, her lover, her students, they were vulnerable to the Seven. Every hour they spent researching was another hour of peril.
Fire bloomed in her mind's eye. Pixie, Billy, Wanda, Strange - she'd seen them die at the hands of the Dark Phoenix. Would she have to do it again?
Her jaw tightened. No. Never again.
"Cross-reference for another half hour. Everything and anything you can get on the Salem Seven and The Witches' Road. But that's all - we can't do bugger all in here magic-wise and we need to get back." She barked out the orders in a tone totally unlike her. " If this Road is the way we can end this, then it's what we do."
Paris, 1:30 am. As they leave the library, they're in for a nasty surprise.
The catacombs and the labyrinth from the Hellfire Club library were dark and winding, the walls of the tunnels shored up with piles of human femurs, decorated with grinning skulls. In contrast, the exit door was almost too mundane, a plain metal fire door with a push bar and an almost comically normal "EXIT" sign glowing above it. Amanda paused before it to make sure everyone was through the catacombs.
They'd researched another half hour after finding the Witches' Road grimoire. The results had only emphasized the dire position they were in. The Salem Seven were essentially unstoppable - once on the scent of a target, nothing could be done to turn them aside, not even killing them. Whoever had recruited them against the Xavier's magic users was serious about the "join us or die" part of the Winding Way recruitment spiel. As for the Road, there'd been little in the way of collaboration, just hints and rumours and the magic user equivalent of urban myths. But there'd been no other solutions offered. So in the end, the Road was the only thing to try, and they'd left the library to attempt the ritual beyond the library's anti-magic field.
"I still don't love it," Topaz muttered, looking at the research they had gathered. "It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice, but I don't like it. Secondary problem that we should probably address at some point is who hired them. But that's for another time."
Clea had been reading the ritual throughout the catacombs as she had checked out the grimoire from the library and was beginning to stuff the book into her satchel. "The Witches' Road seems like the only option. I am just surprised there wasn't more on the subject. And I checked other grimoires. Seems this grimoire may hold other surprising secrets." She patted her satchel. "As for the arses who put the scary Seven on us, we'll have our revenge. Just need to survive first."
Pixie smiled grimly. "No one's claiming responsibility for the Seven yet, but we can figure all that out later. Do you think the information on the Witches' Road has been deliberately suppressed? Nevermind, that doesn't matter right now, either. Let's get out of here."
"Don't need to ask me twice," said Amanda, pushing on the exit bar, George the werelight flying out ahead of her. The street was empty and silent, let only by a few old-fashioned street lights. "All clear," she added, leading the way out.
The door clanged shut behind them, vanishing into the stone wall, and all hell broke loose.
A black owl swooped at Amanda's face with a screech, talons aimed at her eyes. She ducked, but only barely, only to be knocked down by the black coyote that barreled at her.
"Shit." Clea held up her hand as the Crow came up and peeked at her flesh. Purple swirled around her finger tips as she casted a shield, causing the Crow to bounce off. "How the bloody fuck did they get here so quickly?"
"Doesn't matter," Topaz said, bringing up a shield as well. "Pixie, cover Amanda. Clea, get us out of here."
"Go away!" Pixie shouted as she unleashed a bolt of pink energy, lighting up the stone walls. The blast struck Owl's wing, sending it crashing to the floor. Before Pixie could catch her breath, she caught a skittering movement along the wall. Rat lunged at her, jaws open, yellow teeth bared. Pixie's wings blurred as she twisted away, releasing another bolt that blasted it mid-air and sent its body flying. She brushed furiously at a stray feather that clung to her hair.
There was a flash of flame and a yelp as the Coyote was flung back and Amanda staggered to her feet, fresh gouges in the shoulders of her leather jacket and a scratch on her cheek from the Owl's claws. "For fuck's sake..." she grated, looking wildly around. "These fuckers don't bloody quit..."
On cue the animals turned into black smoke and swirled around before forming around a single individual who seemingly merged from the darkness. The figure was familiar to Clea and Topaz, as both of them had seen her lurking outside of the XF building. Her mask wasn't of an animal, but of a spiral circle. The smoke resumed shape into six figures standing behind Vertigo.
"Shit." Clea looked at the Salem Seven as they started to chant. Clea pulled her sling ring out of her pocket and started to concentrate to open the portal back home. The chant was growing louder, almost echoing in her ear. "GO NOW!" Clea yelled as soon as one of the offices in the XF appeared in the golden portal.
Pixie didn't recognize the woman, but something about the spiral mask twisted her gut. She grabbed Amanda's arm and bolted, hurling them both through the portal.
"Sorry, no passengers," Topaz said, raising a hand and firing off a flash of magical light. It exploded into little dots around their attackers faces, blinding them as she hurried into the portal as well.
Once Pixie, Amanda, and Topaz were through, Clea followed and closed the portal right on her heels, leaving the Salem Seven behind.
