Fearsome Looking Woman's page

She turns and heads for the trapdoor. "Look, the clock is ticking. If I found out about this so will others. You're jumpy enough I think you know that - but you haven't left. Either you are trying to find others - in which case 'Hello' - or you are stuck here trying to get a job done, in which case I could probably help."

assuming at least a few mathematical symbols are visible
The fearsome looking woman looks at the paper and sighs. "Alright, I think we're on the same page. If I'm wrong, you have my apologies."
Slowly she waves a hand at - and then through - the paper, her eyes trained on the man in front of her.
"Is that what you were looking for?"

Sorry, I noted a real dearth of ooc text in my reading, and I didn't want to ruin that. I try to avoid putting ooc text in. I feel like the spoilers are less intrusive, and while if there is a lot of stuff I'll stick it in discussion that means people have to manually synch between two threads (and given the issues the site had recently could be problematic...)
How should I proceed in the future?

A little more time, it seems. Or he lied, in which case I could probably rely on him to spend some more time investing in that lie - perhaps enough to find out.
How to find out if he was a practitioner, then? The 'Laundress' downstairs had said he used clockwork, but it could have been a simple timer.
I resolved to test his knowledge; if he proved knowledgeable enough to be a practitioner and I was wrong, I'd bite the bullet and either train him, or kill him before he jammed a cog in the gears of reality. Either way it was going to be a problem in my yearly review - and the last thing I needed was another CLM.

"No! If there are any here I'll prove it. I don't believe those below are either." She nods to herself.

"Can't." the woman apologises, hands still up and otherwise immobile. "I can explain why - assuming your clockwork..."

I was caught on the horns of a dilemma. I could tell he was going to shoot me, and even if he didn't the projection was already starting to unravel. I didn't have time to find out if he was in the know, and I couldn't explain without it - For that matter, I wasn't sure I could explain even if he was in the know.
If I only had time for one question, I'd better make it count.

She sighs and looks at the gun "Are you a Nazi?"

"Calm down!" The Fearsome woman calls out, hands up, eyes down and apparently doing her level best not to look threatening. "I'd say there's about a reasonable chance we're affiliates!"
"Can we just talk for a moment?" she shrugs "Even if you are going to shoot me, I'd think you'd want to try to question me first!"

Moving with almost unnatural speed up the ladder, the Fearsome looking woman rushed ahead. "Wait!" she cried, as she pushed up through the now open trapdoor.

The fearsome woman shrugs "As you've no doubt guessed, this is a projection. I'll come back with information if he kills me. Password is 'sandbags'."
confirming Titus speaks English?

"Elias? Nein." The fearsome woman switched to English "Me? I needed help with a job. I found out something arcane happened here, and made top speed. I figured in this city a fight amongst practitioners leaves only two real sides, and I was looking to hire one of them."
She sighs and looks up towards the attic. "Now, while this is a wonderful place to chat, maybe we should hurry up and leave? Chat later? First, though, I want to find out more about the man in the attic - it would make sense he is aggressive if he was just involved in this. If someone can lift the trapdoor, I'll head up."

The woman shrugs "Du machtest". amusement at her own wit
"Ich habe nichts bei mir, um ein Feuer zu löschen. Wenn Sie irgendwelche Ideen haben, dann sprechen Sie. Meist wollte ich reden und hier raus - bevor die Behörden auftauchten, um peinliche Fragen zu stellen."
"sprichst du Englisch?" cunning

The fearsome looking woman continued to walk very slowly from the backstage onto the stage proper. She'd only just passed the curtain, and at the words from above squints past the light to see the pyre.
"Das erklärt den Geruch. Ich bin auch vor kurzem angekommen und kam von dort zurück." she gestures with a thumb back to the backstage wall. "Ich habe gehört, dass es hier einen Konflikt gegeben hat." she says with a shrug, and a scowl.

I was happy, but good with this. I ended up reading some spoilers for context though. So...
The fearsome looking woman stops, and pivots to look directly into the light - though she brings back one of her hands to shade her eyes. She looks to the door, and then back to the light.
"Shoot me, or let's talk." she tells the light, rapidly moving through Czech, English, German, French and finally stumbling Latin.

The fearsome looking woman starts 'Cancelled projection? Quantum teleportation? Phase shifting? I'm going to have to hope good old photon displacement.' "Wait!" she hisses into the empty air.

Momentary confusion The fearsome looking woman freezes for a second, then continues smoothly. "Perhaps. That's the trouble with word of mouth." decisiveness "I've no real idea who is who..." she gestures to herself "Or I'd be here in person. I did hear this job was larger than most - I’m not sure who is Affiliated, who is Independent and who is one of your Competitors."

She hesitates, and continues. "Don’t you washerwomen have a way of recognising each other? Otherwise I’m happy to lead the way - except that I’m stuck within about ten feet of here. If you want me to go further I’m going to have to either throw on something a little less pretty, or turn up underdressed. In fact…" the fearsome woman grins disturbingly amusement, adrenaline "I think I need to know who we’re planning to dance with so I know what to wear."

I legitimately have no idea how those spells are going to interact, but seems cool. For the record…
will: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
Have used ooc for emotions

The big woman has no fear, just worry - a woman late for a train, a man late for an interview. Apparently she has a headache, and her senses are active to the point of pain - a hangover, perhaps? A wave of relief issues as Katherine talks, washing away the worry - a long bet that paid off? The big woman relaxed a little, peering around but apparently not spotting Katherine. puzzlement, respect
”Just glad you turned up at all. I knew there were ‘washerwomen’ in the city, but finding any of you has been a pain.” wry amusement, and echoes of physical pain so large as to be almost painful to perceive ”I am not a washerwoman, but I am in the cleaning industry. An Affiliate, rather than a competitor, rest assured. I have a big job, too big for me, and I need a group if I am going to get it done. Pays well, and I’m prepared to be positively royal in my remuneration. A mutual client recommended you highly, and I understand you may have a job in the same area as mine.” a mind that takes joy in puzzles, and in this twisted double talk. Stretching it out beyond need.
”I assume you and your cleaning crew are here to clean the ‘House, given that rather unpleasant smell? I’m happy to lend a hand as a show of good faith. I’m good at getting rid of Nasty amusement stains.” worry now - but not fear, more that of a gambler worried she has overplayed a weak hand
”You sound stressed. Are you worried the job is taking too long, or is there someone here stopping you working?”

'About ten minutes and ten feet' Ada reflected, taking in the environment 'I'll need to... what is that smell?'.

She sniffs again, nearly gagging at the smell. 'Smells like that time that possum was hiding under the BBQ. Burnt flesh, and fur - or hair.'

There are, of course, any number of rituals that would have helped identify what the smell was - but none I could pull off through a resonance link without at least an hour's work and a kilogear clockwork. It didn't really matter, though. This was not a smell associated with a place of civilisation - it was a smell more associated with war, and death, and horrors. Little doubt something had gone down, and odds were my Laundry targets and the Ahnenerbe had clashed, lethally.

Pounding headache, short on time, not able to explore, and projecting into an occult crime scene. It seemed like my day couldn't get worse.
I worked through the angles. If the Laundry were dead or had already left then I'd lost my lead and would have to start again, or go solo. So assume they are still here and not dead. If they tried to leave I had perhaps a 3 in 10 chance of seeing them from my window, based on the angles. I might be able to use a stored procedure to track them via magical residue, but I didn't like my chances, and the longer I left it the worse it was - and I'd need to go over there in person.
So I needed to get them to come to me, or leave in a hurry. I could just call out, but in a hostile city they'd have to assume a trick.
Of course if they were dead than the Ahnenerbe were probably still here. Anything that called the Laundry was going to call them as well - and they had no reason to run. On the other hand there was very little chance they could hurt me through a projection, so I could afford to take some chances - as long as I didn't go over there in person. Which I needed to do if I was going to track the Laundry.
Therefore I needed to get whoever was here to come to me. Fast. Whatever I did, they were going to come hostile.
And just like that my day got worse.

Ada takes a deep breath - psychosomatic of course - and yells in English. "WE NEED TO TALK! NOW!" Then goes silent, and listens to the echoes. She gives it a count of 5 - long enough for people startled tense to start moving "I DON'T HAVE ALL DAY!"