Sunday Bloody Sunday

[Carthrat]

As Cadfael trudges through Berlin, he notes the shift the city takes, from slightly industrial office-areas, to fairly busy outer-city mall-type places, to downright suburbia. Hours pass as he walks, and before he quite realizes it, it's midnight.

He finds himself in a fairly dodgy-looking neighbourhood. Ramshackle houses abound, and frequently, dogs are heard barking about him.

Abruptly, he feels the familiar feeling of someone trying to search him out. But it's different, somehow. The familiar feeling of hot water- magic- is tinged with.. something that, in his own mind, feels a little acidic.

Either way, it feels, like ever, to slide off his mind. If it's a divination spell, it's probably much the same. However, it just doesn't *feel* like normal magic. And because most forms of magic boil down to essentially the same thing, that can be a little worrying.

There's no outside reaction in the world to this effect, either.

[Bjorn]

Odd.

Cadfael keeps walking, outwardly showing no signs of his experience, but his mind races.  A different magic is dangerous, for obvious reasons, but also compelling.  It was a search for a more controlled form of sorcery that led to runecraft in the beginning.  Whatever this was...

Some things are worth the risk.  Reaching into an inner pocket, Cadfael pulls out a sharpie, and quickly traces out the Rune of Mystic Sight on his left palm.

[Carthrat]

The Rune of Mystic Sight blessed Cadfael with.. a rather disconcerting vision. Usually, it gives a clear indication of where magic is coming from, if not what it's actually supposed to do. However, the mystic sight seems to manifest itself as an almost sickly green light that keeps popping up in his peripheral vision. He can't focus on it, and he can't tell where it's coming from, but it's always there, and it's a niggling thing that just doesn't go away, even when his eyes are shut.

[Bjorn]

Very odd.  And bad.

Under other circumstances, Cadfael might have stopped to experiment.  But he doesn't have the time, and any investigation might draw attention he's been trying to avoid.  Instead, he continues on, but veers sharply off course, taking a new route to try in the hopes that this... effect might be spatially limited.

[Carthrat]

Veering off spatially doesn't seem to help much. Instead, the peripheral sensing of greenstuff seems to be getting stronger, starting- worryingly- to overlap his current vision, creating some disorientation.

[Bjorn]

Cadfael frowns slightly, marking the first time this night that anything other than a blank expression has crossed his face.  Licking his thumb, he rubs the rune off his palm -- an unnecessary gesture, as he dispels its effect through will alone.

[Carthrat]

The green fuzz dissapates, but Cadfael can still feel a slight aura of wrongness about him. That's not so unusual with regard to strong magic. The weaker stuff might not be noticed by normal human senses, but ripping cosmic forces in a potent manner certainly does wonders for that sixth sense.

[Bjorn]

Try this, then.

Stepping off to the side of the sidewalk, Cadfael crouches down.  Reaching inside his jacket, he pulls out a piece of road chalk, and with broad strokes, draws the Mana Flare rune.  He pauses, unsure before activating it.  Have to hope other watchers think this is a trick.  

And then, without giving himself another chance to reconsider, he activates the rune.

[Carthrat]

Crackles of lightning accompany the mana-flare, and apparently, does pull off some good, because the prickly feeling slips away from Cadfael easily.

That being said, the area around the manaflare is going haywire. An electrical box practically explodes, and half the lights in the houses nearby turn off, quickly followed by a series of vocal curses.

[Bjorn]

Such is to be expected.  Magic rarely cooperates.

Quickly, Cadfael rises, dragging his foot through the rune to partially erase it, and then resumes his trek to the edge of town.

[Carthrat]

While the eerie feeling has initially dissapated, after about fifteen minutes, it soon comes back- and you're getting a headache. A constant, throbbing pain.

[Bjorn]

Options seem few at this point.  The only option would be to do more magic, and that would only lay a more obvious trail.  On the other hand, should whatever is happening get worse....

Worth a shot.  Cadfael pulls out the sharpie again, and this time inscribes the Mindshield rune on his palm.  Hopefully, this rune is passive enough that its use will be hard to detect.

OOC:  Might be misremembering the rune's name, don't have my character sheet at work.

[Carthrat]

The familiar feeling of a spell slipping off his mind is felt by Cadfael (it's really getting old, tonight).

Almost immediately, despite the fact that his manaflare rune has been cast out, Cadfael feels another surge of magical power in the locale area. Doesn't feel like a divination spell, though. More like one of them-force effects that younger mages seem so fond of.

Like, say, a spell of Great Speed.

It's coming your way, and looks to be around that southern corner, near the ramshackle shanty with an outhouse and crackling power lines.

[Bjorn]

Quickly, Cadfael looks around, trying to find an alley or other dark place to take cover in.

[Carthrat]

You could dive behind a fence, but it's pretty dark around you, at any rate.

Excepting, off course, the car that rockets around the side, bathed in crackling lightning that's causing windows to explode, blaring exceedingly loud rock music and causing that mystical sight thing to go haywire as Cadfael notes the car is most definately sheathed in a spell of 'Lightning Speed', or some such.

The Cabal is usually more subtle. The car is screaming along to your position, and it'll be there in, what, five seconds, tops?