On Her Majesty's Occult Service (Laundry RPG)

There wasn't much left where the museum had stood—some half-completed construction work that had likely run out of funding halfway through. Forgotten bricks and metal rods lay scattered around the base of a metal frame that protruded from the ground like the ribcage of a metal behemoth. As the first group entered the premises, a small ghost light flickered into existence in front of them and began to float away at walking speed.

Hmmmm. Udo accompanied Smithson, ostensibly as a bodyguard. He brought up his phone, pointing it at the light, and activated the Trueseer app with a tap of his thumb.

Lurking somewhere behind the first group Rosella observes the results of the first pair's probe.

Jennifer looked at Udo, feeling a little nervous about the situation. Unexpected developments were never good. Fortunately, the backseat driver in her head had decided to stay silent for once.

"Getting anything worthwhile?"

The app revealed nothing except a small exonome, barely more than an idea, flitting around ahead of them. It seemed pretty obviously intent on guiding them someplace.

More worryingly, however, was the large glamour field surrounding the construction site, and a large source of power someplace beneath them.

"Yes," said Udo quietly, switching over his phone to email and dispatching a less-than-routine status report to the office: large glamour field in evidence, type unknown. Conjecture, to keep away civilians. Probable involvement of other major occult players. "Magic. Lots of it." One hand went instinctively to his ward. "I think, nothing to do but follow..."

There was no response from home office—the message had likely been filed away to search for magical bugs that might have hitched a ride, or checked for use of unauthorized terms, or something. It would be a while before they heard back.

Meanwhile, the ghostlight flitted away, toward a half-fallen pile of scaffolding.

Rosella takes due note of the will o' the whisp leading away the first pair. Turning to the other half of her own 'team' she shrugs.

Only pausing to eye Ros's contingent warily—as he might be expected to do, if they did not know each other—Udo simply gave a nod. "We follow, ma'am," he said. In practical terms, they were now the trailing element.

Jennifer agreed with the decision to trail behind. She didn't like the wisp leading them on, and was all too wary of the possibility they were being lured by something rather nasty.

"Stay well back, Udo. If things go bad, we need as much of a head start as we can get."

Soon, the wisp merely hovered over a hole in the ground, no longer moving away from them. As they approached, the air shimmered, and the hole turned into a large stairwell leading into the dark underground. The wisp vanished, its purpose served.

Udo frowned minutely, scanning the stairway for traces of magic, although that was to be expected: summoning a low-class exonome just to guide visitors indicated a certain amount of magical expertise. "Probably best to continue on," he said. Again he gave no sign of having recognized either Ros or Marcellus as he passed them, a step ahead of Jessica.

Something pulsed at the bottom of the staircase, a bright well of energy gleaming in the viewfinder on Udo's phone. A thin glamour laid over it, hiding it from passerby and concealing it with an unnatural shadow and a slight feeling of unease. The glamour probed at the agents' wards, causing them to tingle slightly against their holders' skin, but went to further—it was not designed to repel, merely discourage.

"Udo, you have far more field experience than both of us together. Cox is all for grabbing whatever it is, to hell with the consequences. I think it would be more prudent to wait. Mind breaking the tie?"

Jennifer really hoped Udo would side with her. She didn't want to risk her fragile body. That was something Cox tended to forget. Humans have a tendency to go squish when too much force is applied.

"I think we wait to grab it," said Udo, glancing at Jennifer and being very careful not to point the scrying app at her: no point seeing what could not be unseen. "Depending on security here, if we just smash and grab we might draw too much attention."