We Do Not Have a Thread Section For Hong Kong (Dabbler)

Hong Kong had a lot to offer. Most of it stayed above ground, but a few of the more valuable trinkets laid beneath the surface. Now, it seems odd to say most of the offer came above ground when talking about the licit goods since a good number of shops and subways made their way underground for decor reasons, and the offers being pursued actually rested above ground within the lair of a powerful lich, but too many details might be dropping out within these lines.

My name is Amethyst. I'm a witch. Well, apothecary. Actually, more of an alchemist. Possibly an alchemist. Let's just go with witch for now- but a good one. I made my way to Hong Kong on a boat, probably the worst way to travel nowadays- at least on a cargo ship that is, but I needed to get in a fairly fancy gala, while carrying an unfashionable amount of flasks and vials. So, a cargo crate full of fish would be my entry point.

I didn't always hide inside the crate of course. I just hopped in here, with a thermal blanket to try and keep the smell of fish off my clothes. And now I just wait until the crate stops moving. And probably until it shifts in dialogue.

Hong Kong did offer a great deal of secrets to those who knew where to look for them. With so many backstreets and underground dealings, many times it became easy to forget the powerful elite of major cities always kept the best for themselves. And when people willingly forget to chase their own constructed secrets, it becomes much easier for the best secrets to remain hidden in plain sight.

These secrets did not escape the watchful eye of Sara Biton, nor did it escape her new counterpart, Elaine Angara. The two of them made their infiltration of the Wong Institute of Antiquities two days before Amethyst ever arrived in Hong Kong. Sara played it simple with a purple skirt, while Elaine wore a black dress a little too short to do cowgirl work in. Initially they wanted to stake out the building and know what to look for in such an exotic location.

When Amethyst finally pulled herself out of the crate, still no message came to her. Amethyst tossed aside the thermal blanket and patted down her black skirt, unwrinkled the rolls in her black shirt, and fastened the snaps on her boots. Again, black. "Time to get cracking. No call yet, but I'm sure I can get something magic going to figure out where those two went off to." In a matter of minutes, Amethyst would find out more than she ever wanted about magic. Well, actually, Amethyst could never learn enough about magic, unless it killed her.

Some time before the present...

Dabbler ended up in Hong Kong when she saw an ad for a Chinese restaurant. Except it was a Cantonese Restaurant, and was in Hong Kong. Reality groaned and got out of bed for this big teleport, as Dabbler bent the fabric of space-time like a toddler neatly folding the wrapper of his first Christmas gift to appear on the cold, snowy, densely populated island in Asia.

She walks around and finds the place well and easy enough, but she didn't realize the immense language barrier present in insular Hong Kong. So what if we talk in a barely comprehensible English, we're rich, suckers. The waiters, the staff, the people on the street, all found it especially difficult to translate what Dabbler wanted. It probably had something to do with most of them running away at the sight of the four armed witch of the mid-west.

Night falls, and the Dabbler was hungry now. She wandered the city evading the local metahuman response services, and sees two rather under-dressed women outside a Antique Shop. A drop of Dabbler logic inferred they must not be natives considering their attire.

She comes up to behind Elaine and Sara, as in, poofed up right behind them like that one friend who was always late. "HEY EXCUSE ME! Do you speak English? You don't look like you belong here. This country is sooooo weird, everyone talks in gibberish. Whatcha lookin' at? Also aren't you cold in your get ups?" She asked merrily, looking at all the shiny things inside with them.

So this part happens before I ever get there. Once Elaine and Sara get some resolution, which I know nothing about and will be trying to unravel, I can start trying to get to the part where we stop whatever evilmonger is happening to try and ruin the sanctity of life and order with an ancient relic. I probably can't go into much detail without ruining the surprise, so- oh Sara and Elaine already did some stuff.

"Woah, you just kinda snuck up." Sara pressed her hand to her heart as the little witch-demon-monster managed to find Sara and Elaine in their hiding spot, overlooking the veranda hosting a number of archaic devices. "We're not cold. Quite the opposite." Sara pointed down to her stockings. "Pantyhose. It's pretty good."

"I think the relic of Oblivion's Second Sun is on the right side. Was there an Oblivion's First Son? You think they would have stopped making them." Elaine lowered the device in front of her, taking stock of Dabbler for the first time. "Is she selling something or should we just tape her up?"

Dabbler took in what Elaine said. "Waitaminute. Are you casing this place? Are you... thieeeeeves?!" Dabbler asked with exaggerated alarm, thinking perhaps she had spoiled some evil doers before they had broken in and stolen something.

Thinking perhaps that she would be the do-gooder for a change, Dabbler immediately goes to seizing these ne'er-do-wells. By seizing, involving chaos beams, cthulhu tentacles, teleporting and lots of collateral damage, depending on how much they resisted. The witch didn't quite think it through though- she had no idea how to contact the police who were supposed to handle things like this, so Dabbler settled on a closed zoo in town, where the animals were taken indoors for the winter.

Dabbler incarcerated them, and assumed the responsibility of feeding them hot dimsum and providing warm clothes. This then devolved into her ranting about how she was always being thrown in jail for something she did, so she decided to do it to others first. The rant would eventually go in another direction altogether, perhaps about the time she once freed all the animals at a zoo but ended up getting most of them back in captivity anyway, and about animal rights and how the human race was a destructive invasive species...

Elaine and Sara resisted. A lot. With geokinesis, shadow jumping, and a number of other techniques, but it did not allow the two to escape.

They did however leave important information about the relic they sought. Dangerous and destructive. And the witch they needed to help use it. Not so dangerous and rarely destructive. But, the information did not readily explain that. Nor did Elaine readily make it more understandable. Sara and Elaine listened to the stories with little interest. Sara tried explaining the situation, but it did not seem as though the conversation was meant for dual participation. The last thing Sara said, after refusing the clothes for the sixth time, was asking if Dabbler could get her and Elaine to the Gala at the Wong Institute to meet with Amethyst.

And now we get back to me. With my black clothes and black boots. Sara and Elaine said they would make contact when I got here, but no contact. No Elaine. No Sara. Gets a girl worried you know, but alas, I am making my way to this fancy gala. With fancier clothes than one would expect. One being me, but hey, when in Rome, you are probably in Hong Kong, and you should dress the part. Red, silk, dress, black lotus print along the side, and a slit running along the side. Very nice ornate design in a very Chinese fashion. I'm sure Elaine and Sara look the part as well.

It would be nice to have an invite to this thing. The building looks big enough, but all the openings are closed up. Better switch perspectives.

Running along the main doors stood an red carpet for the elites of the world to display themselves in a higher level of importance than the antiquities being displayed. Amethyst moved towards the side of the building, looking for an opening, before finally succumbing to her use of magic. It would put out a sign, signalling anyone capable of detecting magic, but it also let her get inside of the gala.

"Now, I just need to find someone I know. Or something I know about." She ducked suddenly into  a corner to avoid a security camera. "I hope security here isn't too rough. I hope they straight up don't have security."

"You're not very good criminals if you're ratting out your fellow thief. Well, I suppose I should do the responsible thing and catch her too!" A figurative light bulb turned Dabbler's convoluted mind. She would go and hunt... er, find and apprehend this third thief.

She begins making stage magician type hand gestures over her face, followed by some lame excuse of an incantation. "Hugs and Kisses, Chaos and trickery! Your voice face now belong to me!"

Dabbler's form morphed before their eyes, going from little gremlin witch to a 95% accurate copy of Elaine. Borrowing her hat raised it to about 98%, leaving only Dabbler-Elaine's eyes as unchanging. Having spoken to Elaine enough she could even mimic her voice.

"...With this, your friend will definitely come near me. Then, KAPOW!" She said, her voice now mimicking Elaine... except in the tone department, sounding like Elaine had helium.

With that, Dabbler-Elaine leaves her captives in their cell, teleporting back to the Wong Institute, not even knowing the face or name of Amethyst.

Strangely enough, Dabbler never actually bothered to cuff Sara and Elaine, having spent a total of ten seconds looking for handcuffs before giving up. She didn't really bother with picking a sealed off enclosure either.

Searching around the grounds for tell-tale signs, Dabblaine picked up on the arcane mark like a big ol' Krispy Kreme red light, and followed in through the opened door... Love is an open dooooor.... ahem, likely only minutes behind Amethyst. Whereas a cautious and logical intruder would avoid cameras, Dabblaine would likely linger in front of one, waving into it.

Sara and Elaine both put up resistance. Lots of resistance.

And Amethyst ran into something very peculiar. Elaine. Not peculiar because of Elaine's normal habits, but because she typically hated cameras due to her belief they put a different soul into your body. "Elaine?" Amethyst made her way towards the even more erratic acting well dressed cowgirl. "What are you doing? We need to get the Gem before something goes wrong. I think that fox demon might be behind all of this somehow. And where's Sara? Is she already making her move towards the gem? Do I just need to get into position? What's my position?"

The gathering in the main exhibit hall grew more close as the social elites from around the world gathered around. Each exhibit began to float above the gala goers, ushering in looks of amazement from an event most wrote off as a stuffy antiquities museum. Most only looked for a way to get their photos taken to be listed in the culture report of a major newspaper, or at least  a prominent blog, but a few in the audience still looked for something else.

Dabbler's attention was diverted by Amethyst, who addressed her by the cowgirl thief's name. "Ohhh... Sara? Yes. Sarah is around. Definitely. She is. The gem. we should get it. Now. Your position is the most beneficial position... which would be beside that vent right there."

If by some miracle Amethyst fell for that incredibly stiff performance worthy of the gods of trickery, From the vents would come the grasping tentacles that would ensnare this no-good thief. Dabbler wasn't so focused on success in capturing though, as there was a magic trick going on outside.

"Wow you're a pretty good witch too, aren't ya?! if i let ya go, would you teach me how to do that?" She asked Amethyst, whom she assumed was responsible.

Something about Elaine seemed off. And something about that seemed right. "I'm standing by the vent? Well, okay, but you still haven't told me exactly what all is about to-"

A near miss swung out from the vent, barely missing Amethyst as she stepped forward- oblivious to the peril. "Witch? You usually call me 'Hermione' and whenever I do something with magic, you normally just call it devil worship. I'm not even getting mixed signals from you. I'm getting, replaced with a curse, kidnapped by aliens, or had a real change of heart and decided to be a more open person. I immediately disregard the last, so someone mind controlled you, or someone kidnapped you. Well, kidnapped Elaine."

Within the exhibition hall, the floating display revealed the shimmering blue and orange gem said to contain the power to control a force so great, it could rend reality apart for a split second, and allow whomever controls it to rearrange time how they wished.

"Clever too. Well, I suppose I can't judge, she must've been your girlfriend or something, so you have lots of stuff between you two I don't know about..." She morphed into gremlin demon witch, and let out a sigh of relief. "...but you were planning to steal stuff, weren't cha? well, I'm not going to jail this time. So come quietly! And quit it with the magic show!" Dabbler pointed to all the floating magical items outside, as she slowly approached Amethyst, wanting her to give up without a fight.

"The magic show, but I haven't-" And a magic show broke out anyways. Some times magic came from places other than Amethyst or whatever creature currently acted as an impostor for Elaine. "Okay, here's what's going to happen." A small container of cigarettes popped out of Amethyst's purse, along with a lighter. A small flame ignited the end of the cigarette and Amethyst took a drag. "Zap her up. Wrap up her. Tie her with a bow." The words trailed out with a puff of smoke along with the incantations.

Wrapping paper would surround Dabbler, holding her in place, while a red bow would wrap around her mouth. "Now, I'll need to get that gem, and then find where you have Elaine and Sara." Amethyst reached into her bag and pulled out a flask. "I'm going to need this."

Now we're back to how I am going to deal with this situation. So the little demon is tied up and I can say without any doubt, she deserves this. Now, I need to get that gem in a room crowded with people. If the crowd is the problem, the best solution is getting rid of the crowd. That is where this little slice of heaven comes in. Just pop the top and- oh, wow, I should have put a delay on this thing.

One good toss and the bottle shatters. I've got a knack for this kind of thing I guess. Probably not a surprise since I throw bottles as a primary defense mechanism. I should probably be better, but now we do some muttering. 'A little bit of air keeps the smell out of my hair.' And now I've got five feet of breathing room while I make my way towards the gem.

Everyone seems to hate the smell. I guess it worked out in my favor, but this rather plump lady almost plowed me over. Maybe I should have waited a minute, but I don't know how long the little demon will stay tied up or how long the confusion will remain. These shoes are not comfortable to move in. Wasting a spell for better shoes seems wasteful, but- oh, I think I just bumped into the pedestal holding the gem. And now, I have the gem.

While Amethyst grabs the gem, the Wu foundation pops into action. Vents come on to begin removing the contents of Amethyst's vial from the vicinity. It however does leave Amethyst and the gem. "Time to relocate. Thanks for the gem." Amethyst took another drag and muttered a line. "Moving on up, to the East side." The heels on Amethyst's shoe dropped, giving her a flat to take off on. "I'm saying thanks for the gem in the case you plan on using it for evil. Sorry for taking it if you don't know about that."

Amethyst jumped the ledge, making her way back towards Dabbler.

"Heeeeeeeyyyy mmmppph-!" Dabbler did not take kindly to being encased and turned into a holiday gift, but didn't have the dexterity to succeed her reflex save.

Dabbler was a squirmy little wormy for a while, being annoyed, perplexed and intrigued all at once by this state of ambulance. She remembers a time when she was polymorphed into a worm... meh. She misses the entire commotion Amethyst caused, and had a severe dislike of missing out on things.

Once Amethyst returned she decided to stop with the shenanigans. Using some handy-dandy metamagic, she willed some evil cthulhu tentacles from the Dark Beyond to capture Amethyst, grab her by the limbs. They emerged from the floor and vents so suddenly, while she melted her way out of the wrap-up spell. "Somebody's brain needs a good punching! You bad guys never learn. Crime. Doesn't. Pay." She'd rant as she got to her feet.

Amethyst did good so well. It did not matter to Dabbler, whom Amethyst still did not know why such a small little demon harbored such a sense of justice. An ill placed sense of it as well. The gem in Amethyst's hand began glowing with a black power. It coursed more with each passing second. "It was normal a minute ago. What the Hell made it go so-"

Tentacles wrapped around Amethyst's limbs, binding her arms to her body and her legs tightly against each other. "Stop using dark magic! You're making this gem go crazy!" The darkness within the gem began to engulf the entirety of the gem. "Crime doesn't pay. I just noted that. I'll pay it back. Now let me go and- oh wait, I have magic."

"Abra Kadabra. Pikachu! Charizard!" Lightning would shoot out of Amethyst while a breath of fire erupted from her mouth, trying to get rid of the tentacles around her- and maybe a little witch too.

"I'm not a dork! you are! what kind of dork magic is that!?" Screeched the little gremlin witch.Dabbler shook both left fists at Amethyst, having heard that only slightly wrong, watching as her summoned otherwordly but totally not evil slimy tentacles recoiled in pain from the elemental attacks. They retreated into the holes in the walls they emerged from, returning from whatever terrible, er, pretty fine dimension they came from.

Dabbler was quite determined to right this wrong doing. Though not the fastest hands on a witch, she did have the ability to pass through hell as she teleported, appearing next to Amethyst in a puff of sulfuric smoke. Dabbler tries to swipe the gem and get away again. "Talk to the hand!" She also decides to try and distract this nefarious witch by showing her the totally not creepy demonic eye in the palm of her hand.

"That's the power of friendship magic. You wouldn't know about it because you're a little demon spawn and don't have any friends." Amethyst watched as the tentacles retreated, giving her freedom to get away from the walls. Her retreat moved her to relative safety- the worst kind of safety. Clutching the beating gem, Ame knew something wrong sat in the air. It permeated every crevice of the room with a malfeasance. "Wait, she stopped! Shouldn't this thing calm down?!"

Dabbler sprung her attack before Ame could get her answer. The weight of the gem disappeared from Ame's hands, leaving the apothecary dumbfounded as to what just happened. Well, not what just happened, but how it just happened. She knew Dabbler stole it long before she turned around, but this witch's power seemed unconventional to say the least and- "Oh my god! What is wrong with your hand?!" Ame withdrew from her chase, taken off guard by the mutation. "Something, something, I don't know. Magic?" The spell failed to materialize. Obviously.

Ame snapped her fingers. She knew she could not keep Dabbler from escaping, but she did know of something else. "Where there is darkness, I will make their light. Show me her presence, so follow her I might."