Spell Ingredient Shopping and Hitting the Books
San Francisco, USF, Turner Kramer’s Dorm, Afternoon After Kramer’s Death
Lumina had been mildly infuriated when Corinth stamped out his cigarette into the carpet. Not only was it horrifically disrespectful, but it was also not an insignificant risk to leave such an obvious trace of their presence in a place upon which they were trespassing. She wondered if he had even been aware of his behavior, or if he had been acting mostly on habit and muscle memory.
Despite her anger, Lumina was thoroughly impressed with how quickly Corinth solved the cipher. The nature of the Halliwell Sisters was not known to her, but if Kramer thought there was something important about them, perhaps following up on this code could reveal more about him and why he had been killed.
“I mean, sisters of Fate? That’s a bold claim. Still, this is something new. You’re a Warlock, you like books and stuff right? Think the library here might have something? Shit, probably not, but it wouldn’t hurt to check. Maybe I can find something on the sisters, address at least. Think There’s a phonebook around here? Yeah, I doubt it. Haven’t seen one of those in years. Still, I can make some calls and see what I can find. Meet you at the car in an hour to compare notes?”
“Sounds like a plan chief,” Lumina replied to Corinth. “I’ll also plan on trying to purchase some minerals for spells that might be hard to find elsewhere while I’m here, hopefully this won’t take me too long, but I will let you know if I get held up.” Lumina was about to walk out of the room with the fringe physics textbook but then paused as she looked again at the cigarette in the carpet. She wasn’t sure it was her place to tell Corinth what to do, but considering the risks, she felt she needed to say something. Summoning as much courage as she could, Lumina pointed at the cigarette and stammered, “Oh, and one last thing… Can you clean that up? W-we can’t afford to leave such obvious traces of our presence in this place that we are not legally supposed to be. We need to be more careful.” Putting her money where her mouth was, Lumina took a photo of the code Corinth had detected and went back to the closet to place the book where she had found it. She then hastily made her exit from the dorm.
Lumina decided to go shopping first. Asking around, she found her way to the storeroom, where she was able to get directions to someone she could buy supplies from. Although she got a curious look when she provided her motley list of ingredients, ranging from phosphorus and sulfur to gum arabic and bat crap among others, the ingredients themselves were innocuous enough that they were willing to sell them to her.
Once she paid up, she made her way to the library, which was easy enough to find with additional directions. Lumina was starting to get used to helpful people throughout the campus aiding her by this point, so her first inclination was to ask the librarian what she knew about the Halliwell Sisters. It turned out she didn’t know much, other than that she vaguely recalled seeing somethings in the news about them awhile back. While not super helpful, of note was that the librarian was pretty sure that she had heard about them in the local news, so at the very least the Halliwells had been at or near San Francisco. After thanking the librarian for her time, Lumina texted Corinth and asked him if he had found anything on his end. As he had predicted, He had been SOL when it came to finding a phone book, let alone one with the Halliwell Sisters in it. Lumina relayed what little she had learned to him, after which Corinth informed her that he had suspected that their address was most likely nearby and that he had already reached out to his handler for help in acquiring an address. Dalia would hopefully have something for him soon. This reminded Lumina that she could probably get such help from her own handler, so she reached out to Owen and asked him if there was any chance he could look up police reports on the Halliwell Sisters in the Greater San Francisco Metropolitan Area. He replied that he would see what he could find out once he got out of a meeting.
With that angle covered, Lumina decided to see what she could find out about the Warren Family. Warren was not a particularly uncommon last name, but after quite a bit of research, Lumina was able to cobble together a list of fairly well known Warrens, ranging from actresses and models to photographers and politicians. Apparently one rather infamous Warren had been a matriarch of a family in Salem Massachusetts that had been accused of witchcraft during the infamous period most people think about when they think of Salem Massachusetts. Perhaps she has some relation to the Halliwell Sisters, who seemed to have rather witchy vibes? Probably not.
Another detail that Lumina found during her research was that there had apparently been a Warren living in Florida over a century ago that had disappeared under very unusual circumstances. What those exact circumstances had been were not being elucidated in the article she found, but they had apparently been so bizarre as to be considered noteworthy enough to make it into the public record. She probably wouldn’t have made much of this event except for her own unusual experience the night before when her Clairvoyance spell had reacted unusually with the trees near where Olivia had perished. A little bit more reading suggested that the Warren that disappeared in Florida was likely a descendant of the Warren matriarch in Salem. Certainly curious. If the Halliwells were related to these Warrens, then there was potentially a connection between Olivia Warren and Turner Kramer. Could there be a connection like this to Gail Iris as well?
All of this left Lumina with more questions than answers, but they weren’t answers Lumina thought she was going to find in the USF Library. Just then, Corinth texted her back. Dalia had found an address. 1329 Prescott Street. Apparently the Halliwell Sisters had lived in a now abandoned manor in the older part of town, which was still known by the locals as the Halliwell Manor. Dalia had also reported that the place apparently had an ill reputation, which perhaps explained how a property like that in the middle of the city hadn’t been bought up yet. Lumina asked Corinth to look up the street view of the address as she returned her books and papers and made her way back to the car.
As she did so, Owen called her back about his findings regarding the police reports involving the Halliwell Sisters. Apparently one of the sisters and a police inspector had been killed near the manor, and other deaths of neighboring residents were suspected. There were also reports of strange parties that occurred at the Halliwell Manor. By the time Lumina made it back to the car, it was obvious to her that it would likely be worthwhile to visit the place. There was just too much weirdness involving the place to overlook it.
Lumina met Corinth at the car and started to gush about her findings when he stopped her. “It sounds like we have a lot to talk about, and I’m famished. Let's get something to eat and catch up there.”
Lumina’s stomach growled as if in response, and she felt herself flush. The cheap complimentary breakfast at the hotel hadn’t quite cut it, and it was getting close to two. Lunch was a good idea, especially considering that they were going to an abandoned house likely previously inhabited by members of the Secret World. Lumina had learned to be prepared for anything in a place like that.