[IC] [Mage: the Awakening 2E] The Supernal Suburbia

[rwknoll]

Lynx
Your keen senses pick up a very faint rumbling sound. You can't tell where it's coming from, but you didn't hear it a few minutes ago. You're not sure, but it seems to be getting slightly louder as you strain your ears to hear.

[crapcarp]

Phoenix
Peripheral Sight | Active Spell(s): None
Health: BOOOOOO | WP: 0/5 | Mana: 4/10 | Wisdom: 7 (Understanding)
Conditions: Grieving [Guilty] | Tilts: None

My blood quickens as I enter the black hallway. I'd look around a little more actively, were it not for me being so mentally exhausted. Looks like I can get quite the view without seeing the Aether any way. Four days a mage, and already I'm walking in space. What's next, chatting up the alien overlord? Ah well, come what may, I slow my running down to a quick walk as I take in the new surroundings while in pursuit.

WE THOUGHT TO RULE THE HEAVENS

Oh I'm sorry, did I say it was a recording? I meant to say broken record.

Perception check

Wits 3 + Composure 2 = 5 dice → 1 success

[Caladriu]

Moonstone
Active Sight: Mind/Space. Active Spells: Outward Inward Eye [see in all directions, scene duration, potency 1: advanced]
Conditions: Divergent (Active), Abyssal Imago (3 Reach), Abyssal Backlash (+2 Paradox)
Health: X/OOOO | Willpower: 0/8 | Mana: 2/10 | Beats: 2/5 | Arcane Beats: 2/5

Moonstone hurries along after Phoenix and the echo, tucking his mirror into his bag along the way, and vaguely hoping that Binder follows their trail okay once he makes it through the portal- he should have been here by now!

And then they're in the star chamber with the impossible floors, and he just stops and stares at the constellations in every direction and from every angle at once. Without thinking, he says out loud to the echo: "Atlantis."

Wits+Composure: 3 success

Also I'd like to roll Intelligence 1+Occult 4 (Awakened Magic), my profession skill with 9-again, to see whether all this rule the heavens/punished for hubris stuff is sounding familiar and especially if there is anything I should say to the echo to demonstrate awareness, or things I should be looking for on the starmap. What's going on here? 0 successes, let's make that a dramatic failure for a beat. Turns out Sleepwalkers don't get the full story on the Lord Xenu space opera stuff about the Time Before.

[rwknoll]

OOC: Sorry for the delay. I just started a new job this week and I've been busy getting my new apartment set up!

Phoenix
You're a pretty perceptive and intuitive guy. You can tell that aspects of some of these constellations and galaxies look like highly detailed representations of astronomical phenomena visible from Earth -- and others are probably not. It's like this hallway shows all of the universe. Your mind, even your Awakened mind, struggles to comprehend it all.

You can tell from the sound of her voice that the "woman" is moving farther down the hallway. You could be hearing things, but you also think you faintly hear a distant, rumbling sound.


Moonstone
Even with the stars moving around you in a brilliant and complex display of light, you can feel the wall as you brush your fingertips along its surface. For all its glamor, you know that this is a kind of illusion, basically magical wallpaper. You're able to follow the woman's voice with ease while still taking in the sights around you. You also distinctly notice, albeit faintly, a distant rumble. You're not sure where it's coming from or what might be causing it.

As you move along the hallway and study the stars, your mind tries to take everything in. You've done more than your fair share of studies on the fables of the hubris that led to the Fall of Atlantis, at least from books that Hakim loaned to you or allowed you to read from his private collection. Based on this obscure information, you make a startling realization that you are convinced must be true: You aren't just learning about Atlantis, you've found it. Somehow this portal must be a bridge across the Abyss. You're not just seeing the aftermath of the Fall, you're breaking through it! And, based on what you read, that must mean you've gained considerable arcane power just by being here.

Sure, gain a Beat.

[Haberdasher]

RAGNAR

Active Spells: Serendipity
Conditions/Tilts: Poor Lighting (-2 to all vision-based Perception rolls)
Health: OOOOOOOO I WP: 2/4 I Mana: 8/10 I Wisdom: 7
Beats: 1/5 I Arcane Beats: 2/5

The sound of rumbling fills Ragnar with a little apprehension, but he recalls the impression he got from his earlier spell. This place doesn't hold any dangers. Is that a waterfall, or something? Feeling safe enough to approach the dais with the table, Ragnar leans forward to examine it, observing the craftsmanship and instruments it carries.

Ragnar examines the table to learn whatever he can from it.

Wits 2 + Investigation 2 = 4 dice -> 2 successes.

[Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon]

LYNX

Active Sight: None
Active Spells: Heightened Senses (Life 2; Potency 1, 1 week duration: +1 to Perception rolls); Body Control (Life 2; Potency 2, 1 week duration);
Willpower: 2/5. Mana: 7/10
Conditions/Tilts: Poor Light (Visual-based Perception rolls at -2); Inspired

"Do you guys hear the rumbling too?"

Lynx glances around the room, counting the number of openings, wondering from which one the sound originates. He then advances to one of these doorways - Let's check out the one to the left of the one we came out of. - and gazes into it.

[Caladriu]

Moonstone
Active Sight: Mind/Space. Active Spells: Outward Inward Eye [see in all directions, scene duration, potency 1: advanced]
Conditions: Divergent (Active), Abyssal Imago (3 Reach), Abyssal Backlash (+2 Paradox)
Health: X/OOOO | Willpower: 0/8 | Mana: 2/10 | Beats: 3/5 | Arcane Beats: 2/5

Oh yeah, huh, he probably is in Atlantis, isn't he? That would make a lot of sense, given how wild the past few days have been.

"Phoenix," he says to his companion, barely keeping his voice calm, "I believe we are in a place of very, very powerful magic. When I scrutinized the portal, it was both new and unthinkably ancient all at once. We are outside of time and destiny. The threads have not yet been severed here. The ladder has not yet fallen. We are before Paradox and before sin. Watch."

He plants his feet and points at the phantom woman, using his cracked mirror like a wand. Forming an Imago is still difficult with the Abyssal whispers and the gnawing at his psyche, but he knows it's no threat here, he just pushes the extra distance to make the spell conform to his desires. To boost his confidence, he tries to speak in an austere and commanding voice, although the effect is something like a kid wearing his dad's suit. "Stop. I am Moonstone, Awakened of the Iron Gauntlet, sworn to Pandemonium. You are lost and confused without a sovereign, and so I claim your fealty by right of, uh, my...Awakened will. Obey."

Casting Mind 2 "Psychic Domination" on the phantom woman, or trying to.

Three tasks for her to complete: "Acknowledge my sovereignty over you." "Tell us exactly where we are right now." And, "Lead us to the center of this place." Potency 2.

1 free Reach on instant casting. +1 for scene duration, +1 for sensory range, +1 for a complex task, +2 for 2 additional tasks. 5 paradox dice from Reach, +3 for this being my fourth Paradox roll in the scene, +2 from Abyssal Backlash. 10 paradox dice total. Of course I'm going to release any Paradox, containing hasn't gotten me anywhere so far, and besides, I'm in Atlantis, Paradox isn't real! 10 dice: 6 successes.

So that's fun. 6 Paradox Reach for the ST and yet another Paradox Condition for Moonstone, who is outdoing most Scelesti at this point. Spellcasting roll: Gnosis 1, Mind 2, +1 from Path tool, +2 from concentration duration, -6 from Paradox: chance die. failure. I would be remiss not to make that a dramatic failure (for an Arcane Beat) given the circumstances, so let's do that.

Does this whole situation count as fulfilling my Vice (Naive) or my Virtue (Bold)? I could see either one in this case. Also I'm pretty sure this counts as "failing to contain a severe paradox", which is a Wisdom sin.

[rwknoll]

Ragnar
You approach the dais and examine the table. The large stone basin has a dark, murky liquid resting in it. There is a small knife sitting on the table that appears to be made from a jagged, black stone. A large book is propped open on the table; upon closer inspection, it is written in complex symbols you've never seen before but somehow it seems familiar. It evokes the feeling you get when you're trying to remember something important but the details escape you.

A sudden gust of wind enters the room from somewhere. It circulates in the room, gently at first but growing in intensity as it begins to whip at your clothes. The rumbling is definitely louder now, loud enough that it's very obvious and easy to notice, and you feel the floor begin to vibrate underneath your feet.


Lynx
You gaze down the closest alternative hallway leading into this room. It's dark, but with your heightened senses you can make out that it looks very similar to the hallway you and your companions used to travel to this room. Based on what you've seen here, you guess that the hallways are probably all connected, but it could take hours or days to investigate them all.

The rumbling grows even louder. You can't pinpoint a direction because it seems to be coming from every direction at once. The floor and walls begin to shake, and you need to place a hand on a nearby wall to keep your balance.


Moonstone

Sorry I took so long to reply to your post. I needed some time to think about how to best use those Paradox reaches, and what impact it might have on the story. You gave me a lot to think about!

First, I do think your Vice applies well here. You may gain a WP for acting in line with your naïveté. However, choosing to release a severe Paradox does provoke a degeneration roll at the Understanding level. Because this is an act of hubris in line with your Vice, roll 2d10 rather than 3.

You speak with extreme confidence and excitement about your revelations of this place. After all, you have pre-existing knowledge about the Fall from your lessons with Hakim; how could you be wrong? And so you weave your magic, ignoring the dark feeling welling up inside of you and pushing far beyond your reach of control. You try to force your Imago into place, assuming some kind of control over this woman.

In an instant, everything goes wildly wrong.

The Mind spell collapses, snapping back and giving you a splitting headache that assaults your already weak mental fortitude. More importantly, your efforts to reach beyond the Lie to enhance your spell cause a tear in reality so large that...something forces its way through it. The brilliant display of stars and constellations dim, and then entire galaxies depicted in the room start swirling into a pitch-black vortex. From the impossible darkness, a humanoid creature emerges, with long, sinewy arms that end in talons. You feel a chill pass down your spine when the creature emits the deep, throaty laugh you heard earlier.

You feel a pulse of energy and see the "woman" move closer to you. To your Sight, her form solidifies and she almost seems for a moment to approximate a conscious mind. YOU HAVE DOOMED US ALL! BEWARE THE ANUNAKI! YOU MUST--

The woman's words end abruptly in a scream as the creature of pure darkness reaches out a hand and pierces her with its claws. You don't understand how it could be possible, but the woman's form falters and liquifies, collapsing into the nothingness in front of you.

The rumbling sound grows much louder, and the floor begins to vibrate. The creature stares at you unconcernedly and smiles. It's hard to look at, because all light around the entity swirls as if looking into a kaleidoscope, but you clearly see it smile. Its mouth has far too many teeth. It begins to glide towards you.

For the dramatic failure on your spell casting roll, take the Shaken condition. For the Paradox, you gain the Abyssal Backlash condition again but with +6 on your next Paradox roll. All 6 Paradox reaches were spent on the Abyssal entity. I'm giving you a bonus Beat for singlehandedly creating and allowing me to introduce a creature that is likely to drive the main plot, or at least a prominent subplot, for a period of time.

Oh, and roll initiative!

[Kvitebjørn Kong Valemon]

LYNX

Active Sight: None
Active Spells: Heightened Senses (Life 2; Potency 1, 1 week duration: +1 to Perception rolls); Body Control (Life 2; Potency 2, 1 week duration);
Willpower: 2/5. Mana: 7/10
Conditions/Tilts: Poor Light (Visual-based Perception rolls at -2); Inspired

Lynx feels his legs tremble twofold - Faen, not liking this. Deep breaths, deep... - as he looks over to Dr. Asphodel and Ragnar with a quiet whimper in his throat. He hurriedly moves back to the centre of the room with the dais, keeping his senses peeled in all directions, though there is a noticeable shiver of fear accompanying him. He calls out, slightly shakily,

"Dr. Asphodel! Hurry over here, we shouldn't separate!"

Lynx attempts a Wits + Composure roll to notice any danger and other incoming relevancies, and garners 1 success.

Roll for Wits + Composure → 1 success.

[Haberdasher]

RAGNAR

Active Spells: Serendipity, Divination (this round)
Conditions/Tilts: Poor Lighting (-2 to all vision-based Perception rolls)
Health: OOOOOOOO I WP: 2/4 I Mana: 8/10 I Wisdom: 7
Beats: 1/5 I Arcane Beats: 2/5

Ragnar's head snaps up. As the wind picks up, he starts to get a sickening feeling that something very wrong has happened. He head turns back to the table, and after a moment's hesitation, he seizes both the knife and the tome, and places them in his backpack. He turns towards Lynx and jogs over to him. "Something just happened, and I don't think it's good. I'm going to try and find out what."

Ragnar closes his eyes, and opens them again, now looking at Fate and Time. After briefly examining his surroundings, he allows his vision to refocus on the mundane. Taking a deep breath, he grips his silver knife close to him. Once again, he dips his mental finger into the stream of time. Is there danger if we remain in this place? Is there now a hazard between us and the portal out of here?

Ragnar uses Active Mage Sight with Fate and Time to examine the room, and then dismisses it. He then attempts to cast Divination (Time 1) to see if whatever has happened has created a hazard. He uses one free Reach to cast a spell beyond his spell limit, and the other free Reach to bump the Potency up to 2 to ask an additional question. He then spends an extra Reach on the Divination option to get specific answers.

The additional Reach creates the risk of Paradox. Ragnar uses his knife as a Yantra to try and lessen the Paradox.

Reach 1 - Dedicated Tool 2 = chance dice -> 1 success. So despite his best effort, there's still a Paradox that he has to deal with.

Ragnar chooses to contain the Paradox, since he doesn't know what it is and wants to spell to stay under his control. Wisdom 7 = 7 dice -> 2 successes. So the Paradox is contained, but he take a point of resistant bashing damage. If he has to spend any Mana to accompany that contain roll, he does so.

Gnosis 1 + Time 2 + Concentration 2 + WP 3 - Potency 2 = 6 dice -> 1 success.

[Caladriu]

Moonstone
Active Sight: None | Active Spells: None
Conditions: Divergent (Active), Abyssal Imago (3 Reach), Abyssal Backlash (+6 Paradox), Shaken
Health: X/OOOO | Willpower: 1/8 | Mana: 2/10 | Beats: 4/5 | Arcane Beats: 2/5

Aw jeez. Typical Moonstone. Causing the Fall of Atlantis to repeat itself in front of his eyes. He's a burden and a fool. He wraps his arms around himself in sheer terror as the entity shreds the illusory woman, and dearly desperately wishes Hakim was here. Which he isn't.

Wisdom roll: 2 dice. 1 success. I stay at Wisdom 7 and gain an Arcane Beat for making an Act of Hubris roll.

While we're here, let's roll Initiative. d10+7=12

And I'm gonna dismiss my Outward and Inward Eye spell so I don't have to deal with that Reach anymore.

If possible, I'm also going to reflexively scour my Abyssal Imago condition for 1 resistant lethal damage and 1 Arcane Beat? I don't know whether there's a limit on how many times I can do that per day.

Okay. Moonstone is responsible for this. He can fix it. Don't close your eyes, don't turn away. He raises the hoe he scavenged earlier and urges Phoenix: "Run."

And he proceeds to run like mad, trying to push past this thing and flee down the dark corridor in the direction the woman was going.

[Beans]

Dr. Asphodel
Spells: None
Conditions: Poor Lighting

Hearing her companions, the doc swiftly skitters over, wary of the shaking and the wind. She glances around, squinting in the poor light. "W-w-we... w'need t'get out of here. W-w's happening n-now?"

[crapcarp]

Phoenix
Peripheral Sight | Active Spell(s): None
Health: BOOOOOO | WP: 0/5 | Mana: 4/10 | Wisdom: 7 (Understanding)
Conditions: Grieving [Guilty] | Tilts: None

"What the fuuu-" the rest of my words droop out unformed. How could I form them? This...thing, just came out of the Abyss, and Moonstone brought it here. Words aren't enough to describe how much I wanna wring that dick's little neck! It's not my responsibility to clean up the mess he made. I should just let him die, he brought it on himself. Just let the idiot die from his own mistake, I don't owe him my life or anything. There's a good chance I'll die fighting that thing anyways, so I shouldn't.

Except I am.

No question about it. As much as that idiot should die for his mistake, he can't learn from it if he's dead. Besides, fighting monsters is my job. I shift into a stance, wielding my broom as a staff.

Initiative 5 + 8 = 13

Would fighting the big bad Abyssal to give Moonstone a chance to get away count for his Compassionate Virtue? Fighting a Rank 3 Abyssal with nothing more than a broom and weak magic seems pretty damn detrimental.

[rwknoll]

Lynx
The rumbling is growing, so loud that it practically deafens anything else your ears can detect. The floor, the walls, everything in this room is shaking as if threatening to collapse. However, you can't see any specific thing that could be causing it.


Ragnar
You quickly glance around the room with your Sight. The place seems to be changing before your eyes, but it's hard to comprehend. Before the rumbling, this place had a sort of timeless quality to it; that hasn't changed, per se, but there now seem to be ripples in the movement of time around you that weren't there before. The ripples share the quality of Time that you perceived when you used your Sight in Chicago. You don't have time to study the room with your Sight more, because you only look for a brief moment.

You feel a sense of certainty around you as you finish your spell. A vision of the very near future flashes around you: an athletic older man in his 50s or 60s, with short white hair and a closely trimmed beard, looking at you with concern in his eyes. There is no danger. The way out is before you now.


Lynx, Ragnar, and Dr. Asphodel
The rumble grows to a deafening roar. As it does, you feel an odd sensation throughout your bodies, a tingling sensation at first that begins to feel like a fire in your bones. The room...shifts, as if ripping apart. You hear a ripping sound, and in the middle of the dais you see a burst of light and a view of the alley where you first entered the portal. You feel yourself lurch, and then...

...you find yourself collapsed in a heap by the alley, each of you resting against the others. You have a headache, partially worsened by the bright light suddenly shining down on you.

As you try to orient yourself, a man looks down at you concernedly. "Are you alright?" he asks. "I knew I'd find you here, but I didn't know what condition you'd be in..." Ragnar recognizes him as the man he has been seeing in his divinations.

Before you take any actions or reply, please roll the following:

Ragnar: 2d10, then 1 chance die
Lynx: 1d10, then 1 chance die
Dr. Asphodel: 1 chance die

Moonstone
You bolt past the creature as fast as your legs can carry you. The realization of what you've done, what you've risked to yourself and Phoenix through your inability to contain the Paradox, washes over you like a wave of guilt and terror. You frantically try to rip the Abyssal contamination out of your soul. You do so, but it hurts, causing you to cough up blood as you run.

You do gain 1 Arcane Beat for risking a degeneration roll. You can scour the condition but I don't think you can gain the Arcane Beat for resolving it because you've already done so earlier in this scene, right? I haven't looked back in the thread recently. If you would rather wait until a new scene to scour it, and thus get the Arcane Beat, you can ignore the damage for now.

Phoenix
Despite the anger welling up in you at Moonstone's idiocy, you somehow find compassion and pity as well. Perhaps he didn't know what he was risking, but you do know what's at stake here, and you make the incredibly brave -- or stupid -- decision to stand guard for Moonstone's sake.

You hope that it doesn't get you killed.

The impossibly dark, shadowy, ominous creature smiles and extends a tentacle-like arm. It stretches around you and squeezes you, trying to crush your bones.

Yes, I'll say that this activates your Virtue. Gain all WP back.

The creature rolls higher initiative: Initiative: 1d10+14 = 20. It will act, and then it's you and then Moonstone.

From your character sheet, it looks like you have Defense 7. As I mentioned earlier in the post, if you want to reflexively activate your Mage Armor, Dodge, or do something else to modify the attack results, let me know before you act.

Attack (14) - Defense (7): 7d10o10h8 = 2 successes.

Extra attack dice: 1d10o10h8 = 2 more successes for the correction as discussed on OOC thread, to a total of 4 successes overall. With your Forces Armor, you reduce that to a total of 2 bashing damage.

[Haberdasher]

RAGNAR

Active Spells: Serendipity
Conditions/Tilts: Poor Lighting (-2 to all vision-based Perception rolls)
Health: /OOOOOOO I WP: 2/4 I Mana: 8/10 I Wisdom: 7
Beats: 1/5 I Arcane Beats: 2/5

2 dice -> 1 success.

Chance dice -> 1 success. Here's hoping those successes are going to lead to good things!