Chronicle Report: Keepers of the Wyck

[Saikou]

Slight clarification from the previous session. Hanson’s character was adamant that Hanson didn’t give his phone to Sarah, but instead kept it on his person. I don’t know which of us might have remembered it wrong, so I’m just going to say Hanson still has his phone.

29^th Session

Cast List

Alfred Camlan: Excalibur Mage
Sean “Sam” Heath: Templar Knight
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective
Aaron Gibson: Punk Hacker

Notable NPCs Include:

Violet Dubois: Assassin from afar
Lance: R&E Scientist

Keepers:
Gwyn: Gatekeeper
Vivian: High Priestess
Mica: Techno Witch

---CHAPTER 29: THE CALM---

Aaron sits on the bed of the damp short stay room, blue smoke slowly drifting out of his laptop. Uncertain whether or not any of the recording could be salvaged, he got up to get to the others, he had to warn them about what had happened to Hanson. Aaron got to the door and opened, but found the floor had become the ceiling. Cautiously, he stepped on it and tried to make his way to the stairs, which was now tipped on its side as a sort of slide. Paradox had amassed on Aaron, and now the world around him spun with each movement he made, as though he were walking in the land of M.C. Escher.
After some slipping about on the slide stairs, Aaron fell and landed on the front door, where he stood up. The hallway rose above him. Looking up her could see Be4ker standing on what to Aaron seemed like the floor, but to Be4ker was still very much the floor.

Be4ker: You need me to open the door for you?
Aaron: NO! Don’t, I might fall of the earth.
Be4ker: What happened?
Aaron: I got doxed, it’s some weird gravity thing…
Be4ker: Oh… ok then.
Aaron: My laptops busted by the way.
Be4ker: What happened to it?
Aaron: Someone did something to it. Something magic.
Be4ker: You want me to take a look at it?
Aaron: If you can.

Aaron held the laptop over his head, allowing Be4ker to simply take it from him.

Be4ker: I’ll let you know what I find.
Aaron: Thanks.
Be4ker: See you round, Escher.
Aaron: Escher? Damn, that would have been a cool screen name.

As Be4ker walks off, Aaron tried to orientate himself. As he moved, the world rotated around him, though not in any consistent way. Eventually he sat down on the kitchen ceiling, giving up on getting back to the ground any time soon. He took out his phone and tried to text Hanson, asking what happened to him.

The wind was picking up in Churchill gardens, and the technocrats had only just fled the battle. Helen, Sean, and Alfred run inside, away from the wind. The door opened without resistance.

Alfred: Probably could have used the Talons of Horus’s favour a bit better than that… Did you check the cross?
Sean: Last I saw it, it was still upstairs.
Alfred: Do you think you should check that it’s still there?
Sean: Probably a good idea.

Helen, still getting used to her jellyfish body wiggled her way over to the kitchen cabinet to try and put her clothes back on. She wasn’t sure when this effect would end, but she certainly didn’t want to be left with nothing when it did.

Once Sean had retrieved the cross, Alfred threw the rune to the ground and grabbed both Helen and Sean close. A circle opened up between them, an in a flash of light the three of them appeared back in the under grove with Gwyn standing by them.

Vivian: Are you safe?
Alfred: Yes, the technocrats left in short order.
Vivian: And the marauder?
Sean: Hanson took him, I believe.
Alfred: I’m not sure where he is now…

Helen receives a call, it takes her a while but has trouble answering her phone with her tentacle hands. Seeing her struggling, Alfred helps her out.

Aaron: Helen?
Alfred: Almost.
Aaron: Alfred?
Alfred: She’s having a bit of trouble with her phone. She’s a jellyfish.
Aaron: …ok. Anyway. Hanson’s in trouble. Last I saw him, he went to meet Sarah’s “Friends”, this group of pretty blatant nephandi.
Alfred: Were they involved with Melonie?
Aaron: Yes and no, Melonie’s father is their leader, I think, and they seemed to be pretty angry with her, they probably want to kill her.
Alfred: Oh…
Aaron: Yeah, either they’re the nephandi that worship elder gods, or they are the victims of whatever Melonie did to her village, but either way, they have Edwin now, I don’t think we can try to help him any longer. We may need to kill him before they do whatever they plan.
Alfred: I see…
Helen: Where did you say Hanson was?
Aaron: Not sure, they broke my laptop before I could see, but from what I can tell it involved a lot of rats.
Alfred: Didn’t Hanson know of a euthanatos who was looking for Edwin?
Sean: Yes, he did.
Helen: Violet, she needed something to get near enough to kill him.
Alfred: A page… from the book he kept. Helen, do you still have it?
Helen: Yes.
Alfred: Then maybe you should go talk to her.

The call ended, Aaron looked up (or down as the case may be) Be4ker was standing there with his laptop.

Be4ker: It should be running, though I’d move everything from the disc as soon as you can, it probably won’t last too much longer as it is.

Aaron tentatively placed the laptop on the ceiling and slowly moved his hand away. After assuring the machine did not fall, he placed it on his lap and turned it on. Everything seemed to be running smoothly, so he went straight into his programmes and tried to figure out where Hanson was, though had trouble getting a precise location. All he could determine was that he wasn’t in North London anymore, but was still somewhere in London.

Vivian: We have little time, I am going to gather the acolytes and make our way to the Heath. I will need someone to go to the Heath now and ensure it is still safe.
Alfred: I have a meeting with Lance, so I will have to go. And I’d prefer it if you accompanied me Sam, in case anything happens.
Sean: Certainly.
Helen: I could go too.
Alfred: But didn’t you say you would be going to find Dubois?
Helen: Yes… But I’m not sure I should go alone, I’m still a Jellyfish.
Alfred: Which is why you can’t be with us at the Heath. The Technocracy must have followed you to us. We can’t risk it with this.
Helen: I’ll put a spell on myself, Turn into a background pattern, the same sort of thing you and Hanson do.
Alfred: We need someone to speak to Dubois
Helen: ok…

As she speaks, Alfred notices her face becoming rounder, and her stature taller, as though her body were beginning to revert. She still hand tentacles for hands and feet and a bulbous head, though her torso and face seemed human again. While Alfred continued speaking with the rest of the keepers, Helen went to the node tree and started casting her spell, changing the shapes of her patterns to those less noticeable to the human eye.

Vivian: Who would you wish to come with you?
Alfred: Good question… Kael and Genevieve would have to go to the tribunal.
Sean: Yes, they haven’t been there yet. And we would want to keep the Exarch busy for as long as we can.
Vivian: Genevieve is very good at talking, she’ll slow things down for them.
Sean: Good.
Alfred: We’ll need Gwyn, certainly, if we are to cleanse the node from both sides of the gauntlet. I think Mica should come with us too.
Mica: Me?
Alfred: You need to keep guard over the cross.
Mica: What? Really? Why me?
Alfred: You have experience with Prime, and the periapts which hold such quintessence.
Mica: Are you sure you want to leave something this important with me?
Alfred: I am. Yes. And I want you with us.
Vivian: Very well, then the rest will come with me.

The light was harsh. A blinding surge of molten energy searing itself into the cracks of his eyes. Hanson stared at what he assumed was the wall. All he knew was he had a sharp headache, and was lying down. Steadying himself he recalled what happened before it all went dark, and the brief resonance he felt before it all went black. “Dubois!?” He called out. The light was far too bright, but putting his glasses on made things much too dark. He assumed paradox was messing with his senses. Getting to his feet he sees what looks like an unfinished painting depicting Hanson on the floor surrounded by rats. “Dubois? Are you here?”

Violet: You’re awake. (Offering a cigarette)
Hanson: Yes… And thank you.
Violet: What was going on there?
Hanson: I… was wrong.
Violet: Yes?
Hanson: Edwin… He’s a danger, and now the nephandi have him…
Violet: …What were you doing in that house?
Hanson: I was following him and his Sister, did you see where they went?
Violet: No… I only saw you.
Hanson: What about the rats?
Violet: Are you sure it wasn’t the marauder’s influence? Perhaps you’ve been with him too long.
Hanson: I know I have, but no. This guy, he couldn’t have been an illusion, he knew things neither I or Edwin would.
Violet: Then they must have escaped before I could find them.
Hanson: You think you’ll be able to catch them? They’re planning something at the Heath.
Violet: If nephandi are involved, then they must be dealt with, but right now the marauder is more my concern. I just need something to connect him.
Hanson: Like the book he holds?
Violet: Yes, or a piece of it.
Hanson: We have a page of it.
Violet: That could work. Where is it?
Hanson: Helen has it.

There was a knock as Violet’s door, she left Hanson to answer. She checked the window and saw a strange creature knocking with a tentacle arm. She opened the door swiftly and held her knife at it’s face.

Violet: Who are you?
Helen: It’s Helen! Please don’t.
Violet: Are you some kind of monster?
Helen: No! I’m not! I’m not a monster!
Violet: What have you come here for? Hmmm? Why!? (Pressing the dagger closer)
Helen: It’s Hanson! I’m looking for him! It’s also Edwin! We need help.
Violet: You one of the marauder’s tricks? Some creature he’s created?
Helen: No! Stop!

Hanson appeared by the hallway and saw Violet holding a knife against Helen’s neck.

Hanson: Oh God Helen, you’re still a jellyfish? What are you doing!?
Helen: It’s ok, I’m a background pattern, like your effect.

Hanson calmed Violet down and convinced her to let Helen enter. Violet reluctantly brought down her knife and let her in. After calming down, they asked Helen for the page who then takes it to another room and begins a ritual. She takes the page and begins to focus on the forces of creation and destruction. She takes a paint brush and begins to paint part upon the page, to learn of all things connected with it. Hanson and Helen watch silently for a while before leaving her to continue.

Hanson: Where’s everyone else?
Helen: They’ve left for the Heath.
Hanson: The Heath… funny. That’s where the group who took Edwin will be…
Helen: I’m going to go there too, I promised I’d help them.
Hanson: I think I’ll be going with you.

Violet emerged with three pictures painted upon the page. The first and largest Hanson recognised as the Exarch with an innumerable number of people around him.

Violet: The chorus must have the book now. If Edwin does not then I’m not sure I can use it to connect with him.
Hanson: Figures.

The second picture was simply of the ground, Violet supposed a single page had been discarded somewhere.

Hanson: No unlikely, that’s how Edwin does his magic.

The last picture caused concern. It showed a shadowy figure in a dark robe and hood with a single withered arm.

Hanson: I think… I think I might know this one. They were at the house earlier today.
Violet: Seems one of these has a page of the book…but why?
Hanson: Good question…
Violet: Either way, it is of little use for me. We’ll have to find another way to get through to him. Perhaps his sister.
Hanson: Sarah?
Violet: Yes, that would work. If you find her, I’ll be able to use their connection to get to him. I can give the good death to him through her.
Hanson: What do I have to do.
Violet: Find her, find her and restrain her in some way. I’ll know when it’s happened.
Hanson: Ok.

Alfred, Gwyn, Mica, and Sean arrive at the Heath, teleporting themselves straight to the node, the five of them contained in a Narrative Shift effect contained By Alfred. While walking the field that used to hold a wild resonance, Alfred could feel something strange. The node was weak, but he was already aware of that, rather it felt as though something else was present. Alfred peaked across the gauntlet with a quick prayer for insight and saw a large number of H’rugglings around the node. Alfred suspected they were absorbing what remained of the nodes energy while polluting the land. He could not tell how many there were as their disgusting bodies fused into one another.

Alfred: Gwyn! The Heath is getting overrun. You must have felt it.
Gwyn: Bane’s in the penumbra, yes. Without the node’s power the spirits have become too weak to fend them off.
Alfred: They are draining the node of what little is left.
Gwyn: Then we’ll have to deal with them before we restore it.
Sean: Guys…

Sean whispered to the rest and pointed at the other side of the field. A lone figure in a white coat emerged from the trees. Everyone quickly tried to find somewhere to hide and waited for them to go. They saw them walk towards the centre of the node, hold up a strange device, and then walk away.

Alfred: Progenitors!
Gwyn: What are they doing here?
Alfred: They were here last time, trying to drain the lakes. Looks like they’re going to move on to the Heath.
Gwyn: Mica and I will scout them out, see what they’re planning.
Alfred: That’s fine, we’ll stay here and watch the Heath.

Sean and Alfred stayed by the trees as they left. They waited in silence for a short while.
Helen and Hanson arrive on the Heath. Over the time it took to arrive, Helen managed to shake off the last parts of the Jellyfish paradox that still hung around her. Her body now back to its normal humanoid self, hands and all. They arrived under Hanson’s Perception Filter and Helen’s own Background Pattern variant. This combined with Alfred’s own Narrative shift made it really complicated for the groups to actually meet up with one another.

[ST NOTE: These rotes are all essentially the same Mind 3 effect cast under different paradigms, and they all have essentially the same design. Make people notice us less/not even know we’re here. It’s become a surprisingly popular alternative to proper Force based invisibility. I guess that’s what happens when you have lots of Mind mages who really don’t want to be seen.]

They reconcile and discuss what each other has seen, catching themselves up on both Violet and the Keepers. The only thing Hanson mentions about Mervin is his relation to Melonie before Alfred spots another familiar face looking about. Lance. He instructs everyone to stay quiet and hidden, and steps out, walking towards him.

Alfred: Hello Lance
Lance: Alfred! There you are! I haven’t been able to get through to your phone.
Alfred: Yes, that’s because I threw it away.
Lance: You threw it away? Why?
Alfred: Your friend Mr Steed.
Lance: I see. Well, is the plan still going ahead?
Alfred: Yes, It should be.
Lance: Good… So where are they?
Alfred: They?
Lance: The marauders. Edwin and Hanson.
Alfred: I already explained that Hanson was not a marauder.
Lance: But you said he’d be here. I’ve got a small army waiting to take hold of them.
Alfred: They’re going to have to wait a bit longer.
Lance: Do you have Edwin?
Alfred: He’s coming. Just wait a bit.
Lance: Hector’s told me he had an encounter with the two of them earlier. He say’s Hanson did something to him.
Alfred: What?
Lance: Turned him into some creature.
Alfred: That was probably Edwin. Hanson is trying to keep him calm.
Lance: Well, when he gets here, we will need a moment to clear the air.
Alfred: Yes, we can arrange that, for now just hold tight with your guys.
Lance: I’ll see what I can do. If all goes well I’m sure there will be a number of benefits in it for you.
Alfred: That won’t be necessary, I’d prefer to return to my life and be taken off the record.
Lance: Taken off the record? What do you mean?
Alfred: I can’t keep associating with the Union. I’m a “Reality Deviant”, aren’t I? Mine is a different world from yours. I must stay loyal to my roots.
Lance: No… of course. I understand… Then, here’s hoping this is the last time we must meet.

Lance turns away and heads back. Alfred waits until he is out of view before returning to where he knows the others are hidden.

Aaron finally finishes his code after almost three hours of hard work. On his screen are a number of windows, each one a clear and broad image of Hanson, Alfred, and Helen. Or at least they would be if he could actually see them. All these Mind effects were making it difficult to spot exactly where they were, though a bit of triangulating managed to help with that. In his constant shifting of the image, something else caught his eye. A lone figure marching steadfast towards the group. He zoomed in on the figure and saw a number of tell-tale characteristics letting him know exactly what the group were about to encounter. With a look of dread he grabbed his phone and quickly texted Hanson and Helen. –Guys! There’s a HITmark Behind you!—

Before they had a chance to gasp in panic, a hail of bullets stung from the sky, sprayed across the four of them. Those with bulletproof clothing on fared better than those without. Everyone could now see this great humanoid HITmark slowly walking towards them. They ran, sparing no second glance. Helen and Hanson ran off and away from the node. Alfred called Sean to follow him as he ran up to the node and frantically tried to press themselves through to the old roads, away from the oncoming bullets. The two of them disappeared beyond the gauntlet and onto the pathways of the Wyck. The HITmark continued undeterred, forging another volley of bullets as it marched.

Aaron frantically typed away at his keyboard, trying to build an effect of electrical chaos on it, but was having a great deal of trouble getting anything to stick. Primium has that property. Trying a different strategy, he started examining his Entropy algorithms to figure what Hanson and Helen could do for the greatest chance of escape. HITmark continued its measured pace towards Hanson, Running up to him and slashing him hard in the back. Helen stopped and looked back, seeing the HITmark standing over him, she took out her gun and fired at it, hoping this would distract it for a moment while she pulled out her wand and started tracing spirals. Hanson got up and ran just before another slash hit and began to run again. Hanson and Helen got a text from Aaron, which they checked while running. –Go to into the woods, hide amongst the trees!—. Hanson obliged, limping as far as he could while Helen continued casting her spirals.

Seeing how dire the situation was, Aaron doubled down on his efforts to build up electrical chaos, doing everything he could to overcome the primium that repelled. Hanson darted to the woods and hid as best he could, he was terribly injured, and the only thing keeping him from instant death was that bullet proof vest. The HITmark stopped for a moment, and turned its attention to Helen and aimed its gun as Helen finalised her spell, setting it off to Hanson just as the machine shot at her. Hanson felt his wounds darken slightly as they healed. Helen ran towards the forest, just in time to avoid another volley of shots, all except one which caught her in the arm.

Aaron let of his effect, the HITmark stood there for a moment tense as it began to short, a surge of electrical energy pulsing through it. Though damaged and smoking, it remained standing and now marched to shoot at Helen while she desperately tried to avoid it. Just before the shot was fired, out from the undergrowth a fox ran into the action, growling at jumping at the mechanical soldier and barking. Though distracted, it stilled shot, harming Helen enough to knock her down for the count. The fox did not give up, but was pushed away long enough to get a clear shot at the defenceless Helen. But stopped, unable to move. A loud bang preceded this with the sound of discharging electricity. Standing just a little bit away was Hanson pointing his X-5 protector at the machine’s head. His last electrical round was fired. The HITmark stumbled for a moment, each step more frantic than the last until the entire thing self-destructed, shrapnel flung into the air. Hanson stood by the carnage, casually blowing the smoke from his gun.

A limping fox made its way towards the unconscious Helen, placing its muzzle down on her and whining quietly. Hanson approached cautiously. “Eve? Is that you?” The Fox did not respond, only growling if Hanson got too close to Helen.

Aaron punched the air triumphantly, when he looked up towards the ground and noticed a Rat sitting on the counter, staring up at him. For a moment they stayed like this, staring at one another, until the Rat ran into a drawer and vanished.

---NOTES---
The Fox is back.

Generally speaking, I try to avoid dishing out HITmarks on my players. They are terribly destructive and can very easily kill a character outright before they even have a chance to respond. Heck, one bad die roll could be enough to eviscerate a player. You may have noticed I tend to limit battles to one adversary at a time if they are obviously more powerful than the mages for this very reason. The players are now more than aware of how HITmarks are no joke. It took three of them to take down a single one without getting slaughtered, and it only worked because one of them was far enough to have time to build an effect that could overcome the primium.

In other news, this game now has a definite end date. I have an MRes starting this September, which means this game will need to stop by August at the absolute latest. I anticipate this Final Battle lasting for only two more sessions, and after that there will be approximately 9 real life weeks left, so maybe 9 more sessions, for the players to tackle any loose ends they wish to address. After which point this chronicle will be officially over.

[Saikou]

Mini-session

This one’s short but impactful.

Cast List
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective
Aaron Gibson: Punk Hacker

Notable NPCs Include:

Sarah Phillips: Edwin’s sister.
Edwin Phillips: Our Marauder
Hector: Cyborg Void Engineer

---CHAPTER 28b: RAT TRAP---

Wednesday evening in the Virtual Adept’s hideout in Clapham. Helen has just left and Alfred has been teleported away. Only Aaron remains with the other Adepts. He speaks with Rubrix, laptop in hand.

Rubrix: Did you really bust out of the window?
Aaron: Yeah. I was going to go to the roof, but then this lot dropped by and we were surrounded by about four or five different guys with guns. So yeah, the jumping out a window seemed like the better plan.
Rubrix: Awesome.
Aaron: Oh yeah! The Rep I’m going to get for this.
Rubrix: It’s not a bad way to go.
Aaron: I don’t know what those guys were doing there by the way. They just…appeared. I didn’t ask them to come along.
Rubrix: Yeah, well thanks to them we’ll probably want to lay low for a while. Me and the others will jump on-line and see what we can do about turning down the heat.
Aaron: Stavero did threaten he’d find something to pin the blackout on us.
Rubrix: Well… it was us, so that’s another thing we’ll have to be careful about.
Aaron: Hmm. So, you didn’t get anything extra on the Esther file?
Rubrix: Other than what I told you, no.
Aaron: Well, it can’t be good. If it’s about predicting human behaviour, it has to be something to do with control. And that doesn’t sit well with me.
Rubrix: Sooner we figure out what’s going on, the better.

Aaron went upstairs, Be4ker allowing him to crash for the night in a small, damp room upstairs. He got the feeling this place was not set up for prolonged accommodation.
He cracked open his Laptop, accessed the drop box, pulled the Esther file out and started looking through it for anything he missed.
Hours passed as he stared over the screen when something occurred to him. He knew the Esther file seemed to be split into an algorithm component, and a coordinate component, but he could see that these areas were not as separate as they first appeared. He brought up the database of names obtained from Stavero’s computer and looked at them. The algorithm had a number of Inputs for Outputs, and these inputs seemed to correspond with a lot of the information on the database. He checked through the names to test it out. He first searched for Peter Walter but found nothing, he checked for Helen Walter, but she too wasn’t on there. But for some reason, Hanson was on there.
Aaron got to work creating a simple command screen which would use the Esther file to convert Hanson’s database details into whatever.
After about 30 minutes of compiling, a table was set stating a number of parameters. He was given a very low value of 24 out of 120, whatever that meant. But other information included what he was doing, where he was going, and what he was planning to do next. In this case, go to a gun dealer to buy ammunition and weapons. It even listed his most likely brand of ammunition to purchase, along with the brand of cigarettes he was likely to buy thereafter. “How the heck does it know what he’s about to do? How is this getting its information?”.
Aaron took a closer look at the code and made the following discoveries. First the Ester file’s code was incomplete. He looked back at a those moments in the code which seemed like junk information. Empty references and directory to things that lead nowhere, with several go to links bypassing a large number of segments. This was designed to be built upon. He couldn’t tell exactly what, but one thing he noted was the lack of a real-time function. As it stood, the Esther file needed to be used manually and compiled with one request at a time before information could be received. Perhaps that was what was missing. A real-time function would in theory allow for a constant monitoring of a person’s intended actions.
Aaron was still getting bugged by these coordinates though. He could see they were an integral part of how the Esther file got its information, but he couldn’t see why these coordinates would reveal this information. The coordinates themselves were a complicated array of mathematical formulae which referred to something in constant motion. Aaron tried to locate exactly where it was, but it wasn’t anywhere on earth. He tried again, this time looking further out. It took a great deal of time, but then he found something, a point in the middle of space somewhere between Neptune and Saturn’s orbit paths. He tried to get a visual and for a moment saw what he thought was a spaceship. He focused in and got a momentary view of a fantastic point of green light. Aaron stared at the pixels on his screen wondering what in the world he was staring at. He tried to get a screenshot, but the loss of movement made the pixels difficult to distinguish. It had just turned 3am so he called it a night and went to sleep.

Hanson runs as far as he can from Churchil Gardens, ensuring that Edwin is always in his sight. He has about an hour to get themselves to meet with Sarah in North London, and for some reason Edwin seemed too agitated to go on the underground claiming there were strange monsters down there. Not wanting to make these monsters real, he went on the bus but Edwin was already rather agitated recounting the story of Pickmin’s model. Hanson notice the bus around him begin to change, turning a subtle shade of 1920s American. He took a few swigs form his hipflask and tried to calm him down, make him feel more relaxed. The bus faded back to normal. Hanson felt a short moment of relief.

Voice: He has to die, you know.

Hanson looked around, for a moment he swore he could hear Dubois talking to him, clear in his head. But he couldn’t see her.

Hanson: Dubois? Are you spying on me…
Voice: He’s too dangerous to keep around.

Again, he hears her speak, but could not feel her presence, not even her rending resonance. Hanson spoke back unsure in what direction to address.

Hanson: There’s a chance we can save him.
Voice: There’s no saving those who are already lost.
Hanson: You saved me.
Voice: Are you really saved?

The last voice was different, not Dubois’s, but not recognisably anyone else’s. It felt familiar to Hanson though, almost like an internal voice. As their stop arrived, Hanson pulled his thoughts away and lead Edwin off by the arm.

Hector: HANSON!!!

No sooner had the bus pull away did a man in a suit and bowler hat come raging towards the pair of them. Hanson didn’t have any time to react before he was already at their necks, gun pointed straight at the pair of them.

Hector: Well, two deviants at once.
Hanson: Hold on a moment. Hector, right?
Hector: Quiet! The only reason I haven’t shot you on sight is that your strange tricks could be very useful to us.
Hanson: I think an associate of ours spoke to you, Alfred.
Hector: A plan to hand you over, but why bother when you’re already here for us to take.
Hanson: Who exactly is “us”? You mean you and the New World Order?
Hector: I’m taking you in! Not them!!

Hector’s rage was rising with every passing moment, though only half of his face showed emotion, the other half being much stiffer. As Hanson tried to argue, he noticed Edwin becoming more and more agitated.

Edwin: What’s happening?
Hanson: It’s ok Edwin, I’m handling it.
Edwin: What is this…this monster?
Hanson: No Edwin. Not a monster.
Edwin: I can see it in its lifeless stare!
Hanson: He’s a human Edwin, like either of us.
Edwin: No, I can see what it is!

Hector grabbed both Hanson and Edwin and was preparing to restrain them. But as he did, something changed. Hectors arms began to flail wildly as they lost their form and become much more insect like.

Hector: Hanson! What are you doing!?
Hanson: This isn’t me! You really don’t know what you’re handling here, do you?

As hector mutated beyond recognition, Edwin made a run for it. Hanson was quick to chase after him and attempted to calm him down.

Edwin: Where is it!?
Hanson: What are you looking for?
Edwin: Something to write with, a piece of chalk. Here
Hanson: Edwin stop.
Edwin: I have to draw the Elder Sign, it’s the only way to keep the monsters at bay.
Hanson: It makes them stronger, Edwin.
Edwin: How little you know of this power.
Hanson: I know it Edwin. Every time you draw this sign, you reinforce their being, you make them more real. You’re giving them power.
Edwin: No, the sign drives them away! They don’t dare come near it!
Hanson: Edwin! Focus! We need to find Sarah, remember? The sign won’t help you find her.
Edwin: Sarah… But… No of course… Of course.

[ST NOTE: Having an NPC (Edwin) pull the player out of a situation brought about by another NPC (Hector) is something I have somewhat mixed feelings about. Unless the second NPC’s involvement is brought about by the player’s actions in some way, it removes agency from the player and turns the whole encounter into little more than an interactive cut scene. As much as possible, I prefer to give the players the most amount of control in any given scenario. However, apart background or exposition, these “cut scenes” can be incredibly useful for a number of reasons. One is that it makes the NPCs seem more self-reliant, less useless, and makes the game seem less “game” and more “alive”. Another thing it can do is give the players less things to worry about when deciding on their next action. I often find my players get a bit overwhelmed with choice on how to approach certain things, and removing a few obstacles with the NPC’s they happened to bring along can really help them focus more deeply on the other problems ahead of them.
In this case, Edwin’s getting Hanson out of Hector’s grasp was more about prioritising time than anything else. The main focus of this session was going to be what Hanson found when meeting with Sarah’s friends, and combat scenes tend to drain time like nothing else. So why have Hector present in the first place? To remind Hanson’s player that he’s not been dealt with yet.]

They arrived nearby the meeting point at a few minutes past 3pm. Before approaching, Hanson sends a few texts to Aaron, informing him of what he was doing, and the gun he saw in a Dream, and asked that someone keep an eye on him. Aaron was awoken by this text, having slept longer than he realised. He opened up his laptop and starting keying in Hanson’s phone number, using his Correspondence software to get a visual on him. It was difficult to get a clear view on him while Hanson had his perception filter up, but had faith his software was pointed vaguely in his direction.

On meeting, Sarah runs to hug Edwin, telling him they would be safe soon, that she knows people who can help, and they set off further up the north of London. In time, she took the two of them down a number of roads, each one increasing in how disused and ill maintained they were. The sky seemed to darken somewhat as she approached a side road in a quiet unseen alleyway, on the side of which a well-hidden door stood with a foreboding atmosphere around it.

Sarah: Wait here with Edwin, I need to let them know we’re here.

Sarah opened the door and disappeared inside, Hanson felt out the area for any resonance though couldn’t find much from where he stood.

Edwin: This place… There’s something dark about it.
Hanson: No kidding.
Edwin: It reminds me of something I read. A dark street in France, one that once left was hard to find again, it lead up a steep hill from which it was impossible to see beyond.
Hanson: Yeah, I read a book too about a guy who didn’t like eating eggs and ham because they were green, but in the end, when he ate them, it turned out he really did like it.
Edwin: The street… It was called Rue d’Auseil… That’s what this place is, It’s Rue d’Auseil.
Hanson: That’s just a story Edwin, just like green eggs and ham, it’s a story.
Edwin: No… This is Rue d’Auseil, I’m sure of it.
Hanson: But that’s not possible, we’re not in France.
Edwin: I’ve been here before. This is where I live. Just a few floors up, bellow a man who keeps playing the most striking music.
Hanson: Edwin! Listen to me. This is not Rue d’Auseil.
Edwin: Then how do you explain that?

Edwin pointed at a street sign nearby which, sure enough, read Rue d’Auseil. Glancing around, Hanson saw the street began to shift towards an incline, as though the entire road was on a hill which only got steeper as it climbed.

Hanson: Edwin. We’re not in France. We’re not speaking French, are we? If we were in France, then why would we be speaking English?
Edwin: Maybe we are speaking French, and this is just what French sounds like to French speakers.
Hanson: Think, Edwin. Where were we just a moment before?
Edwin: We were… Where were we?
Hanson: Do you remember me? You remember who I am?
Edwin: You’re Hanson, Yeah, and FBI Agent.
Hanson: We’re in London. Remember that?
Edwin: I… yes. I do.

Hanson kept going, calming him down as best he could, but it wasn’t until Sarah returned that the street came back to its prior darkened state, free from any incline or strange musical playing from the windows above.

Sarah: They said they wanted to speak with you. I’ll take Edwin upstairs.

Aaron did a quick resonance scan with his software and could determine high values of Hatred, Loss, Anger, and Rot. He sent a text.

Aaron: This place looks like bad news, You better get them out of here.
Sarah: Was that your phone?
Hanson: Yes.
Sarah: They won’t like that…
Hanson: I can put it on silent.
Sarah: It would be better if I took it for now.
Hanson: …ok then.

Hanson handed his phone to her and stood in a decrepit corridor, a trully horrible smell suffocating the air. Sarah took Edwin through a door and into a darkness Hanson’s eyes had not yet adjusted to. Ahead of him the corridor stretched towards a candlelit room with a dull flickering glow. He stepped in and saw a standing figure in a yellow robe, face obscured by a hood. In the shadows a number of similarly robed and hooded figures sat or stood around the room. The darkness made it difficult to tell exactly how many.

Figure: Detective.

The figure spoke with a strange scratchy voice, as though it was spoken with many tiny breaths.

Yellow: You wished to meet with us.
Hanson: Sarah says you are friends with her.
Yellow: Yes…

There’s a slight murmuring from the others in the room, Hanson pays them little attention.

Hanson: When did you first meet Sarah?
Yellow: We were there when the Marauder was brought back.
Hanson: Edwin? What happened to him?
Yellow: The marauder fell into the Umbra, the other worlds, the mirror worlds, found a realm between realms where fiction is revealed as truth, and where reality is but another’s fiction. This is where the marauder gained an insight to the world, a powerful insight that we wish to learn. This insight pushed them to the limits of sanity.
Hanson: And what do you want him for?
Aaron: Ooh, this is getting interesting (Starts recording his screen).

Another one speaks from the darkness

Hooded: We wish to learn from the marauder’s insight, help the marauder realise they do not need to fear it.
Hanson: And how exactly do you plan to “help” him?
Yellow: We will show them how to use their understanding as a powerful strength! That the realities the marauder has seen are closer than ever.
Robed: Close enough to reach.
Hanson: Who even are you?
Robed: We as the Spirals of Madness, we search to understand what seperates borders of realities.

Hanson was starting to get freaked out by this. He could tell that something was deeply wrong with this picture. He felt they regarded Edwin with a strange fascination, almost like awe, and intended to use him for some nefarious purpose. He suspected they are some kind of Nephandi group, perhaps a combination of the Malfeans and the K’lashaa who wanted to use Edwin to tear at the boundaries between realities. Getting wary of them, Hanson put his hands in his pockets to reach for his gun and lighter. A figure in a dark cloak raised a withered hand to stop him.

Withered: I wouldn’t, detective.

They spoke in a deep rasp of a whisper. Hanson slowly placed his hands out of his pocket and kept them held open palmed by his side.

Withered: Good. No hasty actions, detective. You wouldn’t want to make any more mistakes.
Hanson: What do you mean?
Withered: We’ve been watching you for a while, keeping an eye on you… and you.

The robed person turned to face Aaron, pointing directly at him through the screen. Aaron stared in terror as he was being addressed.

Withered: We know exactly what you have been doing, who you’ve been helping. We know.
Hanson: You know someone called Melonie?
Yellow: Melonie… Yes… I certainly know her.
Hanson: How do you know her?
Yellow: We go back quite a way…
Hanson: And what about Alex?
Yellow: Alex?
Hanson: Zandros.
Yellow: Ah.

Another wave of silent laughter flowed through the room.

Yellow: Zandros… very useful.
Hanson: So, what do you plan to do now?
Yellow: We have business at the Heath.
Hanson: Oh. Something to do with the Keepers?

A mummer of laughter floats about the room.

Yellow: The Keepers are of no concern to us.
Hanson: What are you going to do there then?
Hooded: We have much work to do.
Hanson: Work you need Edwin for?
Hooded: The marauder needs our help.
Hanson: Is this “help” something Sarah is aware off?
Hooded: She has asked us to help him, and we shall.
Hanson: Right… I think I’ll go and ask her about this then.

Hanson turns to leave the room but the door slams shut before he has a chance to get near it. He stops and slowly turns around to face the faceless crowd that sat in the flickering darkness.

Yellow: You asked about Melonie earlier, did you not? You seemed interested in our connection.
Hanson: I did… yes.
Yellow: I was her father.

Hanson stood stock still as he spoke. Had he anything in his hands at the time it would have been dropped in astonishment.

Hanson: What is your name?
Yellow: Mervin.
Hanson: And you’re Melonie’s father.
Mervin: …I was; yes.

Both Hanson and Aaron could sense a great deal of loathing in his voice, as though hearing his voice was enough to drive home a very painful memory.

Mervin: Shall I show you exactly what she did to me?

Mervin raised his hands to his hood and invited Hanson to step closer. Hanson took a few steps, keeping vigilant as he stepped, watching to see what the room would do and prepared to respond to any kind of movement. As Hanson drew nearer, Mervin slowly grabbed a hold of his hood and pulled it back down, revealing a dry, pale face with dark but greying hair, reflecting the dull light of the candle. His cheeks held a number of pulsating boils that continued down his neck. But it was his eyes that struck a chord of pure disgust in the pit of Hanson’s stomach, for no eyes could be seen. In their absence were two gaping holes within which a flurry of movement could be viewed. What at first seemed a trick of the light turned out to be movement, a flash of fur, of paws, a glimpse of teeth and whiskers, the momentary flicker of long worm-like tail. All of which was confirmed when a small head paused and stared out from the socket of the eye, its tail dangling out of Mervin’s mouth, before returning inside. Listening carefully, Hanson could hear the writing within, the swarming of many tens of rats within a suit of skin. The smell of the creatures was more than Hanson could take. He turned away to vomit, a chorus of laughter meeting his discomfort. Aaron was spared of this imagery, as the lighting proved too dark for his screen to make out.

Hanson: That’s…. That’s you?
Mervin: That is me. Every moment I feel them clawing, scratching, biting, and they remind me of the curse that The Malady placed upon me. What she made me become. This terrible shell. What is in me, what she put within me repulses me to no end. I must carry it inside me forever now as I am denied death. I hate and am disgusted by what I have become! And yet without what lies within, I would not be able to exist.

Having heard quite enough, Hanson makes a run to the door, opening the handle and yanking it open staring straight down the barrel of his own gun held by Sarah Phillips.
Seeing this, Aaron starts getting to work coding up a remote Forces effect on the gun.

Hanson: Ms Philips
Sarah: I’m sorry, Detective. I told you not to see them.
Hanson: They’ve been lying to you Ms Philips.
Sarah: They’re my friends.
Hanson: Look at them! They practically scream “Evil!”
Sarah: They’ve been on the run, like me! They can only wear what they have!
Hanson: Listen to me! They do not want to help Edwin.
Sarah: Yes they do.
Hanson: No. They want to use him for some strange cult ritual. They want to make the lovecraft world real, and Edwin is their key.
Sarah: What are you talking about?
Hanson: They don’t see him as a person, only as a tool, a thing.
Withered: You’re one to talk, detective. Do you not have ties with a Euthanatos that wishes to kill the Marauder?
Hanson: She gets herself involved with me, I do not work with her.
Withered: Don’t you?

The hooded figure raises their withered arm and a cracked mirror on the wall behind them glows with light. It replays a scene of Hanson speaking with Violet Dubois moments after she teleported the two of them away from approaching technocrats.

~ Violet: Marauders are never stable for long. This isn’t the first time this has happened, has it?
Hanson: …no.
Violet: It will happen again, unless I stop it. If you have anything that connects to him, something or someone familiar to him, anything, the closer the better, give it to me, then I won’t need to come near him to provide the Good Death.
Hanson: I’ll keep it in mind.
Violet: Good…

Violet walks away, before turning around for a moment.

Violet: Oh, and detective.
Hanson: hmm?
Violet: Get in my way again, and I won’t hold back. Understood?
Hanson: Understood.~

Aaron had built his effect but was holding on to it to see if Hanson could talk his way out of it, but he could tell by Sarah’s face this wasn’t going to happen. A flicker of hurt and betrayal flashed across her eyes. Aaron set of his effect. Having added momentum to the gun, it flew backwards and straight into Sarah’s forehead, her hands still clasping it. Sarah fell to the floor unconscious.

Hooded: SOMEONE IS WATCHING US!!!!

A cacophony of sound as the hooded figures started chanting and calling in every direction. Aaron saw the figure with a withered hand raise their palms straight towards him. He raced to turn his laptop off, but too late. The hands fingers snapped and the entire screen went black, a thin blue smoke rising from the keyboard.

The sounds of scratching and crawling could be heard from every corner, Hanson ran to the door, sparing no time he shot at the lock. That’s when he saw them, a hoard of rats crawling up from the darkness and swarming over him. He tried to run through the corridor but the rats began to climb up his legs. He pulled down his shades and focused on increasing his speed by finding slips in the maelstrom, but the darkness made it hard to move effectively, each step giving the rats a change to climb higher. They bit and scratched as they climbed, though Hanson did his best to fight through the pain. He ran to what he thought was a window pushing through an increasing torrent of rats to get there. At least 30 or 40 were climbing above him and around him, pressing him to the ground, forcing him to drag himself to what turned out to be a mirror. He tried to turn back, but too late. Hanson fell to the ground, the pain of the bites too much to bear.
In his last moments of consciousness, the only thing he could feel was a familiar rending resonance.

---NOTES---
I’ve had this encounter more or less planned for about 4 sessions ago, and I’m so glad I was finally able to get it out. This was the next big plot point in Hanson’s story, and having to delay it for a few weeks was the main reason behind the lull in his Hanson’s arc. Hopefully this will keep Hanson’s player more engaged in the goings on and a bit more enthusiastic about playing his character until the break at least.

The moment when the robed figure with a withered hand said “I’ve been watching you for a while”. Aaron’s player said “Oh god, It’s Granny Elm! She was the traitor this whole time!” This time it wasn’t a joke, it was an actual proclamation, making Aaron the first character to figure out Granny Elm’s true allegiance. Not wanting to meta-game, I decided to obfuscate this little insight by telling him that this was an assumption, and could lead to problems if he didn’t have more to go on than that. Always keep them feeling uncertain until they’re certain. I’ll be interested to see whether he tells anyone else about his theory.

[Saikou]

Two small moments I forgot to mention that happened in the previous session. Remember when Helen changed her skin colour to be harder to recognise? That started a whole conversation as it was being recapped about whether or not this counted as blackface and whether Helen was aware of this.

The second was a small exchange between Alfred and Sean which went something like this:

Alfred: Sam, I know we have different points of views, but the fate of these ancient spirits runs deeper than any lord you know.
Sean: Well, not all of us can put faith in Thor or Captain America.

Ok, now on with the Session proper.

Session 28

Finally! I’m up to date on these write ups. Let’s see how long this lasts.

Cast List
Lydia: Moon Witch
Alfred Camlan: Excalibur Mage
Sean “Sam” Heath: Templar Knight
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective

Notable NPCs Include:

Gwyn: Gater keepers of the Keepers
Vivian: High priestess of the Keepers
Genevieve: Recently returned Member of the Keepers

Edwin Phillips: Our Marauder

---CHAPTER 28: CLOSING IN---

Lydia looked around. An ancient world stretched out before her with air so pure that every breath filled her lungs with the midnight sky. She explored the landscape, first on foot, but slowly began to drift upwards at each step took her closer to the stars. Ahead of her she sees a green flicker, so inviting and tantalisingly near. It feels almost as though she could reach out and pluck it straight out of the sky. It’s colour flickers in her mind as she recalls something Luna told her. The Green Fairy of Ireland!
The spirit of the tree lingers within her as she explores feeding her answers to her unspoken questions. She thinks of her uncle and asks if he truly is her father, and the scene brightens with a stunning radiance, she knows in her heart it is true. She then wonders on who the Green Fairy is. She knows her father may be aware of him, but is could he perhaps be the Fairy? As she wonders this the scene starts to fade away, getting ever more engrossed in the darkness around. The more she questions, the darker it fades until all light is lost.

Hanson and Sean plan for the meeting with Sarah in the afternoon. He wasn’t comfortable with going in on his own, especially if there was a chance he might get attacked. If Sean followed without being seen, he’d be safer, but perhaps another pair of eyes would do well. He called up Helen.

Hanson: Helen, you busy right now?
Helen: No, I should be free.

Helen had just finished her lessons. It was a long morning starting from 7 and continuing for almost four and a half relentless hours of study. She welcomed Hanson’s interruption as she walked towards her room.

Hanson: Good. We’re going to need some help, you good at stealth, right?
Helen: Yes, I can be good at stealth.

Hanson explained the plan to meet with Sarah, and then told her to meet him at a park not far from either of them before hanging up and setting of.
It was the middle of the day, and Helen sat in front of the Swan fountain node thinking about how she could help herself remain hard to see. She considered her usual surrounding of darkness, but in such a bright day that would only make her more noticeable, she needed to make herself invisible somehow, but knew that the sphere of Forces would render her blind. She then considered the sphere of Life. Camouflage! All she need do is change her skin to appear like whatever it was she stood beside, like the skin of a chameleon, or more accurately, of an octopus. But the illusion would only work from a specific angle. So she decided instead to try and make her entire body transparent, like a jellyfish.

[ST NOTE: This is pretty much how Helen’s player’s thought process developed. Although strictly speaking this kind of effect is a Life 4 thing, I decided that getting a tonne of successes in a proper ritual via Life 3 would be enough to allow her body to become transparent. I mentioned that without Matter they would be unable to change their clothes, but then it wouldn’t be the first time people stripped off in this game.]

Helen brought out her wand and started drawing a great number of spirals in the air, spinning herself around to face different angles as she went about transforming her body bit by bit to transparency; but something went wrong. As she spun, she misplaced her footing and caused the entire effect to collapse around her. Paradox set in and her body began to shift and malform. Her hands and feet morphed to tentacles, and her head changed to a more bulbous shape around her face. Her entire body gained a luminous white translucency.
Still determined to meet with Hanson, she covered her tentacles with gloves and wrapped a scarf around her head before setting out on the London Underground where nobody really noticed how odd she looked.

She approached Hanson and Sean who took one look at her and stared in disbelief.

Hanson: Helen?
Helen: …hi
Hanson: Why are you a squid?
Helen: I tried to make myself invisible like a jellyfish.
Hanson: Paradox… right?
Helen: uhh… just a little.

Hanson quickly to a few drinks and brought up a perception filter around the two of them, not wanting anyone to catch sight of Helen.

Hanson: Right… I’m not sure this is going to work. We need to be stealthy on this mission, so I think you might have a bit of trouble.
Helen: I still want to help.
Hanson: I appreciate the enthusiasm and all… but really, you’re not going to be much help like this. You should go home.

Before Helen could move, Hanson noticed a van approach the park, with a number of men in suits and bowler hats stepping out towards them, Agents. Hanson couldn’t tell if they saw him or not, but became restless nonetheless. “We gotta go, now!” He ushered Helen away, keeping close to her so she stayed in range of his perception filter. Sean, thinking the agents were after Hanson stepped away from him and tried to get lost in the crowd.

Hanson lead Helen, grabbing his notebook and trying to force some order in the chaos of the world, a clear path for escape. As he scribbled, the crowd of people around them began to walk away. Sean could feel himself compelled to walk along with the crowd away from the streets, dividing down the middle leaving Helen and Hanson in the centre of the clearing, three technocrats closing in. Hanson cued Helen to run, and of they went, the technocrats chasing after them.
Hanson leads them down a side road, Helen barely able to keep up with her tentacle feet. She tries to push out a quick spell to speed them away, but botches it yet again, the paradox hovering over her like a hot cloud of smoke. The men follow them down, call out for them to stop, and then shoot. The shot ricochets off the wall and against a fire-escape which collapses along with a number of crates making a barricade between them. Hanson takes this opportunity to speed himself and Helen up in ease before disappearing away from them and towards the Keepers.
As they arrive in Churchill Gardens, Helen starts to find it harder and harder to move, she looks back and realises she slipped out of her shoes. Paradox had descended over Helen’s body, flattening her legs, thinning out her arms, and shrinking her stature by about a foot. Hanson could see that Helen had transformed further into a jellyfish.

Lydia looks up, the tree of the Undergrove stands over her, its yellowing leaves holding firm upon its gently lowered branches. Noticing Vivian she calls out to her.

Vivian: Ah, you’re awake.
Lydia: How long has it been?
Vivian: You were in that trance for about three days.
Lydia: Did I miss the Heath?
Vivian: No, the battle starts tonight, and there is still much to prepare.
Lydia: I see.
Vivian: What did you see during you trance?
Lydia: Well, I was with the tree spirit, then a lot of stars. I asked if my uncle who’s also my dad was the green fairy of Ireland, and I think my avatar laughed at me.
Vivian: Oh…
Lydia: Yeah, it was a bit weird.

Vivian filled her in on the plan, and that after the Heath was restored, they would carry out her induction, presenting her with a gold leaf necklace. Lydia went upstairs to the kitchen, not having eaten for a few days left her with quite a strong appetite. She sat there for a while, looking out just as Helen and Hanson approached.

Lydia: Uh… Hanson? What’s that?
Hanson: This is Helen.
Helen: Hello…
Lydia: Helen? What are you an octopus?
Helen: Jellyfish, actually.
Hanson: Paradox, hit her pretty hard.
Lydia: Oh… are you ok?
Helen: Uh… I don’t know.

Sean looks about the crowd, and decides he better get himself away too. He makes his way back to the Keepers, completely unaware of the men who watch, and the cameras that follow him. He gets back to the keepers in what he believes was a quick and cautious manner. They resume talk of the meeting with Sarah.

Hanson: Right, I’m going to get Edwin, I’ll need to meet Sarah soon.
Lydia: Shouldn’t we be preparing for the Heath?
Hanson: This is sort of part of it… I’m meeting with her friends, who I’m pretty sure are Alex and Melonie.
Lydia: Oh cool, I’ll come with you then.
Hanson: No offence… but I think it might be better if I just have one person follow me this time. Sam, if you go out the front door and stay quiet, I can get Edwin and put you under a perception filter. You can stay close while I speak with Sarah.
Sean: Ok.
Helen: What should I do?
Hanson: Stay away from Edwin. I mean it! If he sees you looking like squidgirl, well, I don’t think it’s what he needs right now.
Helen: Oh…
Lydia: Right, I’ll go help Vivian then.

Lydia leaves, as does Hanson. Sean stays in the room with jellyfish Helen with a look of disgust on his face. An awkward couple of minutes pass before he speaks.

Sean: You really should be more careful.
Helen: More careful?
Sean: That magic you use is a gift, the lords power should not be abused.
Helen: I was not abusing anything, it’s just paradox.
Sean: You were transformed as punishment for what your misuse of the lords power.
Helen: Is that how you see it.
Sean: Yes.
Helen: I see…

Hanson treads lightly up the stairs and finds Edwin quietly looking over a number of newspapers.

Hanson: Edwin, how you doing there? You ok?
Edwin: I’ve been looking at these articles… A black out. Two weeks ago there was a blackout. That’s when things started. Do you think?
Hanson: Maybe… maybe yeah.
Edwin: That’s when the tears from the other worlds began. Those terrible creatures, the ones that live in the walls between reality…
Hanson: Edwin, calm down.
Edwin: See this, there were symbols drawn at the station, cultists. It has to be.
Hanson: We need to go. We’re going to meet with Sarah.
Edwin: Sarah?
Hanson: Do you remember her? Sarah, your sister.
Edwin: But… she’s dead.
Hanson: No, she isn’t.
Edwin: I saw her die.
Hanson: Edwin, you were with her a few days ago, remember? I was with you.
Edwin: yes… No yes, of course. Yes. She …yes.
Hanson: We’re going to go see her. Are you ready?
Edwin: Let me just gather some things.

Sean stepped outside, waiting for Hanson, but as he stepped he noticed a glint of light from across the way. He walked a little further curiously, but was stopped by the sound of a gun cocking.

Agent: Stay still.

Hanson returns downstairs to ensure Helen is hidden.

Hanson: Helen, don’t let Edwin see you. I mean it.
Helen: Ok.

Lydia and Alfred enter.

Alfred: What’s going on.
Hanson: Sean and I are going to meet up with Sarah with Edwin.
Alfred: Are you sure that’s a good idea?
Hanson: Not at all, but it’s the best idea I have right now.
Alfred: Why is Helen a squid?
Hanson: Paradox.
Alfred: Of course… She really should learn some degree of caution.
Helen: Guys… I think something’s happening.

The group look out the window and see Sean with his hands in the air and a man in a suit holding a gun behind him.

Sean: What is going on?
Agent: You will need to answer my questions.
Sean: What is this about?
Agent: We are investigating a suspected terrorist group, one who goes by the name of Joe Hanson you may be associating with, however inadvertently.
Sean: That sounds rather important, do you have any identification on you. Who are you working with?
Agent: MI5, now answer my questions, how many people are in the house.
Sean: I need to see identification first.

The agent shows him an MI5 identity card. Sean starts to lose his composure.

Agent: How many people in the house.
Sean: Which house?
Agent: The house you just left!
Sean: Oh… About four to my knowledge.
Agent: Names!
Sean: What?
Agent: Tell me their names.
Sean: Granny Elm

The Agent pulls the gun close to his neck.

Agent: Don’t try getting funny here.
Sean: That’s what they call her!
Agent: There are two ways this can go down.
Sean: I’ll comply, there’s no need for this.
Agent: Will you?
Sean: Yes.
Agent: Then come with me. Don’t turn around.

The group look through the window as the Agent starts to slowly lead Sean towards a black van. Alfred and Lydia rush downstairs to warn Vivian. Hanson and Helen looks out the window and sees two men exit the van and approach the door of the chantry. Hanson runs back upstairs and finds a fire exit to escape down with Edwin. His main priority was to keep Edwin out of their reach. Helen looks about the kitchen for a place to hide, settling for a cupboard underneath the sink.

Alfred: High Priestess! The technocrats are here.
Vivian: What?
Alfred: They’re here, they must have followed one of us.

Vivian quickly calls the coven together and instructs Gwyn to prepare. Gwyn walks up to the door leading out the undergrove and starts to draw a pentagram on it with chalk. As he draws, he begins to chant prayers of safety to the goddess. He is aided by Genevieve and Camellia. Alfred and Lydia can feel the something shift around them, and ancient sound echoes around the staircase and in the space of minute, the chantry shifts into place.

Lydia: What just happened?
Gwyn: We’ve moved the Chantry.
Lydia: All of it?
Gwyn: No, just this part. If you step out of this door, you will find yourself in a different part of Churchill Gardens.
Alfred: But Helen was in the kitchen. She would still be there, won’t she?
Gwyn: Yes, She will not be on the other side of this door anymore.
Alfred: Well, we have to go help her.
Genevieve: I don’t see why we do.
Alfred: She might be captured by the technocrats!
Genevieve: So? I don’t know much about this person, but everyone’s saying that she’s the one that got Boris captured by the Hermetics.
Alfred: She’s a mage!
Vivian: She betrayed our trust.
Alfred: I treat her as kin! We all should.
Lydia: Surely we can’t just leave her to be captured by the technocrats.
Genevieve: She’s probably the one who led them here in the first place.
Alfred: Vivian please. We need to help her.
Vivian: It’s too dangerous. We cannot risk revealing the location of our node.
Alfred: Then I’ll go.
Lydia: As will I.
Gwyn: High Priestess, I think you should let him. He is right, we can’t possibly allow these men in black to take away one of our own, even if she wronged us in the past.
Vivian: ….No, I do see. She still needs her chance to atone.

Gwyn tells Lydia and Alfred exactly where they are and how to get to where they used to be. Alfred considers leaving his necklace behind to avoid being identified but Vivian insists he keep it, that he would not be able to find his way back to the chantry if he discarded it.
Before leaving, Lydia prepared by writing a number of runes to increase the chance their travel will be successfully undetected by the technocrats. Alfred ran down to the node and brought out his Feather from the Talons of Horus and through this spiritual Tass called upon them to provide favour against the men who wish them harm, to aid in the fight. Nothing seemed to happen, but Alfred had faith. Before they left, Alfred instructed Gwyn that he would signal to them if they needed a quick exit plan. He would throw down the wooden rune linked with Vivian’s.

Sean was at the back of the van, he went as slowly as possible while he planned a means of escape. Whatever happened he was not going in that van. As the doors opened he stood there and tried to recall his training, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Suddenly, he heard a scream, the agent who held him at gunpoint had fallen, and over him stood Alfred with sharp claws growing from his hand. He could feel the energy of the One keeping its form. While the agent grabbed for his gun, Alfred continued to stab at him, but was almost shot by the driver. Sean did not hesitate as he ran around the front and tried to wrestle the gun of him.

Helen sat in the cupboard and listened, she heard the door open and a number of men walk in talking about searching the premises for anything untoward. She heard the sound of cupboards being opened and began to panic. She was in a far too cramped a position to do magic, barely able to move her tentacles let alone her wand, and even then her new form made such fine movement difficult enough. She decided to play squid, pretend that she was just a creature. She quickly wriggled out of her clothes and lay there unmoving just as her cupboard was opened. The man stared at this strange jellyfish like thing, trying to figure out if it was alive or not, but was distracted by a gunshot. Helen could see him look away from the cupboard and out the window above the sink, then run out.

The struggle continued with a number of rounds getting fired off in the process. Sean’s armoured shirt absorbing some, but not of the impact, leaving him wounded when he finally got a hold of the weapon. The agent desperately made a call for backup on a transmission device. Alfred left the man he attacked unconscious, smacking him in the head with the back of his hand, but noticed another approaching, gun held out and aiming straight at Alfred. He jumps to avoid the shot and before the third agent gest a chance to shoot again, Lydia causes a tree to whomp is to the ground. In this moment, Alfred tried to harden his own skin into something of an otherworldly carapace.
Helen looks up from the window and see the chaos, she knows she has to help, grabs a tentacle around her gun and shakily aims at the recently whomped agent and fired. The man collapses to the ground.

Sean, gun in hand, tries to shoot at the driver, but he uses the armoured van’s door as an effective shield, that and his suit provides a surprising amount of resistance. Alfred runs around the van and tries to attack him from the inside, but the driver throws something small and mechanical at him, it latches on and starts to shock him. The pain is incredible, but Alfred grits his teeth and bears through it. Helen continues making shots at the van, but her tentacles make it very difficult to shoot straight. She misses every shot. Alfred, however, effectively puts an end to the fight, bearing through the pain and striking at the driver, who falls. Alfred grabs the communication device the driver held and speaks into it “Tell Mr Steed that we will deliver him Edwin and Hanson at the agreed upon time and place. Not a moment earlier!” He then smashes the device. Suddenly, the gun in Sean’s hand exploded, as did the gun the other member carried. With their agent’s compromised, their weapons had self-destructed. Sean staggered, more surprised than hurt.

Lydia saw that the fight had effectively been won and leaves, returning to the now vacated chantry. She goes upstairs when she hears Alfred’s voice talking to Mr Steed from one of the rooms. Startled, she runs downstairs to warn them.

Alfred: You ok?
Sean: I have a couple of wounds, but I’ll live.
Alfred: Right, I have a slave ready, come over here and I’ll heal you.

Alfred proceeds to heal, dispelling his carapace in the process. This is when Lydia rushes out.

Lydia: There are more upstairs! I heard you talking to them.
Alfred: Ah… That’s not good! All our stuff is still there…
Sean: I have a feeling all of that is going to be seized by them.
Alfred: The Cross!! We can’t let them get that!

Alfred notices a window open up.

Alfred: Quick! Insides before they snipe us!

They rush inside and meet with Helen, who is having a hard time standing up. The wind starts to pick up, and storm clouds gather. “Took them long enough” thinks Alfred. They proceed upstairs to the room. The winds become very strong. They listen in through the door and hear the sound of breaking glass. Sean and Alfred burst through and see a broken window. Alfred runs and looks down, two men in suits were on the ground, trying to help up one of their wounded men. The wind was now in full force, prompting the agents to flee. Alfred lunged after them with claws outstretched, but only just missed them.
Helen peered out and for a moment thought she recognises her father among those escaping. Shocked, she ran downstairs as fast as her tentacles would allow her.
As Alfred continued to attack, they shot at him, keeping him at bay long enough for them to get to the van. The van moved round, picked up another, and then veered away as the storm built on.

Helen arrived in time to see the van pull away. They threw a glance at the bodies that were left behind, but not a trace was to be seen, as though no fight had taken place.

---NOTES---
Originally, I planned this session to go completely differently. I was prepared for it to be split between Hanson and Edwin going to meet Sarah along with whoever accompanied him, and the rest of the group who would assist the Keepers in their preparations, including going to the Heath and encountering whatever or whoever would be there. As you can see, this did not happen. That entire battle was completely improvised. Sean failed both Stealth and Alertness rolls and so was followed back. But even then, I had a different idea on how it would go. I predicted that they would successfully ambush Hanson and Edwin as they emerged, and then Edwin’s imagination would kick in leading to all manners of confusing hellscapes breaking out, giving Hanson a chance to use Edwin’s reality warping effects to his advantage, but Hanson was much more cautious this time around.
So this entire fight, the five agents, totally improvised, but utterly satisfying to all involved.

The next session, a lot of people are going to be away, so it’s just going to be Aaron and Hanson. This is good, Hanson’s arc has been somewhat side lined in favour of the Verbena stuff recently, and Aaron’s player has already missed two weeks’ worth of sessions so focusing on them for a while should even things out.

By the way, if Thursday isn’t finished with by the end of this Month, I’m probably going to shoot myself. How much longer can this arc get?

[Saikou]

Session 27

I am about a full week behind on writing up these sessions. Session 28 has already come and gone, and I have only just begun to look at my notes for Session 27. This is mostly my fault for not prioritising the writing of these things over other freetime type activities.

This session (27) was actually fairly uneventful, and mostly consisted of the players recapping the journey so far to each other and roleplaying their various character’s responses.
Rather than give my usual scattershot blow-by-blow for this, I thought I’d instead give a brief overview of what happened, only focus in on the parts that weren’t recap, and hopefully finish all of this in one sitting so I can get started on the most recent session (28) which turned out to be much more exciting.

Cast List

Alfred Camlan: Excalibur Mage
Sean “Sam” Heath: Templar Knight
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective

Notable NPCs Include:

Eve: Helen’s Mentor
Gwyn: Gater keepers of the Keepers
Vivian: High priestess of the Keepers
Sarah Phillips: Edwin’s sister.

---CHAPTER 27 TAKING A MOMENT ---

Following the drama in the Virtual Adepts place, Helen left to meet with Hanson and Sean, and proceeds to explain pretty much everything that happened in the last few sessions from her sneaking around a hospital to the eventual jump out the window.

What interested Hanson especially was what Helen had overheard of Lance’s conversation with Alfred, especially the parts where Alfred started plotting a plan which involved him as a bargaining chip with the New World Order. Helen also shows Hanson the file on her father, Peter Walter, which says the following.

Subject: CLN165332/E-series
Prior Name: Peter Walter
Status: Mutual
Gene Quality: Good
Source Background: Agent part of subdivision: CHARLIE. Showed great promise in training and demonstrated firm mutuality though all proceedings. Main achievements detailed in missions: MX_B34-3, MX_C43-5, MX_C02-6, XXXXXXXXXX, MX_D11-6.
Upon attaining 2^nd degree loyalty, agent was afforded several privileges including 4^th band salary, Grade 3 lodgings, Marital Partnership, and 3 weeks holiday (monitored).
Retrieval: 17/08/2013 01:16;North Wales. Agent was at campground with partner (Dr Elizabeth Ball S-code:3146593)when ambushed in the night by Reality Deviants intent on harm. Full recording transmitted from Dr Ball’s Optical V-DAS implant. Operatives arrived on site and neutralised the threat, but were too late to preserve either member. While Agent Walter was successfully retrieved, Dr Ball could not be recovered. Her V-DAS transmission ended abruptly with little evidence to demonstrate a cause.
Properties:
* Determined attitude
* Good Marksmanship
* Excellent Loyalty rating
* Complete Cognitive Function
* Low Fear Response
Equipment:
Standard issue X-5 Protector Model R issuing Standard and Electric rounds.
Standard issue HGR-Suit, Black
Notes: Subject is recommended for ventures of extreme peril. Living memory of Reality Deviants provides the perfect model for paranormal fieldwork.
For technical specifications of the E-Series, refer to Page 146 of the manual provided.
Hanson does not have much time to concentrate on it before they notice a number of suited agents heading towards the café they were in. Putting up a strong perception filter, The three of them make an exit towards the back of the building and head towards the Keepers undetected.

Alfred knew he had to get back to the keepers to attend his induction ceremony if nothing else, he spoke with Be4ker.

Alfred: Excuse me?
Be4ker: yeah?
Alfred: Where exactly are we?
Be4ker: You’re in a room.
Alfred: Yes, but where?
Be4ker: Oh, around Clapham.
Alfred: Is there any way I can get to Wimbledon?
Be4ker: Sure, I can find that on the map for you.
Alfred: Thank you.
Be4ker: Take a look.

Alfred stared into the monitor at the grassy image which shown from it. As he stared he felt the world around him shift, the image becoming more vivid, as though reaching an ever higher resolution. Breaking his gaze, he looked around. He was now in Wimbledon common.
He made his way towards the rotting node of Cesear’s Well. Mr Steed wishing him a safe journey home made him far too paranoid to take a conventional rout home, and wished instead to travel via the pathways. After breaking his phone and discarded it, Alfred stepped over the threshold and onto the Old Roads. He noticed the dark feel around the penumbra here, as though a great presence still loomed over it. Beyond the mists he could feel red eyes staring out, but chose not to spend too much time on it and went on. Arriving at the Keepers within an hours travel, and a large bout of paradox. Alfred looked down, but could no longer see the sword by his side, he realised he could not feel Excalibur within his mind either, a moment of fear gripped him as he suspected his avatar may have been left behind in the spirit world.

Once Alfred arrives, Hanson confronts him about this plan and Alfred explains his position. He originally intended to work with the Void Engineers, Lance and Hector, and have Hanson lead the NWO on a wild goose chase while giving them Edwin, in order to keep them far away from the cleansing ritual for the Node on the Heath. Returning the quintessence cannot be interrupted. However, Alfred is starting to change his mind about this, that working with the Technocracy may no longer be possible after what Helen did.

Hanson: What did Helen do exactly?
Helen: I didn’t do anything!
Alfred: She killed two people.
Hanson: What!?
Helen: It was self-defence!
Alfred: You snuck into their space, agreed to follow them out, and ended up killing them in the lift.
Helen: I was scared! I didn’t want to kill them though.
Hanson: But… they’re still dead.
Alfred: They might have been clones…
Helen: I didn’t mean it.
Alfred: I have half a mind to meet with your mentor and let her know exactly what you’ve been up to.

Hanson gets a call

Hanson: Hello?
Sarah: Hanson?
Hanson: Ms Phillips, is everything alright?
Sarah: Yes… everything’s fine.
Hanson: Are you sure? No one following you?
Sarah: I’ve spoken with my friends… They’ve agreed to meet with you.
Hanson: Oh… When?
Sarah: Tomorrow.
Hanson: And where are they?
Sarah: I’ll take you to them, we can meet at 3.
Hanson: So who are they?
Sarah: …Do you still have Edwin.
Hanson: Yes.
Sarah: Is he ok?
Hanson: Last I checked, he was still… safe.
Sarah: Could you bring him with you?
Hanson: …certainly Ms Philips.

Alfred goes downstairs and meets with Vivian who informs him they are getting ready for the ceremony. Alfred quickly consults with Granny Elm, who is still absent, only speaking via a plume of black mist. He tells him that The Marauder may have an important part to play at the Heath yet. This leads Alfred to believe that it may be important to ensure Edwin is present at the Heath at the time of the battle, something Hanson is much less happy about.

Helen returns to her mentor, sitting in her office within the hermetic chantry. She approaches the desk with the file in her hand.

Helen: I have something to show you.
Eve: Helen, I’ve heard you’ve missed a few of your lessons.
Helen: Oh… Sorry.
Eve: This isn’t good. I know you have been given work to do, but you cannot neglect your studies.
Helen: Eve, I’ve found something. Take a look at it. It’s about my father.
Eve: How many times must we go over this.
Helen: He’s alive! Look at this file.

Helen places the file on the desk, but Eve continued to stare sternly at Helen.

Eve: I will not look at this, and neither should you.
Helen: Please.
Eve: Where exactly did you find it?
Helen: I… uh… I found it in the Shard…
Eve: In the- ! Is this what you have been doing instead of your studies?
Helen: I’m sorry.
Eve: I thought you wanted to learn about the basics of Ars Conjunctionis. Has this interest faded?
Helen: No! It hasn’t. Please, Just look at it, please.
Eve: It’s been over three years Helen. You couldn’t find them, no one could find them. How can you expect to move forward if you keep looking behind?
Helen: I know he’s here though, that he’s a techno-
Eve: We shouldn’t even be talking about this. People talk, Helen. People talk about these kinds of things. You do not want the wrong people overhearing them. I can’t know about this file, and you can’t continue searching. Your reputation is too valuable to waste. Do you understand?
Helen: …yes.
Eve: Go to bed. You have an early start tomorrow. Much lost time to make up for.

Alfred attended his induction ceremony in the undergrove. Hanson attended to watch, though Sean felt it better to distance himself a bit from the coven. Alfred attained the title of Priest within the Keepers, as well as a proper golden tree necklace for him to use, allowing him entry and exit of the chantry as he needed.

After a few drinks where poured to celebrate, the more serious matter was breached of planning.

[ST NOTE: A lot of recapping here. The plan on the Heath is pretty much the same. Having the acolytes help perform a cleansing ritual as the quintessence is restored to the node, While this is done, one group will need to enter the spirit world and fight off the spirits prolonging the corruption, as well as the fomori who may harm any who try to undo Malady’s work. Another will have to keep an eye on the progenitors and keep them busy. It was discussed that Helen may be able to distract the NWO enough to keep them at bay, since they will definitely be looking for her now. Edwin’s role was discussed, but ultimately unknown outside of the fact that Granny Elm could see it.]

The meeting concluded, Hanson returned to his room checking on Edwin to ensure he was still asleep. Alfred too returned, but on his bed was met with a bizarre sight. A majestic image of a man in glorious clothing sat upon his bed, his face a similar shape and tone to Alfred’s own. As he stared at the man’s face, he soon realised exactly who he was looking at.

Arthur: Hello Alfred.

Alfred collapsed into a bow.

Alfred: My King!
Arthur: I believe you have lost something.

Alfred looked up and saw the sword Excalibur lying in his lap.

Alfred: Forgive me, it is not mine to bare.
Arthur: I believe it is.
Alfred: I was only holding it, awaiting your arrival, my liege.
Arthur: Then, on my behalf, I ask you to wield it.

The king presented the sword to Alfred.

Alfred: Forgive me my King, I do not believe myself worthy to wield this sword.
Arthur: There is not need, the sword is but a tool to be used.
Alfred: And what must I use it for?
Arthur: To protect the weak, those that have no means to protect themselves.
Alfred: I see.

Alfred allows himself to take the sword and in the blink of an eye, he is gone. Alfred is alone in his room, somehow the sword sits at his hip without his moving it.

Alfred: You hear that? You’re a tool for me to use.
Excalibur: Only for work worthy of my use.

The next morning, Helen learned more about the sphere of Correspondence with her mentor.

Hanson took his morning coffee, and while smoking, slipped into a dream. He concentrated on what would happen if he went to meet Sarah’s friends. The smoke twisted into the shape of a large gun, barrel pointed straight down at Hanson. He stared at it as it hovered there menacingly before dissipating into the room.
Hanson took Sean to a gun seller he knew and used his slot machine winnings on a new gun for Sean, several rounds of ammunition, and a good bullet proof vest.
Alfred wondered downstairs into the undergrove. He noticed Lydia still sitting in a trance by the node. Camellia sat next to her but whether in meditation or simply relaxed, he was not able to tell.
He needed to talk to someone about what had happened last night. Gwyn used to be with his father as a part of the Glastonbury circle, he would understand his family’s quest.

Alfred: Gwyn! Something happened.
Gwyn: What is it?
Alfred: I saw him. I saw the King. He was in my room.
Gwyn: The King? You don’t mean.
Alfred: Our quest, yes. Him! He was there.
Gwyn: Are you sure?
Alfred: It may have been a spirit, but a spirit of our King can only be a good omen.
Gwyn: Alfred… Perhaps you have been spending too much time with the marauder.
Alfred: I saw him, he was there.
Gwyn: We have been waiting for his return for centuries, how likely is it he would just appear at your bedside?
Alfred: That’s a point… But surely this could be a place to start?
Gwyn: If this is true, then it certainly would. But we can’t be certain that it was. Marauders can lead to terrible affects like this, you must be careful.

Alfred was left uncertain as to exactly what he had experienced. He was so certain it was him, it just felt right, exactly as it should. But the idea that Edwin’s influence had caused some kind of mild Quiet was too intrusive to let alone. He looked down, and Excalibur was nowhere to be seen.

Thursday had arrived. This evening, the battle to save Hampstead Heath would commence, and preparations finalised.

---NOTES---
I’m not entirely certain why this session became so recap heavy. It could be because a number of players where now in the same place for the first time in a few weeks, allowing them to get on the same page. It could also be because the story has become so involved recently that the players needed a bit of time to set things straight.
Weird thing to keep in mind, while the game started last September, about seven months ago, in game we have only reached the end of the second week.
I would have preferred things to happen a bit more quickly. Ideally, this battle should have happened five or six sessions ago, but circumstances keep making it delay. I originally wanted to wait until everyone was around before the battle happened, but that’s becoming much less likely. Similarly a lot of these sessions I wanted to have in one go, such as the Hospital meeting and the Shard meeting, but as the players couldn’t make the same days, I had to split it across.

Today, I had a plan for Hanson’s character, he would have gone to meet Sarah’s friends in this session, but Hanson’s player decided against this, not wanting to go without Aaron around to keep an eye on him. Another case of player schedules dictating the story. Shame, because the bulk of the action was planned for that particular event.
Maybe next time.

[Saikou]

Session 26

So funny story. I actually finished writing up these notes last week but put off submitting them until just now... My discipline has just been taking a bath or something.

Cast List
Alfred Camlan: Excalibur Mage
Sean “Sam” Heath: Templar Knight
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective
Aaron Gibson: Punk Hacker

Notable NPCs Include:

Technocrats
Lance Armstrong: R&E Engineer
Mr Steed: NWO operative

---CHAPTER 26 TOWER OF GLASS ---

Aaron looks over the gun that Hanson handed him, examined the shape and checked the rounds it held.

Aaron: What you got here is an X-5 Protector. Standard for black hats and the like. These things are pretty good as far as guns go, and by the looks of it, you’ve got a few rounds of custom ammunition. Lighting style.
Hanson: I see.
Aaron: Yeah, not bad, though you might want to be careful. The technocracy might have a trace on these kinds of things.
Hanson: A trace? But I’ve brought it here!
Aaron: Yeah… You should probably through that thing in the river… but it is a neat gun so… your call. Anyway, I got to get going. Plans are in the works.

Aaron heads off to Be4kers place. He arrives and hears that things are already getting underway. Rubrix and Eskim0e are plugged in, all Aaron needs to do is head to the Shard, the tallest building in London an Technocrat stronghold, call a meeting with Jason Stavero, plug in a USB into his computer for them to get access.

Be4ker: The idea is if they can get in this way, they’ll be able to bypass all the security that usually ties us up.
Aaron: Right. So any ideas on the escape plan?
Be4ker: Yes, actually. Now, these technocrats make good wards on their turf, but here’s the thing, they built the thing too high for their cover. Climb to the top and you should be able to warp yourself out of there.
Aaron: And what if things go south? Any way to signal?
Be4ker: Just plug in the USB to your own computer.
Aaron: Isn’t that dangerous if the other guys are in here?
Be4ker: They won’t actually be in there, they’ll be here with me watching them. Their icons are going in the USB, and if it gets transferred to you, they’ll see it, log out, and we’ll know.
Aaron: Right. Well then… I best get going.
Be4ker: Yeah, also, Don’t screw up.

Hanson sets out to a bookie with the idea of enhancing the money Sarah gave him through a bit of Entropy laced gambling. Sean decided to keep an eye on him, fully aware of how much trouble an unattended Hanson can get in. Hanson chooses a fairly clean betting place, one of a chain with tv screens displaying races and newspapers pinned to the wall. He takes out his notepad and starts drawing the names down along with the odds, tracing rings around the ones he starts to get a feeling for, and then betting an appropriate amount.

[ST NOTE: He did this as an Entropy 1 effect, meaning he’d get an idea as to which horses were likely to win. The effect lasted for a scene and he made a series of bets. The way we played it out is by having the successes equal dice I would roll to see how well the gamble went, increasing the difficulty with each race.]

Sean stood there. Though he did not approve of Hanson’s activity, he didn’t see much need to stop him. Hanson, he figured, was on a self-destructive path and would need help far beyond his ability to get away from it. As long as he, and everyone around him, was safe, that would be enough.
Hanson ended up breaking even by the 5^th race, and decided to call it off and find a new bookies to attempt business, since this one wasn’t working out.

Aaron arrived at the Shard, the tallest building in all of London. This was a meeting he’d been resisting for a long time now. He stepped through the glass doors and approached the front desk. He gave the person at the desk a false name (I am having a lot of trouble keeping track of all the false names this guy uses, but I think this one ended in Wight).

Reception: And what can I do for you?
Aaron: I have an appointment with Jason Stavero
Reception: What time is he expecting you?
Aaron: Tell him it’s about the Esther Project.

The reception makes a phone call, and then returns to Aaron.

Reception: Take the lift to the 55^th floor.

Aaron enters the elevator, which quickly speeds upwards. The elevator itself is glass and allows an easy view of things outside. For a moment he notices what he thinks is Helen walking away from London Bridge station and towards Guy’s Hospital. He starts to wonder what exactly she was doing there, when the room comes to a stop at the 32^nd floor. A man in a suit steps in, a cold expression on his face. Aaron watches the man out of the corner of his eye and notices him take out a phone and speak quietly into it the words “Subject found”. Aaron tries to peek over to see what is written on the phone and spies a phone number which he tries to commit to memory while acting uninterested. The elevator continues to rise and the man does not react. Once the 55^th floor arrives, Aaron waits for a moment, then steps out. He walks ahead to another desk. Behind him the man steps out and stands by the elevator door, speaking something else into his phone. Aaron is wary but thinks it best not to draw any more attention. Instead he approaches the desk and is directed to a waiting area further up the corridor where he sits. Aaron glances back quickly and sure enough the man still stands by the elevator door.
Trying to distract himself, he roots around the reading material and finds a few day old newspaper with a headline that grabs his attention. “Blackout Terrorist Investigated”. It speaks of what the police suspect is the cause of the black out only two weeks ago, and tying it to the recent “bomb threats” that have been springing up around London. Aaron recognises the locations to be exactly where Edwin’s portals had been. The article went on to state that, while Police were not ready to disclose details, there was suspicions that the blackout and the bomb threats were linked and that the same terrorist group may be behind them.


At a different bookie, Hanson decides he needs something a little more certain. He knew that constantly winning would only draw suspicion. What he needed instead was a single big win from something that would be difficult to implicate him in. In the corner of the room was a number of fruit machines. In front of one was a man putting endless amounts of coins into it. Hanson decided to stand aside and wait for him to leave. The man hit the machine in anger and then walked to the bathroom. Hanson got out his notepad and clear a space in the chaotic maelstrom around, forcing machine to give him a jackpot the moment he pressed the button. He pressed, waited, and sure enough a stream of 7’s followed with a flow of coins. He had managed to win around £400.
As Hanson gathered up the change and took it to the desk, the man returned.

Man: Hey! What are you doing? You just win on that machine?
Hanson: Yeah, lucky day.
Man: I’ve been on that machine all day. That’s my money.
Hanson: What can I say? You left it.
Man: You can give me back what I paid for. It’s mine.
Hanson: You left, I pushed the button. I won it.
Man: Oh did you! Come over here and say that!
Sean: Is there a problem here?
Man: Who the fuck are you?

Aaron is called in, informed that Mr Stavero will see him now. The office is big with a glass wall overlooking the London city skyline. Ahead of him is Jason Stavero sitting confidently and gesturing at the chair apposite him.

Stavero: Please, take a seat.
Aaron: …ok.
Stavero: We Mr Gibson, you are a difficult man to find.
Aaron: I’ll take that as a compliment.
Stavero: Let’s get right to this shall we? You have something which belongs to us, and I’d like to get it back.
Aaron: And what is it you want?
Stavero: Please Mr Gibson, we’re well past that. We both know what you have taken from us.
Aaron: …The Esther file.
Stavero: Yes, where is it?
Aaron: I’m not going to give it to you.
Stavero: Do you even know what this file is?
Aaron: …
Stavero: You are dealing with things far beyond your reach.
Aaron: I don’t care. I know you want it, and that’s enough.
Stavero: Perhaps there can be some sort of arrangement made. I understand that you’ve been having money problems recently.
Aaron: Yes, I bet you know why.
Stavero: I can sort that out for you, just a few calls and it’ll be done. I could even add a few zeros on to the end of it.
Aaron: You’re bribing me?
Stavero: Please, Mr Gibson, we’re negotiating. You have somethingthat I’m willing to reward you for returning.
Aaron: Something which you probably stole in the first place.
Stavero: I don’t think you’re in much position to take the high road here Mr Gibson. Not with your activities.
Aaron: My activities?
Stavero: I’m sure you’ve read in the news about the recent terrorism activity that’s been going on. The black out a few weeks back, an act of cyberterrorism if I remember correctly. If we were to run a few checks, how easily do you think it would be to tie these events to you?
Aaron: Are you threatening me?
Stavero: Merely stating a few facts. Are you aware how difficult life can be when under suspicion of terrorism? I don’t think you’d want to find out.
Aaron: You really don’t want to be threatening me, because if I get cornered, if I have no other options, I turn pretty nasty in an instant. Don’t push me!
Stavero: Then let’s return to negotiation. Your equipment must be quite costly.
Aaron: You’ll need more than money get me to help you.
Stavero: Then perhaps something else. I’ve heard about some activity at Hampstead Heath. Some friends of yours seem really eager to prevent some work I’m overseeing.
Aaron: Friends of mine?
Stavero: Yes, people on the ground have said as much, wanting to prevent the wheels of progress as it were. Already we’re experiencing delays. However, if I had something else to occupy my time, it’s likely these delays will be extended indefinitely.
Aaron: Construction would stop on the Heath?
Stavero: For as long as I had my hands tied with more important matters.
Aaron: I see… Well, it certainly sounds like a good deal. But it just doesn’t seem sweet enough to me.
Stavero: You have something specific in mind?
Aaron: I want to know what the Esther file is! What does it do?
Stavero: Well, that level of information comes only at a need-to-know basis.
Aaron: I need to know!
Stavero: Secrets like that can only really be afforded to the most senior of workers, but perhaps arrangements can be made.
Aaron: Arrangements? What kind?
Stavero: If you were to become an employee of mine, I could see to it that your journey through the ranks will allow you the position needed to learn.
Aaron: You mean, come work for you?
Stavero: For the company, for the union. A man of your apparent talent would be highly valued in this day and age. It would of course come with a very good salary and, subject to performance, a number of other benefits.
Aaron: Hmm… very tempting. I’ll need a moment to think it over.

The phone rings, Stavero picks it up and speaks.

Stavero: Hello… I’m in the middle of a meeting right now- When? …Right here? …Are you sure? …No, this needs to be dealt with!... (looking up at Aaron) Excuse me.

Jason Stavero hurriedly gets up and leaves his office. Aaron sits for a few moments in silence before getting to work. He rushes behind the desk and immediately plugs the USB into the computer. He tries to look through the machine himself, but a screensaver password stops him. Not wishing to waste any time, he takes out his own computer and starts running a password cracking algorithm on it. While this runs Aaron takes a quick glance out the window onto the streets below and notices something unexpected. On the ground running towards the shard is Helen with bloodstained tattered clothes. Whatever she was doing, looks like it bought him some time.

Alfred looks out of the hospital with Lance behind him.

Alfred: I’m sorry about this. I honestly didn’t know she was here.
Lance: Hopefully this won’t put too much of a dent in our plan.
Alfred: I’ll have to speak with Hanson, but otherwise, nothing should change.

Mr Steed approaches quickly.

Steed: Lance, you should get going and prepare for tomorrows handover.
Lance: Yes Mr Steed.
Steed: And Mr Camlan.
Alfred: Uh… yes?
Steed: Have a safe journey home.
Alfred: …
Steed: Be seeing you.

Alfred watched for a moment as Mr Steed walked nonchalantly away. He then turned and ran in the direction he saw Helen go. He later found her in a charity shop trying to buy some clothes to cover up her somewhat ruined ones. Quickly thinking, he rushed inside and pushed her into the changing room saying “Darling! You’re not wearing that shirt correctly, here let me help you with it”.
In the changing room, he spoke quietly with a serious tone.

Alfred: What are you doing!?
Helen: I was trying to find my father.
Alfred: In there!?!?
Helen: I thought he would be there. I saw him.
Alfred: You know you might have ruined a plan I was setting up with them?
Helen: I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that.
Alfred: You also might have killed someone.
Helen: What? No! I didn’t want to do that.
Alfred: They might have been clones, but either way. We have to get out of here now. Technocrats will be swarming the place looking for you.
Helen: I’m sorry, really.

Alfred starts his chanting to evoke the narrative shift upon himself and Helen, and the two of them slip out of the charity shop and towards the station. Helen sees the shard and stares at it. It glows in her mind as a place with answers, answers about her father, answers about what happened to him. As they walk by, Helen stops.

Alfred: Come on, we have to be quick.
Helen: Alfred… I understand what you’re saying, but I’m really sorry for this.

She runs to the Shard. Alfred stares in stunned silence as Helen runs straight into the maw of a technocratic stronghold.
Helen dashes to the front lobby, ignoring the person at the desk. She gets an intuition that there is something on floor 55 for her to see. She makes a dash for the elevator and calls it down, looking behind her a number of men in suits and bowler hats enter the door, speak with the front desk, and are pointed straight towards her. Desperately pressing the buttons within the elevator, she them walk towards her just as the doors close.
Aaron follows this men, cloaked by his narrative shift from their sights, and watches the doors close. Alfred walks towards the stairs when a message announced on the intercom. “Richard Davenport to floor 55. Richard Davenport to floor 55.”
One of the bowler hat wearing men starts to head up the stairs. Alfred follows him cautiously, making sure he stays at least half a floor behind him.

The cracking complete, Aaron starts to delve into the many files within the computer, searching for anything that might be of interest to him. He notices a number of emails between Jason Stavero as a Mr Steed regarding the Esther file, it seems the two of them are sharing information in order to find it. More curious is a large database that Aaron finds in Jason’s own documents. A small list of about 200 people with numbers and values attached to them along with their activity, times, dates, and other factors, along with a confusing array of numbers and codes. Aaron got to work, taking out his own hard drive and transferring the entire document over.
It takes a while to transfer over, the document is much bigger than he expected. While waiting, Aaron anxiously starts to look around for anything else that might be of interest. He tries the drawers, by they are locked. Unwilling to waste any time with opening them, he takes his weaponised stylus out and shoots at the keyhole, and the draw slides out. A great number of files lie within, far too many to take, so he skims them and one catches his eye. It is labelled Peter Walter, the same man Helen was looking for? He grabbed the file and placed it in his bag. Glancing back at the progress bar, 95%... Aaron did not feel good waiting for this.

Helen heard the announcement, Richard Davenport to floor 55, and assumed it must be referring to her. She took out a pen and began drawing shapes and patterns on her skin to change its colour to a much darker tone, hoping this would throw people off, and then got off on the 35^th floor, waited a while, and slowly climbed up the stairs.
Alfred had arrived on the 55^th floor, slowly slipping past the man who stood guard by the stair well. Not knowing where she went, he decides to sit in the waiting area where he overhears a man’s phone conversation.

Stavero: Yes… They’re here now….Where do you suspect the reality deviant is… my office?

Aaron looks back at the screen, finally, 100%. He pulled the Harddrive out and put it away. Rubrix and co have probably had plenty of time to look around, Aaron thought, so he unplugged the USB and put it into his own laptop to signal the need of retreat. He decided he needed to do something to slow the technocrats down. He tried to take the entire computer terminal, but was unable to lift it, and dropped it on his foot. Stifling a yell he tried again only to get the same result.

The sound of Aaron’s clumsy computer antics where heard by Alfred, who recognised his voice. He slowly walked towards the door, opening to find a swearing Aaron.

Alfred: Aaron? What are you doing here?
Aaron: I’m on a mission. What are you doing here!?
Alfred: I’m looking for Helen.
Aaron: What’s she doing here!!?
Alfred: She’s looking for her father.
Aaron: What’s he doing here?
Alfred: She thinks her father’s a technocrat.
Aaron: He’s a WHAT!?

Helen climbs to the 55^th floor and is stopped by the man waiting for her.

Man: Excuse me ma’am, do you have your badge?
Helen: Badge?
Man: ID Bage
Helen: Uh… no.
Man: (into a mic) We’ve found her.

Helen tried to run but the man grabbed a hold of her.


Alfred: We have to get out of here.
Aaron: Couldn’t agree more, now this may sound a bit crazy, but the fastest way out will be up.
Alfred: Up?
Aaron: Trust me, I know what I’m… what the heck?

Aaron and Alfred looked through the doorway at the man trying to keep a hold of Helen, but couldn’t recognise her with her new skin colour. They watched as Helen manages to wrestle herself free. She runs to the threshold of the room where the other three stand stock still as two men pull out guns on them. Jason Stavero returned on the scene and spoke.

Stavero: Well Mr Gibson? Is this your idea of an escape?
Aaron: No. This is!

Without hesitation, Aaron aimed his stylus at the glass wall behind them and fired. The glass cracked with a tiny hold in the centre. Aaron ran to the glass in an effort to break through it, but the glass held firm. Alfred panicked. His narrative shift would not help with so many onlookers. He called on for the strength of Woden and charged at the window, smashing through it and falling. Aaron quickly jumped after him screaming “Sic Semper Tyrannis Techoncucks!” with two fingers in full display. Helen, on seeing no other alternative, followed the two in their fall.
Glass shards flayed in every direction as the three of them plummeted at speed, the ground getting ever closer by the second. Helen and Aaron worked up their Forces, Helen trying to reduce the speed of her decent, and Aaron lowering his kinetic value. Alfred, unable to perform such feets, attempted instead to strengthen his skin, but was in no frame of mind for prayer and concentration as the effect failed. Seeing this, Aaron tried to extend his programme to Alfred’s code, executing the function just in time. The two of them gently touched down to the ground while Helen landed a bump, made painful by the shards of glass.

Aaron: What the heck was that all about?
Helen: I didn’t know…
Alfred: There’s no time for this. They’ll be looking for us. We have to leave now, I suggest we take the sewer.
Aaron: No.
Alfred: It’s the easiest way to get by unnoticed.
Aaron: We are not going in the sewer.
Alfred: Why not?
Aaron: We’re just not, ok?
Alfred: Where do we go then?
Aaron: We need to get away from this building, find a place to hide. Hopefully someone’s looking out for us.

The three of them dart away, dangerous looking agents file out of the building in all directions. They find a remote alleyway to sneak in when Aaron starts to feel the pixels around him flicker.

Aaron: Ok, it’s happening, grab on to me!

They hold tight as the world around them begins to flicker and shake, compressing all around them until they are left with nothing but a dark room with a screen.

The man swung a punch at Hanson, who backed away in pain. Sean stepped in and directed the mans attention, deftly avoiding his shambling hits while Hanson alerted the staff. Soon the manager approached.

Manager: Right you two, get out.
Sean: Me?
Manager: Both of you, before I call the police.

The man protested, calling Hanson a thief before being shown the door. Hanson went to convert the coins into notes while receiving profuse apology from the staff. Outside, the man hit at the windows in anger before turning to Sean.

Guy: You got me kicked out!
Sean: Sir?
Guy: Yeah, this is your fault!
Sean: You do not want to fight me.
Guy: Wanna bet? Eh? Think your tough do you?

Sean refuses to engage but this guy just doesn’t back down. As the guy approaches, Hanson exits the bookies, takes a swig, and endorses a mind effect on him, calming him down, removing the edge of his aggression.

Hanson: Look buddy, I get it. You’ve probably been putting cash into that thing all day. And yeah, it sucks you didn’t get the payout. That happens sometimes, it’s luck.
Guy: …what am I gonna do now…
Hanson: Here.

Hanson hands the guy £30 of his winnings. The guy slinks off muttering “How am I going to explain this to her…”

Hanson: You ok?
Sean: Yes, he wasn’t much of a threat.
Hanson: Better avoid the attention though.

Helen: Where are we?
Aaron: Someplace safe.

Aaron walks up to the screen, upon which are the words “Who dese guys?
Aaron: They’re fine, I know them, they’re safe.

A door opens and Rubrix steps in.

Rubrix: Theseus! Nice one.
Aaron: You get what you needed?
Rubrix: Found out some things, that’s for sure. Might have a better idea of what we’re dealing with.
Aaron: You know what the Esther file is?
Rubrix: Maybe. But anyway, what happened to you? I thought you were going to teleport from the top of the building.
Aaron: The plan changed suddenly, had to bust out of a window during a hail of gunfire.
Rubrix: Woah… That’s dramatic.
Aaron: I know. I’m going to get so much Rep for this!
Rubrix: So what happened?
Aaron: Helen happened. (pointing at Helen)
Alfred: Yes, Helen, about that. What in the world were you trying to achieve with this?
Helen: I had to find him, I knew there’d be something.
Alfred: Did you really though? You have jeopardised a great deal of trust building and planning all for this single minded pursuit of yours. Your actions were reckless and completely without thought of consequence.

Aaron and Rubrix slink away, watching the action from a computer terminal

Helen: I admit that… I’m sorry.
Alfred: You have a good life as a Hermetic mage. Why risk that? Why throw it away just because of a guess?
Helen: My family is important to me!
Alfred: He isn’t look for you is he? Seems to me like he’s forgotten all about you and moved on!

Helen slaps Alfred across the face.

Helen: How dare you say that! My father is not that kind of man!
Alfred: How do you know that Helen? Did you know he was a technocrat? Maybe you don’t actually know him at all.
Aaron: That’s enough Alfred. She was acting reckless, but that’s no reason to start being a jerk.

Rubrix shows the group where their first aid box is, and Helen heals herself and Aaron while Alfred heals himself.

Aaron: So, your father, you said his name was Peter right?
Helen: Yes.
Aaron: Well, I think I might have found something.

Aaron gives Helen the file on Peter Walter, and immediately disappears reading it.

Voice: You have much to do Utred

Alfred looked around, the voice of Excalibur sounded different. Not as internal as it usually does. He looked down and noticed a sword sheathed in his belt.

Alfred: Excalibur? Have you manifest?
Excalibur: You have still much to do.

Whether a reward from his avatar, or some kind of strange quirk of paradox, Alfred could not say.

Aaron: So, what did you find?
Rubrix: Well, we didn’t have a great deal of time before you called for help, but we did manage to find something. Turns out this Esther file is about condensing humans into numbers, or attaching a value to them.
Aaron: A value?
Rubrix: Yeah, not easy to tell, but from the emails we sifted through, and the documents written about it, it’s about modelling human behaviour, knowing what people will want and do at each decision they make, and the Syndicate are trying to use it to work out how to sell people more stuff.
Aaron: That’s surprisingly mundane.
Rubrix: There’s probably more to it. Even so, being able to condense people down to a predictable number and know exactly what they’ll do and where they’ll go, that isn’t something you’d want the Technocrats to get too comfortable with.
Aaron: That’s for sure. So, you say that it’s about making people into numbers?
Rubrix: Yeah, probably an algorithm for creating databases.
Aaron: Right, because I think I might have found the database for that.
Rubrix: Nice one!

Hanson and Sean sit in a café. The battle would be the following day, and Hanson was intent on finding out who Sarah’s “friends” were before then, but knew it was unlikely they’d let him meet them if they were in fact who they thought they were.

He receives a skype call from Aaron who brings him up to date on what’s just happened, specifically mentioning he found a file on Peter Walter that Hanson was looking for. He hadn’t finished the call for a moment when he got another one from his technocratic informant. [Can’t recall the name]

Call: Hanson.
Hanson: Everything alright?
Call: It’s been madness here. The building is on lockdown, there are rumours that someone snuck into an office, stole some documents, and tried to break through a window.
Hanson: Sounds rather hectic.
Call: Yeah, though I doubt it’ll ever make it to press. Anyway, I’ve done some digging on this Walter guy you were asking about.
Hanson: What did you find?
Call: Definitely an agent in the union, his name has been linked with some pretty serious missions, really dangerous ones from what I can make out.
Hanson: So an field agent.
Call: Here’s the weird thing. I’ve been checking the accounts, and his name vanishes from the payroll about three years ago.
Hanson: He stopped working?
Call: That’s the weird part, it goes quiet, but then a year or so ago, suddenly his name pops up in all kinds of places. Missions, reports, memos, and still nothing on the payroll.
Hanson: That is interesting…
Call: If you ask me, his name is being used far more than if it was just one person. I suspect it’s some kind of codeword.
Hanson: Something to consider. Thanks, as always you’ve been very helpful.
Call: Sure, I’ll see what else I can find, though security is probably going to slow me down for a while.


---NOTES---
I think we can all agree that Helen is an absolutely terrible spy. Even Helen’s player has admitted as much. Speaking of Helen, her player recently started asking me about her Avatar, and why her avatar hasn’t tried to communicate with her. I’m guessing she’s forgotten all the times Helen’s heard voices calling her, flames that only she could see, and the general feeling of answers lying just a bit further ahead. Either that or I’ve been successfully subtle enough about it.

I don’t think Jason Stavero is going to be doing much negotiating with Aaron anymore. The next chance he gets, it’s going to be a much more forceful approach. After all, he broke his window. I'll just add this to the list of "stuff that will bite the players sooner or later".

If I was to produce that list now it would look like this:

Alfred: Norns, Stealing from work, indebted to crows, Making deals with the Technocracy, Traumatising a progenitor, Quiet,
Helen: Disobeying her mentor, Betraying the coven (still paying for that), Quiet
Hanson: Violet, Sarah, Edwin, Hector, Quiet
Sean: Stealing from the Chorus, Norns, Receiving orders, Quiet
Aaron: Officially pissed off a Syndicate manager, Cyber terrorism, Paying rent for a trashed room, Rats, Quiet
Lydia: Unicorn promises, Still wanted by the police, possibly the last sane member of the party.

Let me know if I've forgotten anything. (I have not forgotten the fox).

This has probably been the most action packed sessions for a while, with major development for almost everyon arc wise. Aaron got info on the Esther file, Alfred tried to further his plan with the Technocrats, Helen managed to cause a bunch of trouble but inadvertently enabled Aaron to get info for her.
Hanson and Sean, however, were a bit more isolated from the action. Sean’s player let me know he still enjoyed watching everyone else though. I’m thinking of making the next session a bit more Hanson centric to make up for this imbalance.

[Saikou]

Session 25

I've been really slow at writing these up. Hopefully I'll be up to date if I can finish writing up last weeks session before Sunday.

Cast List
Alfred Camlan: Excalibur Mage
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy

Notable NPCs Include:

Technocrats
Lance Armstrong: R&E Engineer
Mr Steed: NWO operative

---CHAPTER 25: GOING DOWN ---

Having just finished dealing with Edwin’s mind, Alfred hurriedly went to the node in the undergrove. Soon he would need to meet with Lance and who knows who else in the heart of a known technocratic base. He was also worried about whatever Edwin had done to his mind, and whether there was some measure of insanity which bread within him. He spent a several minutes in the presence of the ancient tree putting up mental defences, both to keep prying Technocrats out, and trace insanity within. He also made a few prayers to ancient Norse gods, pressing him within the background of other people’s stories, the Narrative shift. Hopefully he may be able to pass by unnoticed as he travels.

Upon leaving, Alfred notices Lydia and Vivian returning, neither of whom notice him. As Lydia steps beyond the threshold, Alfred approaches the High Priestess, wishing to seek a short consultation with her.

Alfred: High Priestess.
Vivian: Alfred? Did you just arrive?
Alfred: I was leaving, actually.
Vivian: I see. I hope last night offered you some relief.
Alfred: And you as well. Is everything ok?
Vivian: I have a lot on my mind. Preparations need to be made.
Alfred: Of course
Vivian: Tonight, I will properly induct both you and Lydia into the coven.
Alfred: High priestess…
Vivian: You will fight with us while holding our name.
Alfred: It would be an honour.
Vivian: Once everyone arrives, we will do our ceremony.
Alfred: Yes, about that. I’m about to go off to meet with people regarding our unexpected guest.
Vivian: I see…
Alfred: They are the people I told you about.
Vivian: Be careful, and do not trust what they tell you.
Alfred: I will.
Vivian: Be careful, and return before the night is out. We have much to prepare.
Alfred: Of course. And thank you.

Alfred takes an unconventional route in order to reach Guy’s Hospital, not wanting to be followed or tracked, and especially wishing to make it difficult to guess exactly where he was coming from in order to keep the Keeper’s chantry a secret. He arrives at the hospital and asks front desk where the meeting is, then heads to the cafeteria to buy some oatmeal. Alfred had left a number of his materials with the Keepers, and so had to improvise for foci, the seeds should be good enough. He went into the bathroom and tried to grind up the seeds into a paste which he intended to put upon his face to change it, not wanting to be recognised by anyone. However, the effect botched. Alfred concentrated hard and kept the paradox within him, a total of 16 points hung over him, his skin felt as though it were peeling away.

Quietly, he went on the lift and found a number of men in suits who lead him to a small room with a number of tables and chairs. Lance sat at the other end. A number of suited men stood behind him, their bowler hats casting shadow over their face making it hard to distinguish between them.

Lance: Alfred, glad to see you’re ok.
Alfred: Quite… So, it won’t be just us then?
Lance: Unfortunately not.
Alfred: Figures.
Lance: Hold on. (to the suited men) Would you mind giving us a bit of space?

The men speak to each other quietly before leaving the room. Lance and Alfred are alone for a moment.

Lance: So, you remember us talking about Aaron?
Alfred: I do.
Lance: Is there anything you can tell us about him? Do you know where he is right now, for instance?
Alfred: I do not know where he is, sorry.
Lance: Or how we can find him?
Alfred: I honestly could not say.
Lance: Here (handing Alfred Aaron’s phone) Give this to him, we need to contact him as soon as possible.
Alfred: What is all this about?
Lance: I suspect he might have something we need, a file. There’s only one of it, and we need to get it back as soon as we can.
Alfred: I’m not sure if I can promise anything.
Lance: It would be a great help to us.

The door opens, and the room fills with a heavy sense of tension. The tall imposing figure of Mr Steed enters.

Steed: Is this the one?
Lance: Yes, sir.
Steed: Alfred Camlan. I understand you know the whereabouts of the deviants.
Alfred: The marauder?
Steed: Where are they?
Alfred: They?
Steed: The marauder.
Alfred: What will you do with them?
Steed: They are a threat to the masses, a danger to all. We merely wish to contain this threat.
Alfred: How will you go about this?
Steed: I assure you, they will be contained. Now, I recall reading that you had an agreement with us.
Alfred: I was speaking with Lance about a handover.
Steed: So you know where they are.
Alfred: As I said, I was discussing with Lance, and I would prefer to speak with him about it.
Steed: Very well… (to lance) be seeing you.

Mr steed steps up and leaves with a number of men following behind him. Lance breaths out.

Lance: I’m sorry about this.
Alfred: You never told me Steed would be here.
Lance: I can’t get out of this. The moment he found out we were meeting, that was it.
Alfred: This is not ideal.
Lance: I’m not sure what else can be done. They’re always there, breathing down your neck, it’s what they do.
Alfred: Never mind. It’s done, and we can’t exactly evade him now, can we.

The begin to discuss a plan. Alfred offers to bring Edwin to a meeting point for the technocracy to get to him. At first he tries to make is somewhere outside of London, but realises he needs to remain close by to Hampstead Heath in order to aid in the ritual and battle. He decides then to make the hand off point on a different side of the heath itself. This may always allow the progenitors to get caught up in things, allowing for more diversion.

Lance: And that’s where you’ll give us the marauder then?
Alfred: Edwin, yes.
Lance: And what of Hanson?
Alfred: Hanson? I didn’t say anything about Hanson.
Lance: We have him listed as a Marauder.
Alfred: Hanson is a lot of things, but he isn’t a marauder.
Lance: The NWO are looking for him, they believe he’s connected with the breaches as much as Edwin. He’s been at almost every breach sight, and he’s on record of attacking one of our own.
Alfred: Hanson is a good man. He may have acted rash, but he has nothing to do with the breaches. He is not a danger.
Lance: They don’t see it that way. They see him as a threat.
Alfred: Well take my word for it, he’s-

The door opens and Mr Steed returns with two men filing in behind him, both in suits, difficult to distinguish between. They stand by the door.

Steed: So, Mr Armstrong. As a decision been made.
Lance: Yes sir. We’ve decided to have the handover be during the night at Hampstead Heath tomorrow.
Steed: Hampstead Heath… Interesting choice.
Alfred: It was the sight of one of Edwin’s…moments. I figured he’d be more likely to show up there.
Steed: And what of Hanson?
Alfred: I have told you where Edwin will be.
Steed: We intend to take them both.
Alfred: I agreed to cooperate with giving you the man who caused the breaches, that is Edwin.
Steed: Yes, Mr Camlan, and you have been very cooperative with us. Perhaps there is something we can do to extend this agreement.
Alfred: What do you mean?
Steed: The Union provides, Mr Camlan. Perhaps there is something we can make easier for you, give you less to worry about in your normal life. Trouble at work perhaps?
Alfred: Actually… There was something I was hoping to ask about. Something happened.
Steed: The police at your door?
Alfred: Uh… yes. I stole something from work, something I intend to return, mind you.
Steed: Say no more. We can very easily have that dealt with.
Alfred: I think they might have seen me take it.
Steed: That should not be a problem. Allow us to take care of it and you can go to work the next day without any concerns.
Alfred: Really?
Steed: The Union provides, and we look after those who help us.

Alfred thought for a moment. It pained him to admit it, but it seemed like the only real solution he had before him. Alfred really did not want to lose this job, and especially didn’t want to be placed in jail, though he knew making such agreements with the technocracy were dangerous and felt in some way like a betrayal of sorts. However, he conceded, and agreed for them to help him. Mr Steed smiles and leaves, the men in suits following behind him.

Alfred turns to Lance and started talking. He knew that Lance’s field partner Hector really didn’t like NWO pushing in on their work, and he had seen first-hand how uncomfortable Mr Steed made Lance. Now that the man had left them, he decided to construct a plan with Lance.

Alfred: What do you think they will do to Edwin when they get him?
Lance: I couldn’t say. Those kinds of answers are beyond my clearance.
Alfred: What would you do if they weren’t involved?
Lance: Well, we’d want to learn more about this ability he has, see what changes he causes to create these extradimensional rifts, perhaps even use this for further technological development.
Alfred: So you’d probably want to find him first.
Lance: Now that Mr Steed’s involved, I don’t think we have a say in this.
Alfred: I think you might. If you get him away before Steed and co can, you could argue you have priority.
Lance: Perhaps…

Alfred started laying out a plan, the idea would be they could use Hanson as a distraction, leading the NWO on a wild goose chase while Lance and other Void Engineers would come to gather Edwin, even positing that Hector could assist, providing he made peace with the vendetta he held against Hanson.

Lance: That could work… Though it would be tricky. Perhaps we should meet up ahead of time to prepare.
Alfred: Yes, That would be a good idea.
Lance: I’ll need to talk to Hector about this first. If you’ll excuse me.

Lance gets up and walks into the corridor to make a phone call. Alfred creeps towards the door and listens.

The strange sounds of voices brings Helen to look out of the window. She sees a man in a suit walking by. It was only a glimpse, but she had the feeling she had seen this person from somewhere before. A surge of energy shot through her as she realised that this may be her father, and she ran out the door. At least, she would if she could open it. Having lost the right to a necklace, she had no choice but to awkwardly try and prise her way out of a window before trying to find out where this suited man was. She followed who she believed to be his father down the underground and towards London Bridge station. Her bracelet felt a momentary blip of heat as the underground train railed past.

Emerging from the station, a group of suited men walked from the shard and towards Guy’s Hospital. She had a feeling that this group might lead her where she needed to go, and so followed them from a distance, watching as they entered one of the buildings, and then an elevator. Helen did her best to follow in a non-suspicious manner, but on reaching the floor these men arrived at, she was immediately halted by another.

Man: Excuse me miss, you can’t enter here, this is a restricted area.
Helen: Oh, sorry, I didn’t realise.

Helen went back down in the elevator, got out and went back up the stairs, but the man was still there.

Man: I said you can’t be here. Do you need help finding your way back?
Helen: Sorry, I thought this was a public area. What’s happening here?
Man: I can’t tell you that miss, please leave and do not try to enter here again.

Helen obliges, returning to the lift, and then climbing up the stairs. She puts up a silencing effect around her and sneaks into the floor again. Down the corridor, she sees a man in a bowler hat on the phone, she listens in to his side of the conversation.

Lance: Yes Hector. He says that Hanson will be there… I don’t know, but I think it’s worth a try... I trust him, he hasn’t lied to us yet has he?... I don’t like it either, but if we can get this guy before the agents do, we’ll be able to get back to our research, and this little distraction will be behind us… We’ll just have to see it through. We’re meeting Alfred tomorrow on the Heath…. I’ll go over the details in person….

Lance looks down and notices Helen hiding there, her effect did nothing for how easily visible she was.

Lance: Who are you?

Helen tried to speak, but remembered her effect, and promptly dismissed it.

Man: Hey, I thought I told you this was a restricted area!

Alfred opened the door, wondering what all this commotion was and stared in stunned silence at Helen. He knew he had to do something.

Alfred: She’s with me.
Lance: You know here?
Alfred: Yes, but she isn’t here because of us. She’s looking for her father.
Helen: I’m a patient at this hospital!
Alfred: …what?
Man: Right, we’re escorting you out.
Steed: What’s going on here?

Mr Steed emerges from around a corner and everything gets quiet. He walks straight towards Helen. She looks up at his face and gives up any more attempts at lying.

Helen: My father is Peter Walters, I am looking for him, I think he might be a technocrat.

For a moment there was silence. Mr Steed spoke quietly to one of his entourage before speaking to Helen.

Steed: Come with us, and we’ll get this matter sorted out quickly.

Helen was stood up by two men who encouraged her to follow Mr Steed as they walked back to the elevators. Alfred considered acting but thought against it. He needed to stay out of trouble with the technocracy if his plan was to be of any use. Helen came here to search for a technocrat, so perhaps these men where in fact the right people to speak to about it.

As the elevator doors closed, Helen started to panic. She was in a small room with three of these people, one of whom was the terrifying Mr Steed. She was likely being taken away to a technocratic base, and the chances of getting out were far too uncertain to count on. She needed to get out and get away as soon as possible. She started drawing shapes on her arms discreetly, playing it off as a nervous attempt to scratch. The shapes she drew were designed to augment her life pattern, and form sharp spikes as a means of defence. She built the effect and released it just before the elevator reached ground level.

The doors opened to screams of people as blood pooled on the floor. Helen glanced back and saw that all three men were on the ground, puncture wounds on their body…

[ST NOTE: Helen had intended to make spikes on her body to make herself more difficult to touch. I think she originally intended they be some kind of deterrent so they would let go of her, but instead she described the effect as spikes spontaneously slashing out of her body not unlike X-men’s Wolverine’s claws. She managed to roll about 6 successes. With 3 to target and 3 into damage (6 points lethal), it turned out to be an incredibly deadly bit of magic within in the confined space of an elevator room. The lesson here is if you want your effects to be non-lethal, you better make that clear before you start rolling dice.]

A code was called over the intercom.

Lance: That’s… strange
Alfred: What’s going on?
Lance: The hospital’s going on lockdown. That code means there’s a shooter at large…
Alfred: What?
Lance: Something might have happened with that friend of yours.
Alfred: I better go down and check, would you be able to get me to her.
Lance: I can try.

The two of them headed down the stairwell towards the ground floor. Meanwhile, A crowd of people had gathered around the lift with official looking security personnel ushering them away. Helen’s clothes were bloodstained and horrible torn where the spikes burst out. They assumed her a survivor of the shooting and tried to get her away. Alfred arrived, with Lance giving the two of themselves access to approach. Alfred looked bloody mess seeing three bodies on the floor. “What did you do Helen” was the first thought that flew across his mind, though before he had a chance to articulate this question when Mr Steed stood up. He was the only one of the three to move, and his suit was uncannily immaculate.

Steed: Get that girl!

He pointed while addressing one of the guards. Helen backed away while slowly with drawing her wand and tracing out her shapes. Alfred could see what she was doing and started some magic of his own. He needed to stop her, or at least make a show of stopping her if Lance and Mr Steed were to trust him long enough for his plan to work. He tried to enter her mind and cause her to be too distracted to concentrate on her own spell, but Helen’s iron will won out and her effect was cast. She increased her speed significantly, allowing her the means to escape.

Her escape was cut short, however, as she ran head long into a suited agent. The two of them fell to the ground where the guard tried to hold her down, a guard stood over the two with a taser pointed at her. Helen struggled but even with her speed increased, was not strong enough to push away and unable to perform the gestures required of tracing new shapes.

Alfred looked on, feeling conflicted as to how best to approach. The voice of Excalibur echoed in his head. “Coward! Help those you are allied with, do not allow their demise at the hands of the enemy!”. With deep reservation, Alfred started muttering rhymes and poetic verse in prayer to create an illusion for both the guard, the agent, and Mr Steed, in order to have them no longer able to see Helen.

Guard: Hold still.
Agent: Stay on the ground.
Guard: Hey… where’d she go?
Agent: What do you mean, she’s… what?
Guard: Wasn’t she right there?
Agent: She must has slipped off. Did you see where she went?

Helen was freed, she looked around and saw Alfred’s stern face. He mouthed the words “go!”, and she ran off the hospital grounds.

Steed: What are you doing!? After her!
Agent: Where did she go?
Steed: She ran of that way! Get her! She’s a Deviant!
Alfred: Mr Steed… Sir, those men in the lift. I might be able to heal them.
Steed: There’s no need.
Alfred: I understand we’re in a hospital, but I might be able to-
Steed: They can be easily replaced.
Alfred: …oh.
Steed: You said she was with you?
Alfred: I might have…
Steed: See if you can hand her over along with the others. She’s proved herself to be rather dangerous.

---NOTES---
We’ve had our first lethal dose of magic! Our first killer of (arguably) human kind is Helen! Ok, so it could be argued that she didn’t actually intend to kill anyone with this effect, but the Technocrats aren’t exactly going to split those kinds of hairs, are they.
Paradox wise, things are getting rather interesting for Alfred. His vulgar use of “make person you are looking at suddenly not visible to you” pushed it up to 19, and the roll gave us a grand total of 3… Alfred’s player was none too impressed by this since he still has 16 points hanging over his head. The bright side is that the backlash effect he got was a really minor one, he saw Helen’s face flash across his eyes for a few minutes. Also, I impose a threshold on small backlashes over 10 accumulated points. This means he’ll need to get over 19 points total before I roll for backlash again. I do this because otherwise it’s very easy to go from 20 to 8 with a series 3 points backlashes in a row, turning high paradox into something much less scary than I want it to be. If Alfred’s player’s reaction to having to wait until 20 before I roll backlash is any indication, this rule is doing its job pretty well.

[Spacecat]

Session 24
I swear, players sometimes want you to do all the work for them…

Lol. A few of my players tend to be everywhere but where I thought they would be.

I once ran a game where I described the landscape and then had a toucan fly to the PCs boat, do its toucan squawk, and then fly off simply as a way to emphasize that they were on a river that was in a tropical forest where animals had little contact with humanity. Thanks to one player's brilliant idea, that session and the next one were devoted to finding and catching the "magical toucan" and discovering its mystical significance.

[Saikou]

Session 24

Since people's schedules and locations have changed somewhat, I have not been able to do catch up sessions or alternative sessions like I had done previously. I'm not sure what impact this will have on the game or its story.

Cast List
Lydia: Moon Witch
Sean “Sam” Heath: Templar Knight
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective
Aaron Gibson: Punk Hacker

Notable NPCs Include:

Keepers:
Vivian: High Priestess

Edwin: Our Marauder

---CHAPTER 24: FINAL PLANS---

The cool air blew around her hair as she stood on the grass. The dark of night gone, bathed in glorious moonlight the starlight with the intense cosmos around her. Lydia made a tentative step and felt Luna’s presence guide her feet. It wasn’t long before she came face to face with a pale women in a silver sheet.

Lydia: Luna?
Luna: Hello Lydia. I sense that you are concerned.
Lydia: I’m worried about my vision. I want everyone to be able to work together, to move beyond the barriers of their belief, but everyone seems determined to work against each other.
Luna: Don’t give up. With such adversity, your vision is needed more than ever.
Lydia: But how can I get them to hear when they refuse to listen?
Luna: That is a very good question.
Lydia: I see…
Luna: I also notice that you worry for the battle to come.
Lydia: Yes. What can I do to prepare myself for this?
Luna: It will be a difficult time, but it will be a pivotal time for yourself and the coven.
Lydia: What should I do?
Luna: You should fight to keep alive that which you hold dear.
Lydia: I see…
Luna: There is one more concern I sense in you, that about your family.
Lydia: Well… I suspect my uncle Michael is actually my father. He seems to act that way. But why should I worry about that?
Luna: To know one’s lineage is to better understand one’s roots.
Lydia: It’s never been that important to me before.
Luna: But it may be of benefit to know where you and your powers come from.
Lydia: How can I do this?
Luna: The Green Fairy of Ireland. She will help you find the way.
Lydia: Thank you Luna.

Lydia awoke to the bright of day, with a slight chill. Vivian stood over her.

Vivian: Ah, you’re awake.
Lydia: Uh… Where is everyone?
Vivian: They already left. They woke up in the morning.
Lydia: Did you just wake up as well?
Vivian: I never slept.
Lydia: Are you ok?
Vivian: I am fine. I do not need to sleep.
Lydia: I’m not sure that’s healthy.
Vivian: With Melonie about, we cannot risk an attack by her fomori. But we cannot allow this to ruin our ceremonies. If I must stay up and keep watch then so be it.
Lydia: What are we going to do about her?

Vivian recanted the plan to Lydia, to bring the open circle to the heath, lead them in a ritual to cleanse it while going to the spirit world to rid the site of banes and protect the acolytes from harm. After this, they return to the chantry together.

Vivian: Tonight we will be properly inducting you and Alfred into the Keepers. But first, there is one last rite you have yet to pass.
Lydia: What is it?
Vivian: To meditate at our node.
Lydia: I did that.
Vivian: But did you speak with the spirit that resides within?
Lydia: No, not really.
Vivian: Then you must, while the spirit still has strength to speak.

[ST NOTE: So, by this point, Lydia’s Player has missed about 3 or so weeks of Mage, and we have no time to do a catch up session since she’s no longer living in the same city as the rest of us. This little bit at the beginning was an attempt to reintroduce her to her character, as well as recap what’s going on in the story.]

The group stand in Edwin’s room, still recovering from Edwin’s madness. None of them quite expected just how potent the imagery and emotion actually was. Alfred had left in a hurry to meet with Lance, and had already gone. Sean too decided to leave, go for a walk to clear his head, leaving Hanson, Aaron, and Helen alone with Edwin, who quietly slept.

Helen: I don’t think he should stay here.
Hanson: For now there’s not much choice.
Aaron: Guys… I have something I need to say. But I don’t want to risk him hearing it. Could we do this in another room?

Aaron led them to his own room, closing the door before they began to talk.

Aaron: Ok, so I think we can all agree that Edwin is way more dangerous than any of us actually thought, and far too dangerous to ignore.
Hanson: I can’t really deny that.
Aaron: Right, so… I don’t want this to come across harsh, but it might be that we’ll need to think of some kind of backup plan in case we have no other choice.
Helen: Back up plan?
Hanson: As much as I hate to consider it, but Violet might have a point.
Aaron: Euthanatos lady?
Hanson: Yeah.
Aaron: Right.
Helen: Are you saying we need to kill Edwin?
Aaron: We need a contingency plan. The alternatives aren’t really that much better.
Hanson: The blackout was enough to trigger him, anything could set him off.
Aaron: Right. Even if we get this sorted now, it’s going to happen again, and when it does who do you think are going to be after him? The technocracy, and I can’t think of anyone worse to hand over a marauder to then them.
Hanson: Leaving it to Sarah, she would just take him to her friends.
Aaron: And we’re pretty certain her “friends” are just Malady and Zandros, aren’t we.
Hanson: We don’t know that.
Aaron: It’s pretty likely. So, really the only one left is the euthanatos.
Hanson: Hmm…
Aaron: And since killing is pretty much their thing, she’d be the most capable person for the job.
Hanson: She would…
Helen: I don’t like this.
Aaron: Helen.
Helen: It reminds me of what happened to my parents.
Hanson: We don’t want to kill him.
Aaron: Yeah, this is just a contingency plan. If all else fails. Just to be safe.
Hanson: Violet would need something of his in order to reach him.
Aaron: If only we had that book.
Hanson: Helen, do you still have that page?
Helen: Yes.
Aaron: Why did you rip out a page?
Helen: I didn’t, Edwin did.
Hanson: We could give it to her, and she might be able to use it to kill him from a distance. If we need to.
Aaron: Right, that’s settled.

Aaron jumps to his computer and starts coding, wanting to increase his own mental attributes. He looks up and notices they are still standing there.

Aaron: Oh… meeting adjourned. Bye.

Hanson leaves and returns to Edwin, wanting to check on him and see if he’s still asleep. Edwin stirs slightly, lifting his head and eventually opening his eyes. Hanson braces himself, but decides to try speaking with him first.

Hanson: Hello, Edwin?
Edwin: Uh…
Hanson: You ok there?
Edwin: Uh… You… I remember you.
Hanson: Yes, we’ve met.
Edwin: I had a dream… You shot at this terrible monster. Part spider.
Hanson: Yes, that was a dream.
Edwin: It felt so real. Just like that time on the boat.
Hanson: That wasn’t real…

Once again, Hanson tried his luck at convincing Edwin that his delusions were not real, but as ever he was getting little more than resistance.

Edwin: What are you talking about? I know it happened, I was there. I saw it.
Hanson: You think you saw it, but you didn’t. You know Lovecraft right?
Edwin: Of course I do. He wrote about all the things he saw outside our world. The horrible things, as warnings.
Hanson: No, it’s fiction.
Edwin: You might think it’s fiction. But that’s only to preserve your own sanity. I don’t expect anyone to understand and know the things I’ve seen, the monsters that lurk in the corners of our reality, but they are there. They are coming, we must protect ourselves.

Edwin starts to draw his symbol down, the five pronged twig.

Hanson: You trying to go somewhere?
Edwin: What?
Hanson: Your symbol.
Edwin: This… It’s for protection. I don’t know they reason behind it, but the elder sign keeps the horrors at bay. Wards them away.
Hanson: Is this how you do your magic?
Edwin: It is not magic. These are ancient symbols of power, a holdover from a time long lost to human memory, or delivered from distant worlds.
Hanson: That’s how you do your magic.
Edwin: You don’t know what you’re talking about. But perhaps that is safer…
Hanson: Edwin, it’s not real.
Edwin: I can tell you. I’ve been there. I’ve seen the other worlds, I’ve seen where they live. There is much more to this world than what humans can see.
Hanson: That’s true, but not in the way that you think…

Hanson started to explain his view of Magic and the way it can be manipulated. How there is no meaning in the world except for what you put into it.

Hanson: you put meaning into these books, so it becomes important, it becomes real. That is how you do your magic.
Edwin: This is not magic. This is different. Did you not hear me explain it to you?

Hanson decides to take out his lighter and perform a blatant vulgar feat of magic, creating a fireball in the air and allowing it to fly about. He created it so not a shred of doubt could explain it away. Edwin was left stunned.

Edwin: What…
Hanson: Magic. That’s all it is.
Edwin: What are you?
Hanson: I’m the same as you. We’re awakened.
Edwin: I don’t…
Hanson: You are right, there is more to this world. But you are looking at it from the lens of lovecraft. It helps you better describe it, better understand what is inherently lacking meaning. But it’s just a lens, and not real. You’re belief makes it real to you, and then to everyone else. But it’s only because of you that it exists.
Edwin: You speak like… some kind of warlock… Why have you come here…

Hanson noticed his clothes begin to change, his coat became darker, and started to flow like a robe. Edwin’s face grew from confusion to fear, and Hanson was not about to let this continue. He took out his flask and took a very long drink, putting as much energy as he could into causing Edwin to fall sleepy before he could change anything. Within a minute, Edwin began to calm and rest, and Hanson’s clothes faded back to normal.

Edwin: The crash…

Edwin murmurs as he starts to fall asleep.

Hanson: It’s ok Edwin.

Edwin: I dreamt… I dreamt about the crash… I have to get back… Back to the first time I fell…
Hanson: Rest.
Edwin: The crash… I have to get back… Back home.
Hanson: You are home. Sarah is waiting for you. Remember her.
Edwin: Sarah… died… died in…
Hanson: She didn’t Edwin. She’s ok.

Hanson helped him to the bed just as Edwin fell asleep. Hanson sighed, hopefully he was able to get through to him at least a little.

After about 30 minutes of coding, Aaron looks up and noticed Helen is still there.

Aaron: Uh….hi?
Helen: Hi, I wanted to ask you something.

Aaron froze. He wasn’t accustomed to people waiting for him like this, especially women.

Aaron: Uh… ok?
Helen: You’re going to talk to the Technocrats, right?
Aaron: …why?
Helen: I was wondering if you could help me find someone.
Aaron: Why do you want to find them? And what does the technocracy have to do with this?
Helen: Personal reasons. I can’t explain it.
Aaron: Ah… I can understand that. So who are they?
Helen: Peter.
Aaron: Peter…
Helen: Yes, Peter.
Aaron: That’s all you’re going to give me?
Helen: Can you help?
Aaron: …Maybe?
Helen: Thank you.
Aaron: Right… well… I have to get ready to go and meet with people.
Helen: Are you going to the technocracy? Can I come with you?
Aaron: Ah… This is not quite that. It’s VA stuff, I don’t think they’d appreciate you tagging along.
Helen: Oh… I understand.
Aaron: Ok… well… bye.

Helen leaves slightly dejected. Aaron breathes out. “Girls…” he thought, “They’re really weird!”

Lydia arrives at the Chantry, she shortly meets up with Hanson and Helen.

Hanson: Ah, Lydia. You’re back.
Lydia: Yes. Are you still on your case?
Hanson: Things with Edwin are… well, they’re getting complicated.
Lydia: I see.
Hanson: I was going to go to Granny Elm, see if she had any advice on the matter.
Lydia: That’s a good idea. I was thinking of speaking with her too.
Helen: I’ll come too.
Lydia: Oh, You’re still here.
Helen: Yes, I am still here.
Lydia: Wouldn’t you prefer to be with your scholar friends?
Helen: I have to help this coven.
Lydia: Yes. I’ve seen how you help. Perhaps you’ll turn us all over to the technocracy.
Hanson: Ladies… Please.

Mica walks in looking as though she hates the sun.

Mica: Uhhh…
Hanson: Mica. Good thing you’re here.
Mica: Don’t talk with loud voices, thank you.
Hanson: Could you let us into the undergrove?
Mica: Why?
Hanson: We were going to consult with Granny Elm.
Lydia: Are you ok Mica?
Mica: Yeah… I think. Genevieve and I went a bit overboard last night…
Hanson: Ah, I know how that feels. Want to try some hair of the dog?
Mica: We did. That’s why we’re still like this.
Hanson: Oh.
Lydia: Can’t you just focus on Life to cure yourselves? That’s what I did.
Mica: I don’t know… Can’t concentrate. I could try it… Wait, you guys wanted to go downstairs right?
Hanson: Yes.
Mica: Ok.

Mica opened the door for them with her necklace and slowly dragged herself to her room to rest. The three slowly approached Granny Elm’s room and knocked on the door. There was no answer. They knocked again and called but still not a sign of her presence was found.
Hanson pressed open the door and they entered slowly. The room was no without its eerie feel, strong as ever even in her absence. A darkness hung around them, like a dark billow of smoke hanging like mist.

GE: I see you have come for guidance.
Hanson: Granny Elm?
Lydia: Where are you?
GE: I am speaking from beyond.
Lydia: You’re dead?
GE: No, not dead, but not in this world. I have matters to tend to in preparation for the coming battle.
Lydia: I see.
GE: While you are in this room, I may speak and hear you as normal. I sense you have questions.
Hanson: Yes, I want to know what we can do to help Edwin.
GE: The marauder… Though help may be difficult, I sense he will have a role to play in this battle yet.
Hanson: And what of Sarah?
GE: You are right to be suspicious of her friends. Perhaps you should check on them.
Lydia: I’m starting to wonder about my family.
GE: You question your lineage. This is good. The mysteries of your past will only open themselves to you if you search. It may be worth your time to search.
Lydia: Where should I search?
GE: Consult your spirit guide.
Lydia: With Luna? I did, she told me to search for the Green Fairy.
GE: Then perhaps you already know your path.
Helen: Where can I find someone named Peter?
Hanson: I really think you need to give people more to go on that just “Peter”.
GE: The one you search for… He may be closer to what you call the enemy than you believe.
Helen: You see him?
GE: Almost… If I had something of theirs then it would be easier… For now, this is all I can offer.
Hanson: Thank you, Granny Elm.
GE: I am always happy to offer to you advice.

The presence faded, providing a cue for the three to leave. Hanson left to find Aaron, showed him his Technocractic gun asking for more information on it. As Aaron checked it out, Hanson gave a quick call to his contact to ask about any info on a Peter Walters.

Lydia went to the node room and meditated, the tree itself looked just as weakened as it had done the last time she saw it. Her concern grew as she noticed a few leaves fall as she approached. As she concentrated, the spirit pressed against her mind, and she let it in. She could see a field, untouched and wild, filled with primal energy and a great full moon. Day turned to night, and back to day, faster and faster. She saw a tree grow from the ground slowly rising into might. The surroundings changed around it with buildings appearing, being destroyed, and reappearing around. The moon was ever bright as the tree grew, until darkness surrounded all. The tree cut off from light.

Lydia: That was awesome.

The tree barely whispers in response

Lydia: Are you ok?
Tree: I can feel… my grip loosen.
Lydia: Is it the nodes?
Tree: Their energy fades… As do I.
Lydia: We will help you. We’re going to fight and cleanse the nodes.

While Hanson went upstairs to speak with Aaron, and Lydia was in a trance downstairs, Helen started hearing a strange noise. She followed the noise and soon it grew into frantic whispers. Something big was happening from beyond the door, something that drew here ever closer to it.

Sean is sat in a church quite a long walk from the chantry. He is having a moment of spiritual uncertainty and prays for guidance, the peaceful building allows for a clear voice to be heard.

Voice: What is it that troubles you?
Sean: My Lord. I wonder about how long I must keep up this work.
Voice: The path is long, and ideals must be maintained.
Sean: But if I keep on this path, there may be no going back.
Voice: You must not deviate from your values.
Sean: But what if my actions lead to further problems?
Voice: Act not because of what may be. Act for it is good to act.
Sean: I see… Thank you.

Sean makes a prayer in order to feel out the presence of other nodes around him. He feels the faint sensation of quintessence all around him, but not in any large quantities. It serves as a reminder of how all things hold essence of the One within them, a reminder which brings him a moment of solace.

Just as he’s about to leave, however, someone stops him.

Knight: Hey, I know you.
Sean: Hello?
Knight: You were getting chewed out a few days ago, weren’t you?
Sean: Uh… yes.
Knight: You’ve not been back at the chapter house for a while.
Sean: Well… I still have my work to do.
Knight: Where exactly have you been?

Sean does not mention his dealings in the spirit realm in case they think he started dealing in the demonic.

Sean: I’ve… been investigating the verbena.
Knight: Oh yes, those pagan lot. The ones who were on trial because of the nephandi they have.
Sean: Yes…
Knight: You think they’re the ones carrying out the breaches?
Sean: No, I don’t think they were.
Knight: You know who is actually was then?
Sean: I believe it was stated to be caused by a marauder.
Knight: Oh Yeah, well if you learn more about where this marauder is, let us know.
Sean: ….of course.
Knight: There were talks about finding where these pagans keep their chantry and liberating it. You know, in case they were causing those demonic creatures to run around the city.
Sean: Liberate it?
Knight: You weren’t told? Oh right, you’ve been reprimanded haven’t you. Probably not given the info yet…
Sean: I’m not sure that would be necessary.
Knight: No?
Sean: I’ve been watching them, I really don’t think they are involved.
Knight: So you know better then, do you?
Sean: I… can’t say that I do.
Knight: Right, probably best to just finish up your report, then we can get things started.
Sean: I shall.
Knight: Lord Preserve us.
Sean: Yes, may the Lord Preserve us.

Sean leaves the chapel as casually as he can muster before speeding away. This marauder needed to be dealt with soon or he would no longer be able to protect the verbena.

---NOTES---
This session had to perform a lot of connective roles at once. I had to make sure Lydia’s player still knew what was going on after being away for three weeks; I had to give Hanson’s player a bit more time with Edwin so that he remembered why he mattered to him in the first place; and I had to give the players a chance to discuss what it is they were going to do in the run up to the big battle.
Originally I planned that Alfred and Aaron would have their technocracy meetings simultaneously while Hanson, Lydia, and Helen did their discussing, but that didn’t quite happen. Perhaps next session.
One thing you might notice is that neither Helen nor Sean has been doing much for the last few sessions now. I spoke with Sean’s player and he told me this was intentional, he wanted to Sean to lay low and not attract any more attention to himself, while also resting up in preparation for the big battle. Helen’s player was a bit more at a loss. Now that the tribunal had taken Boris away, she wasn’t as certain what she wanted Helen to do. I think she was waiting for me to throw plot at her and have her deal with it. Except that I had already done this with the mystery of her father. I’m not sure she realised just how “open world” the concept of this game was, though she seems a bit more receptive to the idea of going out to find answers for herself rather than waiting for them to fall into her lap.

I swear, players sometimes want you to do all the work for them…

[Saikou]

Session 23

I'm a little behind on my records. We've already had the 24th session last weekend, but I've only just finished typing up what happened today. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up before too long.

Cast List
Alfred Camlan: Excalibur Mage
Sean “Sam” Heath: Templar Knight
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective
Aaron Gibson: Punk Hacker

Notable NPCs Include:

Keepers:
Gwyn: Gate Keeper
Camellia: Coven Maiden

Edwin: Our Marauder

---CHAPTER 23: INSIDE THE MIND OF MADNESS---

Sean, Hanson, Alfred, and Helen were all stood in the room within the keeper’s chantry. Edwin sat asleep, face on a desk. Though he still seemed safe, none of them really felt at ease as long as he was still there. The idea that he could wake up at any moment hung over them like a lead weight.

That plan was to enter into his mind in order to find out exactly what had happened to him, how the breaches started, and if there was any way they might be able to cure him. To enter into his mind would require a great ritual in order to create and then maintain a mental link with Edwin. Alfred, having done this sort of thing before, proposed that he would fashion the illusion of a library and allow Edwin’s mind to populate it with books and other accoutrements in order for them to get a better idea. Hanson and Helen would contribute to the building of the effect while Sean, having no understanding of Mind, would be brought in with the others effect.

Helen had very particular ideas on how the ritual should be carried out.

Helen: Here’s what we need to do. We will have to draw a seal on the ground with chalk, then we need to place three mirrors at three equidistance points of the circle, forming a triangle. We have to stands outside of these mirrors with Edwin in the centre.
Hanson: Mirrors?
Helen: It’s to enhance our power so we can make the connection. I will try to stand as the bridge, linking our mental patterns together so that we can have a clear look into Edwin’s mind.
Alfred: I… right. Well, if rather than pure lines, I was able to write in runes in chalk on the floor, I could do that. As long as there’s a narrative thread I can draw from, this should work.
Hanson: Narrative I can get behind, but these mirrors…
Helen: They are necessary.

At this point, Aaron arrived and was brought up to speed on what they were planning to do.

Aaron: So, you’re going to hack into Edwin’s mind?
Alfred: Not hack, we’re trying to pass through his mental defences, aligning our conscious energies together so we may explore his mental landscape.
Aaron: Yeah. Hacking.
Hanson: You could call it that, yeah.
Aaron: Cool, so how are we doing this?
Alfred: Helen needs some mirros so we can, amplify shape energy or something. Then we can work our way into part of Edwin’s narrative, aligning our conscious minds into similar flow.
Aaron: That made absolutely no sense to me…

Explanations continued like this, but Aaron just had no idea what it was they were trying to do. After a while, he just agreed to come along for the ride but wouldn’t be able to help. The next problem was where to get the mirrors Helen demanded. Aaron went out looking for mirrors around the chantry, bumping into Camellia.

Camellia: Oh, hello.
Aaron: Hi, I was wondering. Do you happen to have any mirrors around?
Camellia: I think so. Do you need them?
Aaron: Yeah…
Camellia: What for?
Aaron: It’s a… ritual.
Camellia: Does Vivian know about this?
Aaron: Uhh…
Camellia: Oh well… We’ll tell her when she gets back. I’m sure she won’t mind.

Camellia took Aaron down to the undergrove and into a side room where she looked around for a number of mirrors, just as Gwyn arrived.

Gwyn: Hello?
Aaron: Uh… hi? Who are you?
Gwyn: Gwyn Green… And, who are you?
Aaron: Aaron.
Gwyn: Are you a new initiate?
Aaron: No, I’m just staying here.
Gwyn: I see. And what are you doing here?
Camellia: We’re getting mirrors so his can perform a ritual.
Gwyn: What?
Aaron: Uh. It’s not my ritual. It’s Alfred’s.
Gwyn: Alfred… What would he want our mirrors for?
Aaron: Beats me, It’s all mystic mumbo jumbo to me.
Gwyn: Probably wants to scry and speak with this grandfather.
Aaron: Sure. That’s probably it.
Gwyn: Ok… Well, make sure nothing happens to them.
Aaron: We’ll be careful.

Gwyn helped them take the mirrors out of the cupboard for Aaron to take back upstairs. He was quite relieved he didn’t have to explain the Edwin situation to them.

Aaron: Ok, got the mirrors.
Helen: Good, now we need to place Edwin in the centre of the room.
Hanson: Wait what?
Helen: He needs to be in the middle of the ritual space.
Hanson: I don’t think we should move him. What if he wakes up?
Alfred: He has a point… If Edwin wakes up while we’re setting up the ritual, or even during it, may be quite dangerous
Hanson: Geometrically placed mirrors and chalked up runes, he’d be convinced we were cultists.
Helen: But he needs to be in the centre.
Alfred: Wouldn’t we be able to draw the marking around him?
Helen: Around him? He’s up against the wall.
Hanson: So? Just draw your circle on the wall.
Helen: It has to be a closed circle, any gaps and the geometry will be lost.
Alfred: Aaron, would you be able to, err… reorganise the space between the wall and the floor to make it a continuous plane?
Aaron: You mean reformat space?
Alfred: Just so Helen can draw an unbroken circle between the floor and the wall.
Aaron: That’s master level shit you’re asking for, not really something I can do.
Alfred: Damn.
Hanson: Ok… I don’t think this is going to work. If we can’t do this.
Helen: If we just moved him to the bed, maybe by levitation.
Hanson: Nobody’s moving Edwin. Helen, I don’t think we’ll be able to do this your way. You might have to sit this one out.

There was a bit more back and forth, but eventually it was decided that Hanson and Alfred would lead the ritual and Helen would just observe along with Sean, taken along with them into Edwin’s mind, but not as part of the caster. Hanson and Alfred reorganises the ritual to be based more around language and narrative design.

Aaron: You’re chanting at him now?
Alfred: So we may insert ourselves into the flow of his narrative by use of language.
Aaron: Huh… that’s sort of like code.
Alfred: Perhaps.
Aaron: Maybe I can help out, all I need to do is lower the defences, getting rid of those security barriers between minds.
Hanson: Yeah, that can work.

And so, they started their ritual. For about an hour, Alfred began chanting various forms of ancient and current poetry while Hanson focused meaning out of this chaos. Aaron got to work looking for backdoor entries around Edwin’s mind. Together they were able to create a bridge of sorts between the five of them, passing through Alfred and Hanson, and on to the others, so that each may share in the same illusion, created by Alfred, and populated by Edwin.

They started out in the Earth house, that familiar rustic building where Alfred makes his mental home, but already something was slightly off. A pillar was bent at a strange angle, and cracks were forming around the walls. For a moment, Alfred felt a presence, as though something were inside his hut. This was not supposed to happen. They needed to hurry up before things got even stranger.
They stepped through the door and into an incredibly chaotic library. Shelves stood strewn in bizarre arangements, some lay on the ground, some were just books floating in the air. There was a dark atmosphere to the place, with a faint smell of decaying fungus.

Alfred: This… isn’t what usually happens. Though we’re not in a normal mind, are we.
Hanson: I don’t think we should hang about here.
Aaron: Yeah… there was something crawling around in that house. I think that means you we might get his madness.

Aaron looked about at some of the books flying around and could make out titles like “The Rats in the Walls” and “A Shadow out of Time”. Alfred and Hanson recognised what these titles were with little surprise. Sean grabbed out at another book he sees, feeling strangely drawn to it. Emblazoned on what felt like a leather cover was a words “Necronomicon”. From behind him a figure approached asking for the book. The figure was tall and gangly, standing with an awkward gait, with a voice as deep and concerning as the dark. Sean was about to hand the book over, when Alfred and Aaron intervened, grabbing hold of it. Whatever happened, they did not want whatever this guy was to have a book so potent. They each grabbed at it and wrestled it away. Hanson imagined up a gun for himself and shot at him. He fell to the ground revealing a hideous body more monster than man before dissolving into the ground. Alfred recognised the character as Wilbur Wately, straight out from the Dunwich Horror.

Alfred: None of this should be happening.
Aaron: Yeah… We’re in way over our head here.
Hanson: We have to keep looking. There’s got to be something here.

A familiar sounds came from somewhere, one that Hanson knew too well. A swarm of Mi-go were on their way. In Edwin’s mind, who knew what they would do if they arrived. Before they had a chance to see them, The group ran through between the shelves and away, until the found themselves in an unfamiliar landscape, a crimson red sky against a foreboding stretch of obsidian. Before they even had a chance to catch their breath, a hole opened up beneath them. Helen stumbled through it. Hanson made to grab for her along with Alfred, but the two of them only fell into the void. Aaron and Sean stood and watched as the three of them were swallowed up into what looked like oblivion.

In the darkness, neither one could see the other, their presence only vaguely felt over the great mass of activity which at once felt so close and loud, yet distant as though only barely peering from the corner of their periphery. Helen tried to grow herself some dragon wings in order to fly, but her body modification seemed to amplify beyond her control, giving her several extra eyes. Around the three of them, the darkness filled with glimpses of strange undulating forms, with tentacles and pulsating lobes throbbing about their bodies. It wasn’t long before they realised they were not in a void, but underwater, surrounded by hideous fear inducing creatures. Alfred recognised them as starspwan from his research into Lovecraft’s creatures.
In the depths, Hanson spotted the wreckage of a car. As they drew closer to it, the car start to rise. Time began to flow backwards and the car lifted above the surface, Hanson saw two figures in the front seat he recognised. Sarah and Edwin. In a flash, Hanson, Helen, and Alfred found themselves inhabiting the same body and looking through the same eyes on the passenger seat of a car. They looked around and saw Sarah, someone they knew to be their sister, driving the car. She was talking, saying something intelligible. Alfred turned their head and looked out the window, he recognised the area as Glastonbury. Suddenly the car swerved out of control, they couldn’t tell what happened as tires skid and metal scraped. Before they knew it, they were in the water. The three of them looked down, they had somehow slipped out of the car, but Sarah was still in there. The water now seemed impossibly cast, the surface so far away. Around them the starspawn began to gather. Hanson urged to help Sarah while Alfred battled to evade the starspawn and head towards the car. But it was Helen who won out, forcing the body to swim towards the surface. A brief look down and they saw this hideous creatures dismember Sarah’s body. The three of them now found themselves in separate bodies again, but Hanson knew there was no longer anyone to save. He resigned to following the misshapen Helen to the surface.

Aaron and Sean look down into the hole, but something else catches Sean’s attention, a shrill cry of “tekelili” coming from somewhere near. He called out to Aaron, and the two of them scarpered back into the tunnel they thought they came from, though it did not lead to familiarity. Before long the pair found themselves in a strange plaza with bizarre monolithic buildings all around them. In the distance, the spied alien creatures, conical in shape with four protruding limbs. Aaron recognised from what little Lovecraft knowledge he had that this was likely the Great Race of Yith. Relatively speaking, this was not bad. He knew they were not an outright hostile group, but were very protective about their information. They elected to sneak around the buildings and evade detection.
It didn’t take long for the landscape to shift, however. As they walked deeper into the city, the tall alien structures began to morph together into more recognisable architecture. The two of them stand on a street. Aaron recognises it as somewhere in Birmingham.
Before them, a great tare in space splits apart before them. Sean avert his gaze, but Aaron looks within and sees the tendrils of yog-sothoth peering back at him. Aaron can feel the edges of is mind being hit by something trying to get in, so he backed away and refused to look again.
Soon, they noticed men in suits, all of whom looked the same, appearing out from everywhere. They were watching them, following them. Aaron and Sean sped up their walk, slowly turning it into a run.

Hanson, Alfred, and Helen emerge to an eerie sky. The horizon is great as though they had somehow found themselves within the ocean. Their time to ponder this is cut short as the water drains, presenting them is a great black landscape of featureless rock going on for as far as the eye could see. With little option before them, the three of them began to walk along it, and bump into a running Aaron and Sean.

Aaron: What the… How did you guys get here?
Alfred: Edwin’s mind must have looped around.
Hanson: We’re in the same space… what did you see?

They discussed what they had encountered. Hanson recalled what Sarah had told him, that Edwin hadn’t been the same since the crash.

Hanson: Perhaps that was the crash we witnessed. That’s what started it all.
Aaron: Then we saw the first breach, the one up in Birmingham.
Hanson: Sarah managed to calm him down after that, but it happened again… But why?
Alfred: He came to London.
Hanson: Sarah said they had friends here.
Aaron: The nephandi ones right?
Alfred: We don’t know that.
Hanson: It’s likely though. They would have met him in Birmingham and tried to get him to London.

Alfred tried to focus his mind and enforce Edwin’s to do the same. He wanted to know what happened to Edwin to set him off in London. He cast his effect, and suddenly everything went dark. Around them they could make up the dim outline of trains and platforms.

Aaron: Is this… Euston station?
Hanson: Looks like it.
Alfred: What are we doing here?

A great scream of movement could be heard, rats within the walls, followed by the machinations of a terrifying machine. On first glance, Alfred thought it was a pattern spider, a large one, but it looked different. It moved much more fluidly, and had a human face upon its back.

Alfred: Is this how he saw the spider?
Sean: I think we should go now.

The eldritch pattern spider started swiping at them. They ran towards the entrance of the station, but it proved to be too nimble to outrun. In desperation, Hanson turned his gun to it and fired. As the bullet hit, everything slowed down, the image shattered as though shooting a pane of glass. The shards broke up in every colour and soon the whole image cracked around them, breaking up into millions of pieces. Each one held an image too small to make out. They had returned to the broken library.

Aaron: Ok, I think we can all agree that this was a terrible idea.
Helen: We need to get out of here.
Aaron: Yeah, it’s too dangerous to keep going.
Alfred: …agreed.

Alfred lead them back to the Earth house and dismissed his effect. Each one awoke back in the room with Edwin still gently sleeping on the desk. Less than a minute had passed.

Alfred: Everyone alright?
Aaron: I could have done with that.
Alfred: Sorry… this didn’t go to plan.
Aaron: Didn’t seem like you had any kind of plan at all. We just jumped into a marauders mind, one of the most unstable places around, without any idea of what we’re doing.
Alfred: Yes, in retrospect, we could have thought it out a bit better.
Hanson: We did what we had to. I’m not sure what we’ve learned from it though.
Alfred: We’ve seen what the world looks like to him… poor bastard.
Aaron: I think we can agree, though, that Edwin is much more dangerous than any of us realised.
Hanson: I’m not sure if he can be cured… And if he can’t, then there may only be on option for him.
Alfred: One thing’s for certain. Bringing him to the technocracy can only be a bad thing.

They started to put the mirrors away. Helen swore she saw something move in them, a shadow of some kind, but couldn’t be certain. She began to question her sanity, and wonder if perhaps linking minds with Edwin may have some yet unknown repercussions.
Everyone felt this fear, and lamented the fact that, in her absence, Lydia may have defaulted to the sanest member of the group.

---NOTES---
Oh yes, there will be repercussions. I made everyone do willpower roles periodically while inside Edwin’s mind, with the worst rollers having more adverse effects. I’ll be starting up a tally on Quiet. What happens to them now will determine just how badly things become.

So, this session didn’t have the greatest of outcomes. I’m not sure what they expected traveling into the mind of a marauder, but there was a real sense that they had failed in some way. I had to talk to them for a while afterwards to make them feel a bit better about it all. Changing the mental landscape of the insane is a downright godlike feat, and if Masters had trouble with it, how could they put such expectations upon themselves?
This little episode did nothing to quell Hanson’s player’s frustration. He came away from this feeling as though they had learned nothing, and that he was being railroaded into killing Edwin, or at least in helping instigate his death. I’ll admit, I created this scenario without thinking up golden “way out” as it were, but that doesn’t mean death is the only answer, it’s just the most apparent one.
Still though, I’ll have to do something to make this endeavour not feel like a total waste of time and sanity. Hopelessness seems to be a growing theme in this story. The challenge now is trying to prevent my players from giving up because of this and dismissing any form of agency.

I find that when players feel they have no agency, they tend to stop caring about their character and allow them to do careless things, becoming apathetic to the consequences. This kind of attitude is a death sentence for any game, and while it’s not that bad yet, I can see it developing if I don’t do something to curb it soon.

[Spacecat]

My imaginary character joins the fray! Lol. I'm still trying to sell my current group on a mage game.

[Saikou]

Sorry about how long this one took to come out. We actually had the session over two weeks ago, but due to real life things getting in the way, I didn’t have the time to write it up properly.
Considering that and how lengthy the previous post was, I'm going to try and make an effort to make these accounts a bit more brief.

Session 22

Cast List
Lydia: Moon Witch
Alfred Camlan: Excalibur Mage
Sean “Sam” Heath: Templar Knight
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective
Aaron Gibson: Punk Hacker

Notable NPCs Include:

Keepers:
Vivian Porter: High Priestess
Camellia: Coven Maiden

Virtual Adepts
Rubrix: Aaron’s mentor
Be4ker: Tech guy

---CHAPTER 22: THE MORNING AFTER---

The night was growing dark, with a cigarette in hand and a lot on his mind, Hanson wondered towards the bar where Sarah would be. The Edwin case was by all accounts completed, but it still felt very much lacking in conclusion. Hanson knew that if he let Sarah go this wouldn’t be the end of it. Edwin might act up again and this time they may not be around to help them escape the technocracy. Then there was the question of Sarah’s “friends”… He had a big suspicion that they were actually Melonie and Alex appropriating her trust. At this stage, there wasn’t really a lot of options for Edwin. The Technocracy were after him, the Hermetics were after him, the nephandi, pretty much everyone was chasing him down, perhaps Dubois had a point… Still though, there was one thing they could try, one thing that might have a chance at curing him. Going straight to the source of the problem and taking a look into his mind. Hanson knew it was risky beyond all belief, entering the mind of a marauder just begged for trouble, but what other choices were there?

Hanson sighed as he threw the cigarette to the ground and entered the bar. It was dark, much darker than it should have been from the windows seen outside. Hanson hovered his hands around his gun and carefully trod around, he could hear activity in the back. As he walked towards it he heard a voice that very familiar.

Voice: Freeze.

The presence felt alien yet familiar all at the same time, as though he had been in its company before.

Voice: Why’d you do it?
Hanson: Myers? Right? Don’t do anything too hastey.
Voice: Don’t play games Myers, come on, tell me why you did it.

Hanson turned his head towards the voice and sow his own face, his own body holding a gun at him. A quick glance in a reflection and Hanson could tell he was no longer his own self, he had morphed into the man he killed, Myers.

This was Hanson’s 2^nd attempt at a seeking. This time around he had to demonstrate empathy for Myer’s killings or else be shot by himself asking for reasons why he shouldn’t shoot him dead where he stood. One question that was pressed was “do you regret it?” to which he answered “Yes, but at the same time, no.” and “What makes you different from the murderers you killed” “They were causing so much suffering, and courts let them run free, it was the only way to stop them” Once empathy was established the scene shifted. Hanson became himself again and was instead being held at gunpoint by Violet. She asked him a similar question, what made him so different from Myers. Hanson acknowledged their similarities, and expressed regret for how he turned out, and then asked what Violet would have done had he not shot the man. Violet did not respond. She dissolved away and ahead of Hanson was a gun with a bloodied trail leading away, and a door opening into light. Hanson chose to leave the gun and walk towards the light, thereby resigning himself to a state of change.

[ST NOTE: And thus Hanson gained his 4^th point of Arete. This was the first time I’ve done a seeking midsession, and everyone except Hanson’s player had no idea what was going on. It was quite fun watching them guess. Someone thought this was all Violet’s doing in order to make a point, other’s thought it was something Quiet related. In the end it made the few players who hadn’t bought an extra Arete point really eager to experience a Seeking for themselves.]

Through the light, Hanson steps into the bar, behind him the streets lay as though nothing had happened. He went over to a table and sat waiting for Sarah to enter, which she did before the hour was up. He went up to her, still cloaked in his Perception filter.

Sarah: How do you keep sneaking up on me?
Hanson: Trade secret. You ok?
Sarah: I’m being followed. I’m sure of it. I’m not sure where they are, but I know they’re there.
Hanson: Guys in suits?
Sarah: I don’t know… Maybe.
Hanson: I usually throw on a perception filter when I’m being followed.
Sarah: What’s that?
Hanson: Bit of a Mind trick. Makes it so people don’t pay attention to me as I walk by, makes it easier to blend in to a crowd an such like.
Sarah: Is that how you’ve been catching me by surprise every time we meet?
Hanson: Yeah. I’ve been using it a lot lately.
Sarah: Oh my… What if, what if they’re using that too? What if they’re in this bar right now and I just haven’t noticed them?
Hanson: That is a concern yes…
Sarah: What do I do?
Hanson: Just stay close to me. If they were here, they would have taken you buy now.
Sarah: I’m not sure I can go to Edwin right now, not when I’m being followed. I’d lead them straight to him.
Hanson: I understand… Listen, there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about Edwin. Do you know what might have triggered all of this?
Sarah: I… Triggered?
Hanson: Why he started acting up?
Sarah: I wouldn’t know. Probably that power outage. Usually he’s ok on his own, maybe a bit confused though generally ok. Well, usually. But now I have people who can help
Hanson: These people… I think I know who they are.
Sarah: I’ve told you before, I can’t talk about them. They trust me, I can’t betray that.
Hanson: Are you sure you can trust them?
Sarah: They’re like me, on the run, chased from all sides. They understand what I’m going through.
Hanson: When did you meet them?
Sarah: A few months ago, it was in Birmingham.
Hanson: Birmingham… Wasn’t that another time when Edwin lost control?
Sarah: Yes… They said they had friends here who could help. I can’t say much more about them.
Hanson: I’m not sure if I can trust them.
Sarah: You don’t have to detective, once I’m with Edwin again, I can leave and you need not worry about us.
Hanson: Just promise me this. If you’re going to see them, I want to meet them first.
Sarah: I’m not sure.
Hanson: I want to meet them before they do anything to Edwin. I have a suspicion of who these people are, and I’m don’t think they have his best interest at heart.
Sarah: I’ll talk to them about this… That’s all I can promise.
Hanson: Ms Phillips, I believe I have a plan of how I can help Edwin. I think I can peer into his mind and try to fix things from within.
Sarah: Is that like what you did to me?
Hanson: That was more of a mental link, a shared network of ideas. This would be a bit more intense.
Sarah: If you think this would help, then ok.
Hanson: Thank you.
Sarah: I’m a bit afraid of leaving on my own. Do you have anything I could defend myself with?

Hanson recalled the Technocrat’s gun he had in his coat, thought about it for a while, and then reached for his own revolver.

Hanson: Tell me, you ever used one of these before?
Sarah: Not really… But how hard can it be?
Hanson: Be careful with this.

Hanson hander her his revolver, electing to keep the technocratic gun for himself.

Sarah: Thank you detective.

Hanson walks out the bar and ensures the coast is clear before watching Sarah leave from the shadows. Somewhere overhead he felt a familiar resonance and the glint of a knife. Dubois was around, perhaps she was the one following her. Maybe to get to Edwin through her… Time was running out.

Aaron, still in the Digital Web, decided to have a play around with his icon, this time changing it into a silver android with orange Tron-esque lines running from it, though still wearing a suit. Rubrix approved a bit more of this design.

Rubrix uncovered a keyboard on his arm and began typing things up, in a flash the two of them found themselves in a blue room with neon cyan lines going off in all directions. Around were tables, chairs, and all kinds of things taped to the wall.

Aaron: What’s this now?
Rubrix: I just transported us to our base of operations, as it were. That’s another thing about the Digital Web, you’ll find your magic is a heck of a lot simpler to pull off. Anyway, this is where we meet, store stuff, and get things figured out.
Aaron: Cool…
Rubrix: As you probably guessed, there’s more to the web than just what most sleepers see on the screen. Google, all the big websites, that’s what we call part of the Grid Sections, areas that were made to keep the sleepers occupied while we dealt with the big stuff. Of course that side of the web has exploded into what it is today.
Aaron: So we’re in the deep web then?
Rubrix: That’s one way to put it. The deep web is just all the bits that you need a bit more knowhow to get to. Very few of the normal lot get to these parts, though you’ll find a number of would be hackers trying their hand at it anyway.
Aaron: But from here you can access all kinds of stuff, right?
Rubrix: Oh yeah. Though you need to know where to look, and what to look out for. There are all kinds of attack progs in place designed to stop our kind of work. Actually, I think it’s better if you saw it yourself first hand.

Rubrix leads Aaron away to a room, telling him there’s going to be an attack Gemoid in there, and he could have a chance to face off against it and see how he fares up. The room itself is black with a blue grid, fairly large and reminiscent of an old scifi book cover. Up ahead, Aaron noticed something load into being, a strange mass of oscillating cubes and cones shifting itself in a menacing way. It made its way to Aaron and struck hard. Aaron quickly adjust himself, coding for himself a gun program to fight back with, though the geomid seemed unbothered. After another couple strikes, the program stopped and held its position, massing together a great number of particle effects as though it was charging something big. Panicked, Aaron decided to draw from the electrical energy of the web itself and strike the thing in a direct single attack, but as he let it loose, everything ground to a hault. The walls twitched, and his icon began to stutter and freeze. He pushed through with as much will as he could, but all around him the room was beginning to break apart into a pure white void. The next thing Aaron knew he was looking at the ceiling next to Rubrix’s icon.

Aaron: Wha…
Rubrix: Tried to fire electricity at it, didn’t you?
Aaron: What just happened?
Rubrix: Whiteout. It’s when the system crashes, happens when you overload it with electrical chaos.
Aaron: What happened to me?
Rubrix: Relax, you’ve just been de-rezed. Kicked out of the simulation and back here. You aren’t the first and I doubt you’ll be the last. But the point is, try not to cause whiteouts, bigger ones can corrupt the web, and you really don’t want that kind of reputation following you about.
Aaron: Why didn’t you warn me about this before I went in?
Rubrix: This way, you’re not going to forget it, are you?
Aaron: You really could have just told me…
Rubrix: Where’s the fun in that? Anyway, we gotta go. I organised a meeting with a KiBo, and it’s about time we got there.

Rubrix led Aaron down a corridor and towards a door, a conduit, through which Rubrix took him through a strange digital landscape, filled with all kinds of character from androids, to walking memes. Rubrix spoke to Aaron as he moved.

Rubrix: Now, something I have to warn you about this guy. He’s a bit of a weeb.
Aaron: ok…
Rubrix: And he practically lives in his own restricted section, meaning we’ll need to play buy his rules if you want to get in.
Aaron: And that means… what exactly?

They arrive at a door, the conduit they had been walking towards. Rubrix types a few lines into his arm keyboard and recodes his icon into an anime high-school girl.

Rubrix: You too.
Aaron: What?
Rubrix: It’s a restriction zone. You can’t get in unless you look the part.
Aaron: You couldn’t have picked anyone else?
Rubrix: Not this quickly. Besides, this guy is good. He’s got quirks, but he knows his stuff.
Aaron: …Fine.

Aaron swallows up his pride and starts to recode his own icon to look more like something out of sailor moon, short skirt and everything. All said and done it was a pretty good likeness, all except for the unamused and somewhat humiliated scowl.

Aaron: He better be good!

They entered the door and into a sunny saccharine landscape. Just away off was a number of landmarks including a highschool, a stage, and a bath house to name a few. Before them smaller building with a number of anime styled girls swooning over a single guy.

Rubrix: Just so you know, he calls himself Tenchi.
Aaron: Of course he does.
Rubrix: And stay alert, some of those girls are programs.
Aaron: Wait… only some of them!?
Tenchi: Welcome ladies, and welcome to our paradise!

Tenchi approaches them with a few of the girls following behind whispering to themselves.

Rubrix: Tenchi-san, thank you for agreeing to help us.
Tenchi: It’s not a problem, I’m always willing to help ladies in need. Is this the one you told me about?

Tenchi turns his attention to Aaron with a smile and a bit of mangled Japanese which sounded like “WOO! Sugoi Kawaii Dayo ne!”
He stared at Aaron’s icon’s chest unwaveringly.

Aaron: Hello… senpai… I was just wondering, could you help me find some information.
Tenchi: What are you looking for?
Aaron: Information about someone called Jason Stavero.
Tenchi: Why don’t you follow me to the back room and we’ll see what we can do.

Tenchi walked away gesturing for him to follow. Aaron looked back at Rubrix with slight desperation.

Aaron: Seriously! Anyone Else!
Rubrix: Just stick with it, you’ll get what you want.
Aaron: If anything happens, I’m holding you personally responsible!

Aaron entered the room and was alarmed to see a large bed, he stood by the door, ready to escape.

Tenchi: So, you’re a cute one aren’t you.
Aaron: Uh… thank you…senpai.
Tenchi: You want some information?
Aaron: Yes.
Tenchi: Well, first I’ll need you to do something for me.
Aaron: …What exactly do you have in mind?

Aaron was seconds away from getting the hell out of there.

Tenchi: Nothing to much, just a dance.
Aaron: …seriously?
Tenchi: Go on. Make it fun!

Bouncy music started playing and Aaron had to hold himself from storming out. While Tenchi clapped his hands to the beat, Aaron gave in and resigned himself to dance as best he could. It was the longest few minutes of his life.
Satisfied, Tenchi walked over to a computer terminal to look for information and eventually came back with a file containing a lot of information on Jason Stavero. Aaron looked through it eagerly. Jason Stavero is a Technocracy Financier connected with a large number of companies including Ford and Dent Construction as well as a number of other things within industries as diverse as marketing and IT consultancy. He has a great number of aliases, and his involvement with this companies ranges from consulting director to executive investor. Leafing through it quickly, Aaron also noticed a face he recognised. The thug from the train who tried to fight him for his seat two weeks ago.

Aaron: This is… actually pretty good.
Tenchi: Anything else you need?
Aaron: Has Rubrix told you about the Esther File?

Aaron then proceeded to recount what he had found out about the file. Intrigued, Tenchi moved to his computer to check a few things. Aaron looked through the shelf of books around the bed, and instantly regretted it. There were a great deal of pornographic comics. Tenchi returned saying he didn’t know much about the Esther file, but would be happy to give it a look over if he had a link to it. Aaron quickly returned to Rubrix to obtain the link, manifest as a single chain link ring.

Tenchi: Thanks, I’ll try to take a look at this, it’s on a shared dropbox then right?
Aaron: Yeah, let me know if you can get anything else out of it. I better get going anyway.
Tenchi: You sure you want to go so early? You don’t want to hang around for a bit?
Aaron: I really do have to.
Tenchi: We’re putting up an Idol dance show in a short while, could you someone that moves like you on the stage.

Aaron had just about reached his limit, so did his best impression of a Tsundere type character and got the hell out of there.

Rubrix: Got what you needed?
Aaron: Just go! Now!

Once gone, the two of them quickly returned their icons back.
Before returning back to the base, Rubrix gave Aaron a quick tour around a few of the important parts of the Digital Web, specifically highlighting the Spy’s Demise, a neutral leisure spot which Rubrix personally can’t stand, and the Open Marketplace, where spiners from all over meet to trade, make deals, and bartar on just about anything and everything. Tass, programmes, services, elicit materials, all of it was somewhere in this near infinite flea market.
They then return to the blue room where they talk a bit more about the plan.

Rubrix: So, you’ll be meeting with this Technocrat to discuss things then?
Aaron: Yeah, and you want me to use that to hack into something?
Rubrix: The idea was we would be hanging out in a digital USB stick, and you’d plug us in so we could take a good look at his personal files.
Aaron: And how would that work exactly?
Rubrix: At some point during the meeting, plug us in and we’ll look for what we can.
Aaron: And how do I get out of there?
Rubrix: Not sure yet.
Aaron: What kind of plan is this?
Rubrix: One that we figure out as we do it.
Aaron: What?
Rubrix: Not everything can be planned out ahead of time. Sometimes you have to take things as they come.
Aaron: Sound’s like a pretty bullshit excuse for not thinking things through.
Rubrix: Well, that’s all we got.

Soon after, Aaron takes off the goggles and logs out from the web, with a fresh headache and a series of aches.

Be4ker: You all done then?
Aaron: Yeah…
Be4ker: First time is always fun.
Aaron: That’s one way to put it.
Be4ker: I noticed you were doing this strange dance, what was that about?
Aaron: Let’s not talk about that.

Rubrix emerges from the pod, and the three of them discuss their bare bones of a plan a little longer.

Aaron: So, seeing as I have no real escape route, is there anything I can have, say a gun or something, which I could use to defend myself?
Rubrix: A gun would probably be a bad idea, especially if you’re walking into a secure Technocratic base.
Be4ker: Hold on, I think I might have something. Not long ago a Bond style spy type traded in, I think it was a pencil, for a go on these machines. The pencil itself was actually a gun, I’ll see if I can find it.

Aaron looked at his watch and saw it had turned 1 am. Time just flows away in the web. Be4ker returned.

Be4ker: Turns out it’s a stylus.
Aaron: How does this thing work?
Be4ker: Hit it hard at the back. Be careful, it’s a single use weapon, though I have a couple of refill packs here.
Rubrix: Fill it full of lead.
Aaron: Ha… So, you mind if I crash here tonight?
Be4ker: Go for it. We’ll contact you tomorrow.

Alfred and Helen wake up on the grass at Regent’s Park. The sun is slowly rising over them. Alfred shields his eyes away, the drumming in his head matching the night before. Helen was a bit more confused in her waking, slowly recalling just how she ended up on the ground of a park.

Alfred went to a fairly hungover Mica to try and get his periapt refilled, though this was beyond her capability, suggesting he should speak to Kael. He then moves over to Vivian, who has been alert and awake all this time.

Alfred: High Priestess?
Vivian: You’re awake.
Alfred: And you?
Vivian: I have not slept. I needed to keep watch.
Alfred: I see…

The speak a bit about the plan once again; To conduct a ritual cleansing on the Heath with the open circle acolytes.

Vivian: One of us will need to stay behind and conduct the ritual, while another keeps the acolytes safe. A group of us will need to head into the penumbra and directly combat the fomori Melonie has placed.
Alfred: Gwyn will need to come with us into the spirit world, surely.
Vivian: He will be able to make us a portal to enter and exit from, though we will need someone to guard it, and that may be where Gwyn will stand.
Alfred: I will be willing to fight the fomori on the other side.
Vivian: Good… We will need to do anything we can to protect the ritual.
Helen: Is there any way I can help?
Vivian: You… You were once training as an initiate weren’t you. As part of your initiate training, you would have been required to venture forth into the spirit realm where you may fight with us at the front.
Helen: Oh… Uh… I’m not sure
Vivian: You said you wanted to help, did you not.
Helen: …I will do it.
Alfred: Is there a chance that Melonie and Alex will be there?
Vivian: Melonie, yes, it is not like her to let her plans fall apart. She will come personally to defend against anyone who tries to stop her.
Alfred: What will we do about her?
Vivian: Leave her to me.

Helen felt the seal in her pocket and remembered the requests of her superiors.

Helen: What are you going to do to her?
Vivian: I’m going to right a long overdue wrong.
Helen: You’re going to capture her?
Vivian: No. She must not be allowed to go on.
Alfred: High priestess, perhaps it would be better to take her captive.
Vivian: I must end her reign of corruption. Letting her live has already done this much damage. I cannot let it continue.
Alfred: If we bring her before the Hermetics, we could convince them to remove the geas from you.
Vivian: We cannot rely on their benevolence. The hermetics seek our removal as much as they do the nephandi. I shall take care of her myself.
Helen: Are you sure?
Vivian: If this will be my final act as high-priestess, it will be to clean up the mess I caused.
Alfred: I understand. There is, however, one more point I’d like to breach. The technocracy. I think I have a way to distract them. They are looking for the marauder, in fact different factions within the technocracy are competing to find him first. I think I can tell them to come and get Edwin and will be so busy fighting amongst themselves, we’ll have the time we need to complete the ritual.
Vivian: So you will bring the marauder to the Heath?
Alfred: Yes.
Vivian: Then you must be careful not to allow him to enter into the penumbra. I do not know what might happen if a marauder such as this was allowed to cross.
Alfred: I am aware. We will do what we can to keep him away.

They head towards the Keeper’s chantry along with a few of the others. Vivian stays behind to keep watch of the still deeply sleeping Lydia.

Sean, meanwhile, had been staying in the chantry. Having directly gone against his superiors, he was trying to keep a very low profile. If the knights knew about the cross he stole, there would be no second chances. For better or worse, he was to hide from his own order.
He spent the morning in quiet meditation. In order to show his gratitude, he made Granny Elm, who still watched over the sleeping Edwin, some eggs for breakfast.

Alfred and Helen were walking back with Kael, Gwyn, and Camellia. Camellia was a little drowsy, though was fresh out of tea. Alfred took Helen aside and asked her to keep an eye on Camellia, to make sure she didn’t go to have her tea, that they needed her to be clear headed before the battle. When they arrived, Alfred and Helen found both Hanson and Sean, and they spoke about their idea to go into Edwin’s mind and find out exactly what was going on to him. Alfred did not have much time, as we was due to meet with Lance soon, so if they did anything, they had to do it now.
Reaching Edwin’s room, Granny Elm was nowhere to be seen. Rather than question her absence, they took this opportunity to prepare their ritual.

In the excitement, Helen realised she had forgotten to check on Camellia, so she ran downstairs and saw her already relaxed and calm.

Helen: What are you doing?
Camellia: Hello Helen. Just having some tea.
Helen: You shouldn’t.

Helen tried to take the kettle away.

Camellia: Would you like some?
Helen: No, and neither should you.
Camellia: Then why are you taking the kettle?
Helen: You shouldn’t be drinking this.
Camellia: Ok.

Camellia went to the cupboard and took another kettle out. Helen again tried to take this away.

Camellia: I don’t think stealing kettles is a very good idea. I think Vivian is already upset with you.

Helen returned upstairs a bit defeated, it was obvious from Camellia’s tone that she had already fallen under her tea’s influence. Having reported her failure, the group decided to focus instead on the sleeping marauder, and the trip inside his mind.

---NOTES---
So, this ended up being a session of “doing all the stuff I didn’t have time to do properly last session.
A couple of things got lost while flipping between players. I was hoping, for example, that Hanson would have a chance to talk to Violet before the end of his scene, but it completely slipped my mind until it had already passed and he wasn’t really up to doing a flashback scene to include it in. I think people are getting a bit aware of just how much time everything takes, already joking that the Heath encounter, set to take place in-game tomorrow will probably take 20 more sessions to get to and finish. Boy I hope not.

I feel as though Aaron’s player wasn’t all together thrilled with what I thought up for the Digital Web bit. Everyone else found it hilarious, though I got more of a “suffering through it” vibe from him. I’m not all too sure what he expected a Digital Web adventure would include, but I doubt it was quite this. Things not playing out as they expected to seems to be a running theme for my players regarding the story, not so much in terms of things not going as planned, but rather in a sense of “this was so much cooler in my head” kind of way. While Alfred’s, Helen’s, and Sean’s players seem to be pretty happy with how things are going, Hanson’s and Aaron’s are showing signs of frustration. I’m not sure if that’s just because they’re getting bored with their characters or are disappointed with the stuff I’m giving them to do. Either way, I’ll have to keep an eye on this.

Already they’ve been batting about ideas for new characters to play while retiring these ones. If they chose to do that, I’ll just have to play it out and adapt the story around whatever they come up with. Why force them to stick with a character they aren’t having fun with?

[BurritoMage]

I played a PC who was a former NwO assassin turned ecstatic hippy who swore off killing after he converted. (Think Jason Bourne became a pot head),
he could really screw people up in a fight but took great pains to not kill anyone.

I wouldn't try and make a situation where the mages have to kill anyone, after playing years of hack and slash games it's actually pretty cool to play something where you don't have to kill anything to get xp or move the plot along.

[Spacecat]

My players are the most peaceful mages I have come across. Even when a technocrat is fighting them head on, they just don’t have it in them to go through with the murder. Makes me wonder what it would take to push them over the edge and take a life. Perhaps it needs to be less morally dubious, like killing a nephandi, or maybe they need to be freed of consequence first. I am also really curious about who will be the first one to kill.
I did not quite expect them to bring Edwin with them at this point. I thought that Violet’s appearance would distract them long enough to have them either be captured by technocrats or for Edwin to escape, but alas, they were simply too efficient for that. Although, this might actually work out to be more interesting. They’ve brought a Marauder into the Keeper’s chantry, let’s hope the Tribunal doesn’t find out.

Incidentally, I’m not sure if Helen is really a spy anymore, all things considering. If anyone has a suggestion for what I can label her as in future Cast Lists, let me know.

One of my mage characters was a guy who wouldn't kill, even though he thought he should be able to. He even developed a method of hitting opponents with box jellyfish toxin. When he did use it on people who kidnapped him, I realized "this well adjusted, romantic, optimistic, former deskworker given the power of the gods, sort of guy wouldn't just leave them to die." So he cured them and ran off.

On the other hand I've played characters who would kill ruthlessly if you got in their way, his only real concern being that he wouldn't want others to think badly of him or the deaths to be traced back, so he arranged for quiet deaths and for others to do his dirty work.

A funny thought comes to mind for me though of a mage who can't kill people but ends up doing things of dubious morality to enemies: Like doc savage lobotomy or sending them into stasis in a dimensional elsewhere.

[Saikou]

The Keepers started setting up their shrine near the trees away from any path at Regents Park. Upon the shrine they had placed two candles, several bottles of wine, cider, and mead, a number of apples, and a few reefs of wheat. Alfred could see that the shrine had quite a few empty spaces, as though they had intended for more, but had not the time to prepare. Vivian approached Alfred with a sorrowful look in her eye.

Alfred: High priestess?
Vivian: There is a part of the ritual that Boris normally enacts, though as you know he will not be present today. I was wondering if you would be able to stand in.
Alfred: uhhh….
Vivian: There’s no need to worry. After the blessing of the wine, we enact the story of Mabon, of the goddess who searches in the underworld for the god. Would you be able to enact the role of the god?
Alfred: This is… uh, a great honour. Are you sure I am right for it?
Vivian: Think of it as part of your initiation, and a good way to test your merit.
Alfred: Then I suppose yes, I shall.

As the sun set and the sky turned to twilight, Vivian stood and called everyone to stand with her in a circle. She nominated four of them to call the quarter spirits to ensure their influence be felt, and the circle remain protected. Genevieve called the Eastern spirits of the Air, Alfred the Southern spirits of Fire, Lydia the Wester spirits of Water, and Mica the Norther spirits of the Earth.
Vivian then called on the grace of the Goddess to whiteness their actions and lend of light, after which Gwyn called for the presence of the God of the Harvest. The candles were lit, and a prayer of thanks was given for the bounty placed upon it.

Kael handed Vivian a bottle of cider, which she offered up as a sacrifice for the spirits, pouring it into the open field. Kael handed glasses of cider out to everyone from the blessed bottle as more thanks was given.

Vivian: Now is the passing of the year. We must remember all that has happened before us, meditate on its teachings, and prepare ourselves for the darkness which follows. Mabon is a time of balance, of light and of dark, for neither one can exist without the other. Though the dark brings with it uncertainty and sadness, it always holds within it the promise of light once again. Blessed be the spirits.

The coven repeated the last sentence and drank from their cups, Quintessence flowing from their glass directly to their avatar.

Gwyn stands within the circle and begins his recitation of the story.

Gwyn: The Great God of the Harvest is dead. His sacrifice of the light has brought us this harvest, and now he stays in the underworld, lost until that time when darkness will fade. The Goddess, his Goddess, has ventured through the darkness in search of him.
Vivian: My God. Where are you?
Alfred: I am here, my love.
Vivian: You sound so distant, so cold.
Alfred: Will you not join me?
Vivian: I cannot… there is so much left to be done.
Alfred: We shall meet again.
Vivian: We shall… but not here.
Alfred: Will you not stay with me a while longer?
Vivian: I am needed in the light. As much as I would prefer it, I cannot stay.
Gwyn: The Goddess leaves and returns to the realm of the light. Separated from her love she grows in age and wisdom, transitioning from Mother to Crone.

Vivian walks away as Gwyn speaks, towards the shrine, slowly but deliberately. She places her hand to one of the candles and extinguishes it with her fingers.
There is a pause and a cold wind blows over the scene. The silence lasts long enough for everyone to reflect upon what they have witnessed. The silence is broken only as Vivian turns and speaks.

Vivian: Leaves, fall; flowers, away; Lengthen night and shorten day; Keep us warm and next to thee…
…Till light again can comfort me.

The circle repeated her words and took another drink.

As Vivian and Gwyn bid the God and Goddess thanks and farewell, Alfred and Lydia began to feel the presence of something. They both quickly made a chant to grant them a peek into the spirit world. They were all surrounded by spirits. As Genevive bid the goodbye to the Eastern spirits, he could see the spirits bow and disperse into the air. Alfred spoke out to them directly, with thanks and farewell and watched the Southern spirits bow and disperse as flames. Lydia did the same and watched the Water spirits bow and flow away. At the same time, Mica’s Northern spirits bowed and became one with the earth.

The ritual was over and the bottles were coming, the mood was lifting, and musical instruments were being produced. Gwyn took Alfred aside.

Gwyn: Very well done Alfred. Your grandfather would be proud.
Alfred: Thank you.
Gwyn: Incidentally, when I paid him a visit we gave me something to give on to you, think of it as a present.

Gwyn took out Alfred’s drum, a drum he had left with his family and one which he did not expect to see. Excitedly he started to tap out a beat and rhythm. Gwyn took a fiddle and Kael a flute, and the three of them played music. Lydia joined in the music with song as the others laughed and danced, already a little intoxicated.

Genevieve and Mica were dancing up a storm, with Lydia joining in. Camellia was content to watch with a vague grin on her face. There was a jovial mood in the air as the coven enjoyed this one moment of celebration. However, Lydia noticed that Vivian was the only one not taking part in the festivities. She stood by the shrine looking down at the candle.

Sean, happy with his gun barrel, now wanted to try and call forth something a bit more complicated; the trigger and breech mechanism. He began his ritual as before, calling forth the favour of the Lord to bring what he had to mind in physical reality. However, after a few hours of concentration, his attention we beginning to give, and the entire effects blew up in front of him. Raw quintessence spewed forth from his hands, burning away the skin as the pure fury of the lord’s desire escaped his grasp and dissipated into the air. Sean waited for a moment, eyes closed, until he was sure the torment was over. Before him were no new parts. Perhaps he had reached the limit of what the Lord would allow. He looked down at his burnt hands, but something was strange with them. Where he expected there to be some kind of burnt scarring, there was metal, his hands had smooth steel embedded in his palms and fingers.

Sean: That’s going to make things awkward…

Helen arrived at the Keepers, and stood at the door. Unable to enter, she called Hanson.

Helen: Hanson? Is anyone around?
Hanson: Only Granny Elm.
Helen: Can you let me in? I don’t have a necklace anymore.
Hanson: Give me a moment, I’m coming down.

Hanson hangs up the phone and speaks to Helen by the door.

Hanson: So. Why on earth do you want to break into a technocratic base?
Helen: I think I saw my father with the technocrats.
Hanson: …oh.
Helen: I’m not sure though.
Hanson: Well, you can’t just break into any old base asking around for your father.
Helen: I don’t know what else to do.

An idea formed in Hanson’s mind. This could prove to be an interesting case.

Hanson: I might be able to look around, ask my contacts, see if I can find him.
Helen: Really?
Hanson: It’s my job. Of course, I can’t do it for free, but I might be able to give you a discount all things considering.
Helen: That would be really good!
Hanson: Ok, so to start with, tell me everything you know about him.
Helen: His name is Peter, Peter Walters
Hanson: What was his profession?
Helen: He was a policeman.
Hanson: And when did you last see him?

Helen told Hanson about the night in Wales, where she went camping with her parents, how they disappeared in the night, and when she saw them tied up at the stake, surrounded by fire.

Hanson: Any time after that?
Helen: I don’t know… But I think I saw him, the man who was trying to get Edwin a few days ago.

Hanson began to wonder if he had inadvertently shot Helen’s father.

Hanson: I’ll see what I can do with this, and I’ll be in touch.
Helen: Thank you. After everything, I wasn’t sure if I could come back here.
Hanson: They were really upset with you.
Helen: I have to do something to try and make it up to them.
Hanson: I think the best thing to do is talk to them.
Helen: Where are they right now?
Hanson: They’ve gone to Regent’s Park, though I’m not sure if now is the best time, you might want to leave it.

Hanson gets a phone call, it’s from Sarah.

Sarah: Detective, I don’t think I can come back right now.
Hanson: What’s happening?
Sarah: I’m being followed.
Hanson: Are you sure?
Sarah: I’m certain. Someone’s following me, and I don’t want to lead them to Edwin.
Hanson: I understand, Ms Philips.
Sarah: I can’t stay on the phone long, they might hear me.
Hanson: There’s a bar near not far from Pimlico, meet me over there and we’ll figure something out.
Sarah: Thank you.

Hanson looks up and see’s Helen walking off.

Hanson: I’m heading to a bar to meet with Sarah, you’re welcome to join us if you want.
Helen: I’m sorry, I need to speak to Vivian.
Hanson: Helen… I don’t think that’s a good idea. I said you should wait first, Wait.

But Helen had already gone.

While the others danced and played music, Lydia went to check on Vivian.

Lydia: High Priestess? Is everything ok.
Vivian: Everything’s fine. Please enjoy the celebration.
Lydia: Why don’t you come and enjoy it with us?
Vivian: It’s… difficult.
Lydia: What’s wrong?
Vivian: This may be my last Mabon festival as High Priestess…
Lydia: There will be others, surely.
Vivian: The Hermetics have placed a geas upon me. Once every member of the Keeper has been seen, I am to leave London, never to return, and never again may I lead a coven.
Lydia: They can’t do that.
Vivian: They already have.
Lydia: We should challenge this! Get the support of other covens and try to fight it.
Vivian: I’m not sure how much good that would do. If anything it may land our group in greater trouble, already Boris, our High Priest has been taken from us.
Lydia: But you can’t go, without Boris and yourself, what will happen to the Keepers?
Vivian: Camellia will have to take charge as our new High Priestess.
Lydia: Camellia? Are you sure she’s ready for this?
Vivian: I share your concern, and I too worry about her.
Lydia: I don’t think she’ll be able to do the job with her head clouded by that tea.
Vivian: She will need help. Perhaps she needs someone with your vision to guide her so she may deal with her problems.
Lydia: I would need to train the new High Priestess?
Vivian: We have trained her, but she needs help to realise her training.
Lydia: I’m not sure if I can do it. Not without your guidance.
Vivian: Just because I am exiled, does not mean I cannot give advice.
Lydia: I should start studying Correspondence magic then.

Alfred notices that Camellia is sitting alone on the grass, and in his fairly inebriated state, decides to talk to her.

Alfred: Hey Camellia!
Camellia: hello.
Alfred: Why aren’t you dancing?
Camellia: I prefer to sit. I’ve enjoyed watching you have fun though.
Alfred: Here. You should have some of this. It’s mead, and I made it.
Camellia: Thank you.
Alfred: You know… You’ve got nothing to worry about. You’re a v…very capable mage.

Camellia drinks with Alfred, and in time he encourages her to dance with him; the vague glow of the few remaining candles and the faded shine of the half-moon providing a small amount of light for them to see by.

From a distance, Helen approached. She was apprehensive, afraid of what they might say of her, but certain that she was doing the right thing by coming back. She braced herself as she approached Vivian and Lydia.

Lydia: What are you doing here?
Helen: I’ve come to apologise.
Lydia: A little late for that. Don’t you think?
Helen: I’m sorry.
Lydia: The coven’s already lost its leaders because of you. They accepted you into their chantry, and you singlehandedly tore them apart.
Helen: …I deserve that.
Lydia: I don’t think you should stay here too long.
Helen: Yes.. I should go.
Vivian: No. Let her stay. She should see exactly what she’s had a hand in ending.

Helen watches the group dancing in merriment against the darkness.

Helen: I want to help. I want to make things right again.
Vivian: I’m sure you do.
Helen: I’ll try to get Boris back for you.
Vivian: Don’t make promises you cannot keep.
Helen: Actions speak louder than words.
Vivian: Then I expect you to sing.

Vivian starts to dance, very aggressively. Helen backs away but Vivian grabs her and pulls her into the centre of the ritual space. Lydia joins in the dance, and soon attention is drawn to the pair of them, with Helen awkwardly uncertain on how to proceed. Helen looks for her first chance to retreat, but is stopped by a very drunk Alfred.

Alfred: Helen! You really screwed things up! Come and have a drink!
Helen: Oh… I was actually.
Alfred: You have to have a drink. It’s the wine harvest!
Helen: I don’t… usually drink.
Alfred: I made it myself. It’s mead, really sweet, you’ll love it.

Helen, feeling somewhat cornered, takes the bottle that Alfred passes to her. Having never drunk alcohol before, the strong scent caught her off guard, causing her to cough from as little as a sip.

Alfred: Come on, you need more than that.
Helen: I really should be going.
Alfred: Hey, you made a promise to me. You said you were going to help the Heath. We got business, so you should stay.
Mica: You!

Mica appeared, standing with Genevieve and staring right at Helen.

Mica: You have made this the worst week ever!
Gen: She the one that got Boris arrested?
Mica: Yeah. That’s her.

Genevieve staggers over to Helen and makes to punch her in the neck. Seeing this, Lydia imidiately intervenes, pulling Genevieve away and keeping away.

Lydia: There’s no need for that. This is a celebration, not a fistfight.
Gen: Do you know what she’s done?
Lydia: Yes, I do. But still, hurting her won’t solve anything. Vivian has allowed her to stay, so she should be welcomed.
Mica: She lied to us.
Lydia: She did, and she’ll have to live with that until she finds a way to resolve it.
Alfred: You haven’t had enough to drink, Helen. Come, this will lift your spirits.

Helen sits and drinks with Alfred, it isn’t long before she starts to get sleepy.

As the night grew on, everyone started to fall asleep, lying on the grass. Helen slept near Alfred and Camellia, while Mica slept alongside Genevieve. The only ones awake were Vivian and Lydia. Lydia gazed up at the half moon and heard Luna’s voice.

Luna: You have done well.
Lydia: Thank you Luna.
Luna: I think the time has come for you to know more about yourself.
Lydia: What do you mean?
Luna: I know you’ve wondered about your past. Though soon you may have all your questions answered.
Lydia: What should I do?
Luna: Speak with your uncle, he will tell you much.
Lydia: I still think he might actually be my father.
Luna: All the more reason to speak with him.
Lydia: Thank you.
Luna: Be aware, dark times are coming.
Lydia: Dark times?
Luna: There is danger lurking in the shadows…
Lydia: What kind of danger?
Luna: Lurking in the shadows.
Lydia: Is that it? Nothing more specific?
Luna: Lurking in the shadows.
Lydia: Is it something to do with the Keepers? The Traitor? The Fomori?

Luna’s voice echoed on and faded out. Darkness crept over Lydia, now more confused than ever.

Aaron was ready for round two. Be4ker managed to dig out an old pair of VR goggles and gloves he had lying around somewhere.

Aaron: Thanks man.
Be4ker: It’s cool. These are pretty old, I mostly focus on the pods.
Aaron: Yeah, well it’s probably for the best. I wouldn’t really know where to keep one of those things.
Be4ker: I get that.
Aaron: By the way? Would it be possible if I could put up here for a few nights? Just until the heat runs down.?
Be4ker: Aren’t you staying at your girlfriend’s or something?
Aaron: *Sigh*… It’s not the most well equipped place, let’s put it that way.
Be4ker: Well, sorry, but I don’t have the space for roomies. It’s not just Rubrix and his gang that uses these machines. I’ve got people coming in and out from all over, and I’ll always need space for parts, repairs, and upgrades, you know?
Aaron: Ah well… worth a shot.
Rubrix: So, Theseus, you ready to get in?
Aaron: You bet.
Be4ker: Right, I’ll just get Rubrix sorted first.

Rubrix gets into one of the pods and closes it, while Be4ker operates a control panel. The pod comes to life, glowing blue and then green.

Aaron: So, you coming with us?
Be4ker: Kinda, but not really. I don’t dive into the Web myself, I just keep and maintain the equipment. I’ll be able to keep an eye on you two from here though.

Aaron puts on the goggles and gloves and waits. To begin with there is just darkness, but soon a large string of code flashes across his vision. Before he knows it, a room loads into view, white and square, with a figure dressed in black in front of him.

Rubrix: Welcome.
Aaron: Uh.. wow.
Rubrix: Pretty neat eh? First thing you’re going to want to do is code yourself an icon. Unless you don’t mind being a featureless grey blob.

Aaron started coding in his Icon, making himself look like a man in a suit with a red tie and a green head.

Rubrix: Ok… That works I guess.
Aaron: Yeah… I really like it.

[ST NOTE: At this point, I went over a few of the “rules” of Digital Web such as the “one rank higher” thing with Prime, Forces and Correspondence, Whiteout, That physical things use mental stats, and briefly touched upon Derezing and to avoid it. It’s all stuff that’s covered in Digital Web 2.0’s rule section (as well as in M20)]

Rubrix: So, where would you like to go first?
Aaron: I’ve always wondered what 4chan was like from the inside.
Rubrix: Oh, I don’t think you’re quite ready for 4chan. That place is not time for newbie spinners.
Aaron: Ok… well, let’s try google then.
Rubrix: That, we can do.

Rubrix took Aaron into a conduit, a doorway leading off down a corridor. When Aaron emerged, everything around him was completely white and intensely bright. The only notable feature was a colourful logo before him.

Rubrix: Here we are.
Aaron: Wow… So, how do I search for stuff?
Rubrix: Just call it out.
Aaron: Ok… “Which are better, Millipedes or Centipedes?”

There was a rush of activity as out from beyond the light, a series of doorway conduits rushed towards them, hundreds, maybe thousands of them., all approaching from all angle forming an incomplete shell of a sphere around them. Each one had a little window giving you a taste of what lay behind them.

Aaron: Wow… So do I just pick one to go through?
Rubrix: You could, but things are way more interesting if you don’t. Follow along.

Rubrix stepped into the void and moved past the conduits and into the white space. Aaron followed as they travelled into to, what felt like featureless space. As they moved further into the void, Aaron noticed the logo became hazier, as though there was a strange fog covering the entire room. Within the fog ahead of him, he swore he could see something moving, something watching them.

Aaron: What’s that?
Rubrix: Those are number of Google progs, search algorithm bots, surveillance and the like. They keep track of what gets searched for, and who goes where. Most sleeper users aren’t even aware that they exist.

As they get further away, shapes begin to emerge from the fog. What seemed like a spherical edge soon make more jagged and less polished. Cracks were formed in the wall and pieces would stick out in odd angles.

Rubrix: This is the edge covering the Search Engine. From here it’s possible to look into the machinery itself. Though if you head through these cracks and kept going, you’d reach the rest of google. Gmail accounts, Google Docs, Google’s own internal servers, even Youtube.
Aaron: Wow…
Rubrix: We won’t be doing that just now. As you can imagine, security is really tight around here. So if you’re not properly suited up, you’re going to be in for a bad time. Besides, all of this is just part of the Grid sections.
Aaron: Grid sections?
Rubrix: Yeah, the part of the web that the Sleepers have access to, or bleaters as some call them. That stuff only touches the surface. There’s a whole avenue of Deep web most people don’t even know about. And that’s where I’ll be taking you.

---NOTES---
As ever with the larger session, making sure everyone got equal focus was the biggest challenge. Today’s casualties were Sean and Hanson. I was intending to do his bit at the bar, but I ended up spending much more time on the ritual than I had anticipated.
So, I’m trying to reign in all the plotlines towards a similar thread, and then the 2^nd story (season, if you will) shall come to a close. I hope it won’t take more than 3 chapters to round things off, but things have been elongated beyond what I expected already. After this, a new story will begin following an in game 2 or 3 month gap.

After that, it’s really up in the air how the third story shapes up, and whether or not we need a fourth.
I’m not sure yet, but I may have a Hard Deadline to finishing the entire chronicle by the end of August. I’ll know more about how achievable this is around June.

[Saikou]

Session 21

This one was a really roleplay heavy session; especially at the beginning when Alfred’s player didn’t arrive until a few hours in and I ended up stalling for time until he got here. There was a lot of talking between the characters, and so I may have muddled a few of the events or combined several segmented conversations into one. However, I’m very certain about Who said What with Whom, even if When and Where isn’t exactly in the right place.

Also, full cast.

Cast List
Lydia: Moon Witch
Alfred Camlan: Excalibur Mage
Sean “Sam” Heath: Templar Knight
Helen Walter: Hermetic Spy
Joe Hanson: Noir Detective
Aaron Gibson: Punk Hacker

Notable NPCs Include:

Keepers:
Vivian: High Priestess
Camellia: Maiden
Mica Rose: Techno Witch
Kael: Artefact crafter
Gwyn Green: Spirit Walker
Granny Elm: Malfean Seer

Sarah: Edwin's Sister

---CHAPTER 21: HIGH SPIRITS---

Helen walks with Eve into the halls of the Chantry. She had just played a crucial role in capturing and putting away the man who killed her parents. As she and her mentor sat down in front of three Hermetic mages, two from House Quaesitor and one from House Jerbiton, all of whom sang her praises for the “brave act” she had committed, it all felt numb and lessened.

Bartimaeus: Well, Aileen, you gave a very spirited argument.
Gustav: Yes, the Order would me remise to lose someone as articulate as yourself.
Eve: Aileen has always been a very promising student. Her dedication to learning the Arts is uncontested.

Helen was not used to people using her craft name. She liked it, made her feel more like a full member of the Order.

Alexis: There is one point, however. We still have the widderslainte to look for.
Bartimaeus: That is a concern. Tell us Aileen, do you think the verbena would try and kill the Widderslainte, Melonie, once they find her?
Helen: …I think so.
Alexis: Yes, we can’t allow them to do that. This would only create a widderslainte.
Gustav: Try to keep an eye on them, see where they go when they hunt for this nephandi. Then make sure they don’t kill her. Instead, try and subdue her and use this.

Gustav hand’s Helen a wooden Seal of Solomon

Gustav: Call into it and we will come to take her away for the Gilgul rite.
Helen: I understand.
Bartimaeus: Good. Once this business of nephandi is laid to rest, we can focus on more important things like organising your ceremony and getting you a proper True Name.

Hanson and Lydia were walking back to the Keeper’s chantry. Ahead of them leads Vivian who supports a rather shaky Camellia. Mica walks awkwardly behind as Hanson and Lydia argue.

Lydia: How is any of this fair?
Hanson: That’s the law, just as screwed up as it is for sleepers.
Lydia: The Tribunal has no Verbena representation. Boris didn’t have a fair trial, Helen had it out for him from the start. He shouldn’t be in prison.
Hanson: To be fair, they tribunal was going to show him leniency until you spoke out your prophecy. Telling everyone one of the Keeper’s was a traitor.
Lydia: That might not have been Boris though. We don’t know who that prophecy refers to.
Hanson: Saying things like that spooks people, you know.
Lydia: We have to break him out or something.
Hanson: You mean, break him out of a Hermetic prison?
Lydia: Why not?
Hanson: Do you have any idea how stupid that is?
Lydia: I’ve broken out of jails before.
Hanson: Sleeper jails. This is a whole different thing. They would know how to deal with magic.
Lydia: We still need to try. He can’t leave him to serve a sentence imposed on him by an oligarchy.
Hanson: Also, it’s going to be pretty obvious it was us. Think about it, if just after their High Priest is taken away, who’s the most obvious group that’s going to try and do something?
Lydia: So? We could probably take them.
Hanson: Really!?
Vivian: We will not be trying to break Boris out. To do so would do nothing but provoke retaliation.
Lydia: I’m sorry High Priestess.
Vivian: We will return to the chantry and prepare. It is the night of the Autumnal Equinox. We have a ritual to perform.
Lydia: Can I ask you. How precise is the wording of a prophecy usually?
Vivian: You are worried about the one you had? Personally, I think it refers to Helen.
Lydia: Though she wasn’t in the Keeper’s when I made the prophecy, was she?
Hanson: She was technically a recruit. It’s hard to tell with prophecies.

Once they arrived, Camellia broke away from the group and rushed upstairs. Lydia became concerned.

Lydia: Is Camellia ok?
Vivian: No. Whatever the Tribunal gave her to keep her sedated has had a lingering effect. Plus it’s been a while since she’s had her tea. I suspect things are becoming more than she can cope with at the moment.

Deciding it wasn’t really his business, Hanson went up in order to check on Edwin. He was relieved to see that Granny Elm was still keeping an eye on him, and that nothing seemed to have changed. When Camellia reached one of the rooms, she ran inside and slammed the door behind her. Lydia followed but the door was locked. She tried to call but Camellia did not respond.
Aaron poked his head out after hearing all the noise and saw Hanson.

There was a brief recap of what had happened at the tribunal, followed by a discussion about Edwin.

Aaron: So, you know what we’re going to do about him?
Hanson: I’m going to wait around for Sarah to get back in touch.
Aaron: I see…
Hanson: He’s under Granny Elm’s watch, he should stay safe.
Aaron: Yeah, a powerful mage like her would be able to keep him in place.
Hanson: Anyway, I’m going to speak to Vivian about him.
Aaron: Wait a minute, hold on. I’m still waiting on you for money. Remember? The Technocracy froze my account. I did help you out with your case, I should get a cut.
Hanson: I think what’s going to have to happen is once I get this money, I’ll find a good casino somewhere and Entropy ourselves a little extra
Aaron: Sounds good.

Right where they stood, a door opened up right into Aaron’s face. A girl stood there, one that neither of them had seen before. Genevive.

Lydia returned downstairs and spoke with Vivian.

Lydia: Vivian, what was Camellia like before she started with her tea?
Vivian: She was a very capable student, focused and diligent, especially interested in the healing rites.
Lydia: What happened to her?
Vivian: I cannot say. There came a point where she couldn’t concentrate on anything, she found herself stricken with grief beyond her ability to cope.
Lydia: And so she started drinking.
Vivian: It’s only a herbal tea. It allows her to relax and saves her from her grief
Lydia: It’s still substance abuse. She can’t function without it.
Vivian: She can’t really function with it either.
Lydia: That’s exactly my point. She’s going to be your successor. Aren’t you worried about this?
Vivian: I am. And I’ve tried to speak with her about it on multiple occasions, but she doesn’t listen to me anymore. She takes her tea, but at some level I cannot really blame her.
Lydia: why?
Vivian: Her grief, whatever its cause, must be very great indeed. If you can choose to avoid feeling it, then would you ever choose to be sad?
Lydia: Yes! Sadness is an important emotion which must be felt. Without sadness, how can one feel joy?
Vivian: I know. And I agree… but I can’t get through to her anymore.

Gen: Who are you?
Aaron: Who are you?
Gen: Genevieve. One of the Keepers.
Hanson: Hi. Hanson, Joe Hanson. And this is Aaron.
Gen: You two the new recruits Gwyn was talking about?
Aaron: Recruits? Us?
Hanson: No, we’re just staying here.
Aaron: We help out a bit while staying in hiding.
Gen: Oh, alright. So Vivian and the other keepers aren’t back yet.
Hanson: Actually, she is. She and Mica.
Gen: Mica’s here!?

Genevieve left down the stairs. Hanson and Aaron followed. Her arrival interrupted the conversation between Lydia and Vivian. Mica looked up and the two of them ran to each other and embraced, incredibly happy to see each other.

Mica: When did you get back?
Gen: Just a while ago with Gwyn
Mica: Gwyn’s back!?
Gen: Yeah.
Vivian: This is very good news. We may have a celebration yet.
Gen: Who are you?
Lydia: Me? I’m Lydia.
Gen: Lydia… Hang on, I know you. I went to one of your lectures. You were talking about the Wyck, right?
Lydia: Yes. I was. I think I remember you too.
Gen: That was really good stuff. I wanted to hang around afterwards, but you were already gone.
Lydia: Yes, I had a number of lectures on that night, I hope you could understand.
Gen: It’s fine, I’m a bit of a nomad myself.
Vivian: Is Gwyn with you?
Gen: No, he had to help someone called Alfred with something?
Vivian: I see. Mica, could you wait here for him.
Mica: I can. Sure.
Vivian: The ritual will take place on Regent’s Park. We must prepare.
Gen: Come on, let’s start getting things ready.

Genevieve and Vivian took Lydia down to the Undergrove where Kael was already getting to work gathering up supplies. Vivian started assisting while Genevieve explained to Lydia exactly what was going on.

Gen: So. You ready for the Mabon festival?
Lydia: Maybe. This is the first time I’ve done it outside of my island.
Gen: It’s a load of fun. First we make the shrine with candles, wheat, wine, cider, that sort of thing. Then we all stand and begin the calls to the spirits. Then the wine is blessed and passed around. And after that there’s a bit more ceremony stuff before we bid the spirits well and after that it’s party time!
Lydia: Wow, how can I help.
Gen: I think everyone’s gathering stuff right now, so we can do that. I’ve been away for quite a few months, so as long as nothing’s changed, the wine should be around here…

Upstairs, Sean arrives.

Sean: Hello, is anyone about?
Mica: Hello?
Sean: I need to speak to Vivian, it’s fairly urgent.
Mica: Why? What’s it about.
Sean: It’s about this.

Sean takes out the golden cross containing the Heath’s quintessence. Mica stares at it a little awestruck.

Mica: You… How did you?
Sean: Alfred, Gwyn and I managed to get back We have to act quickly in order to return it. Already the Progenitors are on the Heath.

Still amazed that the cross is here. Mica thanks Sean profusely for returning it, and goes downstairs to speak with Vivian. Sean spends little time waiting around and climbs upstairs in an effort to retreat to hi room quickly.

Helen, having finished her meeting with the other Hermetics, stands outside the chantry. Her thoughts return to a few days ago, and whether or not her father is as dead as she thought. She decided to call the only person she felt she could trust. Someone who might be able to help

Helen: Hanson, where is everyone?
Hanson: Most of us are over here at the Keepers.
Helen: I’m not sure if I should go there.
Hanson: Difficult to say.
Helen: What are you doing right now?
Hanson: Waiting for Sarah to get in touch.
Helen: I have something to ask.
Hanson: What is it?
Helen: Do you know where the Technocratic bases are?
Hanson: Which one?
Helen: The one in London.
Hanson: There are a lot… The Obvious ones would be the Shard and at Guy’s Hospital, though there’s also MI5, the pretty much any building owned by Imperial University. And that’s not including some of the more hidden ones like the base underneath Greenwich.
Helen: I see…
Hanson: Why do you ask.
Helen: I was wondering if it was possible to break in.
Hanson: Hold on! What!?
Helen: Just to look around.
Hanson: Do you realise what you’re asking? They will not let you just “look around”. That sort of thing will get you captured, maybe even killed. Why do you want to go there at all?
Helen: It’s… complicated. Can I tell you in person?
Hanson: Ok, though we’ll have to meet at Churchill Gardens.

Hanson returned to the room with Edwin and Granny Elm, wanting to stay as close to Edwin as he could.
Sean arrives upstairs just as this conversation ends and briefly warned Hanson of the Progenitor presence on the Heath.

Sean: The Technocrats are close.
Hanson: We’ll have to deal with that then. Not sure how.
Sean: It may be because the node is not fully drained, so once we restock it, they may spring into action.

Sean retreated to his room where he intended to stay. He absolutely needed to keep a low profile for as long as the cross was in his possession, lest her be turned over to the Exarch. For now, he worked on figuring out a way of obtaining a new gun, perhaps through divine consort.
It was at this time that Alfred and Gwyn finally arrived. Gwyn spoke with Mica and the two of them went down to the Undergrove to speak with Vivian. Alfred instead went upstairs to check on Edwin.

Alfred: He’s still stable then.
Hanson: For now.
Alfred: Good… Do you happen to know where Aaron is?
Aaron: What’s going on?
Alfred: Aaron, just the man I need to see.
Aaron: About what?
Alfred: I believe there is a certain technocrat that you have had dealings with.
Aaron: What are you saying? I can neither confirm nor deny anything.
Alfred: I’m talking about Lance.
Aaron: Oh, Lance… Yeah… Nice guy, talkative. Told me quite a lot of stuff he’ll probably get in trouble for.
Alfred: Yes, he seems to remember you, and he wants to meet with me at Guy’s Tomorrow.
Aaron: Ah, well, if you’re going there, then could you look around for my phone? I had to escape and couldn’t take it with me.
Alfred: That’s actually one of the things he wanted to talk about. Apparently someone within his organisation is eager to speak with you about something you’ve taken.
Aaron: Well they’re wrong.
Alfred: Lance seems to think you’ve taken something he’s been working on, and a number of technocrats are looking for it.
Aaron: Well if they ask, I haven’t. Got it?
Alfred: What have you been doing?
Aaron: Have you heard of something called, the Esther File?
Alfred: Only in passing, I don’t know what it is.
Aaron: Trust me, the less you know the better.
Alfred: I see…
Aaron: Don’t promise them anything!

Alfred lowered his voice and pulled Aaron slightly away from where Hanson might hear him.

Alfred: Well, we have another problem, this one about Edwin.
Aaron: go on.
Alfred: Lance is a Void Engineer, and has been assigned to capture Edwin. Though now it’s not just him that’s searching, it’s also agents of the New World Order, and Lance is terrified of them. Currently they all think that Hanson is involved with this, and so may be searching for him as well.
Aaron: Figures.
Alfred: There’s a chance that if we gave Edwin up to them, then the New World Order might call off their search.
Aaron: That really doesn’t sit well with me. You’re treating Edwin like a problem that needs to be solved. He’s a person.
Alfred: I know, and it really pains me to think of someone in this way. But we have to keep in mind what the New World Order are likely to do. We’re talking about Pogrom level stuff here.
Aaron: Hmm…
Alfred: We still need to cleanse the node, but no doubt the Technocrats will try and stop us. If they know Edwin is there, then both the NWO and the Engineers would be preoccupied with obtaining him and might even slow down the Progenitors.
Aaron: Hanson seems certain there’s a way to cure him… But mages have been trying to cure Marauders for centuries… I’m not sure what hope there is for him. It still doesn’t feel right, but it might actually be that death is the kindest thing for him.
Alfred: Exactly, but he can still have a chance to contribute in a positive way before he dies.
Aaron: Maybe.
Alfred: There’s one more thing…

Alfred took a look around and then quietly slipped out the letter with the Technocratic Emblem on it. Aaron immediately pushed it back.

Aaron: Not here. Come with me.

He quickly led Alfred into his new room and closed the door behind them. Alfred opened the letter and read it. It was a confirmation of Alfred’s status as an informant for the Technocratic Union, at the bottom of which was a cheque for £150.

Aaron: Burn it.
Alfred: What?
Aaron: Burn it now.
Alfred: All of it?
Aaron: Keep the cheque if you want, but you have to get rid of it.
Alfred: Uh… ok.

Alfred threw the letter into a bin and was about to light it.

Aaron: No not here!
Alfred: I though you wanted me to burn it.
Aaron: Not here!
Alfred: Why do I need to burn it?
Aaron: Can’t be too careful. You especially don’t want your Verbena friends thinking you’re their traitor. Do you?
Alfred: I already informed Vivian that I’ve been compromised by the Technocracy.
Aaron: Well, still you probably don’t want a document like that hanging about.
Alfred: I’ll dispose of it later then.

Alfred notices that Aaron is in pain.

Alfred: Something wrong?
Aaron: It’s just my shoulder. I got grazed by a bullet in a gun fight with a Technocrat.
Alfred: I might be able to help with that.

[ST NOTE: In case I didn’t mention it earlier, Alfred got up to Life 3 in the previous session. This will be the first time he uses it.]

Alfred took a pot of salve and applied it to the wound, healing it in an instant, and inadvertently transferring it to himself. Alfred screamed in pain.

Aaron: Is everything ok?
Alfred: This is the first time I’ve healed anyone… I don’t know!

As paradox set it, blood gushed from his arm as though it was newly shot, and then quickly scabbed over creating a painful scar.

Aaron: uh…wow… Thanks.

There was a knock at the door, Vivian entered.

Alfred: High Priestess.
Vivian: Alfred. Gwyn told me you returned. Thank you for all you have done.
Alfred: I was only doing what needed to be done.
Vivian: We will be getting ready to leave. We’ll be heading to Regents Park soon.
Alfred: I shall be with you as we leave.
Vivian: And you, Aaron. You are more than welcome to join us.
Aaron: Thanks for the offer, but I’ve already got plans tonight.
Vivian: I understand.
Aaron: Can I ask. Is it ok if I stay here for a while? The technocracy know where I live, so I’m effectively penniless and homeless.
Vivian: Of course. As long as you continue to help us, you may stay as long as you need.
Aaron: Cool. Thank you.

As Vivian left, Alfred turned to Aaron.

Alfred: You have a meeting then?
Aaron: Yes, and I should be heading out there soon.
Alfred: Something to do with this Esther file?
Aaron: Can’t say too much about that.
Alfred: Are you sure?
Aaron: Ok… There’s a prophecy about it. “Three men, Profit, Fear, and Charting, stand in search of the star for Control, Utility, or Understanding. The bearer may decide on whom the star shall sit. Its secrets must be learnt within the Astral Realm, before the Death Spiral is complete.”
Alfred: Death Spiral?
Aaron: That’s all you’re getting. Now if you excuse me.

Across the hall, while all of this was going on. Sean was seeing to what extent he could contort God’s will into physical objects. He began a long ritual of praise and prayer asking for his Lord to grant him permission to use his divine spirit and turn into physical form so he may protect himself and those around him, and in this way continue to carry out his work. He focused the warmth of presence he felt within and conjured into shape. Having severed a number of tours in the military, Sean was very well accustomed to the components of a gun and was more than a little familiar with the shape of each part, however this was the first time he’d tried to conjure one into being before. He decided to start of small, beginning with the barrel, the simplest part. An hour worth of focus and prayer and before him was the barrel, produced of flighty quintessence, made of solid steel. Just as he finished up, Vivian arrived at the door, knocking.

Vivian: Hello, Sam?
Sean: Evening.
Vivian: Gwyn has told me of the trouble you’ve gone through in order to return the Heath’s power. You have the cross they kept it in?
Sean: I do yes, it’s here.

Seeing it, Vivian’s face changed a touch, to light shade of hope. Perhaps things weren’t as immobile as they had seemed.

Vivian: I cannot tell you how thankful I am for this. You have done this coven a great service.
Sean: I only did what I thought was right.
Vivian: We are about leave to Regents Park in order to commemorate The Wine Harvest, and we would be very grateful if you were to join us in this time.
Sean: Thank you for the offer, but I am afraid I will have to decline.
Vivian: Are you sure? It would be a way for us to show our gratitude for what you have done.
Sean: I appreciate this, but I think it would be best if I was to remain here for the time being.
Vivian: Very well. You are certainly welcome to stay here for all you have done to help us.

Vivian left and wondered over to the room with Granny Elm and Hanson.

Hanson had just received a text from Sarah, She was on her way back to the keepers and trying to avoid being followed. Like Sean, he too refused Vivian’s offer to join them for the ritual, stating that he was waiting for someone. And so, Hanson and Sean stay at the chantry while Vivian takes the rest to Regent’s Park, all of them carrying various tools and instruments.
Before they leave, Camellia exited her room, looking as calm as ever. She had obviously been drinking her tea.

Aaron looked at his watch, it was time. He took out his laptop and adjusted his coordinate values to match the Clapham address. He stood in the quiet street and slowly made his way to the door, and knocked.

Be4ker: Yeah?
Aaron: Hi… We talked over skype, I’m here for the VR stuff.
Be4ker: Password?
Aaron: …can you just let me in?
Be4ker: Close enough.

The door was opened, and Be4ker led him downstairs to a fairly small living room space in the basement, where he saw Rubrix.

Rubrix: Hey there Bus boy! Been a while.
Aaron: Yeah, I guess it has in meatspace it has. You been ok?
Rubrix: Been going. Lots of stuff to keep track of.
Aaron: I bet. By the way, I’ve changed the name.
Rubrix: Oh yeah, what was it again?
Aaron: Theseus.
Rubrix: Right, Theseus. So, you met Be4ker then?
Aaron: Sort of.
Rubrix: Good guy, always rely on him in a pinch. Has a great array of hardware.
Be4ker: I keep pods.

Be4ker walks into another room, prompting Aaron to follow. What he sees are what look like three sensory deprivation pods, two of which are open. Instead of water, Aaron could see a lot of circuitry with a space to lie down inside.

Aaron: Wow… That’s a lot more involved than I was expecting.
Be4ker: It’s what I’ve got.
Rubrix: You remember Eskim0e? One of the guys that helped pull you out of the sewer.
Aaron: Yeah, I remember him.
Rubrix: Well, that’s the guy in that pod. I’d take him out to say hi, but he’s a bit tied up right now.
Be4ker: Once they’re in the pod, they’re in the pod. Consciousness gets plugged directly into the digital web. Cracking them out manually is possible, though not recommended. Best to let them jack themselves out.
Aaron: I see…
Be4ker: How often have you been in the Digital Web?
Aaron: Me? Well, never actually.
Be4ker: Never!? (looking at Rubrix) What are you teaching these people?
Rubrix: I good time never came up. Plus, I had to make sure he could handle it first.
Be4ker: Can you?
Aaron: I think so.
Be4ker: Good start. Now your buddy there already told me of your funds problem.
Aaron: Yeah. Technocrats raided my place and money might be a problem for a while.
Rubrix: Why’d they go after you?
Aaron: I think I might have found something big. You showed him the Esther File?
Rubrix: Yeah I did.
Be4ker: I had a look at it, not sure what it is though.
Aaron: Well, I think I’ve got a better idea now. It’s something the technocrats are working on. So, you no Astrology?
Be4ker: The technocracy are doing astrology?
Aaron: I know. I know, hear me out. It’s some kind of algorithm thing which tracks the coordinates of these stars in order to get a predictable model of human behaviour. Basically they’re taking astrology and putting it through the ringer to make it more science based.
Rubrix: Sounds just like the black hats. Take something from the mystics and rebrand it so feels more “acceptable” to them. Though it does make sense with a few things we’ve found.
Aaron: What have you found?
Rubrix: Right… I think it’s time we let you know exactly what we’ve been up to. So, you remember the day of the blackout?
Aaron: Yes?
Rubrix: Well that blackout was just meant to be a localised power out; a distraction, something to keep the Technocrats busy while we dived in to their Servers. You definitely overachieved on that front.
Aaron: Yeah… I guess so.
Rubrix: While the power was down, we were able to find where they kept The Feed and hacked into it, placing all kinds of programmes and backdoor entryways while we could. See, we put a bunch of obvious ones all around as decoys, while also hiding much more subtle bits of code. With luck, we put just enough fake hacks in there for them to feel as though they cleaned up.
Aaron: Nice!
Rubrix: While we were there, we did see a few things that hinted about an algorithm of some kind. Something really secret, could be to do with this file.
Aaron: Well, all I know is that the technocrats are really keen on trying to get it back. There’s a guy, Jason Stavero, he wants to meet with me about it.
Rubrix: Stavero… Yeah… We know about him. Hard guy to trace. He’s a syndicate member, has a number of businesses, though it’s hard to keep track of his transactions. Either he’s goes by a load of different names or has a complex set of shell companies, but following him is a challenge.
Aaron: I already know about Dent and Ford Constructions.
Rubrix: Well, he’s got a bunch more, how many we can’t really say.
Aaron: Why would he be interested in the Esther File.
Rubrix: That’s what we’d like to know…
Be4ker: Didn’t you say he had a meeting with you?
Aaron: Yeah, but I’m not going to it.
Rubrix: That could be useful actually… If you went in, maybe you could find something, or plug in a USB so we could look around.
Aaron: So, go into the meeting to trick him?
Rubrix: It could work.
Be4ker: It would also be a good way to pay for the VR stuff you came to buy.
Aaron: Well, if it’s something like these pods, I’m not sure where I would put it.
Rubrix: Oh yeah, he’s been staying at his Witch Girlfriend’s place.
Aaron: Not my girlfriend.
Rubrix: Hey, whatever you guys call yourself. Not gonna to judge.

The closed pod opens, and slowly sits up.

Eskim0e: Woah! It is Digital down there!
Be4ker: You make that joke every time.
Eskim0e: And it never gets old!
Rubrix: You’re back, Theseus here was going to get his first taste.
Eskim0e: Theseus? Oh him. He’s the one with that Witch girl, right?
Aaron: Not a girlfriend…
Eskim0e: Those Verbena types, loads of fun. Especially when they start asking you to come to rituals if you know what I mean.
Rubrix: Oh yeah. I bet.
Aaron: Yup, all about those blood orgies.
Eskim0e: Hey, not so big on blood, but I’m all about the rest of it.
Rubrix: If she ever asks you to one of these rituals, you know you’re in for a great night.
Aaron: Actually, they’re having one of their rituals now.
Eskim0e: And you didn’t go?
Aaron: I had to come here.
Eskim0e: What’s wrong with you. You’re probably missing out on all kinds of fun stuff.
Be4ker: He’s here to try out the VR.

As Eskim0e stands up, he gets a bit wobbly on his feet.

Eskim0e: right. Well… I need to lie down for a maybe 2 hours or something. The Web really takes it out of you. See you round.
Aaron: Actually, there’s something I’d like to ask you.
Eskim0e: Two Hours!
Be4ker: Let me just get things set up.
Aaron: So, Rubrix. I know I haven’t really been all that involved with the team offlate.
Rubrix: It’s cool, you had your girlfriend to take care of.
Aaron: Not…never mind.
Rubrix: I mean, there are a few of us who weren’t really happy about the whole London wide blackout thing. A bit sloppy.
Aaron: Yeah, I know T-JatZ was pretty pissed about it.
Rubrix: She would be. That sort of thing really ticks her off.
Aaron: T-JatZ is a girl?
Rubrix: Yeah… what you thought we were all guys?
Aaron: I guess I never thought about it before…
Rubrix: Well anyway, that’s part of the reason I’ve been keeping you away from the Digital Web. A lot of people got disconnected during that black out. Only reason this place didn’t was that it has its own generator.
Be4ker: The amount of power these things need is ridiculous. Just plugging it into the mains would tell those black hats exactly where we were.
Aaron: Ah, right.
Rubrix: You do not want to enter the web with that kind of a reputation. Reputation is everything down there. But now you got that Esther File, and you’re going to help us get some info on what Stavero’s up to, this could turn things around.
Aaron: Thanks, I really appreciate it.
Be4ker: Ok, just sit inside.

Aaron makes his way to the pod and lies down, the seat is surprisingly warm. Be4ker pulls the door close on him, and Aaron is plunged into darkness… He starts to feel the walls around him push against him. Brief flashbacks of the sewer jump across his mind, the smell, those ugly creatures dragging him across the narrow pipes. A great surge of fear passed through him and before he could contain himself he was banging on the inside of the door screaming to be let out. The door opened.

Be4ker: I didn’t even turn it on yet!
Aaron: (between heavy breaths) Sorry… I just… I couldn’t…
Be4ker: You ok?
Aaron: I’m fine… I forgot to tell you. I’m a bit claustrophobic…
Be4ker: (to rubrix) Where do you find these guys?
Aaron: I think I need to rest a bit.
Rubrix: Sure, take your time.
Aaron: Sorry about this. Give me a bit and I can try again.
Be4ker: I’ll have a dig around. I think I might have an old VR Head set lying around somewhere.
Aaron: Sure…

Aaron went back to the sofa and lay down, trying to calm himself as much as he could. This was not the kind of impression he wanted to make.

*****
I've gone over the character limit for forum posts.
I thought this one took longer to write...