Skyscraper Graveyard II: Simple Choices

[Thanqol]

History fades into fable; fact becomes clouded with doubt and controversy; the inscription moulders from the tablet: the statue falls from the pedestal. Columns, arches, pyramids, what are they but heaps of sand; and their epitaphs, but characters written in the dust?

- Washington Irving


Skyscraper Graveyard

Friday: 4/9/15

OOC Thread 1 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=247130)
OOC Thread 2: Jealousy and Ambition (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=256765)
OOC Thread 3: A Sword On His Back (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=263257)
OOC Thread 4: Lack Of Data (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=285428)
OOC Thread 5: Gradually, Then Suddenly (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=303616)

IC Thread 1: Renaissance City (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=249134)
IC Thread 2: Simple Choices (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265809)
IC Thread 3: THIS IS YOUR GOD (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=307506)

[Anarion]

Repost of last IC post.


Tessen catches the car keys. "Okay, um well, I'll leave you two to waste your time on that thing. Just go head up to the hallow so Amun can get on his business too, if that's okay with you."

Tessen heads out. She goes and switches back to spirit and time sight first, though, then gets in Jack's car, looking at the spirit and giving it a warm smile as she does so. She's not really sure where she's going. She doesn't even consult time magic this time around, just picks a direction at random.

[the_druid_droid]

Turing hopped quickly in the elevator and punched the button with a bit more force than strictly necessary once Amun was aboard. He couldn’t, shouldn’t, be the only one concerned about this thing. It represented a potential breach, which they couldn’t afford, and every instinct he had told him that people did not just randomly inscribe and then carefully hide magical golden runes unless something was going on with them.

He also couldn’t understand the others’ attitude toward him - they seemed almost hostile, and he didn’t quite know where that had started. Was he just overreacting?

At any rate, they’d be at the hallow soon and he could see for himself if anything was amiss with the rod. He shook his head and tried to focus on that goal for the moment.

[Deadly]

Amun sighed and hopped in alongside Turing in the elevator where he waited impatiently. He seemed quite eager to be done and move on, maybe a little irritated but not exactly hostile.

Once they reached the top and the hallow, he unceremoniously went through the motions, granting Turing what sights he wanted. "I suppose I was going to teach you about Prime anyway, eh?" he muttered, as if that somehow helped justify the time. "Though I think you're wasting your time on that thing," he added, already turned to leave. "Now the island, there's something worth looking at," he smiled, brazier forgotten as he went back to the elevator.

[Thanqol]

Amun sighed and hopped in alongside Turing in the elevator where he waited impatiently. He seemed quite eager to be done and move on, maybe a little irritated but not exactly hostile.

Once they reached the top and the hallow, he unceremoniously went through the motions, granting Turing what sights he wanted. "I suppose I was going to teach you about Prime anyway, eh?" he muttered, as if that somehow helped justify the time. "Though I think you're wasting your time on that thing," he added, already turned to leave. "Now the island, there's something worth looking at," he smiled, brazier forgotten as he went back to the elevator.

To Turing, it was quite possible that Amun was mad. This rod was lit up like a Christmas tree. Matter, Space, Mind, Prime, glowing like a class-A Artifact.

It was also starting to energise off the ambient energy of the Hallow, like an engine getting petrol for the first time. The mana was being siphoned into the twisted wire holding-cell in the centre and absorbed for charge. If he kept it here it was going to start Doing Something.

[the_druid_droid]

“Holy mother...” For a moment, Turing was entranced by the sheer amount of magic that was showing on the thing under his new sight. When he began to process that it was soaking in Mana from the Hallow, his fascination gave way to concern. Activating magical artifacts of unknown provenance and purpose was usually a bad idea, and if he was the only one to recognize what was going on, things would be that much worse.

Trying to act quickly, Turing tucked the artifact under his arm and made for the stairs. “On second thought, I don’t really like the way it looks up here. I’ll just leave it in my room for now and we can go have a look at that house you mentioned.”

As he tried to put distance between himself and the Hallow, Turing considered who he might be able to bring in to investigate the brazier if his own cabal couldn’t be convinced. The Mysterium seemed like the best bet at present, and he made a note to get in touch with them as soon as he could, hopefully after they located the blueprints for the island everyone else seemed to think so highly of.

[Thanqol]

“Holy mother...” For a moment, Turing was entranced by the sheer amount of magic that was showing on the thing under his new sight. When he began to process that it was soaking in Mana from the Hallow, his fascination gave way to concern. Activating magical artifacts of unknown provenance and purpose was usually a bad idea, and if he was the only one to recognize what was going on, things would be that much worse.

Trying to act quickly, Turing tucked the artifact under his arm and made for the stairs. “On second thought, I don’t really like the way it looks up here. I’ll just leave it in my room for now and we can go have a look at that house you mentioned.”

As he tried to put distance between himself and the Hallow, Turing considered who he might be able to bring in to investigate the brazier if his own cabal couldn’t be convinced. The Mysterium seemed like the best bet at present, and he made a note to get in touch with them as soon as he could, hopefully after they located the blueprints for the island everyone else seemed to think so highly of.

Once away from the Hallow, the glow wound down to nothing and the Artifact started to become inert again. The Mind effect remained active.


[I have nothing further planned for this day, so it's again on you guys to make something happen or step forwards into the next period helping the Speakeasy Society.]

[Anarion]

Once away from the Hallow, the glow wound down to nothing and the Artifact started to become inert again. The Mind effect remained active.


[I have nothing further planned for this day, so it's again on you guys to make something happen or step forwards into the next period helping the Speakeasy Society.]

[My intent with the post with "Tessen gets into the car and drives randomly" was to throw that one into your hands as to where she ends up. I have an inkling of trying to get her into a hobby before the day ends, but I'd like to see where she is or if something happens to her.]

[Thanqol]

[My intent with the post with "Tessen gets into the car and drives randomly" was to throw that one into your hands as to where she ends up. I have an inkling of trying to get her into a hobby before the day ends, but I'd like to see where she is or if something happens to her.]

[I am being rather sparing with my random encounters just now because I'm still working on Establishing Things. After the first Consilium Meeting then I'll have more minor threads to throw out in moments like this.

You're free to narrate any interaction with unnamed Sleepers without my help.]

[Anarion]

You're free to narrate any interaction with unnamed Sleepers without my help.]

[Cool. Consider this me taking up Errant's suggestion to get a hobby.]

Tessen stops the car somewhere near the downtown. She's not really sure why she gets out there at first, but there are some kids and adults playing near the street. And that's kind of weird. And when she looks at the building, there's a spirit that looks like an older man in relatively good shape clasping hands with another, younger man in a gesture of brotherhood. And for Detroit, that's really weird.

Tessen walks over to the nearby building. The front has a sign that says "Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit." Walking in, there are posters on the walls showing smiling kids and young, professional-looking adults doing things together like playing baseball, playing music, and riding bikes.

The man who's taking care of the office doesn't seem as optimistic as the posters. Tessen notices one poster behind him that states the mission of Detroit BBBS.


The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Detroit Vision is to see all children achieve success in life. Specifically, BBBSMD envisions all children attending great schools, living in strong, supportive communities and developing with bright futures.

I can imagine why he's depressed, she thinks to herself I've seen the schools.

Nevertheless, she walks up to the desk and says "Um, excuse me. My name is Alina White and I'm interested in getting involved..."

About an hour later, after Tessen has finished up the application and provided her Dad and one of her college professors as references, she waltzes back out, a notable spring to her step, as she imagines finding out about the little sister that the organization will match her with in a couple days.

[Deadly]

Trying to act quickly, Turing tucked the artifact under his arm and made for the stairs. “On second thought, I don’t really like the way it looks up here. I’ll just leave it in my room for now and we can go have a look at that house you mentioned.”

Amun nodded. "Aye, sounds good," he said as they descended the tower. "Except I think the other two ran off."

[Tiki Snakes]

Jack had indeed escaped already. He walked the streets of Detroit in a daze, not aimlessly but like a man exhausted. He drove out uncharitable thoughts with music, losing himself in it as he searched out the Speakeasy Society.

He'd been putting it off long enough for worry about what his prospective mentors methods might be, but it was time to see if he couldn't talk Johnny Saxophone into teaching him the basics of the mind arcana.

[the_druid_droid]

“Right, well I’ll be around when they get back. Probably in my room or the lab, if anyone comes looking.” Turing did indeed head back to his quarters, where he sat contemplating the brazier once more.

There was a good chance that the Mind spell was part of the trouble keeping his friends from understanding its significance. Most likely the same thing would affect anyone he brought it around, which meant any consultation with the Mysterium would probably need to start as an academic discussion until they could deal with the spell and bring it in for a better inspection. Luckily, that was just the sort of discussion the order was supposed to favor.

Turing tucked the mysterious object safely in the corner once he’d settled on his plan, and took a brief walk up to the the top floor to advise Muriel to keep a particularly close watch on the thing if he went out.

[Alright, I don’t have anything else planned right now, so we can do house stuff, or Silver Ladder stuff as far as I’m concerned.]

[Thanqol]

[Tiki, since everyone else just cleared their schedule anticipating a timeshift, I'm going to say that Jack meets up with Sax tomorrow and run that scene while people are gearing up for the museum thing.

I'm sure I'll find something to do with the sister thing Anarion.

And I'll do that post soon, I just accidentally space simmed my brain and I need a day to adjust @_@.]

[Thanqol]

"People feel in colours," said Johnny Saxaphone, rubbing his hands over the burning drum.

Jack and Johnny were outside the Dinosaur Museum, waiting for the others to drift together. Johnny had been casing the area, sending away any nearby hobos so they didn't see anything they shouldn't. Now they were standing together over a fire, waiting for the others to show up.

Johnny Saxaphone had brought an easel, with paintings.

"Colours aren't things you see with your eyes. They're things you feel. Colours can make you happy, angry, or sick. Colours and how colours is arranged can tell you everything you need to know about a person. I'll show you in a minute, but first I'll tell you how they're arranged.

"First off, the purity of the colour matters. Very bright, distinct colours are pure, enlightened, unselfish. Dark, murky colours are being let down by their lower instincts. Most Sleeper auras will look really dim, even if they're nice folk.

"Brown. Brown is selfishness, hunger, basic instincts. Dark brown is greed.
"Grey. Grey is depression. Grey is a cage that can contain the mind.
"Red. Red is passion. Dark red is anger and lust. When it becomes pink it's romantic love.
"Purple. Purple is mysticism and fear, belief in magic and fear of forces that cannot be known or controlled. Dark purple is afraid of what it does not know, a lighter shade shows acceptance of the unknown.
"Green. Green is adaptability. Murky green can be, well, evil - being prepared to hurt, kill, do whatever it takes. Light green is flexible in it's approach to enlightened concepts.
"Blue. Dark blue is regimented, ordered faith. Light blue and teal are spirituality.
"Yellow. Yellow is the intellect. Bright yellow is inspiration and insight. Darkening to orange it becomes Pride.
"Finally, the positions of the colour in the aura show what rules what. The colour of the crown is the emotion that holds dominance over the ego, the colours nearer the base are raw instincts - to be controlled or struggled against by the higher mind.

"Let me show you what I mean. This was a painting I made of the Jerusalem Man's aura."

Johnny Saxaphone turned the page on the easel to reveal the first painting.

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3202/aurajerusalem.jpg

"Do you understand?"

*

The Mirror Man was walking back and forth, waiting for the others to meet him. He was fiddling with the tip of the golf club that seemed to be his weapon of choice - if he didn't somehow break it first.

[the_druid_droid]

Turing eventually rounded the corner, walking toward the little knot of mages outside the museum, and giving the Mirror Man a dubious look as he approached.

[Question - was the time skip only a day, or has there been any time for one of Turing's wounds to have healed?]

[Thanqol]

Turing eventually rounded the corner, walking toward the little knot of mages outside the museum, and giving the Mirror Man a dubious look as he approached.

[Question - was the time skip only a day, or has there been any time for one of Turing's wounds to have healed?]

[Only one day]

"Oh... oh, hey man." said the Mirror Man, hurriedly putting the golf club behind his back with the same general air of someone hiding something from a cop. "Thanks for showing up, man. I didn't want to come, but Tyler - Tyler was like, no man, you gotta come man. Did you know, did you know that a velociraptor can hit forty miles per hour at a run, man. Tyler didn't, man. She just said, she said - oh hey cool, there's a blimp up there - she said that just meant there was no point running away, man."

[Tiki Snakes]

"I think I follow. But then again, I seem to be missing something. I get the colours and so on but what's with the little black lines?" Jack paused, thinking for a moment before hazarding a guess "Are they to indicate motion perhaps? Stress fractures?"

[Anarion]

[Only one day]

"Oh... oh, hey man." said the Mirror Man, hurriedly putting the golf club behind his back with the same general air of someone hiding something from a cop. "Thanks for showing up, man. I didn't want to come, but Tyler - Tyler was like, no man, you gotta come man. Did you know, did you know that a velociraptor can hit forty miles per hour at a run, man. Tyler didn't, man. She just said, she said - oh hey cool, there's a blimp up there - she said that just meant there was no point running away, man."

Tessen gives the Mirror Man a look and a brief, shy wave. "Um, hi Mirror Man" she says, bracing herself for the inevitable hug, high five, or whatever he would decide to do to greet her this time.

[Thanqol]

"I think I follow. But then again, I seem to be missing something. I get the colours and so on but what's with the little black lines?" Jack paused, thinking for a moment before hazarding a guess "Are they to indicate motion perhaps? Stress fractures?"

"You develop those if you brush up against the Abyss too much. Jersualem, he's done some fighting. Nothing compared to Errant, of course,"

Johnny Saxaphone turned the next page on the easel.

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/4741/auraerrant.jpg

"Nasty, right? One last thing. I'll brace you now because almost every Sleeper you're gonna see has an aura that looks like some variation of this:"

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/9164/aurasleeper.jpg

"Now, Auras have a default state but they can change a lot based on what the person's feeling, so don't rely on them too much. Last thing. People feel in colours but they think in words. Words are much more advanced so just focus on the colours, pay attention to how people feel. You ready?"


Tessen gives the Mirror Man a look and a brief, shy wave. "Um, hi Mirror Man" she says, bracing herself for the inevitable hug, high five, or whatever he would decide to do to greet her this time.

"... Oh, right - I know you, don't I," said Mirror Man, having one of his less lucid moments, "but just to be sure - no offence, just gotta be sure - say something only you would know, you know, if that's all right..."

[Anarion]

"... Oh, right - I know you, don't I," said Mirror Man, having one of his less lucid moments, "but just to be sure - no offence, just gotta be sure - say something only you would know, you know, if that's all right..."

*Deadpan* "You solved the breakfast cereal problem the last time we talked, remember? Where are Tyler and Johnny anyway?"

[Thanqol]

*Deadpan* "You solved the breakfast cereal problem the last time we talked, remember? Where are Tyler and Johnny anyway?"

"... oh yeah! Turns out that - and just keep this between us - Tyler got the wrong kind - and I figured it out," Mirror Man looked quite pleased with himself, "Johnny's over there, not sure where Tyler is yet..."

[Anarion]

"... oh yeah! Turns out that - and just keep this between us - Tyler got the wrong kind - and I figured it out," Mirror Man looked quite pleased with himself, "Johnny's over there, not sure where Tyler is yet..."

"Um, right on. Good for you, Mirror Man," Tessen says, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder as she walks over to Johnny.

"So, Johnny. Um, it's good to see you, how have you been? Do you know what we're going to be dealing with today?"

[Thanqol]

"Um, right on. Good for you, Mirror Man," Tessen says, giving him a quick pat on the shoulder as she walks over to Johnny.

"So, Johnny. Um, it's good to see you, how have you been? Do you know what we're going to be dealing with today?"

"Oh, hey there," said Johnny Saxaphone, scratching at his stubble. He hadn't shaved in at least two days. "I've cased this place pretty thoroughly and I can guarantee that there aren't any living human beings in there. Place is a kid's dinosaur museum with a whole bunch of anamatronic dinosaurs. Something in there, possibly a dinosaur or possibly one of the puppets gone wrong, is hunting people.

"Plan is get in, explore, and try to get as much information on the Paradox as possible. We don't need to end it here and now; just figuring out the circumstances that let it in should do us fine and set up for round two."

[Tiki Snakes]

"I'm ready." Jack said, quietly, still half staring at the paintings and not entirely sure what came next. He smiled awkwardly in Tessen's general direction as she joined them.

[Thanqol]

"I'm ready." Jack said, quietly, still half staring at the paintings and not entirely sure what came next. He smiled awkwardly in Tessen's general direction as she joined them.

"All right," said Johnny, and he opened Jack's third eye.

Immediately, the swirling, mediocre colours of Johnny Saxaphone's aura swam into view.

http://imageshack.us/a/img341/8531/aurajohnny.jpg


"Biggest feeling you'll get with learning Mind magic is that you're invading someone's privacy. Which you are," said Johnny Saxaphone. "But before you start hesitating, you've got to think a step deeper: Privacy is an aspect of the Lie. All minds desire communication, desire people to understand them. That's why having a secret can destroy people. Using Mind to learn people's secrets isn't invasive, it's a return to the divine right of communication which humanity has been denied."

Johnny Saxaphone's words were filled with quiet conviction.

'Take a look around."

He saw Tessen.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5360/auratessen.jpg

And he saw Mirror Man.

http://imageshack.us/a/img268/636/auramirrorman.jpg

Mirror Man's aura was baffling. It was completely unlike all the others, as if it was painted in a different style, with a different brush. Like... someone had painted over it? It was shifting reflections and distorted grey-purples, like a firestorm of colour in a House of Mirrors.

[the_druid_droid]

[Only one day]

"Oh... oh, hey man." said the Mirror Man, hurriedly putting the golf club behind his back with the same general air of someone hiding something from a cop. "Thanks for showing up, man. I didn't want to come, but Tyler - Tyler was like, no man, you gotta come man. Did you know, did you know that a velociraptor can hit forty miles per hour at a run, man. Tyler didn't, man. She just said, she said - oh hey cool, there's a blimp up there - she said that just meant there was no point running away, man."

“She sounds like a wise woman.” Turing kept his expression composed, and waved a hand at the poorly-hidden golf club. “Looks like you’re well equipped to handle them, at any rate.”

Silently, he hoped the investigation would start before his control slipped and he laughed in Mirror Man’s face.


"Oh, hey there," said Johnny Saxaphone, scratching at his stubble. He hadn't shaved in at least two days. "I've cased this place pretty thoroughly and I can guarantee that there aren't any living human beings in there. Place is a kid's dinosaur museum with a whole bunch of anamatronic dinosaurs. Something in there, possibly a dinosaur or possibly one of the puppets gone wrong, is hunting people.

"Plan is get in, explore, and try to get as much information on the Paradox as possible. We don't need to end it here and now; just figuring out the circumstances that let it in should do us fine and set up for round two."

At Johnny’s words, Turing threw up Death Sight, idly wondering if there were any dead human beings lurking around, and if they felt like talking about unholy velociraptor robots.

[Deadly]

Amun went back to the hallow for the rest of the evening, sitting down to sketch out some ideas and plans on a pad of paper while preparing himself for the next day.

[Since no one else took any mana, unless there are protests Amun's going to take what's there. I'm not sure if Turing's brazier drained any points from the hallow, if not that's 5 points of mana. I believe he can use Channel Mana for free here so I don't need to roll or spend hours getting enough successes, let me know if I'm wrong]

***

He arrived at the museum next day, and happily joined the others around the drum. He had been quite eager to figure out more about this place.

[Thanqol]

“She sounds like a wise woman.” Turing kept his expression composed, and waved a hand at the poorly-hidden golf club. “Looks like you’re well equipped to handle them, at any rate.”

Silently, he hoped the investigation would start before his control slipped and he laughed in Mirror Man’s face.

At Johnny’s words, Turing threw up Death Sight, idly wondering if there were any dead human beings lurking around, and if they felt like talking about unholy velociraptor robots.

"Aw yeah, man. Aw yeah. Aw yeah. Guy who sold it to me said that some rich guy was being attacked by this, like, assassin - and like a rich person assassin with like, assault rifles and stuff - and then the rich guy grabbed this golf club and BAM - smacks the assassin in the head..." Mirror Man took a breath, "and now it's like, infused with the man's power, man,"

To Turing's sight, the golf club hadn't killed anything more than a clump of grass. There were no ghosts here - and oddly, the area felt really bad for ghosts. Kind of strained. Similar to what he was getting at during the other day's Manifestation, but not as strong.

[Anarion]

"Plan is get in, explore, and try to get as much information on the Paradox as possible. We don't need to end it here and now; just figuring out the circumstances that let it in should do us fine and set up for round two."

[I'm going with the same spells as listed on Tessen's active spell list as being put up this morning. Tessen is also back to stamina 3 finally, yay! So yeah, prime sight and spirit sight up.]

Tessen scans the areas with both spirit and prime sight active, trying to see if anything stands out.

While doing so, she distractedly says to Johnny, "seems like an awful lot of people just to try and get info, don't you think?" When she realizes what she said, she hastily adds "Oh, um, but I'm, um, happy to help of course. Thearchs need to all stick together, after all."

[Thanqol]

[I'm going with the same spells as listed on Tessen's active spell list as being put up this morning. Tessen is also back to stamina 3 finally, yay! So yeah, prime sight and spirit sight up.]

Tessen scans the areas with both spirit and prime sight active, trying to see if anything stands out.

While doing so, she distractedly says to Johnny, "seems like an awful lot of people just to try and get info, don't you think?" When she realizes what she said, she hastily adds "Oh, um, but I'm, um, happy to help of course. Thearchs need to all stick together, after all."

"If we get the right information we might not need to ever go back inside. My experience, with Paradox, you do it once and do it right."

Neither Prime nor Spirit are showing anything out of the ordinary. Spirit shows a fossilised clown standing outside the entrance, covered in cobwebs. Prime suggests a resonance of Awe - the simple awe of small children looking at cool dinosaur bones.

[Anarion]

Tessen also decides to scan the building with forces vision. It's so easy for her, and doesn't take much time. She cycles through several different sets. First checking where all the nearby electricity is, then looking at the building in infrared for any heat sources, and X-ray to try and pick out anything large or obviously visible through the walls. She also checks for any sonic vibrations.

She switches it off whens he's done, in case she needs to put up armor quickly.

[Thanqol]

Tessen also decides to scan the building with forces vision. It's so easy for her, and doesn't take much time. She cycles through several different sets. First checking where all the nearby electricity is, then looking at the building in infrared for any heat sources, and X-ray to try and pick out anything large or obviously visible through the walls. She also checks for any sonic vibrations.

She switches it off whens he's done, in case she needs to put up armor quickly.

Forces is much more interesting.

The power line has been cut, obviously, as with any abandoned building, but the place still has a sense of ozone to it. Small flickering power surges seem to meander through the wires. Sometimes the surges are slightly larger, and rooms gain power - there's a patch of heat where all the furnaces came on upstairs, and even what looks like computer signals here and there.

X-ray is too complicated, with too much metal and thick stone to get much of a read.

Sonic vibrations, no, but she can hear music - some kind of child's birthday song, but like something Barney the Purple Dinosaur would sing.

[Anarion]

Sonic vibrations, no, but she can hear music - some kind of child's birthday song, but like something Barney the Purple Dinosaur would sing.

Tessen begins humming along, before realizing that she's probably making herself look crazy in front of the crazy mages. Well, maybe she joined the right order after all.

Blushing from that thought, which she realizes Johnny also probably picked up, she clears her throat and reports the findings about the electricity and the music to everyone.

[Deadly]

"Birthday songs," Amun muttered while debating with himself whether to get out his gun and actually load it. "I guess that hobo was on to something, then. I wish I knew what it meant, though." If the other hobo was right too, shooting the thing probably wouldn't help much, and Amun wasn't exactly a great shot. On the other hand, Mirror Man had told them to bring guns. Well, he could always ask for opinions. "Are we all bringing weapons?"

[Amun will have Quantum Flux and Fortune's Protection active when they go in]

[Thanqol]

"Birthday songs," Amun muttered while debating with himself whether to get out his gun and actually load it. "I guess that hobo was on to something, then. I wish I knew what it meant, though." If the other hobo was right too, shooting the thing probably wouldn't help much, and Amun wasn't exactly a great shot. On the other hand, Mirror Man had told them to bring guns. Well, he could always ask for opinions. "Are we all bringing weapons?"

[Amun will have Quantum Flux and Fortune's Protection active when they go in]

"... are - are - are - are we not..?" said Mirror Man, looking freaked.

[Deadly]

"... are - are - are - are we not..?" said Mirror Man, looking freaked.

Amun looked at Mirror Man for a second, then made up his mind. "We are," he said and opened his suitcase to pull out his gun and a handful of shells. He could at least carry it for show, to keep Mirror Man happy. He had never used it to give others peace of mind, but there was always a first. "Locked and loaded," he said reassuringly.

[Anarion]

"... are - are - are - are we not..?" said Mirror Man, looking freaked.

"We are" says Tessen, drawing her pistol as well.

[Tiki Snakes]

Jack decided not to show off his own pistol just to reassure Mirror Man. He decided instead to focus on trying not to stare too openly at all the pretty swirling colours that everyone was wearing right now.

"I'm not altogether convinced we're even going to need weapons, if our luck holds."

[Thanqol]

"... Luck - luck, who said anything about luck - oh, I did buy this one crystal ball from a guy, he said it was lucky - you think he was right..?" said Mirror Man.

"You paid fourteen thousand dollars for a piece of glass, idiot," said Tyler, stomping her way towards the group, broken concrete hammer hefted over her thick shoulders. Her other hand held an old cassette player, playing some smooth, mellow music (http://youtu.be/b3vRYfXJ7Rg) - and, to Tessen and Turing, packed with a kilogram of high explosives. There was a Forces enchantment on it, Weaving, looked like it was designed to sculpt the detonation into a 45 degree angle.

She had the bearing of a wrecking ball, and a face that looked like it had been hit by one. Her aura (http://imageshack.us/a/img18/8350/auratyler.jpg)was plainly visible to Jack.

"We're going in," she said. "Watch yourselves."

[the_druid_droid]

"Aw yeah, man. Aw yeah. Aw yeah. Guy who sold it to me said that some rich guy was being attacked by this, like, assassin - and like a rich person assassin with like, assault rifles and stuff - and then the rich guy grabbed this golf club and BAM - smacks the assassin in the head..." Mirror Man took a breath, "and now it's like, infused with the man's power, man,"

To Turing's sight, the golf club hadn't killed anything more than a clump of grass. There were no ghosts here - and oddly, the area felt really bad for ghosts. Kind of strained. Similar to what he was getting at during the other day's Manifestation, but not as strong.

Turing just nodded, not trusting himself to speak. When Tessen began to hum, a smile appeared on his face, this one much more genuine than the ones he'd given Mirror Man.

For a moment, Turing wondered if he should have brought the rifle when the others began arming themselves, but it seemed like too much of an unknown quantity in an already hazy situation. Better not to rely on it.


"... Luck - luck, who said anything about luck - oh, I did buy this one crystal ball from a guy, he said it was lucky - you think he was right..?" said Mirror Man.

"You paid fourteen thousand dollars for a piece of glass, idiot," said Tyler, stomping her way towards the group, broken concrete hammer hefted over her thick shoulders. Her other hand held an old cassette player, playing some smooth, mellow music (http://youtu.be/b3vRYfXJ7Rg) - and, to Tessen and Turing, packed with a kilogram of high explosives. There was a Forces enchantment on it, Weaving, looked like it was designed to sculpt the detonation into a 45 degree angle.

She had the bearing of a wrecking ball, and a face that looked like it had been hit by one. Her aura (http://imageshack.us/a/img18/8350/auratyler.jpg)was plainly visible to Jack.

"We're going in," she said. "Watch yourselves."

Turing nodded, pleased to see Tyler's focus in contrast to Mirror Man's... whatever it could be called.

[Tiki Snakes]

"A thousand dollar chunk of glass, huh? Well, it's already been very lucky for the person who sold it. That's a start, right Mirror Man?" Jack grinned, a little conspiritorialy. "You never really know with these things."

Jack takes a moment to activate Temporal Eddies for some time flavoured mage-sight to complement his newly opened Third-Eye perception.
[I'm hazy on the specifics, it looks like there's possibly nothing stopping the layering of mage-sight spells, except possibly where they would directly contradict each other or something. Clearly they'd count as seperate spells, thus taking up temporance/spell limit slots, though. If we're going with something different, ignore that last bit and he'll just wing it with his new Third Eye.]

[Anarion]

"We're going in," she said. "Watch yourselves."

"Tyler, it's good to see you," Tessen says, moving up to follow next to her and head into the museum. "How has everything been since I left?"

[Thanqol]

"A thousand dollar chunk of glass, huh? Well, it's already been very lucky for the person who sold it. That's a start, right Mirror Man?" Jack grinned, a little conspiritorialy. "You never really know with these things."

Jack takes a moment to activate Temporal Eddies for some time flavoured mage-sight to complement his newly opened Third-Eye perception.
[I'm hazy on the specifics, it looks like there's possibly nothing stopping the layering of mage-sight spells, except possibly where they would directly contradict each other or something. Clearly they'd count as seperate spells, thus taking up temporance/spell limit slots, though. If we're going with something different, ignore that last bit and he'll just wing it with his new Third Eye.]

[Nothing wrong with layering mage sights]

Time sight was a rather specific beast; it was really handy when looking at a temporal anomaly, but rather ineffective if there wasn't one handy. This locale seemed to obey the laws of space-time just fine.

Mirror Man looked like his mind had been blown.


"Tyler, it's good to see you," Tessen says, moving up to follow next to her and head into the museum. "How has everything been since I left?"

"An ever escalating display of incompetence," said Tyler, reaching the front doors and readying her boot.

[Anarion]

"An ever escalating display of incompetence," said Tyler, reaching the front doors and readying her boot.

"Oh, good. I'm glad to hear everyone is still doing well then" Tessen says, just a hint of conspiratorial sarcasm in her tone.

She readies her pistol in case anything comes out when the doors go down.

[Deadly]

Amun patted his pockets and checked his weapon a final time, looked around and up, and then followed Tyler and the others.

[Thanqol]

Tyler kicked open the door. It wasn't locked.

The room opened out to a vast hall, two levels up, with a single massive staircase in the middle. The walls were lined with glass cases, filled with exhibits of plastic dinosaurs. There was a huge pedestal where a centre skeleton had used to hang. The inscription said 'Tyrannosaurus Rex'.

There was a surge of electricity. Sparks fell from the ceiling. The lights flickered. It illuminated a stack of bloody corpses - some people, mostly cats and rats.

At the same time, all the speakers in the room, all the informational speeches and pre-recorded messages went off. The room was filled with tinny music, dramatic announcements, and lecturing. The lights stuttered on and off. The volume on some of the speakers distorted, raising some of the statements to shouts and screams and others to barely audible background mutters. The anamatronic dinosaurs twisted and jolted in their cases.

It was a museum gone wrong.

[Anarion]

Tessen frowns. All this electricity and robotics being off wasn't right. And it was setting them up to be ambushed besides. She reaches out to the surrounding lights, trying to discern the source and flow of the electricity and change it to a steady, even flow that would keep the lights on and let the group see what was happening.

[the_druid_droid]

When the door flew open and he got a look inside, Turing leaned hard on his cane and glared down the hallway. “I thought this was going to be a runaway exhibit. This place is a madhouse. Not that I should be surprised with the Abyss involved.”

[Deadly]

Amun looked at the pedestal where the skeleton had used to be. "When did you all become aware of this place?" he asked Johnny

[Going to try Postcognition to figure out what happened to the skeleton, aiming for whatever time Johnny or Tyler gives minus about a week. Modifiers?]

[Thanqol]

Amun looked at the pedestal where the skeleton had used to be. "When did you all become aware of this place?" he asked Johnny

[Going to try Postcognition to figure out what happened to the skeleton, aiming for whatever time Johnny or Tyler gives minus about a week. Modifiers?]

[Not how Time magic works. Time magic operates on Sympathetic Connections, same as space. You have a stronger sympathetic connection to the day you got married than to that day last week that you can barely remember. If you're looking for the moment when Johnny became aware of this place then you're rolling at -10 (Described)

If you're looking for the moment someone piled up any of those corpses on that pedestal then that's only -4, or -6 for the animals, because that is a Bigger Deal.]

Approaching the pedestal brought Amun into the radius of the putrid decaying scent of a dozen or so corpses of various species, bad enough to provoke retching.


Tessen frowns. All this electricity and robotics being off wasn't right. And it was setting them up to be ambushed besides. She reaches out to the surrounding lights, trying to discern the source and flow of the electricity and change it to a steady, even flow that would keep the lights on and let the group see what was happening.

The electricity was surging from nowhere, vaguely similar to what happened when a ghost or other entity played havoc with the lighting. Even brushing her senses up against the electricity she felt resistance; if she wanted to stabilise the electronics that felt like it was going to be a nasty fight.

[Anarion]

Tessen decided not to push it. She could still see the anomaly from before in her mind's eye, lifting up all those cars and spreading glass everywhere. No, better safe than sorry.

Instead, she just stayed near Turing and kept her senses open.

[Tiki Snakes]

"Well, that's revolting." Jack grimaced, entering the manic museum. "But I suppose we did come here to do a job."

He walked forwards, approaching the pile of corpses gingerly. It didn't seem real, somehow, a macabre phantasm in the form of a grisly mound of dead things. Dead things and dead people. Best do what needed doing before the reality of the situation started to sink in.

He did what he could to ignore the people in the pile. It shouldn't be the case, but the animals really were easier to deal with. Gingerly he crouched down to examine a couple of the bloody bodies, see if he could make out what exactly happened to them.

[Would like to make some kind of Investigative roll, see what mundane information I can get from the grisly spectacle. I guess that'd be, what, Investigation+Wits?
Will probably follow that up with an attempted Postcognition, going to try using one of the animal bodies as a focus and seeing if I can't see what happened to kill it. Given that a trace of blood was enough to make a really good sympathetic connection with our little Seer scrying escapade, I figure having a creature's mortal remains and scrying on their time of death has to be worth more than a -4 penalty, right?]

[Thanqol]

[Would like to make some kind of Investigative roll, see what mundane information I can get from the grisly spectacle. I guess that'd be, what, Investigation+Wits?
Will probably follow that up with an attempted Postcognition, going to try using one of the animal bodies as a focus and seeing if I can't see what happened to kill it. Given that a trace of blood was enough to make a really good sympathetic connection with our little Seer scrying escapade, I figure having a creature's mortal remains and scrying on their time of death has to be worth more than a -4 penalty, right?]

[Wits+Investigation sounds good, with a penalty equal to 5 minus your Composure.

Murder Mysteries are disgustingly easy with Time magic because almost every corpse has an Intimate (-2) connection to their time of death]

[Deadly]

Approaching the pedestal brought Amun into the radius of the putrid decaying scent of a dozen or so corpses of various species, bad enough to provoke retching.

"Oh hell!" Amun recoiled from the purtrid wall of stench and quickly found a thick piece of cloth to cover his mouth and nose with. It helped only marginally. Finding the pedestal less interesting than he had hoped, Amun decided to move closer to the periphery and see what Jack found out.

[Anarion]

[Just want to note that there's no time pressure at the moment, so as long as Jack doesn't have a chance die, he should just be able to see how the animals died via postcognition.]

Tessen turns to Tyler. "I'm...I'm sorry, I can't get the electricity back to normal. There's no source, the whole building is disconnected, and whatever is causing the surges is resisting my magic. I could maybe try to overload some of the robots when the next surge happens, if you'd prefer to just walk through here in the dark."

[Tiki Snakes]

[Rolling for Investigate, to start with. Wits plus Investigation is a pool of 8. composure is 3 so that's a -2 penalty.
8 10 5 1 3 7. (10 again roll turns up another 10, which re-rolls as an 8)
So, four successes?]

Jack fights the urge to vomit, closely inspecting the bodies with something approaching calm, careful detatchment.

[You want me to roll for postcognition? or is there only no time pressure as far as we know?]

[Thanqol]

It was clear, looking at these bodies, that they'd been killed by something with large, crushing jaws. They hadn't been chewed, though. Just bitten through and dragged back here to rot. Damage resembled a large animal's jaws, but it wasn't clear what kind of animal didn't eat what it killed.

[There is time pressure on PostCog]

"No," said Tyler. "That's probably what it wants. Be conservative with your magic until you need not to be."

Johnny tossed Tessen a cheap mobile phone. "Telepathy enchantment. If you touch it, anything you're thinking is sent as a text message to my phone here. There's no battery so it should be fine through whatever electric events happen; call if you need us."

"We're going down to the basement and the main power switchboard. You guys head up to the central management office. See what you see and watch yourselves."

[Tiki Snakes]

[Okay, thats another dice pool of 8 with a -2 penalty, then.
8 4 9 5 6 10 (10 again gives a 4) so three successes this time.]

[Thanqol]

Jack was awarded a vision of total, pitch-black darkness.

As his eyes struggled to adapt, he heard the sound of something moving extremely fast, and a flash of something reflective - like metal - in the moonlight. Then there was a crunch.

Then there was the heavy, wet sound of a corpse being dragged along the ground.

[Tiki Snakes]

"Looks like Mirror Man's sales pitch was pretty much spot on, folks." Jack straightened up, cleaning his hands on a tissue. "I think what we have here is a runaway animatronic. I'd suggest keeping an eye on the machines, and look out for any empty space, see if we can't figure out which one we're dealing with. It's fast, so keep your wits about you."

He paused before adding "Oh, and it might think it's nocturnal, so if you hear something snoring, speak out quietly?" He shrugged at the group with a smile.

[There's no mana cost to improvise a scene long fate-armour, right? Any dice pool modifiers I should know about?]

[Anarion]

"A real killer robot?!" Tessen tries to keep her voice low, but it's a little shrill. She quickly moves up to follow Jack, casting forces vision on herself and forces armor on her clothing to protect herself. She focuses the forces vision on being able to see in the dark, especially.

[Are we still on time pressure such that I need to roll those?]

[Thanqol]

[There's no mana cost to improvise a scene long fate-armour, right? Any dice pool modifiers I should know about?]

[No and no]


"A real killer robot?!" Tessen tries to keep her voice low, but it's a little shrill. She quickly moves up to follow Jack, casting forces vision on herself and forces armor on her clothing to protect herself.

[Are we still on time pressure such that I need to roll those?]

[You do need to roll those, Potency might matter]

[Anarion]

forces vision: [roll0]
edit: extra dice were 4, 2.

Tessen chants for a few seconds in Atlantean before casting the forces armor, just to be extra careful.

Forces armor: [roll1]

[Tiki Snakes]

Jack took a moment to straighten his suit. Following Tessen's example, he did so whilst chanting in high speech and then wrapped himself in the protective strands of fate.

[It's hard checking stuff with no computer. High speech gives +2 right? so dice pool is fate + gnosis + speech, so six dice. rolling speech dice seperate, just in case.

5 5 4 1. speech dice 6 10. (10 again gives another ten and a 5.) so, two successes thanks entirely to Atlantean.]

[the_druid_droid]

Turing grimaced at the pile of bodies and kept his distance. He was familiar enough with death, but leaving the corpses to rot like this felt wrong - like they were on display. If they could get the issues with the Abyss here wrapped up, someone should try and offer them burial.

As Tessen and Jack began to get a handle on the situation, and described their findings, Turing joined the others in chanting, bringing up spells for vision and protection via Death magic. "If this thing has been on a killing spree, I might have the best chance at spotting it; it should be fairly soaked in some sort of Death resonance. I'm still open to ideas about how to proceed once we see it coming..."

As the groups moved to split up, another thought occurred to him and he paused. "Also, we don't know this thing is anamatronic. There's a big gaping hole where a skeleton display used to be, after all. Best not to make any assumptions."

[Rolls for Death Sight:
[roll0]

Rolls for Death Shield (plus chanting):
[roll1]

EDIT: 10 again was a 1, so no extra successes. I'm going to re-roll the sight spell in the OOC since I didn't have any luck here and I don't want to spam.
]

[Anarion]

Doing her best to keep tightly together with everyone, Tessen begins following Tyler's directions and heading upstairs towards the central management office.

[Deadly]

As the groups moved to split up, another thought occurred to him and he paused. "Also, we don't know this thing is anamatronic. There's a big gaping hole where a skeleton display used to be, after all. Best not to make any assumptions."

"Perhaps Jack can tell us what happened with that one, at least? We might as well rule out options if we can," Amun said before preparing himself for moving deeper into the place. Best to make sure his luck was with him.

[Fortune's Protection, Gnosis+Fate+High Speech = 6 : 9, 1, 6, 5, 10, 10, ten again 3, ten again 5

Three successes]

[Tiki Snakes]

"Crushing jaws and the glint of metal in the night. Either we're dealing with a rogue animatronic, or Mecha-Godzilla." Jack shrugged, confident enough with his deduction. "I've no idea what happened to the king there, but let's face it, dinosaur skeletons, especially reasonably complete ones, are expensive. This is detroit, and an un-established museum. Chances are it was only ever here on loan, guys."

"What we don't know is that the rogue animatronic is abyssal. I mean, that's pretty likely, but it could just as easily be the product of a magical experiment that's got out of hand. It's creation could just as easily have been the trigger for the manifestation as the other way around. Either way, it's just the obvious danger." he spoke quietly and non-commitally, following Tessen as she headed to the control center. "If the extent of this problem is a few dodgy electrics and a robot that thinks it's an Alosaurus, then I'd say we've already dealt with worse."

[Anarion]

"M-Mecha Godzilla?!" Tessen hugs Turing in fright as they're walking. "That's, he couldn't fit in here because he'd be too big, right? I don't think we could do anything against M-Mecha Godzilla."

[the_druid_droid]

Turing wrapped an arm around Tessen reflexively, but frowned a little as he did so. "I don't think we'd be powerless. Controlling electricity and conductivity seems like a good tactic versus robots, and if worst came to worst, I could kill the floor's integrity and send this thing on a one-way trip to the basement."

"Hell, most of us have Time magic. We could probably look ahead and see what group will be the first to encounter this thing." He glanced toward Jack and Amun, "Anyone think we should give it a shot?"

[Thanqol]

The staircase leading up to the second floor was extremely dusty and rickety. The exhibits were in glass cases that had been boarded up, but the wooden planks had been broken through. The second floor had signs reading THE ANCIENT AQUATIC, and the exhibit cases focused around prehistoric maritime animals. The tanks had evidently once been filled with water, but were long empty now - though there was a lot of blue green mould growing on it.

And they could screech.

There were doors up ahead to the maintenance corridor, locked and deadbolted. The heating lines also ran through that corridor, and Tessen could see a solid wall of heat behind there. A steam pipe had burst or something, because it was boiling hot in that corridor. Didn't look to be another way around to where they were going.

[Anarion]

[Is there any way to get sensory range to the corridor without blasting ourselves with boiling steam? If so, Tessen will cast control heat with high speech, possibly several times to try and cool it down.]

[Thanqol]

[Is there any way to get sensory range to the corridor without blasting ourselves with boiling steam? If so, Tessen will cast control heat with high speech, possibly several times to try and cool it down.]

[No, you actually need to have line of sight to your target.

Just for future reference, the weird spectrum analysis given by Mage Sights don't count as 'line of sight' even if they can otherwise see through walls. You need a direct vision link, else you have to add Space.

Line of sight can be achieved by angling your vision around a corner with Space, looking through a wall turned transparent with Matter, casting against a reflection you can see in a mirror, etc. You also have line of sight against targets in total darkness if you're in the same room.]

[Anarion]

[No, you actually need to have line of sight to your target.

Just for future reference, the weird spectrum analysis given by Mage Sights don't count as 'line of sight' even if they can otherwise see through walls. You need a direct vision link, else you have to add Space.

Line of sight can be achieved by angling your vision around a corner with Space, looking through a wall turned transparent with Matter, casting against a reflection you can see in a mirror, etc. You also have line of sight against targets in total darkness if you're in the same room.]

[Rats. There's not like, a tiny crack that the steam is coming from or a keyhole or something?]

[Thanqol]

[Rats. There's not like, a tiny crack that the steam is coming from or a keyhole or something?]

[Nope, it's one of those flat-sealed maintenance doors that deadbolts from the other side.]

[the_druid_droid]

Turing continued to examine the exhibits as they headed up the stairs, staving off a little chill at the children's funhouse-turned-nightmare feel of the place. He brought up Matter Sight out of reflex, on the off chance it might shed light on what had once been in the exhibits.

"Do we need to break in?" Turing prompted Tessen as they waited in front of the maintenance door.

[Just to remind folks, Turing can cast Steel Windows (pretty sure that's Matter 2) so we can get a line of sight

Also, roll for Matter sight, with chanting:

[roll0]
]

[Thanqol]

Turing continued to examine the exhibits as they headed up the stairs, staving off a little chill at the children's funhouse-turned-nightmare feel of the place. He brought up Matter Sight out of reflex, on the off chance it might shed light on what had once been in the exhibits.

"Do we need to break in?" Turing prompted Tessen as they waited in front of the maintenance door.

[Just to remind folks, Turing can cast Steel Windows (pretty sure that's Matter 2) so we can get a line of sight

Also, roll for Matter sight, with chanting:

[roll0]
]

[Steel Windows is vulgar, be warned]

[Deadly]

Amun followed the others, watching the boarded up exhibits and the strange mold.

[What was screeching? The mold?]

[the_druid_droid]

Turing waved a hand in front of Tessen's face, trying to grab her attention. "Hey, is anything wrong? The door seems closed - can you tell if it's locked, or if there's something back there?"

[Anarion]

Turing waved a hand in front of Tessen's face, trying to grab her attention. "Hey, is anything wrong? The door seems closed - can you tell if it's locked, or if there's something back there?"

Tessen snaps out of her reverie. "Er, sorry. It's filled with steam, really really hot steam. Don't touch the door either, it's hot too. I could cool it off, but if we open it, scalding steam will flood the hallway and um, it would probably hurt...a lot. I could maybe enchant you with forces magic and you could go in and try to use matter to seal the pipe. But I don't know how strong the steam is, and once we open that door, it's not easy to push back.

Maybe...maybe we should look for another way around?"

[Thanqol]

There was another corridor on this level, under a blue sign which read RESTAURANT - that seemed to be the most promising lead.

[the_druid_droid]

Tessen snaps out of her reverie. "Er, sorry. It's filled with steam, really really hot steam. Don't touch the door either, it's hot too. I could cool it off, but if we open it, scalding steam will flood the hallway and um, it would probably hurt...a lot. I could maybe enchant you with forces magic and you could go in and try to use matter to seal the pipe. But I don't know how strong the steam is, and once we open that door, it's not easy to push back.

Maybe...maybe we should look for another way around?"

"I think I'm pretty firmly in the not-getting-scalded-to-death camp." Turing glanced around for other possibilities forward, and spotted the restaurant sign. "How about we try over that way, first?"

[Anarion]

"I think I'm pretty firmly in the not-getting-scalded-to-death camp." Turing glanced around for other possibilities forward, and spotted the restaurant sign. "How about we try over that way, first?"

"Okay!" Tessen says, brightening up immediately at the thought of not getting boiled alive or eaten by mecha-Godzilla. She starts heading in the direction of the restaurant.

[Thanqol]

The restaurant was completely untouched by the decay and chaos of the rest of the museum. The lights flickered and sparked violently all through the corridor but in there, the light was blue, serene and steady. The tables and chairs were plastic, but they shined in the light.

There was a man sitting on a bench, reading a book. He had blond curling hair, a gentle smile, the slightly softened features of a handsome man pushing forty, and large blue eyes. Three things came to mind when looking at him: that he was intelligent, that he was kind, and that he was gayer than a pink flamingo. He gently waved them over.

On the wall outside in faded was a biohazard symbol in faded chalk, and some faded lines that might have been runes to augment a Shielding spell sometime in the past.

[Anarion]

The restaurant was completely untouched by the decay and chaos of the rest of the museum. The lights flickered and sparked violently all through the corridor but in there, the light was blue, serene and steady. The tables and chairs were plastic, but they shined in the light.

There was a man sitting on a bench, reading a book. He had blond curling hair, a gentle smile, the slightly softened features of a handsome man pushing forty, and large blue eyes. Three things came to mind when looking at him: that he was intelligent, that he was kind, and that he was gayer than a pink flamingo. He gently waved them over.

On the wall outside in faded was a biohazard symbol in faded chalk, and some faded lines that might have been runes to augment a Shielding spell sometime in the past.

Tessen looks the man over, but stays behind Turing. "Um...h-hi. My name's Tessen. It's nice to meet you."

[Thanqol]

Tessen looks the man over, but stays behind Turing. "Um...h-hi. My name's Tessen. It's nice to meet you."

"Gladys," said the man with a smile. "Do come in. I promise that you won't come to any sort of harm."

[Anarion]

"Gladys," said the man with a smile. "Do come in. I promise that you won't come to any sort of harm."

"I dunno...there are a lot of sorts of harm." Tessen looks to Jack, Amun, or Turing to lead the way.

[Thanqol]

"I dunno...there are a lot of sorts of harm." Tessen looks to Jack, Amun, or Turing to lead the way.

"I know," said Gladys, gently chiding. "That's what makes it a good promise, isn't it?"

[Deadly]

Amun paused and looked around. The room felt like it wasn't quite part of here and now, but he could be wrong.

[Looking for Timey Wimey shenanigans?]

[Thanqol]

The room wasn't odd temporally - just well preserved for some reason.

[Anarion]

The room wasn't odd temporally - just well preserved for some reason.

[Anything interesting pop up on prime, forces, or spirit sight, all of which Tessen has running right now?]

[Thanqol]

[Anything interesting pop up on prime, forces, or spirit sight, all of which Tessen has running right now?]

[You may roll gnosis+Prime (or an equivilant rote) at -4]

[Anarion]

Chance die gnosis+prime-4=[roll0]

[Thanqol]

Chance die gnosis+prime-4=[roll0]

There is a spell, Practise of Shielding and probably Prime, but it's made according to some tradition, artifact or rote that is bafflingly obscure. Tessen can't get a fix on what it does.

[Tiki Snakes]

"This is probably a really bad idea." Jack sighed, more to himself than anything. "But you know what? He seems nice."

Jack shrugged to the others a little apologetically and walked in to the pristeen and possibly deadly restaurant to join the stranger.
"Pleasure meeting you, Gladys. Call me Jack." He held his hand out, offering a shake.

[Thanqol]

"Nice to meet you, Jack," said Gladys, shaking the offered hand. "I knew this day would come,"

The air here had the strange weightless feeling of a zone without Paradox; like the world was a little bit brighter and more vibrant.

He gestured for Jack to take a seat and leaned back in his chair. "Welcome to my office. There's a menu on the table, order what you like, it will all be provided fairly shortly." The menu was a little bit more upscale than a museum restaurant normally was, but nothing priced over $50.

"I knew, from the moment I was dispatched here, that it was only a matter of time before people much like you would arrive here. The security system, you see, does not suit my circumstances but it was nevertheless assigned to me. Unpleasantly, it kills intruders, piles up bodies and creates an ambiance that I do not appreciate. It is an unpleasant and distasteful thing and I hold no particular love for it. If you are here to banish it, as I suspect you are, a deal could be arranged where I would instruct you in the method of excision."

[Tiki Snakes]

"Certainly sounds like something worth discussing at least." Jack sat down casually. "Just a coffee thanks. Black, no sugar."

"Of course that would depend on some things. Mostly what you would require in exchange, but who you represent might be important too." He smiled honestly. He wasn't being shot at yet, so far so good.

[Thanqol]

"Certainly sounds like something worth discussing at least." Jack sat down casually. "Just a coffee thanks. Black, no sugar."

"Of course that would depend on some things. Mostly what you would require in exchange, but who you represent might be important too." He smiled honestly. He wasn't being shot at yet, so far so good.

"Oh, I represent the Abyss. I am an Acamoth," said Gladys, blinking. "But I am not here to sow horror and chaos, I perform a role more like that of a diplomat. Hence why my offices contain no chance of Paradox."

Gladys flexed his hand and a simple cup of black coffee appeared on the table in front of Jack.

"But the Abyss is not a unified, monolithic hivemind as you might suspect, and individual denizens have their own approaches. My approach is to be a little more classy than squatting in a haunted museum over a pile of corpses. So, I offer the following trade. Carry it out and I shall instruct you on how to risklessly banish the manifestation that haunts this place."

Gladys produced three photographs from his coat pocket. He laid out the first one, of a thick-jawed man, with the name underneath FRANK MACINTOSH.

"I need this man to have an exhausting week. Nothing permanent or harmful, he just needs to be tired and off his game."

He produced a second picture, of a buck-toothed man in a tie named HARRY SMITS, and laid it on the table.

"I need this man to receive a suitcase containing twenty thousand dollars on Thursday. I do not care where you get the money. It can be stolen, conjured, or even entirely fake, so long as he believes it and continues to believe it for at least eight hours."

He produced a third picture of an attractive red-headed girl, named as SANDRA SULLY.

"I need this woman to be having sex on Friday evening. I do not care where, when, or with who, only that it happens."

Gladys pushed the photographs across the table. "This is my price for helping you. No catches or hidden prices; I am a man of my word."

[Anarion]

Tessen stays behind Jack, but hesitantly comes in to the area after he does. When she hears the word "Acamoth" however, all the warning signs start going off in her head. She reaches into her pocket, putting a hand on the phone from the Speakeasy, and in her head she practically shrieks ACAMOTH as loud as she can and then pictures the party's location.

[the_druid_droid]

Turing had started to say something, but closed his mouth when Jack stepped forward. Then, the oddly-pleasant man explained he was an Acamoth, and Turing suddenly found it very difficult to keep his jaw from falling back down - this wasn't at all what he had expected.

"No catches? We don't have any idea how these things will affect these people, or anyone else. How is that not hidden?"

[Thanqol]

Turing had started to say something, but closed his mouth when Jack stepped forward. Then, the oddly-pleasant man explained he was an Acamoth, and Turing suddenly found it very difficult to keep his jaw from falling back down - this wasn't at all what he had expected.

"No catches? We don't have any idea how these things will affect these people, or anyone else. How is that not hidden?"

"You can follow them for as long as you like afterwards and watch what they do. If you think they are going to commit some nefarious scheme in my name, you may thwart them," said Gladys. "That's what makes it not hidden."

[the_druid_droid]

"Look, my last experience with your people involved infectious brain parasites. You'll forgive me if I'm slow to trust." Turing's expression hardened, and he found himself wondering what Errant would do in this situation. It probably involved organ removal.

[Thanqol]

"Look, my last experience with your people involved infectious brain parasites. You'll forgive me if I'm slow to trust." Turing's expression hardened, and he found himself wondering what Errant would do in this situation. It probably involved organ removal.

"Not 'my people'," said Gladys with a look of faint distaste on his face, "any more than Ebola is 'your people'."

[Anarion]

"You can follow them for as long as you like afterwards and watch what they do. If you think they are going to commit some nefarious scheme in my name, you may thwart them," said Gladys. "That's what makes it not hidden."

"I'm sorry, but um, I don't think it works that way, and I think that you know that. I worked long enough in a place controlled by your people to see how they did so many random things, no one of which was all that terrible or had any far-reaching effects. But put them all together and the result was soul-crushing.

I'll have no part of it."

[edit in light of Turing's comment]
"And they are your people. Maybe not you specifically, but the goals that you try to create are like what they try to create."

[Thanqol]

"I'm sorry, but um, I don't think it works that way, and I think that you know that. I worked long enough in a place controlled by your people to see how they did so many random things, no one of which was all that terrible or had any far-reaching effects. But put them all together and the result was soul-crushing.

I'll have no part of it."

Gladys frowned. He looked like he was thinking.

"I shall level with you, and I swear this is the truth," said Gladys. "I don't mind humanity. Humanity is all right. Humanity came up with soft chairs and coffee and push bikes. I like being here, and I have no great desire to harm it. But my nature forces me to offer deals, and the deals have to at least be fair.

"To be completely explicit, this deal will almost certainly wind up with me controlling a significant share interest in a rather large company, which shall give me access to a good deal of money. I do not intend to use the money for anything directly, but if I am approached and asked to make a deal that involves a financial transaction then I will have the cash in hand, so to speak. It will improve my financial situation but it will not result in any strange ritual behaviour or further manifestations.

"Now, because it's important to have alternatives, you may simply chose to try and deal with the security system on your own. Until now you have had a free pass because you are Awakened and have not tried to access any restricted areas but if you continue to pry it will attack you in full. That is your choice."

[Anarion]

Tessen looks thoughtful, and then asks another question. "How will it result in you controlling a large company? You clearly have a prediction of the future that you're working off of. So, how does a tired person, a man with $20,000, and a woman having...um...relations, on Friday wind up with you controlling a company?"

[Thanqol]

"A hilariously complicated sequence of events," said Gladys. "Suffice to say I am quite adept at what you understand as Fate and Time."

[Anarion]

"A hilariously complicated sequence of events," said Gladys. "Suffice to say I am quite adept at what you understand as Fate and Time."

"I understand enough time to get that this could work, but could you explain it to me? I want to understand the details. It's important to me in thinking about the deal you're offering that I know what ends up happening to the people you're planning to affect."

[Thanqol]

"I understand enough time to get that this could work, but could you explain it to me? I want to understand the details. It's important to me in thinking about the deal you're offering that I know what ends up happening to the people you're planning to affect."

"If I tell you then thwarting my scheme becomes extremely easy. I need a promise that, if you take the deal, you will not interfere with the natural course of events after you set them in motion," said Gladys.

[Anarion]

"If I tell you then thwarting my scheme becomes extremely easy. I need a promise that, if you take the deal, you will not interfere with the natural course of events after you set them in motion," said Gladys.

"And what would you do with the stock once you had it?" Tessen asks, ignoring Gladys' question. "You mentioned it would give you financial resources, but you must have some idea of the types of deals you would expect to make with that money. And what would happen to the corporation with you controlling a major stake in it?"

[Thanqol]

"And what would you do with the stock once you had it?" Tessen asks, ignoring Gladys' question. "You mentioned it would give you financial resources, but you must have some idea of the types of deals you would expect to make with that money. And what would happen to the corporation with you controlling a major stake in it?"

"I wouldn't do anything with it. That is not the kind of being I am. I'd just keep it in case I'm ever in a conversation like this and the other party really wants a lot of money for some reason," said Gladys. "I could offer it as something to trade. Nothing more."

[Anarion]

"I wouldn't do anything with it. That is not the kind of being I am. I'd just keep it in case I'm ever in a conversation like this and the other party really wants a lot of money for some reason," said Gladys. "I could offer it as something to trade. Nothing more."

This guy really was pushing Tessen's buttons. There was injustice here and she knew it.

"You'd have power to do a lot of things. Large amounts of money, sure. But with a big block of a corporation, you might be able to affect corporate policy too, or, or crash the stock or something. And some people would probably offer you a lot in trade for that.

And what is it that you want, ultimately? Acamoths don't die, right? So are you just going to spend the next 1000 years making trades so you can get more resources to make more trades, never hurting a fly along the way except to annoy a few people when it suits you?"

[Thanqol]

This guy really was pushing Tessen's buttons. There was injustice here and she knew it.

"You'd have power to do a lot of things. Large amounts of money, sure. But with a big block of a corporation, you might be able to affect corporate policy too, or, or crash the stock or something. And some people would probably offer you a lot in trade for that.

And what is it that you want, ultimately? Acamoths don't die, right? So are you just going to spend the next 1000 years making trades so you can get more resources to make more trades, never hurting a fly along the way except to annoy a few people when it suits you?"

"Yes, my nature here is as the Abyss' representative, and if I am asked then my nature demands that I negotiate in good faith for the Abyss' interests," said Gladys. "And as a matter of fact, I am as capable of death as you are. Terms and conditions of entering this world is that a bullet to the head does for me like it does for anyone else.

"But while I am empowered to, and required to negotiate on the Abyss' behalf I do not go around like some cackling devil and tempt people into sin. It is not in my nature to do such things, and I find the entire concept distasteful. If I am approached by a Scelesti who wishes to do the world harm then I am forced to negotiate with him on the same terms as any other. Perhaps he offers me his soul in exchange for a great deal of money. If I don't have that money on hand I have to arrange a tiresome series of contracts and deals to get what he wants. I have limited capital in this world, meaning that I am going to have to press other Manifestations to begin acting in my interests, which is unbearably tiresome.

"One of my pieces of capital is knowledge of my security system's weaknesses, and that is something only you and a handful of others are interested in. That lowers it's value and allows me to offer you a relatively low intensity deal. Yes, you will be strengthening the position of your great enemy. Yes, you'll be able to achieve a significant victory in the process. This is the nature of compromise."

[Deadly]

Amun paused to look at the rune once Tessen moved aside.

[Prime vision, Wits+Occult+Prime-4 = 6 : 9, 7, 9, 2, 6, 3

Two successes

Going to wait to see what that gives me, just in case he sees anything that changes his response]

[Thanqol]

Amun paused to look at the rune once Tessen moved aside.

[Prime vision, Wits+Occult+Prime-4 = 6 : 9, 7, 9, 2, 6, 3

Two successes

Going to wait to see what that gives me, just in case he sees anything that changes his response]

To Amun's sharp eyes, this 'spell' is actually a strange mixture of Prime and Spirit binding magic. Paired with his deep knowledge of the occult, he can recognise this: this is a binding circle, a prison.

But no benevolent hand cast these runes. This has all the twisted hallmarks of Scelesti magic - the obvious carelessness about Paradox, the corroded imagery. Gladys was imprisoned not by some conscientious Mage, but bound in place by a servant of the Abyss.

A few other interesting details that he can pick up is that the ward is not a kind one; it's a stifling, oppressive cage, barely allowing the Acamoth enough room to breathe. It's also designed to freely let everyone else come and go. No concerns are made against countering or protecting against the creature's influence - either it possesses limited potential for direct attack, or the creator was extremely foolhardy.

[Deadly]

"Yes, my nature here is as the Abyss' representative, and if I am asked then my nature demands that I negotiate in good faith for the Abyss' interests," said Gladys. "And as a matter of fact, I am as capable of death as you are. Terms and conditions of entering this world is that a bullet to the head does for me like it does for anyone else.

"But while I am empowered to, and required to negotiate on the Abyss' behalf I do not go around like some cackling devil and tempt people into sin. It is not in my nature to do such things, and I find the entire concept distasteful. If I am approached by a Scelesti who wishes to do the world harm then I am forced to negotiate with him on the same terms as any other. Perhaps he offers me his soul in exchange for a great deal of money. If I don't have that money on hand I have to arrange a tiresome series of contracts and deals to get what he wants. I have limited capital in this world, meaning that I am going to have to press other Manifestations to begin acting in my interests, which is unbearably tiresome.

"One of my pieces of capital is knowledge of my security system's weaknesses, and that is something only you and a handful of others are interested in. That lowers it's value and allows me to offer you a relatively low intensity deal. Yes, you will be strengthening the position of your great enemy. Yes, you'll be able to achieve a significant victory in the process. This is the nature of compromise."

Amun hmm'd and followed his friends, listening to Glady's offer. He didn't like one bit of it and besides, they were perfectly capable of handling one abyssal entity without resorting to deals with a second one, even if that one did seem much nicer.

Glady's last comment suddenly brought a few pieces together in Amun's mind, however. "That is not an entirely hypothetical situation you presented there, is it? You have been approached by one of the Scelesti, the one who made you this prison?" he gestured back towards the rune.

[Thanqol]

Amun hmm'd and followed his friends, listening to Glady's offer. He didn't like one bit of it and besides, they were perfectly capable of handling one abyssal entity without resorting to deals with a second one, even if that one did seem much nicer.

Glady's last comment suddenly brought a few pieces together in Amun's mind, however. "That is not an entirely hypothetical situation you presented there, is it? You have been approached by one of the Scelesti, the one who made you this prison?" he gestured back towards the rune.

"Ah," said Gladys, smiling and raising his cup. "Yes, I was hoping you wouldn't notice that. Very perceptive, I'm impressed. I didn't mention that because it substantially weakens my bargaining position."

"You're right, of course, I am trapped here - and my 'security system' is designed to keep me so. In fact, part of the reason why I am comfortable in assisting with it's demise is that it will result in more human foot traffic through this museum which will, inevitably, destroy the wards that keep me a prisoner and allow me to stretch my legs again. My entire pitch to you was an entirely cynical attempt to get paid twice.

"The Scelesti in question is a rogue member of the Parliament who does not quite like the conciliatory approach taken by her leader. She has bound me here because I am forced to provide a fair deal when approached, which makes regular access to me something of a rare commodity. She set the Manifestation to kill Sleepers on sight. Frankly, she is tiresome brute and I am deeply sick of her.

"My nature prevents me from giving you the information for free, but I am prepared to lower my price in light of this new information. You may chose not to carry out any one of the three tasks. I'll also swear that I can't go any lower because the deal as it stands gives me a bit of a headache already."

[Tiki Snakes]

"I have in mind a bargain I'd like to run past you, actually. Obviously, even if you are minded to accept, I couldn't actually commit to it without the agreement of my friends." Jack leaned back.

"But I have a question I'd like to ask first. Though I probably shouldn't." Jack smiled, "Why do we never talk about the Gate?"

[Thanqol]

"I have in mind a bargain I'd like to run past you, actually. Obviously, even if you are minded to accept, I couldn't actually commit to it without the agreement of my friends." Jack leaned back.

"But I have a question I'd like to ask first. Though I probably shouldn't." Jack smiled, "Why do we never talk about the Gate?"

"I am always interested in hearing offers," said Gladys.

"Ah," said Gladys to the second, "I do not actually have the authority to answer that question, or even bargain for that information. I do, however, know someone who does: The Old Man and The Archangel."

He turned to face Tessen. "Actually, while we're on this topic, he told me to ask you a question when I saw you. The question is as follows:

"Are you left handed or right handed?"

[Tiki Snakes]

"Hmm. Well, it was worth a try. You know, it almost sounds like The Old Man and The Archangel is the Shadow name of a single person, the way you phrased that." Jack shrugged.

"Alright, so this is what I was thinking. It would be difficult for us to further your goals, morally speaking and there would likely be repercussions for us doing so. It might also backfire for you, there are plenty of people in Detroit who wouldn't pause to hear your offer after all." Jack explained, slowly. "This is especially the case if you stick to your plan of hoping the museum reopens and your prison decays naturally. At the very least, your captor might return and do something drastic."

He leaned forward, placing both hands gently on the table.

"So, what if instead we tried out this as a deal? We free you and in exchange you defect." Jack pauses for a moment. "I mean that almost literally. In exchange for your freedom, dedicate yourself to stopping or at least minimalising the impact of the Abyss and the Scelesti on the world and it's inhabitants. I'm not saying you'd be welcomed with open arms but if you can help us protect the world from the Abyss that is something we could genuinely consider. It might even be enough to persuade some at least of those more active in dealing with your kind to adopt a wait and see policy."

Jack leaned back again, relaxing a little.
"Obviously, we'd have to be careful with the wording and we'd need to be sure we can trust you to hold up your end of the bargain even if that is an offer you are interested in. And my friends might disagree very loudly with me even mentioning it." He smiled openly at the others, waiting to get a read on everyone's reaction.

[Thanqol]

"I would quite literally cease to exist if I took a deal that was not at least equal in the Abyss' eyes," said Gladys. "So therefore the price for my defection would be to summon or release another Acamoth. I am sorry that there is no way around this, but I do quite enjoy existing."

[Tiki Snakes]

"Would that not imply that every deal you make has the approval of the Abyss itself? You can see how that makes things difficult for us." Jack replied, conversationally.

[Thanqol]

"Would that not imply that every deal you make has the approval of the Abyss itself? You can see how that makes things difficult for us." Jack replied, conversationally.

"Yes," said Gladys, "Like I said, I perform a role similar to that of a diplomat. It is the course of diplomacy that allows both sides to get what they want. The question you should be asking yourself is what compromises you are prepared to make to get what you want."

[Anarion]

"Are you left handed or right handed?"

[Does Tessen know what this means in context and/or could I roll something to see if she does? Otherwise I always imagined her as being literally left-handed and if she doesn't know what he's talking about, that's what she'll answer.]


"Yes," said Gladys, "Like I said, I perform a role similar to that of a diplomat. It is the course of diplomacy that allows both sides to get what they want. The question you should be asking yourself is what compromises you are prepared to make to get what you want."

"How all-knowing is the Abyss? If we made a deal, would it be 100% ensured that the benefit to the abyss would at least equal the benefit to us, or is it possible for you to be mislead or to agree to a deal believing it was fair but not knowing the full future consequences of it?"

[Tiki Snakes]

"Well, when a diplomat defects they usually don't have to get permission first, but I suppose your point stands." Jack shrugged. "Though the more important question is probably to ask ourselves what do we actually want."

"I don't know. It strikes me that we have more that you want than vica versa, to be quite honest Gladys. You want to continue existing and to be free, preferably by having us deal with your guard. Perhaps there is still room for compromise? Make it easier for us to do what you already want us to do, and perhaps I could talk my friends and the other interested parties into allowing you to leave peacefully despite the fact that you will, because of the constraints of your nature, continue actively working against us."

"Or you know, we could swap secrets for kisses or something. You must have been stuck in here alone for quite a while." Jack finished lightly.

[Anarion]

"You could just ask him for information." Tessen points out. "If us destroying the security benefits him anyway, then a trade in which he tells us about the Old Man and the Archangel, or um, well, whatever else we want to know about and we destroy this dinobot thing, sounds fairs to me."

[Thanqol]

[Does Tessen know what this means in context and/or could I roll something to see if she does? Otherwise I always imagined her as being literally left-handed and if she doesn't know what he's talking about, that's what she'll answer.]

[You know that 'Left Handed' is a Pentacle phrase referring to the Bad Kinds of magic, but you don't know what he's after in context. He's repeating words without knowing what the meaning behind them is]


"How all-knowing is the Abyss? If we made a deal, would it be 100% ensured that the benefit to the abyss would at least equal the benefit to us, or is it possible for you to be mislead or to agree to a deal believing it was fair but not knowing the full future consequences of it?"

"I am pretty good at predicting future consequences and have to bargain with that knowledge in mind, but I am not perfect. It is entirely possible for me to agree to a deal that turns out to badly harm my own position, as long as I did my due diligence, made a reasonable guess, and adjusted my price based on likely risk," said Gladys.


"Well, when a diplomat defects they usually don't have to get permission first, but I suppose your point stands." Jack shrugged. "Though the more important question is probably to ask ourselves what do we actually want."

"I don't know. It strikes me that we have more that you want than vica versa, to be quite honest Gladys. You want to continue existing and to be free, preferably by having us deal with your guard. Perhaps there is still room for compromise? Make it easier for us to do what you already want us to do, and perhaps I could talk my friends and the other interested parties into allowing you to leave peacefully despite the fact that you will, because of the constraints of your nature, continue actively working against us."

"Keep in mind that there is what I want - freedom, pushbikes - and what the Abyss wants. While I personally am all in favour of giving you nice things, my nature prevents me from placing my own goals ahead of the Abyss'. I can bargain right up to the 50:50 point but not a percentage beyond."


"Or you know, we could swap secrets for kisses or something. You must have been stuck in here alone for quite a while." Jack finished lightly.

"There is room for negotiation along those grounds," said Gladys with a smile.


"You could just ask him for information." Tessen points out. "If us destroying the security benefits him anyway, then a trade in which he tells us about the Old Man and the Archangel, or um, well, whatever else we want to know about and we destroy this dinobot thing, sounds fairs to me."

"I cannot do that. I would be actively assisting in the closing of an Abyssal Manifestation in exchange for nothing. My assistance in this matter is already borderline in the Abyss' interests and the deal as it stands actually gives me a bit of a headache to contemplate. I swore to you that that was literally as low as I could go.

"Further information on any topic I can sell to you, but not give for free."

[the_druid_droid]

When Amun caught the Acamoth in his little game, Turing began to smile. It wasn't a nice smile - it was cold and hard and a little unsettling. "As far as I'm concerned, this conversation is over. You've already shown you're willing to manipulate the information here, and I don't make compromises with the Abyss."

[Anarion]

"I'm left-handed, meaning I write and eat with my left hand" Tessen says. "But tell the Old Man and the Archangel that if it's related to magic, then I'm right-handed."

Then getting back to the main discussion, Tessen puts her finger to her chin and looks up at the ceiling, thinking deeply. "Hmm, Hmm. Maybe there could be a deal where, even if we knew all the information, both sides would benefit more than if there was no deal. I can't accept that if the future is known 100% though, that would mean the abyss could calculate out the whole deal.

But this one. You said you'll have the money, but you haven't mentioned anyone specific that would need to deal with you for money. Does that mean that your use of the money you would get is one of those dark spots in the future you don't know about?"

[Thanqol]

When Amun caught the Acamoth in his little game, Turing began to smile. It wasn't a nice smile - it was cold and hard and a little unsettling. "As far as I'm concerned, this conversation is over. You've already shown you're willing to manipulate the information here, and I don't make compromises with the Abyss."

"That's a pity," said Gladys. "But since the Abyss is in conflict with itself here - I want to be free, another Abyssal faction doesn't want me to be free - whatever you chose will ultimately support one side or the other. If there is a double bind like so why not get paid for picking a side?"


"I'm left-handed, meaning I write and eat with my left hand" Tessen says. "But tell the Old Man and the Archangel that if it's related to magic, then I'm right-handed."

Then getting back to the main discussion, Tessen puts her finger to her chin and looks up at the ceiling, thinking deeply. "Hmm, Hmm. Maybe there could be a deal where, even if we knew all the information, both sides would benefit more than if there was no deal. I can't accept that if the future is known 100% though, that would mean the abyss could calculate out the whole deal.

But this one. You said you'll have the money, but you haven't mentioned anyone specific that would need to deal with you for money. Does that mean that your use of the money you would get is one of those dark spots in the future you don't know about?"

"Noted," said Gladys to the first part.

"And yes, that is a dark spot. There is a choice you are making here, and while I can calculate the potential consequences of that choice, I cannot see farther than the important subsequent choices in that timeline," said Gladys. "It's a matter of branching possibilities and the further ahead you look the more possibilities there are. People who don't make many choices are very predictable, important people who make a lot of choices are extremely complex."

[Deadly]

Amun nodded at Turing. "Aye. We'll deal with this Manifestation and return the museum to its proper state, because that's the right thing to do. And you'll likely get your freedom no matter how that's done, which is acceptable to us because certain others don't want your freedom. We don't need to give you anything more, you see. If you can't help us for that, that's really too bad, but we can achieve two good things without having to accept a possibly double-edged deal."

[I am not sure if this would count as Fortitude (provided we end up declining)? Gladys isn't exactly trying to steer us away from our goal, just tempting to make it easier

As a player I'm so damn tempted to take this deal, but Amun sadly isn't me :smalltongue:]

[Thanqol]

"That's a shame," said Gladys. "In which case, I will give you the friendly warning that the Scelesti who bound me here is certain to blame your cabal for interfering with her security and will come after you. I can't give you information for free, of course, but I would be awfully careful. On her good days she is merely a deranged psychopath,"

[Tiki Snakes]

"I'm sorry I can't help you. Thank you for the help though and for being such a sport about things. It's been nice." Jack stood, straightening his jacket. He grinned. "I'll have to keep an eye out for unfamiliar psychopaths."

Nodding to Turing, Jack ceded the floor. "I guess this is your show, big guy."

[Anarion]

"I'm sorry I can't help you. Thank you for the help though and for being such a sport about things. It's been nice." Jack stood, straightening his jacket. He grinned. "I'll have to keep an eye out for unfamiliar psychopaths."

Nodding to Turing, Jack ceded the floor. "I guess this is your show, big guy."

"Mm, well, I think it, um, might be a reasonable deal. But, well, I wont' go along either unless all my friends agree."

Tessen then backs off along with Jack.

[the_druid_droid]

"That's a pity," said Gladys. "But since the Abyss is in conflict with itself here - I want to be free, another Abyssal faction doesn't want me to be free - whatever you chose will ultimately support one side or the other. If there is a double bind like so why not get paid for picking a side?"

"Sorry, but I'm more inclined to view in-fighting as a chance to take down both sides while they're preoccupied. Personally, I'm inclined to give you a one-way ticket back home, and then round up Barney's unholy cousin to make a day of it." Turing grimaced, although it didn't seem to be entirely from anger, "As for the Scelesti, I can introduce her to my boss - I don't think she even has good days."


"I'm sorry I can't help you. Thank you for the help though and for being such a sport about things. It's been nice." Jack stood, straightening his jacket. He grinned. "I'll have to keep an eye out for unfamiliar psychopaths."

Nodding to Turing, Jack ceded the floor. "I guess this is your show, big guy."

"Well, as I said, my vote is to dispatch the Acamoth along with his guard. Given his current form, I'll understand if there are objections, and I'm willing to make a compromise on that - a fair one." His eyes flicked to Gladys. "What does everyone else think?"

[Thanqol]

"You're thinking of killing me?" said Gladys.

His eyes became a bit distant, as if he was looking at a television scene only he could see. His eyes flickered back and forth, hand making small sweeping gestures like paging through a book.

"Interesting," he said.

[Deadly]

"I think we can let him be for now, it's not like he's going anywhere in a hurry," Amun said then paused and considered something. "What I wonder is, if the Manifestation is here to guard him, what would it do if he's no longer here? Unless he can tell us, do we feel certain it won't go on a rampage or something?"

[Thanqol]

"I think we can let him be for now, it's not like he's going anywhere in a hurry," Amun said then paused and considered something. "What I wonder is, if the Manifestation is here to guard him, what would it do if he's no longer here? Unless he can tell us, do we feel certain it won't go on a rampage or something?"

"I'm not actually up to date on potential ramifications of my death. It is knowledge I can do without," said Gladys.

[Anarion]

"I'm not actually up to date on potential ramifications of my death. It is knowledge I can do without," said Gladys.

"Um, wasn't that thing you just did where you sort of spaced out you checking on the ramifications of your death?"

[Thanqol]

"Um, wasn't that thing you just did where you sort of spaced out you checking on the ramifications of your death?"

"No," said Gladys with a smile. "That was me checking what my best course of action to survive a fight was."

[Anarion]

"No," said Gladys with a smile. "That was me checking what my best course of action to survive a fight was."

"Oh...um, what was it?"

[Thanqol]

"Oh...um, what was it?"

He looked distant for a second.

"Telling you ruins it," he said.

[Tiki Snakes]

"I'm going to have to agree with Amun, we're here to deal with the Dinosaur. Besides, I think that if a fight broke out right now it would officially be far too awkward." Jack interupted.

"Which would give Gladys here a while to figure out how to get away with defecting somehow without ceasing to exist. I think that would be in everyone's best interest except the Abyss which is admittedly the tricky bit. Given the alternatives, I figure it has to be worth a try."

[the_druid_droid]

He looked distant for a second.

"Telling you ruins it," he said.

"Pity. I'm actually curious myself."

Turing turned back toward the cabal. "Like I said, I can live and let live - for now. I'll explain what I think we should do about our new acquaintance once we've dealt with the freakshow attraction. He has a point that it isn't prudent to discuss strategy in front of potential opponents."

[Thanqol]

"Pity. I'm actually curious myself."

Turing turned back toward the cabal. "Like I said, I can live and let live - for now. I'll explain what I think we should do about our new acquaintance once we've dealt with the freakshow attraction. He has a point that it isn't prudent to discuss strategy in front of potential opponents."

Gladys gave an amused smile and put down his tea cup. "I'll save you some time and tell you there is no other way around. Have a nice afternoon."

[Thanqol]

It was about this point that Tessen's mobile phone buzzed. It was from Mirror Man.


aaaa a aAAaa aAAAAa ! AAAA a ! aa ! aAA AAAA ! AA aAAa aAA aAAAAa aAAAAa a AAaa ! aa AAa aaa aa AAaa a ! AAAA AAaAAAA ! aAA aaa AA aAAa aAA aAAaa ! aAAa a aAA aAAaa AAAA

It didn't seem particularly helpful. A few seconds later, it buzzed again with another text.


- me that you idiot. You guys still alive?

[Anarion]

It was about this point that Tessen's mobile phone buzzed. It was from Mirror Man.



It didn't seem particularly helpful. A few seconds later, it buzzed again with another text.

Tessen looks at it and thinks.

"Yes, still alive. Acamoth is like a person, bound to deal, not fight."

Next line

"Manifestation is security system to keep Acamoth bound. Claims some Scelesti bound him here for easy access."

Another line skip

"My group not planning to deal, but stuck because of steam-filled hallway. Could you turn the water off, please?"

[Thanqol]

There was a pause of about a minute, then a terse 'done' from Tyler.

[Anarion]

There was a pause of about a minute, then a terse 'done' from Tyler.

"Thanks. Oh, and by the way, the security system manifestation only attacks people going to restricted areas, just fyi."

[the_druid_droid]

Gladys gave an amused smile and put down his tea cup. "I'll save you some time and tell you there is no other way around. Have a nice afternoon."

Turing chuckled and gave an almost-smile. "There never is. Enjoy your push-bikes."

[Deadly]

Amun began heading back towards the steamy death trap. "So what's the plan again? Do we all go in, or should two of us hang back in another room to not get lobsterized?"

[Anarion]

"Actually, I think the water might be turned off now, so it will be easier."

Tessen takes another look at the room with forces vision.

[Thanqol]

"Actually, I think the water might be turned off now, so it will be easier."

Tessen takes another look at the room with forces vision.

Jack had (I'm assuming) opened some vents on their way across to let the steam drain out, so the corridor had started to deplete. It was safer than before but it would take some time, possibly half an hour, for it to fully empty.

[Anarion]

Jack had (I'm assuming) opened some vents on their way across to let the steam drain out, so the corridor had started to deplete. It was safer than before but it would take some time, possibly half an hour, for it to fully empty.

"Great, I think it's clearing up through some of the vents. I'll see if I can speed it up a bit, it might take half an hour to fully empty."

Tessen begins casting control heat on the door until its chilled to the touch, but not too cold to put a bare hand on.

[the_druid_droid]

"Great, I think it's clearing up through some of the vents. I'll see if I can speed it up a bit, it might take half an hour to fully empty."

Tessen begins casting control heat on the door until its chilled to the touch, but not too cold to put a bare hand on.

"Perfect. And we didn't even have to make a deal with the devil." A little bit of jauntiness had returned to Turing's voice once they were back on track.

[Thanqol]

The door was cooled down, but the radiators on the other side were still blasting on at max power. There were two ways through this corridor: Slow and careful, or fast and risky.

The nature of the defences might change rapidly as soon as the door is opened, so the choice here was important.

[Anarion]

"Maybe we should just wait and see before opening this door, it would be dangerous to open it now, even with it cooler."

[As a note, this is me following Tessen's cowardice. Anarion thinks we should open the door right now with as best protection as we can get.]

[the_druid_droid]

"Are the others in a rush? I don't exactly want to bolt inside, but I'd rather not just wait for the Terrorsaurus to show up." Turing tapped his cane impatiently, thinking.

[Anarion]

"Are the others in a rush? I don't exactly want to bolt inside, but I'd rather not just wait for the Terrorsaurus to show up." Turing tapped his cane impatiently, thinking.

"They seemed a bit, um distracted. If you want to open the door, I can give shield you from the heat and the door should be cool enough to force."

[Deadly]

"I am not particularly keen on just sitting around either," Amun said. "If we can get maybe one well-protected person in there, moving quickly, to turn off the heat, would that work?"

[Anarion]

"I am not particularly keen on just sitting around either," Amun said. "If we can get maybe one well-protected person in there, moving quickly, to turn off the heat, would that work?"

"Um, maybe. It depends how hot it still is. I think Jack or Turing could force the door open alone with my protective spell. And then I could come back and cool down the steam as we go. But when they first open the door, it might be too strong for my spell and hurt them, it's hard to tell. It probably wouldn't kill them though, just some very severe burns if I'm guessing wrong."

[Tiki Snakes]

"I'd just like to say at this point that I'm not overwhelmed with confidence by that plan of action. Fall back plan of poke it open with a stick perhaps?"

[the_druid_droid]

"I'd just like to say at this point that I'm not overwhelmed with confidence by that plan of action. Fall back plan of poke it open with a stick perhaps?"

"Assuming we even can open it that way." Turing prodded at the door experimentally, and tried to think up some way to open it remotely.

[Thanqol]

"Assuming we even can open it that way." Turing prodded at the door experimentally, and tried to think up some way to open it remotely.

The door was still bolted from the other side. Even though it was cool enough to touch now it was going to need more than a kick to open.

[the_druid_droid]

"I'm afraid poking it with a stick is out - this thing is still locked up tight. I might be able to weaken the lock enough for a few good kicks to take it out, but I can't guarantee that it won't spit hissing steam out on everyone."

Turing stepped back, frowning at the door. "What does everyone else think?"

[Deadly]

"Alright, I'm going to open it," Amun said and stepped forward. When the job called for pain, it seemed Amun was the man. "Tessen, do what you can to protect me. Turing, weaken the lock. Then you should all stay back, far back. No reason for more than one of us to get steamed."

[Amun will drop his Fate shield, since I assume Tessen will replace it with Forces shield. He will keep Quantum Flux.

I am looking at some way to speed him up. Acceleration is Time 3 which he doesn't have, but Temporal Dodge seems to be able to achieve what I want, so Time 2 should be enough. Let me know if you agree. What I have in mind is, he'll kick the door in then use a bit of Time magic to step to the side and crouch low. Heat rises and the wall will protect him from the worst of the initial rush. Tessen's magic should take care of the rest]

[Thanqol]

"Alright, I'm going to open it," Amun said and stepped forward. When the job called for pain, it seemed Amun was the man. "Tessen, do what you can to protect me. Turing, weaken the lock. Then you should all stay back, far back. No reason for more than one of us to get steamed."

[Amun will drop his Fate shield, since I assume Tessen will replace it with Forces shield. He will keep Quantum Flux.

I am looking at some way to speed him up. Acceleration is Time 3 which he doesn't have, but Temporal Dodge seems to be able to achieve what I want, so Time 2 should be enough. Let me know if you agree. What I have in mind is, he'll kick the door in then use a bit of Time magic to step to the side and crouch low. Heat rises and the wall will protect him from the worst of the initial rush. Tessen's magic should take care of the rest]

[Personal shields don't stack but I'll allow a Perfect Timing spell to help mitigate]

[Deadly]

[Personal shields don't stack but I'll allow a Perfect Timing spell to help mitigate]

[Ah good, that'll work quite well. I don't know why I thought it would require at least 2 dots]

[Thanqol]

[Ah good, that'll work quite well. I don't know why I thought it would require at least 2 dots]

[Would you like to roll the dice on that?]

[Deadly]

[Gnosis+Time+High Speech = 6 : 5, 8, 7, 5, 5, 9

Two successes, one point of mana spent. I assume this simply goes as a bonus to Defense for the purposes of dodging?]

One his friends had done what needed done and got far enough back, Amun took a deep breath, focused himself on the task ahead, and kicked in the door. The second it gave, he stepped swiftly to the side and crouched down by the wall, doing his best to minimize the part of him exposed to the scalding heat

[Thanqol]

[Gnosis+Time+High Speech = 6 : 5, 8, 7, 5, 5, 9

Two successes, one point of mana spent. I assume this simply goes as a bonus to Defense for the purposes of dodging?]

One his friends had done what needed done and got far enough back, Amun took a deep breath, focused himself on the task ahead, and kicked in the door. The second it gave, he stepped swiftly to the side and crouched down by the wall, doing his best to minimize the part of him exposed to the scalding heat

The blast of scalding, superheated steam erupted out of the suddenly opened door, but Amun was out of the way just in time. The force field caught the brunt of it, but everyone still had to fall back a couple of extra steps to avoid being burned.

Steam continued to pour out, but there weren't any serious injuries.

[Anarion]

Tessen immediately comes back to the edge of the steam, calling out "Amun, are you all right?" She also begins casting control heat right away to cool down the steam and make an open pathway for everyone to move forward.

[Deadly]

Tessen immediately comes back to the edge of the steam, calling out "Amun, are you all right?" She also begins casting control heat right away to cool down the steam and make an open pathway for everyone to move forward.

Amun looked up with an arm still held protectively in front of his face. "Yeah, I'm fine," he called and carefully moved to see if he could look through the open door.

[Thanqol]

When steam was rapidly cooled it turned into fog - extremely dense fog that restricted visibility to a few feet. The radiators burned red-hot, but the air around them was magically cooled. Still, touching one physically could result in serious injury. Lights swung and flickered above, the strange tricks of light and fog casting phantasmal shadows and silhouettes through the air. Every so often there was a large wooden panel bolted to the wall - the rear access to one of the exhibits.

The mages, as they advanced would rapidly become extremely wet. Caution was also advised because there was debris - brooms, mops, buckets, crates - scattered on the floor. Moving faster than a slow walk would bring the Mages into contact with the boiling steam that Tessen was still progressively cooling or risk tripping over something.

[Tiki Snakes]

Reluctantly, Jack loaded his pistol. As they advanced, he kept a wary eye on the way they had come.

[Deadly]

Amun walked carefully among the debris, looking for some way to turn off the radiators. "I think it would be good to turn them off, if we can," he said

[Anarion]

Amun walked carefully among the debris, looking for some way to turn off the radiators. "I think it would be good to turn them off, if we can," he said

Tessen kept forward cooling the mist and seething silently at how annoying it was not to be able to control the flow of electricity around you everywhere you went.

[Thanqol]

Just as they neared the end of the soaking wet, steam-filled corridor, music started to play behind them. "I lived a thousand years/may you live a thousand too/today is your birthday/happy birthday to you,"~

Turning, there was an inhuman silhouette barely visible through the fog. It held something long and serpentine in it's jaws. Birthday music played from it, distorted by the fog. Matter sight returned a reading of metal and plastic, shaped like a velociraptor.

It opened it's mouth, dropping the extension cord it was carrying into the water that soaked the floor.

Clever girl.

Lightning, hideous and purple, exploded everywhere in the corridor with a deafening BANG. Tessen would, in the millisecond she had, see that this was not ordinary electricity at all - this was the Manifestation, a sentient and ferocious electrical current.

[You must beat 12 on an Initiative roll to be able to react before getting hit with lightning]

[Anarion]

[You must beat 12 on an Initiative roll to be able to react before getting hit with lightning]

Init: [roll0]

[Thanqol]

Init: [roll0]

[Ties go to players, for the record]

[Anarion]

[Ties go to players, for the record]

Tessen barely has time to act. robot with an extension chord. ELECTRICITY! runs through her mind.

Immediately, she aims her gun and fires, hoping to hit the brains and circuits of the dino. Then she casts a shield in the area to protect everyone.

[the_druid_droid]

Turing was starting to get irritated at the state of the corridor - slogging through it while trying to keep his eyes out for a Manifestation wasn't at all how he wanted to be spending this evening.

Then music began to play, and Matter sight warned him just a little too late what was following them. "Damn."

[Well, crap. Hope Turing doesn't actually die...
[roll0]
]

[Deadly]

Soaking wet and standing in a puddle, in a room full of steam ...

Amun turned around and saw the lightning "Oh ..."

[Init : [roll0]

And that'll probably be all he gets to do for now, but let's see]

[Tiki Snakes]

Shadows loomed and nursery rhyme lyrics emerged from the uncertain mist. He watched with sick fascination as the events unfolded...

[Rolling rolling roll:
1d10 + 6, as far as I see.
8 on the dice, so 14. Which I have very little idea what to do with yet. Ideally there would be a dry patch to dive to or an insulating object to climb onto or into, but with the steam and mist everywhere, not sure that would help. Could I get clarification, is the lightning confined to the puddles on the floor or travelling through the fog itself or something else again? Also, the hatches are all closed and/or bolted shut etc (that I have seen, at least?)]

[Deadly]

Amun raised his weapon at the animatronic and aimed, working to make it count and trusting in Tessen's armor to keep him safe from the lightning.

[Does this count as a turn for the purposes of Quantum Flux? If so, Amun is aiming for one turn to remove the untrained penalty

Can he cast a spell as well? If so I'd like to cast Exceptional Luck, otherwise he'll just stick to aiming]

[Anarion]

Amun raised his weapon at the animatronic and aimed, working to make it count and trusting in Tessen's armor to keep him safe from the lightning.

[Does this count as a turn for the purposes of Quantum Flux? If so, Amun is aiming for one turn to remove the untrained penalty

Can he cast a spell as well? If so I'd like to cast Exceptional Luck, otherwise he'll just stick to aiming]

[Yes, you can cast a spell first.]

[Deadly]

[Exceptional Luck, Gnosis+Fate = 4 : 10, 1, 1, 8, ten again 5

Two successes, one mana spent]

[Tiki Snakes]

Jack didn't have time to think things through. He leapt for the nearest wooden exhibit hatch that looked like a possible escape, grabbing hastily for the bolt keeping it shut to slide it open and dive through.

[Can't think of anything smarter right now, so this will have to do. I did cast a scene long fate shield coming in here but I've no idea if that would still be up. I can't really edit such a complex post ad my character sheet on the phone, so will do so according to the answer to this when I get chance via the Xbox.]

[Thanqol]

There was a sound like an exploding balloon, a flash like looking at the sun, a pain like putting your hand on a stove, and a smell like overcooked meat.

It was impossible to get a good look at lightning by dint of the fact that it was lightning. All that was left was a burnt-out aftertrail on the back of everyone's eyes and scorch marks on their arms and hands.

It was similarly impossible in these conditions of low visibility to judge if Tessen had done any damage to the thing at the other end of the corridor. For now it was standing still, cold and dark, without any of that animating spark. All the electricity here was gone, surging off down the corridor in the other direction.

[Environmental Penalties: -3 (total darkness). Applicable Mage Sights: Forces, Matter, Space.

To move faster than half speed a successful Dexterity+Athletics check must be made to avoid tripping on something. To move at a run, the check is made at a further -3

Damage was taken, but nobody knows how much without an active Life Sight

Jack, if you want to retroactively roll Perfect Timing for dodge assist, you may.]

[Tiki Snakes]

[super quick roll post
Think the pool should be 2 arcana and 2 gnosis.
10 9 8 3 (10 again 5). Does this modify athletics or?]

[Thanqol]

[super quick roll post
Think the pool should be 2 arcana and 2 gnosis.
10 9 8 3 (10 again 5). Does this modify athletics or?]

[That is enough to save you from any damage]

[Anarion]

Tessen is fuming. Electricity, attacking them. And even her magical shield wasn't enough to keep it at bay. This was ridiculous. She wouldn't stand for it! She could just imagine what Tyler would have said if the Speakeasy had been there. Well, maybe not said, actually, since Tyler probably would have just slapped her upside the head, but she would have deserved it.

Trying to collect herself, she looks around the area with forces vision, scanning through the electromagnetic spectrum, trying to figure out what happened to the dino she shot, to the manifestation, and seeing everyone else in infrared as best she can.

[the_druid_droid]

As spots danced in his eyes, Turing dropped everything except his Death shielding spell, and then brought up Matter, along with Life sight. He was hurting, and he hadn't been in good shape to start with... it was time to see what the damage was, and if he could find a way out of the hallway before anything else attacked them.

[Rolling for Mage sights in case:

Matter (rote): [roll0]
Life: [roll1]

Spending a Mana for Life sight, as well

EDIT: 10 again on Matter gave one extra success]

[Thanqol]

Tessen is fuming. Electricity, attacking them. And even her magical shield wasn't enough to keep it at bay. This was ridiculous. She wouldn't stand for it! She could just imagine what Tyler would have said if the Speakeasy had been there. Well, maybe not said, actually, since Tyler probably would have just slapped her upside the head, but she would have deserved it.

Trying to collect herself, she looks around the area with forces vision, scanning through the electromagnetic spectrum, trying to figure out what happened to the dino she shot, to the manifestation, and seeing everyone else in infrared as best she can.

The dinosaur thing was cold, dark, and statuesque. If Tessen had to guess, the thing had jumped out of the mannequin, through them, and down the corridor to a point unknown - ahead of them, possibly waiting for them.


As spots danced in his eyes, Turing dropped everything except his Death shielding spell, and then brought up Matter, along with Life sight. He was hurting, and he hadn't been in good shape to start with... it was time to see what the damage was, and if he could find a way out of the hallway before anything else attacked them.

[Rolling for Mage sights in case:

Matter (rote): [roll0]
Life: [roll1]

Spending a Mana for Life sight, as well

EDIT: 10 again on Matter gave one extra success]

It looked like the damage was rather mild, but the wounds had strange, shuddering reverberations and twisted, echoing after-effects.

[All took 2L Resistant, except Jack who took 0]

[Anarion]

The dinosaur thing was cold, dark, and statuesque. If Tessen had to guess, the thing had jumped out of the mannequin, through them, and down the corridor to a point unknown - ahead of them, possibly waiting for them.


Tessen puts another mental update into the phone:

"Found manifestation. Magic electricity. Shocked us, but we're okay. In pursuit."

[Deadly]

Amun gritted his teeth, kept his gun pointed at the motionless dinosaur, just in case, and moved towards Jack and the exhibit.

"Magical lightning calls for ... magical lightning rod?" he offered. "We wouldn't happen to have one, would we?"

[Thanqol]

Tessen puts another mental update into the phone:

"Found manifestation. Magic electricity. Shocked us, but we're okay. In pursuit."

The response, presumably Johnny: "Approaching fuse room. Deathtrap down here. Will contact when we find something."

[Anarion]

Amun gritted his teeth, kept his gun pointed at the motionless dinosaur, just in case, and moved towards Jack and the exhibit.

"Magical lightning calls for ... magical lightning rod?" he offered. "We wouldn't happen to have one, would we?"

Tessen brightens immediately. "No, but we have Turing, and he can make things conductive or insulate them! Maybe he can do a collective spell on all our clothes?"

Tessen also drops her area shield and begins moving forward, urging the party on as well and using forces vision to be able to see in the pitch black.

[the_druid_droid]

"Right... just gimme a minute here." Turing winced in the darkness as he realized just how serious all the aches and pains he was holding on to really were.

[Going to burn all of Turing's remaining Mana (6 points) to heal two lethal wounds. If there are Abyssal shenanigans with the most recent ones, he'll heal the older ones from Errant.]

[Deadly]

"I was thinking more that we need to stop this thing," Amun said. "You can't shoot lightning, and if it just keeps moving between wires then we're going to be here until we run ourselves dry. But maybe we can prevent it from moving to another wire, or direct it into the ground or something."

[Tiki Snakes]

"I think I follow. Ground it, contain it, or force it to disperse or something? Guess the question is which of those ideas would stop it and which would simply make it stronger. I'm guessing that systematically changing the conductivity of everything in the museum is a bad idea, but I honestly couldn't say if hooking it back up to the grid is the worst thing we could do or the best solution. I could honestly see it going either way." Jack mused.

"It's hard to figure it out without understanding it, but understanding it might not be such a good idea either." he laughed, self depreciatingly. "I wonder if the fact that it was created, designed even makes much of a difference, compared to our little thanksgiving affair?"

[Anarion]

"I think I follow. Ground it, contain it, or force it to disperse or something? Guess the question is which of those ideas would stop it and which would simply make it stronger. I'm guessing that systematically changing the conductivity of everything in the museum is a bad idea, but I honestly couldn't say if hooking it back up to the grid is the worst thing we could do or the best solution. I could honestly see it going either way." Jack mused.

"It's hard to figure it out without understanding it, but understanding it might not be such a good idea either." he laughed, self depreciatingly. "I wonder if the fact that it was created, designed even makes much of a difference, compared to our little thanksgiving affair?"

"Hooking back up to the grid would be dangerous" says Tessen, thinking aloud. "It could go anywhere. But then, I would have access to regular electricity, that I could control and direct against it.

I think Turing should first make our clothes and shoes insulating, so that it will be harder to hurt us in the future. Then, maybe we can go forward and try to contain it.

What we need is a capacitor...that could hold the full current and it wouldn't be able to leap to anything else. Then we could try to examine it, figure out how to end the manifestation. How to find one here though? You can make anything into one. All you need is two square metal plates separated by a little distance and some kind of electrical fluid. And then a big insulator around them with really high resistance so the current can't go anywhere else."

[the_druid_droid]

There was a brief surge of power as some of the wounds on Turing's throat finally closed, and he took a deep, slightly easier breath.

"Well, we could try for an Abyssal battery of some sort... but before we do any more magic, I could actually use topping up on Mana, if Amun doesn't mind." Turing glanced toward the Acanthus, but in the dark, the gesture didn't mean much.

[Anarion]

There was a brief surge of power as some of the wounds on Turing's throat finally closed, and he took a deep, slightly easier breath.

"Well, we could try for an Abyssal battery of some sort... but before we do any more magic, I could actually use topping up on Mana, if Amun doesn't mind." Turing glanced toward the Acanthus, but in the dark, the gesture didn't mean much.

"Sure" Tessen holds out her notebook for Turing to use.

[We decided I think based on the developer comments that it's okay to withdraw mana from an artifact directly, no need for Amun or prime 3.]

[Thanqol]

At this point, there was the sound of a detonation from a little further up the corridor, a flash of light and a burst of steam. It wasn't threatening, but by the time the group reached the corner and looked around, they could see that part of the wall had collapsed inwards. There was a burst pipe, a waist-high pile of debris, a partially crumbled-in ceiling, and several broken and twisted electrical cables running through the entire mess.

The cables weren't currently live, but they looked extremely threatening. Additionally, through the gap in the rubble, an open door was visible, with a warm golden light visible through it. It might be possible to crawl through the gap, if you were fine with getting stabbed by jagged metal pipes and electrocuted.

[Deadly]

"My idea was to ground it, as with an actual lightning rod," Amun said as Tessen handed Turing the book. "But since it's abyssal I can't exactly say if that would do anything useful, and the details of how we would do it escapes me."

Looking at the results of the explosion, he sighed. "Looks like a trap if ever I saw one."

[Anarion]

Hell and Damnations! It was like the forces that be were mocking her! Lose control of your powers and resolve never to hurt anyone again, and what does fate decide to do? Oh, just throw a giant barricade that could be easily cleared out with a little vulgar forces magic, after confronting them with a manifestation made of electricity.

Tessen could practically picture the fates (which she's seeing as the three crones) sitting around their cauldron cackling madly at the impotent forces mage that can't conjure any forces. It made her want to punch someone. Or alternately, to curl into a ball and start crying. Yeah, probably the latter.

[Tiki Snakes]

"Well, one of us at least is going to have to go through there." Jack said, evenly. "Trap or not. It's likely the only way we're going to figure this thing out."

He stretched his shoulders deliberately and then his legs, one after the other easing the tension out of them.

"And I suppose it's my turn." he smiled. "I won't turn down some assistance in getting through though."

[Anarion]

Tessen cycles through forces and prime vision looking the opening over and the area beyond it as best she can see. Then drops prime vision again and looks at Jack.

"Well, I'm happy to give you as much protection as I can."

[Thanqol]

Tessen cycles through forces and prime vision looking the opening over and the area beyond it as best she can see. Then drops prime vision again and looks at Jack.

"Well, I'm happy to give you as much protection as I can."

There was the lingering residue of the Manifestation - it had triggered the explosion - but it wasn't currently present. The cables and wires were live, though - trying to push past them would be lowering all your defences against the electricity.

The heat and light from the other room, though, looked like a regular electrical current - from a battery or something? The electrical current in there wasn't attached to the rest of the grid, and that power was normal and non-Abyssal.

[the_druid_droid]

"And I'll see if I can't do something about those wires." Turing pulled a little Mana from the notebook, enough to see him through another hit, before passing it back and focusing his will on the exposed cabling.

[Ok, taking 3 Mana and then I'll try and cast Alter Conductivity to help things. My only question is if I need any size penalties or anything that might modify the roll, or if we can just assume Turing gets it cast?]

[Thanqol]

The wires stopped sparking and went dark and inert. It was a stretch to call that crawl 'safe' but it now wasn't a hideous deathtrap.

[the_druid_droid]

"After you then" Turing flicked his cane toward Jack, then studied the passageway beyond the hole.

[Anarion]

"Um, yes, go ahead Jack" Tessen says, casting a forces shield on him.

[Tiki Snakes]

"That's all I was waiting for, Tess." Jack smiled. "Just hang back, I'll see what there is to see and we'll work from there. I'll hollar if I need you guys to join me and it's safe to do so."

That said, Jack clambered carefully onto the pile of rubble and made his way to the golden glowing door.

[Thanqol]

"That's all I was waiting for, Tess." Jack smiled. "Just hang back, I'll see what there is to see and we'll work from there. I'll hollar if I need you guys to join me and it's safe to do so."

That said, Jack clambered carefully onto the pile of rubble and made his way to the golden glowing door.

[Climbing through a small, enclosed crawlspace with slippery surfaces and exposed jagged metal spearpoints without injury requires a success on Dexterity+Athletics-2. You will make it across either way, just a question of more or less stabbed.]

[Tiki Snakes]

[well, that's 3 dex and 2 athletics minus 2. Does the parkour specialisation count or is it just too crawly to apply? Failing that, does my urban exploration (survival) speciality help at all?]

[Thanqol]

[well, that's 3 dex and 2 athletics minus 2. Does the parkour specialisation count or is it just too crawly to apply? Failing that, does my urban exploration (survival) speciality help at all?]

[Specialities don't cross-apply and parkour is kind of a stretch, but given that you have both I'll allow the speciality for +1]

[Tiki Snakes]

[Noted. 4 dice then, rolling;
4 6 3 8
Man, glad I asked.]

[Thanqol]

[Noted. 4 dice then, rolling;
4 6 3 8
Man, glad I asked.]

As Jack reached the other side, there was a surge of electricity down at the other end of the corridor. A bright light came on in the distant, blurry through the fog, and there was the roar of an engine revving up. To Tessen, from the shape and the engine that looked like a forklift had just turned itself on, and was starting to accelerate towards Jack.

Before that had happened, Jack had been about to notice something weird about the door, but the noise and fog had distracted him from figuring out just what it was.

[Anarion]

"JACK! There's a forklift! Get out of the way!" Tessen shouts as loudly as she can, hoping to be heard over the sudden engine noise.

She reaches out her sense to the normal, non-abyssal electrical current as well, tuning her vision to x-ray to see through walls to just the forces. How strong was it? Where was it running? What was it powering?

[the_druid_droid]

Turing swore. He wasn't sure what magic he had to hand against an Abyssal forklift, and he didn't fancy trying to stave the thing off if Jack got hurt.

"We have got to find a way to cage this thing..."

[Tiki Snakes]

"I think I'll check what's behind door number one." jack muttered grimly, scrambling for the door.

[Do I need to roll? Should I be going for a perfect timing/athletics thing again or is it pretty much a given long as I take a chance on the door?]

[Thanqol]

"JACK! There's a forklift! Get out of the way!" Tessen shouts as loudly as she can, hoping to be heard over the sudden engine noise.

She reaches out her sense to the normal, non-abyssal electrical current as well, tuning her vision to x-ray to see through walls to just the forces. How strong was it? Where was it running? What was it powering?

That was an interesting series of questions and stuff she couldn't quite answer from here. It seemed a relatively weak circuit and didn't seem to leave the room.


"I think I'll check what's behind door number one." jack muttered grimly, scrambling for the door.

[Do I need to roll? Should I be going for a perfect timing/athletics thing again or is it pretty much a given long as I take a chance on the door?]

[Roll your Speed minus seven. Can apply whatever spells or otherwise.]

[Tiki Snakes]

[that's a small dice pool. I'll give perfect timing another whirl to try and help. I'm hazy on exactly what it does as I can't check right now beyond summaries on the web and am improvising the spell anyway. Did it give extra dice to roll or sucesses?
Either way, time 2 + gnosis 2 for the casting; 2 9 7 9
I think my speed was 9? that'd be a pool of 2 plus whatever the above does.]

[Anarion]

[that's a small dice pool. I'll give perfect timing another whirl to try and help. I'm hazy on exactly what it does as I can't check right now beyond summaries on the web and am improvising the spell anyway. Did it give extra dice to roll or sucesses?
Either way, time 2 + gnosis 2 for the casting; 2 9 7 9
I think my speed was 9? that'd be a pool of 2 plus whatever the above does.]

[You get two extra dice to roll, so 4 total. I would also suggest expenditure of willpower at this point.]

[Tiki Snakes]

Jack's life on the line right now, I'm going to take my chances. Jack will trust to his head start and his luck, with his fate armour as a backup. Which is probably stupid, but that's just how it's going to be.

So, 4 dice pool.
1 3 9 10 (10 again 3).]

Distant memories of the carnage in an old over the top German Forklift safety video he once saw online spur Jack on, he wastes little time on his flight to the potential safety of the mysterious door.

[Thanqol]

Jack ran smack-bang into an invisible forcefield blocking the doorway. Looking down, there were more of those Scelesti runes - Space and Forces, a Ban keeping out all but the most complex energy types. The runes were all, unfortunately, on the inside of the Force Field - but with a spell like this, destroying the runes would destroy the spell.

Inside was some kind of weird classroom, but a more pressing concern was the forklift barreling down the corridor at him.

[Two successes means you have two actions before it hits.]

[Deadly]

"Dammit, Jack!" Amun said, and kicked a bit of debris at random. Why? Because he felt like watching it fly. What other reason would he need? Sometimes you just really want to see things fly.

[I don't know why, but I feel like going all out, so I'm spending a point of Willpower and also one of my successes from Exceptional Luck.

Shifting the Odds, Wits+Science+Fate+Willpower = 12 : 8, 5, 9, 7, 4, 5, 8, 7, 2, 10, 9, 5

9 again 1, 10 again 5, 9 again 9, 9 again again 2

6 successes and 1 mana spent]

[Thanqol]

If there had been a running camquarter present, the video of that forklift ramping up into the air would be on youtube with the toprated comment 'thats sick man'.

It ramped up over an old piece of sheet metal and hurtled majestically through the air, and the only thing Jack needed to do to dodge it was drop prone.

A half second later it'd smash into the barricade.

[Tiki Snakes]

Forklift trucks had never been intended to fly. Jack had always been pretty sure of this. Apparently, no one thought to tell this particular truck.

"What the-" He hit the deck in a hurry as the forklift soared towards him, getting his hands underneath him ready to roll out of the way of the carnage of the vehicle's landing.

Wait for it...

[the_druid_droid]

The ghost of a grin began to spread across Turing's features. "That was actually fairly majestic. For a forklift."

[Thanqol]

The forklift smashed into the barricade like a an eagle, crashing into a blimp.

It nearly smashed all the way through the debris and rubble. It came to a gradual halt, headlight flickering on and off, crackling with dark violet electricity.

The engine was starting to whine. It looked like the fuel tank was leaking - and sparking.

[Deadly]

Amun watched the flight of metallic doom with an unhealthy fascination. He flinched a bit and stepped to the side as it hit the barricade. "And the little forklift thought to itself, one day I will soar through the skies, free and light as a feather," he said with a distant look in his eyes. "DreamWorks, here I come."

Then he noticed the fuel tank. "Oh ..."

[the_druid_droid]

"Well, this worked the first time... Let's all hope it works again." Turing focused on the tank, reaching out his magic to play over the metal, seeking out sparks in an effort to quench them.

[Using Alter Conductivity on anything that appears to be sparking. Let me know if there are penalties or line-of-effect issues.]

[Tiki Snakes]

"There must be a fire extinguisher here somewhere..." Jack casts his eye about, helping the process on with a quick tug at the strings of fate to ease the task, almost reflexively.
[Summon Fire Extinguisher! I'm really getting my use of that second dot of gnosis. Improvised fate, dice pool of 4 again.
8 10 8 9 (10 again 1)
...ok. Man, my dice are really playing nice lately. Doesn't make me paranoid at all!]

[Thanqol]

"Well, this worked the first time... Let's all hope it works again." Turing focused on the tank, reaching out his magic to play over the metal, seeking out sparks in an effort to quench them.

[Using Alter Conductivity on anything that appears to be sparking. Let me know if there are penalties or line-of-effect issues.]

The effect of this was unexpected - the frame of the forklift went inert, and this ejected the Manifestation in it's entirety. Lightning briefly surged, and there was a detonation as the fuel tank exploded.

Fortunately, a fuel tank was not a fragmentation grenade and the Mages were armoured up; the resulting blast wouldn't so much as knock them over. The Abyssal electricity surged through the heating pipes and away, but a more pressing danger was the heat and fire of the burning wreck and the smoke it was casting.


"There must be a fire extinguisher here somewhere..." Jack casts his eye about, helping the process on with a quick tug at the strings of fate to ease the task, almost reflexively.
[Summon Fire Extinguisher! I'm really getting my use of that second dot of gnosis. Improvised fate, dice pool of 4 again.
8 10 8 9 (10 again 1)
...ok. Man, my dice are really playing nice lately. Doesn't make me paranoid at all!]

Why there was a fire extinguisher, in fact, and it was conveniently placed right where Jack's hand was. What a lucky break.

[Anarion]

Tessen watches the entire episode with a certain amount of wonder. She had been frantically thinking of how she could stop the forklift directly without starting another aether vortex and then it just jumped right over Jack. She was too stunned to siphon the heat off the fuel tank before it went up, but seeing Jack still in danger, Teasen immediately begins pulling the heat out of the fire so it will go out.

[Should I roll for that or can I just do it?]

[Tiki Snakes]

Pausing to flinch at the explosion, Jack calmly and quietly began to spray the extinguisher at the base of the fire, to smother it and stop the situation getting any more complex.

"Well. That was... dramatic." he deadpanned.

[Thanqol]

Between a Forces mage, a Fate mage with a fire extinguisher, and some unlucky dice rolls the fire was quickly put out. There was still a pile of debris and molten slag between Jack and the others, but for the moment it seemed quiet again.

[the_druid_droid]

Pausing to flinch at the explosion, Jack calmly and quietly began to spray the extinguisher at the base of the fire, to smother it and stop the situation getting any more complex.

"Well. That was... dramatic." he deadpanned.

Turing reflexively raised an arm to shield his face as the tank exploded, but was pleasantly surprised to find himself intact afterward.

"Tell me about it. On the bright side, I might have found a way to ruin Sparky's day, provided I can control the spell well enough. He doesn't seem to like me changing the conductivity of his current host very much."

[Anarion]

Turing reflexively raised an arm to shield his face as the tank exploded, but was pleasantly surprised to find himself intact afterward.

"Tell me about it. On the bright side, I might have found a way to ruin Sparky's day, provided I can control the spell well enough. He doesn't seem to like me changing the conductivity of his current host very much."

"We need to find a way to get it someplace where there's nowhere to jump to, then you can change the conductivity. And I still think me controlling a regular electric current might help hold it too, if it's strong enough."

Tessen says, as she cools down the slag and begins crawling over to Jack.

[Do I need to roll for damage like he did, or is armor protecting that?]

[Thanqol]

"We need to find a way to get it someplace where there's nowhere to jump to, then you can change the conductivity. And I still think me controlling a regular electric current might help hold it too, if it's strong enough."

Tessen says, as she cools down the slag and begins crawling over to Jack.

[Do I need to roll for damage like he did, or is armor protecting that?]

[No, there's no time pressure. The roll before would have had Consequences if Jack got his rump stuck in a crawlspace with a forklift heading at him, but turns out Mage Armour is really good and the chances of you accidentally impaling yourself on a piece of rusty metal is negligible.]

[Anarion]

Once through the hole, Tessen goes up to inspect the ban with forces and prime sight. Given her own forces talent, she wonders if she could dispel part of it.

[Thanqol]

Once through the hole, Tessen goes up to inspect the ban with forces and prime sight. Given her own forces talent, she wonders if she could dispel part of it.

She could. A Ban like this was essentially a brick wall - durable, but take a hammer to it and it'd fall down. Doing so would almost certainly alert the Mage who had cast it but, if they hadn't been alerted by something at this point they were direly incompetent.

Five minutes with this thing and it'd crumble away no problem.

[Anarion]

She could. A Ban like this was essentially a brick wall - durable, but take a hammer to it and it'd fall down. Doing so would almost certainly alert the Mage who had cast it but, if they hadn't been alerted by something at this point they were direly incompetent.

Five minutes with this thing and it'd crumble away no problem.

Excellent

Tessen was in a rare mood. All this holding back from using her magic, in case she caused another catastrophe, combined with a manifestation made of electricity. She was feeling practically fell.

So, it was perhaps a surprise to most of the others when she decided to express her attempts to dispel the ban with an extended series of punches directly at it. She practically hurled herself into the shield, putting the full strength of her magic behind it as she ripped away at the forcefield.

[again, any roll required, or just the time?]

[Thanqol]

Excellent

Tessen was in a rare mood. All this holding back from using her magic, in case she caused another catastrophe, combined with a manifestation made of electricity. She was feeling practically fell.

So, it was perhaps a surprise to most of the others when she decided to express her attempts to dispel the ban with an extended series of punches directly at it. She practically hurled herself into the shield, putting the full strength of her magic behind it as she ripped away at the forcefield.

[again, any roll required, or just the time?]

[Just the time]

Straight-up punching down a spellwall was a traditional Obrimos solution. Soon enough the Scelesti runes burst into flames and the Ban shattered like ethereal glass.

On the other side was... some kind of classroom? No, too messy and lived-in for a classroom - like a mathematician's lab. There were four blackboards on the walls covered with elaborate algebraic equations. The desks were covered with high end textbooks, notepads and theory. There was a nasty-old looking sandwich and cup of coffee on one of the tables.

There was also a strange rectangular battery thing on the table, about the size of a man's forearm. It was hooked up to the lightbulbs that were providing light to the room.

And to Forces Sight, that little battery was a little miracle. That power was coming from nowhere, flowing through an elaborate weave of matter. No Supernal magic here; this was like a cold fusion reactor - or better.

[Intelligence+Science-5 to understand the writing on the chalkboards]

[Anarion]

"Aaah, nothing like the traditional approach, um, don't you all think so?" Tessen says in her sweetest, quietest voice as she brushes off her hands and the spell wall comes down.

She spares a brief glance at the chalkboards, before assuming she has no hope of understanding them (chance die) [roll0]

Then steps over to the battery. When she sees it, and really looks at the thing, her eyes light up like a 6-year old on Christmas morning who just woke up to find out that Santa Claus had been extra generous this year.

She looks it over carefully, not even daring to touch it, and warns the others off as well. How was it doing this? Could it be moved safely? Was there any danger? Could the process be harmed if it were treated roughly? "Turing" she calls out, "come figure out what this thing is made of, but don't touch it or mess with it yet, you could...um, mess it up, or something, maybe."

[Thanqol]

That was the thing; it didn't look unstable at all. It was powering those lightbulbs with capacity to spare and seemed reasonably stable.