User:Norseman

Jedi Knight

Vital Statistics

Real Name:
Jedi Name:
Tradition: Jedi Order (Orphan)
Avatar: Questing
Demeanor:
Nature:
Arete: 3
Willpower: 10/10
Quint: 5
Paradox: 0
Chantry: None

Attributes

Physical (5)

Strength: 2

Dexterity: 4 (Lightning Reflexes)

Stamina: 2

Social (3)

Charisma: 2

Manipulation: 2

Appearance: 2

Mental (7)

Perception: 4 (Spot Ambush)

Intelligence: 2

Wits: 4 (One Step Ahead)

Abilities

Talents (13)

Alertness: 3

Athletics: 3

Awareness: 3

Brawl: 3

Dodge: 3

Intuition: 2

Skills (9)

Meditation: 3

Melee: 3

Stealth: 3

Knowledges (7)

Computer: 1

Cosmology: 1

Culture: 1

Enigmas: 1

Linguistics: 1 (Basic)

Lore (Jedi): 1

Occult: 1

Backgrounds

Avatar: 5

Talisman: 4

Spheres

Correspondence:
Entropy: 2
Forces: 2
Life:
Mind: 1
Matter:
Prime: 2
Spirit:
Time: 3

Foci

Jedi Meditation
The Force
Lightsabre

Merits and Flaws

Merit: Code of Honour (Jedi) – 1 BP
Merit: Concentration – 1 BP
Flaw: Obsession (Star Wars) - 2 BP
Flaw: Amnesia – 2 BP
Flaw: Strangeness – 1 BP
Flaw: Twisted Apprenticeship – 1BP

Magickal and Mundane Equipment

Lightsabre (details to be determined)

BP & XP Expenditure

Arete 3 – 8BP
Will 10 – 5BP
Avatar 5 – 5BP
Talisman – 8BP

Dodge 3 – 6XP
Intuition 2 – 5XP
Forces 2 – 8 XP
Entropy 2 – 8XP
Prime 2 – 8XP
Mind 1 – 10XP

NWO Defector

Vital Statistics

Name:
Tradition: Sons of Ether (ex-NWO)
Avatar: Dynamic
Demeanor:
Nature:
Arete: 4
Willpower: 10/10
Quint: 5
Paradox: 0
Chantry: None

Attributes

Physical (3)

Strength: 1

Dexterity: 4 (Nimble Fingers)

Stamina: 1

Social (5)

Charisma: 2

Manipulation: 5 (Persuasive)

Appearance: 1

Mental (7)

Perception: 3

Intelligence: 4 (Engineer)

Wits: 4 (One Step Ahead)

Abilities

Talents (13)

Alertness: 3

Awareness: 3

Dodge: 1

Intuition: 1

Intimidation: 3

Streetwise: 1

Subterfuge: 3

Skills (9)

Drive: 1

Etiquette: 1

Firearms: 3

Hypertech: 3

Meditation: 1

Research: 1

Stealth: 1

Technology: 3

Knowledges (7)

Cosmology: 1

Enigmas: 4 (Espionage)

Linguistics: 1 (German)

Lore (Technocracy): 3

Lore (Traditions): 3

Medicine: 3

Occult: 1

Backgrounds

Avatar: 5

Spheres

Correspondence: Entropy: 2 Forces: Life: Mind: 3 Matter: Prime: 2 Spirit: 3 Time: 3

Merits and Flaws

Merit: Concentration – 1 BP Merit: Mechanical Aptitude – 1 BP Flaw: Addiction (Cigarettes) – 1 BP Flaw: Nightmares – 1 BP Flaw: Vengeance – 2 BP Flaw: Strangeness – 1 BP Flaw: Echoes (MiB) – 2 BP Flaw: Probationary Member – 3 BP? Flaw: Asthma – 1 BP

BP & XP Expenditure

Arete 3 – 14BP Will 10 – 5BP Arete 4 – 24XP Perception 3 – 12 XP Spirit 3 – 34 XP Entropy 2 – 18 XP Prime 2 – 18 XP Drive 1 – 3 XP Etiquette 1 – 3 XP Meditation 1 – 3 XP Research 1 – 3 XP Stealth 1 – 3 XP Dodge 1 – 3 XP Intuition 1 – 3 XP Enigmas 4 – 6 XP Lore (Technocracy) – 3 XP Lore (Traditions) – 3 XP

Gloves of Pygmalion

From: Eamon Honan <Spire@Indigo.ie> Subject: The Gloves of Pygmalion System: Call of Cthulhu

The Gloves of Pygmalion: An Artifact for CoC

APPEARANCE

The gloves appear to be a pair of ordinary gloves, made out of some strange metallic fabric of a blueish, purple hue. The back of the gloves and the fingers are encrusted with strange iridescent lozenze shaped jewels. Any jeweler or geologist will be baffled as to the jewel's origin; they have obviously been cut, but apart from that bear no resemblance to any terrestrial jewel, looking somewhat like jewels found in meteorites and not of Earthly origin.

The gloves are connected by a thin cord of the same fabric. It stretches between the gloves for about a yard. However, should the wearer wish to spread their arms, the cord will stretch with surprising elasticity for over two and a half yards.

The gloves always appear to be just a little too small for the person viewing them, but if the are put on, they are just right, fitting the wearer like a second skin.

Once worn, the wearer quickly comes to like the feel of the glove's fabric moving over his (or her) hands and will be loath to remove them. The jewels make little clicking sounds when the gloves are worn, as they seem to move and slide past each other. Anybody studying the gloves for any period of time will notice that the jewels actually move, as if they were not really attached to the fabric. Careful study will see jewels move from finger to finger, around the glove and back again.

ABILITIES

The gloves allow the wearer to mould organic matter, including living tissue, as if it were clay. The wearer has no control over this; the gloves affect any material he touches (including himself) as if it were modeling clay. The material shaped does not change in any other way, apart from its malleability. A statue made out of a tree would still smell and feel like wood, it would still contain sap and grow leaves, it would just look like a statue. The material does not suffer any ill affects from the reshaping unless something vital was removed. For example a man who was reshaped into a table would retain stomach, kidneys, liver, etc and would continue to live, he just wouldn't be able to move. However if the shaper reached into somebody and removed their heart, they would obviously die instantly. The gloves also impart the wearer with an insatiable desire to shape, who or what does not matter. The gloves do not give the wearer any ability to sculpt, which is something the wearer must learn by himself.

The wearer will become obsessed by sculpture, making statues and "works of art" out of anything or anybody he can lay his hands on. He will dream of the ancient cities of the serpent people in the steamy jungles of Valusia and of a fellow sculptor to whom he is related to by art, if not by species. Eventually, the wearer will never be able to take the gloves off and will become obsessed by the idea of reshaping himself. This he will enevitably do with fatal conseqences.

All this is obviously sanity taxing. Here are the costs in SAN of that which is described above:

To see the gloves for the first time. 0/1 (from fascination)

To see something "reshaped". 0/1d2 To see someone "reshaped". 1/1d6 To be "reshaped". 1d6/1d20

To wear the gloves. 1 per day of wearing

To "reshape" something. 0/1 To "reshape" someone. 1/1d6 To "reshape" oneself. 1d4/1d10

To learn of the true history and origins of the gloves. 1/1d4

HISTORY

(The last entry in this history is in 1889 to allow Gaslight Keepers to use the gloves, 1920s Keepers such as myself can fill in the intervening 30 years pretty easily.)

The gloves were created by an unknown serpentman artist and sorcerer about 67 million years ago, during the decline of the serpent people. The creator wished to be able to sculpt like none ever had before. To do this, he created the gloves using powerful sorcery and unearthly materials. He created sculptures of inhuman beauty, sculptures that denied imagination and defied rationality. His sculptures became one of the few popular art objects of the serpent peoples culture. Attempts were made to make more gloves, but they all failed.

The gloves were lost to the serpent people when the owner (not the original one, but one of his distant descendants) was discovered by the soldiers of King Kull, and put to the sword. The gloves were kept by Gonar, the King's wizard. The wily old bird knew of their power, but also knew that it led to doom. So, he kept them safe until he lost them during the sinking of Atlantis (I assume that the date given for the sinking of Atlantis in the CoC rulebook is about 5000 years off, to allow for R.E. Howard's Hyborian Age).

They lay beneath the sea until 12,000 years ago, when a Zingaran fisherman dragged them up in his net. He exchanged them with an Iranistani merchant for a fine boat and a crew. They were then sold to a prince of Ophir. The prince experienced the powers of the gloves, went mad and sculpted the entire royal family into statues of serpent people. The throne (and the gloves) went to a Zamoran mercenery captain, who gave them as payment to a Stygian sorcerer for aid in a battle against another usurper. The sorcerer was later destroyed by the most powerful of his kind, Thoth-Amon. Toth-Amon recognised the power of the gloves and managed (a unique feat amongst the glove's human owners) to utilise them without being destroyed himself. The gloves were given as a reward to a junior member of the Black Ring, who was driven insane by their power and buried himself alive (with the gloves) in a Hyrkanian steppe.

Approximately 11,000 years after the passing of the Hyborian Age, the tomb was discovered by the shaman of a slavic tribe that lived in the area. The gloves were placed in one of the shaman's sacred drums, as they were considered to be a gift of the gods. Several generations later a group of Thracian merceneries wiped out the tribe and carried the gloves back as booty to Thrace. There the gloves went through a succession of owners (all of whom were destroyed by the glove's power), until the mother of the last owner sealed them up in one of her late son's statues. The statue was sold to an Ithican merchant and was bought and sold several times during the next sixty years.

The statue eventually made its way to Athens and from there to the Great Library of Alexandria. The statue remained there for two hundred years until the library was burnt to the ground by the Romans. The statue was taken to Rome by one of Caesar's centurions. There, the statue remained until the Centurian retired to Herculaneum. The statue remained in his family until the eruption of Vesuvius in 79AD when it was buried under a thick layer of ash with the rest of the town.

It was not until 1709, during the Austrian occupation of Italy, that Herculaneum was dug up. That staue remained buried until 1713, when an Austrian nobleman named Wolfgang Von Bulow saw it in one of the newly excavated portions of the town. He bought it and transported it to his home in mountainous western Austria, near Schruns. Von Bulow lived in an ancient schloss in the alps, and the statue remained there until his death. The statue would have probably remained there until this very day, if not for an accident five years later.

Von Bulow's grand-daughter, Michelle (Von Bulow junior married a french woman, he was something of an oddity), aged twelve, was playing hide and seek with her little brother. He hid behind the statue, and when she caught him, he knocked it over, and it was smashed on the stone floor. Both children were given a stern ticking off by their father, but what he failed to notice was that Michelle had pocketed the gloves. She was fascinated by them and wore them in secret, experimenting with their "delightful" powers and losing her soul piece by piece at each wearing. Her spirit was strong and none since Thoth-Amon had worn the gloves for so long and with so little ill effect. However, the end came when the desire to sculpt overcame her and she ran amok in the castle, one dark and stormy winter's night.

After a month's silence, local villagers plucked up their courage and investigated the castle. What they found entered into village folklore forever: living statues, hideous fleshy parodies of the statue of David and The Kiss, strange cylindrical towers that were warm to the touch and babbled insane gibberings at the horrified investigators. Only Michelle's little brother survived, dirty and silent. He was found hiding under the bed in the master bedroom, beside the screaming obscenity that had once been his mother. Michelle, fled into the mountains. She wandered until she fell down a chimney high in the Alps, both her arms were broken, so she could not escape, and over a period of several days she starved to death.

Her bones and the gloves were found by a young Swissman in 1772 while he was climbing the mountains. He brought the gloves (and the bones) back to Santa Maria, his home town, where they were given a Christian burial by the town's priest. However Michelle's bones did not rest well that night, for the village's Doctor heard of the jeweled gloves, dug Michelle's grave up and fled with the gloves to France. Once in France, he attempted to sell them to a jeweller in Strasburg. The man, baffled by the jewels, said they were coloured glass and offered to take them of his hands for a derisory sum. The doctor whose name was Karl travelled around France trying to sell them until he died in Paris, a pauper.

The gloves languished in a Paris pawnshop, dismissed as clever fakes until 1787. A young English sculptor named Thomas Basildon bought them for a few francs, simply becuase he liked the colour of the "glass". They remained, unworn in his studio in the artists quarter of Paris until 1788, when drunk and penniless, his hopes destroyed, he decided to kill himself. Putting them on accidently, just before he was about to do the deed, he discovered their unique powers and began to sculpt like never before. He rocketed to fame, making more sculptures in a week, then most do in a year. He reshaped his mistress, Marie Dupont, to be the most beguiling beauty of Verailles. In 1789, a few days after the storming of the Bastilles, a mob broke into Basildon's house and dragged himself and his mistress out into the street, where they were hacked to death with knives and axes. The gloves were stolen as the house was looted and were sold a few days later to a pawnshop for the sum of 3 francs. It was Basildon that gave the gloves the name "The Gloves of Pygmalion"*.

The gloves stayed there until the daughter of a merchant, Simone Boulle, bought them and brought them to England, where she gave them to an admirer, an Irishman named Steven Kelly. Kelly, the youngest son of a prosperous Dublin merchant-venturer kept them as a keep sake. A few years later, disowned by his father, he fled to Chile. After spending ten years in Chile working for the Spainish, transporting gold to Spain from the mines in Chile, he left Spainish service and joined the British navy as a privateer, harrying Napoleon's navy and helping wipe out his fleet in "The Battle of the Nile". Steven died of liver failure brought on by the heat and years of heavy drinking. He was given a decent burial near Alexandria. The gloves were liquidated to pay one of his creditors, a tavern owner in Alexandria. The gloves went through several owners in the back streets of that exotic and ancient city, until the were bought by the wife of a visiting British naturalist in Eygpt in 1843. She lost them waving to people from the side of the ship, as it entered London, dropping them into the Thames.

There they remain until in 1889, a mudlark (a young boy who fishes in the Thames mud at low tide, looking for bits of scrap to sell) found the gloves and sold them for the sum of four schillings and sixpence to Lin-Tze, the owner of a opium den in the Limehouse district of London. What he uses them for, or if he knows of their power, is unknown.

Keepers can fiddle with the glove's recent history as they wish, for their own purposes. After covering the last sixty seven and a bit million years I doubt thirty or a hundred and six will prove much of a problem.

• For all those going "Eh, what's he on about?": Pygmalion was a

king in ancient Greece who created a beautiful statue of a woman and fell in love with it. He asked Aphrodite to bring her to life, which Aphrodite promptly did. Basildon was refering to the fact that Pygmalion brought dead stone to life, while he made living flesh (it was his preferred medium) into the deathly counterpart of stone. He was also trying to butter up his mistress by comparing her to Galetea, the beautiful statue, Pygmalion created.

PRIMARY SOURCES

The gloves are referred to in several books, both Mythos and non-Mythos. They represent the only realistic way most investigators will learn of the gloves. I have included a list of the books and a brief description of each, including in some cases a brief passage referring to the gloves.

The Book of Drad

San loss 1d4/2d4 Cthulhu Mythos +3 Atlantean +8 Spell Multiplier X 2 Spells: Consume Likeness

Main Topics: The Serpent People and their nameless evil, Atlantis, the reign of King Kull.

Description: A scroll of papyrus rolled on two willow rods and bound with a black ribbon. It is surprisingly fresh despite its age.

The journal of a young Atlantean scholar during the time of King Kull. It chronicles the period in the King's reign where the extent of the of the serpent people's hidden presence in his kingdom was realised. It mentions in passing the discovery of a serpent man who had taken the form of one of the king's guard and how the king found him out because of his ophidian shadow. It also describes how the serpentman disguised himself using sorcery and managed to evade detection for several years by clever use of sorcery and drugs. It also mentions a pair of gloves that the creature possessed.

"...once the beast had been slain by the King's guard, it was found that it wore a pair of gloves of most unusual aspect. They were about as large as my hand and were covered with strange jewels that seemed to writhe on the gloves themselves. Gonar, the King's adviser, bade no man touch them and was quite insistent that they be handed over to him. It was whispered later, that Gonar was in league with the monster, but the hushed tones and guarded tongues of those that spoke such, pointed to the untruth of such a lie. A soldier sent to search the creatures chambers, lest more of its kind lurk there, returned white faced and shaking, speaking of blasphemous horrors not men and yet disturbingly like men that were found there. The King had them all burned. The stench was unbelievable and the yard stunk for days afterward."

Location: The book is currently in Carcosa, abandoned in one of the cities many twisting streets and alleyways. How it came to be there is a mystery.

The Notebook of Thomas Basildon

San Loss 1d4/1d8 Cthulhu Mythos +2 English +3 No Spells

Main Topics: The Serpent people and the creation of inhuman and abhorrent sculpture.

Description: A worn brown leather A4 note/sketch book, with the initials TB embossed on the front.

A well thumbed sketch book filled with pencil and charcoal drawings, designs for statues, concept drawings, and other similar things. It also acts as a diary, with pages of pencilled script filling in between drawings. The first few pages are all fairly normal drawings of Greek style statues, nymphs and Aphrodite feature prominently. Later on, the book is filled with pages of frantically scribbled descriptions of dreams and deeds of a strange and unwholesome nature. Pictures of snakes and snake men predominate in the last few pages of the book, with one of the last pictures being a large (two page) pastel of a gleaming many towered city nestled in a deep jungle valley. The inhabitants of the city are not present, but the garish and disturbingly real colours unsettle the observer nonetheless. the gloves are pictured only once, but the hastily pencilled drawing still gives a very clear picture of the gloves. There would be no doubt in the mind of anyone who had seen the original as to whether the two are one and the same. The last written part of the book (dated two days before Basildon's death) reads as follows:

"... (obliterated word) Marie, dear God Marie, why did you cry last night? Why? I made you beautiful! More beautiful then words can say! You are the darling of Versailles and you cried in my arms, I changed you beautifully, why aren't you grateful?"

Location: A second-hand book shop on the rue sacre coeur in Paris. It lies tightly wedged between a book on anatomy and a walking stick in an elephant's foot hallstand.

SECONDARY SOURCES

The gloves are mentioned indirectly in several books the most important being mentioned here.

• The Book of Dyzan includes a second-hand report of the incident

described in the Book of Drad.

• An clay tablet by an unknown scribe, from Trace describes the

death of one of the gloves' Thracian owners and how "gem fingered death plucked his life away".

• The Pnakotic manuscripts contains several mentions of the

sculptures the original owner of the gloves created. It does not name the owner or reveal anything about him apart from his species. However the description of the sculptures describe the style so accurately, that anyone who had studied a recent creation could say with authority that there were definite similarities between the two pieces.

• My Years as a Clergyman, is a the self published memoirs of the

Austrian priest, Gotfreid Braun, who took over the parish where Von Bulov lived. An avid amateur historian, he details several local legends, including one that refers to the demise of the Von Bulov. The legend labels Michelle's mother a witch and describes how she made a pact with the devil and how it led to the destruction of the entire family.

OTHER RESEARCH

Should the investigators think to test the physical composition of the gloves, they will have to spend a great deal of time and money. Research in all eras shows that the gloves are not from any known human culture due to their design and composition. The jewels are unidentifiable in any era. The nearest anybody can come to a definite answer is that they bear some resemblance to quartz crystal, but that's about it.

Tests of the fabric in the 1890s will show high concentrations of aluminium (aluminum), mercury (which is not liquid for unknown reasons), silver, thorium (not actually emitting radiation, for some strange reason) and two unknown elements, one of which is similar to a known compound*.

In the 1920s, the vaguely identifiable element will be titanium, but the remaining element will remain as inexplicable as ever.

In the 1990s, the mystery element will remain a mystery, but under a powerful (very, very powerful) electron microscope, it will be shown to be incredibly dense and to have a very complex molecular shape like a sort of lattice. In the 1990s, it will be possible to date the gloves, but it will be very hard and expensive to do so. The gloves will need to be bombarded by a high powered molecular stream to dislodge the remains oldest of the oldest organic material that it has come into contact with (these of course will be only a few molecules). Once they have the organic material, they can try and carbon date it, giving the obviously "impossible" answer. (I am a little uncertain as to the validity of this method, I saw it on Tomorrow's World and it's the only way I can think of that dating would be possible, bar the use of magic.)

• There was one titanium-oxygen compound known in 1824, but pure

titanium was not tracked down until 1910.

SCENARIO IDEAS

I think the gloves should be used as a campaign thread, with little bits of information being discovered every so often. I would allow the investigators to find the gloves farely early on in a campaign, with the various references to them being unearthed as well as the main plot of the campaign.

My favourite way of introducing the gloves is the "doomed artist" idea. A penniless, destitute and desperate sculptor finds the gloves and is suddenly catapulted to fame only to have the effects of the gloves destroy him. The investigators coming upon the ruins of his studio find him warped and inhuman on the floor (a nasty idea involving cats has come to mind, but I think I will save it until a later date).

Alternatively the investigators could find them in the back of a old and decrepit pawnshop to be sold them for a suspiciously low price. Along with the gloves, they could find a book warning of the dire conseqences of donning the gloves. If they choose not to buy it, that's their affair...

I hope you enjoy the Gloves of Pygmalion. Feel free to use them as you wish, and I hope you enjoy using them as much as I enjoyed creating them.

Till R'lyeh rises,

Eamon Honan

Mage log raw text

Session Start (CatherineWest:#mage): Mon May 31 23:17:19 2010 0200

• • • Catherine_West has joined #mage
    • Koffee sets mode +o Catherine_West
    • Peel has joined #mage
    • MJ12 sets mode +o Peel

<@Koffee> so how is Liz giong to explain the fact she has a loli and crazy Cathy in magican robes? <@Peel> Best idea so far is Norse's amateur dramatics I think <@Peel> Erm <@Peel> How many years would a canadian school cater to? At my secondary school Mari could be a first-year <@Catherine_West> We could say that she's a prodigy and skipped a few classes <@Catherine_West> And that LIz is being very nice in spending some time with her, since most kids wouldn't be so understanding <@Catherine_West> That's Cathy's first instinct <@Catherine_West> Note Cathy is an *actual* school teacher <@Catherine_West> So she knows this stuff <@Peel> That could work <@Peel> Whatever our excuse it needs to cover Mari's present difficulties with lying too <@Koffee> Mari can speak only in spanish, latin, enochican! <@Peel> Mari is just shy <@Catherine_West> Mari is just shy... <@Catherine_West> She can say "Oh I don't really want to talk about that..." <@Catherine_West> Which is perfectly true <@Catherine_West> IT's not a lie, nor trying ot obscure the truth <@Catherine_West> Problem is do we know Mari can't lie yet? <@Catherine_West> :-D <@Catherine_West> If we don't... <@Peel> Probably not

• • • IXJac has joined #mage

<@Peel> What are Cathy and Mari's accents? <@Peel> oh hi

• • • IXBot has joined #mage
    • Peel sets mode +o IXJac

<@Peel> Mari is new england IIRC <@IXJac> d5 <IXBot> IXJac : ( 10 3 8 4 1 ) <@Peel> Cathy is faux-victorian? <@Catherine_West> Catherine has an upper class English accent <@Catherine_West> Or rather it's RP <@Peel> hmm <@Catherine_West> THe result of a proper upper middle-class upbringing by socially concious parents <@Peel> Mari's not her daughter then <@Catherine_West> She went to Durham college. <@Catherine_West> Seriously she has a *really* snooty upper class accent <@Peel> Recieved pronunciation isn't a really snooty upper class accent

• • • Koffee is now known as Mari_chan
    • IXJac sets mode +o MJ12

<@Mari_chan> Mari speaks "old money"

• • • Peel is now known as Liz-
    • Andronicus has joined #mage
    • IXJac sets mode +o MJ12
    • IXJac sets mode -o MJ12

<Andronicus> IX strikes a blow at the yellow peril <@Catherine_West> Ah well... <MJ12> :( <@Catherine_West> In that case she's not RP <@IXJac> OK. <@Liz-> Well maybe I'm wrong <@Liz-> But I'm fairly sure upper class has its own stereotypical accent <@Catherine_West> Despite being a little bookish her good looks and charm made her fairly popular at the Market Snodsbury Grammar School. She graduated with high marks, and went on to her father's

university, that is Durham, where she gained an early admission due to academic excellence. <@Liz-> And RP is below that <@Liz-> Well Liz has her down as crazy british woman <@Liz-> She'll be a new teacher <@Catherine_West> So she was brought up by academic class conscious upper-middle-class parents, went to an exclusive privately run grammar school, and then proceeded to Durham College. <@Catherine_West> So.. <@IXJac> The door to Liz's room flies open, it's Gordon, your little brother. "Mom says come down for supper!" He sees Cathy and Mari. He turns and yells down the stairs. "MOM! LIZ HAS FRIENDS OVER!" <@Liz-> "!!!"

• @Liz- looks at the trio. What do we look like?
• @Mari_chan was last wearing some goth loli outfit that no doubt Kana picked out for her from Japan

<@IXJac> Well, Liz is dressed like a Harlequin, Cathy is dressed like an evil Magician, and Mari is dressed like a goth

• @Liz- starts mindracing, the rising tide of panic approaching from the back of her mind

<@Liz-> "Uh..." <@Catherine_West> (Alright she sounds like BBC English) <@Liz-> "You go downstairs!" <@Catherine_West> "Quick! We tell them we're doing an amateur dramatics play!" <@Liz-> "We'll be down in a minute!" <@Liz-> "A play!" <@Catherine_West> Are we good with that?" <@Mari_chan> "A play?"

• @Liz- slams the door
• @Mari_chan knows if she can lie yes or no at this point?

<@Liz-> "We're part of the drama club. <@Catherine_West> "Yes, a Caroline Era Revenge play, and we didn't have time to change out of the costumes." <@Liz-> What school does Liz go to? <@IXJac> Mari Chan hasn't tried to lie yet. :D <@IXJac> Make one up <@Mari_chan> "That sounds like a brilliant plan" (lie)

• @Mari_chan thinks what a dumb idea, but I don't have anything off my head

<@IXJac> OW!OW!OW!OW!

• @Mari_chan jerks

<@Mari_chan> "What?" <@Catherine_West> "What is going on?" Catherine asks, looking quite worried, "ARe you hurt?" <@IXJac> Stabbing pain cuts her off halfway through brilliant <@Mari_chan> "No everything is just fine" (lie) <@IXJac> The pain is much much worse <@Mari_chan> "Uhm slight problem"

• @Liz- looks at Mari

<@Liz-> "What's wrong?" <@Liz-> "Is it the burn?" <@Mari_chan> "I don't think I can lie at the moment" <@Liz-> "..." <@Mari_chan> "I'll just be quiet" <@Liz-> "We're doing the, uh... The King in Yellow at Skyview High School! Cathy, you're Mrs. Smith, a new teacher. Mari, you're someone's little sister." <@Liz-> "And you're really shy. And you're really imaginative." <@Catherine_West> "Oh..." Catherine says, then she nods, "Yes, if you must talk mumble something about not wanting to talk about that right now... Right lets go!" <MJ12> (Mari's an only child I thought :( ) <@IXJac> That pain was enough for Mari. She sees no reason to experience it some more just for Liz's social comfort

• @Liz- grabs some clothes and gets change in a hurry

<@Catherine_West> "No! We should tell them that Mari is a prodigy and a foreigner." <@Liz-> "Well just don't talk and if you must talk tell them the truth!" <@Mari_chan> "Just say Cathy is a friend of the family" <@Catherine_West> "Both of which are true, that way she can be in your school." <@Mari_chan> "And I am tagging along" <@Liz-> "I talked garbage about being a wizard all the time at your age!" <@Mari_chan> "Oh god" <@Mari_chan> "Just go down and I'll figure something out, you nitwits" <@Mari_chan> "Just be distracting and I'll hide in metaphorical shadows"

• @Liz- opens the door, with normal clothes

<@Liz-> "Okay. Um." <Andronicus> (The King In Yellow. Good choice!)

• @Mari_chan walks out

<@Catherine_West> "Right lets go then..." Catherine says and moves along, "I'll tell them I didn't have time to change out of my costume." <@Liz-> "Sorry Cathy. You're in costume. Yes. <@Liz-> "Hide the goat skull." <MJ12> (counting down time until Mari gets fed up and sets everyone on fire...) <@IXJac> Your mother is standing at the bottom of the stairs, glaring. "Elizabeth, you're supposed to tell me when you have guests over."

• @Liz- heads down

<@Catherine_West> (Okay are the parents downstairs)

• @Mari_chan does a proper a courtsey when she arrives at the stairs

<@IXJac> Appearance+Etiquette for Mari <@Liz-> "S-sorry, I forgot." *look guilty* "We're gonna do a play at the school - Mrs. Smith is still in costume - and I got wrapped up in it." <@Liz-> "I honestly didn't hear you until now!" <@Mari_chan> d7 <IXBot> Mari_chan : ( 6 4 6 8 7 8 10 ) <@Mari_chan> (harmless specality count?) <@IXJac> Sure <@Mari_chan> d1 <IXBot> Mari_chan : ( 10 ) <@Mari_chan> e1 <@Mari_chan> d1 <IXBot> Mari_chan : ( 5 ) <MJ12> (oh wow 7 sux) <@Catherine_West> "I'm awfully sorry Mrs Allegheny, I could have sworn that I gave Elizabeth a note to take home," Catherine says, looking a tad worried, "I'm Irene Smith, I'm helping the Dramatics Club put

up a new play and I didn't have time to change out of costume." <@Liz-> (time for a fawning mother remembering her own little girl) <@IXJac> 7 successes. Mari Legendarily charms Mrs. Allegheny with her impeccable manners and harmlessly goth appearance <@Catherine_West> (And she's a proper school teacher so she knows what to say and how to behave) <@Mari_chan> (watch as Cathy is kicked out of the home while Mari is adopted :p ) <@IXJac> What's Mari say? <@IXJac> (The truth, keep in mind. :D ) <@Mari_chan> "I am glad to have made it to this place of residence" <Andronicus> (lol) <MJ12> (is it all right if she raids the medicine cabinet, she suffers from sudden shooting pains once in a while) <@Catherine_West> (Etiquette + Charisma for Cathy?) <@IXJac> "Oh, my." Elaine Allegheny smiles. "I didn't know Liz had any friends in Junior High, what's your name?" <@IXJac> No, no need to step on each others toes. back off and let Silence play this out <@Mari_chan> "Marillia Caldwell is what I go by, but you can call me Mari if you like"

• @Mari_chan smiles disarmingly

<@IXJac> "Mari, well, I wasn't inspecting guests, but you should stay for supper." <@IXJac> "Liz hardly ever brings friends home."

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<@Mari_chan> "I await your cooking then." <@Mari_chan> "I am glad that there is no problem with our presence here." <@IXJac> "Gordon, get more chairs from the kitchen!" She looks Cathy up and down as the others go by. "Is that really appropriate costume to be wearing around children?" She asks softly.

• @Mari_chan lets Liz take her to the kitchen

<@Catherine_West> (Incidentally there are no *obscene* symbols on it, nothing mundanes would recognise as such anyway)

• @Liz- takes Mari in, hissing "Well played."

<@IXJac> (says you) <@Catherine_West> (No seriously) <@Liz-> (shoulda grabbed one of my old fancy-dress outfits from the wardrobe!) <@Catherine_West> (There wouldn't be) <MJ12> (you should have changed :b) <@Catherine_West> (If there were obsceneties I would have) <@IXJac> (No, I'm afraid there ARE obscene and other disturbing symbols on it. :D ) <@Liz-> (we were in a hurry. We didn't notice :() <@Mari_chan> "You have to know how to say things without meaning anything if you're to play the game" <@Catherine_West> (... ... ...) <@Catherine_West> (Okay she's leaving then) <@IXJac> Cathy makes hurreidly to leavek, when a smell wafts from the dining room. . . is that. . . tea? <Andronicus> (Get Monta to turn into a set of clothes for her) <@Liz-> (argh yes) <@Catherine_West> "I know, but it's what the prop department came up with..." Catherine says, politely, while looking for the door. <MJ12> (that's a pretty genius idea) <@IXJac> Mmmmmmmmmmm, delicious tea! <@Liz-> (we just forgot that at the critical moment!) <Andronicus> (I kept saying it last night but it hasn't sunk in!) <@Liz-> (all our amazing plans!) <MJ12> (spend the WP and change!) <@IXJac> Cathy hasn't had proper tea in AGES! <@Catherine_West> (I might have done it if I'd known that the outfit was actually OBSCENE) <@Catherine_West> (I lack the information that my character has) <@Mari_chan> (go into the bathroom and change into monta suit) <MJ12> (ever heard of playing it safe :b)

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<Andronicus> (Go upstairs and change) <@IXJac> Cathy was flustered and wearing the clothes. She didn't have a chance to really look at them <@Mari_chan> (honesly if mari noticed, she would of kept quiet, joke you know) <@Liz-> Yeah it's been like a few minutes since Flameburger vanished <@Liz-> (Pop upstairs and change!) <@Mari_chan> "Someday Liz, I'll take you to my house" <@Liz-> "That sounds cool." <@IXJac> Monta can't make a full suit of clothes <@Mari_chan> "Though I miss the old cape code mansion, Uncle trashed it" <@IXJac> I think wearing a ragged fur isn't going to go over any better <Andronicus> Can't be worse <@Liz-> "You had a mansion?" <@IXJac> Besides, Cathy is desirous of tea!

• @Catherine_West burn 1 WP and make an exit, find a quiet spot and step sideways

<@Mari_chan> "Of course"

• @Mari_chan sniffs

<@Mari_chan> "Caldwell is old money" <@Liz-> "Oh coooool." <@IXJac> :( <@Mari_chan> "I grew up in Martha's Vineyard" <@Catherine_West> (She would have stuck around right up untill she noticed the obscene symbolism) <@Mari_chan> (coooward leaving poor mari chan behind) <@Mari_chan> (who can't lie)

• • • Liz- changed the channel topic

<@Liz-> >:( <@IXJac> Alright, Cathy makes her excuses and slips away. <@Catherine_West> (What you expect her to sit around in an OBSCENE OUTFIT IN FRONT OF MINORS?!) <@Liz-> (tea!) <@IXJac> :D <@Catherine_West> (Obscene outfit... minors) <@Mari_chan> well lets move on past <MJ12> (you should have grabbed Mari) <MJ12> (she could have set up an illusion)

• @Mari_chan is already in the dinning room

<@Liz-> "Do you want a drink?"

• @Liz- rummages in the fridge

<@IXJac> OK, Cathy is down 1 WP, gains 1 Dox for stepping sideways, and all mental stats are -1 due to distraction and fretting due to missing out on truly great tea. <@Catherine_West> (And no IX you brought this on yourself :-P Up untill the obscene symbolism was mentioned I was willing to stay) <@Catherine_West> (But CAthy is not wearing obscene outfits in front of a ytoung child like the younger brother) <@Catherine_West> (IT'd be morally wrong) <@IXJac> Mari sits down between Gordon and Liz <@Mari_chan> "I'll take some tea please" <@Catherine_West> (BBL)

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• @Liz- grabs some coke, intending to pour it out and start it before her mother vetoes the toothrot

<@IXJac> Liz's dad pours Mari a cup. "Whatever the rest of her cooking is like, Elaine makes superb tea." Liz's mom glares at him.

• @Mari_chan takes a sip of the tea

<@Liz-> "So um. How... was work today?"

• @Mari_chan has not realized Cathy left without her and escaped into spirit realm

<@Catherine_West> (Bah alright I'll stay) <@Catherine_West> (BUt nI got no idea how to get new clothes) <Hizqeel> (Fine fine we'll take out the tacks) <@Catherine_West> And she's not wearing that outfit in front of children) <@Mari_chan> (no go away if you want) <Kerrus> (Man Norse, just use spirit to get the spirit of the outfit to change it) <MJ12> (butcher one of Liz's outfits and get Monta to hold it together, or get a Corr spirit to find her a set of clothes) <MJ12> (it can't be THAT hard can it) <Kerrus> or just wear monta as a one piece dress <@Catherine_West> (I keep being told that I can't use spirit to anything in the real world) <@Liz-> "Hm, where's Mrs. Smith..." <@IXJac> Mari isn't really a tea connoisseur, but it's very good. Liz's father tells a couple of amusing office jokes from work at the accounting firm today

• @Liz- feels dissonance.

<@Mari_chan> (she's gone let her go) <Proteus> Echi Soldier Catherine West-san! <@Catherine_West> This suckjs <@Catherine_West> I was looking forward to being at teh dinner <@Catherine_West> ( :( ) <@Liz-> This is a dream. <MJ12> (the obvious excuse would have been "I ruined my other set of clothes and this was all I had left.") <@IXJac> "So," He says, as mom starts serving out the plates, "Liz hardly ever brings friends home. Do you go to the same school?" <@Catherine_West> (I couldn't think of it!) <Kerrus> (AFAIK, spirit doesn't work on the real world DIRECTLY. If you want to affect the real world, you have to either have the spheres to do so, or work indirectly, via spirits that can*) <@Catherine_West> (Now it's too late) <@Liz-> "Oh, no..." <@Catherine_West> (Unless IX will let me do a redo) <@Liz-> "She's actually someone's sister." <@Mari_chan> "No I happen to be homeschooled" <Proteus> (Ok peanuts, settle down. Give them their family time) <@IXJac> OK, fine. Cathy is outside by the garage, chanting up the enochian to step sideways when a baseball flies past her <@IXJac> It's followed by a young kid, who takes one look at Cathy, and flees in terror!

• @Catherine_West sighs...

<@IXJac> "Dad! Dad! There's a Satanist behind our garage!" <@Catherine_West> "Monta can you cover up the worst symbols?" <@IXJac> Cathy has to flee back inside! <Kerrus> (Just tell them it was a prank) <MJ12> (Kerrus has a good idea) <MJ12> (some kind of teenage prank by mean students :( ) <Kerrus> (some of your students switched your clothes or something)

• @Liz- looks around slightly perturbed. This is clearly still a dream. Those two are still here. But she can feel the crushing mundanity of dinner with the family crushing down on her.
• @Mari_chan decides to go on the offense and tells them about a educatinoal trip she took with Uncle years ago to some real life place as part of her education

<@Catherine_West> "I'm awfully sorry Mr and Mrs Allegheny, but the car that was supposed to be waiting for me has left," Catherine says as she peeks in, "And I have this nagging feeling that this is supposed

to be a prank on their part..." she sighs "Stranding me here dressed like this I mean." <@Liz-> (your costume is like that because the prop department played a prank) <@Catherine_West> (Charisma + Etiquette)

• @Liz- has a terrible thought. What if it's not a dream? What if she actually was in the place she dreamed of, escaped a torture chamber, freed a horrible wizard and can do magic?

<@IXJac> Dad pulls up a chair. "That's kids for you. So you're their drama teacher? Pull up a chair. You and Elaine can talk shop."

• @Liz- realises that this is actually an AWESOME thought.

<@Catherine_West> (Do I roll Charisma + Etiquette?)

• @Liz- suppresses a dizzy grin and drinks some more coke

<@IXJac> Your brother is looking at you, he leans around Mari. "You OK sis? You got a weird look on your face."

• @Mari_chan asks for more tea

<@Liz-> "Huh? No I'm fine, I was just thinking of something cool." <@Liz-> "How was school?"

• @Catherine_West takes the chair.

<@IXJac> Dad looks you up and down. "Like the costume. You selling tickets to this?" "George." Says Mom warningly. <@Catherine_West> Aside to Mrs Allegheny she says, "I'm sorry Mrs Allegheny, the prop people picked this, and with the car gone I think they were playing a big prank on me..." she sighs, "I'm horrible at

spotting practical jokes like that."

• @Mari_chan can't resist

<@Mari_chan> "That isn't all she is horrible at spotting"

• @Mari_chan takes another sip
• @Liz- snorths

<@IXJac> "You can't let the kids walk all over you, Miss Smith." Mom says, serving you some salad with the tongs

• @Catherine_West frowns a little.

<@IXJac> Cathy is poured a cup of tea <@Catherine_West> "Why thank you, I try not to," Catherine says, smiling again and accepting the salad, "I think I frightened a boy outside... he thought I was a satanist or something."

• @Mari_chan takes a mari size portion of salad and tries it exprimentally

<Kerrus> (*a little Monta in a devil costume appears on Cathy's shoulder* "Yeah, mess them up!" *a second little Monta in an angel costome appears in Cathy's other shoulder* "No my child, perseverance is the

way. You must resist the temptation." *The devil flings himself across to Cathy's other shoulder* "WHO ASKED YOU!" *ensuing brawl*) <Hizqeel> (shh) <@IXJac> "Oh, Jeremy." Little brother Gordon snickers. "Me and Liz made him think we were Jehovas Witnessess and made him. . ." Liz had better stifle him before he gives away more! <@Liz-> "So!" <@IXJac> Yeah, peanuts keep it down

• @Liz- steps on Gordon's foot

<@IXJac> Not your session <@Liz-> "I was thinking..." <@IXJac> "-Ow!" <@Liz-> "Huh? Oh, sorry."

• @Catherine_West looks at Liz with interest.

<@Liz-> "Foot in the wrong place."

• @Catherine_West sips her tea with enjoyment and tries to figure out what kind it is.

<@Liz-> "I was thinking... how about... we... go on holiday this christmas? We haven't been out of the country for a few years." <@Catherine_West> (What time of the year is it?) <@Mari_chan> "Travel does the soul wonders" <@Liz-> "We could skip the Olympics! I know you've been grumbling about the traffic from that dad." <@IXJac> Early October <@Liz-> "so not Christmas." <@Liz-> "I guess."

• @Mari_chan tries to think the last time she ate with sleepers, was in the village in Pharos

<@Liz-> "I mean who wants to go on holiday over Christmas anyway?" <@IXJac> AH! Cathy recognizes the tea. It's a Mariage Frères blend. They had it in first class on the Japanese airlines flight back to Vancouver <@Liz-> "So much extra hassle." <@IXJac> Truly wonderful tea <@Catherine_West> "IS this the Mariage Frères blend?" <@IXJac> She regains the WP she spent resisting it in the first place. Why in the world did she try to deny herself! <@IXJac> "Oh, yes it is." Says mom. "They have a little store downtown where I get it." <@IXJac> "Yes dad!" Sayd Gordon. "We haven't gon on vacation in *AGES*!"

• @Mari_chan countines to poke at her salad

<@Liz-> "We could go to... Europe! Look at castles! And tor...tillas! In spain!" <@Catherine_West> "How wonderful! You simply must tell me where it is" Catherine says in her very BBC accent.

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<@IXJac> Mom brings out the roast. "Gordon, cut it please." Dad pulls out the knife. "This looks great dear."

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<@IXJac> He slaps a thick slice down on Mari's plate, noticing the uneaten salad. "A Carnivore eh?" <@Liz-> "Or maybe Egypt." <@Mari_chan> "An omnivore"

• @Mari_chan takes a bite of the roast
• @Liz- eyes Mari and Cathy for signs of magic. Are they *really* wizards?

<@IXJac> "Oh, don't be modest. All these crazy vegans about these days. I bet you like running through the hills clubbing your supper with a rock." <@IXJac> He slices off more for the rest <@Catherine_West> "Egypt is very nice this time of the year," Catherine muses, "You'd be there during Phamenat the old sowing season." <@IXJac> Mom passes out the potatoes, and everyone digs in

• @Mari_chan smiles at the father's comments

<@IXJac> "What about those sexy Egyptian belly dancers?" Says dad, serving Cathy a slice. "I saw a movie once where - " His wife elbows him. "-Ooof."

• @Mari_chan digs into the food as it would be polite
• @Liz- tucks in
• @Liz- keeps getting distracted. This tastes just like normal. But her dreamworld felt just as real.

<@IXJac> Well, mom's a good cook. The last you had was Kana's Jaburo easy meals, and then airline food/

• @Catherine_West smiles politely but doesn't comment on anything as she eats the meal, being very polite and using her cutlery properly.
• @Mari_chan gives the cook a comliment on the taste of the meal
• @Liz- thinks about all the stories of hidden worlds... and all the stories of OTHER worlds...
• @Catherine_West also gives some complements on the meal.

<@IXJac> "Thank you Mari." Says mom. "You seem a nice girl, how did you and Liz meet?" <@Mari_chan> "An extrordinay circumstance occured, and I ran into her in this fine city" <@Mari_chan> "She then showed me a bunch of new sights I have never seen before...." <@Liz-> "We kinda bumped into one another." <@IXJac> "That sounds interesting." Says dad. "What kind of extraordinary circumstance?"

• @Liz- races her mind

<@Mari_chan> "It was somewhat embarrising" <@Liz-> "Well, we were by the edgewater." <@Mari_chan> "And not topic for discussion at the table"

• @Mari_chan steps on Liz's foot
• @Catherine_West eyebrows go up.

<@Liz-> "...aaaand let's leave it at that. :>"

• @Mari_chan smiles

<@Liz-> "Did you guys hear about the commotion there?" <@IXJac> "You were WHERE!?" Says mom. "Hey, did you see the terrorist attack!?" Asks Gordon excitedly <@IXJac> Mari feels compelled to answer! <@IXJac> The inquisition demands!

• @Mari_chan controls her eye from twitching

<@Mari_chan> "Yes...." <@IXJac> *twitch* <@Mari_chan> "It was quite the horrid sight" <@Mari_chan> "Please, lets not talk of this anymore" <@IXJac> "Oh wow! Did you see who did it? They said it was led by a girl!" <@Liz-> "Don't worry, we weren't caught in it." <@Mari_chan> "More tea please" <@IXJac> Dad grins, "From the description of her costume, she probably has the same dressmaker as you, Ms. Smith. eh?" <@Catherine_West> "Now, this is all too exciting for me," Catherine says, looking a tad pale, "I came here to get away from this sort of thing... I mean London and all."

• @Liz- keeps the burning beneath the skin, invisible

<@Catherine_West> "Hoping to come somewhere nice and quiet where I can help the local community and do my studies in peace in my spare time," Catherine says politely. <@Liz-> "I didn't see who led it. Good thing they dealt with it so quickly though."

• @Mari_chan finishes up her meal

<@IXJac> "So when did you leave the old world?" Says Dad. "What brings you to the great white north?" <@IXJac> "Dessert?" Asks Mom. <@Catherine_West> "Well that's a bit tricky to decide really," Catherine says, trying to think of the dates, "What I mean is that I've travelled a lot back and forth the last few years, spent some time in

Egypt for instance. Though I got here a little over a year ago, I wanted a fresh start and this seemed like a nice quiet place to go." <@Liz-> "Do we have any ice cream?" <@Catherine_West> (She's telling the truth) <@Catherine_West> (Easier to keep track of things that way) <@IXJac> Mom brings out pecan pie with icecream

• @Mari_chan takes a small piece
• @Mari_chan thanks the cook on the meal again

<@Catherine_West> "I have always wanted to teach though, I think it's so important that children get a good and balanced education. You could almost say that education is my religion." <@Catherine_West> (Perfectly true) <@IXJac> "Homemade." She says prodly. "Elaine makes magical pie." Says Dad. "If you beleive in magic of course."

• @Liz- is glad that Gordon didn't notice Liz in her room matched the description of the terrorist leader.

<@Catherine_West> "Oh I do," Catherine says as she tastes the pie. <@Liz-> "Nobody could not believe in magic after tasting this." <@Catherine_West> "Indeed."

• @Mari_chan has some peacon pie

<@IXJac> It's good pie, but the hyperbole irritates Mari. TRUE Magick is far greater than mere pie! <@IXJac> People need to be told! <@Mari_chan> "Magick of course is bigger then pie, take for instance the fellow who went all crazy and blowing up piplines, magic thought did that"

• @Mari_chan says telining liz

<@Mari_chan> (telling) <@Liz-> "Oh Mari. :3" <@IXJac> Everyone blinks <@Liz-> "you're totally like me when I was your age." <@Liz-> "I didn't give mom and dad a break." <@IXJac> "Still don't." Coughs dad <@Liz-> "Hey!"

• @Liz- pouts

<@IXJac> She's trying to cut off a good lecture before it gets going! <@Liz-> (someone link that magic card index?) <@IXJac> Mari has a mind to lecture them all, including this know-nothing Orphan on the basics of mystical thought as distilled for Sleepers by the great Aliester Crowly! <@Mari_chan> "I won't even begin the age thing, but this is a proper leasson, I mean had there not been magick going on, you would of been dead today from snippers, you know what it costed me to jam the EM

spectrum!" <@Catherine_West> "Oh dear!"

• @Liz- stares

<@Catherine_West> "I think the excitement..." <@Mari_chan> "Now take for example Crowley's great babylon working, many people thought it was a bust, but if you look at the works of Hermand, and Adept Flagus....." <@Catherine_West> "I think you are very excited and scared over the attack you saw" <@Catherine_West> "I know it must be hard for you to understand, but please, you're safe now, it's not..." <@Mari_chan> "Oh be quiett Cathy, if you were half the mage Crowely was we wouldn't of been trapped in the realm of nightmares!" <@IXJac> Roll Mari's Int+Occult vs Cathy's Charisma+Etiqette <@Catherine_West> (Can I burn WP?) <@Mari_chan> d7 <IXBot> Mari_chan : ( 7 7 2 8 8 6 9 ) <@Catherine_West> (AUGH!) <@IXJac> ROLL! :D <@Catherine_West> 1 WP <@Catherine_West> d6 <IXBot> Catherine_West : ( 6 8 8 6 10 7 ) <@Catherine_West> (CAn I re roll the 10?) <@IXJac> OK <@Catherine_West> d1 <IXBot> Catherine_West : ( 7 ) <@Liz-> man NOW you throw down the megarolls <@IXJac> Cathy is able to divert a possibly catastrophic revelation of reams of Hermetic lore by smothering the conversation in apologies. <@IXJac> It's probably a good time for an exit. <@Mari_chan> (does mari get a wp for Pedagogue still?) <@IXJac> She was Logoblocked by Cathy, sadly. <@Catherine_West> "I had no idea she saw the incident, I really had no idea," Catherine says, looking very worried, "Oh dear, I had better get her home right away! Uhm, could someone lend me a coat or

something and call a taxi?" <@Liz-> (oh yeah, can I get a wp for a new idea of the nature of the world?) <@IXJac> Dad has an old paint stained coat in the basement he fishes out for Cathy. "Come round again some time. Irene, was it?" <@IXJac> "And Mari, a pleasure. Don't ever change." <@Mari_chan> "Good evening"

• @Mari_chan mutters she was this close to breaking through to the orphan

<@Liz-> "I'll see them off." <@IXJac> You hurriedly exit to a cab. <@Catherine_West> "Yes thank you, I'll be sure to thwap the prop department a good one too!" CAtherine says to Mrs Allegheny

• @Liz- heads out with them

<@IXJac> Liz follows you out to the cab. <@Liz-> "Hey, uh..." <@Liz-> "This is the real world, right?" <@Catherine_West> (And I'm sorry for having Cathy run off... I have a panic reaction to social embarassment) <@Mari_chan> "Yes" <@Liz-> "And you guys are really wizards." <@Mari_chan> "Correct" <@IXJac> You're probably going to want to at least sit her down at some point absent crisis or family and explain all this to her <@Catherine_West> "We'll call you!" <@Mari_chan> "Do remember be discrete in your magic" <@Liz-> "...I'm looking forward to it?" <@Mari_chan> "You do have a world wide conspiracy of people out there would want to kill you" <@Liz-> "Wait, what?" <@Mari_chan> "And you'll probably die before you're 30" <@IXJac> And they hop in the cab and zip off. <@Mari_chan> "Oh well, ta ta" <@Liz-> "..." <@Liz-> "Um." <@Liz-> "Well, thanks, I guess." <@IXJac> Mari, EARNING that humanity of 3. :D <@Mari_chan> "Mari is it me or are you growing taller?"

• @Liz- rushes back inside and upstairs and grabs her MTG deck

<@Mari_chan> (cathy) <@Catherine_West> (Seriously I'm sorry, I'll try to work on not letting surprises totally flumox me) <@Catherine_West> "No no, you're shrinking." <@Mari_chan> "Oh"

• @Mari_chan thinks

<@Mari_chan> "What!"?" <@Catherine_West> "We'll talk about that at home."

• @Liz- kneels down on the floor and picks out a card. She can *feel* the other world behind its face now.

<@Liz-> "Let's see if this really works..." <@Liz-> (Link: http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=43510)http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=43510 <@Mari_chan> "I bet you this has something to do with this avatar stealer of mine" <@IXJac> Roll Arete <@Liz-> Spirit 1/Prime 1, to see the other world behind dreams and the hidden power in the world <@Liz-> d3 <IXBot> Liz- : ( 7 7 8 ) <@Mari_chan> "Now let see, you're going to help me deal with here aren't you Cathy?"

• @Liz- plays the card

<@Catherine_West> "Of course I am." <@IXJac> And the card fills Liz's vision, and then she can see past it, to a strange shadow realm without people, under a pale moon, where lines of power flow and pulse through the air like high tension

wires, and strange things miove hidden behind the dark rows of houses. . . <@IXJac> Freaky!

• @Liz- stares
• @Liz- :D enormously

<@Mari_chan> "Still we should of probably just taken the orphan with us" <@Mari_chan> "She reminds me of Kana, except more prone trone to trouble and less stable" <@Liz-> "Oh man. Oh man. Oh man!" <@IXJac> OK, so, Mari and Cathy retire back to Hasseltine house <@Liz-> "It's real! It's really happening!"

• @Catherine_West changes into something decent

<@IXJac> Mari, roll WP difficulty 7 for nightmares <@IXJac> Memory of the inquisition is recent <@Catherine_West> "We need to report her in to the others and then find your avatar stealer... hrm... maybe I could call upon a spirit to figure out what is wrong with you." <@Mari_chan> no potion helping? <@IXJac> Or take the potion

• @Mari_chan takes the potion

<@IXJac> Mari and Cathy regain 1 WP overnight

• @Mari_chan crashes without changing her clothes

<@Liz-> [00:05] <Liz-> (oh yeah, can I get a wp for a new idea of the nature of the world?) <@Mari_chan> (heal her agg bruise as well?) <@IXJac> (yes and yes) The next day, during school, Liz recieves a text message

• @Liz- looks at her cellphone

<@IXJac> Shrike, you around?

• @Liz- has been totally distracted all day

<@IXJac> Or Beta I suppose. Whoever's handling Chantry business in Vancouver

• @Liz- has got NO work done and been yelled at more than once

<Proteus> Hi

• • • Proteus is now known as Beta
• @Mari_chan is starting to take a detailed measurements of tall and heavy she is in the morning

<@IXJac> Cathy has informed you they've run into a new orphan in Vancouver, one who seems as trouble prone as Kana <Beta> < Now I know why the traditions don't like orphans . .  ? <Beta> er > <@IXJac> They need to bring her in and at least teach her the ropes so she doesn't kill her self, or run off with Sieg and Black Cathy

• @Mari_chan reads another book on how to train your puppy

<@IXJac> Mari is most definitely half an inch shorter! <Beta> < Well she's 17. She shouldn't be TOO difficult to manage . . . >

• @Mari_chan panics

<@Mari_chan> "Agh, this is not happening, I am not growing even more shorter"

• @Mari_chan peers at the marks
• @Mari_chan runs off the bathroom

<@Catherine_West> "Shall we try to find the cause of this?" <@IXJac> Anyway, Liz has been given directions to Hasseltine House <@Mari_chan> "Yes" <@Mari_chan> "Right away"

• @Liz- looks at them. "Is this the call?"

<@Mari_chan> "Lets take the orphan on a roadtrip, quicker the better" <@Liz-> "...screw school, then."

• Beta pops up on a hologram in the kitchen table

<@Liz-> "I got bigger things to worry about." <Beta> "So what's this about some new orphan?" <@IXJac> You can't do that. She can't just cut out of school <@IXJac> Besides, she'd get in the way

• @Liz- skips school at lunchtime to go to Hasseltine House

<@Catherine_West> "New Orphan, spirit mage with some prime abilities." <@Mari_chan> (bullet magnates never get int the way, they asorb bullets) <@Catherine_West> "Mid level avatar, I think, and she has a realm of some sort in the dreaming."

• @Mari_chan grumbles as she realizes she has to deal with the orphan first

<@IXJac> (What street was the Chantry on again?) <Beta> uno momento <@IXJac> Anyway, Liz approaches the house. Even in the daytime it looks. . . sort of ominous <@Liz-> (oh yeah, Liz checks her bank account on the way) <@IXJac> Sitting there on the corner all victorian and forbidding <Beta> (Link: http://www.bing.com/maps/?mkt=en-ca#JndoZXJlMT1vcHBlbmhlaW1lcitwYXJrJmJiPTYyLjUzNzg3NTY4MjgxOSU3ZS04Ny42MjQ2ODcxOTQlN2UzMS4xNzU2MDc1ODMyMjA3JTdlLTE1OC42NDAzMTIxOTQ=)http://www.bing.com/maps/?

mkt=en-ca#JndoZXJlMT1vcHBlbmhlaW1lcitwYXJrJmJiPTYyLjUzNzg3NTY4MjgxOSU3ZS04Ny42MjQ2ODcxOTQlN2UzMS4xNzU2MDc1ODMyMjA3JTdlLTE1OC42NDAzMTIxOTQ= <@IXJac> DEFINITELY haunted <Beta> Powell Street <@Liz-> (just getting her balance from an ATM) <@Catherine_West> "Beta can you make sure no one is snooping around her family and that she's not on any watchlists?" <Beta> right across from Oppenheimer Park <Andronicus> Cara took care of that <@Catherine_West> (Ah alright)

• @Liz- draws her deck and second sight, and calls out its power to look at the house

<@Catherine_West> (Oh and if she's using Second Sight Catherine should look... different) <@IXJac> The second world is dark and misty here, like a classic horror graveyard. <@Liz-> "...uh oh." <@IXJac> Strange things move out of the corner of your eye, never able to see them clearly

• @Liz- picks her way through up to the door, looking around

<@IXJac> There's a knocker rather than a doorbell <@Catherine_West> (An OMINOUS knocker!) <@IXJac> A huge brass thing, in a snarling lion's mouth

• @Liz- picks it up and bangs it three times
• @Mari_chan opens the door

<@Mari_chan> "Oh its you, come on inside" <@Mari_chan> "We have much to talk about"

• @Liz- steps inside

<@IXJac> Dust motes float in the shafts of light coming in through the windows, and antique furniature covered in sheets does nothing to defuse the house's ominous air

• @Liz- drops her wierdovision since it's getting in the way

<@IXJac> Oh, you can't have both up at once <@Liz-> Oh rigjt <Hizqeel> (oppenheimer park is such a shitty rough area D:) <@IXJac> You can only see one world at once <@Liz-> Ok <@Liz-> Well already dropped then <@Liz-> "This place looks kinda... not lived in." <@IXJac> So if you're viewing the umbra you're blind to the real world. Unless you have high levels of Corr perhaps <@Liz-> "Um sorry." <@Mari_chan> "Well it was a haunted house" <@Mari_chan> "I even haunted here during my ghost days" <@Liz-> "Oh gee." <@IXJac> Mari can lie again. But she probably won't know that until she indadvertantly tests it

• @Mari_chan tries, "its a pleasure to see you today"

<@IXJac> Paradox flaw has worked its way out with the wound - which has left a nasty little scar <@Catherine_West> "Elizabeth! There you are!" Catherine says as she spots the new child, "How are you? I hope you're not too horrified by what happened yesterday? I'm so sorry if we caused you trouble."

• @Mari_chan doesn't get stabbed with pain and does a little joy of jump
• @Liz- sees Mari jumping for joy at the sight of her

<@IXJac> Cathy has prepared tea around a little table <@Liz-> "Uh, hi..." <@Liz-> "Well, why not unhauntedhouse it?" <@IXJac> In high backed chairs, with old, chipped china <@Liz-> "The sheets are a bit awkward."

• @Liz- feels very small in the chair

<@Mari_chan> "Its useful fplace of power"

• @Liz- feels like she's talking to a crazy girl and a cat lady

<@Mari_chan> "Anyway let me formally introduce ourselves again" <@Catherine_West> (Is this where Kana's Touhou ghosts had to be dispelled?) <@IXJac> A passing ghost stares in horror at Liz at her comment, and then shakes its head knowingly at Mari <@IXJac> That's Old Mrs Rumple. Mari likes her

• @Mari_chan smiels

<@Mari_chan> "I'm Adept Caldwell, and this Adept West, and were mage of the order of hermes, the greatest of the nine traditions" <@Catherine_West> "Many ghosts are quite nice," Catherine says, smiling politely, "You mustn't discriminate against people just because they are dead!" <@Mari_chan> "Cathy specalizes with spirits, and i with more direct forces" <@Liz-> "Oh well I don't mean get rid of the ghosts." <@Liz-> "Ghosts are cool. As long as they're casper ghosts." <@Liz-> "I mean get rid of the sheets." <@Mari_chan> "Anyway you have awakened" <@Mari_chan> "Pay attection to me!" <@IXJac> Liz is babbling again

• @Mari_chan slams her foot on the ground again using forces to make it louder

<@IXJac> CRACK

• @Liz- peers around wondering if there are any ghosts
• @Liz- jumps

<@Liz-> "Er!" <@IXJac> The ghosts all jump as well, and flee through the walls <@Mari_chan> "I don't talk just to hear myself talk" <@Mari_chan> "I am telling you important things about your world" <@Mari_chan> "Unless you want to ahve your life exptencacy be meassured in days rather then in years"

• @Liz- shrinks back into the chair and is quiet

<@Mari_chan> "Now sit back and be quiet" <@Mari_chan> "And keep your eyes on me" <@IXJac> Mari begins to lecture.

• @Catherine_West sips her tea quietly as Mari seems to have things well in hand.

<@IXJac> What topics is she covering?

• @Mari_chan procedes to give her a basicd rundown on traditions and the technocracy at first
• @Mari_chan explains to her that there is a war going on for the soul of hummanity, and the currently the technomancers are stiffling it with their victories,

<@Liz-> What's Mari's didactic style? <@Liz-> Lecture? <@Mari_chan> lecture <@Liz-> "Oh so they're trying to shut the other worlds away..."

• @Liz- nods

<@Mari_chan> and static shocks to those who are not paying attection <@Mari_chan> "Yes"

• @Liz- jerks

<@Liz-> "Ow!" <@Mari_chan> "Pay attection!" <@IXJac> Mari has a lot of knowledge and no expression or instruction skills, so the firehose <@Catherine_West> "Perhaps I should try to explain things... we of House Shaea have some training educating people."

• @Liz- goes into classroom mode, and zones out while nodding along and uh-huhing

<@IXJac> Roll Liz Manipulation+Subterfuge. :D <@Liz-> d7 <IXBot> Liz- : ( 4 6 4 3 6 9 7 ) <@IXJac> She's quite the attentive student, Mari. Clearly a closet Hermetic <@IXJac> Cathy can interject a little about Spirits as well <@IXJac> So what does Cathy want to tell her?

• @Mari_chan stands back pleased

<@IXJac> Mari regains 1 WP if she needs it <@Mari_chan> "You'll do well on the test I'll give on the subject next week"

• @Mari_chan takes it
• @Catherine_West tells Liz about the wonderful world of spirits, she's quite excited to tell the stories about the goings on in the Egyptian spirit world and how you can barter with the various spirits

there. <@Catherine_West> (Roll Expression or Instruction?) <@IXJac> Choose <@Catherine_West> (Expression) <@Catherine_West> d7 <IXBot> Catherine_West : ( 2 1 10 5 7 9 7 ) <@Catherine_West> (Is that three sux?) <@IXJac> Cathy tells lots of rambling stories, quite interesting in and of themselves, but Liz is having trouble puzzling the greater meaning

• @Liz- pays much more attention to the cat lady

<@Catherine_West> "But... you know what I always tell students?"

• @Liz- likes stories!

<@IXJac> Liz listens intently then! <@Mari_chan> "So do you understand" <@IXJac> Roll Liz's Int+Enigmas

• @Liz- doesn't care so much about the greater meaning. It's the realm of stories and dreams! Doesn't need a greater meaning. Greater meanings are for boring books you have to read in Eng Lit.

<@Liz-> d3 <IXBot> Liz- : ( 10 3 6 ) <@IXJac> Ahah, then roll Intuition instead. Add more dice <@Liz-> d4 <IXBot> Liz- : ( 7 7 6 6 ) <@IXJac> Liz has grasped the essential survival instincts

• @Mari_chan produces a list of books to be checked out from specality libraries regarding the works of Crowely and spritualism that she knows about

<@IXJac> Even if she's fuzzy on the facts <@Mari_chan> "Also don't go to these places"

• @Mari_chan lists off the places she knows in this town were vampires are at which may just be ozu's dojo

<@IXJac> Which is good, because Mari is itching to be off. Another day she'd relish staying and teaching the Orphan, but right now there is Evil that must be defeated! <@Liz-> "Okay, I get it. Nine traditions, kung fu, dudes who do ecstacy, goths, uh... scientists?" <@Mari_chan> "Yeah yeah good enough for government work" <@Liz-> "Wait, why are there scientists in the trads, I thought that was techno." <@Mari_chan> "Now go home and get some rest, me and Cathy have packing to do" <@Liz-> "Can't I stay and look around?" <@IXJac> And speaking of Ozu, the Vampire-Prince's new Major-Domo just called this morning and said he's found the car Cathy was looking for. <@Catherine_West> (Excellent!)

• @Liz- pokes around some other rooms
• @Mari_chan thanks the major domo and tell him to wish Ozu pleasent thoughts and she still is thinking about him]
• @Mari_chan gets a somewhat dreamy look on her face when she thinks about ozu

<@IXJac> Liz finds Cara's spartan room, and Kana's crazy anime room. <@Liz-> "..." <@Liz-> "Hey, is this one yours?"

• @Liz- asks Mari, pointing at the anime room

<@Mari_chan> "No that's Kana, she's crazy like you." <@Mari_chan> "Don't go in the other room, and don't come back to this house without premission again." <@Mari_chan> "Cara would kill you if you did" <@Catherine_West> "I tell students that there is no substitute for direct experience! I am about to summon Imhotep to ask for his advice on Mari's situation, perhaps she should be here to witness that? TO

get a feel for how ritual magic is worked?"

• @Liz- gives Mari a look
• @Mari_chan looks at her seriously

<@Liz-> "You're a jerk, you know that?" <@IXJac> Mari's cold black heart is unmoved. <@Liz-> "A ritual? Sounds fun... you're not gonna vanish this time, are you?" <@Mari_chan> "A jerk?" <@Mari_chan> "A realistic"

• @Liz- is finding these guys kinda underwhelming. Maybe these other guys are more fun.

<@Mari_chan> "We live in a dark world, and those with dark hearts suceed now lets get moving" <@Liz-> "Bye, I guess. I'll lock up." <@Mari_chan> "I'll lock it up"

• @Liz- is foiled!

<@Mari_chan> "And if I find you messing around my room, I'll give you to the technos myself" <@IXJac> OK, well, it's supper time for me soon, so we'll stop there <@Mari_chan> "Now lets go down and see what Cathy wants"

• @Liz- slinks out of the house and sneaks back into school, feeling jerked around. Still, cat lady was nice and it all sounded pretty fun

<@Mari_chan> (stop for good for the night?) <@IXJac> That was an enjoyable (hilarious for me! :D) little character interlude.

• @Liz- is reaching the conclusion that Hermetics are a bunch of unstable kooks.

<@Liz-> "I wonder what the others are like..." <@IXJac> Hmm, well, next up for you guys is a road trip across America as you chase Hope <@Mari_chan> I wouldn't mind countining <@Catherine_West> (Written) <@IXJac> Well, I have to set some stuff up for that <@Liz-> I'm down with keeping going <Andronicus> Hopefully also reasonably aganist random strangers pawing through thier rooms <@Liz-> She was just taking a look! <@IXJac> Liz won't be going with <@Liz-> aww <@IXJac> There's no reason for her to. <@Liz-> Yeah <@Catherine_West> "I want to summon Lord Imhotep to have him diagnose your problem," Catherine tells Mari, "He's a great doctor and knows much of magic too, so hopefully he could give a diagnosis." <@Catherine_West> (I would like to continue too!) <@Mari_chan> well Its up to you if you want to break and go on more a bit later <@Mari_chan> I am for that <Andronicus> family vacation to japan then <@IXJac> Anyway, I need some time to sort some stuff out, so no, we can't continue just yet <@Liz-> I'm kinda stuck right now since I was told not to go back to my only contact point <@Mari_chan> if not we'll do it another time <@Mari_chan> so another time <@Catherine_West> (Can we do Catherine's ritual perhaps? TO get a proper diagnosis?) <@IXJac> No. Because I - as the ST - cannot answer that question until I prep some stuff <@Catherine_West> Ah okay <@Catherine_West> CAn we try to awaken the spirit of our Cadillac? :-D <@IXJac> So, let's see, XP <@IXJac> Did Cathy learn any lessons? <@Catherine_West> None that she hasn't already... <@Catherine_West> I however learn to stop panicking <@Catherine_West> XD <@IXJac> You sure? <@Catherine_West> But I have learned that before so... <@Catherine_West> *coughs* <@Liz-> (Cathy learned to always check her clothes) <@Catherine_West> Yes I'm sure <@Catherine_West> You keep asking that XD <@IXJac> OK, Liz <@Liz-> Hmm <Beta> Liz has Beta's number on her cellphone now <@Liz-> Liz learned the basic structure of the hidden world, both how she interprets it with her magic, and how the broader group of 'awakened' do with the traditions and their war with the technocracy. <Beta> "Where'd this come from?" <Andronicus> going back to the house wouldn't help anyhow. No one around <@Liz-> Yay <@IXJac> How does Liz currently view this new knowledge <@IXJac> I mean, she's been TOLD of the Ascension War, but what does she think of it? <MJ12> (roll Man + Denying Reality!) <@Liz-> Liz thinks the notion of the technocracy killing all imagination is pretty scary, and she's got a worry deep inside that she's going to be in a lot of danger, tempered with a sense of excitement

about adventure to come. But she doesn't really feel invested in it and wants more perspectives. After all, none of these 'traditions' match how she KNOWS she can do magic. So she wants to hear more about it

from people other than this bratty g <@Liz-> irl in the wrong body. <@IXJac> :D <@IXJac> OK. Mari? <@Mari_chan> Mari learned that you have to be very firm with starter orphans cause they're like dumb kittens wandering around a parking lot full of sharp glass and in the future needs if the situation occurs

again, make sure she is more firmly in control <@Liz-> Maybe they're ALL using their own story, and she's special because she can use any story! <MJ12> (oh dear, two mages who think they're the main character) <@IXJac> How does Mari plan to firly establish future control? <@Mari_chan> screwing being nice, firmly establish your the sueprior mage and they take your orders till you can expain things <@Mari_chan> otherwords act like heremetics >:( <@IXJac> Mari Hubris +1 :D I think that puts her at about 6 now? ;) <@Liz-> Liz has had the resident hermetics be demonstrably wrong at least once each <@Liz-> So she's taking that with a grain of salt :b <@IXJac> Of course, to do that she'll need a more authoritative form. . . <@IXJac> OK, so, RP votes <@Catherine_West> Iv'e already voted <@IXJac> So Mari gets the RP point. <@IXJac> So, I thought today's session was pretty fun all around, and everyone was in character, so I'm awarding a second roleplaying point all around <@Mari_chan> cool <@Liz-> ty <@Mari_chan> Well mari has been making up for her dimunitve stature by using forces <@IXJac> So, 5 XP for Mari, 4 XP for Liz, and 3 XP for Cathy <MJ12> one day Mari's going to get Life 3 and buy off both her dots of child and her dot of short <@Catherine_West> We need to do a full time session though. <@IXJac> Anyway, gotta run. bbl <@Mari_chan> ciao <@Liz-> You know Norse you're doing it wrong <Beta> Forces 2: MORE LOUDER <Beta> Just talk over cathy <@Catherine_West> Oh? <@Catherine_West> How so? <MJ12> hah <MJ12> Cathy and Mari in a shouting competition! <@Liz-> 'Lessons learned' isn't something you turn down because you don't have an idea straight off. It's something you sit down and think back over the session to find something that spins into a lesson. <@Liz-> That's why they give you XP for it, to encourage people to think hard about what just happened and what it means for their character <@Liz-> If you've gone two sessions in a row where things of note happened to your character and can't come up with a lesson in either, I have to think you're taking the wrong approach <MJ12> Norse is afraid of being held to his lessons :( <@Mari_chan> 25 free xp <MJ12> I mean I can understand, seeing that my lessons learned are a ticking time bomb

• • • Mari_chan has left #mage

<@Liz-> I've got through the 'newbie mage' lessons now I think, time to start getting charactery <@Catherine_West> It's also that the only lessons I can think of are ones I've already made <MJ12> so Liz is coming to Japan? <MJ12> :ohdear: <@Liz-> Unknown <MJ12> Well it's the only logical place to go <MJ12> Chicago's full up <MJ12> 4 people <MJ12> and also kind of high risk <Andronicus> No its not <MJ12> (also with minimal spirits) <@Liz-> The dominant things in each session have been pretty existential and world-defining so far. Not much room for subtleties of character <MJ12> well okay, not full up <Andronicus> Theres no logical place <MJ12> yeah <MJ12> hey Rex <Andronicus> Loguical place is stay in vancouver :p <@Liz-> Logically Liz should be packed off to the Pharos for basic training :b <Andronicus> Or that <MJ12> what's with the "makes good pancakes" in the Cara blurb <@Catherine_West> So when can we do the Road Trip? <Andronicus> Mari said so <@Liz-> That was something Liz learned from dreaming <MJ12> aha! <MJ12> Dreaming Cara Lore? <@Liz-> Disguise (Cara) actually, but more or less <MJ12> Cara Lore 4 (BDSM) <@Liz-> Liz should try to track down some other mages.

• @Liz- types 'Ascension War' into google

<@Liz-> Does the Order of Hermes have a facebook group? <@Liz-> (no) <Beta> The Thigs have one, almost certainly :p <Beta> They're e-Hermetics <@Liz-> Thigs? <MJ12> House Thig <MJ12> Hermetic Technomancers <MJ12> as I understand, the Mystics who would have online presences are... <MJ12> VAs (duh) <MJ12> SoE (duh) <MJ12> House Thig <MJ12> the Alexandrians (Technomancer Choristers) <MJ12> Laksmits (Technomancer Euthanatos)... <MJ12> I don't know of any explicit technoshaman groups in the Dreamspeakers off the top of my head <Beta> All trads have at least SOME online presence <Beta> even if it's just guys checking email and chatting <MJ12> I meant organized, large-scale online presence <Beta> But that's not what Liz is talking about <Beta> She doesn't give a shit about who has more people online <Beta> and who can use magic online <Beta> She presumably doesn't even know the virtual web exists <@Catherine_West> Shaea would too <MJ12> well just be aware <@Catherine_West> Even if they'd hide it as colleges etc <MJ12> the last time someone tried googling "Ascension War" they were nearly kidnapped by Technocrats <@Liz-> Given my formal umbra education was some rambling stories about egyptians from Cathy I guess not <@Liz-> Yeah being told 'THE OMNIPOTENT BLACK HELICOPTER CONSPIRACY IS REAL AND OUT TO GET YOU' means she's not dumb enough to do that <@Liz-> Once it's settled in a bit she's gonna be pretty scared for a while <@Catherine_West> That makes sense <@IXJac> I like Orphan stories. They let us get back to basics once in a while <Beta> don't worry. Beta can guide you <Beta> Trust Beta. don't trust MJ12 <@Catherine_West> Just don't listen to our local technocrats <@Catherine_West> Yes! <@Catherine_West> Don't trust MJ12 <MJ12> what? <Beta> After all, the Majestic 12 are technocratic! <MJ12> I'm right <MJ12> When Kana tried googling "Ascension War" she DID end up attracting Technocrat attention way back when <@Liz-> I'm actually annoyed I didn't think to play up the fear during the session, but I guess Liz was so busy being annoyed with Mari she didn't realise until halfway back to school that she is in terrible

danger. <MJ12> she was doing it on purpose and got their priorities mixed up... <@Liz-> The similarly truant boy checking her out on the bus saw her blink and mouth 'oh shit' halfway through the journey. <@IXJac> It's funny, because most of the party thinks Mari is an adorable fire-loli. And Liz seems to be the only one who sees her true self. :D <@Liz-> The electric shocks helped. Pain dispels illusions <@Liz-> Sometimes only the dreamer can see the truth~ <MJ12> When does Mari buy Torture :( <@Catherine_West> BTW <@Catherine_West> I tried playing Cathy as being more stable <@Catherine_West> Not so batty <@Catherine_West> But everyone was in a hurry <MJ12> Mari's teaching skills need work <MJ12> Well I think Liz hasn't cottoned on that this isn't going to be fiction yet, maybe? <MJ12> and subconsciously thinks that she's the main character, of course there'll be danger but she'll prevail in the end! <MJ12> (and the enemy will run off to Mars to set up the inevitable sequel) <@Catherine_West> Indeed <@Catherine_West> BTW please help me have Cathy grow more "normal" <@IXJac> That's very much up to you alone, Norse <@Catherine_West> Basically since she's been forced to confront certain things about herself she's not so much in denial anymore. <@IXJac> But do you REALLY want "normal?" <MJ12> (he wants "blushing maiden") <MJ12> *blushblush* <@Catherine_West> What do you mean? <Beta> I found it funny how Cathy ran away when she found out she was wearing sexualized clothing <@Catherine_West> I mean less batty :-P <@Catherine_West> Why? <Beta> As opposed to blushing then going "Oh my god, what? Are you serious!" (because she didn't know!) and then bullshitting her way to the prank thing :p <@Catherine_West> I just didn't think of it <@Catherine_West> I got brain freesze <@Catherine_West> Freeze <MJ12> it happens <@Catherine_West> Anyway von Flammenberg will be back I think. <@IXJac> See, cathy is actually a prude. Clearly Von Flammenberg was mocking her. <Andronicus> You know <@Catherine_West> What? <Andronicus> If Oseng does make a character/s him and Peel and form team Orphan/Youngling <@Catherine_West> Yes? <@Liz-> Then we'd pick up Mari and Ichi too <@Liz-> For the complete Team Teen <Andronicus> Nah you can't have Mari <Andronicus> She's a power grade above <MJ12> Teen Ascension <@Liz-> Well we'd have a pretty limited repertoire <Andronicus> The idea is so you guys have the chance to do some stories which aren't at a higher difficulty level <@IXJac> Anyway, I think Peel is doing a great job of playing Liz <@IXJac> I'm enjoying these sessions. :D <@Liz-> It's good fun <MJ12> What is the rough power level scale? <MJ12> Mari/Cara/Kana are holding on the top <@Liz-> Like I said anyway <Andronicus> Everytime has a Sphere at 4 and at least 1 Arete 5 <Andronicus> Team <@Liz-> You guys are overstating how supposedly crazy she is <MJ12> and then you have Cathy/Ichi right behind <@Liz-> Junko was crazy. <Andronicus> Well everyone's crazy <@Liz-> Liz is just flighty <MJ12> Westin and Proteus after and then Liz/Derek? <MJ12> although Ichi's power level is dependent on him USING it... <@Liz-> Derek and Liz AGAINST THE WORLD <@IXJac> Cathy is actually fairly normal IC. It's just all the OOC nonsense you guys add in. ;) <MJ12> and Cathy's a specialist instrument <@Catherine_West> Yes that she is. <@IXJac> I mean, what you're really complaining about is that she's not a steely-eyed woman of action. But that's hardly normal <@Liz-> Liz is the most mentally healthy member of Team Spirit <MJ12> I'm not complaining! <@Liz-> No addictions, no obsessions, no delusions, no nightmares <MJ12> I'm allowed to rib her for being normal right? :( <MJ12> instead of a killer alien robot <@IXJac> Well, she DOES have a dream realm <MJ12> the dream realm is pretty cool <@Liz-> That's just an active imagination! <Beta> I dunno how you're defining power level there MJ <@IXJac> That's fairly delusionary <@Liz-> I guess <Beta> But Proteus has arete equal to the best and the most spheres of any PC <MJ12> RAW POWER <Beta> Unless it's just 'FIREpower level' <Hizqeel> <MJ12> although Ichi's power level is dependent on him USING it... <Andronicus> Unlimited firepower! <@Liz-> So do you have any ideas where (and when :>) Liz is going next? <Hizqeel> I look forward to killing people <Hizqeel> The moment I can do it without being shredded by a HITMark <MJ12> As far as overall versatility levels <@IXJac> Oh yes. Liz will be involved in the next Japan session <MJ12> bah, stop being so afraid of the HITMarks <@Liz-> Of course the funny thing is that Ichi caveat goes for every mage <Andronicus> IX'll prolly send you to Japan <MJ12> you've got ridiculous firepower <@Liz-> yay <MJ12> Oh <MJ12> this could get... interesting :D <Hizqeel> I have prime 3 now. <Hizqeel> can't I conjure shit outta nowhere? :V <MJ12> yes. RIDICULOUS firepower <MJ12> just use it <Hizqeel> Bwahahahah <@Liz-> Every single mage has Unlimited Cosmic Power. They just don't have the will and mental state to use it <@IXJac> You can do that with Prime 2 <MJ12> anyhow, if we're talking overall versatility <Hizqeel> Oh. <MJ12> I think #1 is Proteus <Hizqeel> Well, what did prime 3 net me hen <Hizqeel> then* <MJ12> (who can do almost anything reasonably well with his current sphere list) <Hizqeel> apart from node-related useful things <MJ12> then you have Cara <Andronicus> Make Talismens <Andronicus> Refine Tass <MJ12> and Kana <Andronicus> Some other stuff <MJ12> and then it gets hard to define <@Liz-> Now Liz has downtime she's gonna be making her own cards <@Liz-> No more M:TG cribbing

• @Liz- DLed the Magic Set Editor

<@Catherine_West> I am thinking of going straight to Prime 3 <@Catherine_West> *very* useful for a spirit mage. <Hizqeel> well, Ichi is second only to Mari in terms of blatant vulgar murderpowr <Andronicus> Anyhow look with not dying in Japan <MJ12> In general I'd say it's like this: <MJ12> TOP TIER: Proteus, Kana, Cara (Mari?) <MJ12> MIDDLE TIER: (Mari?) Cathy, Westin, (Ichi?) <MJ12> BOTTOM TIER: Ichi, Liz, Derek <Andronicus> Anyhow good luck with not dying in Japan <MJ12> er, the last one should be (Ichi?) <Hizqeel> Bottom tier? <Hizqeel> Excuse me? <MJ12> the parantheses-question marks are people who are in between <Andronicus> (Note: Everyone needs not-dying luck unless your killing rats in the celler of the Pharos) <Hizqeel> Middle tier with the other Arete 4s and for some reason you. <Andronicus> Mari's top teir. Forces 4/Prime 4 <MJ12> Mari's pretty focused <@Liz-> And Arete 5 <Andronicus> Doesn't matter <Andronicus> She'd melt most of us if she wanted to <Hizqeel> Mari's also got a really obvious and easy focus for her forces <Hizqeel> I don't. <MJ12> That just means a bit of creativity <MJ12> You're a technomancer <Hizqeel> Unless you guys are willing to get used to seeing lightning arcing everywhere, because that is the most relevant killy element :p <MJ12> you're in a world surrounded by gadgets <MJ12> lightning? <MJ12> Eze, some example For3/(X) effects Ichi can do <Hizqeel> Ichi is not just a technomancer, how many times must I tell you that <MJ12> "That guy over there? He's taking his call on one of those Israeli special cell phones. It goes boom." <Hizqeel> I mean, not a gadgeteer <Hizqeel> That's one guy. <Hizqeel> Not 20, like Mari. <MJ12> that's just one example <MJ12> "the transformer overloads and EXPLODES." <MJ12> "I hit the HITMark in its fusion reactor and like any good popular culture fusion reactor it blows up." <MJ12> "I override the steering mechanism on the car and cause it to accelerate uncontrollably, crushing the Man in Black." <MJ12> etc <MJ12> lots of ways you can do Forces as a VA <MJ12> your paradigm is a net benefit to you <Hizqeel> mmm...the hitmark thing is a bit of a stretch <Hizqeel> given that they're overdesigned Techno cyborgs <MJ12> You'd need a bunch of sux <Beta> You're a technomancer <MJ12> but if you're trying to kill 20 guys you'll HAVE a bunch of sux <Beta> That just means your foci are technology-based <Hizqeel> but overriding the braking system of the car in the more advanced world that is the WoD, that's kosher <Andronicus> Well its just an example you can expand. Through sometimes you HAVE to go vulgar <Hizqeel> any electrical system is easy access for me <Andronicus> The mechanic lied and used sub-par chinese parts. :( <Hizqeel> "it overloads." *BZZRT* <MJ12> it's a Toyota, Rex <MJ12> did you hear about the Prius problems with braking? <Hizqeel> of course <Hizqeel> everything is reliant on sux <Hizqeel> and not botching <Hizqeel> and... <MJ12> Running people over with cars is 200% coincidental as long as they're toyotas

• Hizqeel looks at IXbot

<MJ12> if you keep worrying about botching you'll never get anywhere :( <MJ12> accept that sometimes you'll botch and such the 'dox <MJ12> (you can spend WP to avoid the 'dox/fallout from a botch though as I understand) <MJ12> (if you didn't spend it on the roll) <@Catherine_West> BTW did Cathy recover her revolver? <Andronicus> Yeah I heard about that MJ <Andronicus> But as a white european descendent I'm supposed to make digs at china because I'm terrified at their birth rate <MJ12> If we ever go to LA given the number of Toyotas here it'll be 300% coincidental <MJ12> "A Prius with a drunken celebrity inside swerves out of a side street and runs him over!" <@Liz-> Make any car failure matter rote coincidental by changing the brand tag to Skoda at the same time. <MJ12> hah <MJ12> I'm really curious how Liz is going to fit in with the Japan group <MJ12> looking forward to it <@Catherine_West> Are there ANY cincidental spirit rotes? <@Liz-> Spirit sight <@Liz-> Take a pill first, people will think you're hallucinating <Beta> WEll liz is a bit young but a 17 year old dating a 20something probably isn't odd in Japan! <Beta> :p <Andronicus> Proteus you dog <MJ12> lol <@Liz-> Well Proteus is probably technically five or something <@Liz-> And Liz will lie about her age to get served in bars :b

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<@Catherine_West> If we awaken the spirit of the car Catherine will call it Christine <@Catherine_West> :-D <@Catherine_West> (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I98L5imvTh4&feature=related)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I98L5imvTh4&feature=related <@Liz-> Liz needs to awaken the spirit of her old deck of playing cards <Beta> Proteus needs to get Westin drunk <@Liz-> Folded, chipped and curled. She can read your hand with a glance :b <Beta> psh I can do that too <@Liz-> Yeah but I can do it in a techno construct! <Beta> enjoy dox. :p <@Liz-> WITHOUT going mad or summoning black holes! <Beta> all mystic magic is vulgar in a construct <@Liz-> She's not using mystic magic <@Catherine_West> Alright now... <@Catherine_West> Can an awakened car do *that*? <@Liz-> She's using the fact that she's had the cards for more than a decade <@Liz-> And knows what they all look like :b <Beta> That's not awakening them then :p <@Catherine_West> Seriously would an awakened car be like Christine? Only hopefully not so evil? <@Liz-> But that's why she's going to awaken them! <@Liz-> they're old and worn and have emotional significance <Beta> 'christine' and 'not so evil' don't go together <Beta> Christine's DEFINING FACTOR is that she was evil! <Beta> If you want a happy car, get a nekobus <MJ12> catbuses?

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<Hizqeel> lol @ topic <Hizqeel> Also, Liz is gonna be in heaven when Ichi returns to Japan <@Catherine_West> I just got a 1958 Cadillac Eldorado Brougham <@Catherine_West> (Don't you love knowing vampires?) <Hizqeel> with Shu in town, having finally learned to properly speak english lest Ichi strangle him <Hizqeel> tow* <@Catherine_West> Cathy is gonna awaken it <@Catherine_West> Bedtime now though <Hizqeel> Shu's not really the prettyboy though <Beta> Poor Shu <Beta> but ninjas need no women >:( <@Liz-> How old is Shu anyway? <Beta> 2x <Beta> I could totally see Liz dating Ichi <MJ12> Most of the characters are mid-late twenties <Beta> because he's got like 1D against social attacks <MJ12> Proteus being the youngest at like... 4 <MJ12> and Cathy apparently being the oldest at 32 <Hizqeel> Shu is 20 going on 140 <MJ12> if we take age as "current day - birthday" then Shu's the oldest <MJ12> at like 180 years old <@Liz-> Well discounting Kana as crazy <MJ12> (he was kind of not around for 160 of those though) <Beta> Liz would totally wrap ichi around her finger <@Liz-> Liz and Shu are the only two teens available <@Liz-> Er, Liz an dichi <MJ12> Derek <MJ12> Derek's like 19 or so <@Liz-> So they'd probably do at least one date <@Liz-> Is he? <MJ12> he's ALSO cute~ <MJ12> (and has charisma) <@Liz-> I figured he was 20-30 <MJ12> he might be taken though <@Liz-> Well that changes everything <MJ12> I thought he was really young <@Liz-> Nah she'll die and Liz will snare him on the rebound <MJ12> he's probably early twenties at most <@Liz-> Well 20 is the max limit by the /2+7 rule <Hizqeel> Derek is kinda taken. <Hizqeel> Sort of. <MJ12> Love triangle! <Hizqeel> Not in the relationship sense but in the 'heart is unavailable' sense <@Liz-> He has Life 3 <Beta> Derek ALSO has 1D defense against social attacks! <@Liz-> He can make more <MJ12> he lacks Prime 2 <MJ12> :( <@Liz-> I need to get my manipulation hat on for Liz <Hizqeel> Ichi is a data ninja. <Hizqeel> No love triangle bullshit for him >:( <Hizqeel> "So who's this other guy" <Hizqeel> "nobody"

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<Hizqeel> "bullshit, i'm gone *bzt*" <Koffee> mage talk still going on? <Beta> And then Liz uses her man+sub 7 <MJ12> we're trying to set up a relationship chart <Beta> "But Ichiiiii I thought we had something going on!" <MJ12> Mari's is easy <Beta> d7 <IXBot> Beta : ( 1 5 8 7 5 2 7 ) <Beta> d1 <IXBot> Beta : ( 1 ) <@Liz-> lol <Beta> oh man <Beta> Ichi botches! <MJ12> Come back to her arms! <Koffee> Mari is not a easy girl <Koffee> :( <Beta> He spends his tass on a new present <@Liz-> :d <@Liz-> :D <MJ12> Mari really looks up to Cara <Andronicus> She should <MJ12> and is contemptuous of everyone else <MJ12> except the Technocrats <MJ12> her relationship with them is "would set on fire if possible" <MJ12> so yeah, easy to draw out <MJ12> hey Rex have you figured out what Cara's going to do with Derek? <MJ12> I mean you hit him and... you break him, you bought him :( <MJ12> his mentor is gonna expect you to give him proper care and feeding! :( <Koffee> Mari likes uhm <Koffee> Cara <Koffee> and uhm, <MJ12> Onyx and Cara and onyx <Koffee> pretty much <Hizqeel> "god damnit" <Hizqeel> *manipulated* <Koffee> she respect proteus <Koffee> she likes Westin <MJ12> this is the kind of mysterious bond that forms between low humanity party members right? <Koffee> she finds him humerously verbose and full of himself <Koffee> plus he did shoot Oneeagle <Hizqeel> Ichi's high humanity until he raids a liquor store. <Koffee> and moved to help Cara <Andronicus> Well Cara's prolly going to give Derek a big long speech about teamwork <MJ12> no that's Banality <Andronicus> But she already shepard slapped him so they'reOK <Hizqeel> oh right sorry <MJ12> your humanity doesn't decrease when drunk <Hizqeel> high humanity until Itzatzi gets killed during their first date <Andronicus> Through maybe no speech <Andronicus> Then Ichi swears to make a robot replacement <MJ12> Expression 4 (Motivational Speeches) <MJ12> d6 <IXBot> MJ12 : ( 4 9 4 9 2 6 ) <MJ12> a 3 success motivational speech! <Hizqeel> then Humanity: 1 (Inhuman monster) <Hizqeel> alternately <Hizqeel> (revenge-fuelled monster) <Koffee> you know <Beta> Man, if I ever made a whiskey brand, I'd name it Revenge <Koffee> Hope is going to end up like some hummanity 10 person <Hizqeel> haha <Koffee> and its going to be like me being the villian to kill her <MJ12> I'm pretty sure at Humanity 3 Mari is no longer touched by the concept of murder <@Liz-> blarg <@Liz-> Magic Set Editor doesn't have the full range of colours I chose <Hizqeel> Dude, the Trads are the horrible terrorist murderers <Hizqeel> Didn't you get the memo? <Hizqeel> We're the badguys! <Hizqeel> I wonder what causes humanity to drop <Hizqeel> probably exposure to severe or long-term emotional/mental trauma <@Liz-> Exposure to orphans <Hizqeel> Evil Ichi will be much more fun to play than Neutral Ichi <MJ12> what causes humanity to drop? <MJ12> Sins <MJ12> Doing bad things willingly <Koffee> Hubris level increasing! <Hizqeel> I dunno. <@Liz-> Oh wait yes it does <Hizqeel> That seems off <@Liz-> It has a border and a background <Hizqeel> humanity should drop from either being made less human by events or willfully becoming less human <Koffee> I wonder when Cathy will realize that FATAL land is Mari's dreamscape <Hizqeel> banality goes up as more and more things become "this shit AGAIN?" <MJ12> Humanity is a Vampire stat <MJ12> for actual humans it's "morality stat"

• Hizqeel shrugs

<@Liz-> Hmm

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<Beta> Banality also includes active belief <Beta> Though it strikes me as a very difficult stat to really quantify <Hizqeel> Ichi is already curmudgeonly :p <Beta> You'd THINK, over time, mages would decrease banality simply due to exposure and acceptance <@Liz-> I need a good pic you can draw the power to see the spirit world out from <@Liz-> Yeah <Beta> ummm <Beta> can you rephrase that? <Beta> You mean for spirit sight? <@Liz-> Yes