Ix
Our Scene Guidelines:
1. We do have a time
limit, please try to keep your posts to within ten minutes. I know we
all love to be pretty, and detailed, and awesome. But really, really we
do need to move on this one. There are only three of you, and you blew
through planning, so unless we fall behind I'm not going to threaten to
skip any peeps.
2. I'm not setting rolling time guidelines
because I am still relearning Mage and Vesta is learning combat. Let's
not make ourselves nuts.
3. There may be a coda scene or two to
this one, so don't panic about loose ends too much. This is the only
time I could get you all for a definite assault, so we're doing that now
and coda scenes as appropriate.
4. If you have anything you absolutely don't want to see in this scene because it will ruin your day, please tell me now.
5. If you have any questions - ask. I won't be mad. It's cool.
6. Have fun. :)
Ix
The
South Platte Reservoir is alive with the sounds of nature in twilight.
The dark water looks peaceful and the recent deaths have sent most of
the people who might otherwise be drinking here in search of
metaphorical greener pastures. Everything here is so very green, even
the trunks of the trees and the last traces of color over the water
before darkness steals them have a decidedly greenish cast.
[Please
to roll Perception+Awareness; and, if you would like,
Perception+Survival. I realize you may also desire to roll some other
things and we can do those things too.]
Alyssa Solomon
[[Per+Awarness]]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Alyssa Solomon
[[Per, No Survival so +1 diff]]
Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (1, 6, 7) ( success x 1 )
Alexander
[Per+Awareness]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 4, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )
Alexander
[Per+Survival]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
[Per+Aware]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 8, 8) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Per+Survival, Acute Senses for the win (-2 diff)]
Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (2, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ix
The
three Mages can sense something. It isn't Resonance in the sense that a
Mage has Resonance but it is a sort of echoing of the awareness of the
forest around them - there is a sense of warm humidity that isn't
actually present that presses dreamlike against their skin, the feel of
something gritty on the air that they breathe in almost like dust that
seems to catch on their tongues and in the backs of their throats, the
smell of something damp and decaying. And, through all of that, very faintly,
they can sense an echo of the fading sunlight filtered not through this
humid haze but through oak leaves and the scent of rich, uncorrupted
earth.
Ix
To Alexander and Ian, something is
definitely wrong with the forest. There should be sound, yes, and there
is. But this is all insect sounds. Flies and mosquitoes and droning
wings. There should be birds, maybe not many as the light fades, but
there should be the last sounds of the birds. The sounds of squirrels
or chipmunks returning to their burrows. But there is only the
oppressive humming of so many wings.
Ian Lai
For
all that it had taken them so long to finally get together, once the
ball started rolling it didn't take long for Ian and Alyssa to formulate
a plan that felt at least reasonably sound. A lot of things could go
wrong. Probably at least one thing would. None of them were walking into
this naively, with the possible exception of Alex - whom Ian hadn't
even known would be there until very recently.
Ian drove out to
the lake alone, arriving a few minutes before the other two. By the time
Alex and Alyssa arrived, they'd find him standing near his car with his
eyes on the surrounding forest, a rather lethal-looking katana strapped
to his back and a second blade (a hunting knife) hooked onto his belt.
He didn't look much different than usual (though his clothes were more
serviceable,) but there was a strong sense of something focused and
predatory in his demeanor. Quiet and alert. Like he was hunting.
"The air is wrong, here. The sounds are wrong. We're in the right place."
(As if there was any doubt remaining.)
Alyssa Solomon
Alyssa
picked up Alexander in her red, beat-up but trusty '89 Acura Legend
Coupe. On the way she had given him the heads up on everything: that
they've definitvely narrowed down the source to the park that she had
told him about and that there was a Verbena who is trapped there, being
slowly killed with roots stuck into him. And that they were going to
have to free Sky (the Verbena), possibly free Claire (a Consor) or kill
her--or she may already be dead--get rid of the spirits and cleanse the
area.
All in a day's work, really. And then, close to the
location, she pulls over and asks him to drive the rest of the way.
From the passenger seat she begins catagorizing everything she's
brought:
* Several vials of blood, kept in the pockets of a leather trenchcoat that has had the sleeves cut of.
* A simple but elegantly-designed ritual knife, adorned with several Enochian symbols and kept quite clean, in a belt sheath.
* A .45 in a shoulder holster.
* Five black wax candles, matches, a needle and spare vials, stowed in a backpack.
She's
already painted some Enochian on her hands and arms (thus the
sleeveless trenchcoat--also, no need to pull a sleeve up and draw
blood), along her forearms and on the back of her hands. She's rocking
those steel-toed boots of hers and under the trenchoat is a form-fitting
turtleneck and jeans. Her makeup is symbolic tonight, with dark green
dripping from her eyes and her hair and lips taking a dark forest tone.
And
then they're there, and they meet up with Ian. She nods to him, deadly
serious. "Looks like. Gimme a sec, I just need to get Spirit-suited
up."
Out comes one of the blood vials, when she uncorks and dabs
on her fingers to start painting her eyelids. Red over green. It's all
blood, all life.
Alexander
Alexander rides along
with Alyssa, trying to relax in the passenger seat and enjoy the view.
There’s usually something calming about heading out of the city and into
the wilderness, but it’s just not happening this time. Had it just
been a matter of some people disappearing and nothing else, the pleasure
might still have been there. But, as they say, knowledge is a
dangerous thing. And the little knowledge that Alexander has picked up
about what they’re coming here to face hasn’t done anything to relax
him.
As they approach the area where the three of them are to
meet, the autumn-like aura thickens. “This is it. It feels the same as
when I bumped into that guy downtown,” he tells Alyssa as she pulls
over so that he can take over driving. It’s a short drive to where
they’re all meeting.
Parking up, Alexander gets out of the car and
sorts his own modest gear out. A .45 pistol is tucked into the back of
his black combats, and two spare slips tucked into the pockets. A dark
blue, hooded sweatshirt covers his top half with a bulk that hints at
something more underneath. He looks around, listening to the woods.
“Yeah, this isn’t right.” Alyssa mentions getting spirited-up, and he
moves to do the same. Peering into one of the car’s wing mirrors, he
adjusts his own view of the world.
Alexander
[Spirit sight, going for 2 succs - one for the effect, one to last the scene. Diff 4, -1 for taking time, throwing in a WP]
Dice: 1 d10 TN3 (8) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Ian Lai
[And lo, we have the sensing effects: Life 1 / Prime 1, diff 4 - 1 (practiced)]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (6, 6) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[extending once, +1 diff, -1 for focus]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (1, 8) ( success x 1 )
Alyssa Solomon
[[First up: Spirit Sight! -1 Practiced, 1st WP]]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (2, 5) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Ix
To
the Mages who open their awareness to the spirits, this is a forest
besieged by some kind of infestation of spiritual corruption. There is
not so much one large spirit as a swarm of smaller spirits. Spectral
mushrooms and mold grow on the trees and over the ground. There are
three moving concentrations of those swarms nearby, and one large
concentration at a nearby edge of the reservoir.
To Ian, who looks
for life on this side of the Gauntlet, he can also sense those three
things moving through the forest, though it takes him a few seconds to
filter through the insects and the flora. He can also sense, in the
same area as that concentration of the spirits at the reservoir edge,
where Sky is. He seems, perhaps, to be in better health than Ian
expected.
Alyssa Solomon
She blinks, eyes
unfocused, and looks around the vicinity. One hand comes over to the
inner arm and wrist of the other, rubbing at light scars long since
gone. She sighs a little bit, shaking her head.
"You know what's
nice about spirits? Their simplicity. Their single-mindedness. Only
the high-level ones or ones specifically dedicated to the concept do
much in the way of manipulation or misdirection."
She nods toward where the highest accumulation seems to be, the reservoir edge. "That's probably where we need to go."
Ian Lai
While
Alex and Alyssa prepared their effects, Ian pulled the knife from his
hip and used it to nick the flesh on his thumb. Blood welled up from the
wound, and he put it to his lips and sucked on it briefly, until his
senses opened up to the patterns and prime that swirled around them.
Ian's attention was focused on the forest, watchful for any early signs
of trouble. He didn't ask if either of the others felt like they could
handle what was ahead. Hopefully, if they were here, it meant that they
could. And if not, well. They would either survive, or they wouldn't.
As soon as they were all ready, Ian gave a little tip of his head toward their destination, giving silent agreement with Alyssa.
"Let's go, then."
Alexander
Alexander
looks around, seeing the same changes in the surroundings as Alyssa.
Where she seems to have an idea what what’s going on – and a lot more
experience dealing with spirits – Alexander is still very new to all
this. The forest just doesn’t look right any more, and he moves a
little closer to the others.
“So it’s easy to tell when you’ve
annoyed them, then?” The thought of an ants nest comes to mind. What
will the bugs see as poking their nest with a stick? Alyssa points the
way towards the reservoir, towards the largest concentration. He nods
silently, following the others.
Alyssa Solomon
[[Perception!]]
Dice: 3 d10 TN7 (5, 5, 6) ( fail )
Alexander
[Per+Survival]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 4, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )
Ian Lai
[Per+Survival]
Dice: 4 d10 TN4 (1, 5, 6, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ix
They
move deeper into the reservoir, and each of them can sense the things
that trace them. Three things, until, abruptly, one of the them veers
off at a sharp angle, deeper into the forest. Between Ian and
Alexander, they can find and follow the trails the creatures use to get
to and from their nest.
It is not until they reach a point where
they can see a tunnel, the earth pulled aside and held back by a mass
of roots, the tunnel floor flooded by a few inches of murky water, that
the two remaining creatures begin to close the last distance between
them.
[Initiative!]
Alyssa Solomon
[[WEEE INIT! +7]]
Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (8) ( success x 1 )
Ix
[+8 A]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
Alexander
[Gulp! +6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )
Ix
[+8 B]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
Ian Lai
[+7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (7) ( success x 1 )
Ix
So, our order goes as follows:
Alyssa
Ian
A
B
Alexander
Alexander
[Drawing pistol and aiming at A, but not actually firing yet - still not sure if they're actually going to attack]
Ix
B - who is the bobcat
a-claw Ian
b-tentacle scourge-also Ian
Ix
A - who is a person
a-grab Alexander
b-bear hug (with thorns)
Ian Lai
[Declare: Split action
1a: Katana Strike the bobcat (aka creature B)
1b: Dodge]
Alyssa Solomon
She
grabs a vial and opens it, splashing blood over her palm and piercing
the point of her knife lightly into her palm, tracing a symbol.
Extending her hand out she shouts in Enochian, aiming at the human.
[[Prime 2/Spirit 2: Quintessence Strike across the Gauntlet, focused on the spirit infesting the human.]]
Alyssa Solomon
[[Prime 2/Spirit 2! -2 for Unique Foci (Dagger), WP]]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (7, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ian Lai
[Dex+Melee -2]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )
Ian Lai
[Str+3 (sword) + 3 (successes)]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Ix
A - grab Alexander
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ix
A - b. hug!
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 4 )
Alexander
[Soak - please! ]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (2, 5) ( fail )
Alexander
[Stam soak, pleeease!]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (1, 1, 5, 10) ( success x 1 )
Ix
B - a. claw Ian
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 7, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
[Dex+Athletics -3]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )
Ix
Dmg
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 8) ( success x 1 )
Ian Lai
[Soak?]
Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (3, 5) ( fail )
Ix
B - b. crazy vine tentacles
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 9, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ix
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )
Ian Lai
[Soak]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (7, 8) ( success x 2 )
Alexander
[WP to change action?]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Alexander
[Break free - Str+Brawl, -1 wounds]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
Ix
Your
Round recap:A thing that was once a young man, that Alexander met once
before leaps from the cover of the trees and wraps its arms around
Alexander. Alyssa strikes at it as it breaks cover, but the creature
continues all the same. The creature tightens its hold on Alexander,
its thorns biting into his flesh, before Alexander can break free.
From
above in the branches a bobcat, tendrils of vines writhing where they
sprout from its shoulders, leaps for Ian. Ian cuts deeply into it with
his sword, but the creature still manages to swipe at him with one claw.
Its vines flail at him, but he is unharmed by the them.
Alexander
[Shoot the little wossname that hugged me! 3 round burst]
Ix
A - a. punch Alexander
b. punch Alyssa
Ix
B - a. claw Ian
b. claw Ian
Ian Lai
[Declare: split action again
1a: Katana Strike the bobcat (will you just die already?)
1b: Katana Strike creature A aka the possessed person]
Alyssa Solomon
[[Prime Blast For Realz this time yo]]
Alyssa Solomon
[[One more time! +1 diff so 1 quint to get that shit back down to 3, third WP]]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (2, 9) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Ian Lai
[Dex+Melee -2]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Str+3+1]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Dex+Melee -3 on the dude]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
[Str+3+2]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 7, 9, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
Ix
B - claw a
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ix
Dmg
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
[Soak]
Dice: 2 d10 TN8 (9, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ix
B - claw b
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 4, 4, 4) ( fail )
Alexander
[Shooting kitty - Dex+Firearms+2 -1 for wounds -1 for armour, +1 diff]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 8, 9, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )
Alexander
[Dmg]
Dice: 8 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 5, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 4 )
Alyssa Solomon
Alyssa
is pretty hard-boiled, all things considered. You have to be, to stand
still and focus, harness your Will and take the time necessary to
unleash a Prime-powered assault while others are getting hurt (possibly
badly) around you. And in truth, she was hoping they would have more
time when they came upon something, but she wasn't expecting it. And if
there's one thing you can say about her...her Will will not be denied.
Ever.
And so she unleashes her magic and Ian and Alex do the
nasty work on this side, and the human and bobcat fall. If there's
sorrow, she doesn't show it. She isn't flippant; she has respect for
the dead. More than for humans, sometimes. But she doesn't let herself
feel bad for what she had to so.
She looks around, her blood dripping lightly off her fingers. "How're we doing? Everyone more or less okay?"
Alexander
It’s
over – or, at least, this part of it is over. Two bodies – one a man,
the other a cat, lie on the ground. And Alexander hurts. Breathing
heavily, he walks over to the man that he recognises from the city. He
drops to his knees next to him, letting the pistol fall to the ground by
him, and looks at the man. Still now, Alexander pulls his eyelids
closed.
He pulls the sweatshirt off and dumps it on the ground.
Blood has oozed from puncture marks in his armoured vest, but doesn’t
seem to be flowing freely any more. Alyssa asks how they’re all doing.
He winces as he adjusts the armour.
“Been better,” he replies as he picks up the pistol and replaces the half-used clip with a fresh one.
Ian Lai
Neither
of these creatures deserved the fate they got. They'd been in the wrong
place at the wrong time - that was all. Then something had taken them
and mangled them beyond recognition. Who knew if there was anything left
of either the man or the cat to feel pain or to understand what was
happening to them. If there was any mercy left in the world, they did
not.
Alyssa attacked the spirit possessing the man, while Ian's
sword tore apart the thing that was attacking him. The cat got in a
couple of quick swipes with its claws, one on Ian's leg and the other on
his side, tearing through denim and cotton to leave marks on the flesh
below, but although he registered the damage done to his pattern, it was
only distantly.
Beside Ian, Alex hesitated to shoot the creature
that bore down on him, and in an instant Ian turned and swung his sword
in a lethal arc, cutting the man (or what used to be a man) clean in
half. The creature fell to the ground just in time for Alex to shoot the
bobcat dead.
And then everything was still and quiet once more.
Ian, now splattered in blood and whatever else happened to be oozing out
of those creatures, looked down at the person he'd killed and for a
moment, said nothing.
"Yeah," he finally offered, tightly, to Alyssa's query. And then to Alex, "Next time? Don't hesitate."
And then he began to walk toward the entrance to the reservoir.
Alyssa Solomon
She
frowns a little bit when Ian delivers his advice to Alex, and clasps
the most recently-Awakened of them lightly on his shoulder. With her
unbloodied hand, luckily.
"You did good. Something to keep in
mind going forward, but I get it. You're allowed to feel this way.
That we don't? It's a reflection on us more than it is you."
They'll talk more about it later, on the car ride home. But she felt that needed said.
Alexander
Alexander
looks up at Alyssa, the air around him cooling. Whatever did this to
the man and the cat needed to be stopped. Ice in his voice, too, he
replies, "Later." He gets up and walks after Ian.
Ix
The
tunnel is damp and warmer than the outside air. Thick algae grows
along the earthen walls. It isn't hard to see, with the smooth curves
of the walls and ceiling. There are no other things lurking and waiting
for them in the tunnel, none that move on their own anyway. There are
the remains of prey in here, covered with sprouting mushrooms and algae:
birds, raccoons, foxes, a few people. All this to feed whatever is the
center of this thing. The heart which does not move.
They follow
the tunnel until they reach a small chamber. There are beds of molding
leaves and algae and what looks more like kelp than vines. At the far
end of the chamber is a human-like shape, but it is only the memory of a
person now. It is no longer really flesh at all, only a whole living
mass of roots and vines. It is only in the shape that echoes the form
that any memory of what it once was remains.
And before it, raised up out of the water, is Sky. Ashen and very still, roots threading through and under his skin.
Alyssa Solomon
Her
blade is kept out, held in her free hand. If she cares about the fact
that she's dripping blood the whole way into the chamber, she doesn't
care. She's not heavily bleeding; it's just scratches in her palm,
really, and most of it is from the vial. She's otherwise silent as she
moves along, tensed and ready. She's hard-boiled, but that doesn't mean
she doesn't get on edge.
They hit the chamber, and Alyssa looks it over. The human shape gets a frown, but only for a moment until she sees Sky.
There it is.
She
looks at the others, taps her chest, makes a move with her hand as if
she's firing one of Iron Man's repulsor rays as if to say Let me blast the spirit. Points down (Then), gestures to all of them. (We all get in on it).
Ian Lai
Before
heading into the tunnel, Ian wiped his sword clean and re-sheathed it.
There was nothing inside here that he could harm with it anyway -
nothing besides Sky. On another day, the dirty water might have bothered
him (and it still did, distantly in the back of his awareness - a
crawling, itching distaste,) but today he had more important things on
his mind.
When they reached the room where Sky was being kept, Ian
took a step as though he wanted to approach. But Alyssa reminded him of
why they were there and what they needed to accomplish, and Ian stopped
moving and nodded, waiting for her signal.
Alexander
The
coolness fades a little as, once again, Alexander is faced with
something completely beyond his experience and understanding. The ice
is still there, though, sourced from a feeling that justice – for the
people lost here – needs to be done. There’s more he’ll want to do
after this is all over – fully over – assuming he’s still standing to do
it.
Alyssa makes her gestures. Alexander nods. Back pressed against one of the walls, he’ll stand watch for the others.
Ix
Evil vs Sky?
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
[+7]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (2) ( fail )
Alexander
[+6]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )
Ix
Evil initiative +4
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (3) ( fail )
Alyssa Solomon
[[+7]]
Dice: 1 d10 TN3 (8) ( success x 1 )
Ix
[If you wake your sleeping princess? +2]
Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (6) ( success x 1 )
Ix
So our order goes:
Inciting
reflexive action: Around them the leaves shake as if in a strong wind
but the air is still. Sky does does not scream but he thrashes against
the roots. The leaves closest to him take on a reddish tinge. Ian can
see what is happening by the damage it does to Sky. Alyssa and
Alexander can see what is happening by the spiritual energy that makes
it's way up the roots and to the central form against the back wall.
Alyssa
Ian
[Sky]
Alexander
Evil
Ix
Evil is going to do wiggy hallucination magic.
Alexander
[Alexander is going to shoot the crap out of the person/plant thing - 3 round burst]
Ian Lai
[Declare: Split action
1a: Draw weapon (because apparently someone put their sword away prematurely)
1b: Katana the Evil]
Alyssa Solomon
[[Start Charging Prime blast on the spirit fucking up Sky's world.]]
Alyssa Solomon
[[Spirit 2/Prime 2, WP, -2 for unique]]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (4, 6) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ian Lai
[First split draws sword, second split Dex+Melee -3]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (2, 6, 6, 9) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
[Str+3+2 damage]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 6, 6, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )
Alexander
[Dex+Firearms+2 -1 for wounds -1 for armour, +1 diff]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (2, 4, 4, 4, 6, 10) ( success x 1 )
Alexander
[Well, at least it's a hit - 5 dam]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 5, 6, 8) ( success x 2 )
Ix
[You want hallucinations, right?]
Dice: 4 d10 TN8 (1, 4, 5, 7) ( fail )
Ix
Evil - SPORES!!!
Alexander
[More shootiness - 3 round burst]
Ian Lai
[Declare: Split Katana/Katana the Evil.]
Alyssa Solomon
[[This magic effect? We're gonna...LET IT GO! LET IT GOOOOO! *Drifts into song*]]
Alyssa Solomon
[[Rollies!
-1 practiced, -2 unique, +1 for extending, Quintessence for -1 to
bring it back to 3, fifth WP because WHO NEEDS WP?]]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (2, 5) ( success x 2 ) [WP]
Ian Lai
[Dex+Melee -2]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 2, 2, 7) ( success x 1 )
Ian Lai
[Str+3]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 5, 6, 7, 7) ( success x 3 )
Ian Lai
[Dex+Melee -3]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (5, 5, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Str+3+1]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (6, 7, 8, 8, 10, 10) ( success x 6 )
Alexander
[Shoot the damned thing anyway : Dex+Firearms+2 -1 for wounds -1 for armour, +1 diff]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 2, 5, 5, 6, 8) ( success x 1 )
Alexander
[Dam, not that it matters beyond making compost]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (6, 8, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 5 )
Ix
The
spirit is gone. Alyssa and Alexander can see that. It will be some
time before all of the algae and fungi will die off, but already Ian can
see something vital in them fading.
They are left before the splintered remains of the creature. Behind them is Sky, still tangled in roots.
Alyssa Solomon
The
spirit destroyed and the situation handled, Alyssa doesn't look to
Sky. She has something else to handle, and that's where the backpack
comes into play.
She lets them deal with the cleanup of the
Verbena; she takes her five candles out, sets them down in a circle,
equal lengths apart. This time, she cuts deeper. She needs to to get
her blood involved on this one; there's a wince and a hiss as she draws
the blade hard across her hand, making the coppery red stuff start to
well up. She quickly uses it to outline the circle, fill in the lines
in the center to make a pentagram and then stands in the center.
The
Enochian begins quietly, but rises. She's summoning, or trying.
Offering her mystical energy (what's left, and what she can pull from
herself) in order to get the spirits, if called, to cleanse this place.
So this never happens again.
[[Spirit 2: Call Spirit. Final WP, Unique foci to -2. Taking time for another -1 to make it diff 3. Will extend twice]]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (5, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ian Lai
The
creature came alive, and in the ensuing flurry of action Ian tore into
the vines and roots of the creature's physical form, slicing it open
while Alyssa shot it with a burst of pure Prime energy. This time,
Alexander didn't hesitate to shoot, but by the time his bullet made a
splattered mess of the thing on the wall, it was already dead and gone.
The shot echoed around the chamber, and Ian, with his delicate senses,
flinched as though the sound was physically painful. He shook it off a
moment later though, because his focus was on Sky.
Sky, who at
this moment was barely alive, damaged and defiled by the thing they had
just killed. Ian walked up to the unconscious Verbena and put his hand
on Sky's chest, feeling the man's heartbeat. Memories came, then. Sounds
and tastes. They barely knew each other, but they knew each other well.
It was a stark contrast to the Sky that Ian remembered, this ruined
body that lay before him.
But he was still alive. So Ian leaned
down and pressed a kiss to Sky's forehead, then he reached down to the
claw wound on his side and came up with a smear of his own blood on his
hand. First he licked it, then he pressed one hand against Sky and one
against the roots that sprung from his body.
[Life 2 - forcing the roots to leave Sky's body. Vulgar. Diff 6 -1 for focus, -1 for taking his time, -1 for lore]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (7, 8) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Alexander
As
the remains of the spirit fade away from Alexander’s vision like candle
smoke in a breeze, dissipating through the Umbra, Alexander lowers his
pistol to his side. The safety is flicked on and the clip changed for
the last, full one. It seems that this might be the end, but then again
it might not. The gun is slipped back into the waistband of his
trousers.
Somewhere, buried in police record and on a
barely-viewed website, is a list of missing people. Sons and daughters,
brothers and sisters who will never be seen again. The families left
behind will never know what happened to them, or even if they’re alive
or dead. Their own brand of purgatory. With Ian working on freeing Sky
and Alyssa calling on a spirit to cleanse the area, he moves over to
the remains of the others. He spends a little time with each of them,
checking what belongings may surround them for some identification or
unique belonging. He’ll do the same for the unknown man the met and
defeated earlier, but there’s one person left. The one that they had
just fought. He moves over, crouching by the remains.
Ix
Alyssa begins to call to spirits for aid in cleansing and perhaps healing this place.
Ian sends the roots coiling back from Sky, freeing him of them entirely.
Alexander begins the process of identifying bodies, all but the one at the center have something that can identify them.
Alyssa Solomon
[[Extendy! All those other mods but +1 diff for extending]]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (6, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Alyssa Solomon
[[Second extend; we're at 5 succ so far]]
Dice: 2 d10 TN4 (5, 9) ( success x 2 )
Alyssa Solomon
[[And Paradox: 3 vulgar Spirit 2 effects, so 6 potential damage!]]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 9) ( success x 1 )
Alyssa Solomon
[[Soak]]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (3, 5, 7) ( success x 1 )
Ian Lai
Ian
tapped into the life force of the roots, willing them to release their
hold on Sky, and slowly, the twisted coils of plant-matter pulled
themselves from the Verbena's body, retreating like something out of a
dark fairy tale.
But Sky was still unconscious, and now that the
things keeping him alive had been torn away, there wasn't much time
left. So Ian leaned down quickly and whispered into his ear. "Wake up."
(He'd done this before. It recalled memories of other things, and other people.)
[Mind 2 / Life 2 diff 5 -1 (focus) -1 (practiced)]
Dice: 2 d10 TN3 (3, 5) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Alexander
Having
found all he’s likely to for those who passed on in the cave, he stays
crouched by the remains. Alexander watches Alyssa work her will,
summoning the spirits who would clean and restore this place to its
original former glory. His vision still attuned to the other side of
the looking glass, he watches as they start to gather. He keeps an eye
on Ian, watching him tend to his friend. If nothing else, it shows a
side of the other man that might not have been obvious from their
earlier encounters. It shows that he’s human.
If Alexander is
needed to help with anything, like assisting people back to where they
had parked not that long ago. It seemed so much longer than, in
reality, it actually was. Time is strange like that. Otherwise he’s
mostly quiet and watchful, the chill that had surrounded him earlier
fading into the more natural background.
Ix
Sky's eyes flutter open. He gasps, once. Twice. And then he forces his breathing to slow. To deepen.
He knows where he is. He does not, entirely, understand why Ian is there.
But
he can see that Ian is exhausted by all of this, so he reaches up to
run a hand through Ian's hair before he asks the the question they both
know is coming. It isn't even his first question. Or the second.
"Are you alright? Is anyone hurt?" His voice is rough. Hoarse. But even half-ruined, it is full of all the warmth of summer.
Ian Lai
"Sky, you need to heal yourself or you're going to die."
There
was enough of an edge of desperation to Ian's voice that Sky would be
able to tell how serious (and immediate) the situation was. That now was
hardly the time to take stock of the aftermath (because the aftermath
hadn't yet arrived.)
"Here," he said quietly, moving into a seated
position over Sky's body with knees at either side of Sky's hips. Ian
was careful not to put weight on Sky as he leaned over and used his own
knife to slice a deep cut down the center of his palm. Then he pressed
his bloody hand over Sky's heart.
"Take what you need."
Ix
Sky reaches for Ian's hand and presses it to his lips, not to drink the blood, no, this is a kiss.
[Prime 3 - WP]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 ) [WP]
Ix
[And, just so we know
Life 2/Prime 2 - WP -1 D practiced]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (2, 5, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ix
Paradox
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (3, 9) ( success x 1 )
Ix
[Soak?]
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )
Ian Lai
[Oh yeah, I should do that too]
Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (1, 1) ( fail )
Ian Lai
Sharing
blood (and Quintessence) this way was an extraordinarily intimate
thing, something Ian had not planned on ever doing with Sky. He
had not, in fact, done this with anyone before in his life. But Sky
didn't know that, and Ian wasn't likely to ever tell him. It would only
serve to make things more awkward.
And in the moment, he wasn't
thinking about that. He was thinking that this was a sacrifice he could
afford to make in the service of saving Sky's life. No, it didn't mean
that they were any closer than they actually were, but it meant something all the same.
Life
was valuable. Perhaps, after taking it from an unknown man only moments
earlier, Ian was all the more aware of how fragile and precious it
actually was.
He let Sky kiss his hand, and sat still and watchful
as Sky pulled the Quintessence from deep within his being. It was an
odd sensation, and afterward Ian felt drained and empty. But then Sky's
body began to heal, knitting itself whole once more, and Ian finally
allowed some of the tension to seep from his muscles.
"Come on, I'll get you home."
He stood up and offered a hand to help Sky carefully to his feet.
Ix
Sky
looks over Ian. There is a second where he looks like he is going to
say something ridiculous, like, 'I'm okay. Let me help you.' Except,
he doesn't. It seems, in this moment, the kindest thing to give Ian
whatever control he's taking and make no mention of anything. Not the
exhaustion, not the wounds, not fact that despite everything that just
happened Sky might be the one of them in better shape.
At least until he starts to process any of this.
"Yeah," is all he says. Softly. Very softly. "Thanks."
Ix
[But we will heal Alex, if we can. Because some Verbena have a helping people compulsion.
Life 3/Prime 2 WP -1 D practiced/-1 D time]
Dice: 3 d10 TN5 (3, 7, 9) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Ix
Paradox
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (6, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )
Ix
Soak
Dice: 3 d10 TN6 (7, 8, 10) ( success x 3 )
