[Administrator] Ashley McGowen, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Administrator] Fallen, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Administrator] Atlas Mason, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Administrator] Li Daiyu, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Fallen] OOC Disclaimers:
1. Thanks for coming! Yay!
2. The usual stuff here: Let's try to keep posts coming with decent speed, around 10min or so.
3. If anything bugs you, let me know, though I don't think that'll be a factor here.
4. Questions and the like - send it to ShyGravel directly so I'm sure not to miss it, please.
5. That said, keep an eye out in the AIM chat for announcements/rolls I have/need for you guys.
Special Rules!
1. Justine Noble - an Ally of Ashley's whom Staci will be NPCing with my blessing - is providing each party member with 2 Healing Charms. We'll say they Heal 5 Health Levels in one go. To activate you must spend a WP. To heal Agg [and most everything in the Umbra is Agg] you need to spend a Quint as well. THAT SAID: In all of these scenes I am allowing you to spend the WP to use the Healing Charm AND a WP for a normal combat action in the same turn. This 'Freebie WP Use' only applies to Healing Charms.
2. Ashley is providing everyone with a Forces Dampening charm. This will subtract 3 from applicable damage dice pools on applicable baddies.
3. LET ME KNOW: What, if any, other charms/Effects your PC is entering the scene with already active. DARAGAN: Israel would have provided him with a Mind Shield Charm as the other PCs here can do them. EVERYONE: Israel has Wits increasing charms left for anyone who wants to use them, though, again, anyone with Mind 1 or higher could pull off the same effect on their own.
4. COMBAT: I have come to the conclusion that I HATE writing up recaps between rounds. Like, with a passion, Mostly because I am never comfortable with a quick little mention of what your PC just did as I feel it detracts from the awesome that is your collective PCs. SO. I propose the following:
We set up this scene so that the party has already encountered a couple of spirits on their trek to the Twilight Stars location. They make it out unscathed or maybe Israel is with them and uses her charms to heal [so we don't subtract from Justines], etc... In this scenario we'll kick off actual play with them getting to the Star and encountering what is there to be encountered. This will allow me to:
Let you guys write -brief- IC posts along with your usual declares. So it'll go something like this:
A. We roll initiative.
B. When it's your turn to declare you do the following:
"Joe is ready! He's HARD! He's HARDER THAN YOU! He LEAPS towards the Nexus Crawler, eyes gleaming!"
---------
1a. LEAP!
1b. DIE!
C. Then we roll actions per usual (highest in initiative to lowest) and go from there.
This has actually worked very well so far in the other scenes, though it's only really feasible for playing out one main encounter scenario.
Okay! Sorry about the Crusher.
Questions/Comments/Good to go?
[Ashley McGowen] [Mind shield. Mind 2, -1 for focus, -1 for sanctum.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 7 (Success x 1 at target 4)
[Ashley McGowen] [Extending.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Ashley McGowen] [Extra WP rote! Mind 1, Prime 1, -1 for focus, -1 for sanctum.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Ashley McGowen] [Extending!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 4)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Avatar storm]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Avatar storm]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 6, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Atlas Mason] [Atlas Avatar storm!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Avatar storm!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[Fallen] During the day of July 3rd, it was clear, hot and humid. Just the sort of weather that brings city dwellers and tourists alike flocking to the shores of Lake Michigan, seeking some reprieve from the damp heat, some relief from fetid summer-in-the-city funks; some blissful ignorance of day-to-day living and increased crime rates and... and... and...
[the world is falling part. it's worse every year. Sleepers know this. they feel it. they chalk it up to a million and one reasons, tidily set aside, views from the scat periphery allowable by the tunnel vision of the grind.]
Nighttime now. Late evening. The beach is curiously vacant [thanks to the efforts of a certain cultist with certain dubious connections], cordoned off with yellow police tape for a stretch that goes beyond the secluded point the party arrives to. [perhaps they heard on the news and on the street: a terrorist threat, a bomb scare, high bacteria levels in the water - no, no - anthrax in the sand... ] There's the risk that sleeper authorities might still be combing the area, though from what anyone can see the concentration of search efforts seems to be in the Navy Pier [businesses there will suffer at the loss of prime income on this peak weekend in the year. they will curse your names, or the spectres of your names; curse the unknown that caused this though it save their lives. this is how it goes, on the periphery of ignorance and enlightenment].
The sand is cooling now; the moon - visible here - is sliced down the center, a well cut melon. [there's a lady in the moon, did you know? not a man at all: a Lady, with long, flowing hair, looking upon a mirror which casts out the suns reflection.] The party is considerably large. Emily, Kage and someone only Solomon and Israel recognize [her cousin, Issac, a Sorcerer who is filling in the third 'spot' for operating the Talisman].... Ashley, Daiyu, Atlas and Justine who will brave the depths of the Penumbra. Israel is there, bag heavy with charms, a slender wooden staff, intricately carved replacing her normal guide cane. Solomon and Nathan who will be combing the beach to check for possible traps, Sleepers, interlopers, whatever the case may be. Each and every one of them has some tingle of Resonance going on, denoting active magic. The air lilts with it, the clash a curious dissonance, not unpleasant, but not quite a melody.
This is how it goes...
...activating the Talisman is relatively easy. The two Orphans and the Consor stand close together, all three, so that the curious wonder is connected in a pyramid, the clockwork design with its alchemical symbols pointed downward at the apex, the open bottom facing upwards here [see the symbolism? all things start at a point, all things flow outward, unending. power and spirit have no end and even the fixed point is just a funnel].
...the Shadow opens. Before them, see, first it is a sliver of mercury in the air, yes, visible to all present. Then, wider. Broader. It grows. It melts; no it ripples, it blooms. Breathe it in. For one moment as the gauntlet drops steadily, as the cusp of two worlds becomes one, they can feel that this is how it is supposed to be. Unified. No barrier.
It lasts only a moment.
A moment before the wrongness hits them. Something has been teeming in the penumbra all this while: Vile sanguine mists; Telos blood full as a tick high in the umbral sky; creatures, things, dark things that usually linger out further, come like parasites, like opportunists just seeking, just waiting for a chance to get out, to take advantage of what is going on. Solomon knows this, as dose anyone normally with the ability to witness the Spirit world.
....the red mist is there, in the distance and thankfully well away from the boundary between the 'real' world and the entrance to the Umbra.
A shining pulse is there... no. Not shining at all. Absorbing light. Sucking it in. The Opal, one might easily guess. 100 yards? Maybe. It is hard to measure distance in there. The swirling of the Avatar storm is a sheen of madness; is a a glittering whirlwind of shards that glitter [that cuts, that rends, that tears -- be careful, here].
Outside of these things [as if these things are not enough] the way seems... clear.
The team going in after the so called Twilight Star heads in, to brave the Storm and then all that lies beyond. In their passage three of the party take damage from the get go, like blood offering; like Sacrifice. But they survive and that is what is important. Further in they go, deeper...
...a fog begins to kick up, not red-tinged like the mists further in [so red-soaked it seems to be actively bleeding, it screams of Entropy; it screams of toxins]; this fog is like a good, thick London pea-souper. It obfuscates the pass so that the pulse of the Star in the distance hides while a thick trail of it passes; revealed briefly, just long enough to gather your bearings. Gone again.
They are aware of Spirits. Spirits shooting around them, past them, over them, under them [everything is strange here. the normal rules do not apply. a benefit, yes, but unnerving all the same for four not used to the Shadow]. They dart in and out of existence, they scream, they cry, they cackle, they are silent.. all of it and none, together. The only uplifting realization is that the Spirits seem to be fleeing beyond the Star, the Opal, the Cursed Soul Harvest. Small mercies.
On their trek they are attacked once or twice, but such traveling Spectres. The malady that has afflicted the Umbra has attracted any number of nasty, dark things and a few reach ouch out of a sense of sheer, brute malice. Snatching an opportunity. They are easily enough buffeted back. The group in composed of, after all, three wielders of Forces and three of Prime and here in the Penumbra Paradox does not touch them. The Consensus has no hold. Not here. Not now.
Small mercies.
Things to tip the odds.
Israel travels part way with them - her own task seeming to involve helping to keep anything from escaping into the 'real' world via the opened Gauntlet and offering Healing to the other groups that do not have the benefit of Life Magic or Justine's Charms. Before she goes she spends of herself to make sure Ashley and Atlas make it to the Opal fully whole.
This is not an act of charity.
It is pure necessity.
They must, you see, succeed.
Finally... finally the Opal is within view again. Now a mere 30 yards or so. It is here the last chance to formalize any plans that haven't been discussed already....
...from the pulsing [sucking in, absorbing, eating, starved] light of the Star comes the sounds of conflict.
[Administrator] Wharil Choc, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Atlas Mason] Atlas pauses here, his odd contraption already strapped to the side of his head, ready to be used at a moments notice. His hand gun is out and ready to be aimed at anything that menaces them as well as he looks to Daiyu, Ashley and Wharil, only one of them the man has never met. The others he has some idea of their capabilities, but Wharil is an uknown factor, which could be a problem in this situation.
Atlas speaks up now. This had to be decided now. "It is with a variety of theorums and projections that I formulate this hypothesis, capture and quantification of the aberrant factor known as the Twilight Star is untenuable. While it's intrinsic value and the comparative data that could be retrieved from its form is quantifiably significant, its inherent structure is dynamically unstable and significant exposure to its presence may result in paradigmic intrinsic corruption. Destruction is the proscribed and defaulted acceptable methodology to be utilized in this instance...counter theorums?"
He speaks plainly and concisely looking about at those around him, for any arguement.
[Ashley McGowen] They aren't calling it the Twilight Star. The group has been calling it the chalice, a cup for the souls Edom plans to harvest, a cup for sacrifice, and if they don't succeed it'll run over before the night is through. Perhaps they call it this so that they have their mission clearly defined, their plans laid out in front of them and the consequences kept in mind.
Names are important.
This is the first time Ashley has ever been in the Umbra. She's read about it, heard tales of the things that lie past the veil, but this is the first (possibly the last) time the Hermetic will ever step through herself. She hadn't expected it to tear at her the way it did. Fortunately, Israel is there.
Justine is with them, and Justine hasn't said much, either verbally or through the telepathic connection all five of them are sharing. Justine would be a woman easy to overlook: brown hair kept long and loose, slung over one shoulder, eyes the same color. Of medium height and round but rather ordinary features. All Ashley has said in regard to Justine is to introduce her: Hermetic of House Flambeau, an ex cabal mate, and if we get in a fight, run away from Justine when it's over. That's all, but they move together with the sort of ease and comfort that is generally seen in siblings or longtime companions.
The sounds of conflict strike their ears, and when it does, Ashley halts. Justine draws her gun. Ashley glances toward Atlas and says, "I don't know if I like the idea of destroying it."
[Wharil Choc] [Mind shield: Mind 2 -- Diff 5, -1 for focus]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 9 (Success x 1 at target 4)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [And again]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 7 (Success x 1 at target 5)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [And again]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [Fortunes Blessing - 1 suxx for effect, 1 Suxx/target, rest for effect - Base Diff 5, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced rote]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 6 (Success x 2 at target 3)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [And again]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 4)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [And again]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 8 (Failure at target 4)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [You can do it, Choc!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)
to Fallen
[Li Daiyu] She has been in the umbra before, but only a few times, and only when another was able to open the way for her. It is still a largely unfamiliar landscape, but there are others present who know the way, and the ever-present shadow of a falcon (that was always, of course, something more than just a bird) soared above and nearby, more at home here than Daiyu herself. Perhaps that was why neither of them seemed to take any damage when they passed through the avatar storm. The falcon circled around them as they moved, perhaps even giving some warning of the approaching spirits prior to attack. She was there for that purpose: to see. (And because she never entirely left the Akashic, even when they were not in physical proximity. They were a part of each other, after all.)
Israel did all that she could to help the assembled magi, including charging Daiyu's pattern with Chi. Now, the woman glowed with it. When they approached their intended destination, the group paused to discuss the fate of the chalice, and Daiyu glanced between Atlas and Ashley. She was silent for a moment (like Justine, the Akashic didn't speak much without a reason.)
"It's dangerous, Ashley. Blood magic? Why take the risk?"
[Wharil Choc] [Avatar Storm]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
to Fallen
[Ashley McGowen] Before coming in, Ashley pulled free several small jars of what appeared to be...blue paint. "This'll act as a kind of armor," she'd assured the others, and, whether they were terribly comfortable with it or not, it was applied to their faces: an odd, complex sort of rune that took her several minutes to sketch out with the ball of her thumb. Wharil, Daiyu, Atlas, and Ashley herself each had it applied (Emily and Kage too, before they left them outside the veil) and Justine eyed it skeptically. Woad, after all, is not very Hermetic.
[Wharil Choc] If they'd been relying on Wharil Choc for some sort of inspiration, for some sort of calming, assuring presence, they'd be sorely disappointed. The Euthanatos is nervous. Jittery. He brings up the rear, hyper alert, his attention flitting from here to there. When they'd arrived, the first thing he'd done, before even healing himself of the gashes suffered from the Avator storm, was to whip his head around, drawing the fairly large gun from his holster and looking for---
'He's not here.' He thought to Ashley, and inadvertently to everyone else. A moment later all was silent from him. In their minds the steady sensation of his presence; a sort of crackling, cracking, shaking-things-apart; could still be felt but he'd marshaled his mind promptly.
Too bad he still moved as if he expected attack from all sides.
And during the course of them coming upon their target, there was another sensation. That odd uncertainty, that jittery, chaotic sensation of constantly shifting possibilities had come over them all as he worried a bone knife with one hand, leveled his gone with the other, and tried not to be distracted by the strange runes painted onto his head.
Got to stay alert.
[Fallen] Blood Magic. Entropy.
The Star, the Opal, the Chalice is not even truly activated yet and all the same one can see the effect it's mere presence has had here. The Umbral scape in any city is a Blight; is laden with all the hurts, all the scars, all the innumerable damage humankind does on a day-to-day basis taken Spiritual shape-and-form here. On the best of days the Penumbra around a city is not the best place to wander: These are not the 'best' days.
Even without knowledge of the Sphere of Entropy the feeling here, this close now, of Decay, of Wrong, of Death and Universal-Cancer is strong enough to nauseate. It'll only get worse as they approach closer.
As they stand there now, discussing the fate of the Chalice, they can hear that sound of battle. As the fog shifts and thins, they can begin to make out what is going on not-all-that far away: The Chalice continues its eerie [sickening] strobe; pulling in towards itself, pulling in more than Light, pulling in attention, pulling in desperation of hunger unquenchable. Just behind it stands its chief Sentinel.. monstrous. A Spirit cloaked in shadows; an Entity that easily stands at seven feet; stands immobile or seemingly so...
...seemingly so.
To the Southwest of the Chalice [it floats; it floats above an altar; it floats above bones; it floats above its own Golgatha.] a group of chittering beasts; like mutant hounds with flat faces and slanted eyes that glow red. Three of them seem to be attacking an ethereal figure; vaugely feminine, tall; cloaked in blue-aura; cloaked in violet-dawn. She is fighting. Fighting valiantly but deterred. [from her a sense of something akin to Resonance that is Glory, that is Harmony, that is Avenging]
Grouped before the Chalice two more of the dog-things [no, larger than average dogs.. like someone took the build of a bull-dog and gave it the size of a Great Dane and covered it in spikes that bleed black ichor] pacing restlessly. Anxiously. Snarling low.
...the fog is thinning.
You can see them.
They're bound to return the favour.
[Atlas Mason] Atlas gestures around them, to the darkness, to the swirling mists, the spirits screaming this way and that. "My knowledge of the interdimensional planes and their variances and forms is considerable. I have spent a total seven solar traversal cycles inhabiting this particular etheric plane as well as a variety of neo planes and over planes. The corruption and devastation located in this meta-physical locality is wholly systemic."
He says, shaking his head. "This intrinsic deformation and mutation would be initiated within any locality or personage within its viscinity for extended time unit's. Resulting in a necessity of termination of said personage or locality within 95.749% of all viable cases and scenario's." He looks specifically at Ashley at that moment, and while his headset may look goofy, his face is stern, serious, and aged beyond his apparent years.
"Termination and nullification of the aberrant factor is the only viable methodology at this juncture Ashley, disconcerting as the reality of its particulars are displayed."
He looks at the others around him. "All individualized paradigmic personages capable of utilizing and manipulating primary intrinsic energies, culminating in a destructive planar wave, or momentative force focused energy discharge shall utilize such skills once a compliant beach head has been established. All others negate and initiate interference in respect to all other currently unquantifiable aberrant factors. Prior to this all individuals should focus their efforts on one target, neutralize, and then realign their efforts. " He says as he brings his gun up, holding the muzzle skyward like some officer on the battle lines.
"Are all personages prepared for this juncture?" He asks looking to each of them. On their faces is a mix of trepidation, concern, jitters...on his is surety and readiness, Atlas has been through these hells many times before....mores the pity for him.
[Li Daiyu] They conversed along the telepathic link that Ashley had forged, debating the fate of the object before them. All the while, a battle was being waged, and as the mists cleared, details became clearer. Through the bird's eyes, the specifics of the assembled enemies were relayed, and Daiyu confirmed the information as it was brought to her:
"There's six of them. The main guardian and two demonic canines by the chalice, and 3 more of the dogs attacking another spirit."
A brief instruction given to the familiar: keep an eye out for any surprises.
Then she drew up beside Justine to lead the way toward the battle. "We're going in. Now."
(Strangely, the Akashic and the Son of Ether were in complete agreement.)
[Ashley McGowen] It pulls everything around it toward it, downward, down. She can't deny a certain fascination with this: it's the kind of thing that made Jhor so easy for her to acquire in the first place. She opens her mouth at what Atlas says, frowns as though she might argue with him or at the very least protest at being given orders, but Justine says, "Ashley," in a very level, calm, admonishing sort of way, and her jaws close again.
"All right. Let's go."
[Wharil Choc] Wharil's worried eyes hop from Atlas, to the hounds, to Atlas again. There's an uncomfortable furrow in his brows. If this were any other situation, if he were serving the roll of Cabal Messenger or Emissary he might take the time out to decode the etherite's speech, nod slowly, and agree completely.
As it is, he's too busy anticipating attack from somewhere. And so, he just sort of...looks at Atlas funny.
"Um...Termination. Right."
There was that other word he'd caught and latched on to. Interference. He wasn't a stone cold killer like Rene, but he'd been in enough firefights to know where to lay down the cover fire. Interference. He could manage that.
And at the side of his mind, not quite able to ignore it enough to put it into the rear, was that feeling in the distance. That unknown spirit being harrassed by the hounds. That pale but certain light in this field of darkness. The hint of harmony among all this chaos.
"Uhh...You guys know the one about the enemy of my enemy, right?"
And he nudges his head toward the present fracas.
[Li Daiyu] [Mind 2 - emotional suggestion - hey hey you 3, you want to attack *me*! - diff 5 -1(focus) -1(practiced)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 5 (Success x 1 at target 3) [WP]
[Li Daiyu] [Extending]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 3)
[Fallen] [[Alright people! ROLL INITIATIVES! Unless attacked I won't be rolling for the Angel or the 3 she's in combat with as that's a sidebar right now]]
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: +5]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Atlas Mason] [Atlas +5]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: +7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Wharil Choc] [Wharil +6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Li Daiyu] They approached, and Daiyu paused to work one last effect before charging in. It wasn't strong enough to target all of the guardians, but the largest of the three would receive a strong jolt of anger and ferocity, directing its focus onto the Akashic as the primary target.
Then, Daiyu bolted forward.
[+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Fallen] Methalhiam: +11
Hound 1: +8
Hound 2: +7
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 10
[Atlas Mason] [Reroll!]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Wharil Choc] Cuz the ST said so
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6
[Fallen] Order!
H2
Meth
Daiyu
H1
Wharil
Atlas
Justine
Ashley
Remember your brief IC post along with you declare!
[Ashley McGowen] Ashley reaches for the glass link at her throat and works to create a link between the three targets, bending the space between each point so that it's all one and the same.
[Corr 3 effect to link each target so that effects affect all of them at once.]
[Ashley McGowen] Justine readies her weapon and fires at the hound Daiyu is occupying.
[Shoot!]
[Atlas Mason] Atlas raises his gun and sighted along his arm as he moved forward at a steady pace, putting one of the dogs in his sights, as he squeezed, not pulled, on the trigger of his revolver.
[Shoot same target as Justine and Daiyu]
[Wharil Choc] Wharil did not charge ahead. It wasn't just this time, it was everytime. He was considerably less likely to charge into battle as Li Daiyu was doing, and by far most likely to stand at a distance, and take aim; just as he was doing right now. While he does that, his heart races. He sweats. And his lips and throat move with a steady rhythm, and he projected his own nervousness into the very same hound he was aiming at.
-------
Declare:
--Aim at Justine and Atlas's Dog
--Cast mind effect using own resonance.
[Fallen] Just as they speak their last tactics [orders] Daiyu sends out a Pulse to the sentient [but Alien... so very, very Alien] minds around the Chalice. To draw their attention towards her. She only targets one [the largest; the oh-so-still; the waiting] but that is enough.... enough to draw and focus what is first of their attentions.
The first hound lunges for the Akashic [who glows; who pulses with vitae, with Chi], snarling, black ichor spraying.
-------------
Action: Bite Daiyu
[Li Daiyu] The largest of the guardians had been her target from the beginning, and now she moved directly toward the being behind the chalice. As of yet she hadn't drawn the sword on her back. In truth, she was both more skilled and more comfortable using her own body as a weapon. The others might look on and think that it was borderline insane to attack a demonic monster with one's bare hands, but those hands (and feet) had destroyed more enemies in her lifetime than most could claim with guns or knives. As it turned out, though, her effect worked better than she'd anticipated, as it seemed that the focus of all three was directed at her. In the thick of things, she jumped and dodged, lashing out with feet and fists.
[Declare: split dodge H1/Dodge H2/Kick Meth - butterfly palms and WP on last split]
[Fallen] The being behind the Chalice is stirring now. Stirring slowly. Deceptively slow. A cowl [of flesh; veined in rich black, throbbing cords, pulsing to the same beat of the Star] hides its visage; its head raises... a void. Nothingness. It inhales [a whirlwind; a cylcone] and breathes out [a hurricane].
The second Hound opens its maw as well, wide, wide, bone cracking wide... and howls.
-----------------------
Hound 2: Terrorize
Meth: Tearing Gale [Charm]
[Fallen] Hound 2:
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Willpower! +3 for Iron Will.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Willpower!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Atlas Mason] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Fallen] Meth:
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [-1 WP]
[Fallen] Meth Damage: (-3)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Fallen] H1: Bite Daiyu
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 6, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Fallen] Damage: -3
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] Action 1: Aiming
Action 2: That's no hell hound! That's Scooby Doo! [Mind 2 Effect to make Hound Jittery and skeered: Base Diff 5 -1 for Resonance, -1 for Focus]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 3)
[Fallen] HI: Resist?
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: It's cool, I've seen scary shit before. Shoot Meth! Dex + Firearms, Pistols specialty.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Damage! 6 base for Magnum, +4.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Corr 3 effect to chain. -1 for focus, spending WP, will extend.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 8 (Success x 2 at target 5) [WP]
[Fallen] Barebones Recap:
Daiyu: Can move again this turn. 1 Agg.
Atlas: Can move again this turn.
All the rest: Good to go.
[Ashley McGowen] There are howling hounds, flying bullets, a fallen angel striding over to the lot of them. A lot of noise. Ashley doesn't seem to hear any of it. At the moment her Will is being channeled into her Working, because space is illusory (the world is held in coils) and she is focused on bringing the three points into one.
[Extending.]
[Ashley McGowen] Justine, who couldn't exactly be called grim, is nevertheless rather determined. The Flambeau is doing her best to be a bright point here, shining against what they're facing down, and manages not to waver. She sights again and fires.
[Shooting Meth.]
[Atlas Mason] Atlas manages to hold his ground against the creatures influence, unwilling to bend to its will. Relying on a theory that he has...Atlas turns one of the melt and reform charms on the chalice, and fires, attempting to destabilize it, and hopefully...weaken its guardians.
[Melt and Reform the Chalice]
[Wharil Choc] The gun that Wharil carries was a gift from his old mentor. In truth, if left to chose his own weaponry he'd still be sporting the old Leica. It was a good gun, the 1911. Or so he had been told. It had the look that screamed t had the feel of authority. It was powerful, and it was reliable. He'd been told and learned all of this in his time.
He'd also learned that it was sadly low on carrying capacity. Which meant that each shot had to count.
Which meant that Wharil aimed just long enough to see the snarling Hell Hound pause, hesiitate out of fear ever so slightly.
And then the hammer clicks.
-----
Action: Shoot Formerly-biting hound.
[Fallen] [to the side, beyond them and this centre of conflict, the Angel and the other three hounds continue to battle. One of the hound is thrown back with a hideous wail and implodes from within, showering their peripheral vision with rays of fiercest light shatters of obliterated spirit, dark and dripping]
The hound hit by Wharil's Mind Assault whines for a moment, confusion and fear; it backs up a half step, then seems to pulse again. Driven. Consuming some of its own power to rally up again. With a snarl and uncanny accuracy it lunges for Wharil.
-------------
HI: Bite Wharil!
[Li Daiyu] ...It didn't quite happen as planned, but then, these things never do, do they? At the moment that Daiyu was attempting to Dodge the snapping jaws of one hellhound, the other let loose a roaring howl of terror. Run, her pulse screamed, and she faltered. It took a tremendous force of will to remain in place, but she did. The hound's bite landed on target, tearing into her leg, but she barely felt it. The damage to her pattern was registered, of course, but the pain itself was only a dull throb. In a moment, she'd collected her wits once more and leaped in for another attack.
[Declare: split sweep(trip) H1 / called shot punch to Meth's...heart? - butterfly palms and wp on last]
[Fallen] Again, the tallest Sentinel [unwavering, undaunted. pulsing in time, in time, in time] inhales, sucking the ephemeral air around them so that they can feel it; churning it up in its guts and blowing bit back out with ethereal sharps that glitter like shattered onyx.
The second hound lunges for Daiyu as she moves to race past...
----------------
Hound 2: Bite Daiyu
Meth: Tearing Gale
[Fallen] Hound 2: Biting!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 6, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Fallen] Hound 2: Damage! (-3)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Fallen] Meth: Gale
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Fallen] Meth: Damage (-3)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Dex+Do -2 - sweep on H1]
[Also, -1WP for healing charm, cause, ow!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Str]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 4 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Fallen] H1: Roo-roh!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8)
[Li Daiyu] [Dex+Do -3 +1(butterfly palms), diff 5 +1(called shot)]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Li Daiyu] [Str+2(sucesses)+2(called shot)]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Fallen] Hound 1: Bite Wharil
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Fallen] Hound 1: Damage (-3)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] This is my BOOM STICK!
[Dex 3 + Firearms 2, -1 for wound penalty, +1 for aiming, diff 6 -2 for point Blank Range]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 6, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4)
[Wharil Choc] Damage
[6 (.45) + 4]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Fallen] Atlas aims the charm [a Etherite device, more like] at the Opal, the Chalice, the Star....
...There is a shock wave.
It sweeps outward, not physical, but aimed at the core of the psyches of those around. A blow, a pulse, a desperate whiplash of sheer Entropic aggression. Sensing its attack the item [Wonder? Artifact? Unholy Relic?] lashes out in desperation.
...even so, its guardians feel its anguish - its encroaching destruction, its instability - acutely. The Hellhound Wharil just dealt a severe blow is howling, snarling and then, suddenly [just as the Chalice begins to melt] ooooozing away into so much dark mists, tendrils, then gone in a puff. So too do the last Hounds attacking the [luminous brilliance breathtaking] Umbrood - already wounded - shatter like the first, all nova of light and shards of dripping ebony. Only the untouched Hound [hound 2] and the giant Sentinel remain standing, though both are faded, the Hound to near nothingness; the Sentinel so much so that it begins to shudder and charge up an eerie keening.
[Atlas Mason] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Shooting! Dex + Firearms, Pistols specialty.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: WP before that shot!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] WP
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: WP, +3 from Iron Will.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 5, 6, 6, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [wp!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Damage! 6, +2.]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [...F you, dice! Redo!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Changing actions. Prime 2, Holy Stroke on the chalice. +1 diff for change, -1 for focus, -1 for applicable resonance Static: Determined. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 4) [WP]
[Wharil Choc] [Re-roll Wllpower]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Fallen] Quick Recap Numbers:
Enemies Remaining: Hellhound 2, Meth, Chalice -- all three damaged.
Daiyu: 1 Agg
Wharil: 3 Agg
[Fallen] Communication from the Luminescent Umbrood now... no soothing feminine voice, this. This voice reverberates around them and uses High Enochian, thrumming in their marrow even though only one here understands it.
[Ashley McGowen] While Ars Conjunctionis is particularly useful in a situation like this - she'll have to remember the trick she was about to attempt, when she has more time to attempt it - the sudden pulse outward from the chalice draws the Hermetic's blue eyes in that direction. They flick to Atlas, once, and then in sudden understanding, she turns her attacks toward it instead, trusting her allies to take down the spirits. Ashley reaches into the Tellurian, raw power of Wills and the energies they leave behind, and attempts to unweave the pattern of the chalice itself.
Her voice is in the others' thoughts, and unlike them, she's comfortable communicating this way: it's two toned, somehow more than speech, somehow less (pure) and beneath her own high pitched "voice" is layered something dark, primal. Sibilant. The archangel says to destroy the chalice and leave the rest.
[Holy Stroke on the chalice again.]
[Ashley McGowen] Justine, who has her weapon leveled still at the guardian, looks once toward the being of light, and there's something like wonder in her brown eyes. Wonder and reverence. The weapon is not tucked away at its orders, but she, too, turns her attention toward the Harvester.
[Forces! Fireball.]
[Atlas Mason] His theory was correct, their power was directly derived from the power of the chalice, and with its destruction comes the destruction of the guardians. Atlas tosses aside the used up device, and flicks toggle or two on his head piece which lowers several lenses into place, the power source upon his head begins to glow a violent blinding brightness as Atlas prepares to finish off the Chalice with one more well placed Prime blast.
[Prime blast the chalice.]
[Wharil Choc] He'd already shifted his focus from the hound, or hounds, and to the sentinel instead, when the sudden presence of yet another mind (too vast, too glorious to be on of their own) interrupts and Ashley translates for him.
The others were firing off fireballs and bolts of universal energies. Wharil shrugged, and pointed his gun towards the chalice.
[Li Daiyu] Another assault caught her in the side, tearing out a large chunk of flesh above her hip. Out of the corner of her eye, Daiyu saw one of the hounds change targets and lunge for Wharil. In a desperate attempt to stop it, she swept one of her legs beneath its own, but although she hit her target, the hound managed to stay on its feet and continue its trajectory toward the Euthanatos. Over the telepathic link, Daiyu shouted: Leave them to focus on me! Just attack! And at the same moment, she focused her will to activate one of the healing charms she'd been given.
Then she whipped around and plunged her fist into the guardian's chest. The blow should have been deadly. It would have been, on a mortal. But demons and spirits were made of stronger stuff, and ultimately her fist only did a fraction of the damage it could have. Luckily, Atlas' charm did its job well. The chalice pulsed with instability and anguish, and the guardians began to fall. Acting on the angel's advice, Ashley shouted out a command, and Daiyu switched targets, focusing instead on the chalice.
[Declare: Melt that fucker (chalice) with fire]
[Fallen] [The Umbrood wastes no time; shouting out its words in a tongue that is more the barest nature of Concepts and Imagery than mere Word, she/It hurls itself towards the Sentinel, wielding a flaming lance in one [glowing; alabaster;righteous; avenging] hand and an Essence-brimming harvesting scythe in the other; one to drive into its core of the Sentinel; the other to swipe out at the head of the Hellhound as it weaves and war-dances]
----------
Meth and Hellhound: Be, ah, otherwise engaged.
[Li Daiyu] [Forces 3 - diff 6 (yay coincidental!) -1(focus) -1(practiced) -1(resonance - lethal) (using WP)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 10 (Success x 2 at target 3) [WP]
[Wharil Choc] [[Dex+Firearms-1 Wound Penalty]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Atlas Mason] [Arete! Base diff 5, -1 for appropriate resonance Luminous -1 rote] WP
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 10 (Success x 1 at target 3) [WP]
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Fireball! Forces 3, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 4) [WP]
[Wharil Choc] Damage
[Sore Suxx+ 2]
[Wharil Choc] [This time with Dice]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 8, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] Free action: Once it's destroyed, it's going to expel all the souls it's drawn in over the years. They're going to be pissed, so when that happens, we need to get out of here as soon as we can.
[Prime 2, Holy Stroke. -1 for focus, -1 for practiced rote. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 6, 9 (Success x 4 at target 3) [WP]
[Administrator] Firebreathingzombies, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Li Daiyu] [Extending! Really, we want fire here, not a little spark]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 2, 7 (Success x 2 at target 4) [WP]
[Fallen] Rolling for Wharil: Shooting
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Fallen] Damage:
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Atlas Mason] [Arete, plus one for extension minus one for quint WP again!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 3) [WP]
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Extending! +1 diff, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 4 (Success x 1 at target 5) [WP]
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Extending! +1 diff, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced rote. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 7 (Success x 2 at target 4) [WP]
[Administrator] Firebreathingzombies has left General Chicago
[Fallen] Resonances collide here; they fuse; they bolster one another with the force(s) of these highly dynamic Effects. What is Kinetic draws in and pushes out; driving attacks forward with intense vitality. What is Luminous and Radiant burns sheer Prime and unmitigated Fire into a bursting, searing light that blinds in its brilliance, in its ardor, in its fueled Determination. Somewhere, too, there is Hope, blessed into Bullets, wielded by a hand that, in paradox, must master its Jitters. This is how such Raw magic combines. This is how the Weaving takes it hold; how it draws the dye to set its Hue.
The Opal was a shell.
The Opal a mere container [chalice, cup, void, realm], a conduit of Souls.
And what is drawn in and held must be released upon its destruction.
What is broken is also unleashed.
The Magic of the Opal turns into a metaphysical black hole; seeking to draw in any last Soul it can muster, any passing Wraith, any unfortunate Spectre. Even the members of the party can feel an Entropic kiss upon them, a caress that wants to pull, to suck, to leech their very spirit away from them. It cannot [blessed be], but the entire span around them is distorting and twisting with its efforts...
As if they needed any warning, the Umbrood - rising from where its enemies have now been obliterated to nothingness [to ashes beneath its feet] - lifts its head, watching, watching.... and again in that voice like a thousand voices and a thousand [one. pure.] tongues. Which Ashley and Justine understand though the others can garner its meaning: Flee for your Souls. And then it is all motion, all blinding light as it circles, circles, circles around the imploding Chalice, until it moves so fast it is a blur. A Shielding.
A chance.
[Atlas Mason] The entire area was becoming unstable, becoming a void much like the remains of the Chalice itself. Atlas realizes he has no time to speak about the particulars, so he forces himself to use something most will rarely here from him...a single word.
"Movate!!" He cries, as he is now running away, in the direction they had come. Dashing for the gateway back to the real world.
[Dex+Ath]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 3, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] Go, she commanded, anxiously, to all who could hear. She had no understanding of the Umbrood's Enochian tongue, but she didn't need to hear what it was saying to know that they needed to run as far and as fast as they could. In the distance, the soaring falcon had no need of such a suggestion, as it had back-winged in the air and started away at full speed the moment the Twilight Star was destroyed.
Of those present, it was likely that Daiyu was capable of running the fastest, but true to her protective instinct, she instead hurried the others before her, bringing up the rear as she ran, looking back over her shoulder to make sure that there was nothing about to come down upon them.
[Ashley McGowen] Flee for your Souls, it says, and the Hermetics understand those Words in the language of angels: the Order of Hermes claims it's been handed down to the worthy, granted to those Enlightened enough to speak the tongue. Ashley usually refers to them simply as High Umbrood, will probably continue to, even after this. Justine, though, Justine Believes, and the Flambeau tosses one broad, radiant smile toward the archangel before she spins on her heels, jamming the gun into its holster.
Ashley grabs at Wharil's wrist, taking a second to make sure her cabal mate is fit to run before she gives him a tug, bolts off after the other Hermetic. There are no wistful glances cast over her shoulder at the chalice, nothing reverent in the way she looks at the archangel (Hungry, maybe) but amid the instincts that are screaming at her to run, there's another that's charged, something of raw joy and vitality.
It's a real victory, for once.
[Administrator] Atlas Mason has left General Chicago
[Administrator] Li Daiyu has left General Chicago
[Administrator] Ashley McGowen has left General Chicago
[Administrator] Fallen has left General Chicago
[Administrator] Fallen, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Administrator] Atlas Mason, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Administrator] Li Daiyu, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Fallen] OOC Disclaimers:
1. Thanks for coming! Yay!
2. The usual stuff here: Let's try to keep posts coming with decent speed, around 10min or so.
3. If anything bugs you, let me know, though I don't think that'll be a factor here.
4. Questions and the like - send it to ShyGravel directly so I'm sure not to miss it, please.
5. That said, keep an eye out in the AIM chat for announcements/rolls I have/need for you guys.
Special Rules!
1. Justine Noble - an Ally of Ashley's whom Staci will be NPCing with my blessing - is providing each party member with 2 Healing Charms. We'll say they Heal 5 Health Levels in one go. To activate you must spend a WP. To heal Agg [and most everything in the Umbra is Agg] you need to spend a Quint as well. THAT SAID: In all of these scenes I am allowing you to spend the WP to use the Healing Charm AND a WP for a normal combat action in the same turn. This 'Freebie WP Use' only applies to Healing Charms.
2. Ashley is providing everyone with a Forces Dampening charm. This will subtract 3 from applicable damage dice pools on applicable baddies.
3. LET ME KNOW: What, if any, other charms/Effects your PC is entering the scene with already active. DARAGAN: Israel would have provided him with a Mind Shield Charm as the other PCs here can do them. EVERYONE: Israel has Wits increasing charms left for anyone who wants to use them, though, again, anyone with Mind 1 or higher could pull off the same effect on their own.
4. COMBAT: I have come to the conclusion that I HATE writing up recaps between rounds. Like, with a passion, Mostly because I am never comfortable with a quick little mention of what your PC just did as I feel it detracts from the awesome that is your collective PCs. SO. I propose the following:
We set up this scene so that the party has already encountered a couple of spirits on their trek to the Twilight Stars location. They make it out unscathed or maybe Israel is with them and uses her charms to heal [so we don't subtract from Justines], etc... In this scenario we'll kick off actual play with them getting to the Star and encountering what is there to be encountered. This will allow me to:
Let you guys write -brief- IC posts along with your usual declares. So it'll go something like this:
A. We roll initiative.
B. When it's your turn to declare you do the following:
"Joe is ready! He's HARD! He's HARDER THAN YOU! He LEAPS towards the Nexus Crawler, eyes gleaming!"
---------
1a. LEAP!
1b. DIE!
C. Then we roll actions per usual (highest in initiative to lowest) and go from there.
This has actually worked very well so far in the other scenes, though it's only really feasible for playing out one main encounter scenario.
Okay! Sorry about the Crusher.
Questions/Comments/Good to go?
[Ashley McGowen] [Mind shield. Mind 2, -1 for focus, -1 for sanctum.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 7 (Success x 1 at target 4)
[Ashley McGowen] [Extending.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 6, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)
[Ashley McGowen] [Extra WP rote! Mind 1, Prime 1, -1 for focus, -1 for sanctum.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 8, 8 (Success x 2 at target 3)
[Ashley McGowen] [Extending!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 4)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Avatar storm]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Avatar storm]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 6, 6 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Atlas Mason] [Atlas Avatar storm!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 3, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Avatar storm!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 5 (Failure at target 6)
[Fallen] During the day of July 3rd, it was clear, hot and humid. Just the sort of weather that brings city dwellers and tourists alike flocking to the shores of Lake Michigan, seeking some reprieve from the damp heat, some relief from fetid summer-in-the-city funks; some blissful ignorance of day-to-day living and increased crime rates and... and... and...
[the world is falling part. it's worse every year. Sleepers know this. they feel it. they chalk it up to a million and one reasons, tidily set aside, views from the scat periphery allowable by the tunnel vision of the grind.]
Nighttime now. Late evening. The beach is curiously vacant [thanks to the efforts of a certain cultist with certain dubious connections], cordoned off with yellow police tape for a stretch that goes beyond the secluded point the party arrives to. [perhaps they heard on the news and on the street: a terrorist threat, a bomb scare, high bacteria levels in the water - no, no - anthrax in the sand... ] There's the risk that sleeper authorities might still be combing the area, though from what anyone can see the concentration of search efforts seems to be in the Navy Pier [businesses there will suffer at the loss of prime income on this peak weekend in the year. they will curse your names, or the spectres of your names; curse the unknown that caused this though it save their lives. this is how it goes, on the periphery of ignorance and enlightenment].
The sand is cooling now; the moon - visible here - is sliced down the center, a well cut melon. [there's a lady in the moon, did you know? not a man at all: a Lady, with long, flowing hair, looking upon a mirror which casts out the suns reflection.] The party is considerably large. Emily, Kage and someone only Solomon and Israel recognize [her cousin, Issac, a Sorcerer who is filling in the third 'spot' for operating the Talisman].... Ashley, Daiyu, Atlas and Justine who will brave the depths of the Penumbra. Israel is there, bag heavy with charms, a slender wooden staff, intricately carved replacing her normal guide cane. Solomon and Nathan who will be combing the beach to check for possible traps, Sleepers, interlopers, whatever the case may be. Each and every one of them has some tingle of Resonance going on, denoting active magic. The air lilts with it, the clash a curious dissonance, not unpleasant, but not quite a melody.
This is how it goes...
...activating the Talisman is relatively easy. The two Orphans and the Consor stand close together, all three, so that the curious wonder is connected in a pyramid, the clockwork design with its alchemical symbols pointed downward at the apex, the open bottom facing upwards here [see the symbolism? all things start at a point, all things flow outward, unending. power and spirit have no end and even the fixed point is just a funnel].
...the Shadow opens. Before them, see, first it is a sliver of mercury in the air, yes, visible to all present. Then, wider. Broader. It grows. It melts; no it ripples, it blooms. Breathe it in. For one moment as the gauntlet drops steadily, as the cusp of two worlds becomes one, they can feel that this is how it is supposed to be. Unified. No barrier.
It lasts only a moment.
A moment before the wrongness hits them. Something has been teeming in the penumbra all this while: Vile sanguine mists; Telos blood full as a tick high in the umbral sky; creatures, things, dark things that usually linger out further, come like parasites, like opportunists just seeking, just waiting for a chance to get out, to take advantage of what is going on. Solomon knows this, as dose anyone normally with the ability to witness the Spirit world.
....the red mist is there, in the distance and thankfully well away from the boundary between the 'real' world and the entrance to the Umbra.
A shining pulse is there... no. Not shining at all. Absorbing light. Sucking it in. The Opal, one might easily guess. 100 yards? Maybe. It is hard to measure distance in there. The swirling of the Avatar storm is a sheen of madness; is a a glittering whirlwind of shards that glitter [that cuts, that rends, that tears -- be careful, here].
Outside of these things [as if these things are not enough] the way seems... clear.
The team going in after the so called Twilight Star heads in, to brave the Storm and then all that lies beyond. In their passage three of the party take damage from the get go, like blood offering; like Sacrifice. But they survive and that is what is important. Further in they go, deeper...
...a fog begins to kick up, not red-tinged like the mists further in [so red-soaked it seems to be actively bleeding, it screams of Entropy; it screams of toxins]; this fog is like a good, thick London pea-souper. It obfuscates the pass so that the pulse of the Star in the distance hides while a thick trail of it passes; revealed briefly, just long enough to gather your bearings. Gone again.
They are aware of Spirits. Spirits shooting around them, past them, over them, under them [everything is strange here. the normal rules do not apply. a benefit, yes, but unnerving all the same for four not used to the Shadow]. They dart in and out of existence, they scream, they cry, they cackle, they are silent.. all of it and none, together. The only uplifting realization is that the Spirits seem to be fleeing beyond the Star, the Opal, the Cursed Soul Harvest. Small mercies.
On their trek they are attacked once or twice, but such traveling Spectres. The malady that has afflicted the Umbra has attracted any number of nasty, dark things and a few reach ouch out of a sense of sheer, brute malice. Snatching an opportunity. They are easily enough buffeted back. The group in composed of, after all, three wielders of Forces and three of Prime and here in the Penumbra Paradox does not touch them. The Consensus has no hold. Not here. Not now.
Small mercies.
Things to tip the odds.
Israel travels part way with them - her own task seeming to involve helping to keep anything from escaping into the 'real' world via the opened Gauntlet and offering Healing to the other groups that do not have the benefit of Life Magic or Justine's Charms. Before she goes she spends of herself to make sure Ashley and Atlas make it to the Opal fully whole.
This is not an act of charity.
It is pure necessity.
They must, you see, succeed.
Finally... finally the Opal is within view again. Now a mere 30 yards or so. It is here the last chance to formalize any plans that haven't been discussed already....
...from the pulsing [sucking in, absorbing, eating, starved] light of the Star comes the sounds of conflict.
[Administrator] Wharil Choc, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Atlas Mason] Atlas pauses here, his odd contraption already strapped to the side of his head, ready to be used at a moments notice. His hand gun is out and ready to be aimed at anything that menaces them as well as he looks to Daiyu, Ashley and Wharil, only one of them the man has never met. The others he has some idea of their capabilities, but Wharil is an uknown factor, which could be a problem in this situation.
Atlas speaks up now. This had to be decided now. "It is with a variety of theorums and projections that I formulate this hypothesis, capture and quantification of the aberrant factor known as the Twilight Star is untenuable. While it's intrinsic value and the comparative data that could be retrieved from its form is quantifiably significant, its inherent structure is dynamically unstable and significant exposure to its presence may result in paradigmic intrinsic corruption. Destruction is the proscribed and defaulted acceptable methodology to be utilized in this instance...counter theorums?"
He speaks plainly and concisely looking about at those around him, for any arguement.
[Ashley McGowen] They aren't calling it the Twilight Star. The group has been calling it the chalice, a cup for the souls Edom plans to harvest, a cup for sacrifice, and if they don't succeed it'll run over before the night is through. Perhaps they call it this so that they have their mission clearly defined, their plans laid out in front of them and the consequences kept in mind.
Names are important.
This is the first time Ashley has ever been in the Umbra. She's read about it, heard tales of the things that lie past the veil, but this is the first (possibly the last) time the Hermetic will ever step through herself. She hadn't expected it to tear at her the way it did. Fortunately, Israel is there.
Justine is with them, and Justine hasn't said much, either verbally or through the telepathic connection all five of them are sharing. Justine would be a woman easy to overlook: brown hair kept long and loose, slung over one shoulder, eyes the same color. Of medium height and round but rather ordinary features. All Ashley has said in regard to Justine is to introduce her: Hermetic of House Flambeau, an ex cabal mate, and if we get in a fight, run away from Justine when it's over. That's all, but they move together with the sort of ease and comfort that is generally seen in siblings or longtime companions.
The sounds of conflict strike their ears, and when it does, Ashley halts. Justine draws her gun. Ashley glances toward Atlas and says, "I don't know if I like the idea of destroying it."
[Wharil Choc] [Mind shield: Mind 2 -- Diff 5, -1 for focus]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 4, 9 (Success x 1 at target 4)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [And again]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 7 (Success x 1 at target 5)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [And again]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 5)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [Fortunes Blessing - 1 suxx for effect, 1 Suxx/target, rest for effect - Base Diff 5, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced rote]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 6 (Success x 2 at target 3)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [And again]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 4)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [And again]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 8 (Failure at target 4)
to Fallen
[Wharil Choc] [You can do it, Choc!]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 5)
to Fallen
[Li Daiyu] She has been in the umbra before, but only a few times, and only when another was able to open the way for her. It is still a largely unfamiliar landscape, but there are others present who know the way, and the ever-present shadow of a falcon (that was always, of course, something more than just a bird) soared above and nearby, more at home here than Daiyu herself. Perhaps that was why neither of them seemed to take any damage when they passed through the avatar storm. The falcon circled around them as they moved, perhaps even giving some warning of the approaching spirits prior to attack. She was there for that purpose: to see. (And because she never entirely left the Akashic, even when they were not in physical proximity. They were a part of each other, after all.)
Israel did all that she could to help the assembled magi, including charging Daiyu's pattern with Chi. Now, the woman glowed with it. When they approached their intended destination, the group paused to discuss the fate of the chalice, and Daiyu glanced between Atlas and Ashley. She was silent for a moment (like Justine, the Akashic didn't speak much without a reason.)
"It's dangerous, Ashley. Blood magic? Why take the risk?"
[Wharil Choc] [Avatar Storm]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
to Fallen
[Ashley McGowen] Before coming in, Ashley pulled free several small jars of what appeared to be...blue paint. "This'll act as a kind of armor," she'd assured the others, and, whether they were terribly comfortable with it or not, it was applied to their faces: an odd, complex sort of rune that took her several minutes to sketch out with the ball of her thumb. Wharil, Daiyu, Atlas, and Ashley herself each had it applied (Emily and Kage too, before they left them outside the veil) and Justine eyed it skeptically. Woad, after all, is not very Hermetic.
[Wharil Choc] If they'd been relying on Wharil Choc for some sort of inspiration, for some sort of calming, assuring presence, they'd be sorely disappointed. The Euthanatos is nervous. Jittery. He brings up the rear, hyper alert, his attention flitting from here to there. When they'd arrived, the first thing he'd done, before even healing himself of the gashes suffered from the Avator storm, was to whip his head around, drawing the fairly large gun from his holster and looking for---
'He's not here.' He thought to Ashley, and inadvertently to everyone else. A moment later all was silent from him. In their minds the steady sensation of his presence; a sort of crackling, cracking, shaking-things-apart; could still be felt but he'd marshaled his mind promptly.
Too bad he still moved as if he expected attack from all sides.
And during the course of them coming upon their target, there was another sensation. That odd uncertainty, that jittery, chaotic sensation of constantly shifting possibilities had come over them all as he worried a bone knife with one hand, leveled his gone with the other, and tried not to be distracted by the strange runes painted onto his head.
Got to stay alert.
[Fallen] Blood Magic. Entropy.
The Star, the Opal, the Chalice is not even truly activated yet and all the same one can see the effect it's mere presence has had here. The Umbral scape in any city is a Blight; is laden with all the hurts, all the scars, all the innumerable damage humankind does on a day-to-day basis taken Spiritual shape-and-form here. On the best of days the Penumbra around a city is not the best place to wander: These are not the 'best' days.
Even without knowledge of the Sphere of Entropy the feeling here, this close now, of Decay, of Wrong, of Death and Universal-Cancer is strong enough to nauseate. It'll only get worse as they approach closer.
As they stand there now, discussing the fate of the Chalice, they can hear that sound of battle. As the fog shifts and thins, they can begin to make out what is going on not-all-that far away: The Chalice continues its eerie [sickening] strobe; pulling in towards itself, pulling in more than Light, pulling in attention, pulling in desperation of hunger unquenchable. Just behind it stands its chief Sentinel.. monstrous. A Spirit cloaked in shadows; an Entity that easily stands at seven feet; stands immobile or seemingly so...
...seemingly so.
To the Southwest of the Chalice [it floats; it floats above an altar; it floats above bones; it floats above its own Golgatha.] a group of chittering beasts; like mutant hounds with flat faces and slanted eyes that glow red. Three of them seem to be attacking an ethereal figure; vaugely feminine, tall; cloaked in blue-aura; cloaked in violet-dawn. She is fighting. Fighting valiantly but deterred. [from her a sense of something akin to Resonance that is Glory, that is Harmony, that is Avenging]
Grouped before the Chalice two more of the dog-things [no, larger than average dogs.. like someone took the build of a bull-dog and gave it the size of a Great Dane and covered it in spikes that bleed black ichor] pacing restlessly. Anxiously. Snarling low.
...the fog is thinning.
You can see them.
They're bound to return the favour.
[Atlas Mason] Atlas gestures around them, to the darkness, to the swirling mists, the spirits screaming this way and that. "My knowledge of the interdimensional planes and their variances and forms is considerable. I have spent a total seven solar traversal cycles inhabiting this particular etheric plane as well as a variety of neo planes and over planes. The corruption and devastation located in this meta-physical locality is wholly systemic."
He says, shaking his head. "This intrinsic deformation and mutation would be initiated within any locality or personage within its viscinity for extended time unit's. Resulting in a necessity of termination of said personage or locality within 95.749% of all viable cases and scenario's." He looks specifically at Ashley at that moment, and while his headset may look goofy, his face is stern, serious, and aged beyond his apparent years.
"Termination and nullification of the aberrant factor is the only viable methodology at this juncture Ashley, disconcerting as the reality of its particulars are displayed."
He looks at the others around him. "All individualized paradigmic personages capable of utilizing and manipulating primary intrinsic energies, culminating in a destructive planar wave, or momentative force focused energy discharge shall utilize such skills once a compliant beach head has been established. All others negate and initiate interference in respect to all other currently unquantifiable aberrant factors. Prior to this all individuals should focus their efforts on one target, neutralize, and then realign their efforts. " He says as he brings his gun up, holding the muzzle skyward like some officer on the battle lines.
"Are all personages prepared for this juncture?" He asks looking to each of them. On their faces is a mix of trepidation, concern, jitters...on his is surety and readiness, Atlas has been through these hells many times before....mores the pity for him.
[Li Daiyu] They conversed along the telepathic link that Ashley had forged, debating the fate of the object before them. All the while, a battle was being waged, and as the mists cleared, details became clearer. Through the bird's eyes, the specifics of the assembled enemies were relayed, and Daiyu confirmed the information as it was brought to her:
"There's six of them. The main guardian and two demonic canines by the chalice, and 3 more of the dogs attacking another spirit."
A brief instruction given to the familiar: keep an eye out for any surprises.
Then she drew up beside Justine to lead the way toward the battle. "We're going in. Now."
(Strangely, the Akashic and the Son of Ether were in complete agreement.)
[Ashley McGowen] It pulls everything around it toward it, downward, down. She can't deny a certain fascination with this: it's the kind of thing that made Jhor so easy for her to acquire in the first place. She opens her mouth at what Atlas says, frowns as though she might argue with him or at the very least protest at being given orders, but Justine says, "Ashley," in a very level, calm, admonishing sort of way, and her jaws close again.
"All right. Let's go."
[Wharil Choc] Wharil's worried eyes hop from Atlas, to the hounds, to Atlas again. There's an uncomfortable furrow in his brows. If this were any other situation, if he were serving the roll of Cabal Messenger or Emissary he might take the time out to decode the etherite's speech, nod slowly, and agree completely.
As it is, he's too busy anticipating attack from somewhere. And so, he just sort of...looks at Atlas funny.
"Um...Termination. Right."
There was that other word he'd caught and latched on to. Interference. He wasn't a stone cold killer like Rene, but he'd been in enough firefights to know where to lay down the cover fire. Interference. He could manage that.
And at the side of his mind, not quite able to ignore it enough to put it into the rear, was that feeling in the distance. That unknown spirit being harrassed by the hounds. That pale but certain light in this field of darkness. The hint of harmony among all this chaos.
"Uhh...You guys know the one about the enemy of my enemy, right?"
And he nudges his head toward the present fracas.
[Li Daiyu] [Mind 2 - emotional suggestion - hey hey you 3, you want to attack *me*! - diff 5 -1(focus) -1(practiced)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 5 (Success x 1 at target 3) [WP]
[Li Daiyu] [Extending]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 6, 7 (Success x 1 at target 3)
[Fallen] [[Alright people! ROLL INITIATIVES! Unless attacked I won't be rolling for the Angel or the 3 she's in combat with as that's a sidebar right now]]
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: +5]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Atlas Mason] [Atlas +5]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: +7]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Wharil Choc] [Wharil +6]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 5
[Li Daiyu] They approached, and Daiyu paused to work one last effect before charging in. It wasn't strong enough to target all of the guardians, but the largest of the three would receive a strong jolt of anger and ferocity, directing its focus onto the Akashic as the primary target.
Then, Daiyu bolted forward.
[+9]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 4
[Fallen] Methalhiam: +11
Hound 1: +8
Hound 2: +7
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 5, 10
[Atlas Mason] [Reroll!]
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 2
[Wharil Choc] Cuz the ST said so
Dice Rolled:[ 1 d10 ] 6
[Fallen] Order!
H2
Meth
Daiyu
H1
Wharil
Atlas
Justine
Ashley
Remember your brief IC post along with you declare!
[Ashley McGowen] Ashley reaches for the glass link at her throat and works to create a link between the three targets, bending the space between each point so that it's all one and the same.
[Corr 3 effect to link each target so that effects affect all of them at once.]
[Ashley McGowen] Justine readies her weapon and fires at the hound Daiyu is occupying.
[Shoot!]
[Atlas Mason] Atlas raises his gun and sighted along his arm as he moved forward at a steady pace, putting one of the dogs in his sights, as he squeezed, not pulled, on the trigger of his revolver.
[Shoot same target as Justine and Daiyu]
[Wharil Choc] Wharil did not charge ahead. It wasn't just this time, it was everytime. He was considerably less likely to charge into battle as Li Daiyu was doing, and by far most likely to stand at a distance, and take aim; just as he was doing right now. While he does that, his heart races. He sweats. And his lips and throat move with a steady rhythm, and he projected his own nervousness into the very same hound he was aiming at.
-------
Declare:
--Aim at Justine and Atlas's Dog
--Cast mind effect using own resonance.
[Fallen] Just as they speak their last tactics [orders] Daiyu sends out a Pulse to the sentient [but Alien... so very, very Alien] minds around the Chalice. To draw their attention towards her. She only targets one [the largest; the oh-so-still; the waiting] but that is enough.... enough to draw and focus what is first of their attentions.
The first hound lunges for the Akashic [who glows; who pulses with vitae, with Chi], snarling, black ichor spraying.
-------------
Action: Bite Daiyu
[Li Daiyu] The largest of the guardians had been her target from the beginning, and now she moved directly toward the being behind the chalice. As of yet she hadn't drawn the sword on her back. In truth, she was both more skilled and more comfortable using her own body as a weapon. The others might look on and think that it was borderline insane to attack a demonic monster with one's bare hands, but those hands (and feet) had destroyed more enemies in her lifetime than most could claim with guns or knives. As it turned out, though, her effect worked better than she'd anticipated, as it seemed that the focus of all three was directed at her. In the thick of things, she jumped and dodged, lashing out with feet and fists.
[Declare: split dodge H1/Dodge H2/Kick Meth - butterfly palms and WP on last split]
[Fallen] The being behind the Chalice is stirring now. Stirring slowly. Deceptively slow. A cowl [of flesh; veined in rich black, throbbing cords, pulsing to the same beat of the Star] hides its visage; its head raises... a void. Nothingness. It inhales [a whirlwind; a cylcone] and breathes out [a hurricane].
The second Hound opens its maw as well, wide, wide, bone cracking wide... and howls.
-----------------------
Hound 2: Terrorize
Meth: Tearing Gale [Charm]
[Fallen] Hound 2:
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 7, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Willpower! +3 for Iron Will.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 5, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Willpower!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 6, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 6 at target 6)
[Atlas Mason] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 5, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Fallen] Meth:
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [-1 WP]
[Fallen] Meth Damage: (-3)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 5, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Fallen] H1: Bite Daiyu
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 6, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Fallen] Damage: -3
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] Action 1: Aiming
Action 2: That's no hell hound! That's Scooby Doo! [Mind 2 Effect to make Hound Jittery and skeered: Base Diff 5 -1 for Resonance, -1 for Focus]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 4, 9, 10 (Success x 3 at target 3)
[Fallen] HI: Resist?
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 2, 8 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: It's cool, I've seen scary shit before. Shoot Meth! Dex + Firearms, Pistols specialty.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 8, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Damage! 6 base for Magnum, +4.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 4, 5, 6, 7, 7, 9 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Corr 3 effect to chain. -1 for focus, spending WP, will extend.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 4, 8 (Success x 2 at target 5) [WP]
[Fallen] Barebones Recap:
Daiyu: Can move again this turn. 1 Agg.
Atlas: Can move again this turn.
All the rest: Good to go.
[Ashley McGowen] There are howling hounds, flying bullets, a fallen angel striding over to the lot of them. A lot of noise. Ashley doesn't seem to hear any of it. At the moment her Will is being channeled into her Working, because space is illusory (the world is held in coils) and she is focused on bringing the three points into one.
[Extending.]
[Ashley McGowen] Justine, who couldn't exactly be called grim, is nevertheless rather determined. The Flambeau is doing her best to be a bright point here, shining against what they're facing down, and manages not to waver. She sights again and fires.
[Shooting Meth.]
[Atlas Mason] Atlas manages to hold his ground against the creatures influence, unwilling to bend to its will. Relying on a theory that he has...Atlas turns one of the melt and reform charms on the chalice, and fires, attempting to destabilize it, and hopefully...weaken its guardians.
[Melt and Reform the Chalice]
[Wharil Choc] The gun that Wharil carries was a gift from his old mentor. In truth, if left to chose his own weaponry he'd still be sporting the old Leica. It was a good gun, the 1911. Or so he had been told. It had the look that screamed t had the feel of authority. It was powerful, and it was reliable. He'd been told and learned all of this in his time.
He'd also learned that it was sadly low on carrying capacity. Which meant that each shot had to count.
Which meant that Wharil aimed just long enough to see the snarling Hell Hound pause, hesiitate out of fear ever so slightly.
And then the hammer clicks.
-----
Action: Shoot Formerly-biting hound.
[Fallen] [to the side, beyond them and this centre of conflict, the Angel and the other three hounds continue to battle. One of the hound is thrown back with a hideous wail and implodes from within, showering their peripheral vision with rays of fiercest light shatters of obliterated spirit, dark and dripping]
The hound hit by Wharil's Mind Assault whines for a moment, confusion and fear; it backs up a half step, then seems to pulse again. Driven. Consuming some of its own power to rally up again. With a snarl and uncanny accuracy it lunges for Wharil.
-------------
HI: Bite Wharil!
[Li Daiyu] ...It didn't quite happen as planned, but then, these things never do, do they? At the moment that Daiyu was attempting to Dodge the snapping jaws of one hellhound, the other let loose a roaring howl of terror. Run, her pulse screamed, and she faltered. It took a tremendous force of will to remain in place, but she did. The hound's bite landed on target, tearing into her leg, but she barely felt it. The damage to her pattern was registered, of course, but the pain itself was only a dull throb. In a moment, she'd collected her wits once more and leaped in for another attack.
[Declare: split sweep(trip) H1 / called shot punch to Meth's...heart? - butterfly palms and wp on last]
[Fallen] Again, the tallest Sentinel [unwavering, undaunted. pulsing in time, in time, in time] inhales, sucking the ephemeral air around them so that they can feel it; churning it up in its guts and blowing bit back out with ethereal sharps that glitter like shattered onyx.
The second hound lunges for Daiyu as she moves to race past...
----------------
Hound 2: Bite Daiyu
Meth: Tearing Gale
[Fallen] Hound 2: Biting!
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 6, 7, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Fallen] Hound 2: Damage! (-3)
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 2, 3, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Fallen] Meth: Gale
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 3, 6, 9, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Fallen] Meth: Damage (-3)
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 7 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Dex+Do -2 - sweep on H1]
[Also, -1WP for healing charm, cause, ow!]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 9, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [Str]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 4 (Botch x 1 at target 6)
[Fallen] H1: Roo-roh!
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 6, 8, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 8)
[Li Daiyu] [Dex+Do -3 +1(butterfly palms), diff 5 +1(called shot)]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 5, 7, 8, 10 (Success x 3 at target 6) [WP]
[Li Daiyu] [Str+2(sucesses)+2(called shot)]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Fallen] Hound 1: Bite Wharil
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 3, 4, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Fallen] Hound 1: Damage (-3)
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 5, 6, 7, 7 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] This is my BOOM STICK!
[Dex 3 + Firearms 2, -1 for wound penalty, +1 for aiming, diff 6 -2 for point Blank Range]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 3, 6, 6, 7, 10 (Success x 4 at target 4)
[Wharil Choc] Damage
[6 (.45) + 4]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Fallen] Atlas aims the charm [a Etherite device, more like] at the Opal, the Chalice, the Star....
...There is a shock wave.
It sweeps outward, not physical, but aimed at the core of the psyches of those around. A blow, a pulse, a desperate whiplash of sheer Entropic aggression. Sensing its attack the item [Wonder? Artifact? Unholy Relic?] lashes out in desperation.
...even so, its guardians feel its anguish - its encroaching destruction, its instability - acutely. The Hellhound Wharil just dealt a severe blow is howling, snarling and then, suddenly [just as the Chalice begins to melt] ooooozing away into so much dark mists, tendrils, then gone in a puff. So too do the last Hounds attacking the [luminous brilliance breathtaking] Umbrood - already wounded - shatter like the first, all nova of light and shards of dripping ebony. Only the untouched Hound [hound 2] and the giant Sentinel remain standing, though both are faded, the Hound to near nothingness; the Sentinel so much so that it begins to shudder and charge up an eerie keening.
[Atlas Mason] [WP]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Shooting! Dex + Firearms, Pistols specialty.]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 5, 5, 6, 7, 9, 9 (Success x 3 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: WP before that shot!]
Dice Rolled:[ 6 d10 ] 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Wharil Choc] WP
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 1, 2, 4, 4, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: WP, +3 from Iron Will.]
Dice Rolled:[ 10 d10 ] 1, 1, 3, 5, 6, 6, 9, 9, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [wp!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Damage! 6, +2.]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9 (Success x 5 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] [...F you, dice! Redo!]
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Changing actions. Prime 2, Holy Stroke on the chalice. +1 diff for change, -1 for focus, -1 for applicable resonance Static: Determined. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 6, 8, 9 (Success x 4 at target 4) [WP]
[Wharil Choc] [Re-roll Wllpower]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 2, 4, 5, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Fallen] Quick Recap Numbers:
Enemies Remaining: Hellhound 2, Meth, Chalice -- all three damaged.
Daiyu: 1 Agg
Wharil: 3 Agg
[Fallen] Communication from the Luminescent Umbrood now... no soothing feminine voice, this. This voice reverberates around them and uses High Enochian, thrumming in their marrow even though only one here understands it.
[Ashley McGowen] While Ars Conjunctionis is particularly useful in a situation like this - she'll have to remember the trick she was about to attempt, when she has more time to attempt it - the sudden pulse outward from the chalice draws the Hermetic's blue eyes in that direction. They flick to Atlas, once, and then in sudden understanding, she turns her attacks toward it instead, trusting her allies to take down the spirits. Ashley reaches into the Tellurian, raw power of Wills and the energies they leave behind, and attempts to unweave the pattern of the chalice itself.
Her voice is in the others' thoughts, and unlike them, she's comfortable communicating this way: it's two toned, somehow more than speech, somehow less (pure) and beneath her own high pitched "voice" is layered something dark, primal. Sibilant. The archangel says to destroy the chalice and leave the rest.
[Holy Stroke on the chalice again.]
[Ashley McGowen] Justine, who has her weapon leveled still at the guardian, looks once toward the being of light, and there's something like wonder in her brown eyes. Wonder and reverence. The weapon is not tucked away at its orders, but she, too, turns her attention toward the Harvester.
[Forces! Fireball.]
[Atlas Mason] His theory was correct, their power was directly derived from the power of the chalice, and with its destruction comes the destruction of the guardians. Atlas tosses aside the used up device, and flicks toggle or two on his head piece which lowers several lenses into place, the power source upon his head begins to glow a violent blinding brightness as Atlas prepares to finish off the Chalice with one more well placed Prime blast.
[Prime blast the chalice.]
[Wharil Choc] He'd already shifted his focus from the hound, or hounds, and to the sentinel instead, when the sudden presence of yet another mind (too vast, too glorious to be on of their own) interrupts and Ashley translates for him.
The others were firing off fireballs and bolts of universal energies. Wharil shrugged, and pointed his gun towards the chalice.
[Li Daiyu] Another assault caught her in the side, tearing out a large chunk of flesh above her hip. Out of the corner of her eye, Daiyu saw one of the hounds change targets and lunge for Wharil. In a desperate attempt to stop it, she swept one of her legs beneath its own, but although she hit her target, the hound managed to stay on its feet and continue its trajectory toward the Euthanatos. Over the telepathic link, Daiyu shouted: Leave them to focus on me! Just attack! And at the same moment, she focused her will to activate one of the healing charms she'd been given.
Then she whipped around and plunged her fist into the guardian's chest. The blow should have been deadly. It would have been, on a mortal. But demons and spirits were made of stronger stuff, and ultimately her fist only did a fraction of the damage it could have. Luckily, Atlas' charm did its job well. The chalice pulsed with instability and anguish, and the guardians began to fall. Acting on the angel's advice, Ashley shouted out a command, and Daiyu switched targets, focusing instead on the chalice.
[Declare: Melt that fucker (chalice) with fire]
[Fallen] [The Umbrood wastes no time; shouting out its words in a tongue that is more the barest nature of Concepts and Imagery than mere Word, she/It hurls itself towards the Sentinel, wielding a flaming lance in one [glowing; alabaster;righteous; avenging] hand and an Essence-brimming harvesting scythe in the other; one to drive into its core of the Sentinel; the other to swipe out at the head of the Hellhound as it weaves and war-dances]
----------
Meth and Hellhound: Be, ah, otherwise engaged.
[Li Daiyu] [Forces 3 - diff 6 (yay coincidental!) -1(focus) -1(practiced) -1(resonance - lethal) (using WP)]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 3, 10 (Success x 2 at target 3) [WP]
[Wharil Choc] [[Dex+Firearms-1 Wound Penalty]
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 5, 5, 6, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
[Atlas Mason] [Arete! Base diff 5, -1 for appropriate resonance Luminous -1 rote] WP
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 1, 10 (Success x 1 at target 3) [WP]
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Fireball! Forces 3, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 1, 6, 8 (Success x 2 at target 4) [WP]
[Wharil Choc] Damage
[Sore Suxx+ 2]
[Wharil Choc] [This time with Dice]
Dice Rolled:[ 8 d10 ] 1, 1, 2, 4, 5, 5, 8, 10 (Failure at target 6)
[Ashley McGowen] Free action: Once it's destroyed, it's going to expel all the souls it's drawn in over the years. They're going to be pissed, so when that happens, we need to get out of here as soon as we can.
[Prime 2, Holy Stroke. -1 for focus, -1 for practiced rote. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 5, 6, 9 (Success x 4 at target 3) [WP]
[Administrator] Firebreathingzombies, welcome to General Chicago (Now)
[Li Daiyu] [Extending! Really, we want fire here, not a little spark]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 2, 7 (Success x 2 at target 4) [WP]
[Fallen] Rolling for Wharil: Shooting
Dice Rolled:[ 4 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 10 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Fallen] Damage:
Dice Rolled:[ 7 d10 ] 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 10, 10 (Success x 4 at target 6)
[Atlas Mason] [Arete, plus one for extension minus one for quint WP again!]
Dice Rolled:[ 2 d10 ] 7, 9 (Success x 3 at target 3) [WP]
[Ashley McGowen] [Justine: Extending! +1 diff, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 4 (Success x 1 at target 5) [WP]
[Ashley McGowen] [Ashley: Extending! +1 diff, -1 for focus, -1 for practiced rote. Spending WP.]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 2, 3, 7 (Success x 2 at target 4) [WP]
[Administrator] Firebreathingzombies has left General Chicago
[Fallen] Resonances collide here; they fuse; they bolster one another with the force(s) of these highly dynamic Effects. What is Kinetic draws in and pushes out; driving attacks forward with intense vitality. What is Luminous and Radiant burns sheer Prime and unmitigated Fire into a bursting, searing light that blinds in its brilliance, in its ardor, in its fueled Determination. Somewhere, too, there is Hope, blessed into Bullets, wielded by a hand that, in paradox, must master its Jitters. This is how such Raw magic combines. This is how the Weaving takes it hold; how it draws the dye to set its Hue.
The Opal was a shell.
The Opal a mere container [chalice, cup, void, realm], a conduit of Souls.
And what is drawn in and held must be released upon its destruction.
What is broken is also unleashed.
The Magic of the Opal turns into a metaphysical black hole; seeking to draw in any last Soul it can muster, any passing Wraith, any unfortunate Spectre. Even the members of the party can feel an Entropic kiss upon them, a caress that wants to pull, to suck, to leech their very spirit away from them. It cannot [blessed be], but the entire span around them is distorting and twisting with its efforts...
As if they needed any warning, the Umbrood - rising from where its enemies have now been obliterated to nothingness [to ashes beneath its feet] - lifts its head, watching, watching.... and again in that voice like a thousand voices and a thousand [one. pure.] tongues. Which Ashley and Justine understand though the others can garner its meaning: Flee for your Souls. And then it is all motion, all blinding light as it circles, circles, circles around the imploding Chalice, until it moves so fast it is a blur. A Shielding.
A chance.
[Atlas Mason] The entire area was becoming unstable, becoming a void much like the remains of the Chalice itself. Atlas realizes he has no time to speak about the particulars, so he forces himself to use something most will rarely here from him...a single word.
"Movate!!" He cries, as he is now running away, in the direction they had come. Dashing for the gateway back to the real world.
[Dex+Ath]
Dice Rolled:[ 3 d10 ] 3, 3, 6 (Success x 1 at target 6)
[Li Daiyu] Go, she commanded, anxiously, to all who could hear. She had no understanding of the Umbrood's Enochian tongue, but she didn't need to hear what it was saying to know that they needed to run as far and as fast as they could. In the distance, the soaring falcon had no need of such a suggestion, as it had back-winged in the air and started away at full speed the moment the Twilight Star was destroyed.
Of those present, it was likely that Daiyu was capable of running the fastest, but true to her protective instinct, she instead hurried the others before her, bringing up the rear as she ran, looking back over her shoulder to make sure that there was nothing about to come down upon them.
[Ashley McGowen] Flee for your Souls, it says, and the Hermetics understand those Words in the language of angels: the Order of Hermes claims it's been handed down to the worthy, granted to those Enlightened enough to speak the tongue. Ashley usually refers to them simply as High Umbrood, will probably continue to, even after this. Justine, though, Justine Believes, and the Flambeau tosses one broad, radiant smile toward the archangel before she spins on her heels, jamming the gun into its holster.
Ashley grabs at Wharil's wrist, taking a second to make sure her cabal mate is fit to run before she gives him a tug, bolts off after the other Hermetic. There are no wistful glances cast over her shoulder at the chalice, nothing reverent in the way she looks at the archangel (Hungry, maybe) but amid the instincts that are screaming at her to run, there's another that's charged, something of raw joy and vitality.
It's a real victory, for once.
[Administrator] Atlas Mason has left General Chicago
[Administrator] Li Daiyu has left General Chicago
[Administrator] Ashley McGowen has left General Chicago
[Administrator] Fallen has left General Chicago
0 comments:
Post a Comment