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Between the Shadow and the Light (Updated February 26, 2023)
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<blockquote data-quote="The Shadow" data-source="post: 8359973" data-attributes="member: 16760"><p>[Just to let you guys know, I'm going to be drop-dead busy the coming week, so I may not have time to post anything until the weekend.]</p><p></p><p>New Scene: Fallout from the big reveal: More from Mark, Kate, Jake. Altered Scene!</p><p></p><p>ComplexQ: Okay... No clue what the alteration should be? Expose/Illness. [?!]</p><p></p><p>Q(Likely): Is the illness in question Pete's infection? YES.</p><p></p><p>Mark unsurprisingly had a lot more questions, and dealing with those took most of the afternoon. In the course of all that, the news of Pete's and Ryan's infections came out.</p><p></p><p>Q(Unsure): Does Jake shove his oar in? NO.</p><p></p><p>Q(Unsure): Is he saving it up for later? YES.</p><p></p><p>Mark's eyes went round. "What's it going to do to you?" Pete sighed. "The same thing it's doing to Ryan, I'd guess - only slower. I have defenses he doesn't." "And I had it too?" "Yes. Fr. Leo got it out of you, praise God."</p><p></p><p>Mark swallowed. "Pete... Can I talk to you alone for a second?" Blinking, "Uh, sure?" He looked to his parents and Jake. Thomas nodded, and led the way out.</p><p></p><p>Pete frowned as Mark struggled to his feet. "You shouldn't be moving around so much." "I wanna look you in the eye." Really puzzled now, "...Okay?"</p><p></p><p>Q(Very Likely): Does Mark want to come on the Shadow trip? YES - and a Random Event!</p><p></p><p>Close a Thread: Treat that damned illusionist to some payback. [?!!? This makes no sense! ... Oh. My. Gosh. IT DOES! It totally does! Not that this one thing will resolve the whole adventure, of course, but that something can be set in motion right now that will screw the bastard over!]</p><p></p><p>That done, Mark said earnestly, "Pete, I want to go with you and Ryan." Pete snorted. "Ain't gonna happen, bro." "Why not?" "This is a strictly need-to-go mission, and you don't need to go. Not to mention that you're a complete babe in the woods when it comes to this stuff."</p><p></p><p>Mark nodded. "I know. But I've been a babe LOST in those woods, and I need to face them down. First the gang, then those hounds... My God, Pete, what is it?!"</p><p></p><p>Peter gaped open-mouthed as an insight suddenly crystallized in his brain. "Holy Mary Mother of God," he breathed, "It can't be... can it?" Memories swirled in his brain, as pieces fell into place:</p><p></p><p>The gangbangers, rendered as circling shadow-things after he destroyed the disk.</p><p></p><p>Goat saying, "I'm supposed to tell you this fight doesn't matter!"</p><p></p><p>Ryan saying of Goat, "He said he was in Hell already, and that I'd be joining him."</p><p></p><p>Being circled by the darkhound pack as they urged him to join them... Just as they'd urged Ryan to join the gang, in human form. And they'd mauled Mark as Shadows, as once they'd mauled him physically.</p><p></p><p>No sign of the hounds on the chessboard... But Goat was a Pawn.</p><p></p><p>[I SWEAR I did not consciously premeditate this! But it all fits! Even the disks being intelligent in their own right fits!]</p><p></p><p>Mark repeated anxiously "Pete?!" But his brother was already tearing the door open. "DAD! When are those Knights getting here? Make sure they're loaded for bear - things just got a whole HECK of a lot more interesting!!"</p><p></p><p>[Wow, quite a few things just changed in the lists. I now definitively know what's going on with Ryan, so that thread is closed too. Protecting Ryan from his old gang is arguably now the same thing as freeing him from the disk's influence. Several NPC's just collapsed into one, as well. And some threads will need renaming.]</p><p></p><p>NPC List: Mark, Ryan, the Demons/darkhound pack, Goat, Billy, the illusionist, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate.</p><p></p><p>Thread List:</p><p></p><p>Free Ryan from the darkhound curse.</p><p>Free myself, for that matter.</p><p>Take Goat down a peg or three.</p><p>Make ready for the trip into Shadow.</p><p>Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake.</p><p></p><p>Chaos Factor: 5 -> 4</p><p></p><p>New Scene: Fr. Leo putting the icing on the cake. [Heh. While this was neither an Altered Scene nor an Interrupt, it certainly turned out a lot differently than I was expecting!]</p><p></p><p>Everyone waited tensely as Fr. Leo examined Ryan magically in the living room. (Everyone including Kate; she and Fr. Leo had gone for a long walk while the others explained everything to Mark. She'd come back teary-eyed, but to a tensely excited family.)</p><p></p><p>Pete, Jake, and Thomas all gaped when the priest opened the door and poked his head out: None of them had ever seen him scared before. But he was still in command of his voice when he said, "Peter, please join us. I require your assistance."</p><p></p><p>Entering without a word, Pete looked to Fr. Leo. Ryan was standing slumped in the middle of the room, obviously in a trance. His old teacher informed him, "I realize you may not be able, but I want you to try to cast Lumen Veritatis. I pray that these old eyes are mistaken."</p><p></p><p>Q(Unsure): Does it work? EXCEPTIONAL NO. [Oh. My.]</p><p></p><p>ComplexQ: What just happened? Care/Wounds [...Huh.]</p><p></p><p>Q(Unsure): Pete's wounds? NO. [Okay... that leaves Ryan and Mark. Hmmm.]</p><p></p><p>Pete nodded. "Of course, Father." He touched his Crux and began to say, "Lu-" when several things happened at once:</p><p></p><p>Pete's throat spasmed, his breath coming out sounding like a snarl;</p><p></p><p>Ryan abruptly raised his head, eyes narrowed and awake with a feral light, lips curled back in a snarl of his own;</p><p></p><p>And Mark cried out in the next room.</p><p></p><p>Fr. Leo gaped, then said in a commanding voice, "Exsurgat Deus, et dissipentur inimici ejus!" Blinding light flooded the room for an instant; when it faded, Ryan was sprawled on the floor and Pete was hanging onto a wall for dear life. "What on earth was THAT?!"</p><p></p><p>The old monk was calm once more. "The opening to Psalm 68." "I know that, but what WAS it? Like Banishment, only MORE so!" Fr. Leo was already making for Ryan with controlled haste. "I will tell you someday. For now, I need you to check on young Mark." "Oh my God! Right."</p><p></p><p>Rushing out, he found Mark (still wearing an old bathrobe Pete had loaned him) slumped in a chair, clutching his belly and gasping for breath. He was crowded by anxious family, but when Pete said firmly, "Out of my way," Thomas drew them aside.</p><p></p><p>Touching Mark's brow (he was burning up), he asked, "Tell me what happened." Mark gasped out, "It... just hurt! All at once! Like fire! Still does!"</p><p></p><p>He didn't dare try Lumen Veritatis, of course, but there were all sorts of other tools at his disposal, none of which had given him any reaction before. "Hey. Take my hand. Look me in the eye. You're gonna be okay."</p><p></p><p>Mark did so shakily while Pete considered. Dunno if I dare try sharing my vitality with him again; it might open him up to whatever I've got inside. But helping people overcome pain is another acceptable use of mental suggestion. He made a connection through Mark's eyes, the windows of the soul: "It's okay. The pain is far away now. Far away. It's there somewhere, but you don't have to pay attention to it right now. All right?"</p><p></p><p>Mark's face eased slowly. "...Yeah." (Thomas let out a slow breath while Teresa bit her lip. Kate watched intently, while Jake frowned.) Pete said slowly, "I'm going to check you out a bit now. If you feel any pain, squeeze my hand. When you squeeze my hand, the pain will go far away again. Understand?" Mark mumbled, "Yeah, Pete."</p><p></p><p>Kate said abruptly in a quiet voice, "Pete." Blink. "Yes, Kate?" "I've cast a spell to see the unseen." "And?" "You've, uh. ... You've got a dog-like... thing. Coiled up inside of you." "Not entirely surprising. What about Mark?"</p><p></p><p>Q(Unsure): Is Mark infected again? NO.</p><p></p><p>[Okay, true confession time. The original answer to this question was YES. But as I continued on into the next scene, I felt more and more unhappy with how things were going. I paused to take stock, and realized that having Mark get infected again was just plain bad for the story. It was just a reprise of what had gone before: "Once more, with <em>feeling!</em>" So I decided just to wave the magic wand of Retconjuration and call it good.]</p><p></p><p>[So, while I've kept some parts of this scene and the next one, I've also had to retcon away large chunks of them and fill in the blanks. Lesson learned: When one possible outcome to a yes/no question is bad for the story, <em>don't roll the dice!</em>]</p><p></p><p>ComplexQ: So what IS going on? Mistrust/Emotions. [...Huh.]</p><p></p><p>Kate frowned, peering more intently. "His wound is... like a doorway. It leads to someplace very dark." Abruptly, Mark squeezed Pete's hand, his breathing ragged again. "It hurts, Pete! And I feel... weird!"</p><p></p><p>Pete squeezed back. "Look at me, Mark. It's far away. Weird how?" "I feel... cold. And angry. And... empty. I don't know why!" Pete's brows furrowed in confusion. "Keep telling me what you feel, Mark." He whispered the words to a minor divination.</p><p></p><p>Mark's head lolled back and forth as if he were denying something with all his heart. "I feel... This is so weird! I love you, you're my brother, you rescued me, but... I feel like I hate you, right now. I want you... not dead, no. I want you to be at my mercy, under my control."</p><p></p><p>Pete froze for a long moment at what his divination revealed. "It's okay, Mark, no offense taken. Time to sleep now, okay?" Mark shook his head. "No, Pete, I wanna know what's going on." "Okay, I guess you deserve that." He stood, turning an ashen face to his family. "You're weren't kidding, Kate. That wound of his is a direct line to Shadow. I think... he's in contact with our enemy."</p><p></p><p>[And now a question my gut tells me I have to ask: ]</p><p></p><p>Q(Somewhat Likely): Is the illusionist connected in some way, however esoteric, to Jake? YES.</p><p></p><p>Q(No Way): Does Jake realize that? NO.</p><p></p><p>NPC List: Mark, Ryan, the Demons/darkhound pack, Goat, Billy, the illusionist, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate.</p><p></p><p>Thread List:</p><p></p><p>Free Ryan from the darkhound curse.</p><p>Free myself, for that matter.</p><p>Take Goat down a peg or three.</p><p>Make ready for the trip into Shadow.</p><p>Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake.</p><p></p><p>Chaos Factor: 4 -> 5</p><p></p><p>New Scene: Taking stock and plotting the next step.</p><p></p><p>Mark wheezed out a chuckle. "Does this mean I get to go with you after all?" Thomas and Teresa said, "No!" in unison, while Pete said, "I really don't know at this point, bro," and Jake frowned.</p><p></p><p>Thomas collected his wits. "Peter... What in blazes is going on?! Shadow doesn't work this way!" "Tell me about it, Dad! I'm as flabbergasted as you are!"</p><p></p><p>Teresa folded her arms and demanded with authority, "Somebody explain, please. RIGHT NOW!" Peter said, "Uh. Sorry, Mom. We've just never seen anything like this before. I mean, Shadow has all sorts of monsters, most of which want to feed on people in some way. And people who get too deeply entangled with Shadow can get corrupted into 'dusklings' themselves. At first I thought something similar was happening to Ryan... But this? Deliberately transforming people into Shadows? Forging spiritual connections across dimensions? I mean, sure, there are some Shadow-beings who are good at magic, but this is just bizarre!"</p><p></p><p>His mother said icily, "A few hours ago, I heard a priest begin the <em>Rite of Exorcism</em> over you and my baby." Mark's eyes widened at that. (He squeezed Pete's hand again, and was comforted.) She continued, "The Knights' prayer invokes St. Michael's protection against the Devil. Just what is so bizarre about this? Am I to understand this isn't demonic obsession?"</p><p></p><p>Pete shook his head. "The Shadow isn't Hell, Mom. You can't fight the Devil with swords, or even with magic - only with faith and the sacraments. Diabolical forces can tempt Shadow-beings the same way they tempt us, but Shadow is usually too blunt an instrument for their purposes these days. The Order saves peoples' lives and sanity, not their souls."</p><p></p><p>"And the Rite?" she demanded. "To be more precise, Fr. Leo used the opening <em>words</em> of the Rite to channel what he intended to do. Magic is mostly about intention; the words are mostly there to focus and canalize our intentions so that we don't go off-track. There's... more to it than that, yes. But not less."</p><p></p><p>She still wasn't convinced. "That seems a rather cavalier way to treat a prayer and a sacramental of the Church." "I'm not saying he wasn't praying, Mom. That was undoubtedly his intention. It's just that a mage's intention can be... energized... in ways beyond what is normally possible. That's one big reason why we use Latin, you know - if we got in the habit of energizing things we said in English, things'd get messy quick!" Kate's eyes widened slightly at that, but she said nothing.</p><p></p><p>[I realize this seems like a massive infodump, but in point of fact I was feeling out for myself just how these things work as I went, and trying to smooth over some inconsistencies that were starting to really bug me. I'm still not 100% happy with it, but you know what? This is a story, not a treatise. Moving on!]</p><p></p><p>Fr. Leo opened the door to the living room, looking haggard. Ryan followed him, the boy's face streaked with tears. "Lord have mercy," Leo sighed. "I've never seen the like of this - though I've read of similar things, in the twelfth and seventeenth centuries."</p><p></p><p>Thomas paled as he considered the ramifications of that. He asked quietly, "What is it, Father?" The priest shook his head. "Some Shadow-mage has developed a... <em>rather better</em> imagination than the usual run of these things, along with a power source that remains obscure to me. He MUST be stopped before he gets any more skilled." Pete sighed. "It gets worse, Father. Take a look at Mark here."</p><p></p><p>Leo did so. "That... would be very interesting if it weren't so terrifying." Mark rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks." Pete replied, "That was my take, too. But do you really think he did this on purpose? What's the point?"</p><p></p><p>Q(Unlikely): Did he? NO.</p><p></p><p>ComplexQ: So what's going on? Inquire/Dispute. [Hmmmm.]</p><p></p><p>Leo shook his head. "No, I don't. I think he left a trigger in you to prevent your investigating. When you tried to cast Lumen Veritatis, it woke the curse in you, and, by extension through the pack, in Ryan as well. Mark was close by, and vulnerable to outside influence... The bleed-off exposed him to our enemy's working again, but in a way he did not anticipate. I am not certain how long this effect will last... but as long as it does, we have a direct line to our foe."</p><p></p><p>Q(Somewhat Likely): Does the bad guy know about this connection? YES.</p><p></p><p>Q(Unsure): Is he trying to close it off? EXCEPTIONAL NO. [Oh, for...]</p><p></p><p>Jake spoke up sharply, "Direct line or not, it's too dangerous! HE has a direct line to MARK as well!" Nobody disagreed with him. "Can't you rip it out of him?"</p><p></p><p>Q(Unlikely): Good question. Can we? NO.</p><p></p><p>Q(Unlikely): Will it fade on its own? EXCEPTIONAL YES. [Huh!]</p><p></p><p>Kate said abruptly, "Moot point! It's fading away!" Leo nodded. "She's right." Mark yelled in pain for a second, then panted heavily. "I think... I think he's gone." He squeezed Pete's hand again, more for gratitude than for autosuggestion.</p><p></p><p>Q(Unlikely): Did he succeed in doing anything nefarious to Mark? NO.</p><p></p><p>Pete asked him, "Did you feel anything more?"</p><p></p><p>[At this point I put the game on the back burner for a good long while to simmer - the retcon had really bothered me and I wanted to come back to it fresh. So, coming back to it several months later: ]</p><p></p><p>Mark paused, collecting his thoughts and his breath. "He... envies you? I think. It's like... he hates you because you have something he can never have."</p><p></p><p>Pete blinked at that. "I do? Like what?" "I don't know! But it's personal, I can tell you that. Not that he's a social butterfly or anything, but he doesn't hate anybody the way he hates you."</p><p></p><p>Everyone pondered that. Pete turned and asked Fr. Leo, "How on earth have I managed to personally offend a Shadow-being?" The elderly priest shook his head. "I do not know, Peter... but none of my guesses are pleasant ones."</p><p></p><p>Pete thought of Morven, and of Jamie. "Yeah. I guess they wouldn't be."</p><p></p><p>NPC List: Mark, Ryan, the Demons/darkhound pack, Goat, Billy, the illusionist, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate.</p><p></p><p>Thread List:</p><p></p><p>Free Ryan from the darkhound curse.</p><p>Free myself, for that matter.</p><p>Take Goat down a peg or three.</p><p>Make ready for the trip into Shadow.</p><p>Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake.</p><p>Get to the bottom of my relationship to the illusionist.</p><p></p><p>Chaos Factor: 5 -> 6</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Shadow, post: 8359973, member: 16760"] [Just to let you guys know, I'm going to be drop-dead busy the coming week, so I may not have time to post anything until the weekend.] New Scene: Fallout from the big reveal: More from Mark, Kate, Jake. Altered Scene! ComplexQ: Okay... No clue what the alteration should be? Expose/Illness. [?!] Q(Likely): Is the illness in question Pete's infection? YES. Mark unsurprisingly had a lot more questions, and dealing with those took most of the afternoon. In the course of all that, the news of Pete's and Ryan's infections came out. Q(Unsure): Does Jake shove his oar in? NO. Q(Unsure): Is he saving it up for later? YES. Mark's eyes went round. "What's it going to do to you?" Pete sighed. "The same thing it's doing to Ryan, I'd guess - only slower. I have defenses he doesn't." "And I had it too?" "Yes. Fr. Leo got it out of you, praise God." Mark swallowed. "Pete... Can I talk to you alone for a second?" Blinking, "Uh, sure?" He looked to his parents and Jake. Thomas nodded, and led the way out. Pete frowned as Mark struggled to his feet. "You shouldn't be moving around so much." "I wanna look you in the eye." Really puzzled now, "...Okay?" Q(Very Likely): Does Mark want to come on the Shadow trip? YES - and a Random Event! Close a Thread: Treat that damned illusionist to some payback. [?!!? This makes no sense! ... Oh. My. Gosh. IT DOES! It totally does! Not that this one thing will resolve the whole adventure, of course, but that something can be set in motion right now that will screw the bastard over!] That done, Mark said earnestly, "Pete, I want to go with you and Ryan." Pete snorted. "Ain't gonna happen, bro." "Why not?" "This is a strictly need-to-go mission, and you don't need to go. Not to mention that you're a complete babe in the woods when it comes to this stuff." Mark nodded. "I know. But I've been a babe LOST in those woods, and I need to face them down. First the gang, then those hounds... My God, Pete, what is it?!" Peter gaped open-mouthed as an insight suddenly crystallized in his brain. "Holy Mary Mother of God," he breathed, "It can't be... can it?" Memories swirled in his brain, as pieces fell into place: The gangbangers, rendered as circling shadow-things after he destroyed the disk. Goat saying, "I'm supposed to tell you this fight doesn't matter!" Ryan saying of Goat, "He said he was in Hell already, and that I'd be joining him." Being circled by the darkhound pack as they urged him to join them... Just as they'd urged Ryan to join the gang, in human form. And they'd mauled Mark as Shadows, as once they'd mauled him physically. No sign of the hounds on the chessboard... But Goat was a Pawn. [I SWEAR I did not consciously premeditate this! But it all fits! Even the disks being intelligent in their own right fits!] Mark repeated anxiously "Pete?!" But his brother was already tearing the door open. "DAD! When are those Knights getting here? Make sure they're loaded for bear - things just got a whole HECK of a lot more interesting!!" [Wow, quite a few things just changed in the lists. I now definitively know what's going on with Ryan, so that thread is closed too. Protecting Ryan from his old gang is arguably now the same thing as freeing him from the disk's influence. Several NPC's just collapsed into one, as well. And some threads will need renaming.] NPC List: Mark, Ryan, the Demons/darkhound pack, Goat, Billy, the illusionist, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate. Thread List: Free Ryan from the darkhound curse. Free myself, for that matter. Take Goat down a peg or three. Make ready for the trip into Shadow. Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake. Chaos Factor: 5 -> 4 New Scene: Fr. Leo putting the icing on the cake. [Heh. While this was neither an Altered Scene nor an Interrupt, it certainly turned out a lot differently than I was expecting!] Everyone waited tensely as Fr. Leo examined Ryan magically in the living room. (Everyone including Kate; she and Fr. Leo had gone for a long walk while the others explained everything to Mark. She'd come back teary-eyed, but to a tensely excited family.) Pete, Jake, and Thomas all gaped when the priest opened the door and poked his head out: None of them had ever seen him scared before. But he was still in command of his voice when he said, "Peter, please join us. I require your assistance." Entering without a word, Pete looked to Fr. Leo. Ryan was standing slumped in the middle of the room, obviously in a trance. His old teacher informed him, "I realize you may not be able, but I want you to try to cast Lumen Veritatis. I pray that these old eyes are mistaken." Q(Unsure): Does it work? EXCEPTIONAL NO. [Oh. My.] ComplexQ: What just happened? Care/Wounds [...Huh.] Q(Unsure): Pete's wounds? NO. [Okay... that leaves Ryan and Mark. Hmmm.] Pete nodded. "Of course, Father." He touched his Crux and began to say, "Lu-" when several things happened at once: Pete's throat spasmed, his breath coming out sounding like a snarl; Ryan abruptly raised his head, eyes narrowed and awake with a feral light, lips curled back in a snarl of his own; And Mark cried out in the next room. Fr. Leo gaped, then said in a commanding voice, "Exsurgat Deus, et dissipentur inimici ejus!" Blinding light flooded the room for an instant; when it faded, Ryan was sprawled on the floor and Pete was hanging onto a wall for dear life. "What on earth was THAT?!" The old monk was calm once more. "The opening to Psalm 68." "I know that, but what WAS it? Like Banishment, only MORE so!" Fr. Leo was already making for Ryan with controlled haste. "I will tell you someday. For now, I need you to check on young Mark." "Oh my God! Right." Rushing out, he found Mark (still wearing an old bathrobe Pete had loaned him) slumped in a chair, clutching his belly and gasping for breath. He was crowded by anxious family, but when Pete said firmly, "Out of my way," Thomas drew them aside. Touching Mark's brow (he was burning up), he asked, "Tell me what happened." Mark gasped out, "It... just hurt! All at once! Like fire! Still does!" He didn't dare try Lumen Veritatis, of course, but there were all sorts of other tools at his disposal, none of which had given him any reaction before. "Hey. Take my hand. Look me in the eye. You're gonna be okay." Mark did so shakily while Pete considered. Dunno if I dare try sharing my vitality with him again; it might open him up to whatever I've got inside. But helping people overcome pain is another acceptable use of mental suggestion. He made a connection through Mark's eyes, the windows of the soul: "It's okay. The pain is far away now. Far away. It's there somewhere, but you don't have to pay attention to it right now. All right?" Mark's face eased slowly. "...Yeah." (Thomas let out a slow breath while Teresa bit her lip. Kate watched intently, while Jake frowned.) Pete said slowly, "I'm going to check you out a bit now. If you feel any pain, squeeze my hand. When you squeeze my hand, the pain will go far away again. Understand?" Mark mumbled, "Yeah, Pete." Kate said abruptly in a quiet voice, "Pete." Blink. "Yes, Kate?" "I've cast a spell to see the unseen." "And?" "You've, uh. ... You've got a dog-like... thing. Coiled up inside of you." "Not entirely surprising. What about Mark?" Q(Unsure): Is Mark infected again? NO. [Okay, true confession time. The original answer to this question was YES. But as I continued on into the next scene, I felt more and more unhappy with how things were going. I paused to take stock, and realized that having Mark get infected again was just plain bad for the story. It was just a reprise of what had gone before: "Once more, with [I]feeling![/I]" So I decided just to wave the magic wand of Retconjuration and call it good.] [So, while I've kept some parts of this scene and the next one, I've also had to retcon away large chunks of them and fill in the blanks. Lesson learned: When one possible outcome to a yes/no question is bad for the story, [I]don't roll the dice![/I]] ComplexQ: So what IS going on? Mistrust/Emotions. [...Huh.] Kate frowned, peering more intently. "His wound is... like a doorway. It leads to someplace very dark." Abruptly, Mark squeezed Pete's hand, his breathing ragged again. "It hurts, Pete! And I feel... weird!" Pete squeezed back. "Look at me, Mark. It's far away. Weird how?" "I feel... cold. And angry. And... empty. I don't know why!" Pete's brows furrowed in confusion. "Keep telling me what you feel, Mark." He whispered the words to a minor divination. Mark's head lolled back and forth as if he were denying something with all his heart. "I feel... This is so weird! I love you, you're my brother, you rescued me, but... I feel like I hate you, right now. I want you... not dead, no. I want you to be at my mercy, under my control." Pete froze for a long moment at what his divination revealed. "It's okay, Mark, no offense taken. Time to sleep now, okay?" Mark shook his head. "No, Pete, I wanna know what's going on." "Okay, I guess you deserve that." He stood, turning an ashen face to his family. "You're weren't kidding, Kate. That wound of his is a direct line to Shadow. I think... he's in contact with our enemy." [And now a question my gut tells me I have to ask: ] Q(Somewhat Likely): Is the illusionist connected in some way, however esoteric, to Jake? YES. Q(No Way): Does Jake realize that? NO. NPC List: Mark, Ryan, the Demons/darkhound pack, Goat, Billy, the illusionist, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate. Thread List: Free Ryan from the darkhound curse. Free myself, for that matter. Take Goat down a peg or three. Make ready for the trip into Shadow. Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake. Chaos Factor: 4 -> 5 New Scene: Taking stock and plotting the next step. Mark wheezed out a chuckle. "Does this mean I get to go with you after all?" Thomas and Teresa said, "No!" in unison, while Pete said, "I really don't know at this point, bro," and Jake frowned. Thomas collected his wits. "Peter... What in blazes is going on?! Shadow doesn't work this way!" "Tell me about it, Dad! I'm as flabbergasted as you are!" Teresa folded her arms and demanded with authority, "Somebody explain, please. RIGHT NOW!" Peter said, "Uh. Sorry, Mom. We've just never seen anything like this before. I mean, Shadow has all sorts of monsters, most of which want to feed on people in some way. And people who get too deeply entangled with Shadow can get corrupted into 'dusklings' themselves. At first I thought something similar was happening to Ryan... But this? Deliberately transforming people into Shadows? Forging spiritual connections across dimensions? I mean, sure, there are some Shadow-beings who are good at magic, but this is just bizarre!" His mother said icily, "A few hours ago, I heard a priest begin the [I]Rite of Exorcism[/I] over you and my baby." Mark's eyes widened at that. (He squeezed Pete's hand again, and was comforted.) She continued, "The Knights' prayer invokes St. Michael's protection against the Devil. Just what is so bizarre about this? Am I to understand this isn't demonic obsession?" Pete shook his head. "The Shadow isn't Hell, Mom. You can't fight the Devil with swords, or even with magic - only with faith and the sacraments. Diabolical forces can tempt Shadow-beings the same way they tempt us, but Shadow is usually too blunt an instrument for their purposes these days. The Order saves peoples' lives and sanity, not their souls." "And the Rite?" she demanded. "To be more precise, Fr. Leo used the opening [I]words[/I] of the Rite to channel what he intended to do. Magic is mostly about intention; the words are mostly there to focus and canalize our intentions so that we don't go off-track. There's... more to it than that, yes. But not less." She still wasn't convinced. "That seems a rather cavalier way to treat a prayer and a sacramental of the Church." "I'm not saying he wasn't praying, Mom. That was undoubtedly his intention. It's just that a mage's intention can be... energized... in ways beyond what is normally possible. That's one big reason why we use Latin, you know - if we got in the habit of energizing things we said in English, things'd get messy quick!" Kate's eyes widened slightly at that, but she said nothing. [I realize this seems like a massive infodump, but in point of fact I was feeling out for myself just how these things work as I went, and trying to smooth over some inconsistencies that were starting to really bug me. I'm still not 100% happy with it, but you know what? This is a story, not a treatise. Moving on!] Fr. Leo opened the door to the living room, looking haggard. Ryan followed him, the boy's face streaked with tears. "Lord have mercy," Leo sighed. "I've never seen the like of this - though I've read of similar things, in the twelfth and seventeenth centuries." Thomas paled as he considered the ramifications of that. He asked quietly, "What is it, Father?" The priest shook his head. "Some Shadow-mage has developed a... [I]rather better[/I] imagination than the usual run of these things, along with a power source that remains obscure to me. He MUST be stopped before he gets any more skilled." Pete sighed. "It gets worse, Father. Take a look at Mark here." Leo did so. "That... would be very interesting if it weren't so terrifying." Mark rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks." Pete replied, "That was my take, too. But do you really think he did this on purpose? What's the point?" Q(Unlikely): Did he? NO. ComplexQ: So what's going on? Inquire/Dispute. [Hmmmm.] Leo shook his head. "No, I don't. I think he left a trigger in you to prevent your investigating. When you tried to cast Lumen Veritatis, it woke the curse in you, and, by extension through the pack, in Ryan as well. Mark was close by, and vulnerable to outside influence... The bleed-off exposed him to our enemy's working again, but in a way he did not anticipate. I am not certain how long this effect will last... but as long as it does, we have a direct line to our foe." Q(Somewhat Likely): Does the bad guy know about this connection? YES. Q(Unsure): Is he trying to close it off? EXCEPTIONAL NO. [Oh, for...] Jake spoke up sharply, "Direct line or not, it's too dangerous! HE has a direct line to MARK as well!" Nobody disagreed with him. "Can't you rip it out of him?" Q(Unlikely): Good question. Can we? NO. Q(Unlikely): Will it fade on its own? EXCEPTIONAL YES. [Huh!] Kate said abruptly, "Moot point! It's fading away!" Leo nodded. "She's right." Mark yelled in pain for a second, then panted heavily. "I think... I think he's gone." He squeezed Pete's hand again, more for gratitude than for autosuggestion. Q(Unlikely): Did he succeed in doing anything nefarious to Mark? NO. Pete asked him, "Did you feel anything more?" [At this point I put the game on the back burner for a good long while to simmer - the retcon had really bothered me and I wanted to come back to it fresh. So, coming back to it several months later: ] Mark paused, collecting his thoughts and his breath. "He... envies you? I think. It's like... he hates you because you have something he can never have." Pete blinked at that. "I do? Like what?" "I don't know! But it's personal, I can tell you that. Not that he's a social butterfly or anything, but he doesn't hate anybody the way he hates you." Everyone pondered that. Pete turned and asked Fr. Leo, "How on earth have I managed to personally offend a Shadow-being?" The elderly priest shook his head. "I do not know, Peter... but none of my guesses are pleasant ones." Pete thought of Morven, and of Jamie. "Yeah. I guess they wouldn't be." NPC List: Mark, Ryan, the Demons/darkhound pack, Goat, Billy, the illusionist, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate. Thread List: Free Ryan from the darkhound curse. Free myself, for that matter. Take Goat down a peg or three. Make ready for the trip into Shadow. Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake. Get to the bottom of my relationship to the illusionist. Chaos Factor: 5 -> 6 [/QUOTE]
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Between the Shadow and the Light (Updated February 26, 2023)
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