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High Fantasy Modern Storyhour - The Long Road (updated December 7)
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<blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 2870246" data-attributes="member: 63"><p><strong>Session Eleven, part five</strong></p><p></p><p>Robert isn’t eager to show off his CSI knowledge, but Nathan is insistent, so he helps them as best he can over the phone. A few camera phone pics and descriptions later, along with a quick talk with the rescued woman, Robert figures out a little. They put the pieces together to get the following picture.</p><p></p><p>The woman was seduced – magically, it seems – by a tall, bald black man, well-dressed, with a long face. Scarpedin insists they ask her what actor he looked like, and she says he looked kinda like Charlie Murphy, who played on Chappelle’s Show. After getting picked up, the woman says her recollection is fuzzy. Apparently she was taken to the graveyard, and her car was left abandoned so the cop on duty to patrol the graveyard would go investigate.</p><p></p><p>Jenny has her people do a quick check, and it seems like the cop in question checked in recently, more recently than could actually be possible, given that his body has been stiff for at least half an hour. It seems like whoever set this up wanted the group to get there before the cops noticed one of their officers was dead.</p><p></p><p>The cop was shot by a 50-caliber sniper rifle, magically-guided. Nathan can’t do a reading on the bullet because the shock of the murder is still imprinted on the murder weapon, and it ruins his concentration. Ian has no such problems, though, and with the aid of his ghost Giovanni he sees the past of the bullet, back to when it was fired, and before, allowing him to get a vague ID on the sniper (who looks like a grimy Tom Hanks), and determine where he shot from. Jenny calls in a few agents who were off-duty to investigate and possibly apprehend the sniper. They’ll also start investigating the well-dressed spellcaster.</p><p></p><p>A few other pieces of evidence – a half-burned Polaroid of the woman, bits of blood trickled in a circle, the pattern of foot prints and angle of the victim’s body – suggest that their perp – Charlie Murphy – was at the scene, and that he performed some sort of spell to send out a call. They suspect that somehow the man triggered Nathan’s vision, but gave him false information.</p><p></p><p>It doesn’t quite make sense. The man was obviously trying to lure them there, into the position for a sniper to take them out, but he didn’t. That, to Robert and Jenny, suggests he was interested in someone who wasn’t there, probably Terry. But they don’t know if this is someone from the group of Canadian terrorists, or Morgan McCool’s group out of New York, or some third group. It’s possible the person doesn’t even know Terry is dead.</p><p></p><p>Whoever he is, he was willing to kill a cop just to get their attention. Everyone is quite eager to see this man brought to justice. (Everyone except Ian, who doesn’t really seem to care either way as long as he’s getting paid.)</p><p></p><p>When Nathan, John, Ian, Bonnie, and Agent Cavers (along with the soon-to-be memory-altered woman) leave Bonaventure Cemetery, they notice tire tracks of a car that weren’t there when they arrived. Nathan does a reading, and sees a Ford Taurus. It could be a coincidence, or it could be the ugly man in leather who showed up at Gallogly’s Tavern. At about the same time they get news from Bureau investigators that the room the sniper shot from has been abandoned, so they decide to track down the man from the bar, since he probably has some connection.</p><p></p><p>Eventually, with a bit of divination and a bit of hacking into Savannah’s traffic camera database, they locate the Ford Taurus at a Denny’s. The group sets up across the street and waits for the man to come out of the restaurant, since they don’t want to make a scene. When he finally finishes up (the man apparently has the ability to imbibe huge amounts of coffee) and gets into his car, Ian drives up and blocks the car’s exit, and John emerges from the bushes, a gun pointed through the driver’s side window.</p><p></p><p>They pull him out of the car, and though he resists a bit, eventually they get him to hand over his weapons, and then Agent Cavers arrests him. In his car they find numerous spell books and a handful of specially-etched glass spheres. The man identifies himself as Shanon Mercer, an ‘antiquities dealer.’ Ian laughs at that, because he has called himself the same thing. Really, it just means smuggler of magical artifacts.</p><p></p><p>Within the hour, Mercer is in custody at a small Bureau holding facility in their office, and Jenny, Robert, Scarpedin, and Wiji-wiji have returned. At first John has concerns that Mercer might use magic to escape, but Jenny assures him they have that under control. She explains the rules of magic for those who weren’t clear on it.</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Normal humans cannot use magic.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Humans can use magic if they are bonded to a ghost or have some other connection to a source of magical power. In Ian’s case, this is his ghost Giovanni. In Scarpedin’s case, they suspect it has something to do with the Dalai Lama prayer beads he bought in Savannah. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">With the right training, some humans can cast spells from rituals, but these require a lot of set-up and aren’t as reliable as normal spells.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Some rare humans are psychic, like Nathan, and can use limited magical abilities without a ghost.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Creatures from Gaia, such as elves and the fey, can use magic innately.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There are some humans, even rarer than psychics, who do not fit these patterns. Often they have some element of magical ancestry, such as a great-grandfather who was an elf. Terry, who was able to use magic without a ghost, and John, who didn’t even need any magical training, fall into this category.</li> </ul><p></p><p>Nathan, of course, shares his theory that John is an angel, so he’s not human in the first place. Jenny, despite being a devoted Christian, is uncomfortable with the idea of angels being physical beings, and tells them there’s no evidence angels, in the classic sense, actually exist. Any creature claiming to be an angel (or a demon) is just some manner of magical creature from Gaia.</p><p></p><p>The Bureau has developed numerous methods for detecting the type of magic a person uses, and neutralizing it. They have devices which resemble thick metal bracers with locks, that go around the necks of prisoners. Each must be specifically attuned to the type of magic it is nullifying, which takes a few minutes, but once it is set and in place, the person is unable to use any sort of personal magic. There’s still always the risk of concealed magical items, and of course in a world of magic there are always ways to cheat the system, but the Bureau has a lot of experience, and they’re rarely surprised.</p><p></p><p>John takes this moment to snipe about the fact that the Bureau obviously was pretty surprised when they weren’t able to get between Terra and Gaia. John, it seems, is still very unimpressed with the Bureau. Still, he hopes that if they get to talk to the Chief on Gaia, maybe <em>he</em> will actually inspire some confidence.</p><p></p><p>To show them how they work, Jenny has a Bureau tech align one of the magic-nullifying neckbracers with Scarpedin, and while he’s wearing it he can’t use any magic. Ian says that he’d like one of those for himself, since his ghost can be a pain in the ass, and the less connection he has with him, the better. Unfortunately, the wards cost tens of thousands of dollars to create.</p><p></p><p>All in all, the night has been wearying and unsatisfying, but before they go to bed, they listen in on an interrogation of Mercer. They find out that, in addition to trafficking in magic items, he also steals and sells ghosts. Many humans learn about magic and want to have it for themselves, but not everyone is lucky enough to find a ghost that will bond with them, so Mercer scours graveyards and antique shops looking for ghosts he can capture and sell. </p><p></p><p>“People like him created Legion,” Jenny says at the mention of this.</p><p></p><p>Robert asks her what Legion is, but she says it’s not a happy story. She’ll save it for the morning.</p><p></p><p>Mercer explains that’s why he was at Gallogly’s Tavern – to try to get the ghost. He claims he followed the group to the cemetery because he thought they were going to set the ghost free there.</p><p></p><p>The group doesn’t buy his story, but the Bureau doesn’t have any mages available who could pry the information out of his mind, and even if they did, such mind control is illegal without either consent of the target, or a warrant issued by magical courts, and those courts are located on Gaia. Ian offers to do it himself, but Jenny won’t let him. The laws are there to protect people from magical abuse, she says.</p><p></p><p>A bit unsatisfied, the group decides to call it a night. Tomorrow, in the afternoon, Terry should be ready to travel to Gaia. They’ll be expecting the worst.</p><p></p><p><em><strong>End of Session Eleven</strong></em></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="RangerWickett, post: 2870246, member: 63"] [b]Session Eleven, part five[/b] Robert isn’t eager to show off his CSI knowledge, but Nathan is insistent, so he helps them as best he can over the phone. A few camera phone pics and descriptions later, along with a quick talk with the rescued woman, Robert figures out a little. They put the pieces together to get the following picture. The woman was seduced – magically, it seems – by a tall, bald black man, well-dressed, with a long face. Scarpedin insists they ask her what actor he looked like, and she says he looked kinda like Charlie Murphy, who played on Chappelle’s Show. After getting picked up, the woman says her recollection is fuzzy. Apparently she was taken to the graveyard, and her car was left abandoned so the cop on duty to patrol the graveyard would go investigate. Jenny has her people do a quick check, and it seems like the cop in question checked in recently, more recently than could actually be possible, given that his body has been stiff for at least half an hour. It seems like whoever set this up wanted the group to get there before the cops noticed one of their officers was dead. The cop was shot by a 50-caliber sniper rifle, magically-guided. Nathan can’t do a reading on the bullet because the shock of the murder is still imprinted on the murder weapon, and it ruins his concentration. Ian has no such problems, though, and with the aid of his ghost Giovanni he sees the past of the bullet, back to when it was fired, and before, allowing him to get a vague ID on the sniper (who looks like a grimy Tom Hanks), and determine where he shot from. Jenny calls in a few agents who were off-duty to investigate and possibly apprehend the sniper. They’ll also start investigating the well-dressed spellcaster. A few other pieces of evidence – a half-burned Polaroid of the woman, bits of blood trickled in a circle, the pattern of foot prints and angle of the victim’s body – suggest that their perp – Charlie Murphy – was at the scene, and that he performed some sort of spell to send out a call. They suspect that somehow the man triggered Nathan’s vision, but gave him false information. It doesn’t quite make sense. The man was obviously trying to lure them there, into the position for a sniper to take them out, but he didn’t. That, to Robert and Jenny, suggests he was interested in someone who wasn’t there, probably Terry. But they don’t know if this is someone from the group of Canadian terrorists, or Morgan McCool’s group out of New York, or some third group. It’s possible the person doesn’t even know Terry is dead. Whoever he is, he was willing to kill a cop just to get their attention. Everyone is quite eager to see this man brought to justice. (Everyone except Ian, who doesn’t really seem to care either way as long as he’s getting paid.) When Nathan, John, Ian, Bonnie, and Agent Cavers (along with the soon-to-be memory-altered woman) leave Bonaventure Cemetery, they notice tire tracks of a car that weren’t there when they arrived. Nathan does a reading, and sees a Ford Taurus. It could be a coincidence, or it could be the ugly man in leather who showed up at Gallogly’s Tavern. At about the same time they get news from Bureau investigators that the room the sniper shot from has been abandoned, so they decide to track down the man from the bar, since he probably has some connection. Eventually, with a bit of divination and a bit of hacking into Savannah’s traffic camera database, they locate the Ford Taurus at a Denny’s. The group sets up across the street and waits for the man to come out of the restaurant, since they don’t want to make a scene. When he finally finishes up (the man apparently has the ability to imbibe huge amounts of coffee) and gets into his car, Ian drives up and blocks the car’s exit, and John emerges from the bushes, a gun pointed through the driver’s side window. They pull him out of the car, and though he resists a bit, eventually they get him to hand over his weapons, and then Agent Cavers arrests him. In his car they find numerous spell books and a handful of specially-etched glass spheres. The man identifies himself as Shanon Mercer, an ‘antiquities dealer.’ Ian laughs at that, because he has called himself the same thing. Really, it just means smuggler of magical artifacts. Within the hour, Mercer is in custody at a small Bureau holding facility in their office, and Jenny, Robert, Scarpedin, and Wiji-wiji have returned. At first John has concerns that Mercer might use magic to escape, but Jenny assures him they have that under control. She explains the rules of magic for those who weren’t clear on it. [list][*]Normal humans cannot use magic. [*]Humans can use magic if they are bonded to a ghost or have some other connection to a source of magical power. In Ian’s case, this is his ghost Giovanni. In Scarpedin’s case, they suspect it has something to do with the Dalai Lama prayer beads he bought in Savannah. [*]With the right training, some humans can cast spells from rituals, but these require a lot of set-up and aren’t as reliable as normal spells. [*]Some rare humans are psychic, like Nathan, and can use limited magical abilities without a ghost. [*]Creatures from Gaia, such as elves and the fey, can use magic innately. [*]There are some humans, even rarer than psychics, who do not fit these patterns. Often they have some element of magical ancestry, such as a great-grandfather who was an elf. Terry, who was able to use magic without a ghost, and John, who didn’t even need any magical training, fall into this category.[/list] Nathan, of course, shares his theory that John is an angel, so he’s not human in the first place. Jenny, despite being a devoted Christian, is uncomfortable with the idea of angels being physical beings, and tells them there’s no evidence angels, in the classic sense, actually exist. Any creature claiming to be an angel (or a demon) is just some manner of magical creature from Gaia. The Bureau has developed numerous methods for detecting the type of magic a person uses, and neutralizing it. They have devices which resemble thick metal bracers with locks, that go around the necks of prisoners. Each must be specifically attuned to the type of magic it is nullifying, which takes a few minutes, but once it is set and in place, the person is unable to use any sort of personal magic. There’s still always the risk of concealed magical items, and of course in a world of magic there are always ways to cheat the system, but the Bureau has a lot of experience, and they’re rarely surprised. John takes this moment to snipe about the fact that the Bureau obviously was pretty surprised when they weren’t able to get between Terra and Gaia. John, it seems, is still very unimpressed with the Bureau. Still, he hopes that if they get to talk to the Chief on Gaia, maybe [i]he[/i] will actually inspire some confidence. To show them how they work, Jenny has a Bureau tech align one of the magic-nullifying neckbracers with Scarpedin, and while he’s wearing it he can’t use any magic. Ian says that he’d like one of those for himself, since his ghost can be a pain in the ass, and the less connection he has with him, the better. Unfortunately, the wards cost tens of thousands of dollars to create. All in all, the night has been wearying and unsatisfying, but before they go to bed, they listen in on an interrogation of Mercer. They find out that, in addition to trafficking in magic items, he also steals and sells ghosts. Many humans learn about magic and want to have it for themselves, but not everyone is lucky enough to find a ghost that will bond with them, so Mercer scours graveyards and antique shops looking for ghosts he can capture and sell. “People like him created Legion,” Jenny says at the mention of this. Robert asks her what Legion is, but she says it’s not a happy story. She’ll save it for the morning. Mercer explains that’s why he was at Gallogly’s Tavern – to try to get the ghost. He claims he followed the group to the cemetery because he thought they were going to set the ghost free there. The group doesn’t buy his story, but the Bureau doesn’t have any mages available who could pry the information out of his mind, and even if they did, such mind control is illegal without either consent of the target, or a warrant issued by magical courts, and those courts are located on Gaia. Ian offers to do it himself, but Jenny won’t let him. The laws are there to protect people from magical abuse, she says. A bit unsatisfied, the group decides to call it a night. Tomorrow, in the afternoon, Terry should be ready to travel to Gaia. They’ll be expecting the worst. [i][b]End of Session Eleven[/b][/i][b][/b] [/QUOTE]
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