Mage: The Awakening PbP - Nemesis

[Festy_Dog]

"Well, I know now. I'm afraid she didn't mention it in her letter. Not much of a letter in truth," Hal digs around further in his bag, "Just a couple of lines which made me curious enough to cancel my current plans and come here. I have to admit the change of plans has already been worth while though, as I got to make myself useful."

He hands Thessaly the book, the package wrapping and the photo with the Atlantean rune written on the back.

"The message is written in the back few pages, where I also found the photo," he explained, tapping the approximate location of the specific page.

"My apologies Cymbeline, your Awakening appears to be one of a rather significant series of events. It probably feels like you've been thrown in the deep end. Everything will become clearer with time," Harlequin could imagine how chaotic it may feel for Cymbeline.

"Gawain, you wouldn't happen to know any alternative meanings to the rune for 'protection' would you?"

 

[Aenion]

Morrigan stayed outside when Thess and Cymbeline helped Hal inside. He might have convinced officer Brady for now, but she couldn't risk letting the police find any evidence if they decided to investigate. Afterall in a sleepy town like this law enforcement is bound to grow bored. She chuckled at the thought as she searched the dark alley, Sleepy indeed... First that girl calls Thess a witch and a couple of hours later we have two unknown mages on our hands with lifethreatening stabwounds... These hunters aren't slacking... she thought grimly, That bugger left a nasty dent in that car, nothing I can do about that though... From the looks of it Hal's quite lucky Cymbeline Awakened the way she did...

ooc: Wits+Investigation(Crime scenes) 5 to search for any evidence left behind

Her investigation over the pale woman takes a last drag from her smoke before she goes back inside. She looks at the two men wrapped up in bandages and Cymbeline, "Is everyone going to be alright?" she asks with an obvious British accent, her voice otherwise devoid of emotion.

ooc: My apologies for my absence, the holidays kept me pretty busy. Best wishes everyone

 

[Tokiwong]

Morrigan stayed outside when Thess and Cymbeline helped Hal inside. He might have convinced officer Brady for now, but she couldn't risk letting the police find any evidence if they decided to investigate. Afterall in a sleepy town like this law enforcement is bound to grow bored. She chuckled at the thought as she searched the dark alley, Sleepy indeed... First that girl calls Thess a witch and a couple of hours later we have two unknown mages on our hands with lifethreatening stabwounds... These hunters aren't slacking... she thought grimly, That bugger left a nasty dent in that car, nothing I can do about that though... From the looks of it Hal's quite lucky Cymbeline Awakened the way she did...

ooc: Wits+Investigation(Crime scenes) 5 to search for any evidence left behind

Her investigation over the pale woman takes a last drag from her smoke before she goes back inside. She looks at the two men wrapped up in bandages and Cymbeline, "Is everyone going to be alright?" she asks with an obvious British accent, her voice otherwise devoid of emotion.

ooc: My apologies for my absence, the holidays kept me pretty busy. Best wishes everyone

Morrigan rolls 3 successes on 5 dice.

Morrigan does a little bit of investigating and finds a pack of smokes; an exotic Japanese brand, called Rin, there are three cigarettes left in the pack. There is little else besides the large dent left in the vehicle by the road.

Back inside…

Gawain pauses and looks at the rune in question, “Ah this is a common mistake, and most mages see this and think it reads protection. This is partly true, but Atlantean is a language to identify and represent supernal concepts. This symbol right here is more then just Protection in that an object or individual is in need of protection from those that exist on high. This specific protection rune refers to the Exarchs… interesting.”

Cymbeline finishes bandaging Harlequin and sigh, “Well chaotic is one way to classify this; I feel a tingling on my skin… I taste something different in the air… Allison… or is it Thessaly… you said I am awake… what did I just wake up from?”

 

[Festy_Dog]

"You're right... very interesting, many thanks," Harlequin replied to Gawain.

Another reason to talk to Shishi again. Harlequin tried to move the hand of his injured arm and found negligable difficulty. Cymbeline's badndages would serve him well.

"Thankyou, Cymbeline," he got to his feet, "I'll leave you and Thessaly to talk, but I need to borrow her later. I'm off to get my luggage."

He stopped by Morrigan on his way out.

"I should be fine, thanks for your concern," Harlequin didn't hear any concern in her tone, but he may as well have been courteous.

He left the store and went over to his luggage. Picking up his briefcase he noticed the lack of damage to it. An understandable development against a foe like Nemesis, all the damage found its way around to Harlequin. Putting the briefcase down he turned his attention to where the fight took place. A competent Guardian knew to cover his tracks. Blood, shreds of cloth, he had to make sure he hadn't left any behind, or at least not too much. If he was lucky he hoped to stumble across something that Nemesis may have left behind.

Investigation - 5 dice

 

[Tokiwong]

He left the store and went over to his luggage. Picking up his briefcase he noticed the lack of damage to it. An understandable development against a foe like Nemesis, all the damage found its way around to Harlequin. Putting the briefcase down he turned his attention to where the fight took place. A competent Guardian knew to cover his tracks. Blood, shreds of cloth, he had to make sure he hadn't left any behind, or at least not too much. If he was lucky he hoped to stumble across something that Nemesis may have left behind.

Investigation - 5 dice

Harlequin gets 1 success to investigate the area.

Harlequin scours the area and finds some of his torn cloth, and droplets of his blood, but nothing else that belongs to Nemesis, well nothing obvious at least. With some cursory cleaning he could erase his physical presence from the scene.

 

[Shayuri]

"It's sort of hard to explain without giving the whole story," Thessaly hems. "Again, the short version is that you woke up from being unaware of what we call the 'Supernal' world...that's the higher order of reality." She pauses, then says, "Let me start over a little."

"Most people believe that the physical world, the normal world that we all live in, is the only reality. They're not aware of any other way. You can think of them as being asleep, and in their sleep they believe their dreams are real. The truth is that everything here, all of this you see with your eyes, hear with your ears...it's all just as hazy and...and ultimately as illusionary as a dream."

She smiles a little as she says, "And like a dream, if you KNOW it's a dream, you can change things. The true reality, the Supernal reality, is more powerful...more REAL...than this world. If you're awake to it, you can sort of pull it to you, around you...and use the Supernal world's power to override this world. That's, in a nutshell, how magic works. Once you get it, it almost doesn't seem like magic at all. Everything of this world you used to think was infallible, like gravity and the laws of physics...you start realizing that they're just...figments. The real truth is in the Supernal realm. Magic is just taking the figment...and replacing it with the truth."

"Anyway, the REASON it's so hard to connect to the Supernal is because there's this kind of...gap. A rift. It blocks the Supernal off from the mortal realm. To bridge the gap, and create a connection between your soul and the Supernal realm, there are these five towers. The Watchtowers. Each one represents something different, and calls to a different kind of person. I say represents, but that's misleading though because it makes them sound like metaphors. They're not though. They're Supernal...they're REAL. Realer than real. Truer than true...and when you write your name on it, it creates a sympathetic resonance between you and the Tower. So now, you're "plugged in," kinda. It's only a matter of time before you start figuring out how to use that connection."

"Me and Morrigan and everyone...we can help. You're still dreaming here, with the rest of us. But like us, now you KNOW you are. You're Awakened. You're...a mage."

 

[Festy_Dog]

Harlequin went about removing evidence of his presence from the crime scene. As he had been placed at the scene by a police officer, removing evidence of his injuries became the imperative. With that out of the way he collected his luggage and took it into the store.

"Can someone point me in the direction of a place I can get changed?" he asks.

 

[Aenion]

Morrigan nods at Thess when she finishes, quite impressed with the insight shown by the young mage, "Thess is quite on the spot. The laws of physics are not constants, they can be bent and in often even broken. But breaking the laws of physics is a risky thing. Sometimes the normal world will attempt to correct the changes we try to impose on them. This backlash can lead to very strange and dangerous effects if they aren't controlled. To more exotic and strange the effect you're trying to wrought the higher the risk. That is why you don't see people throwing fireballs at each other in the streets," her lips curve a little at that, but her voice stays pretty much emotionless.

"Awakening to the Supernal world is different for all of us, though the different paths tend to have something in common. You mentioned an iron tower? I believe you Awakened on the path of the Mastigos, if I'm not mistaken..." she guesses, looking at the others to correct her if she's wrong.

 

[Shayuri]

Thessaly shakes her head. "I always mess up which tower is what...I'm still pretty new at this."

"Oh, and as for my name. Well, I was born Allison, but mages can...well, they can -use- your name, sometimes without your permission. To connect things to you. Or find you. So mages usually adopt a fake name that helps keep that kind of thing from happening. Thessaly is my 'shadow name,' the name I use with other Awakened people."

 

[Festy_Dog]

Harlequin gets back from changing into a fresh outfit, noting to himself that he'll have to dispose of the bloodied clothing at the soonest possible convenience.

"The Iron Tower, Path of Scourging, Mastigos. That's the one alright," he interjects as he returns, "You'll find the bending of space, and the bending of minds, to be rather easy for you. You can forget about manipulating lifeless materials though; dirt, stone, plastic, etc. I share your path, Cymbeline. We're commonly referred to as 'Warlocks'."