Mage: The Awakening PbP - Nemesis

[Aenion]

This must have been Winnie's old room, Morrigan thought, putting the bell aside for the moment to wriggle into a pair of jeans and simple blouse, I'm going to need some coffee to figure this out... Once dressed she pockets the small bell and heads downstairs to the store, hoping to find the other members of their new cabal and some hot coffee.

 

[Shayuri]

For a long moment Thessaly stands behind the register, rooted by conflicting desires. On the one hand, the note in her hand reminded her of the artifact, the Eyes. She remembered talking to the others about it. Maybe it was related to this? She knew where it was. It would be the work of minutes to excavate it and see...

But something nagged at her. Time had passed with no recollection from her. Now she was standing in the store, no idea how she'd gotten there, with a thoroughly average looking man, and a note reminding her of the Eyes of Salt?

It felt too...pat somehow. Was it a setup? Maybe someone who wanted the Eyes had worked some magic. Suppose this wasn't even real? It made a certain kind of paranoid sense. How do you get to a squirrel's acorns? Give it a scare and see where it goes. Follow it right back to the nest.

On the other hand, it could be that only the Eyes had the power to fix this!

She needed more information. Keeping an eye on the customer, Thessaly concentratates, invoking her powers of seeing and sensing magic through the forces of Life.

(Mage Sight improv via Life...5 dice pool, spending 1 Willpower to help...please be good, dice. )

 

[Tokiwong]

For a long moment Thessaly stands behind the register, rooted by conflicting desires. On the one hand, the note in her hand reminded her of the artifact, the Eyes. She remembered talking to the others about it. Maybe it was related to this? She knew where it was. It would be the work of minutes to excavate it and see...

But something nagged at her. Time had passed with no recollection from her. Now she was standing in the store, no idea how she'd gotten there, with a thoroughly average looking man, and a note reminding her of the Eyes of Salt?

It felt too...pat somehow. Was it a setup? Maybe someone who wanted the Eyes had worked some magic. Suppose this wasn't even real? It made a certain kind of paranoid sense. How do you get to a squirrel's acorns? Give it a scare and see where it goes. Follow it right back to the nest.

On the other hand, it could be that only the Eyes had the power to fix this!

She needed more information. Keeping an eye on the customer, Thessaly concentratates, invoking her powers of seeing and sensing magic through the forces of Life.

(Mage Sight improv via Life...5 dice pool, spending 1 Willpower to help...please be good, dice. )

Thessaly opens her mind to the possibilities of Life, the bursting energy that powers all living beings from the smallest single cell organism to the most complex and bizarre creatures one could fathom. Everything has that hue… that saturation of life and as she focuses her mind through sheer will she attunes herself to the pulse and dance of life.

But her training in reading the nuances of life is still cloudy and at best the novice level, and she cannot discern anything useful from reading the signs of life of this man. Everything is muddled and this is more to do with processing the information than anything else.

Perhaps further scrutiny is needed?

Thessaly rolls 8 dice and gets 3 successes activating the improvised magic; but she gets no successes on 5 dice for scrutinizing the gentleman before her.

Morrigan

When Morrigan touches the bell, she feels an odd coldness. It is too large to fit in her pocket, and although plain it has stylistic Atlantean runes carved into the metal. The bell although rather plain seems to consume the whole room with its odd nature, and there is a feeling of dread and knowledge that prickles her skin.

Harlequin

Cymbeline pauses, “Yeah I guess I should find a name that suits me, what did Thessaly call them, shadow names? So what about my family they knew my real name right? I mean how much power could it possibly have?”

Meanwhile Harlequin checks his injuries they have healed but they are still sore, and a careless jab gives him a sharp pain, showing that he still has some way to go in the healing process. But his mana reserves seem to be about where he was before he lost time.

She follows alongside the Guardian, “Is this normal for us to lose time like that?” The two can see the office, and the clerk at the desk. An older man with thin angular features and a curt mustache with balding dark hair. He stares blankly at a TV, watching a trashy talk show.

 

[Festy_Dog]

Harlequin pauses short of the desk, not wanting to get close enough that their talking would be heard over the television.

"A name has power to mages. Some magic is weakened when you don't know the name of who you're trying to cast it on. As warlocks we excel at using magic over long distances, but to do so effectively we must know our target's name. It is inevitable that some people will know your real name. It becomes a matter of concealing your connections to others who hold the sensitive information about you, to protect both you and them, and making sure noone gets hold of your passport or driver's license. Oh, and always deal in cash.

"To answer your other question: Are those strange events common? Yes and no. Yes, in that the Awakened are witness to many strange things. No, in that there'll be more variety in what you'll see than just loss of time. Not all of it's bad though, as mages we will see some of the most beautiful and horrifying things in existence, and outside of it."

 

[Shayuri]

Thessaly removes her glasses for a moment and rubs her eyes, trying to center herself. Don't TRY to see...just see. Be open to the possibilities. Let it come naturally.

She takes a deep breath and puts her glasses back on, then peers around again. While she does look at the customer, she also looks around at the store itself, hoping to see if anything is wrong with...with this entire 'reality' she finds herself within.

 

[Aenion]

Morrigan

When Morrigan touches the bell, she feels an odd coldness. It is too large to fit in her pocket, and although plain it has stylistic Atlantean runes carved into the metal. The bell although rather plain seems to consume the whole room with its odd nature, and there is a feeling of dread and knowledge that prickles her skin.

Morrigan almost immediately dropped the bell, she hadn't felt such power before. She sat back down on the bed still holding the bell. She rummaged through her things for a scrap of paper and a pencil, taking her time to copy the inscribed runes as she studied them. Atlantean runes were never her forte, but she knew the basics. Who are you Gawain? And why did you leave us this bell?

 

[Tokiwong]

Thessaly removes her glasses for a moment and rubs her eyes, trying to center herself. Don't TRY to see...just see. Be open to the possibilities. Let it come naturally.

She takes a deep breath and puts her glasses back on, then peers around again. While she does look at the customer, she also looks around at the store itself, hoping to see if anything is wrong with...with this entire 'reality' she finds herself within.

Thessaly focuses, she sees without seeing, and feels without feeling the flow of life the energy that sustains all. The man, he is but an ordinary man nothing out of the ordinary. He is but a sleeper walking aimlessly through the reality as he knows it.

But the rest of her shop seems normal, but the hairs on the back of hair stand on end… someone is upstairs, and something foreboding and powerful is up there as well. The flow of life guides her eyes to the stairs, as if drawing her…

Thessaly gets 2 successes on an Intelligence + Occult roll, 5 dice total.

Morrigan

Morrigan quickly jots down quick notes on the designs on the bell making the notes as best as she can. Outside a crow lands on the window sill and caws, the sound is distant though due to the closed window. But in the window’s reflection she sees Winnie’s face looking back at her for a moment, before the window swings inward from a strong gust of wind.

The crow flies away.

Harlequin

Cymbeline nods, “Then I guess I need a name, I know of one good one… it suits my dreams, in my awakening it is the name the… demons, monsters referred to me as they cut away my skin,” she shivers visibly.

“I want to be called Cleopatra, is that okay? I mean you could call me Cleo for short right?” she asks.

The clerk at the desk notices the duo and clears his throat, “Is there anything I could help you with, checking out sir?”

 

[Aenion]

Morrigan

Morrigan quickly jots down quick notes on the designs on the bell making the notes as best as she can. Outside a crow lands on the window sill and caws, the sound is distant though due to the closed window. But in the window’s reflection she sees Winnie’s face looking back at her for a moment, before the window swings inward from a strong gust of wind.

The crow flies away.

Morrigan gasps in surprise as the window swings open, "What are you trying to tell us Winnie?" she asks the room. She was beginning to consider summoning the old woman's ghost, but she'd have to pass that by Thessaly first. Still holding the bell she gets up to close the window, taking a quick glance outside for anything out of the ordinary. Her Grim Sight shedding a rather eerie light on the sleepy town.

 

[Tokiwong]

Morrigan gasps in surprise as the window swings open, "What are you trying to tell us Winnie?" she asks the room. She was beginning to consider summoning the old woman's ghost, but she'd have to pass that by Thessaly first. Still holding the bell she gets up to close the window, taking a quick glance outside for anything out of the ordinary. Her Grim Sight shedding a rather eerie light on the sleepy town.

Nothing stands out to Morrigan's mage sight...

 

[Shayuri]

Thessaly actually takes a step towards the stairs, but pauses, glancing at her customer. But then again, what was she afraid of? Losing a few books? The register was attached to the desk, the drawer was locked. This felt too important not to look into.

"Sir? I'm sorry, I have to go to the back for a moment," she tells the man. "I won't be long."

Then she's hurrying towards the stairs, up to the modest house on the second level...where her senses tell her someone and something await.