William: Let's start with "The Next Morning" -- Nicole's dormitory, 6:00 a.m. William: the telephone rings. Nicole blearily reaches for it. "'lo?" William: "Hi, Nicole? This is Aimee at the front desk. There's a lady here to see you; she says she's expected? Elena Turillo?" Nicole: "Ah. Yeah. Send her up." William: "You'll need to escort her, you know." Nicole: "Oh, doh. Give me a second, then." William: "sure thing." *click* Nicole sighs, goes looking for her clothes, and gets ready as fast as possible. Nicole does remember to hang up the phone first, though. Nicole gets clothes on, grabs her keys, and rolls out. Will_GM: Nicole: It's 6am, so a little grogginess is to be expected, but you do feel as if you slept about half of even what you estimate as actual sack time. Will_GM: Elena is waiting in the lobby and approaches as you open the security door. Will_GM: "Good morning, Nicole. How are... things?" Nicole: "Frankly, a bit tired." Will_GM: *nod* "To be expected. I recommend early bed this evening. And your memories of the event?" Nicole just shakes her head, trying to clear the cobwebs. Nicole: "That was...well, something else." Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 12. Nicole: "If you weren't standing here right now asking me about it, I'd be inclined to write it off as just a crazyassed dream." Will_GM: Nicole: any overriding emotions about the event? If it's just a muddle right now, that's what will be picked up. Nicole: pretty much a muddle, yes. Nicole: awe and confusion and bafflement and happy and ...yeah, all of the above. Will_GM: Elena calmly rattles off particulars. "We found you in the midst of music. We traveled to the Border. Eainéa showed you the Towers. We came to Grace's domain, and you went inside with my weapon -- whose return is one reason I am here -- and came back out, apparently satisfied with the results." Will_GM: "As real as any other consensus event." Nicole: "As I said, if you weren't sitting here right now asking about it, I'm not sure I'd believe it happened." Nicole: "I...gah." Will_GM: "You should take time to assimilate the experience -- though I recommend doing so after a good night's sleep, and simply focusing on classes today." Nicole: "Okay. Because right now, that was just wacky." Will_GM: "At any rate, I need to retrieve my weapon, store it safely, and get to my own day job. Italian street-mural artists have something of a reputation for being at it at the crack of bagels, and I need to report back to Marmarath before heading back across town." Nicole: "Yeah. C'mon up." Will_GM: Elena follows you up. Nicole unlocks the door, and lets us both in. Nicole goes to retrieve the hilt. Will_GM: Elena waits in the doorway. She glances casually both ways down the hall, and says, "If you have any future trouble with the Marches, talk to our people at the Works. They'll know who to put you in contact with. Alternatively, I know there will be an angel of Dreams assigned to the library where we were for a while, to monitor the Tether until it dissipates. I'm not certain how permanent such an assignment will be, though." Nicole nods. Nicole: "You think there'll be trouble?" Will_GM: "It's only likely if you venture out on your own. If your profile in the War becomes *substantially* increased, you might be a target -- but then, you should also have protection. So, only the first is really the situation to worry about for now." Nicole retrieves the hilt and comes back. "You mean...I can do that on my own?" Will_GM: Elena takes the hilt. "Yes -- indeed, humans were, by legend, the first to do it, and still the most capable at it. Angelic dreams are much flimsier stuff, unless we are fully in the Marches -- we simply don't sleep naturally. Its not my area of expertise, however." Nicole: "Whoa." Will_GM: "If you wish to explore, caution, caution the watchword. There are more things about the Marches than fake dragons and simpering Damsels." Nicole nods. Will_GM: "Very well then. You know my name, and I yours, but I have confidence that you will be able to face the challenges coming your way. Farewell, Nicole." Nicole nods. Nicole: "Gah, I feel like I took the red pill." Will_GM: "?" Nicole: "Movie ref. Sorry." Will_GM: "Ah, I see. At rate, I believe the rules require me to be escorted out?" Nicole: "Yes. Sorry. Not thinking completely straight this morning." Nicole escorts Elena out. Will_GM: Elena gives you a little salute/wave at the security door, and leaves the dorm. Will_GM: Unless there's something Nicole would like to do -- scene switch? *** Signoff: Nicole (Ping timeout) Jack: k Will_GM: Yeah, scene switch. ;^) Jack: i guess not! Will_GM selects Jack as the next victi- ah, player. *** Nicole (katster@stk-ca-eli-1-38.internetuser.net) has joined channel #gurps *** Mode change "+o Nicole" on #gurps by ChanServ Will_GM: Re. Jack: lol Jack: re BA: re Nikki Jack also has not slept well Nicole: *ow* Will_GM: Want to come in that morning? Will_GM: Nicole: last line you got? Nicole: * katster holds back Nicole from going after BA for that one. Jack has to be at UPenn for an adjunct meeting, but finds himself driving to the stoneworks Nicole: Will: the wave. Will_GM: 'k. Fearless: Nicole: roadkill BA. Will_GM: I proposed a sceneswitch, unless there was somethign else you wanted to do. BA: Road waffles :) Nicole: that's fine with me. Katalina: hehehe Nicole: Ahh, it's just one of Nicole's quirks is that she *hates* to be called Nikki. BA: Ah Katalina: ( hehehe road waffles... reminds me of possum stew ) Will_GM: So it is that Jack arrives at the Stone Works at about 8 am, finding it gearing up for a day's work. There are more people around than one sees in the evening -- clearly, the angels are not the only employees here. Jack blankly wanders about, half conscious as to why he's there. Jack looks for a familiar angelic face Will_GM: A guy in overalls, wiping grease off his hands from one of the machines, comes up to you. He says something, but just then a three-foot saw revs up and bites in to a slab of granite, and under the screeching, he jabs a thumb over at the office and starts heading that way. Jack 's suit and shirt is unpressed, his eyes are bleary from lack of sleep. Jack follows. (Is he one of the angels Jack recognizes?) Will_GM: Nope, looks like a regular employee. Jack is blanking out as to anybody's name but Elena. Will_GM: The two of you get in the office and he offers you a seat. "Welcome to the Erath Stone and Tile Works. What can I do for ye?" Fearless: Rath, among others Jack: "I'm...uh...Jack Creeley. I'm supposed to meet somebody here, but I forgot his name." Jack describes Rath. Will_GM: "Aat's the manager, Rath. You're the second person ta walk in and ask for him today... one sec." He walks out. Will_GM: A couple minutes later, Rath comes in, followed by Elena. The close the door to the office and Rath sits down. "Mr. Creeley." Jack: "Hi. Rath. Elena." Jack shifts from foot to foot, agitated. Jack: "Can we talk?" Jack: "I mean is it safe to talk about the thing?" Will_GM: "Of course. Elena has just given me her debriefing as to the events of her mission; I know what a shock all of this must be." Jack looks at his feet. "So what's next? What do I do now?" Jack: "I mean, what's the plan?" Will_GM: "That is very much up to you. We did mention that your free will was an important part of this process." "Jack, you mentioned an acquaintance by the name of Dawn." Jack: "I mean, I can't just go back to chili dogs and brief affairs and forget that it happened. So I'm in. You know, ready for whatever." Jack: "Is there some black angel ops training program? Flaming swords and theology classes?" Jack: "Muldur with a halo? The Nightstalker with wings?" Jack talks faster and faster. His hands flutter about with an unlit cigarette. Ellis: DON'T SAY MULDER WITH A HALO! I still get nightmares from my own overactive imagination %( Jack: "Do you all sleep in some sanctified bunker? I can move all my stuff over." Fearless: *heheheheheh* BA: "Mellium hand an' shrimp! I tol' 'em! Tol' 'em!" :) Will_GM: Rath chuckles. Elena manifests a small smile. Rath says, "We have such training programs, but not everyone best serves the War that way." Elena says, "You, after all, are a writer. The War is about souls, and those who can influence a hundred people with an insightful newspaper story are often more important than the finest warriors." Jack pauses. Jack: "You mean I should try and convert people?" Jack: The thought of that seems to sober Jack up a bit. Will_GM: "Not religiously. Morally. Seek to improve the character of the city." BA: The Epistle of Jack to Hell, MI :) Will_GM: "Encourage people to think of others." Fearless: *hee* Jack: "Well. That...I can do that. I've been doing that. I feel like I should be doing something more, is all." Fearless: "You must do what you feel is right, of course." Jack: "I woke up this morning and my place was exactly the same as yesterday. The same books. The same clothes. The same broken hall light. I figured that the universe would change somehow." Jack: "But now you tell me I've been fighting for heaven my whole life without knowing it." BA: Ain't ignorance great? :) Jack: "Do you all brief me on stuff periodically? Or am I just cut loose to do stuff?" Will_GM: Rath leans back. "Do you *want* martial training? We can provide it." Jack: "Uh. Do I need it? I mean, if I run into the Demon of Camden New Jersey, would it help?" Will_GM: "If you're with us, possibly. Certainly staying in contact with us, and with the other humans about, is an excellent start. A strong community lays the foundation for victory. And if you are willing to participate when it comes to a real fight, we can always use another hand." Jack: "I'm in. I feel like I have to be in." Jack: "Um...do you have regular club meetings?" Jack: "Or do I just drop by?" Jack: "Sorry. I'm not being flip, but I'm having a difficult time getting my brain around this." Will_GM: "Stop by in the evenings, mostly. When there's something formal happening, we'll let you know. On the flip side, if it looks like you see something happening, let *us* know." Jack looks surprised. "Um, okay. Okay I will." Jack looks at his watch. "I need to fly, but thanks. Thanks for...I don't know. Thanks. I promise I'll get it together." Will_GM: "Jack, you are at least a part-time writer. It might be easier for you to deal with these things if you wrote about them -- and I could use a copy of your view of events, myself. I remember you mentioned an acquaintance, Dawn. I'd like to check up on her." Jack nods. "You want to try and see her for dinner? I'll call and try to set it up." Will_GM: "That sounds like an excellent plan." Jack will bid them farewell, call Dawn and rush to the adjunct's meeting at UPenn. Will_GM: As you leave, you see Elena turning to Rath. "I too need to return to my daily duties, Vassal..." etc., etc. Jack is still brain numbed and hasn't come out of shock. Will_GM: Since that seems like a definite pausing point, let's turn to Ed, that day. Jack: k Edward: Severely rattled by what he saw in Kronos' eyes. Trying to reclaim his centered state with varying levels of success. Slowly wrapping his emotive brain around the concepts. Rationally accepting the descriptions given by both sides as corroborating the evidence, etc. Will_GM: Ed, Fulmeniel calls up. Edward: My personal phone or the univ office line? Will_GM: It's around noon, so the University line. Edward: Aww. Ah well. Edward: *click* "UPenn Comp Ops, Edward speakinghowmayIhelpyou?" Will_GM: "Hello Edward, do you remember me? I go by Walter Munroe?" Edward clutches the phone between cheek and shoulder while he keeps typing and once again ponders getting a headset, once again rejecting the idea because he'd resemble a helpdesk drone. Edward: "Ah, yes, Walter. What's up?" Will_GM: "Is this line secure enough that no one else will pick up? If not, it would probably be better if I called you at home, unless you want to come out to my shop on your lunch break." Fearless: lunch? he prolly hasn't had breakfast yet. ;) Edward: "This one's routed through the UPenn switchboards. I don't *think* I missed anything when I and the PhysSec guys ran through the getup, but you know what you do when you assume... I'll come over..." Will_GM: "Very well. I will close up shop and await you. It's good news, by the way." Edward drifts off, looks at the clock, blinks. "Yeah, I'm off duty in about an hour, and I should have this finished by then." Will_GM: "Excellent." *click* Edward hangs up as well, eyes the code segment he's apparently been brainstorming on for the last three hours, starts hacking again. Will_GM: An hour later... Edward saves his work, waves the new shift in, performs the changing of the guard, and heads out. Edward grabs a coffee on the way down, then gets on his bike and drives to the store. Will_GM: The store is closed, but the door is unlocked. "Walter" is waiting for you. "Welcome, Mr. Wong." Edward nods, takes off his gloves and extends his hand. "Edward to friends and associates that don't wear three-piece suits and nooses by choice." Will_GM: "The good news I promised -- I have been authorized to use the Force Catcher I had on hand rather than awaiting construction of a new one." Edward nods. Edward: "Excellent." Will_GM: "We should be able to attune you to it in an hour or so. Please step in the back." Edward does so. Will_GM: He pulls out the wire-wrapped crystal you saw earlier. "Please have a seat and hold this in your hands." Edward sits down and picks up the crystal. Will_GM: (Brief overview of the mechanics of the next half-hour to hour or so: Fulmeniel basically takes a lot of perceptual data on Ed, watches how he interacts with the Force Catcher, and uses some well-known technical Songs to complete the attuning process. Ed, the Symphonically unaware miss most of this. ;^) ) Edward finds himself half-slipping into the semi-meditative trance state in which he codes his best hacks, frowns an eyebrow at something he can almost but not quite hear. Will_GM: Fulmeniel sits down in front of you and heaves a long breath. "That should do it." Will_GM: "We should test it, though. Hand me the Force Catcher and close your eyes." Edward blinks awake, nods, and hands it over, then closes his eyes. Will_GM: Ed: as you do so, you realize that you've gained a sense of the Catcher's location. Nothing else -- just an augmentation to your personal kinesthetic sense, as if you have a new limb that happends to be a bit of quartz and not attached to the rest of you. Will_GM: You hear Fulmeniel get up and walk about the workroom. Will_GM: From behind you, he asks quietly, "Where is it?" Edward twitches his head in its direction without opening his eyes. "There." Will_GM: "More precise. Point." Edward points. Will_GM: "Very well." Will_GM: "You may open your eyes now, and take the Catcher." Will_GM: It's right below your pointing finger. Edward opens his eyes, gets up and picks up the crystal. Will_GM: "Bear in mind that this is a heuristic test. A full test would have required a possession attempt. That would be unethical, in my view." Edward winces. "I'd tend to agree... About the same level of ethics as testing a bulletproof vest by shooting the wearer." Edward grins wrily. "I'll just have to take it on 'faith', as it were..." Will_GM: "Mmm. Far less fatal... but similar in concept." He puts away some tools. "Tell me, have you had a chance to look over the materials I sent you?" Edward: "Yeah." Edward: "... Of course, the campus firewalls nearly blew a gasket when I tried to access an address with IP numbers higher than 255, but fortunately it trusts me... Couldn't log in yet of course. About those passwords you mentioned--?" Will_GM: Fulmeniel quotes them. Edward commits them to memory Will_GM: "I am particularly interested in the eventual results of the Identity Analyzer. To my knowledge, the latest version has yet to be tested on so large a collection of related files as an entire University of students, staff, and faculty." Edward: "Mmm. There *are* a couple of privacy issues with allowing third-party-software loose on that particular database sets. I'll need the usual guarantees that that information won't be retransmitted or misused..." Will_GM: "Misused? I should think not. Our primary purpose is to deter demonic invasion of your university and world. As for retransmission...." He pauses. "Only within the organization of Lightning, and those allied Archangels who seek the information for some clear purpose. Certainly no *human* agency." Edward: "I've read the documentation, and there are a couple of things about the program's described structure that I found intriguing... Such as its alleged ability to pick out signs from ripples in the patterns; I've been trying to get something similar working on a project of my own but I have some issues as to its reliability and a too-high false-positive rate..." Edward nods. Will_GM: "You, of course, will be the one that actually receives the report. If you would prefer, you can deal with any flagged identities yourself, and with whomever you trust. You could then report back on the accuracy of the search without compromising the individuals flagged." Edward nods. "That would be acceptable." Will_GM: Fulmeniel chats for a bit about relation searches and their performance. Turns out that Seraphim in particular have a tendency to go in for high sensitivity rather than high discrimination, preferring to judge positives rather than miss negatives. Edward counters that reacting to false positives reduces faith in the system by those who have to deal with the fallout. Edward points at, e.g. a fire alarm in a theatre triggering when ambient temperature exceeds a given point, and having it accidentally twig on collective body heat from a large crowd. Will_GM: Shortly, it's time for him to go back to work. Edward: ... But when he gets back to work, Ed nods and lets himself out, Catcher in his pocket, and rides home for a good day's sleep. Will_GM: (Most likely you found the discussion interesting -- both participants knew what they were talking about, and both have a tendency to say it forthrightly when in comfortable company.) Edward: *nod* [short pause -- intro new PC] Shyla 5'10 Female Cherokee Indian, weighs 155lbs, has long flowing black hair, she has a single braid with a feather at the end, has a medicine pouch around her kneck as well as a necklace of bear claws. she has black eyes and wears no makeup. She wears dark clothing. And around 25 yrs old; always wears a stern look BA does stuff around the house. A new camera here, a new motion sensor there, a tripwire and garrot over here... Shyla: and has a motorcycle Fearless: Shyla: Oklahoma Cherokee, or Eastern Cherokee? Ellis: Should we give chardescrips, too, since you don't know us except by name? Shyla: Tori is redheaded Caucasion Shyla: Ok/AR Shyla: I know a few of yas Shyla: but sure :) please do Shyla: dunno how he's gonna intro her with what she does... hehe Jack: <-----6' 2", dark hair, 200 lbs., blue eyes, moderately good-looking if it weren't for some acne scarring. Goatee, sideburns. Wears suits, sunglasses. BA: BA probly sold her a computer ;) BA: Gotta scram soon Fearless: <-- 30 yrs. old, with brown eyes, brown hair that's greying at the temples, 6' 190lbs, wears a trenchcoat, hat, and almost constantly has a lit cigarette Edward is a 1/4 Japanese, 3/4 caucasian, just below average height, scrawny but lithe to the point of being double-jointed. Looks okay, almost invariably wears black jeans and ditto shirt, sweater when cold. Ellis: Greg Ellis is a 6' thirtysomething with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. He's generally smiling and pleasant, but haunted, if you like that sort of thing. Fearless: <-- almost never wears a necktie, except for formal engagements when he needs to; in those situations, he's very uncomfortable Nicole looks up. Fearless: <-- you may have read one or two of his pieces, when he did an expose` on the NJ mafia Ellis: ... I see Greg as a sweaters and slacks kind of guy, but maybe that's because I live in Silicon Valley. ;) BA: <--- 6'1", brown hair, brown eyes, 35 yrs, wears glasses, plays with computer hardware, paranoid, arms RC cars with tasers Shyla wears jeans and t'shirts sometimes trenchcoat Jack: I have copies of Jack's column, if you want to read them. Edward: You wouldn't know Ed unless you're a student at UPenn and tried to scriptkiddie your way into rootage on one of the campus machines. If you have, the experience was more or less pleasant, but you wouldn't want to repeat it. Nicole: <--- 21 yrs, blue-grey eyes, dirty blond hair, in a wheelchair. :) Ellis: ... waitaminute, are you guys telling me that my char's older than anyone else's? ;) Will_GM: Ellis: You are a prof, after all. :^) Fearless: I never bothered writing the articles; Fearless is a better reporter-style writer than I am Ellis: Will: I'm a coach. ;) Shyla: well atleast I ain't the baby ;) came close though hehe Fearless: Ellis: me, you, and BA are prolly in the same age group BA: Ellis over 35? Jack: hehe...you'll have to suspend some disbelief reading mine ;) Ellis: BA: I put 36 down on the charsheet. ;) Fearless: *heh* a year older than BA. ;) BA: Ellis is the channel fogey :) Jack: <----28 Nicole: so Nicole's the youngest? :) Shyla: hehe guess so Shyla: thought I was gonna be there for a sec hehe Shyla: though in real life I'm 29 Nicole: Shyla: IRL, Ellis' player has us all beat on the "youngest" competition. ;) Fearless: from age 18: 4 years college, 2 years cub reporter, biggest story of the career 2 years back Will_GM: And I think Nicole's the youngest, since she's still a college student. Shyla: Poor Shyla Shyla: not even gone to college Shyla: hehehe Shyla: though her education lies in traditional ;) Shyla: language and such Jack: from 18 6 years college, 1 year DC speechwriter, 1 year suicide councelor at fine arts academy, 3 years doing what he's doing now Ellis: Yeah, as a playerperson, I can't drink. ;) Ellis: Ellis had four years at seminary and two months in the vatican, then a bunch of odd jobs and fencing lessons. ;) Shyla has had 10 years of traditional training/education Nicole: Okay. I think Will wants to go ahead with something, so we'd better let him. :) Ellis: Hee. True. ;) [pause over] Will_GM: BA, Johnny, later in the day everyone has been buzzing about (the day after the even at the library) both of you get a call roughly along the same lines. Rath says that they've picked up some papers and such from Xav's apartment in a quick-and-dirty research raid shortly after he was killed. Could you come over and take a look at it? Fearless: "No problem." *motors on over* Fearless: "Chief, I have some errands to run. I emailed you the piece." *leaves for the Works* BA: *over the phone* "Give me one good reason I should continue associating with you government agent wannabes." Will_GM: BA: You hear a rustle. "Purchase: 4 'Odin' security cameras. Purchase: 1 copy, 'World Tree' security recorder software. Purchase: 250 feet AV cable. Ring a bell?" Will_GM: "This was among the papers Exavenos had at his apartment. You might want to take a look at them, especially since anything he had would have been reported up the ladder to his immediate superiors." BA: "Fine, I'll be right over. And be ready to have your ass kicked." Fearless: if you don't want BA involved any more, roll up a new character. ;) Will_GM: "...And what part of 'You are in danger from them and not from us and we would rather see that you just live a decent life' don't you get?" BA hops in the Impala and tools on down to the Works Will_GM: Well, scratch that last line -- except maybe said in exasperation to the air. BA: Will: That's just BA's paranoia :) Will_GM: Fearless: You get there first. Awaiting you are stacks of newspaper clippings on one side, and a large selection of legal papers on the other. BA pulls up to the Works, parks and goes looking for someone familiar Fearless pulls up to the Works right behind BA Will_GM: Oh, okay. Will_GM: At any rate, awaiting Fearless are stacks of newspaper clippings on one side, and a large selection of legal papers on the other. Will_GM: All of them have bits underlined, weird characters drawn across them, and a few English notations. BA: "So what's all this?" Fearless: "That's a lot of information. Someone's been busy." Fearless: "They probably have a few of my college pieces here." Will_GM: Fred, who's continuing to sort stuff on your side, says, "Yeah, well, reporters generate a lot of paper." *grin* BA: "Anything in there concern me, specifically?" Fearless: "Most of its email nowadays, but although you can eliminate paper, you can't eliminate paperwork." Will_GM: BA, Rath says to you, "Like I said. We picked up a load of papers from Exavenos' apartment after he died. We have a few we'd like you to look through, see if you see anything important or disturbing that we might be able to help you better if we knew about." Will_GM: Ars: I mean his actual newspaper clippings. The stories he wrote. Fearless looks through his stack. BA: "Right. Where do we start in this mess?" Will_GM: BA, Rath hands you a much smaller stack, about the size of a milk carton. "Have a ball." Fearless: "Hrrm... These span back to the college paper, all right." *hefts a sheet* "The high school paper?! I'd almost forgotten about this piece. Not my best work." BA pulls out an indelible marker as he starts reading. Every so often, he'll black out a few lines. "Lie. Lie. Lie. Utter crap. Lie." Will_GM: Fearless, the notations in English seem to include your preferences in stories, issues to tackle, things that seem to concern you a lot. Will_GM: He was, apparently, trying to build a psych profile. Fearless: on a reporter? :) Fearless: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Fearless (3d6) and gets 8. Fearless: on research Will_GM: Looking for anything in particular? Fearless: skill 13, pass. Will_GM: There are records from doctors about your phobia, hemophilia, anosmia -- a *lot* of notations in the odd spiky alphabet there -- and mundane stuff like your receipts from the One Hit Wonder. Will_GM: With frequent dishes circled, no less. Fearless: "Schiesse... he was trying to psyche profile me." BA is sets aside any information in the stacks that he would consider 'private documentation' (health records, school histories, etc) Will_GM: BA, nothing that is in your pile predates your actual meeting with Xav, except for public-domain records such as the deed to your house and the legal papers for your outfit. BA: "We have a waste basket in here?" Will_GM: "I bet you'd prefer a shredder, wouldn't you." BA: Gotta scram. Fearless: "He's even noted that I'm a terrible speller." BA: "Actually, yeah." Will_GM: BA: He takes what you give him and tells Fred to go up and feed it through the softstone chipper. Fearless pulls out the series on the NJ Mob Incident. "My best work, when BA helped me out. I left BA out of the story, though." Will_GM: I'll NPC BA hanging around and looking through stuff as long as Fearless does. BA: By the time BA's done perusing everything, it's so markered up that there's very little left in the way of useful information BA: 'k Fearless: "Also the one story I thought I may never finish, as we came close to dying twice in the whole thing." BA: Later folx Shyla: see ya UL *** Signoff: BA (Read error: Connection reset by peer) Fearless: its prolly the most marked up with odd stuff as well, I'd guess Fearless: cya, UL Will_GM: The NJ mob stuff? Fearless: *nod* Jack: . Will_GM: Actually, there's a minor player whose name is circled in red everywhere it appears, with the notation "has promise. Refer him to Val's bunch." Fearless: "I've tackled everything from mundane murders to a mob shootout... Who's Val?" Will_GM: You remember this guy as one who plea-bargained, got probation, and promptly disappeared. Will_GM: Rath looks. "Valefor, most likely. Demon Prince of Theft." Fearless: "The one guy that was refered to disappeared after his trial." Fearless: "I take it the other side has their own version of 'soldiers'?" Will_GM: "Hellsworn." Fearless: "That's what I thought." Will_GM: "And yeah, we already noticed that. He'll have people looking for him, I guarantee." Will_GM: "Maybe you oughta leak that paper to the other side. I can't imagine someone who thinks of himself as a Demon Prince enjoying being referred to as 'Val.'" Fearless: *snrk* "Well, Xav did a thorough job researching me. How'd he got my medical records? Some of these go back to my first schoolyard scrape, in kindergarten." Will_GM: "He's capable of possessing people. Check your credit records, insurance cards -- then go to the insurance office, possess someone who is already logged in -- pull up the billing doctors, go to their office, make a few faxes to his own number." Fearless indicates a paper, when he first saw the school nurse for a scrape that didn't stop bleeding until the nurse called in the neighboorhood doc. Fearless: "Although... most of these stories I remember being special in some form. Notice how they run in series, or were saved for the weekend edition? He never pulled my one-shot stories." Will_GM: Actually, I was picturing it as being everything you'd ever written! He'd have paid special attention to those you mentioned, with a lot of markings, though. Fearless: 'k Fearless: in that case, change it to "He's ignored most of my one-shot stories." Fearless: "What do you make of what he was looking for on me?" Fearless: "This script.... odd." Will_GM: "Buttons to push, of course. He needed to understand you in order to manipulate you more efficiently." Fearless: just out of curiosity, would Xav have had some of these scripts on display in the One Hit Wonder? Will_GM: "The script is Helltongue. I don't know much of it -- not safe for angels. Fearless: maybe passing them off as oriental script? Will_GM: No way. A Helltongue glyph would a) be way too obvious to anyone who came in casually, and b) make humans vaguely uncomfortable. Fearless: 'k Fearless looks at some of the receipts. "How do these dishes taste?" Will_GM: Compare it to hanging the red-spiked cross on your wall. Not everyone will know it's used by the KKK, but you're going to have real problems as soon as someone recognizes it. ;^) Will_GM: Rath glances at the receipts. "I have no idea. They look okay. We tend to try Japanese when we eat food here." Fearless: "Well, I have no idea, either. And I've eaten them." Will_GM: "Yeah, we noticed the doctor's records on anosmia." Will_GM: "Ever see _City of Angels_?" Fearless: "Once." Will_GM: Rath nods. "That." Fearless looks over stuff, looking for one glaring question in the notes. Fearless: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Fearless (3d6) and gets 18, "Hang on to your souls, boys and girls - the Bad Man is coming to town!" Fearless: oh shit. Will_GM: >^) Edward: oops Shyla: hehe! Ellis: *snicker* Fearless: (that was a research roll, btw) Shyla: that saying is cool Fearless: looking for "Why is he called 'Fearless'?" Edward: terminally critical failure. Jack: lol Will_GM: Hmmm. Something *interesting*. an Infernal Intervention on a Research roll. Fearless: infernal intervention on a natural 18 Edward: that's not a saying -- 18 == 6 6 6 == Infernal Intervention. As in, THE "bad man". Will_GM: Pause a moment. BA's always asking me to be Evil[tm], I need to think of something. Fearless: *heh* Shyla: hehe Shyla: a pity UL missed that Fearless: of course, the nice thing is that it could be hidden in HellTongue Will_GM: As you read over the paper, you notice that some of the glyphs seem to be associated to particular words and phrases. You start muttering when you notice a familiar one. Suddenly, you hear echoes in the room. It's your voice, and it's saying syllables you half-recognize from what you were just muttering, and it's not stopping. Jack: yikees! Fearless: "Umm... Rath?" Will_GM: "Yeah?" Fearless: "You hear that?" Will_GM: "No, what?" It's getting louder. Shyla: ( uh oh! ) Will_GM: BA looks up at you. Fearless describes it. Shyla: ( a flashback of Murdock on A'Team crosses me mind ) Will_GM: Rath blanches. He looks down at the glyphs, and orders Fred and you to grab the stacks and shred them upstairs. Will_GM: Your Eidetic memory is kicking in. Fearless hurries to do so Jack: lol Fearless: what was the article on, btw? Will_GM: The particular article you were reading was the MJ Mafia one. Fearless: "It had to happen on this one." *SHREDS* Will_GM: About that Eidetic Memory: there are four distinct phrases the voices are saying, and you remember each one clearly. You have no particular urge to say them out loud, though -- at the moment, anyway. Will_GM: The voices are fading, now. Will_GM: Rath is talking at you, worriedly. "Anything?" Fearless: *to Fred* "What was that?" Will_GM: "I don't know, Johnny. It's not normal, but I don't expect it was anything good. Any aftereffects?" Fearless: "I... don't know yet." Jack: gnight all Fearless: "They've faded, and I hesistate to utter the phrases." Fearless: cya, Jack Jack: 1:22 here and off to bed Will_GM: Johnny: Add a 0-point trait under Disadvantages: "Four unknown phrases in Helltongue embedded in memory." Jack: wrote draft for new column, WIlliam Jack: emailed to you Shyla: see ya Jack Jack: sheya all *** Signoff: Jack (Quit: "I left parts of myself everywhere / The way absent minded people leave / glover" Charles Simic) Will_GM: Rath blows out a sigh and rubs his head. "Okaaaay. I think that's enough for today." Fearless: "I agree. Is there someone I can talk to to translate them, just in case it happens again?" Will_GM: "Translate what? What we just shredded?" Fearless: "I can probably recall the vocal components, and the glyphs." Will_GM: Rath says, quite seriously, "I wouldn't *ever* say or write those if I were you. Bury them. Forget them." Fearless: "I will try. Its been hard for me to forget anything." Will_GM: "The adversary's a sneaky S.O.B. What better place to put dangerous knowledge than the head of a human eidetic?" He makes a face. Fearless: "If I can reproduce the glyphs, can they be translated?" Will_GM: Fred and Rath both say, "Don't." Rath continues to say, "They probably could, if you wrote them safely." Fearless: "Who would I talk to about that, to provide that safety?" Will_GM: "I don't know. Sometimes in our line of work, weird stuff happens that no one has dealt with before." Fearless: "Sounds like my line of work, as well." Fearless: "Only your weird shit is weirder than most." Fearless: "Got any acetomenaphin?" Will_GM: Fred shakes his head. "Don't usually need it, sorry." Fearless sits, and starts to light a cigarette, then stops before he can. "That gave me a monster headache." Will_GM: "I do, it's out in the car." Fearless: "Do me a favor, Fred... see if he ever figured out why I earned the 'Fearless' moniker." Will_GM: Fred eyes the now-shredded papers. Will_GM: "I'll do some other research and see what I can do." Fearless: "I was called 'Fearless' even before that incident." Fearless: we shredded the entire stuff, or just the Jersey Mob story? Will_GM: All of it. Better safe than sorry. Fearless: *nod* Will_GM: Research is good, but research into the property of demons is Not Safe[tm]. Will_GM: That pretty much wraps up that one -- and much more dramatically than I had expected, too. :^) Fearless: *snrk* Fearless: btw, the 'Fearless' moniker was handed to Fearless because of stuff he was able to eat his college. ;) Fearless: what about Shyla's entry? Will_GM: Exactly what I had planned. The long-promised, long-awaited introduction of Shyla Readfeather! Fearless: *heheh* Shyla: hehe Nicole: is that REED read, or RED read? Shyla: Redfeather Shyla: ;) actually Will_GM: Redfeather, sorry. Shyla: hehe ;) n/p Edward: Or REED red? Nicole: Shyla: okay, will typoed and it could have been read either way. :) Will_GM: No, red! Shyla: hehe Will_GM: Shyla, it's a week or so before Halloween, 2001. It's early evening, and you're just gearing up for a night on the town with your colleagues. Shyla: 'k Will_GM: Right now, you're coming back from a quick shopping trip. It's not the best area of town, and it's not the best place to be alone, especially when you're wearing colors. Will_GM: There are various sounds indicative of the neighborhood about. A siren wails down a far-away street; nearer at hand, a dog growls at someone. An occasional car drives, a shout is heard in the middle distance. [some /msg'ing snipped] Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 10. Will_GM: As you pass by an alley, practice makes you look in before you pass. Most of the time, there's nothing there. This time, you can see the dog you heard growling earlier. Shyla: what's it doing? Will_GM: Bleeding. Will_GM: As you continue to watch, a bulky human, doing the same, steps out from behind a dumpster. Will_GM: They are watching each other and have not seen you yet. Shyla will park the bike and head over there Shyla: unless she was on foot still Will_GM: Foot -- otherwise it would have been hard to see this. Shyla: 'k Fearless goes for the night... w'hurk t'morrow Shyla: she'll head on over, observing Ellis: Ta, Ars Will_GM: The dog growls again, then launches himself at the guy. They struggle for a moment, cursing at each other, then break. Will_GM: 2 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (2 3d6) and gets 13 7. *** Signoff: Fearless (Quit: Ah, technology. The most perverse of the mystic arts.) Will_GM: The guy definitely gets the better of the brief scuffle; the dog whimpers a little as he is thrown down. Will_GM: The guy spits a bit of blood and says, "Answer the question, blackwing! Where did you put our shit?" Will_GM: The dog gets up, wobbling a bit and bleeding all over the eye turned in your direction. "Go back to Hell, Freak," it says. Shyla will close in, "What are you doing exactly might I ask?" Shyla pretending that she hadn't heard the dog speak Will_GM: Both of them turn to see you. Will_GM: I assume you address the question to the guy, then. Shyla eyeing the human Will_GM: 'k Shyla: yes hehe Will_GM: "Not your business, woman. Get lost." Shyla leans against the wall near them "Well beating the shit out of a dog for nothin' is" Will_GM: The guy hesitates, then says, "Shit, I don't have time for this." Will_GM: The guy bares his teeth and stares at you. Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 16. Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 11. *Shyla* she's leery of the guy *Shyla* and has her 2 daggers handy in her boots Will_GM: For a moment, the shadows shift in the alley. By a trick of the light, maybe, the man suddenly seems surrounded by black flames. Will_GM: 3d6-4 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6-4) and gets 1. *Shyla* she looks at ease but she's 100% on alert Will_GM: Shyla -- you feel a sudden pain in your gut -- as if you'd been stabbed. Shyla curses in Cherokee and reaches for her daggers (if she can thru the pain that is) Will_GM: take 4 points of damage, though you handily avoided being stunned. Will_GM: (Should been a +4, but still a pass) Shyla: 'k so she can still grab the daggers from her boots since she's leaned over in pain? Will_GM: Yeah. Shyla: (stealthy trying to grab them then throw them at firey boy) Will_GM: We're in combat now -- the dog launches an attack at the man while his back is turned. Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 9. Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 11. Will_GM: 2d6-2 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (2d6-2) and gets 1, "That's a critical success, don't think this means I like you." Will_GM: Actually, that was damage, which isn't much. ;^) Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 16. Will_GM: The big guy cries out in pain, and drops to one leg. However, he's still conscious. Will_GM: Shyla, what do you want to do? Shyla: throw the daggers at him Will_GM: You can throw one, unless you want to take a major penalty. Shyla: 'k will do them one at a time hehe Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 15. Will_GM: You try tossing the first one as you straighten up -- unfortunately, it misses your target Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 12. Will_GM: ...and, more luckily, also the dog behind him. Shyla: 'k good atleast I missed the dog then hehe Edward: Urgh. I just read "Herbal Essences" in a random IRC channel and my first thought was "Fleurity or Novalis?" I need a life. Will_GM: Andre. ;^) Will_GM: The guy turns and tries to grab the dog. Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 5. Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 14. Will_GM: He manages to get his hands around the dog's throat (looks like a spitz or a German shepherd, now that you're closer) and starts squeezing. Will_GM: 2 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (2 3d6) and gets 12 11. Will_GM: The dog struggles, but isn't brreaking free. Will_GM: Shyla, you're about ten feet from the pair of them now. Action? Shyla will leap on him attempting to break his hold on the dog Will_GM: 2 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (2 3d6) and gets 10 10. Shyla: should say with dagger ;) Will_GM: You try, but the guy is not only bulky, but *strong*. Astonishingly so. Shyla: input dagger in one of his arms Will_GM: Ah, that's a bit different. Will_GM: 3d6 Shyla: sorry hehe Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 9. Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 10. Will_GM: That's a hit. Shyla: cool maybe it'll distract him enough hehe Will_GM looks for damage... Shyla: thinks it a d4? Shyla: wait that's AD&D hehe Will_GM: No, in GURPS it's based on your strength and the weapon. Edward: gurps is d6 only Will_GM: 1d6-3 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (1d6-3) and gets 2. Shyla: hehe she ain't got no strenght Will_GM: It sticks him for another 2 points. Shyla: she's juz trying to get him to let go hehe Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 10. Will_GM: He roars in pain, and his grip slackens. Will_GM: He turns to you, and shouts "Bitch!" Will_GM: 2 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (2 3d6) and gets 11 10. Will_GM: You feel something rushing at you -- some sort of force -- but a moment of gritted teeth, and it washes off of you. Will_GM: 2 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (2 3d6) and gets 13 6. Will_GM: The spitz shakes himself free of the man's grip and moves off a few feet. Will_GM: You? Shyla: the other dagger (in belt) Will_GM: To what? Shyla: guess she'll stab at him Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 8. Shyla: better than throwing it ;) Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 11. Will_GM: You hit him in the shoulder above the point where you wounded his arm. Will_GM: 1d6-3 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (1d6-3) and gets -1. Shyla: hehe Will_GM: However, it barely scratches him -- he's tough, whatever he is. Shyla: nifty does that mean he gets a point back? hehe Shyla: 'k grazes cool Will_GM: No, it just doesn't do much. Shyla: 'k Will_GM: 2 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (2 3d6) and gets 10 8. Shyla: oO should've thrown it..Oo Will_GM: He glares at the dog, who shakes his head, not seeming anymore harmed than he was before. However, this time it just stands there, looking at the guy and laughing a little. Will_GM: Shyla: You're too close to throw it anyway. Shyla: true hehe Shyla begins to humm a chant while this be a going on Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 14. Will_GM: The shadows that you saw earlier seem to flee from the man. Now, they seem to stand straight out from him, as if straining to get away. Before your eyes, he develops a few more cuts, from no blade that you can see. Blood begins dripping from them. Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 9. Will_GM: He cries out... Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 12. Will_GM: ...and slumps to the ground, unconscious. Will_GM: s/beings/begins/ Shyla walks around the thing/guy to check the dog out, but keeping an leery eye on the thing/guy Will_GM: The dog looks up at you, and says, quite calmly, "He needs killed," before collapsing himself, apparently from its own wounds. Will_GM: It's still awake, though. Shyla: She'll go and attempt to 'slit' the guy/thing's throat Will_GM: No problem, now that he's unconscious. Shyla: she'll take out some powder from one of her pouches and do a circle around the body, making sure there are no breaks in the circle Shyla: humming while do this then goes over to the dog Will_GM: The dog eyes you while you do this. Will_GM: It says, quietly, "What are you doing?" Shyla looks up at the dog "Protection circle, for us, whatever this thing is, obviously evil. If it does reawaken it will be stuck in the circle.." *hopefully* she mumbles Shyla: she'll then go to the dog to see to his wounds Shyla: "Do you need my assistance?" Will_GM: The dog lolls its tongue, laughing. "It's dead now, it won't wake up. And protection circles don't work like that... answer me a question now. Why did you just kill somebody on orders from a talking dog you just met?" Shyla: "I dispise those who abuse animals without reason. 'Talking' or not" she maintains her straight face Shyla: "If you prove evil, I'll kill you to, though unwillingly" Will_GM: The dog looks at you straight on. One eye is clear, the other covered with blood-matted hair, but you sense it can see you just fine. "That's fair." Shyla: "Though I admit you are the first 'talking' dog I've met I must say" she squats down begining to wipe the blood off to determine what is actual wounds and what ain't Will_GM: It lays its head back down while you do so. "I need someplace safe to stay and heal up. You already know about me -- I usually keep my mouth shut in a city, but I was pretty badly banged up. You have a den somewhere?" Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 5. Shyla: "Yes, I can take you if you like. I can then actually tend to your wounds better" Will_GM: You manage to find out where the major wounds are, and what parts are just bloody messes. Will_GM: "Okay." He struggles to his feet. "Let's go." Shyla rips sections of her shirt off and tie around those major ones to slow bleeding Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 11. Will_GM: Successfully. Shyla: is he carryable? or he weigh too much? Will_GM: Spitzes are medium-to-large dogs, and this one's mostly muscle. You would not be able to carry him far. Fortunately, he seems to be ambulatory, and it's not too far to your place. Shyla: 'k Shyla: "Come along then, if you get to tired let me know I'll carry you some if need be, ain't to far from my place" Will_GM: You get to your apartment building and manage to get up the stairs to your second-floor place without being obviously noticed. The dog flops down on your living room floor, getting bloodstains on your carpet. Shyla: hehe though I must admit ain't much left of her shirt hehe Shyla will gather some stuff (herbalitic and fresh clean clothes) and start administering the wounds Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 12. Will_GM: Not having treated a dog before, it's a little difficult -- you had managed to stop the bleeding previously, but beyond that you can't really tell if there's much good being done. He is cleaner, though. Shyla: 'k Will_GM: "Thank you," he says. "I'll manage on my own as long as the bleeding has stopped. I'll only be a week or so." Shyla prepares a tea with some sleeping/soothing herbs for him to drink Shyla: "You can stay as long as you need. Might I ask what that thing was? And what it wanted?" Will_GM: "The tea isn't necessary," he says. Shyla: she *nods* "Ok no problem then. Didn't know if you'd need this with the pain" Will_GM: He sits up, carefully, on his haunches. "Well now," he says, "there are two answers I could give to that. One is incomplete, and rather uninteresting. The other is likely to put you in the way of more of such creatures. Which would you rather have?" Shyla: she'll put the herbs back up and lays a thin sheet over the dog. She then sits near him Shyla: "Just give me the truth all of it, but lay down, you do need to relax, right?" for the first time she actually *chuckles* slightly Will_GM: "No, actually, I don't. Angels don't tire." Will_GM: "Neither do demons -- which is what you just helped me fight." Edward: besides, if she got the boring answer this'd be a short session.. Shyla: she cocks her head to the side, "Angels, eh? Demons too? Gramps talked of those... more so than most folks of civie religions...." Shyla: "So what was an angel and demon fighting over in a dark alley about?" Will_GM: He laughs so you can hear it this time. Will_GM: "Me and a couple of comrades managed to steal some of the things they needed from a place that wasn't too well defended against animals." Will_GM: "You've got guts, human. And a decent skill with those knives, which I suppose will do if you don't get claws. And the mettle to take a hit from a Calabite and keep coming, which is a lot more than I can say for many of your sisters. It doesn't hurt that you can meet a talking dog and not blink, too." Will_GM: "What would you say to being examined for joining us?" Shyla: "I always pictured fights in the heavens or such...Is that what it's called? Calabite? Yeah...daggers are sometimes my 'claws' *chuckles*" Shyla: "Joining? Join what.. wait don't tell me...you guys have 'gangs' as well?" *smiling* slightly Shyla: "If ya mean join the 'goodside', sure...don't like the life I'm leading right now anyhoo. Ain't much in terrorizing folks and stealing" Will_GM: "Gangs? Is that what you're into? Well, humans need their packs too." Shyla: "My pack was only for necessity. I don't consider myself one of them...juz to survive. But yeah, I'd like to join if ya think I'd be an asset." Will_GM: "You could call it our gang, if you wanted. Our herd. Whatever. The point is, you'd be in touch with the powers that are about in the Earth, and in particular the One who created them all." Will_GM: "Very well. It will take a few days to get us together, and I could use that to heal, anyway." Shyla: Her eyes widen slightly. "The Great Spirit? Or God by others" Will_GM: "God. Indirectly -- everything involving God is indirect these days -- but yes. Join the forces of Heaven. If you don't like the life you're living now, hand it over to us. We can give you purpose, direction, and strength." Shyla *nods* still slightly taken aback by the statement of 'God' "Yeah...which by the way forgot to say..I'm Shyla Redfeather." Will_GM: "I don't usually go by a name. Call me Spitz." Will_GM: "Listen carefully, now...." He gives you some instructions. Over the next couple of days, you go to various places about the city. In some, you drop a note -- in others, you whisper your message to a spider or a bird. Each of them mentions 'the gathering dale,' and a series of syllables you don't understand. Shyla: 'k Will_GM: Three days after he came to you, he is remarkably healed -- not completely, but much faster than you know to expect from your experience with animals. Shyla: she'll also see to 'Spitz' needs Edward: A cop asks you why you're doing this, and after you answer that a talking dog told you to do so in order to join the armies of God, you're hauled off to drug examination, and thence to the psych ward... :) Shyla: hehe! Will_GM: He doesn't seem to need anything -- not food, water, or sleep. He just hangs around your place, and heals. He watches as you come and go on the errands of the gang, as well. Shyla: Even though he talks and is an angel, once in a while she'll 'forget' and scratch behind his ears or belly or even caress his head Will_GM: He doesn't seem to mind. Will_GM: One day before you go, he says, "You know, you don't have to be low dog on the pole in that gang-pack. If you were the alpha, you could change things. Make it better. Make them better people, instead of acting selfishly like they do now. A pack is important for giving people identity and support, but it doesn't have to act like they do." Shyla: she'll also sleep on the couch to keep an eye on him and keep him company Shyla: "Would be a good idea, ain't never thought of that *chuckles* juz hung out to 'be' basically" Shyla gets all serious, "Will you be about? Or will I not see you ever again?" Will_GM: "Depends on orders. This area of town is my ground right now, but we change every now and then. Cities aren't... hospitable, for us. We need to get to the Dale; that will show you what we're more accustomed to. I trust I'll fit on that bike?" Shyla: "'k Sure you can fit on it, juz have to sit in front of me *chuckles* I could even fit ya inside the trench coat to make sure you don't fall off on the curves" Will_GM: "That's fine. I'd rather be safe than dignified." Will_GM: He gives you directions out of Philly, to a place a couple of hours north and west. Shyla *winks* at him "You'd be the first guy to ever get that close to me" Shyla: She'll head off that way when he says it time to go Will_GM: You get to a dead end of the road just as the moon is reaching zenith. From here on in, it's by foot. Shyla: She'll undo the trenchcoat so he can get out then head on Will_GM: The area around you is hilly and would be green in summer; farms lay to your left and right, but this strip of forest is untended, and red with autumn leaves. Shyla stays alert Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 10. Will_GM: After another hour, you hear something as Spitz says, "We approach the Dale." It's a quiet collection of animal noises -- hoots of owls, meows of cats, chirps of insects and ruffs of canines. Will_GM: Spitz takes up a position ahead of you and slows to a careful, measured walk. Shyla watches in awe. "Now this is nice, kind'a like back with Gramps..." Will_GM: At the sound of a human voice, a sudden hush sweeps over the gathering. Shyla follows Spitz Will_GM: Spitz leads you into a clearing in the woods. All about you are the animals you heard. Owls on branches blink big, reflective eyes at you -- cats watch from underbrush. Other, larger shadows under the trees hint at others attending the event. Hanging in midair about you, like a constellation come down to earth for a visit, are hovering firelies. Will_GM: Spitz stops and turns to you, shaking his head once, then continues into the middle of the clearing. Shyla: Thinking he means for her to stay she watches him go into the middle, she looks at all the animals, glad to see them all Will_GM: Spitz sits up and speaks in English. "Brothers, I have brought before you a human called Shyla Redfeather. Listen now..." and he describes the turn of events which brought you two together, and the service you did for him afterward. He also describes your current situation. "She is willing to serve Heaven, putting it before a life she does not want and wishes to make better." Will_GM: "What say you? Shall we call upon our Master Jordi?" Will_GM: An owl flutters out of the trees and looks at you; a hawk swoops past you and beats for height to take another branch. The fireflies shift and swirl, a few landing on you and taking off again. The watching eyes in the woods come closer, cats and wolves and deer stepping into the moonlight to see you and return. Shyla stays still for the entire 'looking' Will_GM: They begin speaking in their own tongues again -- you sense no danger, and in fact the general tone seems to be positive. Will_GM: Spitz turns to you. Will_GM: "They have agreed. Open your spirit now, and be ready. You will be judged, and, if found of the right mettle, strengthened." Shyla *nods* stands straight, clears her mind and awaits Will_GM: An animal or two touches their noses with Spitz. A brief glow surrounds him and the other each time this happens, until Spitz is left alone again with you in the middle of the clearing. Edward: cue special effects. Will_GM: A complete hush falls. Even the wind seems to respect this moment. Will_GM: Piercing the silence, Spitz lifts his voice in a full-throated howl. One by one, he is joined by the other canines around. The insects buzz; the birds call a hunting call. Ellis: *cues Circle of Life* Shyla maintains posture and clear minded Shyla: ( hehehe ) Will_GM: There is more in this clearing than there was a moment ago. A new Presence is all about you. The hawk's eye sees your soul; the lion's ears hear your heartbeat; the wolf's nose takes the measure of your Self. Will_GM: It is old, Old. It is not human. Yet it is not unkindly disposed to one who knows what it means to give and care. Shyla raises her arms up so all of her can be seen, still keeping her mind clear Will_GM: You suddenly know -- you have been found worthy and able. Shyla lowers her arms oO Thank you Oo Will_GM: Power flows into you from some outside source. The Presence around you suddenly becomes clearer. It *is* all those things you felt, all at once and more, constantly shifting, eye and ear and talon and wing. You can *see* on a new level. Will_GM: You can *feel* an energy inside of you. You *know* something you had not known. Will_GM: And, over them all, stronger and purer and beautiful, is what you can only call music. It is a symphony so complex that everything you have ever heard is just one strain in its sounds. Shyla takes a deep breath "How can I serve you and Him?" Will_GM: You hear the words inside you. "Fight. Heal. Obey. Love." Will_GM: The Presence fades completely. One by one, the animals leave. Only Spitz remains, watching you. Shyla *nods* Will_GM: Spitz eyes you. "How do you feel?" Shyla looks over at him, *smiling* "Whole" Ellis: o/` You can do MA-GIC! / You can have anything, that you desire / MA-GIC! / And you know, you're the one who can put out the fire... o/` Shyla: ( has flash back of Star Trek IV "How do you feel? How do you feel?" Spock not knowing what to say ) Will_GM: "It can be an overwhelming experience, that first time, especially without knowing what it is. I will stay for a while, and train you. For now, let's head back home." Shyla: "Like apart of me that was empty is now filled...Fight Heal Obey Love" Shyla *nods* "Your company will be welcomed as well as your teachings" Will_GM: --------------------- Session End -------------------------