Will_GM: Setup: It is, in game time, the evening of October 24th, 2001. Most of you are gathered in Edward's apartment. It is still the day Edward ran the Identity Analyzer, a few days after the Grace incidents. Will_GM: Kata hasn't yet made contact with the main group; Jack, of course, knows you but hasn't yet been informed of recent events. Will_GM: Jack, let's start with you. Is the evening of the 24th, after work, a good time for you? Jack: sounds good...is it the day after my discussion with dawn? Will_GM: Yeah. Will_GM: ------------------- Game Start ----------------------- Jack , a bit bleary eyed from lack of sleep and trailing a backpack over the shoulder of his suit, heads to the stone works. Edward: Not quite yet, please. Ed still had an idea to go with. Jack packs his car, activates the alarm, and goes inside looking for one of the angels Will_GM: Ed: We can still pick up your scene, unless it looks likely that something Jack's doing will derail that. Will it involve contacting the Works? Jack: i can go on pause if you'd like :) Edward: It might, albeit not immediately Will_GM: Hm. I'll run with Jack for the moment. Poke if something approaches certainty. Ellis: You guys decide, I need to do chores around the kitchen. Edward: Do jack first, then. Ellis being needed for Ed's scene. Jack: Jack packs his car, activates the alarm, and goes inside looking for one of the angels Will_GM: Jack: as usual, you get addressed outside the main building, this time by Pete. "'Sup, Jack?" Jack: "Uh, hi! Not much. How're you doing?" Will_GM: "Pretty well, all things considered. What can I do for you?" Will_GM: 3d6 Dicesuke throws the bones for Will_GM (3d6) and gets 7. [snip /msg] Jack: "Is Elena around? I was doing a thing for her." Will_GM: Pete shakes his head. "Elena isn't attached to this outpost; she usually reports directly to Philadelphia. We could contact her; it might take a while." Jack: the other guy in the meeting with me and elena Will_GM: Is that IC or OOC? [snip /msg] Will_GM: The other NPC in the meeting was Rath. Jack: ooc: thanks! Jack: "Is Rath around?" Will_GM: "Almost all the time." He grows slightly concerned. "What's this about?" Jack: "Nothing. Well, a follow up on Grace." Will_GM: "Ah. We can forward a followup report if you want. Go on inside, head downstairs." Jack follows Pete's directions, looking for Rath. Will_GM: Downstairs in the nicer office, you see Rath talking to Wes. Both look up at your approach, then they conclude their conversation and Wes leaves, nodding at you as he passes. Rath invites you to sit. "Welcome back." Jack nods to Wes, then greets Rath. "Thanks. I met with Dawn, like you all suggested." Will_GM: "good to hear. How was she?" Jack: "I think she's all right. I mean she wasn't spouting bizarre Grace-like sayings anyway. If Grace had gotten to her, would affect her obviously or subtly?" Ellis: b Will_GM: "Subtly. I also can't imagine any supernatural effects would linger past a day or so. The Damsel simply isn't that powerful." Rath smiles momentarily. "Your continuing concern and friendship should be sufficient, presuming Grace keeps her nose out of corporeal affairs for the near future." Jack: "Good. I'd hate for her to become some slavering zombie-woman." Jack pauses for a second, looking sheepish. Jack: "Can I ask you a question?" Will_GM: "Of course." Jack pulls a stack of books out of his knapsack, each with a bazillion Sticky-notes popping out of the top. The authors are people like Tillich, Buber, liberation theologians, Edwards, Calvin, Luther, Lewis. Will_GM: Rath sighs, regains his small smile, and gets comfortable. Jack: "I've been...uh...doing some reading." Jack looks sheepishly again. "Do you get this alot?" Fearless: *snrk* Will_GM: "Newly exposed humans frequently have a lot of questions. I'll try to answer as best I can -- some material is classified, and some answers may not be what you expect." Jack thinks about that. Jack: "Well, I've been reading these guys, but they are just working off of divine scraps and clues, contradictory passages in the Bible or vague ones, or various apocryphal sources. But I can just ask you guys, right?" Will_GM: "Oh, you can always *ask*." Jack: "OK. An easy one first. Tillich and various feminist theologians say that God might be gender neutral or female. Is He?" Will_GM: Rath thinks for a second. "Gender neutral. Or all-encompassing -- that is, both -- which you might consider the same thing. Of all the variety of beings in the Symphony, only corporeal beings have gender, that we have seen." Jack: "So, He's like an Emersonian oversoul? Some gender nuetral entity?" Edward OOCly opens the bar Will_GM: "I'm not familiar with the exact concept, but the phrase sounds reasonable." Jack: "OK, a little tougher. This is the one that bugged Calvin so much. If God wills everything, then how does man have any responsibility in his life for what he does?" Will_GM: "Human -- and possibly even angelic -- free will is almost a scientific certainty where we come from. The obvious corollary -- that God does *not* will everything -- is troublesome, but also accepted by many. None of us can imagine God willing the Fall, for example. The usual concept is 'potentiality'." Will_GM: "That is, that God created potentials. We choose among them." Jack: "And he allows even bad choices. OK, some of these guys guessed that." Jack motions to the books. Jack: "OK, one for the Catholics. Do unbaptized children go to Hell? Or Limbo?" Will_GM: "Atheists have made it to Heaven." Rath smiles. Jack: "OK how does that work?" Will_GM: "Destiny and Fate. Your Destiny is the greatest, most wonderful contribution you can make to the Symphony, the Universe at large. Your Fate is the most awful, selfish, corrupting chain of events you can possibly perform. Achieve your Destiny, reach Heaven. Achieve your Fate, reach Hell. It's possible to do both, though -- and then?" He shrugs. "A couple of possibilities. Reincarnation is known. So is dissipation." Jack runs his fingers through his hair. "OK. These guys weren't very close on that one." Jack: "You mean, I write the great American novel and I go to Heaven, I work at McDonalds and go to Hell? Of course if I worked at McDonalds, I'd be in Hell, but that's something different." Jack: "Or not McDonalds, but be gredy and selfish with my heart and my talents?" Will_GM: "I don't know. Angels of Destiny can find out. So can demons of Fate." Rath frowns. "Those humans you met recently had been gathered by a demon of Fate. From what we had gathered, they had particularly interesting Destinies and fates. Obviously, he wanted to push them toward the latter." Jack: "Wow." Will_GM: "But yes. Selfishness, cutting yourself off from being part of the Symphony, is the fundamental sin of demons." Jack: "OK, how about the big one..." Jack: "If God is all powerful, why crete this beauracracy of angels to fight evil on earth. Why not just snap his fingers and say, to Hell with it, pardon the pun?" Will_GM: "I regret to inform you that the Question of Evil is as big a challenge for us as it is for human philosophers." [snip /msg] Jack: "Oh come on. That one had to be the secret? How about I give back the gender question and get this one answered?" Jack sits and thinks for a bit longer. Will_GM: Rath laughs. "Sorry. We pretty much have the same traditional answer, that the creation of free will had to entail creating the potentiality of evil." Jack: "Instead of me reading these books, do you have any on the Symphony I can read?" Will_GM: Rath's eyes widen amusedly. "The Big Book of Answers? Let me know if you find it." Jack: "I'd settle for the Little Cliff Notes of answers, if you have one lying around." BA: The priest at the church in New Reno in Fallout 2 has it! ;) Jack: "Are there no books on the Symphony? You know, a Symphony for Dummies?" Edward OOCly happily peruses Lightning's databases. :) Will_GM: Rath hmms, shifts position. "There's Soldier training. And just keeping on coming back and asking questions. I'll answer what I can. Though, to be honest, some questions are better answered in other ways than words." He sits forward. "Do you want to be formally associated with us? You don't have to be divinely empowered to throw your lot in." Jack shrinks in his seat. "Well, yeah. I figure there's no going back now. I mean, just going back and living off of movies and parties and stuff when there're people getting screwed royally by people like Grace?" Ellis: And people *worse than* Grace... Will_GM: Rath nods. Fearless: have you read the suspect report, Jack? ;) Jack: "I won't just sit by and be some punk-ass suburbanite whining about taxes and the price of stamps. I want to do something and help somebody and make things better." Jack: "Oops. Can I say "ass" in front of an angel?" Will_GM: "Very well. We train regularly, but Pete -- and thus the disciplines suited for humans -- are here, every day from 6 to 8. Edward: frankly, grace isn't even in the top 100 of Bad Things That Can Happen To You... Jack: "I'll have to skip Wednesdays because I have a night class...until the class is over and I won't pick other one up." Will_GM: "Very well." Jack: "Elena hinted that I should just go and write stuff. What do you do from 6 to 8?" Will_GM: "Military training. Weapons practice, sin'an exercises, strategic drills. It builds team cohesion as well as keeping the skills sharp. I'll tell you, Jack -- join us in this and you'll be a member of a military unit. And the War was declared 20,000 years ago." Will_GM: He stands up and glares at you. "Is this a full commitment?" Jack thinks about that a bit. Jack: "I don't know anything about that. I'm in for that, though I guess. Is Ferrifous and BA and the gang at these trainings?" Jack: "You mean, the fight in Revelations?" Jack: "I thought it was going to be some advanced Bible study, or something." Will_GM: Rath sits back down again. "No, they haven't expressed an interest. You *guess*? Jack, I'm not going to undergo training intended to build unit cohesion with someone who would maybe think about it if we got called to take out a demonic Tether." Will_GM: Rath waves his hand. "No one knows when, how, or if Armageddon will occur. This is day-to-day. Here. Now. Your life, the lives of innocents." Jack: "Hold on there, cowboy. I'm not backing out. But, I need to think about it. You mean there are things out there we'll need to fight? I mean, we took out Grace by outthinking her." Will_GM: "That's a frequent tactic. Killing demonic Vessels is an efficient method of attacking Hell's resource projection -- but the ultimate point is always the innocent souls in the balance." Will_GM: "Do you mean learning about the various types of demons and angels, the history of the celestial realms, the tactics employed in the War -- that?" Jack: "I'm not backing out. But gimme some time. This has all been a little overwhelming and now you're hitting me with more stuff. Can I have some time? Or do I need to figure it out now?" Jack: "Yeah, like that." Will_GM: "That comes with the training. Stone usually does it in the usual teacher-student setting. I understand Lightning has it all on computer these days. Faith doesn't do it at all -- they feel it's not knowledge humans should be burdened with." Jack: "I always figured I was a political street fighter. I never figured on being an actual soldier. But I might have to consider that." Will_GM: "We can put you in contact with people who can tell you more about these things. Pete can start you on the useful fundamentals." Jack: "Stone, Lightning and Faith? Are these angels?" Jack: "Yeah, sign me up. I need to know." Will_GM: "Words. They..." he pauses. "Yes. You'll want someone who's better equipped. Zeke is a much better teacher than I am, anyway." [Big snip -- the game nearly broke down here. We talked matters over for a while, and the GM will be trying to implement some changes in the style.] Will_GM: Anyway. Will_GM: At this point, Pete comes in. "Rath, Mr. Ferrifous just called. He'd like me to help out with a situation that's come up at the University." Fearless: Pete, call me "Fearless"... everyone else does. Fearless: ;) Will_GM: "Jack, could you excuse us? It'll just be a moment." Jack: "Of course." BA pulls up to the stone works in his car, gets parked and walks in. "Anyone back here?" Jack peeks his head out. "Hey, BA." Jack: "My name's Jack. I don't know if you remember." Will_GM: Jack is presumably waiting outside for a bit, while Pete and Rath talk. BA: "Hey Jack. Run into any psycho-mommas recently?" Jack grimaces. "How many do I need to meet in a week?" BA: "One's enough for a life time, but with crowd..." *shrug* Jack smiles and extends his hand to shake. "Good to see you again." Jack: "What're you up to? Want to grab a bite?" BA shakes Jack's hand, looks around discreetly. "Hey, whatever crap these guys feed you, check it against whatever you know to be historically or epmerically proveable." Fearless rings BA's cell right about now. Jack: "Funny, I was just chatting with Rath about stuff." BA: "Just a sec." *answers his phone* "Uttenutten." Jack thinks. "Uttenutten? WTF?" Fearless: "BA, how many times have I told you, don't answer the phone 'uttenutten'." BA: "It's a job. What's up, Johnny?" Fearless: "Listen, I'm headed over to check out a particular place of interest. Something that came up among varied leads that I need to look into. I could use your help on this one." BA: "No problem. I'm over here at the stone works with Jack at the moment." Fearless: "It could be something mundane, it could be something worse. Won't know until we check it out... near a computer with web access?" BA: "I have the laptop in the car and I can probly bum a phone line here." Fearless: "Good. Write down this URL." [rattles off the web site] BA pulls out his pad and pen, jots down the URL Fearless: "Could just be a bunch of hippy freaks sponging money off the locals. I need to look at some of their records." BA: "Right. I'll look into this ASAP. You want me to do any background digging?" Fearless: "Just meet me at the address on the site. And bring the cars." BA: You got it. See you in a coupla hours." Jack: "What's up?" BA: "Fearless has a lead on something. Wanna tag along?" Jack: "Sure. If I'm going to be a soldier for God, I might as well start now." Fearless: *heh* Will_GM: Pete comes upstairs. "Y'all leaving?" BA rolls his eyes at Jack. "Don't tell me you're buying into all this angel-demon crap." Will_GM: Pete shoots BA a nasty look. Jack: "Ferrifous has got a line on a thing." BA: "Hey, Pete. Just got here, but hafta scram." Will_GM: Jake: Pete nods to you. "Probably related to what he called me about." He looks at BA. "Anything in particular you dropped by for that I can handle?" Jack gets the address from BA and meets him there. BA: "It can wait. Mind if I borrow a phoneline? Fearless wanted me to check something on the web." Jack will wait and check out site. Will_GM: "Sure." *hands over his cellphone* Edward idly listens to Fearless talk to Pete on the phone, trying to focus on the idea taking form in his head. BA retrieves his laptop and plugs in, loads up the web site Will_GM: *sitar music* *anigifs* *fiddly little Flash animations!* Jack: "Oh no! It's Ravi Shankar!" BA: "Holy microwaved boogers, I've seen Hell." Edward finally feels the links locking together, and snaps his fingers. "Greg, when's Carver's fencing class training next?" Aris_TGD: "Day after tomorrow. It's an every-other-day class." Will_GM: BA, Jack: You both pass your SAN checks and get the address. Edward nods. "When Fearless is done, could you call the 'Works and see if they know an angel or Soldier that you could introduce as a fencing instructor from out of town who's passing through." BA does a quick read of the webpage and gets the address. Aris_TGD: "Mmmmmm. I like where this is going." Jack heads to address, following or leading BA Fearless: *to Ellis and Ed* "Well, I've got Pete checking the frat, and BA is gonna be meeting me at the Society HQ. I'd best get moving." BA: "Meet you at that address, Jack. Gotta stop off at the house and get some equipment." Fearless heads over there Aris_TGD: "Okay. Good luck." Jack pulls up, parks, alarms and waves to Ferrifous. Aris_TGD takes the phone, calls the Works BA unplugs, hands Pete his cell phone back, and heads back to his place to pick up Speed Bump and Patch Kit. Already has Rumble Strip in the back seat. Will_GM: Ellis: Rath picks up. "Hello?" Edward nods. "From what I've read, 'celestial' beings -- angels, demons, Grace and all that goes bump in the night -- cause some kind of disturbance 'noise' when affecting the corporeal world. So if Carver's actually a demon and he breaks something..." Aris_TGD: "Rath? It's Greg. I was wondering if there's anyone on your staff who knows how to fence." Fearless pulls up as well. "Well, Jack. This is a surprise. Getting your fingers dirty in the trenches now?" Jack grins. "Now? What three days after Grace? Didn't even know there were trenches before that." BA motors over to Society HQ and pulls up next to Fearless. "Somebody order a street pizza?" Aris_TGD: Greg grins at Ed. *off phone* "And hopefully I won't get carved into preacher-bits." Will_GM: Ellis: "Hmm. Wes does broadsword mainly; I believe he has some fencing training." Jack: "No anchovies, please." Will_GM: BA, Jack, Fearless: lemme run this one first. Fearless: "Well, this may or may not be involved. What's up, BA. Got the goods?" BA: "Ready to transform and roll out." Jack: k Fearless: Will: sure. Edward nods. "Not getting carved up is always a plus." Aris_TGD: "Hmm. That might work. See, I've been consulting with Ed, and we think there's something... bad about one of the students in my fencing class." Will_GM: "Supernaturally, I suppose you to mean. And you'd like Wes to help check it out." Aris_TGD: "Yes, that's about the size of it." Aris_TGD: "Frankly, we think he's more than any normal person can handle." Will_GM: "Can you be more explicit? Hang on, I'm getting Wes on the extension..." *click* "Go ahead." Aris_TGD: "Well... from all our observations, we think this kid Carver might be a demon." Edward looks at Greg and waggles his finger over the hands-free button Will_GM: "Carver. *Charming* name, that. Yeah, I can come by to check it out. What are the circumstances?" Aris_TGD: Greg nods at Ed. Will_GM: "And can I ask whereupon you found your suspicions?" Edward presses it in time to hear most of Wes' questions. Aris_TGD: "Ed and Nicole are here, just went on speaker." Edward: "Lightning came up with a pattern analysis package that checks for markers indicating possible demon activity on records. "Carver Steele" tweaked out pretty high." Aris_TGD: "Not to mention that Carver Steele breaks more equipment in two sessions than most of the other students manage in a month." Edward: "Since the program *does* have some false positives, we'd like to confirm that. Easiest way I could think of was trying to engineer a situation where he'd damage something at a place and time where someone can hear the Disturbance, if any..." Will_GM: Wes and Rath simultaneously say, "Calabite." Edward: "Yeah, that's what the analysis suggests, and I'd concur from what I've read about them." Aris_TGD: "And if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not get blown into bite-sized pieces." Will_GM: "The plan makes sense fundamentally. However, if he's a college student, he's trying to develop a Role -- which may mask Disturbance. Let me also add a couple of things -- we can try to get him to react to Disturbance, by making some nearby and seeing if he can hear it. In a similar vein, I could pop in as celestial form, and see if he saw me." Aris_TGD: "But what if you do the latter, and he does, and it all goes--pardon the expression--straight to Hell?" Will_GM: You can almost hear the grin in Wes' voice. "I propose that you get the innocents out of the way, while *we* outnumber him heavily." Edward: "Mmm, that'd work... 'course, the original plan involves him not knowing someone is on to him, and a celestial showing up pretty much nixes that..." Will_GM: "Edward, is there a particular reason you have for not wanting to know that he is under investigation?" Aris_TGD: Greg raises an eyebrow. "We?" Edward: "Because as long as we know, and he doesn't know we know, we're one up on him and can figure out what else he's working on. The moment he knows the jig's up he'll either bolt or lash out, and any and all of his associates will go to ground." Will_GM: "Point." Will_GM: "Gregory, an angel of Stone rarely does anything alone. Friendship and teamwork are hallmarks of our strategy -- indeed, of Heavenly activities in general, we think. Less dramatically: I was more likely to assign two or three angels to the plan you propose." Aris_TGD: "And I have to agree with Ed on that. If you want to catch his associates in the area, we should be careful... and according to this program, there are probably some bad-news associates." Will_GM: "In which case we'd want to limit Disturbance as well." Edward: "Bingo." Will_GM: "Here's a thought. Gregory, do you ever practice with live blades? Epee, saber?" Aris_TGD: "... Not often. This is tournament practice, after all. But I've done a workshop once or twice." Will_GM: "Suppose we introduce Wesley as a saber expert. He knows enough to pass muster in front of a raw class. He could duel with Carver. *If* Carver is aggressive enough to harm him, Wes can strike back." Will_GM: "Then, the determinant would be that, if he is celestial, my attack would *not* make Disturbance." Will_GM: Nicole looks up at you. "Maybe you could piss him off a bit before the practice duel..." Aris_TGD: "That would work if the class was raw, but this is an advanced class." Edward: "And a Role wouldn't interfere with that?" Aris_TGD: "Why don't I introduce him as a friend looking to get his edge back? That would explain Carver getting a hit on you, which is what we want, right?" Aris_TGD: "Wes, that work?" Will_GM: "No, a Role wouldn't interfere. As for the class... Ellis, when is your next class?" Aris_TGD: "Day after tomorrow, at five." Will_GM: "That could work. In the meantime -- one 24-hour crash course in saber." Edward: "Hmm. I think I feel a fitness schtick kicking in so I'm going to be practicing with the karate classes for the next couple of days. That's right next door from the fencing room in case something happens -- best to hedge bets." Aris_TGD: "Thanks, Ed." Will_GM: "Very good of you. Strength in numbers." Fearless: G'n'R "Live And Let Die" playing right now. ;) Aris_TGD: "I'm willing to drill you into the ground, Wes." Will_GM: "Sounds good. I'll find out where the swordsmanship classes are at UPenn and be there in the morning. Whenever you're not teaching, I'll be practicing." Aris_TGD: "Great. How early?" Edward looks back to the List. "okay, Fearless and co are checking true connectedness, we'll check out Carver... Now all we need is someone who can get into Kappa Beta Lambda and/or Lambda Beta Kappa on a good excuse and we've got all bases covered." Fearless: that was Pete's job. ;) Will_GM: "Early as you can stand it, Greg." Aris_TGD: Gametime right now? Will_GM: "Edward, that was what Ferrifous called Pete about, yes?" Will_GM: About 9 or 10 pm. Aris_TGD: "I'll see you at five, then." Will_GM: "I'll be there." The extension clicks. Edward catches himself nodding, then says "Yeah. Probably." Aris_TGD grins at Ed. "I should probably get some sleep, then, if I'm going to have a fourteen-hour day tomorrow." Edward nods at Greg. Aris_TGD: Augh. Greg, not me. ;) Edward: were you here with a car? Or was Nicole's home in walking distance? Will_GM: They both walked. Aris_TGD: Nicole and I walked Will_GM: Well, they both came by personal power, Nicole rolled. ;^) Edward: oh yeah. Aris_TGD: Well, true enough. ;) Will_GM: "I suppose these are other entities you are observing?" Edward: "Sage advice for all of us mortals, methinks." Aris_TGD: "All right. I'll get home, then. Talk to you later, Rath. Bye, Ed, Nicole... unless you want me to walk you back to your apartment..." Will_GM: "Actually, yeah. It's not the best neighborhood to be going alone in." Katalina: ooc: gotta split see yas laters! Will_GM: "Very well then. Good night." BA: Later Kata Fearless: cya, Kat Jack: bye kat Will_GM: Shyla's thing will be... well, whenever we're on at the same time. ;^) Katalina *waves* sleep well once you all hit the hay! ;) Edward: "Yeah. All but two of them are in the same House, though, so that makes checking that a bit easier." Aris_TGD: Greg walks Nicole home, showers, sleeps. Zzzz. *** Signoff: Katalina (Quit: Time means nothing when there is nothing to live for) Will_GM: "Aught else we can help with, Edward?" Edward hmms, goes over the List one more time, mentally ticking off possibilities. Fearless: Ed: a few of them Fearless can check with police contacts... Edward: "... Not much that Fearless can't handle with his police contacts, although... Hmm. One of the files I'd read indicated that Virtues have a fair chance of outright smelling out Serpents, right?" Will_GM: "Yes. Their creation was a reaction to the First Serpent." Will_GM: "It's not guaranteed, but it sometimes happens." Edward: "Well, two of the possibles have indications that point largely in that direction. Especially considering the amount of persuasion it takes me to get money out of the bursar for *legitimate* reasons..." Will_GM: "Balseraphs can lie, but Habbalah and Impudites can charm a person quite thoroughly. So can anyone with the right Songs." Edward nods again. "Point. I'll see if I can manufacture an excuse to have a look at those records myself, then. Anyways, I better follow Greg's advice. Good night." Will_GM: "Good night, Edward." Will_GM: *click* Will_GM: --------------- Session end -------------------