fadethecat swings into the room on a bit of rigging.

fadethecat has made fadethecat's local name Thais

fadethecat has made fadethecat's local description Tall, dark, not at all 
mysterious. It's the sparkly ribbons!

Jesdyn materializes out of thin air.

Jesdyn has made Jesdyn's local name Neil

StevenE has made StevenE's local description The androgynous space-alien 
look, in a white suit and black turtleneck.

The GM says, "Woo, timing.  Phone call."

The GM says, "Or, not."

Jesdyn has made Jesdyn's local description An angel of the Lord and a 
Mercurian of Judgment, Neil makes lawyers look /good/.

The GM says, "We pick up in the suspended moment where we left off last 
week, in the middle of an amusedly watching crowd of ethereals in the 
peace town below Bifrost in the Domain of Asgard.  Your present positions 
are as given at http://earl.of.sandwich.net/Position1.jpg, with Neil in 
celestial form (the wing breadth may matter) and presently holding the 
human in an arm lock.  We enter combat directly."

Arc 5, continued: Dance of Moments

(a series of rolls)

The GM says, "Turn sequence is Neil, Ekur, Wrinth, Thais, Mooks, Human.  
In reverse order, the actions to declare in the first round are: the 
human continues attempting to get out of Neil's arm lock, and the mooks 
attempt to move slowly past Thais and to Neil, as ordered."

The GM says, "Thais, your intention?"

Thais intends to block the approach of the mooks as non-violently as 
possible. "If it seems like going blackwing might help, I'll go for that. 
It's not like people don't realize we're angels, and Thais isn't the 
group's diplomat that she should worry about possible colder reactions 
from other ethereals."

The GM says, "Have any specific ideas on how to do that, or would you 
like to make a Tactics roll?"

Neil . o O ( "And everyone was Jung Fu figh-ting..." )

Neil frowns. "Everybody". Phooey.

fadethecat [to William]: Tactics roll!

[ Tactics roll; succeeded ]

The GM says, "Yes, going blackwing *would* help -- those broad Malakite 
wings would do nicely to block the mooks' path!"

fadethecat [to William]: Dreamshaping roll? Any penalty?

Thais er, Lucid Dreaming, as it's called here.

William [to fadethecat]: Dreaming-2 to go celestial to your native form.

Thais rolled 9 versus 16 and succeeded by 7.

The GM says, "Thais goes Malak, black wings condensing from shadow into a 
wide barrier across the narrow path.  The mooks are momentarily stymied."


The GM says, "Wrinth moves around the human to Neil's right and reaches 
for Neil's arms.  'Get off her,' he growls."

Jesdyn [to William]: Alright, what are my options here?

Jesdyn [to William]: Both hands to hold the arm lock, I'm prone...

Jesdyn [to William]: Can I hold a lock with one hand and get a block? A 
judo Parry is a forgone hope.

William [to Neil]: I'm thinking... it's taking both your arms to keep the 
lock on--yeah... you could 'dodge' backwards into 504, pulling the human 
along.  Thais is presently occupying 402 and 403.

Ekur says, "I declare before Neil, right?"

William [to Ekur]: Right.

Ekur walks over to Wrinth, puts his left hand on Wrinth's shoulder, and 
says, "You really don't want to get involved with this.  Remember last 
time we fought?  I will personally see to it that the only thing you get 
is angrier."  Attempts an Intimidate-18 roll.

The GM says, "Okay.  That would have you acting before Wrinth gets to 
Neil.  And Neil, before we resolve that, you're moving the fastest, what 
do you start off this round doing?"

Jesdyn [to William]: If I can't use the manuever I emailed you -- and I 
won't complain, that's crazy exotic -- retreat to 504.

The GM says, "I honestly haven't thought out the implications of Spider 
Stance yet, so we won't use it for now.  Okay, so..."

The GM says, "In that last round, the mooks attempted to close with Neil, 
and Thais barred their way.  Wrinth made for Neil as well, and Ekur 
stepped in between him and the armlocked pair.  Neil moved backward, 
holding the human, to 504, where the human briefly struggles against the 
arm lock.  Neil, roll your side of the contest..."

Neil rolled 8 versus 25 and critically succeeded by 17.

Ekur . o O ( Woot! )

Ekur . o O ( BTW, any CD track I should be playing right now? )

Neil says, "My CD didn't arrive."

William [to Ekur]: Nah, not everybody has the CDs yet.

[ Resistance roll for NPC; failed ]

Jesdyn [to William]: Why is she penalized?

The GM says, "The human writhes momentarily but is obviously going 
nowhere.  Exasperated, she stops."

Jesdyn [to William]: I haven't tried to rip her arm off hardly at all.

William [to Neil]: I just normalized her roll by the amount of your 
success, so any "success" would have been an actual success, that's all.

Neil says, "Ah. Pyramid lets you roll negative targets?"

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Well, there are always crits...

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: Lightbringer and a crowbar. I succeeded by 17. (:


Ekur rolled 6 versus 18 and critically succeeded by 12.

William [to Neil]: Yeah, I just assigned a 'skill' of 3.  Whether I 
mentally switched that out with the equally probable natural 18 is o/) my 
little secret... o/)  ;^)

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Given the way the Lightbringer /does/ sometimes 
meddle... But I'm not sure he'd remember to bring a crowbar.

Jesdyn [to StevenE]: /Uh-oh/.

William [to Ekur]: Works, it appears.  Wrinth stops reaching around you 
and regards the scene behind you.

The GM says, "In the next round, the human has stopped attempting to 
break the lock and will, eventually, be speaking to Neil.  You may 
observe http://earl.of.sandwich.net/Position2.jpg and note that two of 
the mooks are staying to attempt to elbow their way past Thais, while two 
are going around the benches to the other side, moving at a faster clip."


The GM says, "Ponder your actions momentarily and I will brb."

Ekur . o O ( Hmm.  Checking the skill desc, "On a critical success, the 
subject must make a Fright Check at -10." )

William <ooc> (It's laundry; one more trip and I'll be done...)

Jesdyn [to William]: Pay it no mind, I'm doing the dishes.

Sariel walks in from the Gaming Floor.

Sariel . o O ( *wavewave* )

Jesdyn [to Sariel]: You've missed two crits already.

Jesdyn [to Sariel]: God is giving us a big thumbs-up.

Sariel [to Jesdyn]: Heeeeeeeeeee. I eagerly anticipate reading the log! 
^_^

fadethecat [to Sariel]: Not interventions yet, but you can't have 
everything...

fadethecat [to Sariel]: Also, current round: 
http://earl.of.sandwich.net/Position2.jpg

William comes back in, and notes Ekur's statement; since Wrinth's a major 
NPC, he'll contest *that* with Will... 

[ roll for Will contest ; succeeded ]

Sariel [to fadethecat]: *belatedly* Thanks!

The GM says, "Not a total success, but I don't think he's the sort to 
panic when an angel pushes him around.  :^)"

The GM says, "So he steps back and rethinks his plan."

Ekur . o O ( Rats.  If we had a DI on the Fright Check, everything would 
have been so much easier . . . )

The GM says, "Okay, second round.  Thais, the two toughs in front are 
trying to slip past you on either side, while the two in back have though 
better of the traffic jam and are hustling around the backside of the 
furniture.  Your move."

The GM says, "Ping?"

Neil is awake.

Ekur is here.

fadethecat has reconnected.

fadethecat [to William]: Modem hiccup. Did I miss anything?

Sariel [to William]: fade's still connected elsewindow too, but I haven't 
seen her pose in ~15min--ah, okay.

William [to fadethecat]: Yeah, it's Thais' move for the second round.

The GM says, "Okay, second round.  Thais, the two toughs in front are 
trying to slip past you on either side, while the two in back have though 
better of the traffic jam and are hustling around the backside of the 
furniture.  Your move."

fadethecat [to William]: Hmm. Not having judo... is there any effective 
way for me to continue to block both at once without getting violent 
enough to cause damage? If wrestling someone to the ground doesn't draw 
the guards, I'm thinking knocking people to the ground /should/ be okay, 
but I'm not sure how well that'd work. (Or what skill I'd use for 
whacking people with wings anyway.)

The GM says, "(By the way, the Ethereals in the audience seem to be under 
the impression that this is much more serious business than they had 
expected; generally in the Marches, a celestial going in to celestial 
form is engaging in soul-combat!)"

William [to fadethecat]: Hmm.  I might treat a wing buffet as a punch, 
really.  Ever been smacked by a swan or a heron?

The GM says, "Although... you could try pushing them back.  Pulling your 
'punch' to do knockback."

fadethecat [to William]: I'll go for that, then. Working hard to not do 
real damage, even at the expense of not stopping them as well.

The GM says, "Allright.  I'll treat it as a kind of slam.  Contest of 
ST^H^HWill.  Roll it."

[ Will rolls for NPCs ; failed ]

Neil . o O ( @emit Thais critically succeeded. )

The GM says, "(Thais, you should roll vs. your Will.)"

Sariel . o O ( Hee! )

fadethecat [to William]: ...I'm confused. What am I rolling?

fadethecat [to William]: I don't compute ST^H^HWill.

The GM says, "3d6 vs. Will, which is IQ for you."

The GM says, "Ah... heh.  Oops.  Computer joke."

fadethecat [to William]: Ah! Will roll. Check. I didn't understand that 
formatting.

Thais ahhh.

Sariel [to fadethecat]: The ^Hs mean <s>strikethrough</s>. So ST^H^HWill 
is <s>ST</s> Will.

Thais rolled 13 versus 17 and succeeded by 4.

Thais rolled 9 versus 17 and succeeded by 8.

fadethecat [to Sariel]: Ahhh! Like...a way of representing backspacing. 
Check.

The GM says, "^H is a control code for a delete that sometimes didn't 
used to translate properly across text interfaces.  So someone would type 
ST, delete it, and type Will, and the other person would see that."

Sariel [to fadethecat]: Actually, that's exactly what it is, but the 
<strike> tags get the point across faster. ^_^

StevenE [to fadethecat]: On some telenets, backspacing produces a ^H.

fadethecat [to William]: Ahhhhh.

The GM says, "Right then.  We'll note that effect for the moment, and 
resolve it in order... "

The GM says, "Wrinth begins talking to Neil.  He's standing there, for 
the moment, not making any moves.  Ekur?"

Ekur says to Wrinth, "Yeah, you demons of the War talk a good game, but 
you always back down when something's really on the line and you have a 
chance to think it through.  Cowards.  Like Baal himself, hiding in a 
corner while Lucifer fought Michael."  (Ekur's trying to provoke Wrinth 
into attacking him, yet again.)

[ Control roll for Wrinth ; succeeded ]

The GM says, "Succeeded by 0; Wrinth grits his teeth and looks pissed, 
but swallows it, as he keeps feeding the line to Neil."

The GM says, "Neil, what *are* you doing to start off the resolution?"

Jesdyn [to William]: Quick question -- are the mooks going to have to get 
all the way around the tables to Wrinth's back to join this dance, or can 
they get over the table through the watching ethereals?

William [to Neil]: They probably could if they thought of it, but at 
present they just seem to be running the long way around.

Jesdyn [to William]: Good! I suppose I'm going to chat with Wrinth.

Jesdyn [to William]: There's something I've been meaning to say to him. 
Let's see if I get the chance.

The GM says, "Allrighty then."

The GM says, "You first.  :^)"

Ekur . o O ( OOC; What does it take to piss this demon off?  It /almost/ 
makes you want to pervert your character's resonance. )

William [to Ekur]: Speaking of resonances, you've got a handy one if 
you'd like some insight into what it takes to manipulate someone.  ;^)

Neil says, "Had some time to think about it, Wrinth, so I'll take you up 
on your offer."

Sariel . o O ( ... it frightens me that I can think of tons of Elohite 
players who've been tempted to that (self included) and yet, like, no 
players of other Choirs. Hee. )

Wrinth says, "I'm glad to hear that.  You're a Mercurian, this isn't like 
your type anyway.  Let the human go and let's settle this reasonably."

Neil repeats -- in Angelic -- "Your Superior, Baal, used to care very 
much that people 

Neil repeats -- in Angelic -- "Your Superior, Baal, used to care very 
much that people worshipped him. Are the Ethereals supposed to merely 
take your word that Demon Princes will not try to steal their worshippers 
as soon as it seems to be in their interest?"

Wrinth shakes his head.  "It is possible to lie in Angelic, you know.  If 
you have been lied to yourself."

William [to Ekur]: Since all you did was talk, care to use your turn to 
resonate Wrinth?

StevenE [to William]: Yes.

Neil says, "Hey, Ekur. Care to help me out here? Anything you personally 
witnessed you'd care to share?"

The GM says, "Roll it."

The GM says, "Or, wait.  Auto, duh.  :^)"

The GM says, "At present, his anger is barely in check beneath the 
surface.  He's holding on to a veneer of civilized discourse with an 
ultimate purpose in mind, and fear of the guards' response is *not* part 
of his motivations at the moment.  He's more concerned about getting the 
human away from you than his mission, as important as the latter is.  
He's also aware that he's on edge.  He's very... jumpy... at the 
moment..."

Jesdyn [to StevenE]: Hey, maybe you should ask what he'd do if you tried 
to make him mad. I'm guessing "pass his Control roll", but I'm not the 
one with the pipeline to his limbic system.

Ekur . o O ( If only Blandine's Malakite and Mercurian attunements worked 
the same way as the Elohite one, I'd recommend my friends to to my boss. 
)

The GM says, "Wrinth's turn.  The fires in the cooking pit roar 
momentarily, singeing the chefs, as he spends four Essence.  Their 
flickering light reflects in his eyes.  'Neil,' he says, 'why don't you 
act like a decent Mercurian and *let the human go* so we can settle this 
reasonably?'"

[ Resonance roll for Wrinth ; succeeded ]

Neil says, "CRAP! Do I get a resistance roll?"

William [to Neil]: Yes, it's a Contest of Will.

Thais says, "Ha! About time someone other than the Malakite gets 
Charmed."

Thais coughs. Not that she /wants/ to see Neil Charmed, but, y'know. 
General principle and all.

Neil says, "IQ 18, down to six Essence..."

Sariel [to fadethecat]: There, there. You could be in normal IN, where 
the odds of Wrinth ever successfully Charming anyone not both human and 
presently in a coma go down to one in a zillion!

Neil says, "Alright, burn three on the resistance right back, so rolling 
at skill 21."

Neil rolled 15 versus 21 and succeeded by 6.

Neil says, "Hmm. Not good."

The GM says, "He succeeded by more, so your reaction to him is..."

roll 3d6+14

On 3d6+14, you rolled 29.

fadethecat [to William]: ... That's quite the number, that.

The GM says, "Okay.  It's not a command-angels power, but be reasonable 
-- this dude is an awesome, powerful being with incredible wisdom and 
deeply mysterious powers, and he's just made the suggestion that you 
should act like a reasonable Mercurian and stop holding the human in an 
armlock.  Your reponse?"

fadethecat [to Sariel]: Yeah, I know. An Impudite with a resonance that 
actually /works/. Who would have imagined it?

Sariel [to William]: ..._wow_.

Sariel [to fadethecat]: Indeed! o.o

Neil nods slowly. "I... guess you're right..."

Jesdyn [to Sariel]: It not only works, it so far hasn't failed.

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Ah, GIN. IQ solves /everything/!

Sariel [to Jesdyn]: There are many, many d666-system Impudites weeping in 
envy!

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: (Now, if we could just get Wrinth onto the 
corporeal for a chat...)

The GM says, "<ooc> In that string of attempts on Thais back when Wrinth 
first appeared, some of them failed but nothing much was done in the 
interval."

Neil releases the lady.

fadethecat [to William]: That too. Once she was in a friendly mood, so 
long as he didn't give her reason to think she shouldn't be, didn't 
matter so much if some failed...

Jesdyn [to William]: How exactly does Charm work?

Jesdyn [to William]: That was a narrow request.

Jesdyn [to William]: He didn't tell me to work against Heaven's causes.

Jesdyn [to William]: Because if I'm now "really impressed by him", that's 
different from just removing "protect the human" from my tactical 
options.

William [to Jesdyn]: He rolls Will.  If he passes, you roll Will and try 
to succeed with a better margin of success.  If you fail, you literally 
'have a Very Good reaction', which storywise means you think he's a 
really great guy.

William [to Jesdyn]: You're perfectly capable of remembering your mission 
and everything.  Just consider Wrinth, temporarily, someone you deeply 
respect and enjoy being around.

Jesdyn [to William]: Does that mean "unwilling to act against"? I'm a 
policeman.

Neil is fishing around for an excuse to switch to "prosecuting Wrinth's 
departure from Hell" per Section II, Article 2. Am I going to find one, 
or should we just go to the next turn?

William [to Jesdyn]: Yes, you care about his interests for right now.  
Not to the exclusion of your own, but hitting him would be like hitting 
your best friend.  

William [to Neil]: Oh, like Ethereal Attraction you mean?  Yeah, it's 
roughly like that.  You can try to convince him to Redeem now if you 
want.  :^)

Thais [to Neil]: Join in the Wrinth Love! I mean, we can't have a proper 
club until there's more than one person involved in it, and I don't think 
Wrinth counts against that total.

The GM says, "The mooks, including those who have just been knocked 
backward to the floor, see what's happened and pause.  The human slowly 
stands up and wrenches her arm around a bit, working out the kinks.  We 
drop out of combat rounds."

Jesdyn [to William]: How long is this going to last? 

StevenE [to William]: If I can act, I invoke my Vassal of Dreams power on 
the girl, moving both of us to Blandine's side of the Marches.

William [to Jesdyn]: 14 minutes.  I didn't need to put it on the reaction 
roll.

William [to Ekur]: I've been waiting for you to do that since last 
session.  :^)

Jesdyn [to StevenE]: WAHAHAH.

Sariel [to StevenE]: ... *dead laughing* NICE.

fadethecat [to StevenE]: ...<3!

Thais folds away her wings, and...does not quite roll her eyes at Neil's 
latest change in tactics.

Ekur wanted to put it off until there wasn't any other reasonable option.  
Almost did it just before Neil grabbed her last session.

The GM says, "Ekur takes the woman by the hand and there is a momentary 
flash of soft, rainbow light that could not be more different from the 
searing firelight of a second ago.  When the mist clears, the human's 
dreamscape bubble is floating out the door and Ekur's icon is neatly 
wrapped inside it."

Wrinth stares out after them for a second.

Wrinth looks back to you two.  "Got promoted, did he?"

Neil says, "Yeah. If you need to get her back, we can go with you. Stop 
by the Vale."

Neil smiles sunnily. 13:57.

Thais smiles pleasantly along with the Mercurian.

fadethecat [to StevenE]: You know, I don't think Thais has realized that 
Neil letting go and Ekur doing the warp weren't part of some plan she 
didn't get clued into.

Wrinth says, "Thank you, no, I'll be able to meet her later.  Listen, I'm 
going to step out elsewhere in the Domain.  Be a dear and keep the 
Malakite from following me, will you?  And if the messenger from Odin 
shows up in the next few minutes, tell them to let this fine fellow here 
-- " he claps a mook on the shoulder "--take the message for me."

"After all, Thais has shown a bit of a stalker tendency and, well, we 
both know how Malakim can be, don't we?"  He smiles, flashing teeth.  
Ting.  "Much handier to keep that sort of event bottled up."

Neil will be happy to keep the Malakite from following him, since they 
can find him later and talk about what a great guy he is.

Ekur . o O ( I think I've managed to become Wrinth's Enemy Number One by 
this point. )

Thais [to Ekur]: Lucky.

Ekur . o O ( One-shotted him.  Insulted him repeatedly.  And then stole 
his #1 priority out from under his nose. )

Wrinth tells two of the toughs to stay there and pick up any message if 
he doesn't come back soon, and takes the other two and leaves.

Thais strides over to stand next to Neil, and asks quietly, still 
smiling, "Want to explain any of this to me? Or should I make my best 
guess?"

Neil smiles brightly. "He resonated me. Great guy."

Sariel has reconnected.

Sariel . o O ( MRPH. Spontaneous disconnect, sorry. )

An ethereal Viking leans over and looks Neil up and down.  'Is that what 
Impudites do,' he says.  'Say, if you're this cheerful with everybody, 
spare me a couple knots of Essence?'  He grins hopefully at Neil.

Neil continues. "To think, I was planning on snapping his fragile control 
with my taunts and getting an excuse to knock some Forces off him in 
front of all these witnesses. Good thing he stopped me with a 
mind-control resonance."

Thais presses two fingers to her forehead. "Of course," she says. "Though 
that could have ended in a worse manner..." She sits down at the table, 
ignoring the Viking. "I'll just wait until that wears off, then. I'm not 
such an idiot as to go chasing after him right now."

Neil says, "Why, I hope he resonates everyone here. He's really a nice 
guy. We should help him solidify his influence until Baal can edge out 
Odin."

Jesdyn [to William]: Let me know when you're not going to let me get away 
with this anymore.

The GM says, "Heh."

The GM says, "I suppose nothing particularly odd happens in the next 
quarter hour, unless Neil decides to take the diplomatic initiative 
somehow."

Thais gives Neil a sour look. "Or we could have some mead and wait for 
that to wear off. I can only thank God that the last time that happened 
to me, I wasn't near anyone but Bloom to annoy. And he's not a very 
annoyable person."

Jesdyn [to William]: Ooh, diplomacy. I can't figure out anything I know 
wouldn't work that Neil doesn't know wouldn't work, so I'll take Thais' 
advice. She's not following him, after all.

Ekur . o O ( At least the people I left behind were firmly established as 
my friends and equals, while Wrinth left behind mere servants.  That 
should have some diplomatic effect. )

William nods.

Thais [to Ekur]: Once your friend and equal stops fangirling over the 
opposition...

The GM says, "Allright.  Over the next quarter of an hour, it gets less 
and less fun to talk about how great Wrinth is, until Neil gets quiet for 
a minute and finally a little lightbulb goes on when he realizes what 
he's been saying."

Thais attempts polite, friendly conversation with surrounding ethereals 
while waiting for Neil to de-Charm, if such a thing is possible. While 
keeping a damn close eye on him.

Neil says, "Great."

Neil says, "Alright. I feel better now."

Neil says, "Ekur called in yet?"

Thais sets aside her mead. "Nope. And by feeling better, do you mean that 
in the sense that you've finally decided how to pursue your one true love 
successfully, or in the sense that the Charm's worn off?"

Neil flashes into Patricia's vessel with an "I <3 Lawyers" babydoll. 
"Well, your card didn't work, so I thought I'd try a movie---"

Neil flashes back. "I'd like to kill him now, thank you."

Sariel . o O ( *cackles* )

Thais smiles sweetly. "Oh, so we /are/ all on the same page again. Good."


The GM says, "Hee hee."

Ekur is going to be in the Vale for the rest of the night, however long 
that is for the sorceress.  He's going to make his first priority calling 
in Vale angels regarding this dreamer (there should be somebody to call 
regarding sorcerers in the Marches, right?), and will then CelTongues 
Thais and Neil with a status report.

Thais takes another swig from her mead. "Well. We've lost our theoretical 
diplomat. And the person we were following. Where do we want to proceed 
from here?"

William [to Ekur]: Right.  At present your host dreamscape is having a 
pleasant interlude with a library full of brains on shelves, with which 
she is apparently interacting as a custodian and psychological 
researcher.  The brains are quite relaxed and comfortable, and make good 
conversation.  It's possible to interact with her, though she's not lucid 
at the moment; I think it will be good to RP a bit of that later tonight.


Neil says, "Take the car. Find Wrinth. Smash Wrinth with the car. 
Disembark, smash Wrinth on foot."

Neil says, "Finding and interrogating his servants would also be useful, 
if they haven't left town already."

Neil says, "It's not even been a quarter of an hour."

William [to Neil]: The toughs?  Two of them are sitting on a bench 
awaiting messages.

Neil eyes the Viking and pings him, as well as the two toughs.

William [to Neil]: By the way, do you still say that out loud?  :^)

[ Neil's Resonance ; critical success ]

Thais drums her fingers on the table. "While I must admit this plan has 
some /appeal/, we are heading towards an uncomfortable side of 
outnumbered if we hit Wrinth now. On the other hand..." She eyes the two 
at the table. "Unbalanced odds can be fun. A quick chat here, and then we 
head out?"

The GM says, "The Viking is a random ethereal native to the Domain with, 
you are very sure, no relation to Wrinth whatsoever."

Jesdyn [to William]: I say all of that out loud, yes. I didn't mention 
/how/ Wrinth would be found, so Thais' attunement is still under wraps, 
and if they're so dumb they're going to stand around while my mindcontrol 
res ticks down they deserve whatever they get.

Jesdyn [to William]: Most deviant action?

Ekur . o O ( And as soon as I send the status report, it will ask them 
what Odin's response is.  Because Ekur doesn't know Wrinth ran away, and 
still considers the diplomacy the priority. )

Neil . o O ( For the record, I don't buy that crit success. It's probably 
Odin. )

"The Viking?  Challenging a human dreamer to bloody mind-combat after he 
insulted his eating habits and manners.  Did some damage before losing, 
made a mental note not to do that in a human's dreamscape again.

The GM says, "The Viking?  Challenging a human dreamer to bloody 
mind-combat after he insulted his eating habits and manners.  Did some 
damage before losing, made a mental note not to do that in a human's 
dreamscape again."

William [to Ekur]: Okay.  Let me think about SOP on the sorcerer...

William [to Ekur]: It'd be a good idea to get some identifying info from 
the lady first.  Preferably enough to reliably locate her on Earth.

Jesdyn [to StevenE]: I was planning on grabbing her and throwing her into 
Thais and eating the dissonance.

Jesdyn [to StevenE]: Luckily I won't have to.

The GM says, "Wow, yeah."

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Yeah, Thais would get a bit twitchy if the Judge 
was suddenly taking dissonance. Even in good cause.

Jesdyn [to William]: I didn't spend so much time asking about Hunt for my 
/health/. 

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: ...wait, that sorcerer was sufficiently 'in 
conflict' with Thais for Hunt to work on her? ...that would be handy.

Jesdyn [to William]: Dominic probably wasn't gonna be happy, but what 
part of "vitally necessary to protect an as-yet unfated Sorcerer known to 
a demon" was he going to object with?

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: She would be if I picked her up and beat you with 
her, which was my goal.

William thinks about that... I'm gonna rule no.  No damage done, and in 
fact Neil didn't even really want to hurt her.

Jesdyn [to William]: Oh, I know.

The GM says, "...well.  With anything he actually managed to *do*.  ;^)"

Jesdyn [to William]: Hunt hadn't locked on /yet/.

Jesdyn [to William]: I was planning on forcing the issue if I had to.

The GM says, "Gotcha."

The GM says, "At any rate, you two come to a decision on a course of 
action?"

Thais draws patterns on the table with spilled mead, and waits for Neil's 
input on the next course of action.

fadethecat [to William]: Have we gotten the message from Ekur yet?

Neil says, "I'm going to ping the toughs, take my leave, and ask Thais 
where Wrinth is once we're in the car and safe from prying ears."

skill 18 Resonance

You rolled 9 and Resonance - succeeded by 9.

skill 18 Resonance

You rolled 10 and Resonance - succeeded by 8.

The GM says, "The two toughs, name Leather and Giz, are from the ethereal 
shadow of New York City.  They are presently dominated by the Sorcerer 
and have been told by her to do what the demon says, so they are doing 
so.  They are afraid of the Malakite and have no particular desire to 
rumble with either of you.  Their most deviant actions were both some 
dream-eating, which they did together as members of a sort of street 
gang."

Thais mentions to Neil, quietly, "I'm not sure how well diplomacy will go 
if we leave before we hear back from anyone inside. But I'm not sure how 
much we can do without Ekur, either."

Ekur . o O ( He's a Mercurian.  Diplomacy is in his nature! )

Neil says, "Huh. You're right, of course. We can at least take a 
message."

Neil says, "Wrinth is... I guess not out biggest concern right now."

Ekur . o O ( However deeply buried! )

Neil turns to Thais.

Thais nods. "Of interest, but he's not the most important part of all 
this. At the moment."

Neil [to Thais]: Reminds me -- you seemed shocked when we saw Wrinth. 
Something from resonance?

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: ...did Thais? Er. Now I don't recall why she 
would have, given she was tracking him.

William  <ooc> Yeah, you got a critical success resonating him

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: It's pushing, but I wanted an excuse for Neil to 
know about what your crit res revealed.

----------------------------------William--------------------------------
--
The GM says, "...the pattern of Wrinth's honor is a curious and twisted 
thing, based on personal pride, feats of arms, and a fervent belief in 
what he knows to be propaganda, because the enemy's propaganda is even 
*less* believable.  Recent honorable acts include sublimating a growing 
desire to lash out at the source of his frustration, and calmly plotting 

a more strategic means of accomplishing his mission, which he hopes will 

also deal with the personal problems that have been getting him in hot 
water with his boss.  There's a flash-image of him dealing with an aging 

human woman in a dreamscape, and another with him bargaining with... the 

connection starts getting fuzzier... a chained, dead queen?  Something 
bloody..."
---------------------------------finished--------------------------------
--

fadethecat [to William]: Oh, right! Thanks. Sorry, a little brain-fuzzed 
right now.

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: If Neil learns it, he's got a good chance to 
finish the inference.

Thais tilts a hand. "It was...interesting. I'll tell you more...somewhere 
else, maybe?" With a quick glance at the ethereals around them.

Neil raises his eybrows -- this /must/ be good -- and nods.

fadethecat [to William]: Is there any moderately private area we can 
easily retreat to for a quick talk?

William [to fadethecat]: In here?  No; it's one big room.  Just outside, 
it would be quieter.  Just outside the town, much quieter.

Thais stands up, and makes an "outside?" gesture to Neil.

Neil nods, and stands as well -- huh. So tempted to pickpocket the errand 
boys... ah well. Yes, outside.

The GM says, "A thin humanoid with large pointed ears puts down his mead 
and makes a momentary gesture to Thais."

Thais looks over to the humanoid in question, resonating out of 
curiousity.

Thais rolled 14 versus 17 and succeeded by 3.

fadethecat [to William]: What kind of gesture?

Neil pings him too.

Neil rolled 16 versus 16 and succeeded by 0.

roll 1d2

On 1d2, you rolled 1.

Neil says, "GYAH!"

Thais . o O ( Alas, it's only a duet of pinging, not a trio, with Ekur 
over having a chat with the sorcerer. )

Neil says, "A 15 and a 16 so close together."

William [to Thais]: Most recent honorable action, putting his heart into 
some minor crafting work.  Most recent dishonorable action, indulging his 
curiosity to listen to your conversation.  The gesture is just to grab 
your attention.

Ekur . o O ( If we could tempt Katster and Sariel into joining as a 
Seraph and a Bright . . . . )

Sariel . o O ( *cackles* )

William [to Neil]: He considers himself a member in good standing of the 
local community.

Thais [to Ekur]: Now, now. We don't want the GM's head to explode.

The elf says, "Need someone to hang around and keep an eye out in case 
your message arrives?  I could also keep an eye on those two, as long as 
they stay here.  You could spot me back easy."

fadethecat [to William]: "spot me back"?

William [to fadethecat]: "Repay the favor."

fadethecat [to William]: Ahh.

Thais considers the options briefly, and nods. "Sure," she says. "Thanks 
for the offer. We'd appreciate that."

The elf says, "Awesome.  I'll be here when you get back, then."

Neil follows Thais out.

[ msg'ing snipped ]

Thais looks for a relatively quiet patch of street outside, as this is 
not /terribly/ confidential, but best not talked about near crowds.

William [to Thais]: You're on the side facing Keep-Under-Bifrost, and no 
one passes this way, so assuming you're not loud enough to be heard by 
the guards on the watch turrets several stories above you, it should be 
fine.

Thais settles comfortably near a wall where she can see people passing 
by. "Interesting guy, Wrinth," she says, and then quickly details as much 
of her latest resonance of that demon as she can articulate for Neil. 
After all, a Mercurian's likely to have a different perspective on this 
kind of information than a Malakite would.

Neil whistles. "You sure hit the motherlode."

Neil thinks. "Something there... if it's what Wrinth did recently, we 
know he was last at Cibola... could the aging human woman have been 
Grandmother Spider?

Thais nods, winding one of her ribbons around one finger. "Some of it 
makes perfect sense based on what we already know, of course. Other 
parts... I'm still thinking about. Any ideas?"

Thais says, "Maybe so. It would be the obvious connection."

Neil says, "Wrinth said leave a reply in Selkirk. Grandmother Spider said 
it was a gesture of contempt... what if it wasn't?"

Neil says, "Wrinth has -- had -- access to a human sorcerer, so I 
wonder..."

William [to Thais]: Oh, dear, I should make this clear.  The aging human 
woman was definitely human, in the 'this is not just humanoid but human' 
sense.

The GM says, "I thought the human woman's identity would be obvious after 
what just happened."

Jesdyn [to William]: It would be, but nobody's made that connection 
explicit yet.

Jesdyn [to William]: Thais was the only one to see both.

fadethecat [to William]: Oh! That's what I'd assumed, but I thought maybe 
Neil had hit on something else.

fadethecat [to William]: Can we jump back a few lines so Thais can 
clarify that point for Neil?

The GM says, "Go for it."

Thais says, "For the aging human woman, that was fairly clearly human. 
The sorcerer Wrinth has been dealing with. It's the imagery of 
the...queen, I think...that I'm wondering about."

Neil says, "Chains, blood... it could still be Selkirk."

Neil hmms. He's low on Essence, but...

Neil sends a CelTongue to Ekur. "Wrinth left. Remaining in Bifrost for 
reply. Ask her Selkirk / chained queen."

Thais spreads her hands. "I don't know much about Selkirk beyond what 
I've picked up in the last few years. It wasn't covered specifically in 
my classes before heading out into the Marches."

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: You do have the one Essence from Ekur's message, 
when it arrives. Er. Though I'm not sure if it has yet.

Neil says, "If Judgment or Trade picked up anything, I never read about 
it. But it still keeps coming up... and he /said/ it."

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: I'm down to... well, two now.

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: Threw three away on a roll of 15. Bleah.

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: Beat him by /nine/ and he still owned me.

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Alas.

Neil [to William]: What I really wanted to do with this scene is done; 
Ekur has what I hope is a clue.

The GM says, "Coo."

The GM says, "Then let us turn to Ekur, who at present is a disembodied 
viewpoint in a cheerful dreamscape -- cheerful, at least, for the 
dreamer, who is engaging in enlightening conversation with her wards 
about how they are doing today."

Ekur auto-rezzes her to see how she would react to the arrival of a 
"research grant reviewer".

The GM says, "She would be surprised and pleased, and try to impress you 
with her ideas on adjacency maps."

Ekur nods, and tries a lucid dreaming roll to take an appropriate form, 
then an acting roll to get the persona right

Ekur rolled 6 versus 18 and critically succeeded by 12.

Ekur rolled 14 versus 18 and succeeded by 4.

fadethecat [to StevenE]: ...this is just the night for crits.

The GM says, "You actually manage to snarfle a memory of a real grant 
reviewer floating about in her memory, and a bit of an officious 
government persona she recalls.  You're now a balding Caucasian male in a 
business suit with a briefcase."

The GM says, "She looks up to see you.  'Oh... hello.'"

She says, "...don't I know you?"

Ekur opens the briefcase and gets out some papers.  "Hello, mizz . . . 
darnit, this is smudged, and my meory is failing me.  I apologize, what 
is your name, again?"

She says, "Dorotea, Dorotea Bevilacqua."

Ekur says, "Thank you.  I don't believe we've met before, Ms. Bevilacqua.  
I'm John Smith, with the grant review committee.  Could you show me 
around?"

She says, "Oh, yes, certainly!  I'm so glad you've finally come, I've 
been waiting for *ages*."  The room darkens a little and age spots appear 
on the walls, but a desk shows up beside her with some papers on it, 
which she turns to pick up.  "I've learned so much about adjacency since 
I- uh, since we last spoke.  The proposal could really go amazing ways 
toward mapping association formation."

Several of the brains speak, in high little voices.  "He's an angel."  
"He's an alien!"  "He's a grant reviewer."  "He's that prof."  "A prof?  
Which one?"  "The one we hate."  "No, the one we like!"

She says, "Angel and alien, for example.  Some people even believe 
they're the same thing.  It turns out that they're adjacent concepts in 
more than just metaphorical ways."

She begins showing you around the shelves of brains, pointing out the 
first two of those that spoke.

Ekur says, "Really?  Aren't they both just fantasies?  Like elves or 
leprechauns?"

She says, "Oh, they are, but I'm talking about the concepts.  If I could 
just get the funding to spend time mapping out these associations, I'm 
sure I'd find that there are hardwired connections between concepts -- a 
sort of geography of fantasies, as it were.  Which we could use, you see, 
to diagnose some of these episodes that some patients have.  We've 
thought they were free-asociating, but I propose that they're actually 
following a sort of physical route between concepts that we can map, and 
then use this map to dig out the underlying concepts they're trying to 
convey."

Ekur says, "That would be interesting to know.  But would it have any 
practical use?"

Some of the brains say, "The Vale."  "Nod!"  "That's for kids."  "Is 
not."  One whispers, "The Tower..." and there is a general shudder, which 
passes quickly.

Neil . o O ( These brains seem to know more than they oughta. )

She says, "Oh, yes.  If you know what general area of the 'geography' a 
patient is in, you can anticipate where they're likely to go next instead 
of thinking they're only wandering randomly through memories.  That would 
help plot treatment.  You could also try to guide them along a 
therapeutic path of least resistance, whereas attempting to break a chain 
of associations is unlikely to get through to them because it's not where 
they are at the moment, you see?"

She turns to you.  "I had this idea decades ago.  Where have you been?  
What's taken so long?  I had to..." she stops.  "I'm sorry.  I am really 
glad you're here."

Ekur hmms.  "Yes, that would be useful.  Well.  I must say that I am much 
more impressed than I expected, Ms. Bevilacqua.  I will pass on 
recommendation to fully fund your efforts."  He takes a sheet of paper 
and a pen.  "For the forms, I do need your addresses, both where you live 
and where you work."

Neil . o O ( She is going to be /sooooooo ticked/ when she wakes up. )

She says, "Of course.  I live in Phoenix these days, 2412 Sagebrush.  I 
work at..." she pauses.  The brains say, "Wal-Mart."  "No, that sucks.  
The Mayo Clinic!"  "Betty Ford!"  She smiles happily.  "I work at Betty 
Ford."

Ekur smiles and nods.  Is there a phone nearby?  If not, Ekur dreamshapes 
one.

The GM says, "Dream it."

Ekur rolled 11 versus 18 and succeeded by 7.

The GM says, "There has now always been a phone on the wall near you."

The GM says, "(If that was a bit too opaque, I mean to say that you 
successfully dreamshaped a phone.)"

Ekur picks up the phone, and then invokes CelTongues to whomever would be 
the contact for sorcerers in the Vale.  "Authorize funding for Dorotea 
Bevilacqua, twenty-four twelve Sagebrush, Phoenix.  Sorceress, the Vale, 
our side."

Ekur was working on getting under the 15-word limit.

The GM says, "Her info is now in the intelligence files, although if 
you're hoping for an assigned angel that's less likely to happen until 
you can get more details to someone with authority over personnel."

skill 18 Tongues_Celestial

You rolled 6 and Tongues_Celestial - critically succeeded by 12.

The GM says, "Just checking."

fadethecat [to William]: ...it really /is/ the night for crits.

Ekur . o O ( A swing and a crit! )

Sariel . o O ( _Hee_! )

Dorotea does a little boogie.  "Yay, I'm getting funding!"

The surrounding brain-library disappears and you find yourselves standing 
over a tiny model of the Vale.  There are two house-sized Towers to 
either end, perhaps a suburban block's worth of length between them, with 
the two of you off to one side.  Dorotea is drawing little lines between 
dollhouse-size Domains.

Ekur says, "Hmm, angels are associated with aliens.  What about demons?"

Dorotea pauses with the little stick she's using to draw the lines.  Then 
she draws a line from the darker Tower to a pair of tiny little Domains 
the size of quarters next to each other.  "Demons are associated with 
death and the dead, among other things," she says dully.

Ekur says, "And death?"

Ekur rezzes her on what would happen if he asked her directly about the 
little quarters, while waiting for the free-association on "death".

After a moment, Dorotea says, "Death is associated with a lot of things.  
Most of them unpleasant."

William [to Ekur]: She's suppressing unpleasant memories, which your own 
Distinction is fighting to keep you on Blandine's side of the Vale.  
She'd answer as fully as she could, in an academic sense.

Ekur says, "Death.  Hmm.  Like an overpowering will, against which we 
struggle."

Ekur says, "Well, what can you tell me about those two little spots 
associated with the dark tower?"

Dorotea thinks about that.  She picks up the stick, which you suddenly 
realize is the wand she carried when you met her in Asgard.  "You think 
something wills us to die?  Something that can be struggled against?"

Ekur says, "I think something wishes to extinguish the light, but it can 
be resisted.  Death itself is just a passage from one life to another, 
but the Extinguisher of Light wishes to end the cycle in darkness.  We 
can struggle against it."

Dorotea stands up straighter.  "You're not a grant reviewer, are you."

Ekur resonates as to what reaction "No, I'm not" would have.

William [to Ekur]: The dream would change, and she would attempt to walk 
away.  You, personally, know that that wouldn't work unless she figures 
out that she needs to wake up.

Ekur says, "No, I am a reviewer, but in a specialized sense.  I'm 
reviewing the specific grant you were given when you were born.  You've 
put that grant in danger by dealing with Wrinth."

Dorotea laughs softly.  "That's a really badly tortured metaphor."  She 
pokes the little Domains with her toe.  "Tell you what.  I'll answer your 
questions if you'll trade information with me.  One for one."

fadethecat has reconnected.

Ekur says, "Of course, I'll tell you what I can.  But how much can you 
learn from your own subconscious?"

Dorotea laughs much more happily, and the surroundings actually brighten 
physically.  "Sweetie, I *live* to answer that question."

Neil . o O ( Her subconcious near identified /you/ by name, dude. )

Dorotea says, "I'll go first.  Those are two Domains called Selkirk and 
Roxburgh.  They're very, very dead.  And the demon is trying to use 
them."

Dorotea says, "My turn now."  She points with the wand, away from the 
Vale, past all the little Far Marches Domains she's peppered the sands 
with.  "What's further that way?"

StevenE [to William]: Er.  What is farther that way?

William [to StevenE]: Hee hee.  You own the EPG, right?

fadethecat [to StevenE]: Doom!

StevenE [to William]: Yeah, but I'm not recalling, and my frantic 
page-flipping isn't getting me answers.

William [to StevenE]: That's because you're flipping the wrong pages.  Go 
to the prologue and read the story of Serenla.  :^)

William [to StevenE]: Which, in character, you know is a story Ethereals 
tell.

William [to StevenE]: Err.  Serena.  But anyway.  Under "Serena Drives 
Back Chaos."  ;^)

Ekur says, "The Utgard Stones, and then chaos, chaos that would drive the 
sanest mad.  And a destroyer, a destroyer even the strongest must flee 
lest they be consumed.  Or at least that is the legend, told second-hand, 
for none who have journyed there have returned, except in legend."

Dorotea murmurs, "Fascinating."  She speaks in a more normal tone.  "And 
now I very much hope you have another question to ask me, for I have 
another to ask you."

Ekur says, "I think I do.  What is Wrinth's end, to which he wishes to 
use Selkirk and Roxburgh?"

Dorotea says, "He wishes to use them as a bargaining chip.  Somehow he 
has hit upon a way to make them a gift he can give away.  Apparently this 
is valuable to spirits who would be willing to labor for him to obtain 
it.  I'm fuzzy on the details."

Ekur nods.

Dorotea says, "My question again.  You are an angel, you should know 
these things.  What is the secret to dealing safely with a trickster god?  
For from what you have told me I now have a great desire to speak with 
Utgard-Loki to hear what he knows of the legend you told me."

Thais . o O ( Besides "don't"? )

Ekur says, "Having an archangel with a host of warrior angels backing you 
up generally discourages hanky-panky.  For a human, there is no safe way.  
I will tell you the legend of Serena in full, however, if that will 
satisfy you."

Dorotea says, "No, it's not the legend but Utgard itself I care about.  
The boundaries of comprehensibility.  Unless the legend gives more 
details on the nature of these stones?"

Ekur . o O ( And the moment this dream ends, I'm recommending a full-time 
Cherub caseworker for this human.  Demon-dealing sorceress and nutty 
explorer of the Marches. )

Ekur says, "No, it just mentions them in passing."

Dorotea says, "Then your answer is insufficient and I declare our game 
ended.  We can play again another day if I have more to trade with you, 
but for now, begone."  The dream changes, and she closes the door to a 
snug little house on a plain suburban street, with you standing outside.

Ekur makes a Hidden Lore (Ethereal) check to see what he knows.

Ekur rolled 9 versus 18 and succeeded by 9.

William [to Ekur]: That's pretty much the extent of it.  The Utgard 
Stones are a myth to myths.

William [to Ekur]: If they're real, they're a Hidden Domain.

William [to Ekur]: Now, Utgard-Loki is real.  He lives in that caul 
outside Asgard.  Bad Assumption combat with Loki a few centuries ago, now 
Loki can receive Essence as either.

Ekur nods.  Sends a CelTongues "Recommend Cherub caseworker for 
sorceress; deals with demons, wishes to explore Far Marches, trickster 
gods."

The GM says, "You get a one-word 'Oy.' Essence back, as an 
acknowledgement and refill."

Ekur then sends a CelTongues to Thais.  "In Blandine's Vale.  Subject 
safe for now.  Hope Odin likes us.  All the best."

The GM says, "At present, Ekur's occupied, Neil and Thais are between 
courses of action, and it's been nearly five hours of gaming.  So, pause 
here?"

Thais says, "Works for me."

Neil says, "Suits."

William [to Ekur]: Anything else you wanted to do in this dream?

Neil . o O ( "Huh..." "What?" "My attuned is in some sort of... danger, 
sort of. But all she's doing is talking." "With who?" "I dunno... who's 
Neil?" )

Sariel . o O ( *_laughs_* )

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Hey, if I were playing a Cherub, I'd be keeping 
my attuned far, far away from Neil.

StevenE [to William]: Nothing else in this dream.  Desc of the 
Distinction just says both user and target are kept in "Blandine's dream 
world", not that the user stays in the dreamscape.  So a question -- does 
Merc. of Dreams tell me who is close enough for me to enter the 
dreamscapes of?

Ekur . o O ( If Dorotea has any close friends on Blandine's side of the 
Marches at the moment, it would be useful perhaps to visit their dreams. 
)

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: Well, if your attuned is a human, and Neil has an 
excuse to hit him, it's arguably going to be for his own good.

William reads the descrip.  I'd say it would manifest as a visual 
connection, a literal physical adjacency you could follow.  You might not 
know who it was, especially without the Mercurian Resonance, but you 
could probably tell that if you went down *this* cul-de-sac you'd end up 
in another dream.

Ekur walks around looking for any of these, while action moves back to 
the other angels.

The GM says, "And presently I'm gonna say that there's no human 
sufficiently intimate with Dorotea that such a route is apparent to you.  
Which is, of course, information itself."

Ekur nods.  Information I expected, even.

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: Somehow, that doesn't seem likely to make a 
Cherub happy. Unless it's a Cherub of Judgment and the attuned is a 
subject of inquiry.

The GM says, "Allrght then.  We'll call it here for the night."

@clearlocal

Do you really want to clear all of the local names and descriptions? 
[Enter `yes' or `no']

fadethecat has deleted all of their local references.

Yes

All local names and descriptions have been cleared.

Sariel admires the scene/s.

The GM says, "Yes, good mix tonight.  Well spotted by Ekur there."

Jesdyn says, "Stupid mind-control resonances. Grr."

Jesdyn has real trouble handling them.

StevenE . o O ( You know, if we only had a Bright Lilim who could geas a 
Impudite into doing his resonance for the ends of Heaven . . . . )

fadethecat finds them kinda entertaining. Especially when you /know/ 
what's going on, and yet...

Jesdyn says, "I'd almost rather lose control of the character to the res 
user, since I can't really judge what's appropriate."

William nods.  In fact, I usually shy away from using mind-control powers 
in games.  But something about them in IN just screams to me, "Demons 
suck and HERE'S WHY.  You're not as much you as you could be around them, 
they suck up parts of you to play with."

fadethecat nodnods.

fadethecat says, "I played a Habbalite with Will 12 in a standard IN 
campaign. She could be...pretty scary, when she wanted to be. Especially 
against another human, and even against other celestials if she tossed 
some Essence into it."

Jesdyn says, "Well, I mean, mind-control powers are the whole POINT of 
every band of demon but Calabim."

StevenE . o O ( Hey, as long as he isn't using them on me . . . ;-)   )

Sariel thinks it depends on the useage, mostly. _Likes_ the demonic 
resonances (when Impudite isn't nerfed, blessit), but she's usually had 
good experiences with people invoking 'em on her, one way or another. 
Easy to run with, etc.

Sariel [to Jesdyn]: Not every Band?

fadethecat says, "And Djinn."

Sariel nods.

The GM says, "And at least Shedim can't use them on Celestials."

Jesdyn [to fadethecat]: They go for the /creepy/ non-magic mind control, 
but yeah, them too.

Jesdyn wants his Essence back. ): Rolled a miserable fifteen, wah.

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: On the plus side, we still got the sorcerer out, 
no?

StevenE [to Jesdyn]: Yeah, well, we used up all the good luck on four? 
five? crits.

fadethecat did love Wrinth's reaction. "...promotion?" "Yup." "Okay, 
then."

Sariel notes that technically, Lilim don't mind-control either; it's more 
like Divine Contract without the free will involved. Unless you're 
tweaking flavortext there. But. [laughs\]

Sariel _giggles_.

William [to Jesdyn]: Oh, it could have been better.  It's really bad for 
Impudites to try to steal Essence from celestials -- it's too easy to 
lose some -- but, hey, if Wrinth had needed some and just *asked* you for 
a few notes...  >:^)

fadethecat [to Sariel]: Mm, mostly, but "unable to resist doing what 
you're told" is rather like mind control, in a sense.

Jesdyn says, "Least I got to test-drive that arm lock."

Sariel [to fadethecat]: Technically you can resist! You have to suck up 
the dissonance or damage, but you can resist. Thus, not mind-controlling.


The GM says, "Yes, and very effective in its sphere.  Seems like a 
technique you'll find dependable."

Jesdyn [to William]: What're the options to leave the Ethereal?

StevenE . o O ( And, woot, got use out of the Distinction! )

William [to Jesdyn]: Eh?

Jesdyn [to William]: Can you do it with a Will roll, or do you need time, 
or...?

fadethecat [to Sariel]: Well, only if you make a penalized will roll. 
Which for a human generally means /not/.

StevenE . o O ( Now to save up 76 points to buy up to Master, and get an 
effective +2 to all ability scores in the Marches! )

Sariel [to fadethecat]: ...no, that's just to throw off the Geas period, 
isn't it?

Jesdyn [to William]: If you're in the Marches and -- say -- a Mercurian 
of Judgment with a grudge just gave you a Jung Fu Wedgie and plans on 
holding you down while people deliver celestial attacks to your helpless 
form.

The GM says, "Oh.  Actually, I think you walk to the Tower or use a 
Tether... you might be able to descend to your last Corporeal location 
with a Will roll but I'm not certain of that."

The GM says, "Unless you ascended by sleeping, in which case you can wake 
up."

Sariel [to fadethecat]: You roll Will minus the level of the hook to not 
have _any_ Geas form. You just have to _act_ to betray the Geas, and take 
the dissonance or the Hits.

fadethecat [to Sariel]: Hmm. I thought you had to make a Will roll to 
resist doing what you were told, too... But I could be mistaken. Don't 
have the PDF handy.

The GM says, "Lilim resonance?"

Sariel [to fadethecat]: :shakes her head. "Not with canon Lilimrez or 
attunements -- unless the Lilim invokes a Geas to be 'you are my Servant 
for X time period'."

Sariel makes that a dirpose, mutters.

fadethecat [to Sariel]: Ah. Huh. Okay.

Sariel says, "There are rules in the Lilith expansion for Servant-Geases, 
but straight 'do X'/'don't do X' only has a resistance roll for when the 
hook is invoked. (Or no resistance roll if it's an inactive Geas being 
invoked rather than a hook.) Afterward, you can break it at any time; you 
just suck up the diss/damage, and may get nailed multiple times depending 
on wording and duration."

Sariel nods.

Jesdyn says, "I got to break out the T-shirt, too. Been meaning to do 
that."

fadethecat [to Jesdyn]: It's a great T-shirt.

fadethecat says, "Thais totally wants a T-shirt that cool."

Sariel giggles!

The GM says, "Will to resist activation (no way to resist a hook other 
than not to accept the favor).  After that, you can simply choose not to 
act."

Sariel [to William]: ... I think you--wait, no, I'm misreading. Yes, you 
can't resist a hook being claimed; you can autosuccess resistance of an 
inactive being claimed; you roll Will at a penalty to resist a hook being 
activated, and no roll at all to resist an inactive being activated. And 
yeah, after that you just choose. [nods\]