Evil Points
Jul. 25th, 2004 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thessalianManaged half a plate of lunch and some crisps. Not even sure if I'm hungry or not anymore. But at least I managed game all right.
There was funeral and wake last time (they didn't act the wake out -- none of them could decide how it was supposed to be, so they left it alone). The next day, Lucius, Skank and Kuo-Li wandered into Llandeilo with Molly so she could pick up some of her things and check on the bar. They checked up on the apothecary, who was glad enough to have the group take care of Molly, as the town knew they were going to have to send her away for an education anyway. He also told them there was going to be huge festival in the honour of the 'heroes', and basically gave Lucius the place of honour at the festival because, well, he was the one who decapitated the Big Bad. After that, they went to the King's Nose, where they noticed that people had been cleaning up. 'People', evidently, was a farm-girl named Sarah who occasionally tended bar. Skank scares the living crap out of her, but it's not otherwise that bad. Molly came down with her things and then there was Loofah, Molly's cat. Loofah is sort of a cross between Crookshanks and Greebo, and likes Lucius. They went out and bought a couple of catnip ferrets from a Nanny Oggish lady in the back of the market stalls and left.
Over the course of days, Carl spoke to Lucius about setting up a school for the Sleepers (failing to mention that Molly was going to be strongly encouraged to attend) and Lucius spoke to Kuo-Li about tag-teaming for joint mentorship of Molly. Skank and Lucius both showed Molly some interesting effects and Molly apparently turned up Order of Hermes -- House Thig. She understands how Skank's effects work better than he does, which kind of freaks him out. But she asked if he would mentor her, and he said yes on the condition that she gets stuff from other sources as well. Kuo-Li thinks it's a karma thing, Carl is going, "Order of Hermes -- woo!" and Lucius is sulking. This happened over the course of events, though, and I can't pin down a time. I think she got mentorship immediately after the third 'visitor'.
They had two sets of visitors over the couple of weeks of downtime. One was a set of Regulators, who are apparently not very pleased with all of the orders they're being given and wanted some 'unofficial backup'. Of course, they nearly queered the entire deal with Lucius being ... well, being "Played By Toos". But somehow, they managed to make it work. Don't ask me how. They agreed to help train the group in melee etc and the female, Michelle, has a definite thing for Skank. Then came Frank Lyons. Some of you will recognise Frank Lyons. He came to collect the traumatised Verbena still staying out at Bokugo since the Pontypridd thing -- the apothecary had found a letter in his belongings and knew how to get a message there. When Frank was invited inside, Dawn was there, telling him, "We're going to see you again..." and when she went back to her room, Carl followed. He asked about things like getting out and making friends, and she laughed at him and explained that, basically, someone with the amount of power she's got can't be around too many people or she'll go barmy. Then, almost as if to prove the point, she went a little vacant ... and then several sets of invisible claws just mauled her.
Carl, sensible sort of lad that he is, started screaming for help. Everyone came, but Carl tried to shoo everyone who didn't have Life out. Not really feasible, when a certain amount of Spirit was going to be needed, so Dawn managed to scream for Skank to stay. While Kuo-Li and Lucius tried to keep things from getting any worse for Dawn physically, Skank tried to figure out what was going on. What he saw (vaguely, with only one success) was tree spirits and Paradox spirits, both doing certain amounts of damage. Eventually, one of the tree spirits told him "They're killing us! To the north!" and they all went away. Paradox spirits carved one more line into Dawn and went away as well, and the Life Mages healed her as best they could while Skank went down to explain the situation, evidently gearing them up to go north and do damage to whatever was hurting the trees.
I didn't hear this, though. I was busy talking Andy P through his role. See, while they were riding to the north in the battle bus (and the screaming habdab was escaping, and plied with marijuana, and locked in a jar), I was explaining to Andy P about Susanna Wallace. She's the Syndicate Disbursements agent sent to a little factory to the north of Bokugo to see if she can't charm the Machinist to stop taking the Brokers for idiots and embezzling things like building materials. She's got a history -- she was Carl Tanner's ex-girlfriend. Awhile after he Awakened, she was approached by men in suits and mirrorshades. She told Carl about the conversation, and next day, she was removed. She was taken to a little room, interrogated for three days ... and she Awakened, sending three men insane. Eventually they recruited her because, well, what else could they do? Anyway, she didn't seem like a Reality Deviant... Except she did keep defending them over the four or five years she was with the Technocracy. She's being watched, and constantly interrogated, and on her last chances. This was a "prove yourself" mission, and she's watched by Xavier, a heavily altered Iteration X. She's not happy with things, and she wants out.
The battle bus turns up at the factory. There are tree stumps, but there are also signs that the trees aren't giving up without a fight; cracked safety helmets, that kind of thing. Lucius and Skank get out to talk to Susanna and Xavier, and make a right balls-up of it. Eventually, the rest of the group (sans Kuo-Li, who stayed Arcane and didn't show himself once during this portion of things) was brought to light. E, Skank and Lucius briefly tried to pit themselves against someone only slightly more human than a HIT Mark and they eventually got themselves invited into the factory. They were led through a watch factory, and Skank worked out fairly quickly that there was a lot of Prime going through those watches, geared for Time, he thought (he made a pretty good roll). He clued in Chloe, and she made great attempts to try to steal one. (When she eventually managed it, her Time sense made the damn thing blow up.) Conferences took place (Xavier thankfully wasn't there; he was busy being outside, having Lucius try to coax him into apologising to the trees after Lucius crashed the south wall using Entropy), and eventually they worked out the best way was to have Susanna and Xavier come to Bokugo and see the legal papers on the place, so they could determine ownership of the land. Eventually, there was agreement, and Susanna was allowed to come alone.
Not, however, without a little device planted on her by Xavier before she left. Carl did a Prime rote on her and found it, and Skank siphoned it off, but not before they'd seen a) Kuo-Li, b) Bokugo as a whole and c) Molly, chalking bastardised Enochian on the walls in a circle and plonking three candles in front of it. Susanna was fairly traumatised at this point (she got attacked by the screaming habdab -- Skank's hobgoblin, a three-inch-tall version of himself) and found that the little girl was the one talking all the sense. She eventually explained that the watches were a little Technocracy device designed to disable the 'body clock' of anyone who wears it, forcing Sleepers to rely on the technology rather than their instincts or natural connection. Brenna came down with the legal papers, and Susanna thought they were all in order, so she said she'd come back to sort things out the next day. When she went home, though, she was informed by Xavier that she could do one thing to put her back in the good graces of Control -- get Molly on their side. Carl if that was all she could get -- he seemed malleable enough -- but the little girl'd be a coup. What they didn't say was that she'd probably be studied quite a lot, and possibly not gently. Either way, it was enough for Susanna, who sent all her assets to untraceable places, packed a bag and prepared to make her getaway.
The SBB had spent the evening preparing for war, and the morning trying to clean up Lucius' runaway souffle (I think some of them are facing up to the sad fact that Molly's the only one besides maybe Brenna who knows how the nuker works). When Susanna came over, she saw Molly and asked her if she liked it where she was, and if they were taking good care of her. She said yes, and that was basically it -- Susanna asked for sanctuary, explained that they wanted Molly, and the preparation for war was suddenly a lot more serious. Molly went for one of Skank's shotguns but wasn't allowed to keep it; instead, she went for a tree branch and insisted she wasn't going to let anyone else wreck her home or make people go away. Some time later, Xavier turned up with half a dozen mooks. There was minor talk, Susanna tried a Voice of Command Mind rote on Xavier (ha fucking ha) and Xavier tried one on Susanna, which she managed with supreme will to resist. To which Xavier said, "Well. You're better than I thought. Pity. Kill them." Roll initiative!
Carl put two mooks down with knives thrown from his spot on the roof of the Stack. E decapitated one, Kuo-Li decapitated one ... and then there was Skank. Skank tried to shoot Xavier, did very little damage, and then had Xavier shoot him in the knee. With Forces. Same Forces effect that his mentor had used when she shot him in that same knee after he vapourised her sex-golem (don't ask. Really). This pissed him off so he did something incredibly vulgar -- Darth Sidious finger-lightning. Botched save meant Xavier was seriously fried. After that and Susanna's "This isn't the girl you're looking for, you idiots!" as she tried to defend Molly, there were a couple of survivors and they both ran away. To deliver what reports, no one knows. Or much cares, apparently.
Lucius wasn't involved, because he'd been looking for backup. Brenna and Hoshikuro weren't anywhere, and Dawn was lying around, barely breathing. Lucius used Life to bring her back a bit, but she only stuck around long enough to say, "It's okay, I'm used to the Shadowlands. Go help them". Skank and Lucius went back up when all the fighting was over and told him what was going on, and Skank (now Paradox-effected into Cousin It) agreed to go up and have a look at the Shadowlands to make sure she was there and okay, and see if he could bring her back. She said she was fine, explained that she normally went there when the pain 'here' was too bad. When asked about the ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties, she said, "Sometimes. Then I hit them and they go away". But they were circling the place in a holding pattern ... at least until one massive winged nasty turned up at the window. Skank poked at it, and it stuck its head through the 'window' and basically scalped him. He shut the window down; Dawn convulsed and went very still. Lucius said, "Hair today, gone tomorrow" and Skank punched him before doing CPR on Dawn. The evidence is that Dawn was briefly possessed by wraith and then "hit it and it went away", but she can't find Brenna or Hoshikuro anywhere. And she also said that the group was in a lot of trouble. The wraiths had a taste for them now. And the ones that think in boxes wanted Carl, and Molly, and Susanna ... and they'd want Lucius too, when they found out who he was. And in short ... well, it's a Mage campaign.
It's been a long, wearing day. But I got evil points from Andy P -- you have no idea what an honour that is. He was actually great as Susanna -- I didn't think I was going to take her in that direction but it just really does work so well -- the dynamic's going to be interesting too and another couple of weeks should give me enough time to be able to play 'Carl's' ex... And tomorrow's 7th Sea. And God help me but there's got to be work...
There was funeral and wake last time (they didn't act the wake out -- none of them could decide how it was supposed to be, so they left it alone). The next day, Lucius, Skank and Kuo-Li wandered into Llandeilo with Molly so she could pick up some of her things and check on the bar. They checked up on the apothecary, who was glad enough to have the group take care of Molly, as the town knew they were going to have to send her away for an education anyway. He also told them there was going to be huge festival in the honour of the 'heroes', and basically gave Lucius the place of honour at the festival because, well, he was the one who decapitated the Big Bad. After that, they went to the King's Nose, where they noticed that people had been cleaning up. 'People', evidently, was a farm-girl named Sarah who occasionally tended bar. Skank scares the living crap out of her, but it's not otherwise that bad. Molly came down with her things and then there was Loofah, Molly's cat. Loofah is sort of a cross between Crookshanks and Greebo, and likes Lucius. They went out and bought a couple of catnip ferrets from a Nanny Oggish lady in the back of the market stalls and left.
Over the course of days, Carl spoke to Lucius about setting up a school for the Sleepers (failing to mention that Molly was going to be strongly encouraged to attend) and Lucius spoke to Kuo-Li about tag-teaming for joint mentorship of Molly. Skank and Lucius both showed Molly some interesting effects and Molly apparently turned up Order of Hermes -- House Thig. She understands how Skank's effects work better than he does, which kind of freaks him out. But she asked if he would mentor her, and he said yes on the condition that she gets stuff from other sources as well. Kuo-Li thinks it's a karma thing, Carl is going, "Order of Hermes -- woo!" and Lucius is sulking. This happened over the course of events, though, and I can't pin down a time. I think she got mentorship immediately after the third 'visitor'.
They had two sets of visitors over the couple of weeks of downtime. One was a set of Regulators, who are apparently not very pleased with all of the orders they're being given and wanted some 'unofficial backup'. Of course, they nearly queered the entire deal with Lucius being ... well, being "Played By Toos". But somehow, they managed to make it work. Don't ask me how. They agreed to help train the group in melee etc and the female, Michelle, has a definite thing for Skank. Then came Frank Lyons. Some of you will recognise Frank Lyons. He came to collect the traumatised Verbena still staying out at Bokugo since the Pontypridd thing -- the apothecary had found a letter in his belongings and knew how to get a message there. When Frank was invited inside, Dawn was there, telling him, "We're going to see you again..." and when she went back to her room, Carl followed. He asked about things like getting out and making friends, and she laughed at him and explained that, basically, someone with the amount of power she's got can't be around too many people or she'll go barmy. Then, almost as if to prove the point, she went a little vacant ... and then several sets of invisible claws just mauled her.
Carl, sensible sort of lad that he is, started screaming for help. Everyone came, but Carl tried to shoo everyone who didn't have Life out. Not really feasible, when a certain amount of Spirit was going to be needed, so Dawn managed to scream for Skank to stay. While Kuo-Li and Lucius tried to keep things from getting any worse for Dawn physically, Skank tried to figure out what was going on. What he saw (vaguely, with only one success) was tree spirits and Paradox spirits, both doing certain amounts of damage. Eventually, one of the tree spirits told him "They're killing us! To the north!" and they all went away. Paradox spirits carved one more line into Dawn and went away as well, and the Life Mages healed her as best they could while Skank went down to explain the situation, evidently gearing them up to go north and do damage to whatever was hurting the trees.
I didn't hear this, though. I was busy talking Andy P through his role. See, while they were riding to the north in the battle bus (and the screaming habdab was escaping, and plied with marijuana, and locked in a jar), I was explaining to Andy P about Susanna Wallace. She's the Syndicate Disbursements agent sent to a little factory to the north of Bokugo to see if she can't charm the Machinist to stop taking the Brokers for idiots and embezzling things like building materials. She's got a history -- she was Carl Tanner's ex-girlfriend. Awhile after he Awakened, she was approached by men in suits and mirrorshades. She told Carl about the conversation, and next day, she was removed. She was taken to a little room, interrogated for three days ... and she Awakened, sending three men insane. Eventually they recruited her because, well, what else could they do? Anyway, she didn't seem like a Reality Deviant... Except she did keep defending them over the four or five years she was with the Technocracy. She's being watched, and constantly interrogated, and on her last chances. This was a "prove yourself" mission, and she's watched by Xavier, a heavily altered Iteration X. She's not happy with things, and she wants out.
The battle bus turns up at the factory. There are tree stumps, but there are also signs that the trees aren't giving up without a fight; cracked safety helmets, that kind of thing. Lucius and Skank get out to talk to Susanna and Xavier, and make a right balls-up of it. Eventually, the rest of the group (sans Kuo-Li, who stayed Arcane and didn't show himself once during this portion of things) was brought to light. E, Skank and Lucius briefly tried to pit themselves against someone only slightly more human than a HIT Mark and they eventually got themselves invited into the factory. They were led through a watch factory, and Skank worked out fairly quickly that there was a lot of Prime going through those watches, geared for Time, he thought (he made a pretty good roll). He clued in Chloe, and she made great attempts to try to steal one. (When she eventually managed it, her Time sense made the damn thing blow up.) Conferences took place (Xavier thankfully wasn't there; he was busy being outside, having Lucius try to coax him into apologising to the trees after Lucius crashed the south wall using Entropy), and eventually they worked out the best way was to have Susanna and Xavier come to Bokugo and see the legal papers on the place, so they could determine ownership of the land. Eventually, there was agreement, and Susanna was allowed to come alone.
Not, however, without a little device planted on her by Xavier before she left. Carl did a Prime rote on her and found it, and Skank siphoned it off, but not before they'd seen a) Kuo-Li, b) Bokugo as a whole and c) Molly, chalking bastardised Enochian on the walls in a circle and plonking three candles in front of it. Susanna was fairly traumatised at this point (she got attacked by the screaming habdab -- Skank's hobgoblin, a three-inch-tall version of himself) and found that the little girl was the one talking all the sense. She eventually explained that the watches were a little Technocracy device designed to disable the 'body clock' of anyone who wears it, forcing Sleepers to rely on the technology rather than their instincts or natural connection. Brenna came down with the legal papers, and Susanna thought they were all in order, so she said she'd come back to sort things out the next day. When she went home, though, she was informed by Xavier that she could do one thing to put her back in the good graces of Control -- get Molly on their side. Carl if that was all she could get -- he seemed malleable enough -- but the little girl'd be a coup. What they didn't say was that she'd probably be studied quite a lot, and possibly not gently. Either way, it was enough for Susanna, who sent all her assets to untraceable places, packed a bag and prepared to make her getaway.
The SBB had spent the evening preparing for war, and the morning trying to clean up Lucius' runaway souffle (I think some of them are facing up to the sad fact that Molly's the only one besides maybe Brenna who knows how the nuker works). When Susanna came over, she saw Molly and asked her if she liked it where she was, and if they were taking good care of her. She said yes, and that was basically it -- Susanna asked for sanctuary, explained that they wanted Molly, and the preparation for war was suddenly a lot more serious. Molly went for one of Skank's shotguns but wasn't allowed to keep it; instead, she went for a tree branch and insisted she wasn't going to let anyone else wreck her home or make people go away. Some time later, Xavier turned up with half a dozen mooks. There was minor talk, Susanna tried a Voice of Command Mind rote on Xavier (ha fucking ha) and Xavier tried one on Susanna, which she managed with supreme will to resist. To which Xavier said, "Well. You're better than I thought. Pity. Kill them." Roll initiative!
Carl put two mooks down with knives thrown from his spot on the roof of the Stack. E decapitated one, Kuo-Li decapitated one ... and then there was Skank. Skank tried to shoot Xavier, did very little damage, and then had Xavier shoot him in the knee. With Forces. Same Forces effect that his mentor had used when she shot him in that same knee after he vapourised her sex-golem (don't ask. Really). This pissed him off so he did something incredibly vulgar -- Darth Sidious finger-lightning. Botched save meant Xavier was seriously fried. After that and Susanna's "This isn't the girl you're looking for, you idiots!" as she tried to defend Molly, there were a couple of survivors and they both ran away. To deliver what reports, no one knows. Or much cares, apparently.
Lucius wasn't involved, because he'd been looking for backup. Brenna and Hoshikuro weren't anywhere, and Dawn was lying around, barely breathing. Lucius used Life to bring her back a bit, but she only stuck around long enough to say, "It's okay, I'm used to the Shadowlands. Go help them". Skank and Lucius went back up when all the fighting was over and told him what was going on, and Skank (now Paradox-effected into Cousin It) agreed to go up and have a look at the Shadowlands to make sure she was there and okay, and see if he could bring her back. She said she was fine, explained that she normally went there when the pain 'here' was too bad. When asked about the ghoulies and ghosties and long-legged beasties, she said, "Sometimes. Then I hit them and they go away". But they were circling the place in a holding pattern ... at least until one massive winged nasty turned up at the window. Skank poked at it, and it stuck its head through the 'window' and basically scalped him. He shut the window down; Dawn convulsed and went very still. Lucius said, "Hair today, gone tomorrow" and Skank punched him before doing CPR on Dawn. The evidence is that Dawn was briefly possessed by wraith and then "hit it and it went away", but she can't find Brenna or Hoshikuro anywhere. And she also said that the group was in a lot of trouble. The wraiths had a taste for them now. And the ones that think in boxes wanted Carl, and Molly, and Susanna ... and they'd want Lucius too, when they found out who he was. And in short ... well, it's a Mage campaign.
It's been a long, wearing day. But I got evil points from Andy P -- you have no idea what an honour that is. He was actually great as Susanna -- I didn't think I was going to take her in that direction but it just really does work so well -- the dynamic's going to be interesting too and another couple of weeks should give me enough time to be able to play 'Carl's' ex... And tomorrow's 7th Sea. And God help me but there's got to be work...