Gloria Munda Update
So we ended last time (which was a freaking month ago) with the characters walking into an abandoned carpet store in Sommerville. As they approach, Morrigan gets a bright idea (and one I should have foreseen), steps into Twilight and goes to check things out.
No one's home, but the place is weird. Big rolls of carpet remain, but the place is clean. There's a table with a white tablecloth and a couple of candlesticks, a bookshelf with recent bestsellars and a table with a TV. Looks like someone is trying to look normal and failing miserably. The doors are locked and double-locked, and there's even a security system jury-rigged. But the really fun bits are behind the door at the back of the place.
The "Employees Only" door leads to a small room filled with weapons. Shotguns, handguns, knives, machetes, and even a couple of assault rifles. The door is also rigged with a shotgun pointed about chest-level; anyone who opened this door too far would get a chest fulla buckshot.
Morrigan went back to the cabal and told them what was up. She tried to picked the locks, go flustered and used magic to break them. The mages entered and looked around. Ogma disarmed the trap using a neat application of Co-Location (make a duplicate, send the immaterial one to walk through the door, then switch so he's the solid one so he can disarm the trap). They found extra gun stuck into the carpet rolls, but no real idea of what this person wanted. They decided to take the more expensive guns with them, then tip off the cops to the rest of them. As they were walking out, the assault rifles rolled up in a length of carpet, the resident returned.
He kicked in the back door and unloaded an SMG at Ogma and Niamh, nearly dropped both of them (really, it was 6 Health apiece). The characters noticed that, for a split second, he looked...weird. Pieced together with copper wires and conductors, with a ceramic plate in his face (see where this is going?). Winter yelled at Morrigan to disrupt the conductivity of his wires, but Morrigan was surprised that turn and got no action. Tyrrhenus, not quite close enough to get in and clinch him, threw Celestial Fire at him. The monster backed off, picked up the TV, and threw it at Ogma, knocking him down and out (into aggravated damage and therefore unconcious).
Morrigan tried the spell that Winter suggested, but it had no discernible effect. Niamh healed herself and then crawled over to pick the TV off Ogma's face and heal him. The monster closed with Tyrrhenus and sliced him up with a machete, but then Morrigan used Matter to change his shirt to white phosporous. He burst into flames...but still showed nothing but rage. Tyrrhenus used Control Fire to make the flame burn hotter, but the monster closed with him and grappled him. Tyrrhenus took the fire damage, too, and passed out from pain and shock.
Morrigan canceled her Transmogrification spell and the shirt turned back to cloth, but by that point Tyrrhenus was already out. And, as Morrigan cast a spell to shove a spike up from the floor toward the monster, Paradox hit. Remember that this is something like five vulgar spells in the same scene and she's been taking bashing damage as she goes (if you've been following my other games, you might recall that this has been an issue before). She chose to take Bedlam rather than Anomaly or Havoc, and the derangement that hit her was... Fugue. Yes, I'm a bastard. Morrigan was back in the Empty Room (as far as she knew; really she just backed up against a roll of carpet) and functionally out of the fight.
Meanwhile, Niamh had healed Ogma enough for him to stand up. He used Read the Depths on the monster, looking for something he could use (and got an exceptional success!). He saw this man serving the will of a man called "Ocho", he saw Ocho stitching the creature together with copper wire, and then after that, the man's mind kind of fragemented into several directions. But beyond that, there was a kind of energy that Ogma had never seen, a transformative, obsessive power that can only be called...the Divine Fire.
(Ogma's player also plays Al in my Promethean game, so I just said "the Divine Fire fills Ogma's mind. Roleplay accordingly.")
Back at the fight, the monster (whose name is La Tempestad, which I think I forgot to mention to Ogma's player) tossed Tyrrhenus aside and sliced at Niamh's neck, nearly decapitating her. She fell unconscious. Ogma yelled at him, saying "Do you worship Ocho so much that you're still doing his bidding?"
Now, at the moment the only other person who probably appreciates the significance of that is weaver42, but once Strange Alchemies comes out you'll all be able to see it. Suffice to say that if there was an exact opposite of the right thing to say, that was it.
La Tempestad ran Ogma through with his machete and spit on his face as he fell bleeding to the floor (back into agg, back to bleeding out). Tyrrhenus, meanwhile, had crawled into the gun room and grabbed a shotgun. Winter (who had been throwing Fate spells around but not doing very well at it) grabbed a shotgun away from Morrigan (still insensate) and they both fire at La Tempestad. The first shot put a hole in his chest. The second one took his head off. He fell, finally dead.
A few spells later, Ogma was stabilized, but still unconscious. Tyrrhenus grabbed Niamh and headed for the door...and got lights in his face and cops yelling "Freeze!" Niamh, Tyrrhenus, Ogma and Winter were arrested (the first three taken to the hospital, of course). Morrigan, having snapped out of her Fugue, stepped into Twilight and avoided that fate.
In Twilight, she found Ogma's mind there, as though he were projecting astrally. They talked briefly about what they'd seen, and they noted a glowing ball of energy above La Tempestad's body. Since they couldn't identify it, they decided to leave it for the moment.
Outside, the cops had found a bomb on Morrigan's car. The look on the faces of the players when they realized that La Tempestad had planted that bomb on his way in was pretty darned priceless. If they had resolved this fight without gunshots, would the cops have come? If they hadn't, would the bomb have gone off? We'll never know.
I do know, though, that the characters have some tough times ahead. And they may get tougher. La Tempestad's body disappeared from the morgue that night. And there's still someone in town killing mages for their sweetbreads.
Oh, and there's a throng of Prometheans on the way. When the mages wake up in the morning, it'll be 2/12/05, just for reference.
No one's home, but the place is weird. Big rolls of carpet remain, but the place is clean. There's a table with a white tablecloth and a couple of candlesticks, a bookshelf with recent bestsellars and a table with a TV. Looks like someone is trying to look normal and failing miserably. The doors are locked and double-locked, and there's even a security system jury-rigged. But the really fun bits are behind the door at the back of the place.
The "Employees Only" door leads to a small room filled with weapons. Shotguns, handguns, knives, machetes, and even a couple of assault rifles. The door is also rigged with a shotgun pointed about chest-level; anyone who opened this door too far would get a chest fulla buckshot.
Morrigan went back to the cabal and told them what was up. She tried to picked the locks, go flustered and used magic to break them. The mages entered and looked around. Ogma disarmed the trap using a neat application of Co-Location (make a duplicate, send the immaterial one to walk through the door, then switch so he's the solid one so he can disarm the trap). They found extra gun stuck into the carpet rolls, but no real idea of what this person wanted. They decided to take the more expensive guns with them, then tip off the cops to the rest of them. As they were walking out, the assault rifles rolled up in a length of carpet, the resident returned.
He kicked in the back door and unloaded an SMG at Ogma and Niamh, nearly dropped both of them (really, it was 6 Health apiece). The characters noticed that, for a split second, he looked...weird. Pieced together with copper wires and conductors, with a ceramic plate in his face (see where this is going?). Winter yelled at Morrigan to disrupt the conductivity of his wires, but Morrigan was surprised that turn and got no action. Tyrrhenus, not quite close enough to get in and clinch him, threw Celestial Fire at him. The monster backed off, picked up the TV, and threw it at Ogma, knocking him down and out (into aggravated damage and therefore unconcious).
Morrigan tried the spell that Winter suggested, but it had no discernible effect. Niamh healed herself and then crawled over to pick the TV off Ogma's face and heal him. The monster closed with Tyrrhenus and sliced him up with a machete, but then Morrigan used Matter to change his shirt to white phosporous. He burst into flames...but still showed nothing but rage. Tyrrhenus used Control Fire to make the flame burn hotter, but the monster closed with him and grappled him. Tyrrhenus took the fire damage, too, and passed out from pain and shock.
Morrigan canceled her Transmogrification spell and the shirt turned back to cloth, but by that point Tyrrhenus was already out. And, as Morrigan cast a spell to shove a spike up from the floor toward the monster, Paradox hit. Remember that this is something like five vulgar spells in the same scene and she's been taking bashing damage as she goes (if you've been following my other games, you might recall that this has been an issue before). She chose to take Bedlam rather than Anomaly or Havoc, and the derangement that hit her was... Fugue. Yes, I'm a bastard. Morrigan was back in the Empty Room (as far as she knew; really she just backed up against a roll of carpet) and functionally out of the fight.
Meanwhile, Niamh had healed Ogma enough for him to stand up. He used Read the Depths on the monster, looking for something he could use (and got an exceptional success!). He saw this man serving the will of a man called "Ocho", he saw Ocho stitching the creature together with copper wire, and then after that, the man's mind kind of fragemented into several directions. But beyond that, there was a kind of energy that Ogma had never seen, a transformative, obsessive power that can only be called...the Divine Fire.
(Ogma's player also plays Al in my Promethean game, so I just said "the Divine Fire fills Ogma's mind. Roleplay accordingly.")
Back at the fight, the monster (whose name is La Tempestad, which I think I forgot to mention to Ogma's player) tossed Tyrrhenus aside and sliced at Niamh's neck, nearly decapitating her. She fell unconscious. Ogma yelled at him, saying "Do you worship Ocho so much that you're still doing his bidding?"
Now, at the moment the only other person who probably appreciates the significance of that is weaver42, but once Strange Alchemies comes out you'll all be able to see it. Suffice to say that if there was an exact opposite of the right thing to say, that was it.
La Tempestad ran Ogma through with his machete and spit on his face as he fell bleeding to the floor (back into agg, back to bleeding out). Tyrrhenus, meanwhile, had crawled into the gun room and grabbed a shotgun. Winter (who had been throwing Fate spells around but not doing very well at it) grabbed a shotgun away from Morrigan (still insensate) and they both fire at La Tempestad. The first shot put a hole in his chest. The second one took his head off. He fell, finally dead.
A few spells later, Ogma was stabilized, but still unconscious. Tyrrhenus grabbed Niamh and headed for the door...and got lights in his face and cops yelling "Freeze!" Niamh, Tyrrhenus, Ogma and Winter were arrested (the first three taken to the hospital, of course). Morrigan, having snapped out of her Fugue, stepped into Twilight and avoided that fate.
In Twilight, she found Ogma's mind there, as though he were projecting astrally. They talked briefly about what they'd seen, and they noted a glowing ball of energy above La Tempestad's body. Since they couldn't identify it, they decided to leave it for the moment.
Outside, the cops had found a bomb on Morrigan's car. The look on the faces of the players when they realized that La Tempestad had planted that bomb on his way in was pretty darned priceless. If they had resolved this fight without gunshots, would the cops have come? If they hadn't, would the bomb have gone off? We'll never know.
I do know, though, that the characters have some tough times ahead. And they may get tougher. La Tempestad's body disappeared from the morgue that night. And there's still someone in town killing mages for their sweetbreads.
Oh, and there's a throng of Prometheans on the way. When the mages wake up in the morning, it'll be 2/12/05, just for reference.