Water of Life Update
Last time, the characters had let Hank off at a little town called Ivers, Illinois, because he got a feeling that something here would help him find an ingredient to the Thwarting the Waters of Lethe alchemical operation he was trying to perform. He wandered into town, stopped off at the library, and was thumbing through a book on local history when a quartet of bikers rolled into the town square. A local in the library informed him that these fuckers would show up, go into the movie theater, raise a ruckus and the sod off, and the local cops were too drunk and/or pussy to do anything about it.
Hank, being Hank, decided maybe he wasn't a drunk pussy. He walked across the road to the theater, walked in and sat down a few rows in front of the bikers. They started throwing shit at him, and he ignored it for a while (provoking them), and then stood up and told them to knock it off. They responded by pelting him with beer bottles, doing a surprising amount of damage, but then he walked over and knocked one of them out. The others fought a bit, Hank got stabbed and hit with a hammer, but he knocked another one out and confronted the last two with cold logic and a really high Intimidation pool. They buggered off. He dragged the two unconscious ones out into the lobby and had the cashier call the cops. In gratitude, she wrote him a ticket for free admission, popcorn and pop - the Feather of the Scales of Ma'at. That leaves one ingredient, the Light of the New Awakening.
Hank got on the road and hoofed it to Bohn (Bone) Valley. The other folks came out to meet him, and the month of fun began.
See, Al has gone to the wastes, and so the other folks had to fill a month of time waiting for him. So here's how they did it.
Marty, in addition to picking Mazda's brains about the generative act and the Refinement of Flux, got to talking with Five about Flux vs. Pyros. They both decided the same thing - Flux and Pyros were extremes. After a point, you got good data, but there was precious little practicality. Marty wanted something he could use. Five wanted a step back from the inevitability of Flux. They both settled on Cobalus...and wound up fucking like bunny rabbits in a Flux-tainted wasteland where Pandorans go to die.
Julia, with Jesus' help (that just looks wrong; I wish I knew how to do accent marks in journal entries), was weening herself off of vampire blood. I gave her a weekly Resolve + Composure roll (extended) and she blew the first two, but Jesus used his Many Hands Make Light Work Transmutation for the second two and she racked up a bunch more (Marty also whipped up an alchemical preparation out of the spare vampire blood he had as a kind of methadone). She's not quite clean yet, but almost there. When she gets clean, she'll officially be on the Refinement of Iron.
Jesus talked with Mazda a bit about Mazda's reasons for his multiple creations, but Mazda is evasive. Jesus recalled (in wavy-line flashback) how in Round Lake, IL, which is where he remembers wandering around with Mazda, how he wanted to wander over to their Oktoberfest celebration and Mazda prevented him. He turned a crowd against Mazda and abandoned him, but now he's wondering what he missed.
Hank ruminated on the Refinement of Tin, and realized that the connected between people and himself, even when that connection is violent, is still a connection. Plus, it leads to better connections, like gratitude from weaker people. He became dedicated to his Refinement (milestone!) and works toward learning Disquietism.
Also, Hank spoke with Mazda about the trapped Golem, Beast. After some experimentation, Mazda realized that he hadn't inscribed a word on Beast's forehead, and Hank figured that's why he went nuts. That might also mean that he's salvageable.
Next session, after Al crawls out of the wastes, we're gonna find out.
Hank, being Hank, decided maybe he wasn't a drunk pussy. He walked across the road to the theater, walked in and sat down a few rows in front of the bikers. They started throwing shit at him, and he ignored it for a while (provoking them), and then stood up and told them to knock it off. They responded by pelting him with beer bottles, doing a surprising amount of damage, but then he walked over and knocked one of them out. The others fought a bit, Hank got stabbed and hit with a hammer, but he knocked another one out and confronted the last two with cold logic and a really high Intimidation pool. They buggered off. He dragged the two unconscious ones out into the lobby and had the cashier call the cops. In gratitude, she wrote him a ticket for free admission, popcorn and pop - the Feather of the Scales of Ma'at. That leaves one ingredient, the Light of the New Awakening.
Hank got on the road and hoofed it to Bohn (Bone) Valley. The other folks came out to meet him, and the month of fun began.
See, Al has gone to the wastes, and so the other folks had to fill a month of time waiting for him. So here's how they did it.
Marty, in addition to picking Mazda's brains about the generative act and the Refinement of Flux, got to talking with Five about Flux vs. Pyros. They both decided the same thing - Flux and Pyros were extremes. After a point, you got good data, but there was precious little practicality. Marty wanted something he could use. Five wanted a step back from the inevitability of Flux. They both settled on Cobalus...and wound up fucking like bunny rabbits in a Flux-tainted wasteland where Pandorans go to die.
Julia, with Jesus' help (that just looks wrong; I wish I knew how to do accent marks in journal entries), was weening herself off of vampire blood. I gave her a weekly Resolve + Composure roll (extended) and she blew the first two, but Jesus used his Many Hands Make Light Work Transmutation for the second two and she racked up a bunch more (Marty also whipped up an alchemical preparation out of the spare vampire blood he had as a kind of methadone). She's not quite clean yet, but almost there. When she gets clean, she'll officially be on the Refinement of Iron.
Jesus talked with Mazda a bit about Mazda's reasons for his multiple creations, but Mazda is evasive. Jesus recalled (in wavy-line flashback) how in Round Lake, IL, which is where he remembers wandering around with Mazda, how he wanted to wander over to their Oktoberfest celebration and Mazda prevented him. He turned a crowd against Mazda and abandoned him, but now he's wondering what he missed.
Hank ruminated on the Refinement of Tin, and realized that the connected between people and himself, even when that connection is violent, is still a connection. Plus, it leads to better connections, like gratitude from weaker people. He became dedicated to his Refinement (milestone!) and works toward learning Disquietism.
Also, Hank spoke with Mazda about the trapped Golem, Beast. After some experimentation, Mazda realized that he hadn't inscribed a word on Beast's forehead, and Hank figured that's why he went nuts. That might also mean that he's salvageable.
Next session, after Al crawls out of the wastes, we're gonna find out.