Water of Life Update
Last time, the characters left St. Paul and headed for the Rockies. The trip there was relatively uneventful. Oh, sure, Network 0 has posted another video (this time of the battle at the square), and Julia had another dream (below), but uneventful otherwise.
Julia's dream: Julia finds herself standing calf-deep in blood. All around she can hear the screams of dying animals and the steady, rhythmic noises of knives. She looks down and, under the muck, she sees sparkling, golden light rising up.
We begin our new story with the throng rolling into Denver. They parked the RV at a KOA area and headed into town to check out the Golden Moccasin. The Gold Moc is the last known address for Moses Moon, whom, you might recall, is the demiurge of Lighthouse (this all came out here, by the way). They found the Gold Moc, a new-age/occult bookstore, and after some discussion Julia and Hank went in. Hank used Quell Disquiet to protect himself from that eventuality and asked about "Moses Moon." It took the owner, Amber, a minute, but then she remembered that her friend Moustafa Jaymes went by Moses Moon out in Boston. He'd used her guest room (here at the shop) when he'd been in town last, but she hadn't heard from him since he went to Boston, which was before the riots. Had Hank heard anything? He hadn't, he said, and they left.
Marty, upon learning that Moon had stayed there, decided that they'd break in later, so the throng went to the zoo to kill some time. They watched people watching animals, and noted that the animals shied away from them. As they walked to their car, though, an Irish Setter wandered up to Hank, sniffed at his hand...and then bit it. The bit burned like fire, and Hank flew into Torment (again).
Marty turned on Ephemeral Flesh and saw a spirit possessing the dog. He reached in to pull out the spirit, and lost his fingers in the process (fire-spirit), but managed it. Meanwhile, Nathan and Jesus talked Hank down out of Torment. Once the spirit was free, the dog fled, and the spirit panicked (no fire to merge with). It fled to Jesus' lighter, and they drove it out to the camp so it could merge with a bonfire. En route, the now-fingerless Marty conversed with it, and asked about spirits that could see past the Gauntlet. It told him about dragon-spirits, and said that they lived in a grove near Sakendar Isi, or Guardian Mountain (which, by the way, made an appearance in my chronicles waaaaaay back here).
Back at the campsite, the characters healed up and set the fire-spirit into a campfire, where it happily disappeared back into the Shadow. The characters hung out a bit, and then headed back to the store. They broke in using Firebrand, and Nathan snuck upstairs, sang to Amber, and put her to sleep. They checked the spare room, and found an old notebook with some of Moon's writings on alchemy and the creation of life. Also, this paragraph on the last page:
Such beings do exist. I have seen them, and learned to recognize their markings. I have seen these marks on the walls of slaughterhouses here in Colorado, and I wonder how many among the workers bussed in from the city did not being their lives as babes in arms, but as corpses revived by this elusive fire. What benefit could such creatures gain by taking work amongst the human masses, especially work so grueling? I have considered this question from every angle, and the only answer I can find is a Zen saying: “Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
The characters decided to call Todd Forsyth, the mage they met mid-Awakening in Stygia. They looked him up, found him, and he spoke with them over the phone. He'd been told they were coming by a compatriot, and she'd said that he'd be able to help them find their path as they'd once done for him. They offered to get together, but after their warnings about Disquiet, he decided phone contact might be better. He also warned them that there were a lot of werewolves in the area, and they were pretty darned territorial.
Next time: Perhaps we meet said werewolves!
Julia's dream: Julia finds herself standing calf-deep in blood. All around she can hear the screams of dying animals and the steady, rhythmic noises of knives. She looks down and, under the muck, she sees sparkling, golden light rising up.
We begin our new story with the throng rolling into Denver. They parked the RV at a KOA area and headed into town to check out the Golden Moccasin. The Gold Moc is the last known address for Moses Moon, whom, you might recall, is the demiurge of Lighthouse (this all came out here, by the way). They found the Gold Moc, a new-age/occult bookstore, and after some discussion Julia and Hank went in. Hank used Quell Disquiet to protect himself from that eventuality and asked about "Moses Moon." It took the owner, Amber, a minute, but then she remembered that her friend Moustafa Jaymes went by Moses Moon out in Boston. He'd used her guest room (here at the shop) when he'd been in town last, but she hadn't heard from him since he went to Boston, which was before the riots. Had Hank heard anything? He hadn't, he said, and they left.
Marty, upon learning that Moon had stayed there, decided that they'd break in later, so the throng went to the zoo to kill some time. They watched people watching animals, and noted that the animals shied away from them. As they walked to their car, though, an Irish Setter wandered up to Hank, sniffed at his hand...and then bit it. The bit burned like fire, and Hank flew into Torment (again).
Marty turned on Ephemeral Flesh and saw a spirit possessing the dog. He reached in to pull out the spirit, and lost his fingers in the process (fire-spirit), but managed it. Meanwhile, Nathan and Jesus talked Hank down out of Torment. Once the spirit was free, the dog fled, and the spirit panicked (no fire to merge with). It fled to Jesus' lighter, and they drove it out to the camp so it could merge with a bonfire. En route, the now-fingerless Marty conversed with it, and asked about spirits that could see past the Gauntlet. It told him about dragon-spirits, and said that they lived in a grove near Sakendar Isi, or Guardian Mountain (which, by the way, made an appearance in my chronicles waaaaaay back here).
Back at the campsite, the characters healed up and set the fire-spirit into a campfire, where it happily disappeared back into the Shadow. The characters hung out a bit, and then headed back to the store. They broke in using Firebrand, and Nathan snuck upstairs, sang to Amber, and put her to sleep. They checked the spare room, and found an old notebook with some of Moon's writings on alchemy and the creation of life. Also, this paragraph on the last page:
Such beings do exist. I have seen them, and learned to recognize their markings. I have seen these marks on the walls of slaughterhouses here in Colorado, and I wonder how many among the workers bussed in from the city did not being their lives as babes in arms, but as corpses revived by this elusive fire. What benefit could such creatures gain by taking work amongst the human masses, especially work so grueling? I have considered this question from every angle, and the only answer I can find is a Zen saying: “Before Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After Enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.”
The characters decided to call Todd Forsyth, the mage they met mid-Awakening in Stygia. They looked him up, found him, and he spoke with them over the phone. He'd been told they were coming by a compatriot, and she'd said that he'd be able to help them find their path as they'd once done for him. They offered to get together, but after their warnings about Disquiet, he decided phone contact might be better. He also warned them that there were a lot of werewolves in the area, and they were pretty darned territorial.
Next time: Perhaps we meet said werewolves!