Doomsday Church (ATTN: Ankh, Falx, Joshua, Orphan, Teegan, Tug)

by Guest Sun May 31, 2009 11:48 pm

~~Narration~~

Once everyone had arrived, West led them to the Church which was still owned by the Guardians, but 'Under Renovation'.

"I know that many of you want to learn how to improve your combat prowess," he began, "And that is not always done with the body. Today, we're going to examine two confrontations. This is the first. View it, analyze it. From this, many of you will see things you may not have seen before."

He paused, to let it digest, and then added, "You will see me call Niles Plotski a 'Tick-Tock Man'. For those of you that do not know, this is slang for a Cultist of the Doomsday Clock. The significance of this confrontation is that both Niles and I have the ability, through our Legacies, to move backwards in Time.

"So, watch it, analyze it, and tell me when you're done. We'll sit down and have a group discussion," West said, glad to be done speaking.

One by one, West grants each person the sight of Postcognition, so that they could bear witness to the past.

He took a seat on a pew as he waited, and gave Ankh a smile and a kiss.

Spoiler:

by Kelreth Mon Jun 01, 2009 12:24 pm

Falx gets out of Tug's truck and looks at the church. "So the guardians had a church?"

by jmiland1 Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:36 pm

Joshua parks his car, getting out with his phone to his ear. Before things get started he moves close to West and murmurs, "Just got off the phone with a man named Brutus. Says he is an Arrow from LA. I invited him to come along; I figured if he's lying there's enough of us here to hurt him, and if he's legit he may as well meet everyone."
He takes a seat, listening to West's setup, and when the vision comes he pays close attention to it. It's over surprisingly quickly, given how powerful everyone involved must be.
"Finished," he says, once its complete.

by Fractured Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:05 pm

"I've finished," Tug says. He'll hold his questions and comments until everyone is ready.

by Kelreth Mon Jun 01, 2009 5:12 pm

"Done." Falx thinks over what he saw.

by **DaevaDude** Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:14 pm

Orphan takes note of West's statement about being able to shift backwards in time due to a Legacy attainment and made a mental note to ask him about that later. He didn't know very much about Legacies other than his own, which he'd felt Fated to take up since the moment of his father's death. He had head a bit about the Cult of the Doomsday Clock, and wanted to learn more about them as well... but all that would be for later.

Orphan watched the battle carefully, very impressed. "That would be well worth viewing many times," he thought. He took a few moments to clarify his impressions in his own mind before discussion, then, nodding, said "I'm finished."

by Guest Mon Jun 01, 2009 9:31 pm

(( It isn't clearly stated, but Niles was using Acceleration every round - West was not. This should be obvious to a spectator by their relative speeds. I'm going to post although Rosyn hasn't been on because Premsyl said she'd be on in a bit. ))

"Many confrontations are won from the beginning," West said to the assembled Mages. "I'd like each of you to give me your opinion as to why I chose to target Plotski's assistants instead of Plotski himself, as Kai did. You have all seen the entire conflict, but I'd like you to consider it without that knowledge, using only what I discerned -- that is, that Plotski was a Cultist capable of Shifting Sands."

West waited, curious. Even though he doubted any of them would figure it out, they might bring up a point he hadn't considered himself.

by Kelreth Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:00 pm

Falx's head tilts to the side. "You placed the odds that he wouldn't try to save his assistants over himself?"

by **West** Mon Jun 01, 2009 10:29 pm

Active Spells: Pulse of the Living World, Aura Perception, Organic Resilience, Doppelganger

Ankh sits quietly and watches the interaction, wondering why in the world this "mmeting" had become a lesson of some kind. She also listened to the Greek coming out of West's mouth and sat in complete confusion. Maybe she needed to go back to Mage school, because none of this made a lick of sense to her. How was she supposed to be a Provost when she barely knew what the hell she was doing?

Feeling small and simple, she sat silent and watched the scene unfold.

Doomsday Church (ATTN: Ankh, Falx, Joshua, Orphan, Teegan, Tug) Ankhbanner2

Doomsday Church (ATTN: Ankh, Falx, Joshua, Orphan, Teegan, Tug) Ankhbanner2

by Fractured Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:24 pm

Tug considered how West had prefaced this discussion, that "many confrontations are won from the beginning." That means he thought taking down the assistants would stop the boss- that's unconventional logic. Why would he think that?

Tug clears his throat and looks at his brother before addressing West. "I think I know why. It has to do with how the Awake have to walk the path of Wisdom, right? You were hoping that the loss of his assistants might make him have a nervous breakdown, or something. I know I'd flip out if anything happened to my bro."

Then he smacked his brother in the back and smiled. "Right?"

by Kelreth Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:40 pm

Falx looks at his bro. "Ya, that would end poorly for anyone hurting him" He lightly hits his bro back.

by jmiland1 Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:11 am

Joshua speaks up. "I don't know much about Temporal magic, but what you say makes it sound as though you and Plotski are best able to affect yourselves when moving in time, rather than other people. Since attacking him straight on would likely result in him shifting the sands and undoing the affect, did you hit the assistants first in order to completely remove them from the equation?"

by Rosyn Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:00 am

Teegan watches ever thing that happened. She's amazed at the powers she sees, having practiced little of her own. She noticed West used his Five-SeveN and she realized that the gun had crossed her hands only days before this. As the images of the battle scene fade she considers what West had asked them. Her knowlege of Space helped her understand Sympathtic magic, perhaps West had similar knowlegde and sensed connections between Niles and his assistants but she knew it was just logic. The mage had turned back time to save his assistants instead of trying to attack further, West saw that and used it. She was impressed and wondered if she would have seen the same hole in his defense.

"Sir, I'm not sure, but perhaps his use of the Time spell to save his assistants showed you a weakness?"

by **DaevaDude** Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:29 am

Orphan thinks carefully over what he'd seen and the instructions given by West, then answers.

"I think at least one factor in your decision to go after the assistants first was simply a numbers consideration. If you take out the assistants at the start and he doesn't shift backwards in time, it becomes three against one, and those are stiff odds even for one of us who is very prepared and powerful in Arcana knowledge. Plus, it reduced the chances of you or one of your companions being taken out of the fight, because fewer opponents standing meant you and they would be facing fewer attacks. On the other hand, if he did shift backwards in time in order to try to keep his assistants from being harmed or killed, or to try to avoid defeat, he may have set himself for even worse defeat, which is sort of what happened there. Being experienced with Time effects, you'd know that was a risk he'd take by shifting backwards in time, so it again becomes a numbers game, a matter of probability."

Orphan explains, "He may have thought that by going backwards in time, he could keep his underling in the fight and maybe weaken you by destroying your gun. It didn't happen that way, though, in part because you were smart enough to go into battle with a back-up weapon. The other thing is, through my own knowledge of Time, I know that one problem with Shifting Sands is that when we move backwards in time, things for everyone else are reset as if they didn't ever happen, but the person shifting still suffers from any wounds or other effects sustained before the shift. Any Mana spent, any triggered spells that had gone off before the shift, those are gone too. The other thing is, when one shifts through time, sometimes Fate plays out differently. In this case, your allies' spells were much more effective after the timeshift than they had been the first time around." He gestures to Ankh.

" So, by shifting himself backwards, he essentially screwed himself. He went back in time weakened and injured, so he was more easily defeated, and his son still got shot.'" He looks at West. "You couldn't have known walking in exactly how things would play out, but you would have known those facts about Shifting Sands, and how under some circumstances it can end up being a mixed blessing, or even a very bad idea.

"Another factor to your decision was that you trusted your allies. You'd clearly worked together before, you knew they could hold their own and keep Plotski busy while you took care of the others, so you didn't have to focus on him. You worked as a team, rather than feeling you had to handle everything yourself."

by Guest Tue Jun 02, 2009 3:19 pm

West listened and nodded. "Orphan danced around it, and Joshua was close. All things being equal, the outcome would be determined by whoever's Mana reserves lasted the longest to power their Shifts. My goal was to force an event catastrophic enough to make Plotski 'go first' on Shifts, and begin the Mana 'bleed'. With Plotski also powering his Temporal Acceleration..." West shrugged.

"Orphan is also correct in that I put my faith in Ankh to keep us all upright. Fortunately, it wasn't necessary, and she actually 'broke open' the confrontation."

"The point of all of this is to demonstrate that martial prowess is not the only goal we should focus on. My study of Legacies helped form our strategy, as well as identifying the threat originally," he finished.

"Any questions about this scenario before we go to Granite Park?" West asked.

by **DaevaDude** Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:20 pm

Orphan has none. He's looking forward to actually seeing the park he's heard so much about, and starting to get a personal feel for what happened, maybe even make progress toward figuring out what's up.

He's not sure whether Val not being here will be a good thing, the events being so recent, or whether she will feel left out to not be included, but this way he can just focus on understanding what happened there, both toward figuring out the big questions but also toward avoiding a repeat of the events of that night.

by Fractured Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:21 pm

Tug nods. That was my next guess, he thinks to himself.

by Kelreth Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:23 pm

Falx smiles. "Opps. Well I'm not the best with this stuff."

by **West** Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:49 pm

Active Spells: Pulse of the Living World, Aura Perception, Organic Resilience, Doppelganger

Ankh frowns in thought. The way Orphan had explained it made it sound like simple deductive reasoning. The fact that West had been able to do that in such a short amount of time was impressive to her. She was still young and had a great deal to learn, but she was glad that she had worked on her observation skills most of her life. Then again, the degree she had gotten kind of required those skills too.

She smiles at West, now understanding what he was getting at and why he had done what he'd done during that confrontation. She understood him a little bit more now.

by Rosyn Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:35 pm

Teegan re-thinks her view on the events West had shown them wishing she had the foresight to think about the mage's mana. I need more practice, ran through her mind but she seemed to have understood everything and had no more questions.

by jmiland1 Wed Jun 03, 2009 2:12 am

When no one speaks up, Joshua raises a hand. "I have a question, sir, about threat identification. Although the meeting between your cabal and Plotski was tense, you did not seem to know immediately that he was a Cultist. By the time he was taking your group down the trapdoor, you knew, yet there does not seem to be a clear signifier of his allegiance. Did you know about his Legacy before entering the church, and if not, what tipped you off?"

by Fractured Wed Jun 03, 2009 11:12 am

Joshua's question stirs something in Tug's mind. "I have a question, too, come to think of it. Why didn't Plotski Shift the Sands a second time?"

by **DaevaDude** Wed Jun 03, 2009 11:52 am

Orphan listens to both questions. He considers Joshua's a good question and is interested in hearing the answer, but thinks he'd already more or less answered Tug's question in his response to West.

by Fractured Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:03 pm

((OOC:

the person shifting still suffers from any wounds or other effects sustained before the shift

Sorry, I missed this. Thanks for pointing it out, Daeva : ) ))

by Guest Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:22 pm

West returned Ankh's smile, regretting they had both been running around lately, and a little chagrined that he hadn't dissected this for her later -- but they had their own preoccupations. He turned back as Joshua raised his hand.

Nice pickup.

"That's a good question, Sentinel Morris," West nodded. "One thing that can't be seen are several pieces of a clock on the table -- they're Veiled with a Shield of Chronos that would take a bit more effort to pierce. I was also studying the Resonance of the Church most of the time we were there, which held faint clues."

West turned to Tug. "It's my belief that Plotski realized what I was doing, and also that we might change tactics. Consider: If he were rendered unconscious, and then his son were killed, he would be unable to Shift away his son's death. Either way, I think he saw the endgame and decided not to risk a different outcome."

He waited to see if there were any more questions.

by **DaevaDude** Wed Jun 03, 2009 12:36 pm

Orphan says "No questions from me at this time, though I might like to discuss the incident further with you at some point. I'd be interested in learning more about Plotski's Legacy, and Legacies in general."

by Khalvin Wed Jun 03, 2009 1:19 pm

Brutus passes the church once before making a u turn and pulling into the parking lot. So there was group meeting here. Lucky Brutus was not far at all.

All his gear is in his car, Shotgun, med kit, and various magical stuff (Ground bread crust in a baggy, melted wax hunks, and a chicken bone, plus his Copper knuckles.) What should he bring in? He didn't want to seem unprepared yet knew too much might spook people used to secrecy.
In the end he carries only his magical stuff plus tool in the various pockets of his long leather coat. He makes his way through the door of the church and toward the group. Magic was about.

The sorted group felt familiar, as if he and they were related. Animus(Zero) had felt this way back at the rage, as did Jammer. He waited to seen before announcing his presence.

by Guest Wed Jun 03, 2009 6:26 pm

"Sure," West answered Orphan with a grin.

Two Mages, sitting around talking about Doomsday Cultism? Nice.

Looking up at the new arrival, he asked, "Can I help you?"

by Guest Thu Jun 04, 2009 9:29 am

West greets the newcomer, and asks them to accompany them. Leaving the chuch, the Arrow group caravans over to Granite Park. When the arrive, West blankets the group in the anonymity of Incognito, and sends them off one-by-one to watch what had happened.

When they were done, West spoke softly. "Obviously a lot of things went wrong, and I don't really want to stand around and shit on dead people. Again, though, I see an early decision that had a big effect on the outcome. Thoughts?" he asked the group.

Spoiler:

by Fractured Thu Jun 04, 2009 11:28 am

Tug watched. He would have asked for popcorn, if it hadn't happened to real people.

Eventually, he decided on which thing West thought they had got wrong, "Uh. Damn, man. Ollie told me about it, but, damn.

I think the first mistake was that Ghoster and Logos were too far away from each other to be of any help to the other."

by Kelreth Thu Jun 04, 2009 12:53 pm

Falx nods in agreement with his brother. "They probably should have brought more weapons but from the looks of it they only thought they were going to be facing a gunman at most. So it's somewhat understandable that they didn't deck themselves out."

by **DaevaDude** Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:06 pm

Orphan studies what happened carefully. It is almost painful to see the fates of three mages - one of them an Arrow brother - and how lack of coordination contributed to the disastrous outcome.

"I think the first mistake was for only two to be tackling this unknown situation in the first place, when there were others who could have been involved. Sometimes you have to go in without much in the way of backup because none is available, but that wasn't really the case here. If Ghoster, Logos, Guy, Ollie and Valkyrie had gone to the park together as a team, the outcome might have been vastly different. As is, by the time Ollie, Val and Guy arrived, Logos was already down and Ghoster was in bad shape."

Orphan looks at Tug and Falx, nodding. "The next big mistake, I agree with Tug and Falx. Ghoster and Logos shouldn't have been so split up that they couldn't really have each other's backs."

He shakes his head. "Really, it comes down to lack of teamwork and basic tactics until things were already too late."

by Khalvin Thu Jun 04, 2009 1:59 pm

Brutus remained quiet. Seeing the past here in the park scared him a little. This stuff was dangerous.
There was no room for jokes, no room for mistakes. Could he trust these guys if they fell into a tight spot? Could he trust himself?
I vow to never leave a man behind, on my honor. He promised himself. He wondered if these other wizards had done the same.

by jmiland1 Thu Jun 04, 2009 2:33 pm

Joshua listens to all of these points, and nods. "Ghoster and Logos shouldn't have split up, and on top of that they consistently let themselves be surrounded." He pauses, then adds, "If all five had worked together and moved the bleachers aside, they might have been able to get away. I wouldn't normally recommend a retreat, but as only one of them was an Arrow and two of them were completely inexperienced with magic, that would have been the best option.
"If they had to stay and fight, the best thing to do would have been to keep moving, keep ahead of their opponents, and find a better place to fight. That building, for example," he says, pointing to the parkour practice area. "The rain was a huge detriment so getting inside would have been helpful. Create a bottleneck at the door so the zombies can't all get in at once."

by Rosyn Thu Jun 04, 2009 8:31 pm

Teegan watches the events at the park. When its her turn to speak she says, "It seemed like the two of them got surrounded. It didn't seem planned out very well. I don't know for sure but, it appeared they weren't aware of each other's capabilities and split apart. Seeing that they were completely outnumbered they could have avoided the whole situation with some better communication from the start." The whole story was just crazy, she'd never seen zombies before. The sight of them made her uncomfortable but not fearful.

by Guest Thu Jun 04, 2009 9:23 pm

West nodded. "All of those are good answers, and valid. Because we all have different abilities, we probably all prioritize the elements of a battle differently. I personally agree with First Talon Morris," West said, point at the Sentinel.

If the guy knows his stuff, what happened at Hostel HI?

"The terrain and environment were completely disregarded. Rather than using it to play to their advantages -- speed, mobility -- they ignored it, and ended up surrounded. The building stairwell, the fire escape, door -- all of these were choke points that would have negated the numbers advantage."

"We're going to go back to the Circle, and form two groups. You will all choose the groupings, not me. This will be who you work with, who you cover, who covers you, and who you will work with to become effective teams."

"Any questions about the park before we head back?" he asked.

by Kelreth Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:04 pm

Falx shrugs. "Not from me"

by **DaevaDude** Thu Jun 04, 2009 10:21 pm

"None from me," Orphan replies, happy to get down to some teamwork training.

by Khalvin Fri Jun 05, 2009 3:23 am

Brutus shrugs his shoulders but says nothing. He had thought the meeting would be something more akin to a job application mixed with a research interview. What he got was the most freaked out social sciences lecture ever. Yet this West guy sounded like he knew his stuff.

He would hang on and see more of what what this group was planning. If only out of curiosity.

by Guest Fri Jun 05, 2009 10:01 am

~~Narration~~

The group heads back to the Circle of Creation

by Sponsored content