The House that Wellmer Built (Animus, Fiddler, Joshua, Zero)

~~Narration~~

As Zero bangs on the door, the sound of the arguing voices stop, and then a cry is heard inside. A faint surge of light can be seen from inside through the windows. To the gloomy eyes of Joshua, clouds seem to pass overhead, as the house darkens.

(( All players PM me Int+Occult -3 and Wits+Comp -5 ))

Animus' voice is a low whisper. "Zero, do you know anyone who rides a motorcycle? Or, for that matter, who might fling attack spells in the hostel?"

[color=#00ff00]Body Control
03-30 15:56:04 Animus rolls 7 dice to Gnosis + Life Failure
1,7,4,4,6, 1,7

"what motorcycle?" Fiddler asked. "All I felt was a nimbus, and I heard the noise..." as he sees Joshua pull out his gun, he adds, "well, lets stick together..."

~~Narration~~

The silent hostel emits faint creaks and hollow sounds, as if someone might be running upstairs.

Zero looks at Joshua and Animus. This definitely isn't the kind of thing he's used to.

Body Control
03-30 18:28:24 Animus rolls 6 dice to Gnosis + Life - 1 2 successes
2,5,3,7,8, 9

"Let's go." Animus starts walking up the stairs and opening the front door, careful to stay out of Josh's line of fire and make as little noise as possible.

((Sorry, ignore the part about little noise. I misinterpreted West's narration.))

Animus opens the door.

(( Wits + Com -5 (focusing on your task & looking downward) for Joshua ))

((01-01-2008 10:00 Joshua rolls 1 to Wits+Comp -5 (10 Again) 9 1 successes ))

As he runs back to the door, Joshua seems to see something, and looks--and aims--up. "Upstairs, the room with that window," he communicates to the others. Cautiously, he steps inside the door.

~~Narration~~

As Animus opens the door, and well-trained Joshua 'slices the pie', nothing seems out of the ordinary... just the extraordinary. The Grim Sight reveals a thickening of lifelessness that seems to be concentrated at the sitting room where Calligan receives visitors.

Zero has stepped out of the way to let the 'pros' handle it, still trying to see what they meant by 'attack' spells. "What do you see?" he hisses.

Animus immediately moves toward the first room Joshua indicated. "Then the hostile can wait."

Fiddler thinks to himself follows the others, and as he enters the building he draws his brass wand. He takes a look around, looking for where the outlets are, in case he needs them. He then moves towards the sitting room with the others as quickly as possible.

~~Narration~

The hostel is dark, and the deeper the four move inside, the darker it gets -- none of the lights are on. Calligan's body is sprawled in the reception area, with burn marks and flakes of charred skin littering the floor. The room reeks of burnt hair.

Animus' Pulse sees the life force of Calligan flickering like a small candle being blown on.

Joshua's Grim Sight shows shadows deepening around the body.

Fiddler's Third Eye watches threads of maliciousness and ill-will dissipating, and trailing out of the room toward the stairs leading up.

(( A successful Wits+Comp -3 will notice this spoiler: ))

Spoiler:

"Fuck me," whispers Zero, rushing over to Calligan.

Animus casts Sense Life, leaving it acttive just long enough to sense the signature coming from Calligan. He then immediately casts Healing Heart on him.

Spoiler:

"If we had arrived any later, he wouldn't have made it. As it is, he's in bad shape."

Animus kneels down next to Calligan and removes the bronze mirror from his pocket. He whispers in the Atlantean tongue, willing Calligan's body to heal.

Spoiler:

Animus winces in pain as his body absorbs a heavy dose of paradox. A white glow emanates outword from where he kneels. As the glow washes over the group, each person feels a brief rush of vitality, and when it touches each item of furniture in the room, its slumbering spirit is briefly revealed.

~~Narration~~

Calligan stirs a bit, but remains unconscious (3/7 Agg, stabilized). A grating sound can be heard from upstairs, as if a window has been slid open.

Animus takes off after Josh, still a bit shaky from the unexpected force of the backlash.

Fiddler felt relieved as Animus' nimbus flashed past him, he knew Calligan would get better-so long as his atttacker was stopped.

He follows the others out the door again, hoping to catch the assailant.

~~Narration~~

As the trio head outside, they see something unreal; definitely magical. As if in slow motion, an Asian man floats downward through the air. He completes the jump from a second story window to land perfectly onto the motorcycle. Firing the bike up, he looks up to see them.

Joshua notices with some chagrin that the tires have been re-inflated.

(( Roll for Initiative, please. Post Init, Speed, DEF, & Armor ))

Zero: Init 14

Spoiler:

Initiative 7
Speed 5
Defense 3
Armor 2

Spoiler:

Initiative 16
Speed 10
Defense 3
Armor 3

(( Order: Animus, Ando, Joshua, Zero, Fiddler. Ando has Armor 4. DEF applies at 1-2 meters should you engage, I will provide. Distance to Ando: 10M. Animus is UP ))

Animus walks toward the Asian, gently nudging the motorcycle's spirit to misbehave.

Gremlins (TotM p. 72)

(( rolled for Animus per player request:
04-01 01:05:34 Animus rolls 6 dice to Gnosis + Spirit Failure 3,2,4,7,4, 4 ))

The man rolls his eyes and shakes his head as Animus' malformed Imago collapses into tendrils of Spirit.

Gunning the bike, he turns onto the street and begins to accelerate, looking back.

(( Distance for remainder of Turn: 20M
Joshua is UP ))

As Joshua fires at the man, everyone sees the flicker of a spell from their Mage Sight as threads of Force reach out and redirect the bullet...

...into the tire of Joshua's car, parked on the curb. The pop and hiss of escaping air is the sound of sweet irony to Joshua's ears.

At least it drowns out the fading laughter of the man as he resumes facing forward and continues to flee.

Spoiler:

Zero dives to the ground as bullets start flying.

(( Fiddler is UP ))

Realizing that he might get away, Fiddler decides to track him.

With a brief pause, he relinquishes his third eye, and focuses his mind on developing an imago in his mind, focusing the man on the bike as his target.

Spoiler:

lets see him get away from us now...

~~Narration~~

As Fiddler finishes forming the Imago and begins to draw the power from his Tower, the Abyss surges, tainting his spell.

(( Please roll 6 dice for Paradox, then re-roll your spell. ))

Spoiler:

Fiddler feels the pain of the abyss strike him, and finishes his spell in pain.

Havoc strikes, and Fiddler's loses control of his spell.

Fiddler now absolutely, positively knows that Zero is two and half feet to the left of him.

(( Organiker -- please mark your Health in your sig, or in each post during this Scene. If anyone has a question on Paradox, I just posted a summary in OOC. Animus UP ))

Animus concentrates on the fleeing man, attempting to force upon him an intense fear of the motorcycle he drives.

Trigger the Lizard Brain

Spoiler:

He walks toward the street, ready to give chase if his spell works as intended.

~~Narration~~

The man flinches, and leaps off his bike, in the same slow-motion floating Matrix-style way he did out of the window, landing in the street as the bike slides across the street.

He turns and looks back, focusing on Animus.

Boy, he looks pissed.

Hands dance as they form Mudras and he unleashes the Imago, sending rippling waves of power out, which bruise the bones and tear the flesh of all four of the Pentacle Mages.

Spoiler:

(( On a successful Int+Occult, Joshua and Joshua only may ID the Rote as Telekinetic Strike. 3 Lethal apiece to Animus, Fiddler, Joshua, & Zero. Joshua UP ))

Zero gets up and bolts for the house, stumbling from his wounds.

(( Fiddler UP ))

Fiddler reels from the strike. In panic, and self-interest, he runs after Zero and follows him into the house.

Animus involuntarily steps back as the wave of force hits him, but the pain doesn't seem to even register. He forms another Imago, this time targeting his own pattern. Torn flesh knits itself back together as he continues to approach the man.

Spoiler:

The man starts walking backwards, toward the downed motorcycle, watching Animus and Joshua.

(( Joshua UP ))

Seeing Joshua hold his fire, the man decides to encourage Animus to give up, as well.

Suddenly, Animus feels as if he's walking on glass, and nearly falls.

(( Animus makes Dex+Ath -6 to remain on his feet. Forward progress is impossible by walking. Animus UP ))

Animus falls flat on his face. He again attempts to coax the motorcycle's spirit into misbehaving. I doubt it will do much, but we could get lucky.

Spoiler:

He rights the bike and starts it, waiting to see if Joshua is going to do anything before he leaves. The bike looks terrible - fairing scratched, and it sounds as if it's missing, but it's up and running.

(( Joshua UP ))

(( Animus UP -- last Action if Ando decides to bail ))