Character Sheet
Name: Miriam Green
Shadow Name: Morata
Age: Sixteen.
Gender: Female

Path: Mastigos.
Gnosis: 3
Mana: 4/12
Wisdom: 7

Arcana: Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 1, (In Progress) Spirit 1

Aspirations: Unlock the Secrets of the Fire.

Obsessions:

Virtue: Faith
Vice: Curiosity

Health: 8/8
Willpower: 7/7
Defense: 2
Destiny (Merit): 4/4

XP: 0
Arcane XP: 1

Attributes:

Strength 3, Dexterity 2*, Stamina 3
Presence 2*, Manipulation 2*, Composure 3*
Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 4

Aspects:

Promising High School Student (4): She's smart and well liked around school. In fact, she has a pretty good grasp of not merely the basics of high-school learning, but even the things that are up to the senior year. Beyond what a person might learn in a she's a little lost, and so there are limits as to the kinds of things she'd know about, but if it can be found in a textbook she might have read, she's probably read it. As well, she knows how to plan her time, to get along with other people at school and not get into fights, and otherwise do well in this respect. She's best at history.

Preacher's Daughter (3): Growing up with a father who tells the gospel word, you learn how to mimic the way he gives sermons, quote the bible chapter and verse, and know more than a little about how to interact with people and their religions, faiths, and how churches function. Whether it is mingling after church, being a sounding board for her father's sermons, or playing games that involve reciting long passages of the bible from memory, she is good at it.

*A Bit of a Tomboy (2): She's really at the age where you're supposed to outgrow this sort of thing, really. But she still likes climbing things, she still likes running around the school, she still knows a little about getting into a scrap, even if she hasn't actually gotten into a fight since...well, a few years. She's keen, athletic, and very, very interested in baseball (boo, Kansas City Monarchs, boo!) which she read about, not having a radio, and that being fledgling besides. In any wise, it certainly isn't fading with time, and it's given her a set of interests and hobbies that meshes quite interestingly with her obvious piety and (reasonably, mostly) obedient nature.

Breaker of Chains (2): Abraham Lincoln was a swell guy, in her opinion. Her own father's involvement in the NAACP and her engagement in High School history has made it so that she's actually surprisingly knowledgeable on race issues, and quite talkative about them in the right circumstances. She knows how to keep her mouth shut, of course, around older white men or the like, but she has her opinions and she wears them on her sleeve, and that includes knowing a lot of things most girls her age wouldn't know about, academically and otherwise.

A Practicing Mage (2): While Morata has a lot to learn, and has only been practicing magic for a short time, she is now fully settling into magical society. She knows the Orders, and more than that she is starting to understand both the personalities and how magic truly works. It is a long journey, but she has taken another step forward.

Can We Keep Him? (1): She has had dogs and cats before, and currently has one of each, which she of course does all of the work taking care of, because her mom said that if she had to deal with that, she'd throw them out. She has a bit of a way with animals, and after the third or fourth stray, also with people and convincing them to go along with her quite innocent and well-meaning requests.

Problem Solver (1): Kids in her neighborhood and at school tend to trust and like her, or at least she's tried to be liked, and even go to her for help sometimes, whether of an academic nature or just to see what she has to say. She's not exactly a local guru or anything, but she's clever and tends to be able to help people with minor problems, or dispense advice, even if that advice is often enough 'Really, you should tell your parents, they're gonna find out, you know, and if they find out and you didn't tell them, they'll cane your hide raw.'

Sneaking The Cookie Jar (1): She's not a dishonest person, but being someone with a lot of friends means that you sometimes know how to lie for them, and more than that, that you know a little about sneaking an extra quarter here and there. Whenever caught she's full of contrition, and more than that she's not a fundamentally dishonest person, but...well, she knows plenty of people who deserve an extra cookie every now and then.

Mother's Teachings (1): Her mother has tried to at least teach her the basics of cooking, cleaning, and keeping house. The logic that she'll probably need it if she goes to college has been pretty persuasive, and while there are gaps, she's quite self-sufficient when it comes to balancing a budget or all of the other things a modern woman is expected to do, as far as it goes. She's best at cooking meat, and her recipes are all pretty simple, but it's food that'll fill a belly, and that's the most important thing.

To Dream A Dream (1): Morata has become a truly expert in the magic of dreams, and indeed has begun to truly explore what Demons and other denizens of the Astral can and will do. This is merely an extrapolation of what she can already do, hence the discount. Special: Can use Arcane XP for this.

Powers--

Mage Sight (Peripheral, Active, and Focused): She seems to be able to see something that others cannot. Magic itself, and her eyes seem especially attuned to distances and the spaces between things, as well as the minds of other people.

Mage Armor: Mind, Space

Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 2 (In Progress up from 1)

Spirit 1 (Will complete in two weeks)

Rotes--

Dividing the Mind (Mind 1): A rote to divide the mind in two, this means that it has extra reach to add to duration and so on, and that there is a two-dice Yantra that can be done to add to the power of the spell. Involves imagining the split in her mind to enact it.

Scholar's Little Helper (Mind 1): Scholarship is hard work, and it's often difficult to sift through a five-hundred page book on Astral adventures for the single passage on a threatening Goetic demon that's currently ripping the rest of the Cabal apart. Plus, cross-referencing other works can be difficult. Through this tiny little rote, the caster can input a word, phrase, or topic, mentally, and essentially search the book just by holding it up to the light, copying knowledge of what was said in those passages and the passage surround it into their brain without having to search. It does not grant perfect understanding, and sometimes the section requires context to make any sense, but it can save weeks on a big scholarship project. (Rote Mudra, Promising Student, +4) Reach: With each additional Reach, you can search an additional book in the same spell; You can absorb the entirety of the contents of the book, if not always parse its meaning, as if you read the entire book in the instants it took to cast the spell, cover to cover. It may take some hours of thinking and consideration to fully parse the contents, and of course at times understanding and applying it can be more difficult: but an entire book read in less than a second is still something.

Strengthen Mind (Mind 3): It does not, obviously, only effect the intellect, but any aspect of one's mind can be made sharper, as can one's social abilities. The key to doing this, or rather the Mystagogue form of it, involves closing one's eyes and pressing one's fingers against your forehead, as if trying to stimulate thought by motion. When you open your eyes, the spell should be cast. You cannot improve your mind or social abilities to superhuman levels (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4), Reach: You may divide the 'Potency' of the spell, eg: Potency 4, enhance Intelligence by 1, Wits by 2, and Resolve by 1; spend a point of Mana: temporarily, for as long as the spell lasts, Attributes can reach supernatural levels.

Scholar's Protection (Mind 3): Adapted from a famous Silver Ladder rote, this grants protection ot the humble scholar. They make a sign with their hands as if their hands are books, their palms pages, and then so long as they neither attack or order an attack, others struggle to gather up the will to attack them. If they do order an attack, or attack themselves, the spell automatically fails… but only for the target, and not any others. Automatons, or beings without thought are immune, but this potent spell makes it so that anyone with a Resolve less than their Mind +1 cannot bring themselves to attack. Those that can still feel hesitation, and it is as if the Mage has two points of Armor. Supernatural beings have an advantage: if they have a supernatural trait, they get +1 to the comparison of Resolve versus Mind, if it is equal to the Mage's, they get +2, and if it is greater, they get +3… even then, a weak-willed but powerful supernatural being might find themselves frozen in fear and doubt. (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4) Reach: Spend 1 Mana, the spell may now last for an entire day; You may spend Reach to increase the difficulty of overcoming the Protection, once; Attackers lose 10-again on rolls to attack someone, if that person has willpowered through the magic.

The Dedicated Will of the Just (Mind 3): A spell taught to her by her Uncle, it is in some ways an extension of previous spells. By touching the forehead and spreading one's fingers across it, yours or others, when someone grits their teeth and uses their will, they find it stretching out, like hitting a high note and holding it for longer than a single action, based on the power of the spell. (Rote Mudra, Preacher's Daughter +3) Reach: Willpower when spent can add +2 to all resistance traits; Willpower spent both increases one's ability to endure, and one's ability to 'act'; By spending a Mana, the caster can imagine the benediction and thus enact it in a single breath on themselves or any target, as fast as the speed of thought.

Determined Will (Mind 2): The Mystagogue must go through many hardships for knowledge. Whatever a materialist thinks, anyone experienced in Mind magic knows that willpower exists, and so by a series of invisible taps against either their own or--imagined--someone else's skull. By doing so the Mage can make sure that when they, or others, gather their will for a great task, as long as it isn't magic they will get a bonus to the will-enhanced roll (9-again.) (Rote Mudra: Preacher's Daughter, +3: Inspire others and inspire yourself), Reach: The bonus can be increased; the bonus might be able to be used even to enhance magic, strengthening the will that brings itself to bear in casting a spell.



The Bonds of Fate (Fate 1): It is one thing to look at someone and see them, it is another to be able to look at them and see the destinities, the curses, the broken oaths and more that mark their soul and their persons. Mystagogues imagine a cobweb of connections and strands of fate itself, and carefully reach out a finger to tap at the edges of the cobweb without breaking it, to see what creeps up. (Mudra: Can We Keep Him? (+1), the spider spins its web.) Reach: The Mage can know when someone is possessed, mind controlled, or otherwise has their destiny majorly influenced; the Mage can tell someone's Destiny and Doom, can know when the curse they're affected by will be lifted, or so on.

The Unusual Path (Fate 1) : Fate itself can sometimes intervene in small ways. Through this spell, a Mystagogue can state a goal and then receive omens, sometimes faint and contradictory, on how to begin working towards it… and can even allow them to match strength with strength: subtly twisting fate so that their talents are just the right ones needed to advance upon the goal. Miriam uses it to occasionally leverage her way through a tricky social situation. The Mudra involves tugging on strands and pulling them in with a flip of a hand, as if examining something. (Rote Mudra: Problem Solver, +1) Reach: Can substitute any skill needed while under the spell for another within the same category, e.g. the character's religious passion turns out to be just what it might take to convince the homeless person to tell you where the body is hid, instead of a skill involving the streets or crime; Can, if taken further, substitute any skill for any other skill: your athletic prowess intimidates the homeless man, your knowledge of petty trivia charms the high society lady you need to steal from.



] No Shackles For The Scholar (Space 2): A Mystagogue cannot be stopped merely by a locked door, or being chained up above a pit of sharks while a villain monologues about how the Secret of the Amazon will die with them. So by imagining their own escape, and circling around that thought a few times as fast as possible, they can affect it. Any one barrier: locked door, handcuffs, barred window, or so on is fine… though it cannot get one through a bouncer or through fire. It can also be cast on an object, such as if you want to push a macguffin through a locked door and then face the enemy yourself. (Rote Mudra: Breaker of Chains, +2), Reach: Can pass through even shackles or objects they could not move through, such as being chained up, or trapped in a coffin, or anything else; subject can squeeze through narrow gaps that they should not physically be able to make it through: you can in fact drive a car through an open front door half its width if you cast this spell on it.
Merits--

(**) 'Profession'--Student
1--Gain 9-again on any roll that can be justified as having to do with one's profession.
2--Gain two dots of Contacts related to one's 'profession.'
3--+1 to rolls against any mental, physical or social stress that might get in the way of performing one's profession.[1] This cannot create a positive bonus.

4--8-again on rolls.
5--One special bonus based on the nature of the 'profession.

[1] Okay, in this case, imagine the college student who is good enough at class that he can show up hungover and still get something out of class, or the athlete who can go out not feeling 100% and still actually manage not to fuck everything up forever, even if he's not putting in his best performance.

(***) Parents: It may seem absurd to say it, but having parents in the picture who can help solve moderate problems is a boon. Obviously the drawback is that if they get involved and it's over her head, it could end badly, and that more than that, they obviously are sure they know best, but asking Mom or Dad is totally an option available to her, and one that can enlist their aid and ask their advice.

(***) Contacts:

She has contacts with both People She Knows At Church, a broad group but in some ways self-selecting, and among those kids she knows around the neighborhood, as well as People At School. People are willing to talk to her, ask her advice, and that goes both ways, doesn't it? If she wants to ask around, she could certainly do worse than asking when she's at church, with someone inclined to see her well already.

Egregore--Mysteriorum Arche (•): In a teamwork spellcasting roll in which the character is participating, she does not suffer the –3 penalty to contribute without the necessary Arcanum rating, and adds an automatic success if a full participant. All members of the ritual team must possess this Merit.

(*)Language: Latin

She knows Latin, read and spoken.

(*) Order Status (Mysterium)

She has been initiated in the first mystery of the Mystagogues.

(*) High Speech

She can use High Speech as a Yantra in spellcasting, and knows enough to be (roughly) conversational outside of the very formal language of Spellcasting.

(*) Egregore

1) In a teamwork spell in which she participates, she doesn't take -3 to the roll if she couldn't cast the spell on her own, and if she can she adds an automatic success to her dice roll for the purpose of granting the ritual leader the bonus dice. However, everyone involved in the ritual must have this level of Egregore. This represents her connection to magic, and through it, others of the Order.

(*) Resources:

She has a little bit of spending money saved up. Not much at all, but it's something. And it's more than a lot of people have, and so she knows to be grateful for it.

(****) Destiny

Effect: Miriam does not yet know the specifics, but she is destined for greatness and yet also doomed in some way.

Currently at 4/4.

(***) Astral Adept: Can enter the Astral far easier, by paying just a WP and meditating.

(***) True Friend (Virginia)

Effect: Miriam has a true friend. True Friend represents a trusting relationship that cannot be easily breached. Unless Miriam really does something to deserve it (really, really) Virginia will not betray her, and I, the QM, has to go easy on her in terms of throwing her into danger. Slightly kid gloves with her, as part of an implicit contract, though that does not mean that Miriam's mistakes or actions might not involve her in deeper problems than she should be facing. And any roll, natural or supernatural, that has the purpose of influencing Virginia against Miriam takes a 5-dice penalty. Additionally, once per...let's say week, Miriam can regain a point of Willpower by having a meaningful/heartfelt/important interaction with Virginia.

Consilium Status (*): Consilium--Increasingly she is a known entity, someone whose existence is no secret at all and whose fame is even harder to deny.

Contacts: Vampires (1)--Her work with vampires means she has a greater awareness of where she can go to talk to them, especially once she thinks through what she saw.

Allies (1): Guardians of the Veil--In the aftermath of yet another Interview with a Vampire, she has been contacted by the Guardians of the Veil, who are curious and who are willing to trade curiosity for curiosity.

Trained Memory (1): She has trained her mind to be something like a steel trap, though perhaps rather more effective than that, all things considered: steel traps can rust, because outside of stressful moments she never needs to roll to remember anything… she just remembers, and without Magic at all.

Minor Elements:

--Having studied a Spirit Bestiary, Miriam is now more able to tell some common spirits apart, even without using magic, and can call up basic facts about said common spirits.
--Has the Memories of a vampire in her head, which can be examined/considered later.
 
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I voted for it as I thought given Miriam was the target she could have been helpful (as a tool for the others, rather than directly help) given how much it revolved around her. It was also so we could actually see what happened, which seems important for XP growth.

Finally it was because it meant Jack would have left as well, and arguably Jack being there designated to protecting Miriam as his priority should still be very safe given an attacker would also have to bypass the rest of his cabal which seems quite hard to do especially given it seems the group is telepathically linked.
 
I voted for it as I thought given Miriam was the target she could have been helpful (as a tool for the others, rather than directly help) given how much it revolved around her. It was also so we could actually see what happened, which seems important for XP growth.

Finally it was because it meant Jack would have left as well, and arguably Jack being there designated to protecting Miriam as his priority should still be very safe given an attacker would also have to bypass the rest of his cabal which seems quite hard to do especially given it seems the group is telepathically linked.

You would think that, wouldn't you? Update tomorrow.
 
Page 16: The Prison of the Self, Part 1
Page 16: The Prison of the Self, Part 1

Miriam knelt there, trying not to smell the vomit, trying not to listen to their deliberations. This was war, or if it wasn't war, it was violence on a scale she was not only not used to, not only hated, but could not contribute to even if she wanted.

She should turn around. She should leave.

Miriam was not a girl who deluded herself, at least she didn't think of herself as someone who did. She was honest, even with herself, and so the moment she stood up, she knew that she was going on not because she was brave, but because she was afraid. Afraid of failing, afraid of...afraid of what had been done to her.

Sara.

Miriam rose, shakily, as they made their decision, aware that she should be turning around and demanding to leave. Because there was nothing she could do, not really. At best she'd be dead weight, at worst she'd be an active burden. She wasn't ready for this, and she wasn't going to be able to contribute...and yet she was too scared to admit it.

What was she doing here? Sara was being controlled, being harmed, and there was nothing she could do to fix it. The rain poured down, and she felt soaked, cold, as she wiped off her mouth and glanced over at the cabal.

They moved and acted with an efficiency that she almost admired, despite the horrific violence. Blood everywhere, soaking into the damp ground, as the rain washed it away.

More violence in under a minute than she'd seen in her entire life. It made her want to hide somewhere, because was this what was expected of a Mage? If it was, then she knew that she wouldn't make any sort of good Mage. The idea of doing what they were doing, even when it wasn't 'really' to people…

"I suppose you're right," Jack said, glancing over at Miriam. She could almost see the way he was looking at her with his dark, thoughtful eyes. Encouraging her to just say the truth that everyone here knew.

No. She would...she'd figure out a way through this.

"Stick close," Coniunctio said, glancing at her, his voice soft, careful, "We'll handle this. Don't make yourself a target."

"Yeah," Wat said, "Once we free her goetia, that should shake things up.

"Ideally," Hone muttered, with a shrug, "How strong is this Eater?"

"Strong enough that it couldn't be created," Coniunctio said, frowning as he considered it. He looked like a professor considering a difficult point, more than a hardened warrior. "At least not by any Awakened short of an Archmaster, unless it was given time to mature slowly, grow in strength in the wild. But that would be a mistake."

"And a Master would not make that sort of mistake," Civitas said, the older man's word seemingly enough that the matter was decided. And it was true that his words seemed to have a sort of authority in them that couldn't be easily ignored.

She moved behind them, carefully, rain drenching her hair for a while, and then the sun baking it, as they moved from 'bubble' to bubble. A memory of a sunny day in the park was next, empty of enemies, with only a faint, confused figure or two there.

"No dream actors," Jack said, "Even they're dragged off, and they don't matter."

"From here, we should--" Wat said, then glanced over at Civitas, who strode forward across the field and reached a hand out.

Then, they were in a house. The house they were in before, and yet not it.

"No," a figure said. He paced the scene, in front of the six, eyes shifting from one to the other. It was Sara's father, tall and balding, his skin pasty, what hair he had left slicked down by sweat. "It's for the best. I'm sure you agree. You have to see. God would have--"

He paused, shaking his head, "The priest says that it'll--"

He paused, and bit his lip. Behind he was another of the hounds, stalking his steps. "You just have to keep thinking the right thoughts. That's what needs to be done. That's what you have to do. Just keep thinking right thoughts. It'll all turn out--"

The blast of a shotgun ripped through the air. Guns were so loud, so very loud, and Miriam covered her ears as another shot went through the hound.

"I wonder if her father is really involved," Aerie said, frowning and tapping his chin, "Could just be a representation of authority or something--"

"Something like this? Either he's involved or he's been tampered with not to notice," Wat said, glancing dispassionately at the corpses on the ground. Miriam looked around at the dining area. The ground seemed covered in broken plates and torn up utensils, the table overturned, and the father had been pacing in front of a chair, behind which the group had stood, never even realizing, somehow, that they weren't his targets.

"Hard to tell," Jack said, "Parents? I mean, they can miss a lot. This should be close, from here."

"Next one," Civitas said.

He walked towards the entrance to the kitchen.

"Let's see what they have cooking," Aerie muttered.

*****

It was a hotel. A large one, in fact, but a strange one. It stood at three stories, towering over them, but each and every window was barred, and the hotel itself was washed out, black and white like a movie.

They strode forward towards the entrance, and the inside was no more colorful than the outside. The wallpaper, which showed flowers, was washed out, and the help desk, with the bell and the woman sitting behind it, was without color. This was splendor, she thought, still shaking a little, looking at the expensive decoration, without beauty.

The woman barely had time to look up before a rifle rang out. It hit her in the side, and she stumbled back, her body shifting, seeming to blend in with the darkness of the wooden table, as wings sprouted from her back.

Whtie wings, and a black body, shifting as quickly as possible as the being let out a scream, loud enough to wake the very dead, and flew towards the stairs.

A second shot just barely missed, as the wings flapped once, almost blowing Miriam over as it hurled up the stairs.

"Damn," Jack said. "She was stronger than the rest."

"Some kind of leader," Civitas said with a nod, "We should move, and fast."

At least she could keep up as they raced up the stairs, their steps echoing as they reached a carpeted hallway. Door after door after door lined both sides of the hallway, and she had no idea why they picked the one that they did, seemingly at random.

Hone slammed into the door and it crumpled around him. Didn't give way, just...crumbled, and Miriam could feel the chill from here. Magic, yet more magic, as a girlish voice yelped and…

Again, she saw...someone like her. In this case, it was a bizarre being indeed. It looked like her if she was white...but not with any features different, with the same hair. Just her, with pale, pasty white face, almost too white to be real, and Sara's eyes staring out back at her, kicking and screaming as she was dragged away.

"Get in," Jack said, quietly. "There's a bad. If anyone comes in, attack them or scream. We'll be back soon. We need to free her natures."

Miriam nodded, stepping into the hotel room. Except it looked more like an office, in this case. The window was barred, but the washed out plant sitting next to the bars made it feel as if it was a choice, as if she wanted it barred.

The desk, it reminded her of her father's, though really it might have been any businessman's, and she set the bat down as she sat in the chair, taking a breath and closing her eyes, trying to think.

But behind her eyelids she saw death and war alone. She shuddered, trying to find peace, trying to relax, but it wasn't coming. She was in the center of a mind, a useless target, and outside she heard a shout, and screams.

It was ongoing.

"Surrender!" a voice called, female and yet oddly deep, "And God shall permit you easy death!"

Miriam looked around, but it didn't seem to be coming from inside the room, despite how close it sounded.

Outside, she saw what looked like large, vast white wings, stretching across the space, and something glowing in the center. It looked like...shards of a mirror.

The wings flapped closer, towards the entrance, before they recoiled suddenly, a loud bang filling the air.

It'd been shot.

She almost missed the sound of the door opening. Almost.

She spun around, clutching the bat tight in her grip, as an old woman walked towards her, holding what looked to be a pair of scissors. She had dark skin, and was wrinkled, withered and shorter than her, but with glowing eyes. "I wonder, I wonder what your insides look like!"

The woman's voice was a rasp, barely audible, and yet it seemed to carry as she moved forward. "Ohhh, sooo curious, sooooo…"

The woman leapt.

******

The memories were fake, but they were there. Miriam lashed out, and found that the other woman dodged, surprisingly fast, slipping off to the side and stabbing at her. She stumbled out of the way, swinging the bat down again, and the fight began in earnest.

What was it like to be in a fight? Miriam hadn't really known before today, and the answer mostly was that it was confusing and exhausting. This strange old woman was faster than her, and yet her blows seemed almost feeble. She moved as if she was young, but struck as if she were old.

Yet, that was far less of a grace than she thought, because each bare touch with the knife seemed to lead to fresh pain. Miriam was athletic, she was used to a little pain, but the knife barely touching her skin made it scream with agony, and she got only a single brutal, unnerving blow in.

Fights were long. And fights were exhausting. Her arms hurt, and yet the older woman was slowing as they kicked and clawed and stabbed and, indeed, swung at each other.

A slash from that woman's knife sent her sprawling, pain consuming her every thought, but not enough to keep her from lashing out when the woman went in for the kill.

Hard.

The old woman stumbled back, dazed, and Miriam rose, trying to ignore the bleeding or the way she couldn't hear anything at all above the race of her heartbeat.

She was crying, her hands shaking, her sense of touch and hearing gone, her vision blurry with blood from a wound on her head.

And the woman across from her wasn't in much better condition.

If she died here, what did it mean?

Miriam choked back a gasp and darted forward, only for the woman to suddenly stiffen and run for the door, flinging it open.

Which let in the smoke.

And it was then that Miriam could finally smell it. Smoke. Fire down below, if the sound of the roaring flames was any indication. And other roars, and shouts and screams on the lower floor. The creature was taking off down the hall, as fast as it could limp, and she realized that this room was probably no longer safe.

If anywhere was safe.

What does Miriam do? There are no good choices, only worse ones now.

[] Stay in the room, like she was told. Surely they'll come for her, if she's in danger...then again, whatever that was was certainly danger.
[] Chase after it! It's wounded! Finish it off!
[] Go up. The fire is down below, so getting to the roof at least gets one farther away from the fire and whatever fight is going on down below.
[] Get down and go for an exit. Here is the last place she wants to be.

******

Gaoler's Dodge: Failure

Dodge 2: sux

[A LOT of redacted rolls about the fight below, TLDR: Something gets past them because of its quasi-sympathetic connection to Miriam]

The Fight--Miriam versus False Vice (Curiosity)

Miriam comes out swinging: 3 (Strength)+2 (Batter Up)-4 (Defense)=1 dice=Failure

Curiosity Attacks: 2 (Power)+1 (Rank)-2 (Defense)=1 dice=Failure

Miriam Attacks: 1 dice=Failure

Curiosity: Failure

Miriam Uses WP: 4 dice=...failure

WP 2/6

Curiosity Attacks: 0 sux, Miriam: 0 sux, Curiosity: 0 sux, Miriam: 0 sux

Curiosity: 0 sux, Miriam: 0 sux

Curiosity (3 more attacks until…): 1 sux, 2L damage

Miriam at 6/8, Lethal.

Miriam attacks: 1 sux+2 B=

Curiosity at 3/6, bashing track

Curiosity attacks (2 more): 2 sux+1L=3L

Miriam at 4/9

MIriam Attacks: Failure

Curiosity attacks: failure…

Miriam Attacks: 1 sux+2 B

Filled up on bashing, on to lethal

Curiosity (Exhausted): Chance die=Failure

Miriam: Failure

Time Roll: 1 sux

Curiosity, Miriam: Fail a lot here, until time runs out for the fight.

A/N: Ah, the glories of combat.
 
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[] Stay in the room, like she was told. Surely they'll come for her, if she's in danger...then again, whatever that was was certainly danger.

They're probably busy and I wouldn't want to distract them from the fight because that'll probably get Jack killed, given that he's our mentor figure.

[] Chase after it! It's wounded! Finish it off!

Bad idea. We aren't a combatant and the environment is dangerous. Plus, don't really want that to be who Mirriam is.

[] Get down and go for an exit. Here is the last place she wants to be.

Getting lost in a fucked up mind with hostile entities running around that are designed to fuck with us seems like an awful idea.

Eh. Mirriam can survive a fall of a couple of stories. It'll hurt but she'll survive. The real concerns are if the winged creature starts flying and sees us and the fact that a fair few things are probably going to move upward as well.

[X] Go up. The fire is down below, so getting to the roof at least gets one farther away from the fire and whatever fight is going on down below.
 
[X] Get down and go for an exit. Here is the last place she wants to be.

I think either head down towards the group or stay where we are. The fire should be their doing, and we don't want them to make a detour coming up for us when it's already on fire and they should be leaving.
 
'False Curiosity'? Is it supposed to be like ours, only malicious in nature, or otherwise 'wrong' somehow? I mean, this is a strange fusion of our and Sara's minds.

I wonder what Sara's 'natures' are.

I would not want to go into an unexplored part of the building. I'd probably go down back to the group. But that might also change the nature of combat, as the enemies seem to prioritize up, so the group will have to protect us somehow.

[X] Get down and go for an exit. Here is the last place she wants to be.
 
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[X] Stay in the room, like she was told. Surely they'll come for her, if she's in danger...then again, whatever that was was certainly danger.
 
[] Blow this popsicle stand, Miriam is going home! Click your heels three times and shed this nightmare.
 
[X] Stay in the room, like she was told. Surely they'll come for her, if she's in danger...then again, whatever that was was certainly danger.
 
I don't see a good answer. . .

You have to choose what there is. You know?

[] Blow this popsicle stand, Miriam is going home! Click your heels three times and shed this nightmare.

...in theory she could do it. It'd do the same damage as if she was killed in her dreams, admittedly, but it can be done. As a statement it's decent. A Mage cannot be held, imprisoned, or otherwise caught in the Astral except by a very few things, one of them being other Mages. If they're willing to take the not inconsiderable mental damage that comes with it.
 
[X] Stay in the room, like she was told. Surely they'll come for her, if she's in danger...then again, whatever that was was certainly danger.

I don't understand this world enough, but the representation of Sara in this room could be important so I'd rather stay. The cabal also knows where we are (and there are space mages among them so there could relatively easy ways of escape, if they're willing to eat paradox) so they can find us, plus I don't really want to Miriam to interfere in an active fight given how damaged she is and how she'd be a hinderance to the others.

For me this seems like a scenario where people/Miriam feel helpless and want to do something, even though the best thing to do may very well be doing nothing/staying where you are. Miriam's injuries may also be clouding her mind. For me I have trust in the cabal and they haven't forgotten about Miriam, particularly given one is our uncle and we've seen three with high mind skills.
 
They have not forgotten about us, but they seem preoccupied at the moment. Meanwhile, we were discovered and beaten to half-death. If Uncle could help us he would, but he didn't. This means we are left all by ourselves for an undetermined amount of time, and our location/hiding place has been compromised.

Maybe the False Vice is an isolated actor, or maybe it has some way of signaling where to find us.

I'd want to move somewhere else, but this comes with drawbacks. Either we move in towards uncharted territory - maybe losing pursuit but also losing whatever connection to our support we may have, or we move towards the support and burden them during the fight. Staying here is a possibility, but Miriam herself thinks it may no longer be safe, and the attack we have just fended off is proof of that. We do not know whether someone else will come before the battle below concludes.
 
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Okay, by the way, any flaws in the Quest so far? Problems you have? Interest has fallen off a little bit lately, and I'm curious, though not really that concerned.

Additionally, vote closed, tally please?
 
Vote Tally : The Roaring Age (nWoD) | Page 55 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.9

[X] Get down and go for an exit. Here is the last place she wants to be.
No. of Votes: 8

[X] Stay in the room, like she was told. Surely they'll come for her, if she's in danger...then again, whatever that was was certainly danger.
No. of Votes: 3

[X] Go up. The fire is down below, so getting to the roof at least gets one farther away from the fire and whatever fight is going on down below.
No. of Votes: 1

[X] Chase after it! It's wounded! Finish it off!
No. of Votes: 1

Total No. of Voters: 13

I may have to reread the last few chapters, the dream world stuff is a bit confusing and I've been out of it.
 
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