Nate: Walter arrives in a cab, loaded down with a cooler full of whiskey and ale. "Evening, Clara. Could you hold the door to the hotel room open for me. I need to set this down."
Mary (ooc): Let me guess, Christabel and Draw are in that room.
Bill (ooc): Yes we are. Sorry, Nate. Looks like Walter is going to have to strip the sheets off the bed again tonight.
Mary: "Actually, I wouldn't go in there just yet. Draw and Christabel are having a private conversation."
Nate (ooc): Intelligence + Subterfuge to recognize the hint?
Sam: Dif 6.
Nate (rolls): Two successes.
Sam: You know what she means.
Nate: Okay. I set down the cooler a little way from the minivan, take out two bottles of Speckled Hen, open them, and hand one to Clara. "I take it the transportation shopping went well, then?"
Mary: Clara rolls her eyes as she takes the beer. "A touch on the overkill, actually, but the vehicle should be adequate."
Nate: "You mentioned making some modifications."
Mary: "Yes. Little things, to start with, like reinforcing the frame with a layer of supersteel paint, which should make it as impenetrable as solid titanium. Also, improving the efficiency of the engine to produce more power and less heat. I also want to use the back storage space for a power supply and other equipment for projecting a field of deflective force and to power the twin lasers I intend to conceal beneath the headlights and rear bumper. I'm also tweaking the onboard computer with a passable AI - enough to allow it to dodge obstacles and minimize the damage inflicted by dangerous projectiles. Solar panels will replace the stupid luggage rack, allowing us to recharge the primary power supply. It will take a while before even this little bit is finished, but the result will be a family vehicle worthy of a superhero movie."
Nate: "I see. My scientific knowledge is limited, but I think I can get my hands on a blessed rosary to hang on the rearview mirror. Between that, a medal of St. Christopher, and a blessed plastic statue of Christ, I can make our home away from home a little less susceptible to mystical attacks and a barrier to supernatural creatures. St. Christopher will shield us from serious harm in the event of an accident."
Sam: Okay. Now that I know the physical effects of all these enchantments you intend to use, could you both give me game mechanics and some dice rolls?
Mary (ooc): Sure. Some special chemicals mixed in with several cans of metallic paint will serve as the foci for a Matter 2 effect that transforms the vehicle's steel and fiberglass into titanium. Ritual. Trying to make it a permanent effect.
Sam: Dif 4, 15 Successes. This process alone will take until nearly sunset, provided you don't botch it.
Mary (rolls): Three. One. Botch, using Will. That means three successes, so far, now. Dif 5 for the rest of the ritual. One. Two. Three. Two. One. One. One. Three. Seventeen successes total. What is the effect of the armoring?
Sam: The vehicle now receives six soak dice against lethal projectiles and eight dice against bashing.
Mary (ooc): Cool. Definitely looking forward to souping up this thing to its full capacity.
Sam: How about you, Nate?
Nate: Using Prime 2 to enchant the vehicle against more mystical attacks - agg damage and purely spiritual weapons. This is going to mean intense prayer to enchant a dashboard Jesus as a source of raw divine power, but I intend to sprinkle the vehicle with holy water and say blessings over it.
Sam: Okay. Dif 4, 3 Quintessence, and 15 successes on a ritual.
Nate: Damn. I'm out of Quintessence. Can I use Heart's Blood to gain three Quintessence, first?
Sam: Dif 3, if you use your specialty focus. One Quintessence and one health level of damage per success up to three.
Nate (rolls): Easily. Okay, now to enchant the minivan. (rolls) One. Two. Three. Four. Two. Two. Three. Seventeen total.
Sam: Okay. It will give the minivan its full soak dice against aggravated damage and spirit attacks, as well as providing two dice of countermagick against Effects aimed at compromising the vehicle's structural integrity.
Nate (ooc): Awesome.
Mary (ooc): We now have an armored minivan. Why does that frighten me?
Nate (ooc): Now it really is the Turtle Mobile.
Mary (ooc): When I'm done with it, it will be the Thick-Skinned Cheetah Mobile...
Sam: Homer and Allan, the kids have finally left.
Ed: It's about time. Before they go, is it possible to meditate close enough to Helm's Crag to regain Quintessence, maybe even use Prime 1 to soak up that yummy juice?
Sam: Go ahead. Only one Arete check, though. What's your focus?
Ed: Chanting might be a bit conspicuous, huh? How about if scratch runes into the ground with one of my silver knives?
Sam: Dif 4. You want to give it a shot, too, Homer?
John: Definitely. I'll just meditate, though, since that's my specialized focus for Prime. Dif 3?
Sam: Yep.
(They roll)
Ed: Damn. Botch.
Sam: Gain a point of Paradox.
John (ooc): Fail. Close to a botch, though. It's pretty bad when the Resonance of a Node is so nasty that it even curses the DICE...
Sam: Alright. It will be dark in a few more hours. You still want to explore the valley on the other side?
John: Sure. Any quick way of getting down there?
Sam: I assume you don't want any broken bones?
John: That's a given. Nothing's more difficult than trying to look menacing in a body cast...
Sam: Right. If you walk about a mile or so, the slope isn't as trecherous.
John: Sounds good. That's what we do, then.
Sam: Give me a Perception + Survival, dif 6.
(They roll)
John: Two.
Ed: None.
Bill (ooc): Wow. Perception Boy is in the dark, for once.
Ed (ooc): "Perception Boy" has four points of Alertness, but none in Survival.
Sam: Homer notices that the valley floor is kind of a sick shade of green. It looks like either a lizard's skin or a really bad place to hike.
John (ooc): Are we talking "hope you brought an extra pair of shoes" bad place to hike or "Fireswamp" bad place to hike?
Sam: The place looks really sick, Homer. Both of you give me a Perception + Awareness, dif 8.
(They roll)
John: Two.
Bill (ooc): Not bad for three dice.
Ed: Two.
Sam: As you begin your descent, you feel this sense like the wet earth of the valley floor is waiting to devour anything that sets foot there. You notice that even the sheep don't venture down here.
Ed (ooc): Well, THIS is encouraging...
John (ooc): Where else would you expect the Nephandi Flying Circus would pitch their tents?
Sam: Give me a Perception + Alertness, dif 6.
(They roll)
John: Three.
Ed: Only one. The dice just hate me tonight.
Sam: Allan can make out the figure of a human picking its way across the valley floor. It has just about gotten to the remnants of a small house that looked to have been claimed by the swamp centuries ago. Homer, you recognize the figure as the American backpacker.
John: Eric? Again? What is he doing?
Sam: It looks like he's trying to walk more quickly than the ground can suck him down.
Ed: He's walking on quicksand?
Sam: Well, it doesn't appear to quite be quicksand, just a really unpleasant quagmire. He's making progress, at least.
John (ooc): And he's not a supernatural?
Nate (ooc): Maybe he has True Faith.
Sam: Maybe.
Fanny (ooc): More like Blissful Stupidity.
John: "Well, if Eric can make it across the valley in one piece, we should be just fine."
Ed: Allan nods, and we both continue down to the valley floor.
Sam: Give me a Dex + Athletics, dif 6.
(They roll)
John: Three.
Ed: Botch.
Sam: Homer manages to maintain his footing, but Allan slips on a muddy patch and tumbles down to the valley floor. Soak Bashing 4.
Ed: Ouch. (rolls) Three successes.
Sam: You are a bit battered and bruised, but not seriously injured. Your clothes are completely soaked, though.
Mary (ooc): Vampire hunter fall down and go boom.
Bill (ooc): Well, splash, anyway.
Ed: I shake the mud and water out of my hair and wait for Homer to catch up.
Sam: He eventually reaches you. Eric is now making a B-line for higher ground. His pant legs are a bit wet.
John (ooc): He doesn't, perhaps, have the Daredevil, Lucky, or Charmed Merits?
Sam: I don't think so. Ed, soak agg 1 and lose a point of Quintessence.
Ed: What? Why?
Sam: Just do it. Homer, roll a Perception + Alertness check, dif 8.
John (rolling): Two.
Sam: Homer notices several small, slimy, black mounds attached to Allan's back through his clothes. They appear to be slowly swelling.
Fanny (ooc): Yuck, leeches!
Bill (ooc): Not just any old leeches, it seems. They're draining Quintessence. I guess that makes them mojo leeches.
John: "Um, Allan, you might want to do something about all those leeches on you."
Ed: How many of them are there?
Sam: You can't tell, but judging by Homer's tone of voice, there are quite a few of them.
Ed: Can I burn them off without hurting myself?
Sam: It would be dicey.
John: Can I scrape them off?
Sam: He'd take more damage by the time you completed the task, unless you want to give him an extremely painful shave.
Ed: What can we do about them, then.
Mary (ooc): Don't you have Prime 3?
Ed (ooc): Yes. Why?
Mary (ooc): You could enchant yourself with Prime and hurt all the creatures touching you at the cost of a point of Quintessence.
Ed: Sounds like a good idea. If I chant, it's dif 6, right?
Sam: Vulgar without witnesses. Dif 7.
Ed: Let's just hope the mojo leeches only sucked my character's mojo... Willpower. (rolls) Three successes total.
Sam: A touch on the overkill. You inflict four points of agg on each of the leeches, which only had one health level. They turn into tiny pools of goo.
Ed: "Leeches. I hate leeches."
John: Turning on Etheric Senses and Spirit Sight by looking through the guard of one of my knives.
Mary (ooc): "Thunder Sword, give me sight beyond sight."
Bill (ooc): I have a question. How much damage would Homer have taken if he had fallen down the hill with all those knives in his trenchcoat?
Sam: Let's just say it would have been a bit more than four dice of bashing...
Bill (ooc): I thought that might be the case...
John (rolling): Three successes against a difficulty of 4.
Sam: You can see the flow of magic from the surrounding mountains and the sun pouring into the valley, turning a sickly shade, and sinking into the swampy ground of the valley.
John: "I have a bad feeling about this place..."
Ed: "So do I, Homer. Of course, I guess this kind of thing was only to be expected of a place where the Nephandi Flying Circus is going to hang out."
John: We set out across the valley, looking for any unusual disturbances in the area.
Sam: Right. Homer, make a Perception + Alertness check, dif 8. Same for you, Allan, except dif 6.
(They roll)
Ed: Ambush?
Sam: Yeah. Close enough.
Ed: Eight successes, then.
John: Two.
Sam: You both manage to avoid stepping on the small nest of poisonous water snakes.
John (ooc): Poisonous snakes, too? All that's missing now are the R.O.U.S.es.
Sam: You reach the destination of the weirdness. It looks like it used to be a tower or small house, but all that's left of it now is a knee-high wall half-devoured by reeds.
John (ooc): Can I tell what it is?
Sam: It's a Node the way a sink with a half clogged drain is a bowl - the Quintessence flowing from the surrounding area is sinking into the ground here the same as it is everywhere else in the valley, but this patch of ground seems a little less permeable to the mystic flows.
John: Resonance?
Sam: A Devouring Entropic Resonance.
Ed (ooc): Adding yet another attraction for tourists visiting Grasmere...
Sam: The sun is just nearing the western horizon.
Mary (ooc): The horizon is about to beat the sun like a red-headed stepchild.
Sam: Yeah. That, too, I suppose.
John: "We should probably get back to the hotel. The others will be worried about us."
Sam: Both of you. Give me a Perception + Alertness check, dif 6. Yes, Allan. It's an ambush.
John (ooc): The R.O.U.S.es have found us!
(They roll)
John: Three successes.
Ed: Four successes.
Sam: Neither of you are taken completely by surprise when a mass of tentacles bursts from the ground and reaches for you. Initiative.
Ed (ooc): It's been a while. Wits + Alertness, right?
Sam: Yes. Dif 4.
(They roll)
John: Three.
Ed: Four successes.
Sam: It only got one. Go ahead, Allan.
Ed: No Sleepers around to see me. Filling the air around it into a raw heat. Forces 3, Prime 2. Chanting in Enochian, dif 6.
Sam: Fast casting, dif 7.
Ed: Willpower. Last two points of Quintessence to lower it to dif 5. (rolls) Four successes total.
Sam (rolling): Three points of Paradox. Steam now hangs in the air, but the mass of tentacles seems unaffected.
John (ooc): What I want to know is what the hell Cthulu is doing in the Lake District. I thought he was sleeping in R'lyeh.
Mary (ooc): Maybe HE'S on holiday, too?
John: Right. Attacking the nearest tentacle with one of my knives. (rolls) Six successes on attack. Does it dodge?
Sam: Nope. Roll damage.
John: Knife is Strength + 1 + additional successes. That's 9 dice of damage. Soak six lethal.
Sam (rolling): The tentacle is bleeding rather freely. The others are headed straight for you both. They're a little sluggish in attacking, though, so you can get one...more...action...
John (ooc): Hmm... Sam's being nice to us. I take it that's our cue to leave?
Sam: You could say that.
Ed: Okay. Allan is going to use Forces 2 to fly away. Enochian. Dif 6. Willpower. (rolls) Three successes.
Sam: You can flee to the edge of the valley and even carry Homer with you. Gain another two points of Paradox.
Ed: Doing so.
John (ooc): Didn't Eric walk past this ruin just an hour or so ago?
Sam: As a matter of fact, yes.
John (ooc): And Cthulu didn't bother him?
Sam: Nope.
John (ooc): Okay. That settles it. From now on, we stay near this kid and use him as a monster ward.
Sam: Where do you get the idea that he's immune to monster attacks?
John (ooc): Well, if he makes a bad monster ward, he'll likely make a decent monster fodder.
Bill (ooc): We're not allowed to kill him, for some reason, remember?
John (ooc): Yeah. I remember. I'm just messing around.
Ed: We're going to go back to the hotel to pick up the rest of the cabal before moonrise.
Sam: Okay. You get back about half an hour after Cristabel and Draw have had their roll in the hay.
Fanny: We're both going to use Life magic to...
Sam: We don't want to know, and no, I don't want you to roll it. Fading to black is fading to black. That's where we'll stop for the week.
