Sam: When last we left our unwilling delinquints, they had discovered the form of Serenity Hospital's destroyer. Anyone figure out a way out of this one, yet?
Ed (ooc): Can't we just whip up a big counterspell with Prime?
John (ooc): That would attract their attention and prove that mages are involved with the hospital. They'd only build more and bigger Effects to grind us under their heel.
Mary (ooc): That or sic one or more of the other Conventions on us.
Bill: "First thing's first. We need to find out whether the hospital is the victim of the spell or whether they're targeting some or all of us."
Nate: "I can manage that much." Prime 1. Two successes on a Prime scan enough to find the active Effect and determine its target or targets?
Sam: Yes. It appears the hospital itself is the target, though they also included Walter in the Effect to be sure he didn't get any clever ideas.
Nate: Walter relays this information.
Bill: "That means we can pay the bills if we can get the money from somewhere other than the hospital's accounts. How much money are we talking about here?"
Nate: Sam?
Sam: About ten thousand pounds.
Mary: With Resources 4, could Clara provide a stop gap until we can produce a more permanent solution?
Sam: Yes.
Mary: "It will cost me dearly, but I can hold off disaster, for now."
Nate: "Thank you, Clara."
Bill: "Next, we need to find a way to eliminate the effects of the spell without alerting the suits." Did Walter find out what Spheres are involved?
Sam: Yes. Entropy and Forces.
Bill (ooc): How much Experience does Christabel have, Fanny?
Fanny (ooc): 36.
Bill (ooc): Enough for Correspondence 3, in other words.
Fanny (ooc): Is it?
John (ooc): Yes. And I have enough for Entropy 3, which I'm going to need in just a moment.
Bill (ooc): Reading my mind, John.
John: "Christabel, are you able to encourage those responsible for the spell affecting the hospital to leak their plans to the media?
Fanny (ooc): Could she?
Sam: With Cor 3, yes.
Fanny (ooc): Can I buy that?
Sam: Yes.
Fanny: "I have never attempted so potent a Correspondence Effect, before, but I will try." Cor 3, Mind 3. Specialty foci. Performing a ritual near the Node.
Sam: Absent target. Coincidental. Dif 4.
John (ooc): Remember that it will likely cost five or six extra successes just for the Correspondence range, and the target probably has a lot of Willpower.
Fanny: Right. Two. Two. One. Two. Three. Three. Two. Three. Eighteen enough? Six into range, two into duration, and ten into potency.
Sam: You're reasonably certain one of the friends of Voldemart will be leaking the Wicked Plans to the media very soon.
Ed (ooc): So, you've decided on Voldemart after all?
Sam (ooc): Sure.
John: Excellent. Homer's turn. Going to have Walter write a check to Voldemart. Getting an address for their billing department and addressing a letter to them. Entropy 3 and Forces 3. Casting as a ritual near the Node. In essence, arranging for them to deposit the check without question, but once the funds from the check enter the account, one of the Voldemart computers will hack into the hospital's financial institution and move all its funds into the voldemart account, after which it will cover up its tracks badly and send several incriminating emails back and forth between executives, forging time stamps before deleting them so no one ever notices.
Sam (ooc): I don't know, John. That would take a lot of successes and probably also Correspondence.
John (ooc): If you'd rather, I could just have Christabel and Draw track down the responsible suits and then Homer could hunt them down and assassinate them. I thought this might keep us from having to break Rule One...
Sam: Distant target. Outlandish feat. Difficulty 6.
John: One. Wow. Four. And again. The gods of gaming clearly want this spell to succeed. Two. Two. None. Dif 7. One. One. Two. I'm not pushing my luck farther than that. Seventeen. Three into duration, Ten into effect. Five into making it subtle.
Sam: You hand your letter bomb over to a friendly postal employee.
John: Homer explains what he's done, of course.
Mary: "In that case, I think I'll hold off on writing all those checks, for now. Walter, we'll need to work on your story."
Nate: "The hospital's accounts have suddenly dropped to nothing overnight, right?"
Fanny: "Won't the suits' spell keep the bank from noticing anything is amiss, though?"
Mary: "Good point. We'll need to break the spell immediately before you go to the bank."
Ed: "I can do that, I think."
Bill: "For now, though, we'll need to wait for the shit to hit the fan. Who's up for a pub crawl? I'm buying."
John: "Edinburgh Ale Trail? I could use a new black T-shirt."
Bill: "I could definitely go for ten pints, right now."
Mary: "You realize you can drink halfs and still get the shirt, right?"
Bill: "Half pints are for wimps. Even hobbits won't touch less than a pint, if they can get away with it."
Mary: "Have you ever considered the possibility that you might have a drinking problem, Draw?"
Bill: "What I have is a not drinking problem. I suggest we remedy that as soon as possible."
John: "I'm up for it. Sabotaging the plans of evil corporations is thirsty work."
Fanny: "Yes, it is. I'm in."
Ed: "Same here."
Mary: "Someone has to keep you four out of trouble."
Nate: "Two someones, I fear."
Sam: "You are soon joined in your pub crawl by about a dozen backpackers of varying nationalities and two burly chaps in kilts.
Ed (ooc): Why are the backpackers wearing kilts?
Sam: The burly chaps are wearing the kilts. The backpackers aren't.
Ed (ooc): Oh.
John: Are any of them wearing mirror shades, by any chance?
Sam: No.
Bill: Are they especially unruly or threatening?
Sam: They're a bit unruly, but not to the point of being dangerous, as far as you can tell. They seem to be as interested in drinking as you are.
Bill: Do they appear to be together, or is the presence of two of them at once simply a coincidence?
Sam: They are obviously together. Their tongues appear to be getting looser as you move from pub to pub, too. They mention some business in Edinburgh that is taking too long to complete, to which another mutters about the number of scents in the area and how it's hard to figure out which is the right one.
Bill (ooc): Ah. I was wondering when that part of my background would show up.
Mary (ooc): Please tell me you didn't take that adversarial Background, Bill...
Bill (ooc): I did, but we took care of it already. This is what I bought with that, I suspect.
Mary (ooc): That's good, I hope.
Bill: Draw grins broadly at them. "So, what's the prey?"
Sam: The red-haired one grunts. "Mind your own business."
Bill: "Just curious whether it's Weaver or Wyrm."
Sam: The red-haired one grabs you by the front of the shirt and lifts you off the ground. "Who are you?"
Bill: "A distant relative. This is not the place for conversation. My friends and I have a safe place where we can talk after."
Sam: He glances at the blond one and then slowly puts you down. The blond one simply says, "We'll accept your hospitality. Now drink." Anyone doing anything else to aggravate these blokes?
John (ooc): Gee. Let me think. Um, no.
Sam: Great. You get your T-shirts and go back to the apartment with your new friends.
John (ooc): Somehow, I don't think we can take two werewolves without the element of surprise on our side, especially since Allan and I are the only ones with silver weapons.
Bill (ooc): Oh, they'd rip us all to shreds long before we had a chance to use those.
Sam: The red-haired one growls at Homer. "This one carries much silver. Why?"
John: "I must be equipped to deal with many possible foes."
Sam: "Only one use for silver weapons, and that is to hurt Garou."
Bill: "Dancers also fear silver, sir, and we have just returned from Grasmere."
Sam: The blond one raises an eyebrow. "What business did you have in Grasmere?"
Bill: "Fighting the Wyrm as best we could."
Sam: The red-haired one barks a laugh. "The servants of the Wyrm would kill you in an instant, cousin, if you were lucky."
Bill: "The Wyrm has many servants, and we are not so poorly equipped for battle as you may think."
Sam: The blond one nods. "Our cousin speaks the truth. We stand among magi, William." The red-haired one grunts. The blond continues, "You had a hand in Grasmere? We had heard the fight was between Weaver and Wyrm."
Bill: "The servants of the Wyrm were numerous. Their goal was to bring a great Bane into the world. We disrupted their ritual and killed many of their number with our magic. Many were our wounds, however, so we were forced to call the Weaver for help before making our retreat. It is true they did their share of the killing."
Sam: "Then you are the ones we seek. I am Bruce MacCloud of the Fianna. We have a proposal for you. It has come to our attention that the Wyrm has built a bastion of power within the ranks of the Weavers. They have been committing such horrors as binding Banes to children's toys to give them false life. Now, they seek to market these black fetishes to the humans of Edinburgh at a shop they intend to build here soon."
Mary: "Voldemart."
Sam: "Yes. We have located their factory in the Americas, and it is only a matter of time before we attack and destroy it and all its stores. However, the first shipments of tainted goods have already been shipped to a warehouse somewhere in London, where we have only a handful of Bone Gnawers, none of whom has been able to find it. You were able to detect the Wyrm's plans in Grasmere before anyone - Weaver or Garou. If you can help direct us to this warehouse's location, we would be most grateful."
Fanny: "I think I could help you with that. Do you have a sample of the spirit inhabiting those toys?"
Sam: "I can arrange for you to have access to one."
Bill: "We are familiar with Voldemart's business practices, so an alliance with the Wyrm does not surprise us, coming as it does from them. We will assist you in this matter as a gesture of good will."
Mary: Clara gives Draw a look but says nothing.
Sam: "I will call a gaffling to watch over you. When you have more information, speak my name, and I will find you."
Bill: "Glory to Gaia."
Sam: "And to Luna. Now and forever." He departs.
Nate: "Who were they?"
Bill: Draw shrugs. "Werewolves."
Ed: "Werewhats?"
Bill: "Werewolves. Shapeshifters who could rip the arms off a Wookiee, if they got pissed off enough at one."
Mary: "How do you know?"
Bill: "Well, the kilts were my first clue."
Mary: "The kilt is a traditional garment. Why would it scream 'wolfman?'"
Bill: "Well, I imagine that it's better not to be wearing a thong when you transform into a nine-foot-tall deathbeast.
Nate: "Fashion no-no?"
Bill: "Wedgie from hell. At least in a kilt, you don't have anything to interfere with the family jewels when they swell to the size of grapefruits."
John: "I can certainly see where that would be uncomfortable."
Bill: "Not just uncomfortable. It's a leading cause of werewolf infertility. Oh, the elders of the other tribes will blame it on death at the hands of the Wyrm's minions, an unwillingness among young Garou to embrace their destiny, or a sperm count lowered by exposure to Wyrm-tainted pollutants in our increasingly deforested world, but the Fianna know that the secret to maintaining reproductive viability is not to wear undergarments that will constrict your sex organs when you Change. It doesn't mean the difference between impotence and a population explosion, but it's certainly a start."
Mary: "That would certainly explain the naked Celtic warrior thing we used to hear about in school. Change into something that shreds all your clothes and then Change back."
Bill: "No. They fought naked because they were Celts."
Ed: "Well, I'm exhausted and drunk, so I think I'm going to go to bed, now."
John: "What? You don't want to spar with me for a while before bed?"
Mary: Clara gives Homer a Look.
John: "Just kidding. I'll turn in, as well."
Fanny: "Ready to get Celtic with me, Draw?"
Bill: "I'm drunk, and I'm always better in bed when I'm drunk. Perhaps I could learn that partial transformation trick of yours, tonight..." (ooc) Ah, the wonders of Life 3.
Nate (ooc): Yuck.
Mary (ooc): Yeah. Some of us would rather not know.
Sam: Everyone going to bed, then? When you wake up, the news is full of coverage of Voldemart's plans to build a store somewhere in the immediate vicinity of Serenity Hospital. There is talk of cleaning up the neighborhood that is always associated with any business's attempt to make it look like driving the poor into another part of town actually makes them less poor.
John (ooc): Still waiting for the chance to reveal my evil plan, but this is a good start.
Sam: And that's where we'll end for the night.
ST (Sam) - Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Clara (Mary) - Mary Shelley
Christabel (Fanny) - Fanny Brawne
Draw (Bill) - William Blake
Homer (John) - John Keats
Walter (Nate) - Nathaniel Hawthorne
Allan (Ed) - Edgar Allan Poe