Shadows of San Francisco: Opening moves

**Thirteen** · Feb 19th, 2026 08:16 PM

Smartphone buzzed. Starbucks location info was closed and text message examined. Skye sent an alert.

Man on bench? There had been a man on a bench by the notice board. If the Arrow felt it important enough to tell her, then it must be a potential threat. One of the Goldies, most likely (yes, that was her nickname for the San Francisco Magi, and no, she was not going to stop using it). Who else would it be, here in the glorious Zinfandel Estates?

A nice advantage to wearing these sunglasses? Aside from how baller Thirteen looked in them, they also covered her eyes so it was hard to tell exactly what she was looking at (unless one was close enough). At a comfortable distance, she could pause to admire a nearby building. Her face pointed that way, her hidden brown eyes actually directed towards Bench Man. Get a nice, solid look at the man. It was brief, however. The Enchantress didn't want to seem suspicious by lingering too long. A quick photo of the building, and of the man, and off she went.

Next, casually mapping the routes in and out of the area. Jinx high overhead, helping his mistress out. Suburbs all looked alike. Quaint but pricey houses, family vehicles and neatly trimmed lawns. Rows upon rows. If you didn't live there, it could be easy to get turned around. Something similar could be said of urban streets, the Arcadian supposed.

Road Recon 3 successes

Equipment

Spells and Stats

**Skye** · Feb 21st, 2026 03:53 PM

The man unmoving well hardly a surprise, the thought of someone associated with noble jackals acting as a guard dog now that was another topic entirely regardless of however ancient Egyptians wanted to link them.

Not wanting to get to far away from her ally, there had been a few lost already and not eager to increase that number as she begins to mentally map out the pathways.

Route memorization, 2 successes

The idea of walking into the Starbucks not resonating well, the mere thought to step into any direct meeting with them herself quite frankly not one she wished to undertake without some serious planning first. Walking around the area checking for supernal markings without lingering anywhere a different tale, were they a cabal of the Pentacle upholding the great rights certainly they would leave markings be it for anywhere that would be considered a Sanctum or to which rights they upheld a different matter. Whilst grabbing for her poison necklace with a frown, to used to always have it around her neck to fiddle with during her walks to not feel its absence now.

Gear

Spells

Stats

Notes

**ReubanBrightwood** · Feb 22nd, 2026 07:44 AM

Thirteens brief look at the man show a man sitting on the bench with a hefty book in hand. From what she can make out of him he has evenly sun tanned skin, fade likely to due to the season, sandy blonde, measure somewhere in the six foot range and has sharp athletic facial features. He is wearing expensive looking jeans and some kind of leather loafers a bit at odds with the heavy parka coat used to help keep the chill off. For his part he neither looks nor acknowledges her in anyway. No supernatural sense is triggered nothing immediately seems magical or fate heavy about this man.

With her glance taken the enchantress sets about getting to know the area with the help of her faithful familiar and the pair do quite the reasonable job. Safe to say if they end up needing to run then getting lost is unlikely to be a problem.

Skye keeping her distance memorises the route Thirteen and by extension herself take, a good idea as all the streets do tend to blend into one and it could be very easy to get turned around here. She also puts her lessons into practice and looks for coat of arms or sigil that would denote the a cabal marking the safe route for the right of crossing. If they upheld it of course. Nothing immediately stands out to her. But it would be a good thing to know and from her lessons if the such a safe route is marked it likely keeps to the most public well travelled areas. The better to get mages through quickly and without a fuss.

Skye can make a wits+investigation -2 to hunt for a potential sigil and by extension safe passage through the area.

**Thirteen** · Feb 22nd, 2026 09:24 AM

Escape routes plotted out. Hidden message decoded. Meeting place found. Now what?

Thirteen wasn't enjoying herself. She was in enemy territory.

Realization hit her, and the Acanthus stopped in her tracks. Her little idea, the one she'd cooked up with Chambers, to entrap the Goldies in a Lex violation. In particular, a violation of the Great Rights. Of course they'd have Sanctums here, this cabal. At least one, anyway. It would not help River City in the slightest if she or Skye accidentally violated the Goldies' Rights.

She looked about. The Libertine had stuck to the main public streets so far. Those should be covered by the Right of Crossing. The side roads would be more of a risk. Best to avoid them. Still, just to be certain, she started checking for sigils and other warning signs. Jinx wouldn't be of any help here. The familiar wouldn't know what to look for. She'd have to teach him, later.

failure

Equipment

Spells and Stats

**Skye** · Yesterday 09:43 AM

Taking a deep breath, not feeling at ease, in enemy territory, and with someone out watching. Mouth kept shut whilst keeping her casual walk, carefully looking around without trying to give of the impression of someone doing something they shouldn´t, eyes never lingering on anything they shouldn´t for long, not wanting to get a nosy bastard starting to scream at her for some pointless reason. Making certain to pass by the house where they had met last time, not wanting it to be the first place she would walk by but knowing it served as her best source of a potential Sanctum with her current knowledge.

Where are you sigils, 1 success

But damn why did they have to change the area up so much, it was so much nicer last time she had been here, easily accessible sheds, no major sound of civilization or life, at least not to this degree. Nor able to truly avoid the slight discomfort areas like this brought forth.

Gear

Spells

Stats

Notes

**ReubanBrightwood** · Yesterday 10:37 AM

Thirteen similarly struck by the notion that the dangers of politics loom large over interactions with these mages, maybe more so then physical danger begins to scope out for sings of the safe route , only she can't find anything. She is missing it? Or does this cabal not uphold the right of crossing? Of course the same can be said of the golden Consilium mages, anything they do can be brought be to bare if it is observed. And of course the seeds of her own grand plan could be planted if she can find the window of opportunity.

Thirteen can roll Int+Poltics to see if she can work out likely places to pick up the safe route if it is exists.

Skye has a brain wave of her own, the notice board is bound to have a sigil on it somewhere, it's purpose is to attract other mages and have them read the information coded upon it's surface. Now of course that would mean placing herself back in the proximity of the guard dog if she wanted to go examine those notices again. And once she has the sigil it surely would become much more apparent to pick out from the other features of the otherwise utterly mundane and stifling neighbourhood.

If Skye does want to go back I will take your roll already made no worries there, but given it is under observation and Skye is under no compulsion to go I've left the choice to you.

**Thirteen** · Yesterday 11:31 AM

With her luck, the sigil was probably obscured by an untrimmed hedge or something.

It was a bit of a conundrum. Thirteen had to assume she was being watched, yet at the same time, she knew she'd given no reason to suspect her as anything other than a Sleeper. Her spells were cloaked, and Jinx was being (surprisingly) low-key. Magic might make navigating a bit easier, but she didn't want to risk exposure by casting anything. She could cloak her spells, sure, but that felt like a waste of Mana when she could just use her brain. Best to maintain her cover.

The logical choice, of course, was to retreat to the most public areas of the neighborhood. The local shops and cafes, where Sleepers gathered regularly. Getting there without tripping over some Goldie's private property was going to be the trick. So, the Thistle Mage took her time thinking about it.

1 success

Equipment

Spells and Stats

**Skye** · Yesterday 11:49 AM

Biting down, as she begins her walk back towards the notice board, her ever most trusted symbol allies quickly warping into quills before her eyes, showing signs to poke the watchdogs eyes out. An intrusive thought, fueled with a perhaps overly annoyance at him and all that he represents but stopping it there with a calming breath. Walking up to the noticeboard with normal steps, showing neither sign of worry nor caution that would only make her stand out more.

Eyes carefully looking it over, reaching out her hand towards some of the innocent papers and pulling it back, taking extra care to watch the places where no paper was, no they shifted, new ones came and went, surely they would be placing any potential marks such as that somewhere permanent, somewhere where they would always be present, but starting with permanently visible areas before any attempts to try and look under papers and make herself truly standout would be the idea.

Gear

Spells

Stats

Notes

**ReubanBrightwood** · Yesterday 01:46 PM

Spell cloaks are good especially on ritual cast spells but they are not a full proof grantee if some has the sight up and a decent grasp of what to look for. So Thirteens and yes Jinx's to, cautious approach displays the great wisdom required when the conflict is one of a more subtle nature, like the very one they find themselves embroiled in.

Navigation without seeing the sigils would be down to luck, and a little bit of sound judgement. Keeping to public areas I a good plan and it stands to reason that with an open invitation to the Starbucks that night if a safe route did exist in this place it would included the coffee chain store, mages would after all need a safe route to reach the place. As much for their own peace of mind as much as that of the golden mages. Now the question is does she risk going so close to the proverbial lions den?

Skye calmly and carefully goes back up to the notice board, the one she has dubbed as watch dog, Anubis is still sitting, reading rather content looking. A dam sight less annoying when he is not running his mouth looking to antagonise. She lets er drift to the premiant features of the board old notices, the wood itself and behold there atop the board in the place a traditional village crest would is a carven likeness of a suspension bridge, something San Francisco is famous for but with much less so Sacramento.

**Thirteen** · Yesterday 02:36 PM

The big money question: Was she actually going to attend this Starbucks meeting? The Arcadian Mage hadn't thought about it too deeply. Their goal here was to learn what they could, and sitting in on this meeting would surely be educational. However, she would also be revealing herself to the outsiders. Would that be worth it? And what was Skye planning?

Where the hell even was the Thyrsus?

Slowly, Thirteen was picking her way back towards the public square, like she was a child making her way towards 'home base' in a game of tag. She held her phone to her ear, pretending she was in a conversation. The occasional 'Yes,' 'Uh-huh' or 'I know' was uttered. Cautious was the name of the game, because she did not rely on her natural luck.

Exposed. That's how she felt. Like a rabbit in a wide, empty field, with hawks circling unseen overhead. Threatening eyes upon her back.

Thankfully, the only actual bird overhead was friendly.

Once, and if, she made it to the shopping area safely, the Acanthus would find some small storefront to lurk in and think.

Equipment

Spells and Stats

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-19 19:12:17	Thirteen rolls 6 to Road Recon Int + Comp +1 teamwork (10 Again)	10, 5, 1, 9, 7, 7, 8	3 successes
2026-02-19 19:11:28	Thirteen rolls 5 to Jinx Teamwork Int + Comp (10 Again)	8, 3, 6, 1, 7	1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-21 14:41:51	Skye rolls 4 to Memorize routes (int+comp) (10 Again)	10, 4, 9, 2, 6	2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-22 08:23:33	Thirteen rolls 3 to Sigils? Wits + Investigation -2 (10 Again)	1, 1, 4	failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-23 08:29:52	Skye rolls 1 to Hunt for sigils (wits+inv-2) (10 Again)	9	1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-02-23 10:29:07	Thirteen rolls 2 to Int + Politics retry (10 Again)	4, 9	1 success
2026-02-23 10:28:13	Thirteen rolls 3 to Int + Politics (10 Again)	5, 1, 4	failure

Shadows of San Francisco: Opening moves

Similar Threads

Open Night Moves Ch 1 First Contact

Elysium (2404) Learning the moves

(On the Hunt) Moves Like Jagger

Nox Grand Opening: Nox

Paradisum (Old Tars) The Streets of San Francisco