Con Spells Cloaked
Supreme Aug:Pre+3 Man+2 dur 12hrs;Skill Mastery Socialize+2 Persuasion+4 dur 12 hrs
There is a house - not an overly large house - that is caught between the city's development and its infrastructure. It must surely be one of the last on its block: a parcel of land being steadily shrunk by the spreading rejuvenation of the city south of the downtown core, and squeezed hard by the imposing impassability of a freeway. One day, the creeping redevelopment will claim this house, but for now it still stands - hiding behind a fence with peeling paintwork and a thick screen of mangy bushes that have really not survived or recovered from the long drought.
This house is a last, lingering, remnant of a Sacramento that has long since gone.
Kaze Ruach and Phoenyx Xadun know about this house from their walks and nights out together. The area always seemed to set their sixth sense going whenever they passed. Not enough to be a concern but enough to make them notice: a low, but persistent, shiver. Recently that sensation has become more potent. Neither mage can say exactly when this change happened, which given their recent history is understandable.
Both Awakened, each in their own way, come to the realisation that something has changed around the house. Something that needs to be investigated.
Morgan CannibalCat doesn't have such a prosaic or long time connection to the area. She has only just arrived in the area - and noticed how her Unseen Senses respond when she is near the house; and how the tingles and shivers have become much more insistent recently.
And your adventure starts here
There weren't many benefits to going around town naked. Metaphorically, of course. Though vulnerability did have one strength. It left the senses exposed. Just as skin left unexposed could sense the subtle movements of the wind, so, too, could the soul sense the elusive eddies of the supernatural world.
Morgan had first felt it as the teeth of the Beast's tires were eating up mile after mile on the freeway through Sacramento. One moment she had been roaring over the asphalt, confident behind the wheel of the GNX, and in the next moment, it was as though she were driving through a frozen stream, icy waters brushing against her skin and leaving her shivering.
The first time, she'd been too surprised to make a note of where this had happened. The second, she was able to mark the nearest exit, and the third time, well, the third time it had felt like she'd driven into a freezing ocean, and so she'd taken the exit and decided to get to the bottom of this, once and for all.
She parked the GNX in front of the house, the source of the icy shiver running through her, and took a few moments to focus her will and wrap a shroud of warping armor around herself and a veil of death over her eyes. Then, she cranked the volume on the Sunn 0))) blasting from the Buick's speakers and stepped out of the car.
The house loomed before her.
Sighing, she leaned back against the hood of her car and stared up at the house. What, exactly, was causing the disturbance?
2 successes, Spess Armor!2 successes, Grim SightSpace Armor 2e, pot 2, -1 mana. Death Sight, pot 2
Kaze parks his truck several blocks away, making sure he is both magically protected and that his spells are cloaked and his aura is transformed to appear like an ordinary Sleeper. Then he walks over to the area where the house to be investigated is...changed. He's wearing black trousers and a solid black shirt and a brown leather padded jacket with a leather satchel.
Spells
His relator had taken him by this house several times while he was house hunting, but just driving past the place gave him the willies, so they kept on moving. After recent events exploring odd places, he was ready to come back and examine the place further.
He pulls his Wrangler in behind the big Buick. Curiously staring at, whom he assumes to be the driver. After a moment of intense scrutiny he grabs his big black [strike]old[/strike] vintage doctors bag and approaches.
He offers the lady and the quickly approaching Case his best (and awful) attempt at a two-step, a doff of an imaginary cowboy hat, and a barely identifiable John Wayne impersonation, "Howdy Pardner, what brings you to these here parts?"
2 successes -1 mana armor3 successes sight3 successes scrutiny
Surprise, surprise, it seemed that she'd attracted attention, leaning against her car and blasting atmospheric metal to assault the eardrums of everyone nearby. But when the Wrangler pulled up and some bald headed, catch-a-predator looking jabroni started staring at her, Morgan realized the shit was about to hit the fan. 'Cause sure, being a woman with tattoos on her head, it was probably stupid to assume no one would stare every now and then, but she wasn't just some punk: she was one of the Awakened, and in the Awakened world, staring was invariably a challenge.
So she stared back. There was obviously a miasma of magic surrounding this guy, but what kind of magic? Who was he?
She Scrutinized the shit out of him, all his secrets now belonging to her (or, at least, that's what she told herself as she picked apart the clues that the Veil of Death laid before her eyes).
Oh, but then, then it got better! Then, he strolled up doing some kind of Good Ol' Boy routine, which, yeah, meant shit was probably about to get real. Was this some kind of Seer stash house?
"This your house?" Morgan shot back. "Think there might be a gas leak. Probably should get someone out here to take a look at it."
Scrutiny, 3 successes
Date Action Roll Result 2020-01-01 12:16:23 Morgan rolls 6 to scrutiny (int+occ) (10 Again) 6, 1, 8, 9, 7, 9 3 successes
Scrutiny: Identification, Composition, Mastery
Assaulting your eardrums
Kaze nods amiably at Anima, then smiles pleasantly at Morgan. Then he shrugs, "Like the Lady said, I guess. I'm here to take a look at this place. Something funny about it, right? Like maybe, 'Corporate' business."
He turns to stare intently at the house, murmuring and gesturing quietly.
Prime Mage Sight, Cloaked and Scrutiny on House
Three mages gather before the house. So far, no Sleeper has taken notice they are even there.
Morgan CannibalCat arrives first. The Grim Sight doesn't have anything specific to add; only the house seems more solid under her Sight than the other buildings nearby. A trick of the local resonance, perhaps - or a clue to a deeper mystery: the Moros won't know without further study. As to that...
Anima Mark arrives next, parking his Wrangler behind Morgan's Buick. He takes... time... as he exits his vehicle while he scrutinises the as yet unknown Moros. And of course, Morgan returns the favour once the Shaman makes his presence felt. The weight of her gaze is enough to distract the Thyrsus from realising the importance of just how strong the local Gauntlet is.
Anima clock's Morgan's Awakened nature and her signature easily enough. Through the haze of her aura he makes out the two active spell-glyphs on her person: the purple hued glyph of the Grim Sight and a grey coloured Armouring glyph.
Morgan clocks Anima's Awakened nature as well. Her gaze is more focussed on the glyph's floating within it, so she notes the tag team of green Life (an Armouring glyph) and yellow Spirit (a Sight glyph). She can also tell that the Glyph's are more lasting, ritual, spells as well.
Kaze arrives last of all so much of the awkwardness of the scene (two mages putting each other to the Scrutiny) is missed on him. The Apostate has Supernal Vision active but in this case, his Prime aspected Sight shows nothing out of the ordinary apart from the other mages.
Three mages gather before the house. So far, no Sleeper has taken notice they are even there.
Morgan CannibalCat arrives first. The Grim Sight doesn't have anything specific to add; only the house seems more solid under her Sight than the other buildings nearby. A trick of the local resonance, perhaps - or a clue to a deeper mystery: the Moros won't know without further study. As to that...
Anima Mark arrives next, parking his Wrangler behind Morgan's Buick. He takes... time... as he exits his vehicle while he scrutinises the as yet unknown Moros. And of course, Morgan returns the favour once the Shaman makes his presence felt. The weight of her gaze is enough to distract the Thyrsus from realising the importance of just how strong the local Gauntlet is.
Anima clock's Morgan's Awakened nature and her signature easily enough. Through the haze of her aura he makes out the two active spell-glyphs on her person: the purple hued glyph of the Grim Sight and a grey coloured Armouring glyph.
Morgan clocks Anima's Awakened nature as well. Her gaze is more focussed on the glyph's floating within it, so she notes the tag team of green Life (an Armouring glyph) and yellow Spirit (a Sight glyph). She can also tell that the Glyph's are more lasting, ritual, spells as well.
Kaze arrives last of all so much of the awkwardness of the scene (two mages putting each other to the Scrutiny) is missed on him. The Apostate has Supernal Vision active but in this case, his Prime aspected Sight shows nothing out of the ordinary apart from the other mages.
Out for a walk, Phoenyx feels a strange pull as she passes over one of the routes she once shared. With Kaze. She grimaces as the thought seeps through her mind. It wasn't even dulled, just.... there, a memory that wouldn't go away.
She pulled her duster more tightly around her - it was quite cold - and paused, deciding what to do. With a small sigh, the Arrow follows her instincts and turns down the path to the old house.
It seemed there was already a small cluster watching. And of course. Of course he had felt something too. The older man, the Thyrsus... she realised she hadn't caught his name, but the sigils dancing around him and the third, unknown person were clear as day. Huh. Strange. Fate truly is fickle, drawing all manner of people.
Slowly the Obrimos made her way up the street. She joins the group, her expression a mask. "So. You felt it too?" She asks Kaze, giving Anima a nod and looking at Morgan questioningly.
Sorry I'm late. I held off on doing proper intros from Morgan since the Book Store scene hasn't entered continuity yet, though probably will before this one and make Morgan's intro a little easier? I'll leave that call to Yumyumcrow
Technically both scenes are happening 'at the same time' or close enough in time to be considered so. Papercuts has two weeks left to run and so will enter Continuity first. I leave the rest to your conjecture but to keep things simple, I'd say that Phoenyx and Morgan at least know of each other...