(Spiritual Diplomacy) Etiquette

[Mark]

The gang of wolves, with their assortment of gifts of and skills, are much like a little pack as they set off. Each naturally fitting into their role with their banter.

The Hisil is particularly wild this evening. Something is coming, they can all feel it like the change of air pressure as a storm front moves in. Coyotes yip in the distance, calling to each other, a chorus working in concert to warn one another and anyone listens that the wolves are hunting.

Several eerie blocks go by, buildings that shift from completely translucent shadows to nigh opaqueness and back. Ahead, they can spy the origin of the red and blue lights. Roadwork-Ahead and several others like it are milling about outside a building that seems very real.

Spirits zip past like lightening at a safe distance, a flurry of activity, then a moment of complete stillness, then more activity. Packets Pockets of strange amalgamations, some bits and pieces of machinery and technology personified, others wholly alien, mill about. Occasionally the door opens and scraps of papers, thumb drives, and mouse cursers are tossed out. They flee, attempting to escape, but are quickly devoured by the throng. As the sound of the coyotes call reach their ears, they scatter. The wolves find themselves staring at a building in a suddenly desolate parking lot.

[Chris Laurent]

Chris shifts to look where Nathaniel indicated. "Works for me. Just let me know if we're going to waltz into a murder spirits deathhouse again. That was a bit much last time." A shudder runs through the Irraka as multiple memories flash behind his eyes for a moment. As the group arrives at the now thankfully boring parking lot Chris takes a moment to look around.

"I was going to bet that was a spirit of a police cruiser but..." He glances at the two Crescents cause they may have an idea of what the hell that is.

  1 suxx for Int+Occult to have an idea of what the building is

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-19 21:43:18		Chris rolls 3 to Spirit building? (Int2+Occ1=3) (10 Again)		1, 7, 10, 6		1 success

[Matt Joule]

"No mercy for old tech." Matt observes, unconcerned. He smiles in predatory fashion, "Ready for a 'ballroom blitz' if that's how it goes." He says. "If talking doesn't work out." He adds smirking at Emily.

"Whatever."

Despite his surly and nonchalant demeanor, Matt takes an interest in the scraps of paper, checking for snippets of code or passwords written down against all warnings.

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-20 10:19:07		Matt Joule rolls 6 to investigate scraps of spirit paper (Int 4 + Investigation 2) (10 Again)		1, 10, 5, 7, 5, 5, 7		1 success

[Nathaniel Dormur]

Well that was...

Unnerving. The trip was relatively uneventful, but this? The Blue and Red lights were immediately reminiscent of a police car, and that was the only major tell Nate could find. Tech spirits weren't his specialty, so if one of those was the cause... Chris asked for Nate's advice. He gave what he could.

   Understand the Building

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-20 14:50:31		Nathaniel rolls 6 to What Kind of Spirit? (Intelligence 3 + Occult 3) (10 Again)		7, 3, 2, 5, 8, 4		1 success

"That's the biggest tell. Not sure if it's normal to see such spirits here." Any emergency service vehicles would have a place in a city, the crescent supposed- though here specifically? Did that mean anything? A scratch of his head, when Matt's words light a bulb.

"Huh. No, Matt... That's a good point. Maybe the building's a manifestation of advancing times? Technology spirits have to be booming in a city like this- spirits representing old tech might be easy prey for the newest thing. An endless loop." And the herd's fetishization of it could easily empower and advance such beings in a short time, until the next big thing came about. What a cycle... Though that was just one possibility, and Nathaniel's best guess at the moment.

Perhaps his sister would know more.

[Emily Makerith]

The Murder spirit. Now that was a nasty customer. Emily shivers. "Thanks, man. Just the kinda thing I needed to remember! Quite the motivational speaker you make huh?" she quips.

She stares at the gathering. "Looks like we're on course for finding one of the hangouts of the Object choir... Oh, and Chris, watch out for the traffic-warden-type-guy, Roadwork-Ahead. He can be.... testy."

But then the howls... and things seem to disperse.

"Uh..... okay..... hmmm," the crescent mumbles. "Real-ish places suggest a lot of belief and influence - Like how you can see my home - so we're must be in the right lines for a useful place. Not sure quite how I feel about the howls and the scattering though." She scratches her head. "Let's go inside and look around."

The Ithaeur leads the way towards the building entrance, and heads inside.

[Mark]

Chris

Some buildings are spirits themselves as a places resonance develops from the people that are there. The stronger and more consistent the emotions the more resonance the place becomes accustomed to. This building is clearly a store of some kind in the material world, but you're unsure of what resonance has influenced it and how.

A scrap of paper was able to get away from the feeding frenzy, it moves as if blown in the wind, near enough for Matt to grab it. He looks hard at the being, thinking he'll decipher some code on it.

Matt

Matt grabs the scrap of paper, please roll Resolve+composure.

  1success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-22 11:54:54		Someone rolls 5 to does Something (10 Again)		1, 8, 1, 1, 2		1 success

Nate

recognizes Roadwork Ahead a traffic light spirit, was milling about with several other spirits, some like it were traffic lights, others were various vehicles, one of them was definitely the spirit of a police cruiser.

Emily leads the microcosm of the pack inside, and is immediately greeted with by a man in a polo shirt, no it's man with a tablet where his chest should be and a face on the tablet , blinking it's a man in a polo shirt again, "Welcome to Verizon," angry tablet is back, hand angrily jabbing itself in the 'face' "C-c-c-c-Can I log you in, did you already make an appointment online?"

[Matt Joule]

Matt looks hard at Nathaniel as the young scholar seems to be correcting him, but though intense, it is only a brief glance as he turns his full attention back to his surroundings and lets the spirit type wolfs talk about their spirit type stuff to each other in the background. Blah, blah, blah, murder, blah, blah, blah.

He stabs the spirit paper note thing and studies it.

Roll(s)

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-22 16:26:42		Matt Joule rolls 4 to decipher spirit code (resolve 2 + Composure 2) (10 Again)		5, 9, 3, 5		1 success

Sorry, I added an additional, unsolicited roll that you can and should totally ignore if it doesn't apply; I just wanted to get Matt's computer skill pool out there for if it does apply at some point, I will be happy to re-roll it any time you say.

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-23 10:58:11		Matt Joule rolls 10 to unsolicited computer hack skillz (Intelligence 4 + Computer 5 + spec hacking 1) (10 Again)		10, 10, 1, 5, 7, 6, 2, 5, 7, 8, 1, 7		3 successes

[Chris Laurent]

A nod in agreement with the Rahu, lot easier to fight spirits than to talk with them. Then Chris listens as the two Crescents share their thoughts. "Honestly most spirits are testy to me so if you're saying Roadwork-Ahead is worse I'll avoid it until we have to teach it a lesson." Trailing at the back of the group Chris keeps an eye out for anything that might be trying to roll up on the pack.

And hides a grin behind a hand as the spirit welcomes them to Verizon. Then pauses, why the hell is a Verizon store reflecting into the Hisil?

[Nathaniel Dormur]

Spirits gathering, spirits one might associate with the city. Vehicles, traffic lights, traffic cruisers... Were they associated with the growing conflict, or merely passerbys? "Those howls are more than a little eerie..." was it a signal of sorts between spirits? It caused everything else to scatter. Players in the fights to come?

He was glad to be inside the building- though that just presented even more questions. "Of all the things..." Was the store materialized because of all the tech it harbored? Or had some event made it manifest.... And the greeter. A separate spirit, or a part of the building?

He eyed Emily, deciding to let her have the first word here- taking a moment to peer across to the physical world, utilizing the crescent's gifts. Could anything on the other side provide answers? It was worth a shot. "I'm looking across..."

  Two World Eyes, 2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-24 09:51:28		Nathaniel rolls 8 to Two World Eyes (Wits 2 + Occult 3 + Wisdom 3) (10 Again)		8, 5, 7, 4, 6, 8, 2, 7		2 successes

His left eye remained normal, viewing the Shadow. The other became as the night sky, void and speckled with starlight, peering across. What would he see?...

  Perception, 3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-24 11:21:32		Nathaniel rolls 5 to Perception (Wits 2 + Composure 3) (10 Again)		6, 6, 8, 10, 5, 8		3 successes

Success: The character can see and understand what’shappening on both sides of the Gauntlet without penalty. It lasts one turn per success. P. 104 of Forsaken Core for the full text.

[Emily Makerith]

"Oh, cheer up Nate," the Ithaeur chuckles.

Emily looks up at the tablet-man, blinking. "Sure, log us in. We don't have an appointment, but we're looking to trade information," She says brightly. It didn't always matter to Spirits, but no harm on being nice to service providers.

While she talked, the Crescent reached out to the Ithalunim, trying to learn a little about the Spirit before her.

  5 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2020-04-25 06:05:06		Emily rolls 7 to Read Spirit: Int+Occ+Cunning (10 Again)		5, 9, 9, 7, 10, 3, 8, 10, 7		5 successes

.... huh. Well, An E-success on Read Spirit gives "one specific fact about the spirit that could prove pertinent to the story" (WtF Core p105), plus the benefits of a regular success. So, Emily will learn the name, type and rank of the spirit fromthe base success, and it;s Power, Finesse, Resistance and any Charms on it (one fact for every success after the first).

That's... quite on point for people looking for an information spirit.