Doomsayer in Training

[Aeolus]

Posten on Reddit's /r/OffMyChest by Throwawaythesoul

"I am hurting people with magic and I'm not even sorry

Hey guys. Throwaway for obvious reasons. I know this seems farfetched but I really need to tell this to someone. This will sound super crazy, but bare with me: I think I can use actual magic like not the things in movies with the sparks and visual effects but actual magic. And every time I use it people get hurt big time.
I don't want it to stop though. See, every time someone around me gets hurt I profit from it, like loterry winning profit levels.

I guess I don't wanna hear any advice, but I wanted to get it out there."

The comments range from memes, people applauding the OP for watching out for number 1 and many, many posts asking for proof.

"What want me to come over and zap you?
But whatever, here:
[Link to a newspaper article about a sinkhole at a funeral] That was my mother's funeral. Scored me a fat inheritance.

[Link to a gas explosion in an apartment building] Won the raffle for a car around the corner. Must of been related don't you think?

Still don't believe me? For my next trick, I'm going to win me a house. Why don't you drop by if your so curious? [Link to a 'GET THAT CRIB!' promotion at a newly opened real estate agency in downtown Sacramento]"

Discussion really hasn't proven any more insightful and the thread has been closed since by the moderators.

*

'Snyder's Real Estate' is a small, ground-level real estate agency on the corner of a rather busy street in downtown Sacramento. It's glass fronts have been decorated with green baloons und bright advertisements and chipper music from inside could be heard on the street. Apparently they were pulling all the stops in order to create as much publicity as possible - and judging by the decently sized group of people gathered inside it seemed to work.
'GET THAT CRIB!' jumped at interested onlookers from basically everywhere. In order to participate, one simply had to fill out a form and pass it on to the staff, who would then add it to a big transparent plastic sphere - the Hunger Games hommage was probably only accidental, because there was a real air of excitement and joy around all of it.

But if you were to believe some throw-away account online this excitement wouldn't last.

BoxingUnicorn Belle Drakken Viggo Vincent Winter Mobius DeepSeas your story starts here.
Please add your stats, active Spells and equipment to every post (LINK).

There will be some opportunity to arrive and meet before things get moving for real.
If you wanted to dig a little before going here, include it in your first post.

And as a reminder: this plot has an experimental expected slower posting rate - this doesn't mean you can't post faster, just bring a bit of patience for the folks involved.

[Winter]

Idiots with big guns are idiots nevertheless. This kind of approach served him well throughout his life, both pre and after the big event.
There was much to be said about the merit of assuming the maliciousness of idiotic actors.
Evil people usually had a purpose, morons did whatever they wanted.
He reads and rereads the posts on his laptop.
Could be an Acanthus, but then could be an Obrimos too or a Moros for the matter.

He decides this will require a bit more of planification.

Stats

Stats: Max HP, 7 Mana, Def 3, Max WP
Inventory: Notebook, Laptop, Pens, Dedicated Tool, Smartphone, Car
Spells: None, No Dox

[Belle]

Belle browsed Reddit for many reasons. Mostly it was to look for possible shady deals or hints of Artifacts passing the rounds in the city, but she enjoyed looking at threads of cat pictures or cosplay pictures or fantasy art. She certainly wasn't planning on running across what looked like some callous Mage looking to a) go public in a big way and b) hurt a lot of innocent people in the process.

That was cause to suit up.

She parks at a nearby garage, taking a moment alone in her vehicle to weave some Prime into her senses to hopefully spot offending magics.

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-19 00:11:55	Belle rolls 7 to Rote Casting: Supernal Vision (Int + Occult + Prime) (10 Again)	8, 1, 5, 2, 4, 10, 8, 1	3 successes

As she approaches the fringes of the crowd she spots Winter and approaches, making sure she's in full sight of the Guardian. No need to possibly spook a friend. "So, you here for the crowd? Or is your name in the drawing?" She's casual in her tone, but she does cast a glance around the crowd to see if Winter had any eyes on him.

HP/9, Mana/7, WP/3, Spells/1 (Tol 3), Dox/0

Spells

Supernal Vision (Pot 2)

Equipment

Knife, Minivan, Shoulder Bag (magnifying glass, flashlight), Smartphone, Wallet, ($50 assorted), Artifact (see minisheet)

[Viggo]

Viggo used reddit as a bit of a relaxation tool overseas. A way to connect to some of the people back home when he otherwise couldn't. That practice carried over to the present day, but he was still surprised when he stumbled upon this post. He wanted to respond 'and everyone clapped,' denoting his own disbelief in the story being true. However, the linked articles made him think otherwise. He would have to check this out.

The bus let off at a stop down the street, and Viggo took his time walking there to weave some of his own magic into his senses. He'd be looking for any changes in the electromagnetic forces of the world, from Gamma Rays to Radio signals.

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-22 11:29:46	Viggo rolls 6 to Rote Casting:Read Matrices (Wits+Occult+Forces) (10 Again)	2, 9, 8, 8, 2, 6	3 successes

He spotted two other mages he'd met at Sanctuary, but chose to stay back in the crowd to take in the bigger picture.

Stats and Equipment

[1R]Read Matrices


Active Spells: 1/4
Personal Spells: 1/2
Vulgar Spells: 0

Health:
Mana:
WP:
Armor 0
Defense 2

Equipment: Iron Wand, 2x Gun (RSA Makarov PM: 2L, 8 bullets left in Magazine: Concealed in waist holsters under shirt), 2x spare Magazines for gun, Smart Phone, Zippo Lighter, Pack of Cigarettes

[Aeolus]

The three Awakened converge towards the building, various forms of Mage Sights at the ready.

For the naked eye, it was already a lot: while there wasn't a terribly big crowd outside the inside was packed with interested people - although most of this interest could be attributed to the promise of winning a brand new home.

Belle used her Supernal Vision for more information and saw the air practically buzzing with bright colors and movement. It was as if the loud advertisements were broadcasting directly into the Resonance of the place. on the first glance it didn't strike her as supernatural though.

The new Obrimos in town was similarly assaulted, albeit for different reasons. It was no surprise that for Viggo the air wasn't only buzzing with excitement, but also with all the electricity, blue-tooth waves and whatever else was used to bombard passersby with their message.
An evermoving current of energy surged through the block as lights blinked, music blared, and microphones enhanced the voice of a potbellied man. "I won't only give away a house today, with our prices you'll think the gifting has never stopped! Come on in and convince yourself!" Inside, at the end of the room the apparent owner or boss of the agency stood next to the bowl of applications, sweat glistening on his doughy face. There were four tables with forms to fill out and waiting personell to take said forms scattered and around those tables the crowd gathered.

Just to clarify: most of the action is inside, so moving forward it'd be good to know where Winter and friends are.

[Winter]

Time to get going.
Without further ado, he puts on his mage glasses and cape.
For the moment he'll stay at the back of the room, carefully monitoring the sitaution.

5 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-23 23:36:43	Winter rolls 8 to Supernal Vision Imp (10 Again)	7, 3, 8, 9, 2, 8, 9, 10, 7	5 successes

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-23 23:39:06	Winter rolls 8 to Incognito Presence Rote - Wits + Sub + Order + Mind (10 Again)	5, 8, 4, 5, 6, 9, 8, 6	3 successes

Stats

Stats: Max HP, 7 Mana, Def 3, Max WP
Inventory: Notebook, Laptop, Pens, Dedicated Tool, Smartphone, Car
Spells: Supernal Vision Imp [Pot 8, Scene], Incognito Presence Rote [Pot 3, Scene]; No Dox

[Winter]

He takes his time to observe the room. Diligently noting escape routes and potential choke points.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-27 00:08:30	Winter rolls 6 to perception (10 Again)	1, 5, 6, 4, 10, 3, 10, 2	2 successes

Stats

Stats: Max HP, 7 Mana, Def 3, Max WP
Inventory: Notebook, Laptop, Pens, Dedicated Tool, Smartphone, Car
Spells: Supernal Vision Imp [Pot 8, Scene], Incognito Presence Rote [Pot 3, Scene]; No Dox

soft bump

[Belle]

Belle is a bit put off that Winter doesn't acknowledge her question. Guess he must be in a zen mode right now. Better he stay focused, I guess.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-27 00:41:15	Belle rolls 4 to Scan the Crowd for Suspicious Individuals (Wits + Composure) (10 Again)	5, 7, 6, 5	failure

As she enters the building, she separates from Winter and tries to keep an eye out for anyone looking trigger-happy or nervous. But she's overwhelmed by the sheer excitement of everyone here, not to mention the lack of distinct shimmer in her Supernal Vision. Lucky guy must be late?

Right now she's so hung up on anything showing in her radar that the first blip she senses causes her to whirl around and...​Is that Viggo?

[mta] HP/9, Mana/7, WP/3, Spells/1 (Tol 3), Dox/0 [mta]

Spells

Supernal Vision 1R

Equipment

Knife, Minivan, Shoulder Bag (magnifying glass, flashlight), Smartphone, Wallet ($50), Artifact (see minisheet)

[Viggo]

Viggo moved with the crowd into the room with all the electrical equipment. To be honest, everything there was making his vision seem a bit like an acid trip, with every speaker, wire, and outlet glowing in various different hues. He noticed Belle spotting him and gave her a quick nod of recognition but made no move beyond that to convey that they knew each other. This was covert ops as far as he was concerned, and it was better to surprise someone with numbers rather than reveal your hand straight away.

As he made his way to the applications Viggo scanned the crowd, whoever it was that they were looking for might be beaming with overconfidence and he wanted to catch it if they were.

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-29 12:25:33	Viggo rolls 4 to Looking for signs of Overconfidence in the crowd (Wits + Empathy) (10 Again)	10, 10, 8, 2, 2, 2	3 successes

Stats and Equipment

[1R] Read Matrices

Active Spells: 1/4
Personal Spells: 1/2
Vulgar Spells: 0

Health:
Mana:
WP:
Armor 0
Defense 2

Equipment:

Stats and Equipment

Iron Wand, 2x Gun (RSA Makarov PM: 2L, 8 bullets left in Magazine: Concealed in waist holsters under shirt), 2x spare Magazines for gun, Smart Phone, Zippo Lighter, Pack of Cigarettes

[Aeolus]

Winter brought up some useful spells and scanned the room, just in case things were about to go south. The most obvious exit - and chokepoint - was the door in the middle of one of the two glass fronts of the store. Of course, every glass wall was a possible escape route if you were brave or reckless enough.
There were two doors leading to the back of the building across from the entrance, probably where the offices were and customers could have a bit more privacy with their potential real estate agents. They were closed and so far unused, since all the action took place in the front of the house. Other chokepoints or possible entry points either didn't exist or escaped the Guardian's attention.

The Warlock tried to read the room for something 'suspicious', but it turned out that people generally just acted like suspicious idiots once there was a house to be won. Too much movement, too many excited participants to really get something useful out of it. And the next time Belle was looking for Winter she even had a hard time pinpointing him. Damn those Mind tricks!
At least Viggo is recognizable enough. And maybe he would prove to be a bit more cooperative?

The Arrow meanwhile tried to move with the flow of the masses - they streamed towards the tables where the participation was registered, were guided away from those tables and stranded in a restless mass in the middle of the room. After taking a second trip through this gauntlet Viggo thought he saw three people that just didn't mesh with that flow. The first one was a balding guy with glasses dressed in an ill-fitting suit, standing outside the masses near the bowl where the drawings would happen soon. His eyes went up and down the bowl, as if he was counting the sheets of paper.
The second one was a lanky teenage girl near the entrance. Her colorful and.. interestingly matched clothes (pants with large legs, a neon green beanie hat, and an oversized shirt) made her stick out like a sore thumb and unlike most others her focus also seemed to rest on watching the crowd. Every now and then she would pull out her phone and check it.
Lastly, there was a man in his late twenties, who didn't really seem to care for all the buzz and movement around him. Hands deeply buried in his pockets, he apparently only looked at his shoes with a grim expression. He was almost dead center in the room, yet all the comings and goings navigated around him.

"We're about to close applications! Take your chance to GET! THAT! CRIB!"

Reminder that this is an experiment for a slower paced scene - so be patient everyone.
That being said, try to get in a post every week anyway