PRP: DYLF: All Faith Cremation

[ReubanBrightwood]

Firstly you have no flashlight even on your phone all electronics are useless right now. Secondly if you fail a roll like the one the one to stay composed, fail the task either narrate not doing what he would do or being negatively impacted in some way e.g. dropping the phone or letting out a noise. But the paradox roll looks right, good work there

So now the only light came from the burning guts of the machine a deep and subdued fire encased in a dark metal body. The figure cast in horrifying shadow and Philip must have lost his orientation in the sudden dark for longer then he realised because before he can get anywhere else with his failed spell. The metal door at the top of the stairs opens. Electric lights flooding in.

'Sir, sir are you alright. It seems the heat has blown a fuse. Please head carefully towards to the stairs and exit.' The outline of what must be his guide fills the doorway.

If Philip looks back for the burned and melted figure. Its gone. Just as silently and completely as it had arrived. Although the temperature remains very high.

[Philip Crosen]

But Philip had been frustrated. He`d tried turning on his lamp on in the dark, but it didn`t work. While he then attempted his spell and it failed, he`d at least managed to stop his chanting before he`d heard his guide opening the big metal doors into the basement where he`d been. Completely dark, so he was temporarily almost blinded when the lights shone in from up the stairs illuminating just himself. The other entity apparently shied the light because he was nowhere to be seen. So Philip turned his thoughts to damage control. And to the fact that getting a second look at that room would be quite difficult from now on and would require some serious planning.
"Yeah, it must have been some heat-based damage that blew a fuse or such, suddenly the temperature in there spiked and then it happened. Anyway, I did get the chance to think about Mothisa quite a bit and I took great comfort in being where she was, even though I was mostly in darkness. And how she`s now in a better place. So thanks for letting me be in here as long as you did."
He wanted to get away from that area as quickly as possible. But he also tried reassuring the guide he`d done the right thing leaving him in there and that the incident was just bad luck and no need to have a bad feeling about anything.
"And remember that you don`t have any responsibility for any of this. I won`t say anything about this if you want."
He also tried turning on his phone as soon as he was back in the main area of the building as he was unsure if the supernatural effects down there had permanently damaged his phone.

Did the effects in the room permanently damage his phone(and order tool) and/ or his desktop replacement computer and SSD, the two of which were turned off and stored in his backpack during that incident? And does he need any roll to check whether it or the other turned-off things are ok and/or if needed how to fix it or them? And does the above dialogue about not saying anything about this with the guide count as manipulation (and require wits+manip.) or not? Does he need to manipulate him to re-visit the urn, because he already asked about this (and successfully rolled for at least part of that question) previously? And does he need a perception roll if things in the main part of the building changed sufficiently from the blackout in the basement, possibly causing panic?

After all, he didn`t know what exactly happened. Well, he knew he`d asked fate to intervene, but how it had done so hadn`t been clear to him.
What sort of intervention was that? A heat spike, a hideous creature and a sudden EMP-like total blackout effect that affected my phone too?
Clearly fate was annoyed he asked for a tampering with the camera, just like he`d feared would happen.
"Anyway, sir. As I said earlier, I`d like to round out my visit by saying a final prayer at Mothisa`s urn in the room you showed me at the start. If that would be alright with you?"
he asked, looking at the guide questioningly. After all, despite all the confusion previously and possibly still ongoing, Philip still had a mission to do, and he`d get as many clues he still could before leaving.

[ReubanBrightwood]

'Yes best we head back now. Sir.' The guide seems relived. 'Do not worry that happens from time to time.' He shuts the door behind Philip. 'Maintience will identify the fault and get everything working again in no time.' With that he will lead Philip back to the visiting/display room and usher Philip inside. Its fairly easy to read he wants to play as if nothing outside a usual viewing has occurred.

Philip would note that immediately upon leaving the room his electronics quick back in. Whatever suppression had occurred no longer limiting them. Is it duration? proximity? something the burnt and melted figure did? whatever happened remains a mystery for the time being. He can give his phone a once over easy enough, the rest he would have to unpack to check out or save for later but no signs of any damage at all being done to the phone. Files all fine, functions all operational.

[Philip Crosen]

It seemed to Philip the gentleman was equally as willing to drop the whole affair as he was, which suited him fine. And it seemed clear, like an unspoken gentleman`s agreement between the two of them, that it wasn`t to be spoken of again. So Philip left it at that, content he wasn`t going to get in trouble. But he also knew that the guide`s breach of protocol was potential blackmail material if needed for later since the guide had failed in his duties while also potentially missing out on his own window to get Philip in trouble for his earlier manipulation.

Perhaps I did a better job than I realised and he really believes what I told him and doesn`t see my `persuasion` for what it was?
Philip thought, stroking his own ego as they were walking to the presentation room, through the corridors. The fact that the guide said that something like that happened somewhat frequently gave Philip some food for thought:
He thinks: `It`s just a technical malfunction. Happens frequently.` But doesn`t want to speak of it, so this sort of supernatural thing has happened before and it unnerves him. Definitely worth checking out again. Difficult to arrange though... Let`s see...
He was glad and puzzled after he confirmed that his order tool worked immediately once they left the basement area, leaving him scratching his head. Philip was sure whatever that was in the basement, it had at least some connection to the whole mystery. After all, fate had guided him to that creature. And he`d missed his chance to ask it anything, merely observing its` ominous writings, visage and Pyrokinesis, EMP dampening, stealth? Philip thought, unsure. Whatever that thing was, it likely has abilities I can only guess at. Hopefully my laptop and SSD are equally undamaged.
he thought. After all, he might need to hack into the cameras and office communication to delete any traces of his presence later and he`d definitely need his main computer for that.
And where would the body be before it got into the fire pit room and before the service? Surely there`s some storage place here or somewhere else it might be? Whatever, let`s do a deeper analysis of the areas I can access first. he thought, continuing to try to puzzle out everything he could about Mothisa`s body`s final corporeal hours.
Right before the guide ushered him into the presentation room he gratefully told him:
"Thank you, sir."

Did his research in DYLF: the Lounge include anything about the normal movement/ handling of bodies in the crematorium so Philip would know the path Mothisa`s body took and the places it was at before it got into the fire pit room? Or would he have to research that later?

And so he was alone again. For the third time that day. In a room he knew there were no cameras and the guide most likely standing at least some distance away from the other side of the closed door, in the hall. Last time the guide had been surprised he`d left after only a few minutes. Knowing these things, and with the room being lit up to nearly day light, there would be not as much glow-in-the-dark green stuff as in the basement from his nimbus. Of course, that was besides the unavoidable frequency shift towards the middle of the electromagnetic spectrum and significant accentuation of green objects in the room. So he figured he`d retry what he attempted in the basement and attempt to find out about the past of the room he was in. Postcognition was the name of the game for him, and he figured he`d try to use it here anyway, despite the difficulty of not knowing that the body would have been in the room at all or at the time he`d specify. Perhaps some insight might be gleamed from it anyway, although he knew it to be significantly more unlikely than it was back in the basement. And so, through temporal Sympathy, he`d attempt to get a brief glimpse of the room he was in at a time precisely one hour before the start of the cremation ceremony.
Perhaps some function would have been performed here then, or perhaps the body might randomly have been here. So perhaps I might learn something, anything from a brief moment at the right time, just have to have faith in fate, that it wants me to succeed.
he thought.
Like last try, he was prepared to absorb all backlash from his temporal experiment. And so, like last try, he started his whispering chanting in High Speech, his phone-slash-order tool in hand, as soon as he was certain he was alone and unhearable in the room he wanted to survey. It was the room itself during that time period one hour before the cremation ceremony that interested him on this postcognitive viewing, not the individuals within, hoping to minimize his need for temporal sympathy. He figured:
Come on, how much can this room really be changed in the relatively short time since the day of her cremation?
he thought, inwardly scoffing. But deep down he knew: for this deep and very personal temporal intrusion into a few seconds of whatever proceedings were happening at his target time, fate might not reward him with the information he wished to inquire.

All potential paradox suxx will be absorbed like in his last attempt. In my paradox roll I will be assuming the exceptional failure from the paradox roll previously counts and so he doesn`t need to roll an extra paradox die this time if this counts as still in the same scene, or did you already include that roll result as the unwillingness of the guide to talk about the incident?

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-22 06:22:08	Philip Crosen rolls 1 to Paradox (Gnosis 3 (2 dice) -1(Order Tool) -1 (2 dot Spell)) (10 Again, Chance)	5	failure

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-22 06:23:18	Philip Crosen rolls 7 to Postcognition (Gnosis 3 + Time 2 +High Speech 2) (10 Again) (10 Again)	6, 4, 10, 4, 1, 9, 5, 3	2 successes

[ReubanBrightwood]

No it did not given that's rather unusual stuff. and just a note absorbing backlash needs to be in the roll declaration (same place you put the breakdown of what dice your rolling) it didn't matter here clearly but just a note for future rolls also you add 1 dice per two vulgar spells as per a sight house rule so the first spell won't count so your good for 1 more vulgar effect before dice start to accumulate. Temporal sympathy uses 2E rules just as a reminder. Not knowing the penalty you got it right to roll your whole pool and I will subtract accordingly, good job

Alone again Philip reaches out, with the remnants of of Atlantean speech to reinforce his will and a reasonable strong connection to the point in time he is after Philip casts his senses back through time and his spell takes hold. He few only a handful (3 seconds/1 turn) of time in the room but this is enough.

Philip sees a coffin laid out on the longer dais. The top half is open and shows an emancipated women of Indian decent with long dark hair. Very reminiscent of Mothisa in the last pictures of her Alive, even if death has rendered smaller, even thinner and fragile as a baby bird. Gaunt checks and sunken eyes. Philip can see her bones clearly in her hands and face. Two figures stand over the coffin.

The first the guide Philip has become accustomed with. The second a man he does recognise from his research Mothisa's modelling manger. 'Its important that no one sees ...' His speech cut off by the oh so small window into the past. Philip can replay this as many times as he want each viewing takes three seconds of time in the present moment. Both men are dressed formally in white, The tone of the conversation is quiet and serious. While both stand over the coffin the guide looks at the body within while the manger (Josh Vize) looks at the guide sternly through dark expensive sunglasses.

[Philip Crosen]

And just when Philip thought he`d somewhat allayed his suspicions of the guide, he was back to being paranoid again and annoyed he`d let himself get swayed and let his guard down. Because that phrase and the scene with what looked like Mothisa`s corpse was very disturbing. He`d gotten lucky, it was only chance he was able to see anything at all at that one random time.

Was it the manager or the guide who spoke that phrase? And was there anything else about the room itself that may have been interesting, anything about lighting effects or unusual placement of urns or any other tools, items, shelves or other things he could see? Did he catch more details about the body language and posture of the two people, shadows of other people or objects not clearly seen, or anything of the sort? Was there a trash can in the room in his view, and if so what was in it? Were there footprints or dirt on the floor or any additional identifying features making information retrieval from other sources or places easier in the future? After all the spell technically was about seeing the room and not specifically Mothisa`s corpse.

What a find! Talk about a picture that says a thousand words! Important that no one sees what?

he thought, very pleased with the things he was able to see during that brief moment but also intensely curious about all of it, taking in the whole image. Granted, the corpse looked like he might have expected her to look like dead from the pictures he`d seen of her alive, but he couldnt rule anything out. It seemed her manager and the guide were plotting something they didn`t want found or known, and Philip had just managed to dig up a fraction of it. So if he kept digging he was certain he`d get results. So he made a note on his phone in the relevant document documenting everything he knew about this incident, to research the location of the home of the guide or any bar he`d hang out. And of course the manager wasn`t off the hook either. There was something rotten, or at least something that merited further scrutiny hidden somewhere in either the offices of his agency, or his home or penthouse. Because now, Philip was sure he`d have to doubt everything and re-check everything with a fine-toothed comb. After all, his initial doubts had now been confirmed.

With this goldmine of a brief `clip`, he was able to see, while he knew he`d only see a short window he was anxious to hear the rest of that sentence fragment. With this information he took a couple of minutes going through the video again and again to glean as much as he could from it, taking notes in the same document and app on his phone he`d already used to compile his earlier research findings on Mothisa the day before. He focused deeply on his wit and perception, trying to commit the entire segment to writing even if it seemed insignificant to him, going into much further detail than he usually did.

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-22 16:59:29	Philip Crosen rolls 6 to Perception (Wits 3+Comp. 3) (10 Again)	9, 7, 10, 8, 6, 5, 3	3 successes

Once he was done with that, above all he smelled blood in the water. He was overcome with hunger and greed beyond measure for that tiny bit of information he knew was there and he absolutely needed to hear more of what was said then. And so, confident in the knowledge he`d still have sufficient time to cast another spell, he decided to cast Postcognition again. This time it was calibrated to the same room three seconds after the start of that short excerpt he just saw, precisely 59 minutes and 57 seconds before the start of the crematino ceremony. So, like last time he got his order tool ready and started quietly chanting.

Dramatic Failure!

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-22 17:05:22	Philip Crosen rolls 1 to Paradox (Gnosis 3 (2 dice) -1(Order Tool) -1 (2 dot Spell), potential suxx absorbed) (10 Again, Chance)	1	Dramatic Failure!

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-22 17:06:07	Philip Crosen rolls 7 to Postcognition (Gnosis 3 + Time 2 +High Speech 2) (10 Again) (10 Again)	8, 7, 9, 9, 1, 8, 3	4 successes

[ReubanBrightwood]

Philip knows it is the manager (Josh Vize)who spoke the phrase. The room is much in the same state as Philip sees it in the present. Except showing signs of being very recently cleaned in the past. After all a scheduled event was taking place and when dealing with dead bodies you have to be careful. No Urns the body hasn't been burnt yet. No tools this room is not a mortuary suite so the embalming would have been done elsewhere. Based on his careful perception of the moment in time Philip can see there is a light on under the only other door in the room, in the distant left wall. In the present no such light shines under the crack. To discern body language beyond stern and a little tense would be wits+empathy . It might stand out to Philip that there is no one else in the room. Only the two men. Much as in the present day no rubbish bin is present in the room, it maintains a sparsely furnished set up. There was one in the main reception if that's of use to Philip. What is clear to Philip is this room is not a storage room, nor the location of the main event it was a brief transition between events for the dead and consequently doesn't seem to have a great deal of expense spent on its furnishings.

With another dramatic failure this spell doesn't count to build up so he's got one more before accumulation begins

Philip has a taste but wants the full meal, he knows there more and so pushing hard Boyed by Atlantean truths he forays back into the past once more. This time he gets a slightly longer extract (6 seconds/2 turns)

Josh vize continues to speak while looking to the guide.

'...her like this, all malnourished. It'll be bad for the company image.' He seems bullishly insistent, he is taller, fitter, better looking and he wields this like an ordained right, and the guide is nodding understandingly as he speaks seeming to put up little resistance. This might also be because Josh is passing across a wad of bills as he speaks. The model manager uses both carrot and stick in equal measure as he seeks to manipulate the guide. The guide for his part is very accepting of the money and has a face that reads total contrition even as he takes the bribe. His, the guides, eyes never leave the body as he takes the money. --- that's what the 6 seconds gets him.

[Philip Crosen]

Well, well. Look what we have here. Oh, really? Bad for the company image eh? And why exactly did she get so malnourished in the first place? Did you murder her by chance or somehow abuse her? And, it seems I now have my second piece of blackmail material to use against that poor guide. And I guess that other guy and his agency too? What a feeble man, I mean I get blinded by greed too sometimes so don`t judge. But still, really? I wouldn`t even go that low.
He thought, dumbstruck by the situation. But this time he wasn`t as surprised anymore as he`d been after his previous Postcognition casting.
At the very least, they were covering up having to show her malnourished body to the press or her relatives. But no way that`s the whole story. How could a that young woman die anyway, and in such a sorry state too? Now I almost feel bad for having taken some of her ashes, assuming they`re hers. I guess I still have to triple check that, but still.
He thought, introspectively and somewhat guiltily. He did stop short of acting on his guilt though, merely offering her his first genuine thought of reflection that day. After that brief thought, he returned his thoughts back to his phone and reconfirming what he`d marked down before. He also tried reading the two people. Perhaps some insight could be gained from their emotions but despite his best efforts, he wasn`t an empathic individual so simply couldn`t discern the nuances of their body language and his paranoia prevailed.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 04:54:52	Philip Crosen rolls 2 to read people(Wits 3 -1 (untrained in empathy)) (10 Again)	1, 1	failure

For good measure, he tried to keep a lookout for any changes between the two visions, writing down any details that differed. However, he was frustrated by the fact that he simply couldn`t see anything that differed, despite his best efforts. His wit and composure simply escaped him as he went through the second vision again and again. So it appeared to him to have been a seamless scene. And after less time than the previous vision, only about a minute, he was done with his notes on his second usage of Postcognition and so he went back to thinking about the events of that day.
So, now we`ve got three more locations: Besides the police station and going into the basement again, places of interest to those creeps and the room with the light in the vision! What pathetic fools, though! Still doesn`t explain how this became a supernatural incident I guess. But with luck, the thing in the basement and the reason for there having been light on in that room might.
He thought, looking straight at the door he was thinking about while going through the different locations he`d gathered already that day and about the intrigue that was clearly afoot.
So, how do I get in there?

How much time exactly has passed since the day Mothisa died? And how much time passed since the day she was last reported somehow alive after she was reported dead? And what is the name of the guide?

For him, the next logical step was going back into Mage Sight and taking apart this seemingly mundane room for any hidden clues.
After all if Postcognition worked on such an unremarkeable place, other means might be successful too. he thought.
So he decided to attempt to cast Sybil`s Sight on himself again to make that happen, except without chanting this time because he wanted to be extra sure the guide didn`t surprise him and he felt there was no need to tempt fate.
What fate connected Mothisa to these gentlemen from my visions?

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 05:03:40	Philip Crosen rolls 6 to Sybil`s Sight (Gnosis 3+Fate 3) (10 Again)	5, 5, 2, 6, 2, 7	failure

But anticlimatically that question would remain unanswered for the time being, because he wasn`t centered enough and so Fate demanded more effort. He couldn`t get Sybils Sight to work, frustrating him. But he wouldn`t take `no` for an answer, so he tried again, greedy for the truth and the hunt for it. So after calming down and emptying his mind, he began focusing deeply inwardly on the strings of fate to see what remained unseen and finally Fate rewarded him with success.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 05:06:05	Philip Crosen rolls 5 to Sybil`s Sight (Gnosis 3+Fate 3 -1 Second attempt) (10 Again)	4, 5, 1, 1, 8	1 success

Feeling Sybil`s Sight, and the tell-tale immersion take effect, he was pleased with himself.
Finally! Excellent!
he thought, briefly almost distracting himself with his internal parody of The Simpsons, before returning to more serious matters which was to start scrutinizing the room he was in. So he intensely stared at every minute crack in the tapestry he could find, peeling away the layers of truth sorrounding the room he was in and the metaphysical significance that sorrounded it, and its` connection to the fate of Mothisa and the two guys he saw in his visions. Pouring his enlightened will into the room, also looking at the door he saw light emanating from in his vision, in his greed, he briefly completely lost track of time, losing himself and immersing himself into the strings of fate wound up in the room he was in.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 05:18:07	[03] Philip Crosen rolls 4 to scrutinize(Int. 3+ Occ. 1) (10 Again)	7, 10, 5, 8, 2	2 successes

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 05:18:07	[02] Philip Crosen rolls 4 to scrutinize(Int. 3+ Occ. 1) (10 Again)	10, 2, 8, 9, 6	3 successes

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 05:18:07	[01] Philip Crosen rolls 4 to scrutinize(Int. 3+ Occ. 1) (10 Again)	8, 4, 5, 3	1 success

[ReubanBrightwood]

Unfortunely Philip's people skills fail him in this moment. Unable to glean anymore from the two figures then is outwardly broadcast. Yet the vision gives him plenty to work with. The second vision following on perfectly from the first means the room in both is identical.

This PRP won't hit continuity until we finish the last thread so its kind of hard to say when she died exactly. But Philip knows it to the day (not hour of minute) from his research. The media coverage places her alive eelier in the day she died having been active on social media. Phillip doesn't know his name as none has been offered and Philip hasn't asked.

It takes a few tries the truth elusive for a handful of moments but in short order Philip casts back the veil of the lie to see reality as it should be seen, through mage sight. He stands right in the middle of that thick cloying resonance the metaphorical weight of inevitable crushing him from all sides. But as he knows this now his sight helps pierce deeper, see more. The resonance more complex then a surface examination would have it appear. A fainter less noticeable sense of corruption stems from under the thicker resonance.

Additionally as he holds his phone Philip can see strands of thread like resonance wafting smoke like from it. As if the phone had been pulled through a ball of wool and snagged several strands on its way out. Additionally the urn is surrounded by a shifting, animate resonance that seems almost fire like. Both would be good targets of scrutiny.

[Philip Crosen]

Once again he sensed and in his mind dealt with the metaphysical inevitability he`d also sensed outside. But he also noticed the more subtle corruption. Eventually his expression and thoughts settled on annoyance:
Really?! I take my phone to the basement and use it a few times with my castings and immediately it gets tangled up in all of this, come on! But ok, fate is fickle that way.
But it was clear, if Postcognition hadn`t already proved it: there was corruption permeating this place and he was determined to find out more and get to its` core.
Continuing to focus on his mage sight after that brief intermezzo thought, he focused his scrutiny on the door where the light had emanated from in his visions, scanning and attempting to pierce that area throughly, trying to peer through every minute crack.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 16:05:03	Philip Crosen rolls 4 to scrutinize(Int. 3+ Occ. 1) (10 Again)	1, 10, 6, 5, 5	1 success

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 16:05:25	[01] Philip Crosen rolls 4 to scrutinize(Int. 3+ Occ. 1) (10 Again)	8, 4, 3, 7	1 success

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 16:05:25	[02] Philip Crosen rolls 4 to scrutinize(Int. 3+ Occ. 1) (10 Again)	7, 9, 2, 3	1 success

After he was done trying to see what he could see from the door, and almost grasping at straws, he turned to Mothisa`s urn itself. He insisted, he hungered for it. He absolutely needed to know what Fate was trying to hide and what he could coax it to uncover. Were there any traces of fate or whisps of chance connected to the urn? What truth was it hiding? In the mundane, it appeared to just look like any other urn, but surely after the supernatural happenings and events there would be traces, droplets, or threads he could see and pull. Secure and hopeful in that knowledge, and sure that some metaphysical truth might be connected to it specifically, he gave it his all: piercing the veil with his gaze and trying to get ever closer towards the truth.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 16:07:07	[01] Philip Crosen rolls 4 to scrutinize(Int. 3+ Occ. 1) (10 Again)	8, 10, 1, 1, 7	2 successes

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 16:07:07	[02] Philip Crosen rolls 4 to scrutinize(Int. 3+ Occ. 1) (10 Again)	10, 6, 1, 10, 9, 4	3 successes

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2024-02-23 16:07:07	[03] Philip Crosen rolls 4 to scrutinize(Int. 3+ Occ. 1) (10 Again)	2, 10, 10, 6, 7, 5	2 successes

Forgot to seperate the designations for the different scrutiny targets in the roll descriptions, so I hope it`s clear enough from the text which is referring to which. The door scrutiny were the first 3 rolls and the urn scrutiny the second three. Hope this makes it clearer but I can see how this can be an ambiguity issue so I hope this won`t be a problem.