Online Forum Mage Game: The Continuing

Thompson raises a hand to silence Qadesh, as he descends the stairs slowly, as to be as silent as the grave.  He focuses on keeping his breathing as silent as possible and draws his gun, keeping it close to his body, to avoid having it knocked away.  As he reaches the bottom of the stairs, he steals a breath, centers himself, and sneaks a look into the threshold.

(@ Shoney) You pantomime throwing a pair of dice. In your minds eye you can see them perfectly. One is black with white dots, the other white with black dots. The guy who taught you this rote used to call them urim and thummim. White die high, you go into the basement, black die high and you should turn around.

Fuck! Snake eyes. There is serious potential for bad shit happening regardless of what you decide.


(@ Thompson) As you descend  toward the Hallow, you can hear something harmonizing with its dripping pipe music. Peering into the threshold you see the Selecstus playing a fiddle. His eyes are closed and he doesn't seem to notice you, instead he is focusing exclusively on his instrument.

(@ Qadesh) Thompson stops at the threshold of the Hallow. His body tenses and you can almost hear his heart rate double.


OOC: for the remainder of this scene, do not roll your own spells. Tell me the dice pool, whether you are spend willpower, using High Speech, a Rote. I will then roll the result.       

Creeping slowly down the stairs, Qadesh turned to see what Thompson was looking at.  Seeing the Wicked One playing his fiddle, Qadesh took a moment to taste the waters of magic, peering at the man with his inner eye.

OOC: Scrutiny, if he doesn't like what he senses he's going to cock his fingers and point them like a gun towards the fiddle and gesture for Thompson to shoot it, while himself preparing to cast Moment of Doubt.

Scrutiny:  You feel the Hallow, sense the power behind the flow of water and sound, and feel it joining another current. The fiddle generates a power of its own, one that resonates with, and is strengthened by, the power of the Hallow.  

You look at the wicked one and for a second everything seems to slow down. The water drips more slowly, the sounds stretch out longer, even your thoughts take longer to congeal from the depths of you subconscious.    

IC: Shoney mentally cursed, before taking a deep breath and double checking her surroundings. She hated not having any sort of obvious advantage on her side. She had spent her time learning her abilities in ways that let her avoid getting into such conflicts. The one time she decides to take what looked like a nice, easy job, completely backfired in her face. With some more mental cursing she peered down the stairs, reaching subconsciously for Shade's comforting warmth and safety.

OOC: OK guys, I'm off to visit the family for a month and will most likely not have internet access there. Deaddude, feel free to play Shoney to keep the game going. Have fun!

OOC: Cool Akaira, thanks for telling me. Hope to see you in a month.

Qadesh signals, Thompson's guns screams a thunderclap. The music shifts as if on cue, becoming frenzied, rushed. You see the fiddler bend slightly, as if to put more of his weight behind his bow. The slight shift in postion was enough to put him out of harm's way. What are the odds?

  

His attack, when it came, was an insidious one.  Whispering words of doubt, misgiving, and hesitation, Qadesh pulled on all of his memories of being rejected, afraid, and lost.  The poisons of nagging fears seeped toward the fiddler.

OOC:  He's casting Moment of Doubt

OOC: I am having trouble finding that spell, could you give me a page reference? 

OOC:  Oh!  I'm sorry, it's Guardians of the Veil, page 193.

The power of your words falls flat, mangled, and twisted by violins haunting music. You panic for a second, but press on with the casting. You feel his assumptions, his goals, and his reasons like a hard surface supporting the rest of his thought process. They are so solid, so entrenched...and the torrent of your spell reduces them to splinters.       

The mans eyes snap open. he looks around as if confused, perhaps even alarmed.

He does not stop playing.    

OOC: Hi guys, I'm back. Sorry it took me longer than expected. I had to deal with some rl issues. Is the game still going?

OOC: Hi Akaira.  We've been on pause for quite awhile.  I'm not sure if it's my turn or not, but I'm definitely hoping we still continue.

OOC: Hey, sorry.

Yeah I think it is Thomson's turn. I guess I wasn't very clear about that. My bad. I am happy keep the story going if you want to keep playing.

P.S. welcome back Akaira

Personally, I would love to keep playing.

OOC: ( I rechecked it, I think it is Shoney’s turn. Since Akaira was gone it was my fault for not running her, my bad.)

 Since it has been on hiatus for a while I'll do a little bit of a re-launch.

Water is coming down all around you. The sounds of droplets and metal echo throughout the Hallow in a haunting cacophony. The fiddler-man stands in the center of the hallow playing his violin. His music comingles with the water’s, polluting the pure clean magic of the Hallow.

Qadesh mumbles something and the man’s eyes flash open like thunderbolts. His neck cranes and his pupils dart from side to side. They linger for a moment on his hands which continue to play. He looks at you “Please, please stop this. Stop me. I can’t… I … I AM THE VOICE OF APHASIA, HARBINGER OF BABEL. LEAVE ME TO MY WORK” His head jerks down, his eyes shut, and he goes on as if you were not there.