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Last year, you Awakened to... something. Magick, some told you. Enlightenment to others. Madness to a few. In any case, you found yourself able to change reality. At first, it was just your own senses, but then you had some fucked up dream and it gave you an epiphany: you could use your powers on a lot more than just sensing things out. You met some fellow mages, they told you some things about how this all worked - most of it seemed like nonsense, but there was an undercurrent of reason to their blather. The world is made up of Patterns, and when you do magick, you alter those Patterns. Doing so doesn't come without cost or risk, however. The fundamental energy of all Creation that suffuses these Patterns, and makes them work, that stuff is necessary for big effects, and any time you do magick, especially when it's vulgar, or obviously supernatural, there's a risk that consensus reality whips back and strikes you with Paradox.
You've come to learn the basics of the magickal world, at least as far as you can tell. But you still have a lot more to learn, and so much to do.
You're...
>a clerk for an occult bookstore. It helps make to make ends meet, and it's come in handy for your studies. You've also come to have a number of Contacts in the local magickal scene.
>a lucky heiress. Your parents died tragically, but they left you enough money so that you don't have to work to live. Terribly convenient to have so many Resources available, given the oftentimes ludicrous cost of working magick.
>a recovering hikkiNEET. Upside: no obligations except to yourself, and you've set up a nice Sanctum to work your magick in. Downside: meeting and talking with people is hard, being poor is harder.
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>>1184561
>a clerk for an occult bookstore. It helps make to make ends meet, and it's come in handy for your studies. You've also come to have a number of Contacts in the local magickal scene.
>>
>>1184561
>a clerk for an occult bookstore. It helps make to make ends meet, and it's come in handy for your studies. You've also come to have a number of Contacts in the local magickal scene.
>>
>>1184561
>>a clerk for an occult bookstore. It helps make to make ends meet, and it's come in handy for your studies. You've also come to have a number of Contacts in the local magickal scene.
Ou neat! mage quest
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>>1184561
>>a lucky heiress. Your parents died tragically, but they left you enough money so that you don't have to work to live. Terribly convenient to have so many Resources available, given the oftentimes ludicrous cost of working magick.
>>
>>1184561
>>a clerk for an occult bookstore. It helps make to make ends meet, and it's come in handy for your studies. You've also come to have a number of Contacts in the local magickal scene.
>>
>>1184561
>>1184590
>>1184602
>>1184603
>>1184623
>a clerk for an occult bookstore.
You work as a clerk - the clerk, actually - for Goodwin's Bookstore, a small shop nestled in the university district. The owner, Mr. James Goodwin, is a bit eccentric, as he spends most of his time hunting for rare editions abroad, but it's an easy job and it has some nice perks.
For one, you've gotten to know a number of the regulars in the magickal scene here in the Twin Cities. You more or less know who belongs to what Tradition, and a bunch of them owe you small favors. There's quite a variety, really, but most of the people in the area aren't that much more advanced in their art than you.
Your own magickal expertise is quite broad, but you have a special affinity for...
>Spirit - the manipulation of spirits and travel beyond the physical world
>Correspondence - the manipulation of space and distance
>Time - the manipulation of time
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>>1184671
>>Correspondence - the manipulation of space and distance
>>
>>1184671
>Spirit - the manipulation of spirits and travel beyond the physical world
>>
>>1184671
>Spirit - the manipulation of spirits and travel beyond the physical world
>>
>>1184671
Spirit
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>>1184671
>Correspondence - the manipulation of space and distance
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>>1184671
>>Correspondence - the manipulation of space and distance
spirit a shit, a shiiiiiiiiiiit
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>>1184712
Heh, well they're all good
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>>1184671
>>Correspondence - the manipulation of space and distance
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>>1184720
I know, I've just played a spirit mage on my group, I'm kinda full of it it's just that.
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>>1184671
Time
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>>1184671
>>1184685
>>1184708
>>1184712
>>1184724
>Correspondence
You best understand how to manipulate distances and space. Pulling things from home, work, or elsewhere is practically second-nature to you. After all, as far as you're concerned, distance is an illusion. You more or less believe that most of reality is illusory, actually. According to your fellow Awakened, you're a "high ritual magician", but it's not like you're so full of yourself as to embrace that label. Honestly, you just do what is necessary, and yeah, it can be exacting, but it works.
----------------------------------------------------------------
You're sitting behind the counter at Goodwin's, thumbing through a scathing critique of Said's Orientalism, when the bell jingles and someone walks in. It's around 6, and though the store's hours are really just up to you, you typically close up by 7, so seeing someone in this late is pretty odd.
He's wearing slacks, suspenders, a white dress shirt, and a bowtie - and you can't help but feel an uncomfortable shiver run down your spine as you look him over. Pale, lanky, short brown hair, weird fucking eyes. He looks around the room for just a moment before looking over at you, and you immediately feel his stare washing over you like you're a piece of meat. He smiles - or smirks, really - and steps over towards the counter.
You realize that you've been glaring at him since the moment he walked in, without saying a word, so despite your discomfort, you feel compelled to greet him.
>Be polite and professional.
>Be rude.
>Say nothing and continue glaring.
>[Write in]
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>>1184889
>>Be polite and professional.
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>>1184889
Polite and professional
This is a business where we get free books let's not screw it up
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>>1184889
>Be polite and professional.
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>>1184889
>>Be polite and professional.
It's a business after all
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>>1184895
>>1184896
>>1184904
>Be polite and professional.
You set down your book, look the customer straight in the eyes, and say, "Welcome to Goodwin's sir, how may I help you?"
He smiles, and again, it's a bit unnerving, but his voice is unexpectedly suave. "I'm here to collect a package. It should be addressed to Mr. Newman..." He trails off, not so subtly urging you to look for it.
You don't remember being told about any packages, but it's not uncommon that Mr. Goodwin forgets things. "Just one moment," you say, as you turn to look under the back shelf, where special orders are usually kept. You rummage around for a minute or so, but don't see anything addressed to a 'Newman'.
You call back to the strange man, "Uh, sorry, I don't see any packages he-"
Suddenly you feel some preternatural sense of danger. A primal warning to act, or else be acted upon. Ever so slightly, you can hear soft footfalls rapidly approaching you. You have time only for an instinctive reaction...
>Kung-fu
>Magick
>Gun
>Run
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>>1184961
>>Magick
>>
>>1184961
>Magick
Though, given how our affinity is space, you might think Magick might also encompass Run to some degree.
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>>1184961
Magick run/dodge
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>>1184984
This
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>>1184961
Magic
>>
Rolled 2, 6, 6 = 14 (3d10)
>>1185054
Best of 3 or something of the sort?
>>
>>
Rolled 5, 5, 4 = 14 (3d10)
>>1185054
>>
>>1185059
Something, alright.
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Rolled 5, 7, 10 = 22 (3d10)
>>1185054
Ops
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Rolled 6, 10, 5 = 21 (3d10)
>>1185054
>>
>>1185068
>2 Successes+1 Success (specialty Teleportation)
You press your palm to your knee, and quickly incant the Aramaic name of the angel Ahriman, which activates the pentacle inscribed on the inverse of your pants. By borrowing the angel's power, you thin the space between the back room of the shop and your apartment. You dart forward into the darkness of the back of the store, as you catch just a glimpse of 'Mr. Newman' - yeah, some monstrous fucked-up face and fangs bared out at you - and slip into the "gate". You instantly find yourself slammed into your bed, much more roughly than you'd have liked.
You check yourself, and find that you're bleeding from your nose, and... uh... your eyes... Paradox backlash. Well, it has been a while since you last incurred the wrath of that demiurgic tyrant. You shiver, and feel like shit, but it wasn't so bad this time, at least.
Pulling stunts like you just did with the teleportation - the so-called vulgar magick - causes Paradox to build up, and eventually, it strikes back. What's important is doing magick without witnesses, or at least, making it less overt, hence the darkness of the back room.
You clean yourself up in the bathroom, flushing some bloody tissues and vomiting for a few minutes, but eventually you feel like the worst of it is over, and crawl back out into your bedroom.
A vampire, though? Never dealt with one of those before. What to do...
>Contact one of your fellow Mages for advice.
>Hunker down and fortify the apartment.
>Go on the offensive - prepare some weapons and hunt "Mr. Newman" down.
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>>1185194
>Contact one of your fellow Mages for advice.
An option greatly simplified by our ability to transmit ourself over great distances. Or just our voice, if we choose to stay here and make sure that vampire doesn't ransack the place or set it with traps while we're gone.
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>>1185194
Go on the offensive we need more melee capabilities since were a bookworm who's magic is good to make money and escape mostly especially with backlash
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>>1185194
>>Contact one of your fellow Mages for advice.
>>
>>1185194
>Contact one of your fellow Mages for advice.
>>
>>1185194
>>1185224
>>1185230
>Contact one of your fellow Mages for advice.
You decide to call in one of those favors you're owed, and check in with someone who can tell you more about the situation.
You pull out your phone and dial Robert, the creepy mortician/death mage that you know sometimes hangs out with bloodsuckers. He picks up quickly, and you hear the muddled sound of edgy metal playing in the background, "Hey, what's up Alex?"
He sounds high. Typical. "Robert, I just got jumped by something with fangs."
"Oh, shiiiit, that's bad, Alex. Like, wow, you alright?"
"Not really, but he didn't get me at least. Look, I just need to know..."
>"why it's after me."
>"how to kill it."
>"where to run."
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>>1185271
>>"how to kill it."
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>>1185271
>"how to stop it coming after me."
Killing or otherwise.
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>>1185271
>"why it's after me."
How to kill I imagine we would be able to find with some research or more talking the the underground, the big advantage this guy has is connections to the community and might be the only way to figure out why without having to talk to the vamp itself
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>>1185271
>"why it's after me."
>"how to kill it."
>"where to run."
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>>1185335
This
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>>1185271
>>1185279
>>1185285
>"how to stop it coming after me."
"Look, I just need to know how to stop it coming after me."
"Ahhh, okay, well it kinda depends on who it was, y'know."
"Some bowtie-wearing ponce who called himself 'Mr. Newman'."
"Hmm, noooot familiar with that name, but I did hear about some youngblood asshole who likes wearing bowties. Vincent something-or-other, I think."
"Well, this Vincent guy wants me dead, I think."
"Yeah, yeah, look, I'll ask around and get back to you soon. Stay away from alleyways and nightclubs, get some fire and some sharp wood. I'll call you when I know something." He hangs up.
Not exactly the most useful conversation, not like you have a habit of going to nightclubs or alleyways, but you at least learned that fire is your friend.
You set about carving up a simple stake out of some leftover wood in the studio below your loft - well, you presume it's leftover. Sarah tends to leave shit lying around down there.
-------------------------------------------------------
You lean back, satisfied that you've got a reliable-looking stake in hand now, and several more pointy sticks besides. Your brief rest is interrupted by a knock at the door. Sarah, your artist roommate, is currently staying apart from you, and you doubt it's her that's come calling.
The peephole on your door still isn't working properly, unfortunately.
How to respond...
>Greet whoever it is normally.
>Prepare to stake.
>Use a bit of magick to scout the other side. (3d10)
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Rolled 2, 6, 1 = 9 (3d10)
>>1185391
>>Use a bit of magick to scout the other side. (3d10)
>>
Rolled 9, 2, 6 = 17 (3d10)
>>1185391
Magic if we won't have huge side effects like last time if we will and know it always does that Or something , greet normally while preparing a stake
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>>1185414
What I mean is if our character knows there side effects always let's not use magic
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>>1185391
>Use a bit of magick to scout the other side. (3d10)
We need to figure out how to make some wards or enchant some objects
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Rolled 4, 3, 6 = 13 (3d10)
>>1185421
Forgot these
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>>1185391
>>1185402
>>1185414
>>1185421
>2 Successes
You pull out a small bronze dish from your jacket, quickly fill it with water, and incant one of the names of YHWH, Gabriel, granting you farsight, reflected on the surface of the water. It's a simple affair, spotting right outside your door. You see an unfamiliar person standing out front of your door, eerily, totally, stock still. It's not Newman, or Vince, or whoever, though. No, instead, it's a beautifully-featured, raven-haired youth. She doesn't appear to be armed or anything, and is just wearing a light jacket.
How to address this situation..?
>[Write-in]
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>>1185457
Open the door only showing one hand the other holding the stake behind the door to hide it
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>>1185457
How capable are we of examining the woman's sympathetic links with some degree of specificity in our search, or else simply reading her surface thoughts as with a basic Mind spell?
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>>1185495
That's really a MtAw thing, AFAIK, but I will allow for something along the lines of Pact sympathetic connection. That's a 5d10 roll.
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>>1185457
>Open the door only showing one hand the other holding the stake behind the door to hide it
Agreeing with this plan, shows caution but isn't inexplicable
>>
Need to take a break as I run an actual session of Mage folks.
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>>1185472
this is good
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