Session 17

From Arispemage

Storyteller: So, EMP and Genji, both you are on the long road home.
Storyteller: Peter and Adler both are home thanks to thinking with Portals.
Storyteller: Brian's stuck in the front seat. People his size...car too small...
Storyteller: Fortunately, it's not stopping.
Storyteller: That would be bad, seeing as you're a few hours from any nearby city or town.
Brian Steffanoskovich: The spear/staff was hanging out the window, careful not to break anything.
Storyteller: Peter, Adler, you guys doing anything untill the others get back?
Genji: Ken wished he could think with Portals...
Storyteller: As it is, he's stuck thinking with proteins and cars.
Genji: Too bad Brian couldn't take over without destroying the car... He was getting tired. Oh wait. Life magic. Hahaha.
Storyteller: The miles and towns go flying by, at a snails pace.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian decided to sleep the trip off. The shotgun weighed against his leg, his knife strapped to his chest.
Storyteller: But eventually, late at night, or really damned early in the morning, you do manage to reach home.
Storyteller: Also, there seems to be a wreck ahead in the road.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian looked ahead at the wreck. "...vhat is it?"
Genji: Ken was bopping along to the music when the wreck came into view. "...I'm not sure... Let's check."
Storyteller: Two cars that seem to have hit eachother at considerable speed.
Genji: He pulls over, hoping there's something he can do.
Storyteller: Nope, the cars are total write offs.
Storyteller: The drivers, though, are even worse off.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian gets out, taking his staff with him.
Genji: Ouch...
Storyteller: Hey, what's that in the road? A head? Why, yes it is.
Genji: "No survivors, Brian..."
Genji: Unless...
Storyteller: And there's an arm and a leg a bit past it.
Genji: Ken looks into the flow of life energy in the area, perhaps one of them got lucky...
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian headed for the cars, looking around at the dead passengers.
Genji: "Definitely no survivors. Any sign of foul play, or was this a regular accident?
Genji: "
Storyteller: Well, in one car there's two people, they're dead from glass cuts, but otherwise unharmed.
Storyteller: The guy in the other car though, for some reason, he's missing his head, an arm, and his legs.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian stares around after allowing the aether to enter his mind. His pupils dilated, staring at the cars and drivers.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Vhy...are they in vun piece, but he...dissected?"
Storyteller: That's the question, isn't it.
Storyteller: You could search for clues, or you could get home.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Genji. Smell if somevun vas here before us." Brian went to look at the body of the man without legs, an arm, or a head.
Genji: Genji nods and focuses his Mana on his nose, granting himself the olfactory senses of a wolf.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian's eyebrow raised. "...head vas taken off differently. I'd blame Miss Pumpkin head...but vhy vould she leave the body?"
Genji: In preparation for what the trail might lead to, Ken scours his body for Mana, feeling his joints grow a bit stiffer as he draws on his dextrous movement.
Genji: "I can smell... formaldehyde in the air... It's leading away from the crash."
Genji: "Should we follow it?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Only thing here. May as vell."
Genji: Ken nods and leads the way, sniffsniffing the air to keep the trail fresh... Formaldehyde, how disgusting...
Storyteller: The trail goes further along the road, until it comes to a cross roads.
Storyteller: There's too many smells and more recent trails fouling things up.
Genji: Ken sniffs the air, and the ground, and... argh... to many smells! "Dammit, I lost the trail, too many different smells at once."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Hmm..." Brian reached into his robes, opening the flap on his knife and pulling it out. "You remember the smell, yes?"
Genji: Ken nods. "Yeah. Formaldehyde is hard to ignore. Kind of sticks to your nose..."
Brian Steffanoskovich: He took the knife, letting the rainbow-glistening metal slice off a single strand of his long black hair. He handed it over to Genji. "Sniff the hair. Remember the smell vhen you do."
Genji: Ken sniffs the hair. "Okay, I'm trying to remember formaldehyde, now what?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian scratched a few symbols in the dirt with the spear end of his staff. "Lick the tip, and stick vet end on finger." He muttered in Atlantean under his breath as he etched the runes.
Genji: Ken rose an eyebrow. Lick his HAIR? He quickly flicked his tongue out and wet the end, then held it on the end of his finger. "...All right..."
Brian Steffanoskovich: The saliva kept the hair strand attached to Ken's finger, the rest of the long black hair trailing off.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian finished the runes, his hand going out and hovering over his hair. He spoke in Atlantean, filling the piece of himself with power to follow the smell in Genji's mind.
Brian Steffanoskovich: !ex 11
Storyteller: The arm swings lazily to the south and east.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "See? Just remember smell of formaldehyde, it vill follow."
Storyteller: Following it, you get to a little problem as it leads you to a creek, and keeps pointing down the creek.
Storyteller: And as you leave, a dark man appears, feeling that he's gone and missed his oppertunity.
Genji: ... "Okay, THAT is useful."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Ve must cross creek. There ist joke sumvhere, I just know not vhere."
Genji: "Hold your breath when you jump over it? I think I read something about that once. Or was that graves? Huh..."
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brain walked down the shore, wading through the creek. "It not deep. Cross easily. Just don't lose hair."
Genji: Ken nods and trudges through the water, holding the hair well above the water's surface.
Storyteller: It's not that difficult. The water's not even waist deep.
Genji: "This was a good idea, EMP. I wouldn't have been able to follow the scent over the creek anyway."
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian stopped, looking down at the body. "...ist this it?"
Storyteller: Well, this is where the trail ends.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He kneeled down, looking at the body.
Genji: "I think so... It must be the source..."
Storyteller: The body's got some chunks missing, but it's otherwise fine-ish.
Storyteller: If you count being unable to tell the gender of the body as fine.
Genji: "I wonder what the connection is..."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Vas this by the accident?"
Storyteller: Well, the trail seems to indicate something like that.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Hmmm...missing chunks...formaldehyde...why formaldehyde?"
Storyteller: Well, it does look like an old-ish body.
Storyteller: It's hard to tell though.
Genji: "Zombie?"
Genji: "Could have been animated to cause the accident?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "And remove the limbs and head?"
Genji: Genji shrugs. "Dunno about that."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "But vhy ditch it here aftervards?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Maybe because the vurk vas over?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Sounds veird, though. It could have been traced."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "But then again, they likely veren't expecting mages to find it. The police vouldn't follow any formaldehyde scents."
Genji: Ken tilts his head to the side in thought. "And why kill a bunch of mortals and tear one to bits? It doesn't make much sense..."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "It doesn't seem like they took any pieces, either."
Storyteller: Well, there are some pieces missing.
Storyteller: But not very large ones.
Storyteller: And the nose might be around, it's all a matter of if you two want to spend time looking for it.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...it's confusing. Vhy go through all that trouble?"
Storyteller: Assuming that you don't do much looking for any of the missing parts, skip to morning/later in the day?
Storyteller: Although, the questions about the crash are still troubling you.
Storyteller: So, morning, what is everyone doing?
Peter Pan: Peter got up early, waiting for Adler to rise. When she woke up, he grinned. "Tough day yesterday, no?" He clasped his hands together. "Anything I can do for you today to make up for it?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian's eating.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Food is delicious.
Storyteller: Brian, your meal is rudely interrupted by the sight of a pumpkinhead shambling by.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...*sigh* Vhy do ve have hidden sanctums? They alvays know vhere ve are!" He put down his sandwich, taking his staff.
Storyteller: Actually, it's far from the Sanctum.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Far from Brian's?
Storyteller: You just happen to have the advantage of elevation and can see it pretty clearly.
Genji: Ken wakes up and showers, squinting blearily into the light of a brand new day. ...Man last night was too much driving, regardless of magical help.
Adler: Adler sits up and glances out the window, "Hmm...let me think for a moment..." she murmurs absently, tying her hair up in a ponytail.
Peter Pan: He nodded. "Take as much time as you like"
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian walked toward the pumpkinhead, his staff held tightly in his hand.
Storyteller: Shuffle, shuffle.
Storyteller: It seems to be holding something in it's clenched hands.
Genji: AS he hasn't quite regained his Dexterity he winces as he does his morning yoga. Normally it's so much easier to get his thighs wrapped around his neck...
Brian Steffanoskovich: With a rear back and a throw, Brian launched his spear high, tearing through the air and scouring to the Pumpkinhead's head.
Storyteller: At the last moment, it jerks foreward, getting safely out of the way of your stabbing assault.
Storyteller: Shuffle, shuffle.
Storyteller: Is it running away or did it just not notice you? You're not certain.
Adler: "Well...given that we know that the pumpkinhead lady is in the area, wandering around would probably be a bad idea. And anyway, I'm not feeling rather energetic....hmmm..." Adler glances around at what she's brought in. "Well, we could fix some hot water for tea..."
Peter Pan: "On it!" Peter rushed off to begin preparing tea as best he could
Storyteller: Shuffle, stumble, fall down, and the get back up.
Storyteller: The thing seems to have tripped.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian moved forward, picking up his spear. "...damn moving pumpkinheads." He rushed forward at it tripping, stopping just before it and slamming the point of the spear down hard into the fruit of the pumpkin.
Storyteller: There's a lot of pumpkin juice flowing out of the wound in it's head.
Storyteller: The thing shuffles a few steps foreward then turns on Brian with a not-so menacing grin on it's pumpkiny face.
Storyteller: Very calmy, very deliberately, the thing shuffles toward you and tries to massage your neck with its hands. Forcefully.
Storyteller: And misses utterly.
Storyteller: It just shuffles foreward and isn't anywhere near you or your neck.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian's hand went into his robes, opening the flap on his knife and pulling out the glisteningly beautiful blade. In close quarters, it was better to rely on this than his spear. The blade flipped in his hand, his skilled fingers holding it in a reverse grip, taught to him by his Russian mentor.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Get off my land." He swiped in, almost like a punch, toward the pumpkinhead's neck.
Storyteller: A mix of pumpkin stuff and blood flows from the body as it collapses wordlessly.
Storyteller: It's dead.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian mutters to himself, cleaning his blade off on the grass before gently, ever so gently, sliding the Damascus Steel knife into its diamond-layered holster.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He kneeled down, searching for what the Pumpkinhead was holding.
Storyteller: The left hand still has the thing in it.
Storyteller: Looks like paper.
Brian Steffanoskovich: The Russian pried it out, unfolding and reading through it.
Storyteller: It's a bunch of crude drawings of a house.
Storyteller: Not very good as the lengths don't match yup.
Storyteller: up.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian was far from being an educated scholar on art...but even he could tell this was a bad picture. Then again, the outline wasn't what concerned him. It was the house itself. Either the Pumpkinhead was being used to FIND this house...or found the house, and was off to report what it looked like to its master.
Storyteller: There's also some writing on it, but damned if you can read it.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He folded up the paper neatly, placing it in one of the many pockets of his robes. Perhaps Adler could make heads or tails of it.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He clicked his tongue, looking at Equan. "Find a Piercing Arrow. Report a location of an eradicated pumpkinhead for pick up." He then sent the familiar flying off as he headed in the direction of the Clocktower.
Storyteller: Off goes Equan.
Storyteller: And off goes Brian for the Clocktower.
Storyteller: And here he is.
Genji: Ken is actually training some dancers today, Mage work has been preventing him from making monies, and he needs those monies to live.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian walked up the long stairs of the Clocktower, calling up as he did. "Adler? Peter? Anyvun home?"
Adler: "Where else would we be?" Adler shouts down the stairs at him, hopping over to her own chair.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Makink sure you veren't visited by Pumpkinheads like myself." He reached the top, his spear/staff showing quite a bit of the old pumpkin goo.
Genji: "No Amy, it's kick turn down down, right, pivot, step step, turn, pop and lock. Not pivot, down down, right, turn, step step, turn pop and lock. Start from the top!"
Storyteller: The goo is oddly not fully dry.
Adler: Adler blinks. "Would you mind getting that goo out of here before it drips all over everything?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: He looked down at it. "...vhere vould I put it?"
Peter Pan: Peter popped back in with Adler's tea
Adler: Adler smiles at him, "Thanks Peter..."
Peter Pan: He nodded. "Just ask if there's anything else you want."
Genji: "Keep trying John, you've almost got it! Just try to miss your balls when you do the splits. There you go!"
Adler: Adler firmly clamps down on the section of her brain that went right into the gutter on hearing Peter's offer and shoves it into the metaphorical storage closet, "Nothing at the moment,"
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian reached into his pocket, pulling out the paper and setting it on the table.
Adler: Adler mutters to herself and blinks once, slowly, opening her eyes to the hidden meaning.
Storyteller: No hidden meanings, just the world's crappiest handwriting.
Storyteller: And, apparently, a house with impossible dimensions.
Storyteller: Other than that, there's nothing especially odd about the paper.
Peter Pan: "So...what's up with the odd little house?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "No idea. But the Pumpkinhead vas near my home, and holding it tightly."
Genji: "Now soem advanced moves, follow me. Right left up down pique arabesque! Right up left up aeris formade seris split! ...What'd I tell you about your balls!?"
Peter Pan: Peter reached out to toucht he paper and started chanting
Peter Pan: Chanting Chanting Blah Blah Blah
Storyteller: Peter gets to witness the unique and unenviable event that is a low level Pumpkinhead speaking.
Storyteller: In a voice that sounds like an echoing, painful, strained voice that doesn't really know English he gets to hear "Ree-por-tah ohn Houze uf Leavs. Must Ree-por-tah."
Storyteller: And it's on an odd hill overlooking an odd structue.
Storyteller: Structure.
Storyteller: It then shambles off, presumably to report, but then...
Storyteller: "Dahm, Ih'm lawst!" it bellow/screams.
Peter Pan: "Must Report on House of LEaves....where did you say you found him Brian?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Outside my cave, down the hill."
Peter Pan: "He got lost walking around the hills when he wrote this"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "The fog around the hills can confuse...but how long vas he there?"
Peter Pan: "Not sure, wasn't able to peek for too long"
Storyteller: Around this time, Equan flys in, having successfully completed his taksk.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian held out his arm, letting the familiar land.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Did the Arrows pick up the body?"
Storyteller: Nod, nod.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "At least ve don't need to vorry about hikers finding a beheaded body."
Storyteller: Also, Equans has a something tied to his leg.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian took the tied-on thing, looking it over.
Storyteller: It looks like a small note.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He opened it up, reading it.
Storyteller: It's just got the time and date on it.
Storyteller: And a little smiley face.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...who gave this to you?"
Storyteller: Equans gives you a look that clearly says
Storyteller: "One of the Arrows that was in the room."
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian shrugged, placing the note in his pocket.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "No more dead body on my lawn."
Storyteller: The stillness is broken by the loud thunk of a treebranch falling off the tree and on to the ground.
Storyteller: Ecky-thump!
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian looked out the window at the falling treebranch.
Storyteller: It's fallen.
Storyteller: Came close to falling on a cat, but didn't.
Storyteller: Strange cat, though.
Storyteller: It was rather red.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...anyvun own a red cat?"
Adler: "Not me."
Peter Pan: "Nor me"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "There's vun outside."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Almost hit by treebranch."
Adler: "How very odd...is there anything magical about it?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: He shrugged. "Couldn't tell. But you don't see many red cats."
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian looked back outside again. Activating Supernal vision as he did. For kicks.
Storyteller: You see the red cat.
Storyteller: You see some magic on the red cat.
Storyteller: Life magic.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...Cat ist magical."
Storyteller: The cat's lounging around.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...and ist napping."
Adler: "...I'm going to go take a closer look." Adler says as she sets down her cup and darts down the stairs
Storyteller: Other than the odd color, the cat seems like a normal short haired cat.
Storyteller: But you know a bit better than that.
Storyteller: It's just kinda lying around, yawning, and being bored.
Adler: She stares at it for a few moments with a number of different senses, including Hidden Meaning and all 3 forms of mage sight
Adler: availiable to her, that is
Storyteller: It's a cat, there's some magic on it of Life.
Storyteller: And that's about all of it.
Storyteller: The cat's mind is a fairly normal-ish cat's mind.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian turned, walking down the stairs and out of the Clocktower.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He moved over, standing above the kitty.
Storyteller: And Space and Fate sight don't show much other than it's a normal cat, other than the spell.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He stared down at it.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...hello kitty."
Storyteller: It looks up at you, and meows unconcernedly.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He kneeled, picking it up.
Storyteller: The cat meows lazily as you pick it up.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He walked back up the stairs of the Clocktower, putting the cat on a table for everyone to look at. "...it's a cat."
Storyteller: Cat lies down and starts snoozing.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian sat in a chair nearby, poking at the cat. "...somethink veird."
Genji: Ken finishes his class and decides to call Addy, to see what's up.
Storyteller: It bats lazily at Brian.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He keeps up the poking. "Vhat does the spell do?"
Storyteller: And it keeps batting at Brian.
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian mutters under his breath as he pokes and pokes at the cat.
Adler: Adler jumps as her phone rings...upstairs in the tower
Brian Steffanoskovich: "..."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "......"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "........."
Brian Steffanoskovich: He gives it another poke. "This ist not a cat."
Storyteller: Cat hisses at you, annoyed.
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Vhat are you?"
Storyteller: The cat looks at you like any cat would look if asked that question.
Storyteller: That is, not particularly comprehensive and a bit confused.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He picks it up under its front legs, holding it up in the air. "...you are a strange thing."
Storyteller: The cat doesn't like being held like that and tries to escape.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He places its hind legs down on the table, holding up its front legs, making it look like it's doing a dance. "Strange thing indeed."
Genji: Ken decides to just head on over anyway, they were probably busy reading... stuff.
Adler: "...do you have any idea what it is?"
Peter Pan: "It's probably jsut a cat..."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Not cat."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Somethink else." He makes the cat do more funny dances.
Storyteller: Ken, you arive to see Brian making a cat do funny dances.,
Genji: "...Umm... EMP? Do you have any strange hobbies to inform us of?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...this ist not a cat."
Brian Steffanoskovich: He makes it do a small hop.
Storyteller: But it dances just like one.
Adler: "Apparently, it's got a spell cast on it..."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "A spell that turns it into a cat."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Turns vhat into a cat, I can't tell."
Genji: "...Let me see."
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian lifts it up, handing the dangling cat to Genji.
Genji: He holds it much more gently and stratches behind it's ears, looking intesntly not at it but through it. See the muscles, the vessels, the eyes, the nose, what are they REALLY? What are they supposed to be?
Genji: Well, it's a different breed and gender of cat...
Brian Steffanoskovich: "It didn't like the pokink."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Vhy make a cat...a different cat?"
Genji: "I'm not sure... It's originally a little tail-less boy Manx."
Genji: "So why make it a red girl cat?"
Peter Pan: "Maybe they needed to breed somthing?"
Adler: "I dunno. She has a wierd sense of humor."
Adler: "Alan, why would she turn a cat into a different cat?"
Storyteller: "Becuase she's using one of my tricks?"
Storyteller: "Seriously, before doing something, or sometimes during or after, I'd do some really random shit to get people looking in different directions or for non-existant plots to distract them."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...ve get the convict Archmage book. Vunderful."
Storyteller: "Trust me, if that worries you then don't ask about the House of Leaves. That might cause you to break down."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Vell, it's near my home. I'm curious."
Genji: "...Right. Well this is a minor Life spell, I'm just going to dispel it and send the kitty on it's way."
Genji: "Any objections?"
Storyteller: "OK, so, ever summoned a demon, tricked it, and got away with tricking it?"
Peter Pan: ...
Storyteller: "If you haven't don't go and use this a blueprint for doing so."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Blueprint?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Demon?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Near my HOUSE!?"
Storyteller: "Because all I'm going to say is that I did, managed to get off giving the demon parts of my shoes, and the House of Leaves is a painful, nasy, hellish maze on the inside."
Storyteller: "There may or may not be a Minotaur like creature in there, but I never met it."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "So the Pumpkin Lady is searching around the House of Leaves...vhy?"
Peter Pan: "It would seem the plot thickens."
Storyteller: "Why would most people go and put some hellish labrynth into a house with a possible guardian?"
Peter Pan: "There's somthing good inside"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "You made it. Tell us vhat its hiding."
Storyteller: "Most people would. There is nothing in there of worth. I did it basically as a way to repay somebody that I owed my life to."
Storyteller: "Unless somebody managed to actually get through the maze, then that person's corpse is probably in there."
Adler: "Mazes are easy."
Storyteller: "Not ones like this one."
Peter Pan: "Just keep one hand on the side, you'll eventually get through all of it"
Storyteller: "Nah.
Storyteller: "Walls move."
Storyteller: "Floors move."
Storyteller: "The entrance and exit move."
Storyteller: "The only thing that doesn't move is the central chamber and it's ladder, but you don't want to be there."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...vhy vould your student vant in?"
Storyteller: "She thinks I hid something there? She wants it as a Sanctum? I can't think of any other realistic reasons why."
Brian Steffanoskovich: "Vell, she does. And it's dangerously close to my property."
Storyteller: "Ah. Well, may I recommend not going down the central stairs?"
Brian Steffanoskovich: "...you confuse me."
Storyteller: "Yes. That's considered part of my Modus Operandi."
Genji: "Modus what?" Ken is petting the cat, trying to put together the imago for a de-redecorating spell for it.
Adler: "We'd never have guessed." Adler says sarcastically
Brian Steffanoskovich: Brian left Tax to Adler and Peter, letting them speak to the crazy Archmage.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He went to sit at the table, writing up a short letter to the Arrows. The Pumpkin Lady IS in town, she IS creating pumpkinheads, she's gathering items of Tax's soul, and looking into a "House of Leaves". And since said House was close to Brian's Off-Limits territory, as part of the dealings of hiding his whereabouts, someone should be sent to make sure no more pumpkin
Brian Steffanoskovich: heads wander onto his property.
Brian Steffanoskovich: He finished up the letter, wrapping it around Equan's leg and sending him off to the Piercing Arrow, the head Arrow chair for this area's Consilium.