[Actual Play] Mage : Avatar Pentagram - Season 2

[Sammael99]

Some of you may have followed my original Mage : The Ascencion actual play thread. Since the thread runs dozens of pages now and is unwieldy to get into, I'm starting a new thread for the new leg of the campaign.

The old thread can be found here (http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=60976) , and anyone who wants to read the whole first season in a friendlier format can send me an email at sammael99@yahoo.fr or PM me to receive a 355 ko word file with the complete narration so far.

The campaign is entitled The Avatar Pentagram.

The first season was called Awakenings, unsurprisingly.

The second season is called Remembrance.

In the next post I will write a quick summary of the first season for anyone who wants to jump into the story straight away.

As always, comments are much appreciated !

One last thing : although never deliberately offensive, the campaign is failry mature in content, so if mature themes do not appeal to you, don't blame me for reading on: you've been warned !

[Sammael99]

One evening in the early spring, the line 4 subway entered the station in Cité when a kamikaze blew himself up in each of the five wagons. Bob, Charles and Louise had never met before that fateful night but all three were aboard that very subway. Just before the explosions, a hobo talked to Bob and mentioned having known him at the time of Hepaximandios. The very same man blew himself up only seconds later.

The carnage was terrible, yet Bob and Charles escaped unscathed. Bob had a strange feeling like time was slowing down, and managed to jump out through a shattered window before any of the deadly debris injured him. Charles saw pieces of metal and flesh flying at him but they changed to dust before doing him any harm. Louise wasn't so lucky and was heavily injured.

She was rescued by a strange young man going by the name of Pi. He extracted her from the wreckage and alerted Bob and Charles's attention. He showed them that nasty looking men in black suits seemed to be looking for someone on the platform only minutes after the explosion, and told them that these men in black were looking for them. All four left through the maintenance tunnels. During their escape, Pi noticed that the Men in Black had secured a man and taken him into custody.

Pi called in his friend Keltos to heal Louise and explained all to them about awakening, being a mage and the various factions. In particular, Pi explained his views on the Technocracy and the Traditions, and specified that he was a member of a group called the Virtual Adepts and that Keltos was part of a group called the Verbena. He detailed the current 'political' situation, and in particular described the uneasy truce that had been struck between the Technocracy and the Traditions in France, and quickly summarised the mostly cosmetic role of the Truce Council, a group of mages supposed to enforce the truce on the Tradition's side.

Bob left with Keltos and met with Melissa, a friendly mage of the Cult of Ecstasy, which he promptly joined, ini more ways than one. Pi told Charles he knew a mage who would probably be interested in finding an assistant and introduced him to Edgar Merrin, a wacky scientist of the Children of Ether. Merrin hired Charles in the company he works with, a cosmetic company for which they work part-time, taking advantage of the laboratory facilities the rest of the time.

Louise had a lot more trouble getting accustomed to the changes. She wasn't connvinced that Pi was entirely truthful and didn't want to get drawn into a ideological conflict which meant little to her. When she resumed work at the Sorbonne University, she was contacted by a man called Michel Weisenberg who turned out to be a member of the Technocracy. He explained his organisation's views in a way that was very reasonable yet left Louise ill at ease. She queried him about the fourth person who had awakened during the explosion in Cité and he admitted that the Technocracy had him in custody, but that his health was deteriorating.

After a few weeks of hesitation, and various confrontations with both Pi and Weisenberg, Louise finally decided to side half-heartedly with the traditions. Pi introduced her to Reginald Meunier, a mage of the Order of Hermes who shared her reluctance to get involved in the conflict between Traditions and Technocracy. Reginald schooled her in the ways of Magick and the Order's worldview.

All three newly awakened settled into their new lives as best they could until one morning all three woke up with a tattoo of a five leaved mandala. Louise examined the tattoos using Prime and noticed that the three were linked by a thread of Essence through their mandalas and that there were further thread leading out, which she assumed to be a connection with the fourth awakened held by the Technocracy.

Before they could act on this information, Bob spotted by coincidence the same hobo who had blown himself up in the subway, walking down the street towards a major department store. A quick examination of essential energy showed that he was litteraly loaded with Quintessence, which they assumed to mean that he was going to blow himself up again.

They caught up with the hobo and tried to talk with him, but apart from learning his name, Capoulosse, that lead nowhere. They stalled him, caused the evacuation of the department store, using their powers to avoid a panic and alterted the police, hoping that the Technocracy would intervene. They did indeed, and the man was killed by hundreds of bullets that strangely did no harm to the crowd or the department store front. They managed to spot what seemed to be a primal battery sucking the quintessence out of Capoulosse just as he died.

A few weeks later they realised that they could no longer contact Pi. However, they managed to decode a strange e-mail received by Louise that led them to a cache where they found VR headsets. They went to Keltos who let them use a computer set up by Pi and entered the Virtual Web. They realised that Pi had left signs for them to follow and ended up in the Spy's Demise where they were handed a card.

When they exited the Virtual Bar they noticed that the card now said "Rip Me", which they did. A portal opened to a Jungle area where they found traces that a military commando had preceded them. Fearing for Pi's life, they caught up withe commando and confronted them. Louise used the manipulation of Forces she had learned from Reginald to eliminate the assailants, but Pi was injured.

Pi explained to them that his investigations on the whereabouts of the fourth man had landed him in trouble. He knew roughly where the technocracy held him, but more information was needed if a rescue operation was to be attempted. Pi told them that he would go into hiding and contact them when the time was right.

Time passed. Bob invited Louise and Charles to a rave organised by Melissa and her friends. There they realised that the Cultists were trying to awaken the ravers through experiments with consciousness, but only using natural drugs and music. They also met with Lobi, an old African griot of the Dreamspeaker tradition who told them that they should work out why the powers they had had been given to them and use them to change the world.

They were summoned by the Truce Council to a confrontational hearing. The three Council members were Cartaphilius, an old and aggressive member of the Order of Hermes, Rabbi Bensimon, a rather gentle and diplomatic member of the Celestial Chorus, and Pr. Hamelin, a quizzical lady of the Children of Ether. Cartaphilius clearly suspected them of being behind the explosions themselves, but they managed to prove that it was not so, and explain their involvement in the prevention of the second explosion.

The real reason for the scrutiny of the Council became apparent when they were questioned about Pi and his whereabouts. They surmised that the Technocracy wanted to get to Pi and the Council hoped to help them in this endeavour. Since they knew nothing of Pi's whereabouts, they could truthfully say that they were of no help to the Council. In the end, the Council cleared them and they were free to go.

[shockvalue]

How many sessions did this all happen over? And please don't say "one", unless you want to make me cry.

[Sammael99]

How many sessions did this all happen over? And please don't say "one", unless you want to make me cry.

Man, that's a whole Season !

Serirously, check out the old thread, and you'll see the narration : it's a little shy of 60 pages in word !

At a guess I'd say roughly six to eight sessions. 2004 wasn't exactly my dream year for role-playing (well, I had quality, but not quantity ;)

[Sammael99]

A few weeks passed by. The new year brought a new longing, a sensation of being incomplete, and Louise in particular got more and more frustrated waiting for Pi to contact them. Charles continued his work on longevity, although it wouldn’t have been apparent to an outsider looking at the fumes from his lab rabbit incinerator. Bob went on being Bob, as if nothing happened. He and Melissa saw less of each other, although he still attended the raves. He loved the sex, but he started to wonder if it had any meaning. He needed to figure things out before he could indulge again…

And then the sign came. In the post. It was obscure, as always with Pi, but it was undoubtedly Pi… One evening after work, Louise received a postcard. On the front was the picture of a mandala. Not their mandala, but still, it couldn’t be a coincidence.

The postcard was addressed to a Jean-Paul Vidal-Naquet in Evry and marqued NPAI (1). How the card got back to Louise’s was a mystery. Two things, however, pointed to the card coming from from Pi: he was one of the only people to know about the mandala tattoo, and the signature, P.Imbert was evidently P.I. ie. Pi. Louise immediately called Charles and Bob and told them to meet her at the usual haunt, a small quiet bar in northern Paris called “Le Rencart”.

http://server2.uploadit.org/files/Sammael99-cp1.jpg


***

- “So we all agree it has to be from Pi”, Louise asked.

The other two nodded.

- “There’s got to be a code…” Charles said, looking at the text, “but it seems a lot more complicated than last time.”

All three looked at it and read the text several times.

“Hi Jean-Paul, What news in Evry ? Laura and her younger sister Grail, my two daughters, leave in February: holiday in Avoriaz, midnight permission. Difficulties in the beginning are to be expected, even thoroughly equipped! P. Imbert.”

Although it made sense in general, it didn’t make any specific sense to them…

After a while, Louise thought she noticed something:

- “Bob, this pattern in the text on the left, don’t you think it looks like one of the figures in the book you found a few weeks back?” (2)

Bob looked, and nodded.

- “It does”, he said, extracting the little book from his back pocket.

Meanwhile, Charles was looking at the pattern.

- “It looks like a broken line followed by a plain line, followed by three broken lines, followed by a plain line”.

Charles drew the pattern :

http://server2.uploadit.org/files/Sammael99-Chun.jpg

Bob looked at it and started flipping through the “I-Ching for Dummies” book.

- “There it is”, he said. “Chun: Difficulties at the Beginning”

- “What does it say?” Charles asked.

Bob read them the page :

3. Chun - Difficulty at the Beginning

-- --
----- above K'an The Abysmal, Water
-- --
-- --
-- -- below Chên The Arousing, Thunder
-----

The Judgement

Difficulty at the Beginning works supreme success,
Furthering through perseverance.
Nothing should be undertaken.
It furthers one to appoint helpers.

The Image

Clouds and thunder:
The image of Difficulty at the Beginning.
Thus the superior man
Brings order out of confusion.

The Lines

Nine at the beginning means:
Hesitation and hindrance.
It furthers one to remain persevering.
It furthers one to appoint helpers.

Six in the second place means:
Difficulties pile up.
Horse and wagon part.
He is not a robber;
He wants to woo when the time comes.
The maiden is chaste,
She does not pledge herself.
Ten years-then she pledges herself.

Six in the third place means:
Whoever hunts deer without the forester
Only loses his way in the forest.
The superior man understands the signs of the time
And prefers to desist.
To go on brings humiliation.

Six in the fourth place means:
Horse and wagon part.
Strive for union.
To go brings good fortune.
Everything acts to further.

Nine in the fifth place means:
Difficulties in blessing.
A little perseverance brings good fortune.
Great perseverance brings misfortune.

Six at the top means:
Horse and wagon part.
Bloody tears flow.


- “What the heck does that mean?” Charles wondered.

******************
(1)NPAI : These initials are written by the post office on a letter when the address is incorrect. It means ‘Does not live at this address’ (N’habite Pas à l’Adresse Indiquée) The letter is then sent back to the sender when the sender is mentioned. Which is why it’s strange for Louise to receive it since postcards rarely mention the sender address.

(2) Bob found a copy of a small book entitled ‘Le Yi-King pour les Nuls’ (I-Ching for Dummies) a few weeks before these events in one of his coat pockets. He never worked out how it got there. I omitted to narrate this in the previous thread, but it is included in the complete version in Word format.

[Sammael99]

They tried to interpret the hexagram’s significance in the context of their recent awakening, the missing fourth that had been abducted by the technocracy and Pi’s role in all of that, but they couldn’t make any sense out of it…

- “There must be a code in there. There’s loads of numbers in the text, so maybe Pi wants us to use these numbers to decode his message…” Louise mused.

They pored over the message for nearly an hour. They tried picking up letters based on the numbers in the I-Ching write up, like the ninth, then the sixth, then the ninth, the ninth, the ninth and the sixth to finish. That provided them only with gibberish.

- “I can’t see how it could be a code based on the letters”, Charles finally said. “It would have been insanely complex to code, and Pi would have known that unless the key was crystal clear, we’d never have a chance to decode it. I’m thinking it must be a code on which words to pick, rather…”

They spent some time trying the same combinations based on the words, but that didn’t work either. They had been at it several hours now, and they were growing impatient.

- “Let’s step back a minute”, Louise said. “Pi knows us, and although I wouldn’t put it past him, I don’t think in this instance he would have taken pleasure in making things more difficult for us than they need to be.”

- “Okay”, Charles said. “You’re right. Let’s see. What do we know about Pi?”

- “He’s a cool dude?”, Bob answered.

- “To you, maybe, although I don’t see how that helps” Louise snapped. “No, I’d say the most important thing about him is that he’s a computer geek.”

- “I’d add that he doesn’t seem to be too keen on mystical claptrap”, Charles said.

Louise looked at him, scowling, but she decided not to get into an argument. The truth was, before she joined the Order of Hermes, she probably would have called the I-Chin mystical claptrap herself…

- “Yeah”, Bob intervened. “That means that all the text here is probably bullshit, so we’re on the right track with the numbers thing, except it seems to lead us nowhere…”

There was long silence with everyone deep in thought…

- “Wait a minute”, Charles said. “What if you’re right?”

- “Who, me?” Bob replied ironically. “That’d be the day…”

- “No, no, seriously! What if everything is actually contained in the postcard?”

- “But why point to the I-Ching then, and ‘give’ the book to Bob?” Louise asked.

- “In case we didn’t see the pattern for what it was! That’s why there’s ‘difficulties in the beginning’ in the text as well: just to point us towards the right hexagram! I’m sure that’s the key!”

- “Okay, let’s suppose that it is. How do you suppose the key opens the door?” Louise prodded.

- “Well, he’s a computer geek, as you said. Computers work using binary notation. What if this key points to a binary notation that we can use to decode the message?”

Charles looked at the sequence of the hexagram.

- “Let’s posit that the short lines are 0s and the long lines are 1s. The sequence is 0010000001. If we write down only the words that are ones in the sequence, it gives us : ‘Quelles soeur mes à de attendues comme’ (3) That makes no sense. The sequence can’t be inverted, because that would imply six words in a row, and there’s no way we wouldn’t have spotted a significant phrase if that was the case.”

- “So we’re buggered again?” Bob asked.

- “No, no! Wait, this is only the beginning.” Charles said enthusiastically. “Now let’s suppose that the broken lines are 0s and the long lines are 1s. The sequence becomes 010001. That gives us: ‘Jean-Paul Evry et Grail deux février à minuit difficultés attendues équipées P.Imbert’.” (4)

- “Well, that doesn’t seem to make much sense either”, Louise said.

- “Although ‘february second at midnight’ sounds suspiciously like a meeting…”, Bob replied

- “Not to mention that ‘difficulties expected’ and ‘equipped’ sounds suspiciously like a warning… and Evry is a place”, Charles said. “So that means that the rendez-vous point must be somewhere in Evry, and that Jean-Paul and Grail must be elements to find out where…”

Louise flipped open her laptop. She opened a web browser, went to the white pages and typed in “Jean-Paul Grail” in “Evry”. Nothing came up but the system suggested approaching matches. She clicked, and there it was:

‘Grail Technologies
Gènepôle d’Evry’

- “That’s it!” Charles yelled. “Jean-Paul is Gènepôle (5) and Grail is a company.”

- “Doing genetic engineering”, Louise added, scanning the webpage. “And I suspect that’s where the fourth man is held…” (6)

____________________

(3) Which / sister / my / at / of / expected / as

(4) Jean-Paul / Evry / and / Grail / two / february / at / midnight / difficulties / expected / equipped / P.Imbert

(5) Gènepôle : There’s a science park in Evry near Paris that is devoted to genetic studies. It houses the genetic branches of Evry University and several genetic related businesses. Jean-Paul is pronounced nearly the same as Gènepôle.

(6) The group knows that there’s a fourth Mage who awakened at the same time they did but got taken by the Technocracy. Pi had promised to locate him for them.

[Myth]

Yay! The long delays in Season One mean than I was able to catch up!

(Now that I am caught up, though, feel free to stop having new children, hospital visits and the like. Game in happy synchronicity, with plenty of time to keep up posted.)

Thanks also for the excellent bilingual support - my French is exceedingly rusty and I appreciate the footnoting.

[Sammael99]

Yay! The long delays in Season One mean than I was able to catch up!

(Now that I am caught up, though, feel free to stop having new children, hospital visits and the like. Game in happy synchronicity, with plenty of time to keep up posted.)

Thanks also for the excellent bilingual support - my French is exceedingly rusty and I appreciate the footnoting.

Next update most likely tomorrow.

Thanks for the feedback ! Glad you like it !

[Cirv]

Glad to see the return of your actual play, Sammael. Keep it up!

[Sammael99]

The trio had a couple of weeks to prepare. The problem was that they didn’t quite know what they were preparing for. Of course, they did some quiet reconnaissance. Grail Technologies was set in a separate building, with only a ground level. It was a small laboratory but with some serious security: the perimeter was fenced and wired, there were a couple of guards at all times and a whole lot of video-surveillance equipment.

Louise also examined the place using her sensitivity to Prime Essence and although it wasn’t blatant, there was definitely something there. Furthermore, one of the strands of essence that emerged from her Mandala definitely pointed in the direction of the laboratory. Pi had indeed found the fourth man for them.

They consulted Keltos, hoping for some useful advice:

- “Keltos, what do you think Pi means when he says to come equipped?” Louise queried.

- “In what context?” Keltos replied

- “I’d rather not say. I don’t want to get you into trouble”.

- “Well, I can’t really answer your question, then, can I?”

- “Hrrrm. Good point. Let’s say that Pi found something for us, and it’s held in a technocratic laboratory. He’s given us a date and time and advised to come equipped.”

Keltos stared at her, speechless.

- “You, you... You want to raid a techno lab?”

- “We don’t want to, we have to.”

- “Well, in that case, I would presume that ‘equipped’ means heavily armed…”

And so Bob was put in charge of acquiring firearms. Louise withdrew a significant amount of cash from her savings, especially since neither of them had any either how much the weapons cost. In the meantime, Charles was put on surveillance of the lab, to try and discern the comings and goings.

It turned out that surprisingly few employees seemed to work there or at least a lot less than the size of the parking lot tended to suggest. After a few days’ surveillance, Charles concluded that there was no easy way in, and that they would have to enter the hard way. This revelation worried him enough to ask his boss for some kind of weapon.

- “Oh, I think I’ve got something in the old projects cupboard”, Edgar said.

He went rummaging in a cupboard, and came back a few minutes later with a gun that looked like it was straight out of a 50s science fiction movie.

- “I call it the Ray Gun”, he said proudly. “Look!”

Edgar pointed at one of Charles’ rabbits and, before Charles could intervene, he pressed the trigger. There was a strange, shrill noise, and a blue arc shot from the ray gun to the rabbit. The rabbit froze.

- “Wow, cool!” Charles said. “Thanks Edgar, I’m sure this’ll come in handy.”

That evening, Charles stayed late in the lab, trying to work out how to use the gun. He couldn’t seem to make it work. At best, there would be a little spark and a fizzling noise. At worst, simply nothing.

Meanwhile, Bob had been busy. When they met back at Keltos’ place, he had a wide grin on his face.

- “I’ve ordered the gear!” he said.

- “What did you get?” Louise asked.

- “Two Russian sub-machine guns with plenty of ammo, three handguns, and a rocket launcher.”

- “A what?”

- “A rocket launcher. You know, a long gun you put on your shoulder, and use to fire rockets that go ka-boom on the other end.”

- “Why the heck would we need that?”

- “Well, Pi said to come equipped, you know. Can’t do much better than a rocket launcher!”

- “No way are you buying a rocket launcher on my money!”

- “Well… The thing is, it’s already paid for…”

- “What? Whatever made me think that I could trust you with anything like that…”

She stormed out.

- “A rocket-launcher ?” Keltos queried quietly. “That’s like, decidedly uncool, man. It’s not a game you know…”

- “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing”, Bob answered.

There was a gleam in Charles eye.

- “When are you getting the gear?” he asked.

***

On the evening of February 2nd, Louise, Charles and Bob made their separate ways towards Evry. According to plan, Bob had stolen an old Peugeot car in a suburb North of Paris. Louise took a cab to Evry and then walked the last twenty minutes. Charles used the subway. He was looking very different from his usual attire. He had sleek dark glasses and a long black leather coat. He looked like a chubbier, clumsier version of Neo.

Five minutes to midnight.

Louise and Charles met on a corner fifty yards from Grail Technologies.

- “You disguised yourself. Clever.” Louise said.

- “Uh? It’s not a disguise, I’m dressed like Trinity!”

- “Who’s Trinity?”

- “You haven’t seen The Matrix?”

- “The what? Anyway, how is dressing up in black leather and wearing shades at night not a disguise?”

- “I’m just gonna be more efficient dressed like that. For the shooting and all.”

- “What are you on about?”

- “Well, you know how Pi explained that belief affects reality, right? So dressing up as a bad-ass gal who shoots great and all is bound to make me better. Cause, you know, I’m not hyper-proficient with guns to start with…”

Charles had spent the most part of the last 24 hours watching the Matrix movies over and over. He felt he’d learned quite a bit about shooting from them. When Bob pulled over with the car, Charles quickly opened the boot and extracted a handgun, which he convincingly slipped in his belt, and an SMG, which he inexpertly hid under his leather coat.

- “Oh, by the way Louise, I got something for you”, Charles said.

He took the Ray Gun out of one of his pocket and handed it to her.

- “It’s a paralysis gun that my boss designed, but I can’t seem to make it work. Since you understand more about the manipulation of energy than I do, I figured you might be able to use it…”

Louise looked at the gun with distaste, but she pocketed it nonetheless.

They synchronised their watches. They had decided that Charles and Louise would go in, and Bob would keep a watch, be ready for the escape, and only intervene in case things went bad. The rocket launcher was armed and ready on the back seat of the Peugeot.

Two minutes to midnight.

Louise and Charles crept closer to the fence. They had identified a path that seemed to avoid all of the building’s security cameras. Of course, it involved going through the fence and through one of the outer walls, but Charles was fairly confident he could handle that.

One minute to midnight.

Thirty seconds.

Ten seconds.

Five.

Two.

One…

[Dakkareth]

<delurk>I'm here and reading. Much fun :).</delurk>

[Sammael99]

<delurk>I'm here and reading. Much fun :).</delurk>

Cool ! Thanks for the feedback.

I just got back from running the latest session. Much philosophying went buy, but next time they get to flex their Magick Muscles big time !!!

[DaveB]

Cool beans!

Keep it up, Sammael!

[greuh]

I'm happy to read the follow up of this interesting story!!

greuh.

[Sammael99]

Cool beans!

Keep it up, Sammael!

This is high praise, coming from you, Dave !

I will indeed keep it up. The players are well hooked now and we're back in a two sessions a month rhythm, which is the best I've done in any game for the last five years.

Woohoo !

[Sammael99]

Jerome Larre was sitting in the EDF supervision board for Southern Paris. It was nearly midnight, and his replacement Aurélien was due to arrive any second. In fact, Jérome could hear him running up the corridor with no time to spare, as usual. That’s when the alarm went off.

Jerome stared in disbelief. On the large screen, a map of the whole sector south of Paris showed the supply channels, electricity conduits, and local distribution networks. Everything was green except a small sector way south of Paris that was flashing an angry red.

Aurélien entered the small room.

- “What the fuck is happening?” he asked, panting.

- “I don’t know! A sector just went down. “He pointed at the map: “Here!”

Aurélien checked the displays.

- “Sector 030267S”, he said. “Where the hell is that?”

- “Somewhere in Evry, isn’t it ?”, Jérôme responded. “It doesn’t make sense though ! The distribution equipment seems OK and the supply is fine. Why the hell did this particular sector go down?”

Aurélien was now frantically checking the maps.

- “There it is” he said. “Bang in the middle of the science park.”

Jérôme and Aurélien looked at each other.

- “Call Mr. Gianadda.” Jérôme said.

***

At midnight sharp, the electricity in the whole block went dead. No more streetlights, no more heating, fridges or TV, and more importantly, no more security cameras.

Charles and Louise ran across the street to a corner of the wire fence opposite the guard’s cabin. Charles extended his hands towards the fence, concentrated, and the fence started to melt. He had practised this trick a few times already, but now he felt as if there was some inherent resistance. Furthermore, an odd tingling in his neck and spine told him that he had been a little more vulgar than was safe. Soon enough, however, there was a puddle of molten iron at his feet and a large enough hole in the fence.

Brushing considerations of efficiency aside, Charles slid through the hole he had just created, quickly followed by Louise. They ran towards the main building as quietly as they could. Halfway there, they heard a rumble below the ground and a low hum. Charles stopped, a worried look on his face.

- “What’s wrong?” Louise whispered.
- “Generator”, Charles answered.

The hum amplified slightly, and then stopped abruptly. The tension on Charles face eased.

- “I really love Pi”, he sighed.

They resumed their course and ended up in front of one of the building’s corner. Again, Charles concentrated hard on altering the structure of the wall’s concrete. The material was oddly fibrous, and it was a lot harder to affect that the outside fence. Charles felt like there was something or someone pushing back in order to prevent him from drilling. After nearly a minute’s concentration, he was sweating profusely, eyes riveted on a tiny hole in the wall. Gradually, the opening expanded.

- “Hurry up, Charles”, Louise prompted.

Finally, Charles’ hole was large enough that he could crawl through it. His black leather coat looked torn and dirty once on the other side, but he brushed the dust away and in an instant it looks like knew.

- “Good quality leather, that…” he murmured.

He felt like shit, exhausted, shivers running down his back as if he had a sudden fever.

- “I really need to give this coincidental magick a thorough thought”, he told Louise.

- “Well, now's not the time” she said, extracting herself from the opening in the wall.

Charles lit a torch as Louise drew symbols in the air with her hands while muttering in an obscure language. Suddenly the world appeared to her in a flare of white light. Obviously, the building’s structure confined the Prime energies inside, because although she had not spotted unusual flows of quintessence from the outside, it was omnipresent. She had a bit of trouble following the thread that they assumed led to the “fourth man”, but she finally determined that it went down below.

- “We need to find a way down”, she quietly said to Charles.

Neither of them noticed that the strange, fibrous concrete of the wall they had pierced was slowly reforming...

***

He opened his eyes.

It was mostly dark around him, although a few neon tubes above generated a bluish radiance. What little light there was was diffracted by the glass casing that surrounded him. He was lying on a comfortable sort of bed. He looked down and saw that he was naked.

He had no memories of where he was, or even who he was. There was a fugitive image nagging at him, a woman’s face maybe? Every time he concentrated on it, it eluded him.

He pushed the glass pane in front of him, and it lifted up with a low hiss. He stood cautiously, expecting pain perhaps, or unease, but it felt fine. He flexed his legs, and, staring at his nudity, decided that he should do something about it.

He looked around. A laboratory… The whole room was covered in white tiles. The only pieces of furniture were a few high, narrow cupboards and a large workbench covered with medical paraphernalia and thick paper files. There were four more glass casings alongside the one he just emerged from. Oddly, they made him think of coffins…

He looked into the one next to his and recoiled in horror: there was a naked man inside, open from throat to crotch, the skin stretched by invisible wire. The man was clearly alive: the lungs were moving, the fluids flowing…

He jumped back and breathed deeply to try and stop himself from vomiting in disgust. He didn’t dare look at the other glass boxes.

He looked around for something to wear. There was a door with a round window, and behind it hung several lab coats. He found one large enough to fit him and quickly put it on. That’s when he noticed that there was a number in front of the ‘coffin’ he had emerged from: #57.

He rummaged through the files on the workbench and found one labelled #57. He opened it and started to read, but the lighting was insufficient and, in any case, he couldn’t make anything of it. Clearly, whatever he was, it wasn’t a doctor.

Lifting his head, he noticed a security camera in the upper corner above the door. It wasn’t moving, but there was no knowing if he’d been seen. Quickly, he opened the door and exited into a dark, cold corridor. As he exited the room, the security camera moved slightly, and a green light indicated that it had just started filming.

Opposite him there was another, similar door. He quickly shot a glance and wished he hadn’t. There were similar coffins to the ones in the lab he had just left. There a naked woman with nothing below her waist: no legs, no crotch, no buttocks. Nothing, just smooth, round skin. There, a toddler with four arms; there, a man with his cranium open, the brain pulsating slowly.

He jerked back and nearly fell, his back to the corridor wall. He breathed hard, not quite believing what he had just seen. That’s when he heard the footsteps. They were approaching slowly, and he heard a voice mumbling:

- “Fucking generator. Never works when you need it…”

He stood up in a panic and started running down the corridor in the opposite direction. He opened the first door on his left that didn’t look like one of the labs and crouched behind the door. It was a bathroom of some sort, with just a sink and a small cupboard. Not wanting to move or make any noise, he groped around for some sort of weapon and nearly yelped when he cut himself on a scalpel lying on the floor. He couldn’t believe his luck! Fortunately his cut turned out to be only a pinprick. He grabbed the scalpel in his right hand, listening intently for the footsteps coming closer.

He was startled by the voice when he heard it.

- “Look, you deal with the intruders, man! That’s what you’re paid for. I got an escapee on my arms, and the damn generator didn’t kick in. If I don’t find him, the Professor is gonna use me as her next guinea pig…”

A short silence.

- “Of course I’ll check everywhere, who do you take me for? Just because you got more chips than meat doesn’t give you the right to treat me as a moron…”

A loud click.

The footsteps approached.

A door opened.

A long silence.

A door closed.

The footsteps approached further…

[clockworkcanary]

Fantastic story! But it seems to have abruptly stopped back in March?. I discovered your story just yesterday and read through the entire thing - I must say you are a great storyteller - I could only hope to be as good.

Mage: The Ascension is my favorite RPG, which I haven't ran in awhile. So after being inspired, I've gotten in touch with some of my old players and am planning on running a Technocracy campaign.

I'd have to say I like all the playing characters for different reasons but I think Louise is my favorite. Do any of your players post here as well? I'd love to read their perspective. Love the suspense! Can't wait to read more!

[Sammael99]

Hey clockworkcanary,

Thanks for the praise. Unfortunately, the campaign died back in March. Louise and Bob's players left Paris for professional reasons, and because of the whole avatar pentagram thing, I couldn't just replace them with two different players.

I was pretty gutted about the campaign, but I can't stop my friends from moving away for a better job...

[clockworkcanary]

Well that sure is understandable. I've had games abruptly end a few times during my gaming years. Too bad you couldn't have played one final session to get some closure. Oh well. It was a great read! I've been inspired to start up a Technocratic Mage game.

Well, hope to read more of your Mage adventures in the future.

[Sammael99]

Well that sure is understandable. I've had games abruptly end a few times during my gaming years. Too bad you couldn't have played one final session to get some closure. Oh well. It was a great read! I've been inspired to start up a Technocratic Mage game.

Well, hope to read more of your Mage adventures in the future.

I've been meaning to at least write up a summary of the planned campaign but haven't found the time. I will if I do !

[Honken]

Thanks for a great read! I am a Mage n00b, and it has gotten me a little more perspective on the game. Sorry to hear that it was cut short. Let me know if you have any new AP Mage thread going. I'd love to read it.

/Honken