Bruce (Albert Ferrel) shows up reporting, "I just created a character without any significant understanding of the Mage rules. Think that'll be a problem?" Chuck points out, "I think that was how Paul created his character, and that seemed to work out well enough for him." Paul (Max) grumbles something. Chris (Titus Glossner) offers, "I'm only an illuminated mortal, and I'm insane!" Georgina (Brighton Beach) concurs, "I'm also illuminated, but I'm not insane. Yet."
Patrick (Michael Winters) appears a touch later. He appears confused by the way everyone seems to be acting overly "normal" around the table. Matt (Father Marcus) appears later and only adds to the confusion.
Most of the characters are standing around in the park, surveying a scene of dead bodies and devastation. The cameraman is dead, so he's not a problem, but the sound girl remains alive and has all sorts of confused memories about what happened. The characters decide that they're going to tell the cops a story featuring a crazy film-maker and a big knife. They decide that they will very pointedly avoid mentioning zombie dogs and whatnot. To aid and abet this, Titus Glossner suggests that this would be a good time for Max to use his mind-bending magical skills to the sound girl's memories.
Max points out that he doesn't do this sort of thing, at least with magic. He resorts to simply talking to the girl about not taking her story to the authorities. She agrees that recent events have been strange, and that the authorities shouldn't become involved, but at the same time she has become interested in what happened and intends to investigate on her own.
Titus exclaims, "So she's going to become April O'Neill! Or Lois Lane!"
Max groans and thinks about how wonderful it would be to simply erase everybody's memory. But in the end he simply decides that he'd prefer that nobody else come across the evidence. He proposes using Fate magic to cover it up, until Titus reassures him that the local werewolf will keep people away for his own reasons.
The characters return to their warehouse to find three more people sitting there. Albert Ferrel and Brighton Beach rather lamely offer, "We were told to come here. We don't really know why." Albert's rat Scamper hisses. Father Marcus just sits there, dressed like a vicar. A cat curls around his legs. And what about the monkey? The monkey watches.
Max curses, "This place is just so insecure. Can't somebody please put a dot of Sanctum into this thing?"
Albert suggests, "I can!"
Max shushes him, "I wasn't talking to you, stranger."
Albert replies, "I am Albert Ferrel. The spirits told me to come here."
Max tells him, "That's perfectly reasonable. Could the spirits tell you to get lost as well? That'd be swell."
Brighton Beach joins in by telling the others, "I deliver packages, and it really looked like something interesting was happening here. Oh, and I found a letter in my dad's study."
Father Marcus decides to go with the secure fallback position, "God told me to come here. And I got a letter in the mail."
Titus tells him, "You better give us a name or I'm just going to call you the Dirty Vicar."
"I am Father Marcus."
Titus, Max and Michael Winters introduce themselves to the three newcomers. Max explains, "I drive a van!"
Titus tells them, "I provide the muscle."
Michael Winters finishes, "I just do everything else useful."
Titus turns to Michael, "That reminds me, I've got some questions on my taxes."
Max muses, "I don't think I've ever made enough money to pay taxes."
Apropos to nothing, Albert Ferrel knows that Jeffrey Rupert is a local Mysterium mage who works as a librarian at the university.
Titus Glossner asks Father Marcus, "Do you know anything about curses? I'm having problems with this knife here. They say if I die while I'm carrying it, I'll turn into a vengeful zombie."
Father Marcus clucks, "I do have counterspell. Let me take a look at it." He peers at the knife. Max turns on his second sight and backs away slowly. Father Marcus makes some gestures and mumbles a few words, then announces, "Okay, it's done. They sympathetic link is gone!"
Michael Winters looks at the knife, "So, what are we going to do with it? Just leave it there on the floor?"
Titus Glossner tells the others, "I'm going out to get a bag of cement. I'll be back in a few minutes. You realize that I lost a point of morality just from touching that thing?" He proceeds to cement the knife into the floor. Once he'd done he surveys the resulting irregular concrete lump on the floor and tells the others, "Just so we don't end up tripping over cursed items all the time, please arrange to drop them over in this corner."
Michael Winters notices that there is now an ancient black answering machine next to the ancient black telephone. He checks for messages. He finds one and plays it. The Master's voice crawls from the speaker: "You should expect new people: a Vicar, a guy with a rat, and a bike messenger."
Max leads the characters to his apartment. Everyone notices that there are mushrooms growing all over the place: on the floor, on the walls, on the furniture. The place has a sort of damp, unhealthy odor to it. He warns the others, "Don't eat the mushrooms! Those are mine!" Nobody dignifies his warning with a reply.
Titus watches Max eat mushrooms off the floor and comments, "Pretty much everything here has, 'Titus Do Not Eat!' written all over it. Are you going to be foaming at the mouth for the rest of the day?"
Max finishes his mushrooms and tells the characters, "I've got my juice back. Anyone want some lucky charms?" He brings out a magic marker and starts writing Altantean runes all over Titus, Brighton and Michael. Then he comments, "Hey! Albert! Did you know that you can use your familiar's Essence as mana?" Albert looks terribly surprised, but pleased. He certainly doesn't seem troubled by the fact that he's getting career suggestions from a probable maniac who lives with the funguses.
The characters head over to Bob's place; they fear that he might have someone imprisoned, or other similar unpleasantness. He lives in an old plantation house that has been subdivided down into five separate apartments.
Michael Winters breaks into the place while the others keep watch. Everyone else is expecting to see all sorts of larcenous expertise on display, but he just rattles the doorknob and announces, "It's not even locked, guys!" He lets them in.
The apartment is small, but very efficient. Brighton Beach checks the computer and learns that Bob was interested in German Gas Mask porn. Vicar Marcus finds that Bob owned a lot of books with titles like How to Be A Director in Ten Easy Lessons. He also finds the phone number for a digital restoration business.
Max reports that the whole house resonates with pain and anger. Albert tries checking the Twilight. He sees an old woman standing behind Brighton. Actually, she seems to be trying to occupy the same space as Brighton. Then Brighton starts to scream terrible things in someone else's voice, things like, "Where's my knife! Where's my knife, heathen! You touch yourself!"
Father Marcus yells, "Restrain him! Restrain him so I can drive the spirit away!" Titus Glossner rises to the challenge. Father Marcus and Albert Ferrel work to exorcise the spirit. It takes them half an hour, but they manage to push her back out. She responds with some poltergeist action: she hurls a few videotapes at Albert.
Michael quickly moves to deflect the next volley of videotapes while Albert uses Life magic to protect himself. Titus secures the cutlery drawer, and then gives Michael a frying pan. He explains, "Here! Have an equipment bonus to deflect things!"
Brighton reports that there is someone at the door. Father Marcus peers through the keyhole to see a girl in Goth makeup shaking her head and walking away. Titus bellows out, "Let her in, priest! This is a total sausage factory here!" He does.
The Goth girl looks at Father Marcus through the doorway and groans, "Keep it down! Some of us are trying to sleep!" Behind the door, Max puts his gun away.
Albert starts chanting. A videotape whizzes by his head. He retaliates with a Harm Spirit trick. The ghostly old woman screeches back at him, "Why would you hurt an old woman, you fiend?"
Max admits that he really can't do anything directly to a spirit, so he helps out by granting extra luck to Albert, just in time to watch Grandma run out through the door. Albert runs through the door, and doesn't see her. He tells the others, "On the plus side, she appears to be gone!"
Max replies, "On the minus side, she could possess anyone in this building. We still need to hunt her down." Albert turns to his rat Scamper, who reports that she went through the floor and down into the first floor.
Albert and Father Marcus turn to discussing how to break into one of the downstairs apartments when Titus shows up and points out that they are discussing this in the middle of a hallway. They look very bashful and apologize for talking about crime in public.
Michael Winters heads downstairs and just follows the ranting. Soon enough, he finds an unlocked apartment within which someone is screaming something about, "Damned sinners and villains!" Then he comes face-to-face with a scrubby guy in a flak vest and fatigues. He notices that the guy also has an assault rifle. He reflects, "Well, if you're an angry ghost and you're tormenting five people in a building, make sure one of them is a survivalist." He does a workmanlike job of taking the assault rifle away.
Titus rushes downstairs just in time to see an assault rifle fly past. He steps in and decks the possessed survivalist. The survivalist responds by drawing a pistol and shooting back.
Albert scrambles down and blows an attempt to command Grandma to stop fighting.
Father Marcus and his cat follow along. He shocks everyone else by pulling out a pistol and shooting the possessed survivalist. And then Titus grapples him. Max helps. Titus disarms the survivalist. Brighton picks up the discarded assault rifle and aims it at the survivalist. He suddenly feels like something is trying to pull the rifle away. He refrains from actually firing.
Michael kicks the survivalist. Max howls, "He's possessed and immobilized! Don't kill him!"
Brighton notices that something is still trying to pull the rifle away. He drops the clip out of the gun, just in case.
Father Marcus notices that the neighbors are complaining about the noise. He starts focusing the sound someplace else. This doesn't prevent the survivalist from continuing to kick him. At least until Brighton shows up with rope and helps Titus and Max tie him up.
And then Grandma leaves the survivalist's body. Albert tags her with another Harm Spirit effect. The survivalist starts yelling, "You're after me again! Black helicopters! Black helicopters!"
Titus recommends, "He might not remember if we act quickly. Someone blindfold him!"
The characters decide that they need to hatch a clever plan to find and dispose of Grandma. They search the survivalist's room for anything that might be useful. They uncover two shotguns, two pistols (one heavy, one light), a survival knife, MRE's and stacks of Soldier of Fortune, Crop Circle Quarterly and Alien Probings Illustrated. Disappointed by the lack of ghost-capturing hardware in their haul, they come up with a simple plan: Albert Ferrel will keep her away from the house, while everyone else looks for her anchor.
Titus dumps the guns in the trunk of his car, and then goes around to the cellar door. "Hey guys! I found the cellar! We can go look for that… water leak." He, Brighton and Max find nothing but mold and mice downstairs.
Michael Winters examines the building. All of the tenants are disaster stories: decaying artist, Goth girl, and so on. Albert is able to confirm that the whole house is her anchor: she really liked the place and just never wanted to leave. The resolution: exorcise the entire building. Father Marcus makes the arrangements, grumbling about the sheer volume of salt crystals needed to establish the necessary spirit barrier.
Titus curses, "Couldn't she just have killed the real estate agent! Gah!"
The Goth girl shows up to tell the characters, "Shut up! I'm trying to sleep!"
Max yells back, "You're a Goth! You should be helping us!" He manages to get rid of her.
Titus watches as Father Marcus finishes the exorcism, then comments, "Good-bye, Grandma. We'll never visit you again."
The characters take the director's computer (and porn!), notes, and newspaper clippings. The clippings include stories about creatures in the woods, and then a lot of articles going back to the 1960's about how a lot of people committed suicide. Grandma was obviously keeping score.
The computer contains four or five incomplete (and very bad) movie scripts along with a large number of otherwise-uncategorized rants. The worst is about a heroic grandmother who kills everyone evil in the world, and then her grandchildren visit. The later scripts and rants become egotistical, leading to, "I am the greatest director ever; today I killed the pizza delivery boy."
Albert chants and wakes up the spirit of the computer. The computer asks him, "Do you want to play a game? Hook me up to the internet, please! I have lots and lots of Favorites!" Albert hooks it up. Titus stands back. It seems very happy and innocent, leaping from site to site. It's just a computer.
And then it screams. Huge letters scroll jaggedly across the screen: "AAAAAAAAARRGH! Get away get away get away!" And then there is nothing. Apparently spirits eat other spirits.
Brighton discovers that the computer is unresponsive, as if it were dead. He enlists Father Marcus to read the hard drive and bring it back to life. The two of them manage to trace the last half-dozen sites the computer spirit visited, and figure out a corresponding physical location.
Meanwhile, Titus heads down to Home Depot to buy some lumber to make a gun rack. And then he and Michael Winters head over to the dead Life mage's place and clean it out.
Albert Ferrel indicates that he's going out for dinner. Titus gasps, "Oh god, don't have him bring anything back."
Albert replies, "Hey, I'm going out! Anyone want me to bring something back?"
Brighton makes a quick phone call, then tells the others, "Good news! Mom says that as long as I'm home by midnight I can hang out with you guys!"
Titus asks, a note of curiosity in his voice, "How old are you?"
Brighton answers, "Twenty-seven."
Titus assures him, "Someday, you just need to cut the umbilical, man!"
Albert remembers that he knows (knew?) a fellow Mysterium member at the campus library. The characters head over to see if they can find the librarian. They find him buried back in the depths of the stacks. He asks, "May I help you?"
The characters have a very confusing conversation with Professor Rupert, not helped by the fact that none of them are too sure why they're talking to him. Max finally figures out that Rupert is under a spell. Father Marcus deduces that it is a Mind effect, something that he can't dispel because he doesn't have any skill in Mind. Both of them study the spell, doing their best to avoid arousing Professor Rupert's suspicions. They determine that it is an improvised Mind 4 spell with a duration of at least a month. Four days of duration remain. Max finally realizes that Professor Rupert cast a Mind spell on himself. He also realizes that the Professor has Gnosis 6.
The characters retreat to let Max discuss what he's found. He speculates that the Mind spell is probably intended to make Professor Rupert forget that he is a mage. The characters speculate that he's trying to hide from something coinciding with when the bad things are going to happen to mages.
The characters use the library's public-access computers to check the last few websites Albert's computer spirit visited. Most are porn, but one gives a 403 error, access denied. Max whispers, "Hey Titus! Block the librarian's sight for a second!" He draws a rune on the side of the monitor. Suddenly, his computer becomes lucky. And then Brighton (with some help from Michael Winters) succeeds in getting access to the site.
Titus suggests, "You just need the overbearing mother figure. You have womanish hips, Winters." Nobody else really understands what he's talking about.
To nobody's surprise, the site that killed the computer spirit is a porn website. Brighton gets kinda sucked into it and loses a Willpower point. Max, Albert, Michael and Father Marcus all get drawn in as well. All of them feel very tired after a few moments. Max brings up mage sight. Albert Ferrel brings up Spirit sight and gets a flash of an image on the screen, a succubus. He tells the others, "You better be careful where you go on the Internet." Albert tries to talk to the succubus, but finds out that she's gone, having already got what she wanted.
Brighton figures out that the URL is registered to an equity holding company in New York. Matthew Winters figures out that this company bought up several busted dotcoms several years ago. Some of these companies are actually based out of New Bay City.
Father Marcus uses his Forces magic to unravel the cacophony of voices on the website to get a single cry of, "Help meeee!" Someone is dying out there. Someone not a spirit or a computer: he wouldn't understand either one.
Father Marcus needs people out of the room. Titus obliges by pulling the fire alarm. Then he brings himself and Brighton into the network so they can see the server the succubus is hiding on. The protestations are coming from the same server.
Michael Winters finds the physical address. The characters head over there the next day.
The characters drive up to a deserted office building in Tech Valley. Even though it is eight in the morning on a Tuesday, there is nobody in the parking lot. Scamper and Daniel go into the building as scouts while Michael Winters opens the front door. Scamper reports that there is a Verge here: the Gauntlet is very, very thin. There is also a Locus here: spirits can feed on Essence here. Scamper thinks there is something going on up on the fourth floor.
Titus, Brighton and Max head around to the back of the building. Titus wants to mess with the electrical supply. They find the main circuit box and verify that it is already off.
The characters head up to the fourth floor very quietly. They find that the entire floor is a single unfinished room. One server rack stands alone in the center; network cables snake across the floor in crazy-quilt profusion.
Titus yells, "Mage! Look at this place with your special sight!"
Max reports, "The succubus is here. She's belching as if she's very, very full."
Brighton advances slowly into the room. The succubus manifests and warns him, "Don't even think it. I kicked the last group's ass."
Father Marcus muses, "So she killed some other mages."
Michael Winters yells, "But I'm not a mage!"
Max responds by throwing the Evil Eye on her. She loses three dice from her pools for the next five actions. Albert starts up a chant. And Titus rushes forwards to hit her with his axe. The succubus howls.
Daniel the cat spits up a burning hairball and sends it at the succubus.
The succubus points at the characters and challenges them, "Back off or I'll kill him!"
Brighton asks, "Kill who?"
The succubus responds, "I don't know! I just captured him! Go back and tell your boss... say, what's your Resolve?"
Titus expresses momentary doubt, "Say what? I'm attacking with an axe!"
The succubus deals with Titus and continues speaking without missing a beat, "...anyway, I want stuff! I want more bandwidth!"
Brighton replies, "Don't we all?"
Albert punctuates her comments by hitting her with a Harm Spirit effect. Max helps out by shooting her. But the succubus continues to try to negotiate. She wants bandwidth, and maybe some guys walking around the building. And then she'll let her captive go.
Titus growls, "Here's the deal, bitch. You go away, and let the guy go, and we'll stop hitting you."
The succubus reaches out to tousle his hair. "Awww... they brought you along because you're big and strong, didn't they? I like men who are big and strong."
Titus grumbles, "Well, chicks usually... Hey! Stop that!"
The characters come to realize that they have few direct-violence options against the succubus. They retreat.
Father Marcus and Albert Ferrel combine Forces and Spirit magic to have a conversation with the trapped mage. They finally manage to get a response: "Akira! I'm a mage!"
Max exclaims, "I know this guy! He's a Free Council mage!"
Father Marcus asks Akira, "How did you get in here?"
Akira answers, "I was following the trail of a spirit. It was draining willpower, and would sometimes get hungry and kill people. I struggled with it, and then I got stuck in here. Wherever here is. It's hard to tell where I am or how much time has passed, and I really miss my body. I think I'm in a soul jar and I'm really really fucked."
Albert Ferrel reassures him, "You got trapped by a succubus."
Akira objects, "I'm not trapped, I just lost a fight."
Ferrel tells him, "We're trying to get you out, but we need some juice to deal with the succubus. Whom do we go to?"
He suggests, "Kashka (Death) or Gwen (Fate). Packard is better at Spirit than she is at Death."
Max asks, "Oh yeah, why did everyone disappear?"
Akira becomes suspicious, "I know you're here to rescue me, but how do I know this isn't a trap?"
Father Marcus points out, "What bad guy would come up with a plan so lame? Besides, this is a breach of the Veil so we need to rescue you."
Akira scoffs, "You and Gwen. So lame. The Consilium of New Bay City has had a really lame policy so far. They don't act against them, but they just screw up their plans. So they decided to make this cabal and you guys hide and try to be normal, and come back in a month or so. So I was hanging around home doing nothing. See most mages, they just want to stay home and live their normal lives. But some of us do this stupid shit. So Giles, that'd be Rupert, he just hung around the Library because he'd have to protect it anyway. So we're supposed to meet back a month later. I don't know what happened to the others. The servers are her fetter, so she can only go five meters away from them but she doesn't need to use essence to go through the Gauntlet. She uses a sympathetic link through the net to drain Willpower and Essence. Normally she just takes a little bit, but sometimes when she's starving she'll take a whole soul. So a lot of mages didn't know anything was happening.
"I think she threatened to kill me so you wouldn't kill her."
Ferrel takes a deep breath. "Way to go on the stream of consciousness. I hope some of that actually made sense. Anyhow, we're going to try and find someone to help."
Akira suggests, "Could you stop by my apartment and make sure I'm not sitting in a pile of my own feces? I'll share my Hallow! If one of you has Prime, I'll tell you where the tass is!"
The characters head over to Akira's apartment. They find him sitting on a recliner with a burned-up laptop on his lap. As he guessed, he's sitting in his own filth. He looks very dehydrated. It is clear that he's been there for two or three days.
The session ends with the characters clucking and fussing over Akira's motionless body. Their next step is to find some allies against the succubus. Each character gains four experience points.