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sparkindarknessBut not really. Because of course the third syndrome is cliffhanger syndrome. Don't you just love cliffhangers? No? Nah, I'm getting tired of them too.
A night time raid. Sounds wonderfully dramatic doesn’t it? Of course, ten seconds in we were all suddenly realising that while Sistech has the latest in night vision technology, fancy security sensors and big vicious dogs, we have a torch.
It seemed a good idea at the time! So we’re all just a little irritated, the third time we have to run like mad through the back streets with Matthias dropping bad luck behind us like caltrops. Both he and Janos have been bending light in freaky ways to hide us so often that I can almost feel the paradox in the air. Yeah, it’s subtle magic, but even subtle magic starts to push it too far reality still hits back. It seemed to work. So far the guards think we’ve been a cat, some homeless people, a bunch of kids mucking about (twice) and a flock of birds. I’m not sure, but I think Nik had to mess with their heads just to make them believe that.
“Ok, can we do some thinking this time, if that's not too much to ask?” I snarled sarcastically. Ok, it wasn’t helping but I’m getting pissed. “Who can see in the dark? Can we sort that out first?”
It was grudging, and bloody embarrassing. Hard to admit you’ve just been blundering around running into dustbins when you have magic to make everything clear. Stuff it, I sit down first and begin chanting, I trace runes on my eyelids with the tip of my athame, letting the point dimple the flesh just slightly. No need for blood for this. Runes of night and moon, I will the power of my body to pierce the night. The darkness seems to lighten, dark shadows still lurk everywhere, but I can see into their depths.
Nik is smoking something, his chest inhaling and exhaling with smooth rhythmic motions. When he opens his eyes they’re a little unfocused, but he can see.
Janos has just finished chanting after I did, his long bone wand tapping each eye and tracing patterns in the night. I don’t understand the language, not much anyway. He called the spirit world, and judging by the way he’s scanning the now clearer night, he can see too.
Matthias? Well, the stuff he screwed into his eyes looked like ash. I didn’t hear the words he muttered either, but I’m guessing I don’t want to. What I don’t know can’t hurt me, right? No, I’m not believing that either.
Sebastian pulled his lap top closer and tried to avoid my eyes. I’m guessing this wasn’t a trick he could pull of. No shame in that, I’m betting there are things he can do that I can’t. But with most of us able to see, maybe we could scout it out a bit better. Well, we couldn’t do worse right?
Thirty foot high fence. Four guards on each gate. Three gates. A large pack of dogs roaming the grounds, though I say dogs only because wolves don’t look that vicious. At least twenty people lurking around inside the various small buildings (though bunker might be a more appropriate description) dotted around the main complex, oh and more cameras than you’d see at a paparazzi convention. To add the final touches, it seems that out good friends in Sistech industries had decided that the country’s strict hand gun laws don’t apply to them.
Even Matthias looked discouraged. “We can get in,” he muttered quietly. “But it’ll take all the magic we have. We’ll be in, but dragging around a wave of paradox and no quintessence to face whatever’s inside.” Quintessence. The fifth element, the very prime substance of creation, and better than gold for a mage. We didn't really need quintessence to use our powers, but it helped and gave you an amazing boost. Downside? It isn’t all that easy to get your hands on, and the stuff you can get a hold of tends to carry some mean resonance. You ever tried a healing spell aided by quintessence garnered from a blood sacrifice? It doesn’t work. Trust me.
“Where’s this distraction, Nik?” I prodded the Ecstatic. “Even if we do get in, we’ll have the police crawling all over us. These guys give heavily to the politicians, you can bet the police won't waste any time clearing out any ‘disturbance’.”
Nik sat down, pulling himself into a half lotus position. His breathing becoming even and clear, so loud I was sure the guards would hear him. I could still smell the thick cloying scent of whatever it was he was smoking earlier. Guess the advantage of using drugs as a focus for your magic is they cold last for some time. The disadvantage as well, I guess.
“Any minute... now.” He grinned and opened his eyes, looking at a suddenly approaching van. We pulled back into the shadows.
The van careened towards the front gate, sending the guards scurrying in panic, reaching for guns and radios. The dogs howled, eyes glinting evilly in the thin moonlight. The thin, cloud shrouded, full moon light.
Janos gasped behind me. “Spirits are blocking the radios!” What?! Who invoked the spirit world? I passed the question onto the Dreamspeaker, who was eyeing the night with paranoid eyes. “Not I. The person calling them is more powerful. A lot more.”
The van screeched to a halt. Six figures dressed in combat fatigues leaped out of the back, moving as quickly as shadows, they leapt upon the beleaguered guard.
I blinked, sure I had missed something. Five more attackers had appeared out of nowhere! Literally! There are eleven of them now, flickering in the darkness. I turned to Nik to see if he’d seen what I had (how far have I sank that I’m looking to reassure myself from an Ecstatic?) His eyes were wide and white. I guess he’d seen what I had.
While I watched his eyes widened even further. His jaw dropped. I spun round again, raising my athame, the beginning chants of a spell that would liquefy the internal organs of any attacker (well, hopefully). The chants died on my lips...
There were no attackers now... The guards turned and ran, screaming in insane panic, their guns forgotten. One, slower than the rest, was caught and ripped apart by a... thing. Eleven foot tall, built like a bear, but more lithe. Huge claws and a giant wolves’ heads completed the raging nightmares that tore through the hysterical security guards with sickening speed.
Oh shit.
“Werewolves?!” Janos choked out. “This is the distraction? It is like advancing on the enemy under a concealing cloud of poison gas!”
Matthias barely waited, already rising to his feet, bending the light as he moved. “Come, we will never get a better chance!”
Lord and Lady, this was going to be messy.
A night time raid. Sounds wonderfully dramatic doesn’t it? Of course, ten seconds in we were all suddenly realising that while Sistech has the latest in night vision technology, fancy security sensors and big vicious dogs, we have a torch.
It seemed a good idea at the time! So we’re all just a little irritated, the third time we have to run like mad through the back streets with Matthias dropping bad luck behind us like caltrops. Both he and Janos have been bending light in freaky ways to hide us so often that I can almost feel the paradox in the air. Yeah, it’s subtle magic, but even subtle magic starts to push it too far reality still hits back. It seemed to work. So far the guards think we’ve been a cat, some homeless people, a bunch of kids mucking about (twice) and a flock of birds. I’m not sure, but I think Nik had to mess with their heads just to make them believe that.
“Ok, can we do some thinking this time, if that's not too much to ask?” I snarled sarcastically. Ok, it wasn’t helping but I’m getting pissed. “Who can see in the dark? Can we sort that out first?”
It was grudging, and bloody embarrassing. Hard to admit you’ve just been blundering around running into dustbins when you have magic to make everything clear. Stuff it, I sit down first and begin chanting, I trace runes on my eyelids with the tip of my athame, letting the point dimple the flesh just slightly. No need for blood for this. Runes of night and moon, I will the power of my body to pierce the night. The darkness seems to lighten, dark shadows still lurk everywhere, but I can see into their depths.
Nik is smoking something, his chest inhaling and exhaling with smooth rhythmic motions. When he opens his eyes they’re a little unfocused, but he can see.
Janos has just finished chanting after I did, his long bone wand tapping each eye and tracing patterns in the night. I don’t understand the language, not much anyway. He called the spirit world, and judging by the way he’s scanning the now clearer night, he can see too.
Matthias? Well, the stuff he screwed into his eyes looked like ash. I didn’t hear the words he muttered either, but I’m guessing I don’t want to. What I don’t know can’t hurt me, right? No, I’m not believing that either.
Sebastian pulled his lap top closer and tried to avoid my eyes. I’m guessing this wasn’t a trick he could pull of. No shame in that, I’m betting there are things he can do that I can’t. But with most of us able to see, maybe we could scout it out a bit better. Well, we couldn’t do worse right?
Thirty foot high fence. Four guards on each gate. Three gates. A large pack of dogs roaming the grounds, though I say dogs only because wolves don’t look that vicious. At least twenty people lurking around inside the various small buildings (though bunker might be a more appropriate description) dotted around the main complex, oh and more cameras than you’d see at a paparazzi convention. To add the final touches, it seems that out good friends in Sistech industries had decided that the country’s strict hand gun laws don’t apply to them.
Even Matthias looked discouraged. “We can get in,” he muttered quietly. “But it’ll take all the magic we have. We’ll be in, but dragging around a wave of paradox and no quintessence to face whatever’s inside.” Quintessence. The fifth element, the very prime substance of creation, and better than gold for a mage. We didn't really need quintessence to use our powers, but it helped and gave you an amazing boost. Downside? It isn’t all that easy to get your hands on, and the stuff you can get a hold of tends to carry some mean resonance. You ever tried a healing spell aided by quintessence garnered from a blood sacrifice? It doesn’t work. Trust me.
“Where’s this distraction, Nik?” I prodded the Ecstatic. “Even if we do get in, we’ll have the police crawling all over us. These guys give heavily to the politicians, you can bet the police won't waste any time clearing out any ‘disturbance’.”
Nik sat down, pulling himself into a half lotus position. His breathing becoming even and clear, so loud I was sure the guards would hear him. I could still smell the thick cloying scent of whatever it was he was smoking earlier. Guess the advantage of using drugs as a focus for your magic is they cold last for some time. The disadvantage as well, I guess.
“Any minute... now.” He grinned and opened his eyes, looking at a suddenly approaching van. We pulled back into the shadows.
The van careened towards the front gate, sending the guards scurrying in panic, reaching for guns and radios. The dogs howled, eyes glinting evilly in the thin moonlight. The thin, cloud shrouded, full moon light.
Janos gasped behind me. “Spirits are blocking the radios!” What?! Who invoked the spirit world? I passed the question onto the Dreamspeaker, who was eyeing the night with paranoid eyes. “Not I. The person calling them is more powerful. A lot more.”
The van screeched to a halt. Six figures dressed in combat fatigues leaped out of the back, moving as quickly as shadows, they leapt upon the beleaguered guard.
I blinked, sure I had missed something. Five more attackers had appeared out of nowhere! Literally! There are eleven of them now, flickering in the darkness. I turned to Nik to see if he’d seen what I had (how far have I sank that I’m looking to reassure myself from an Ecstatic?) His eyes were wide and white. I guess he’d seen what I had.
While I watched his eyes widened even further. His jaw dropped. I spun round again, raising my athame, the beginning chants of a spell that would liquefy the internal organs of any attacker (well, hopefully). The chants died on my lips...
There were no attackers now... The guards turned and ran, screaming in insane panic, their guns forgotten. One, slower than the rest, was caught and ripped apart by a... thing. Eleven foot tall, built like a bear, but more lithe. Huge claws and a giant wolves’ heads completed the raging nightmares that tore through the hysterical security guards with sickening speed.
Oh shit.
“Werewolves?!” Janos choked out. “This is the distraction? It is like advancing on the enemy under a concealing cloud of poison gas!”
Matthias barely waited, already rising to his feet, bending the light as he moved. “Come, we will never get a better chance!”
Lord and Lady, this was going to be messy.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-17 04:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-17 04:53 pm (UTC)Emrys: Whoa! No rooting on either side here, we are SO not fighting werewolves! We'd last seconds!
Especially since they're outnumbered. Here's hoping the mages can do what they can while the weres cause some havoc
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-18 12:43 am (UTC)*ahem* ok I got that out of my system. In my previous post I was wondering what Distraction they were talking about happening. Now I know. Awesome. But I'm just an old Werewolf player. Werewolf was my first WW game so I'll allways think the Weres kick mighty ass.
Still I like to root for the underdog Mages. They can certainly do thier own style of wup ass.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-12-18 06:02 pm (UTC)Janos: Or the Get of Fenris.
My first ww game was Vampire, but I am a big fan of Werewolf, it does make it hard to go against them because you KNOW there werewolves are probably right.
And the weres do kick might arse. Which is why my mages are avoiding them... they are BABY mages at the minute = dogfood. If they really tried they COULD kill themselves with paradox before the weres ate them. Maybe.
*pats baby mages*