The Chronicles of Ceteri C-Team: Season 2, Session 3

Dramatis Personae

  • Agravaine Tashaslan (played by Travis E.): Inhumanely attractive and a genius spellcaster, Agravaine is trying to make a name for himself in the supernatural world of Ceteri.. Tagline: “TBA.
  • Leo Brienza (played by Emily S.): A werewolf private investigator. Leo has a fondness for Twinkies and is a disappointment to his family. Tagline: “TBA.”
  • Ranulf Graeme (played by Christopher D.): Ranulf is a man that introduces himself with a heavy sigh, not only because his name would bewilder the most experienced barista, but also because his life has recently gone down the toilet. Put in administrative leave for something that wasn’t his fault, he’s now forced to join up with some of the folks that actually caused his misery until they make his life better. He’s not going to rely on them alone though, as a tychomancer, a tellurgist, and he simply is one of the best cartographers and survivalists on the Autumn Road. Tagline: “No amount of careful planning can beat pure luck.”

Previously . . .

When we’ve last left off, Ranulf has cast Off The Grid on Helen, narrowly avoiding a shot to the location 11s. Aggy had stowed away the focus and tablet in the labyrinth. Leo is enjoying hospice food and puddings. And everyone is trying to figure out what they’re going to do, Aggy attempts to crash with his minion only to be told that the minion’s sub dimension is currently under renovation and construction. While the arguments are going on, Ranulf casts one more spell on Helen, Sorcerous Mark, to allow him to keep track of her in case something happens.

Once again, on the road in Leo’s hatchback, they arrive a little ways away from the facility. A short squat building, single story. It either goes further down or further in. Aggie looks around to see what they’re using to let the folks into the building, they’re using ward tokens in addition to physical security, there’s Autumn Road entry nearby, but that’s already locked down firmly along with everything else. The ley lines that the Silver Lions have previously tapped has deflated quite horribly after the focus has gone.

Into The Woods

Agrivain, Leo, and Ranulf
Willowdale State Forest
Friday, June 3rd, 2000, 9:30 pm
Unnamed Road, Ipswich, MA 01938

Learning that they’re using cars to get in and out of the building, the team looks into what they can do. Ranulf suggests hitting the car with a conditional ritual, cause the driver to get shocked when they attempt to start the vehicle. Leo, instead, wants to stake them out, a classic detective move. Ranulf and Aggy stay in the car while Leo goes furry and tries some observation. He learns that there’s exactly 24 people inside the building with infrared sensors and CCTV cameras. Aggy analyzes the supernatural defenses, they’ve got everything locked down with an actual Great Warding set up, previously drawn from the ley lines, it’s likely to have been instrumental in its construction and has been extended to protect the lines themselves. The only crack they can detect is that it allows for gating in, but not gating out.

Leo’s incredible physical prowess allows for him to pinpoint where the guards are inside the building. The Silver Lions are a small company with 25 active agents, but a lot more in terms of support roles. The fact that there’s only 24 people inside causes some consternation to the group. One of the people inside smells familiar, of alcohol, botanicals, stale sweat and others, it’s obvious Magnus inside and is muttering to himself on the northern end of the building. The great ward is set up to refuse supernatural beings, which means trouble for Leo and possibly Aggy.

The group deliberates for a while on what to figure out what they can do to get into the building. Aggy attempts to improvise a spell, unfortunately the energy goes awry and he gets hit with arcane backlash and he’s wiped out all wardings within 100 miles. Unfortunately this also means that they are lit up on the Silver Lions’ radar.

With the ward down, Leo rips the door out of the wall and goes charging in. Aggy, bleeding profusely, climbs back into Leo’s hatchback and starts casting Someone Else’s Problem on the car. Ranulf runs in after Leo, following the werewolf as it blows through the walls, coming upon Magnus just as a man comes out with full automatic firing. Leo dodges and drops and Ranulf forces the bullet to redirect itself away from him. Leo slams straight into the man’s chest, bearing him to the ground. Unshocked, the man draws a knife and stabs at the werewolf with a silver knife, but is parried. Ranulf, about to charge in, a wire drops from the drop ceiling, previously chewed on by a rat and hitting the guard in the leg shocking him.

Magnus commenting that it’s good to see Leo, even if he is a bit fuzzier than normal. Magnus, tells them that he’s not leaving without his work, in a large 500 lbs gun safe. Leaving Ranulf to free Magnus from being chained on the desk, it was easy due to the metal fatigue suffered on the chains over time. Leo, on the other hand, just grabs the gunsafe and the three do the bum’s rush to the waiting Aggy. Dropping the safe on top and securing it with duct tape, they slowly creep away as guards try to figure out what’s happening.

The Bat Cave is Jackson’s Man Cave?

Agrivain, Jackson, Leo, and Ranulf
Helen Taft’s Home
Friday, June 3rd, 2000, 11:30 pm
6 Arion St, Boston, MA 02125

They head back to Helen’s home, Jackson is passed out on the couch with a gun on his lap. Magnus grabs some vodka as they pass by, complaining that he’s been stone cold sober over the past three weeks. He got inspired by Aldrick’s work on a battery and has invented something huge, something he calls Super-Q. Leo carefully puts the safe full of super quintessence on the ground. Apparently the only thing between them and opening the safe is a simple combination lock, the protections having been scrubbed by Aggy’s spell.

What’s actually inside is essentially distilled super quintessence. He would collapse it and funnel it through a ley line and it’s about a hundred times more powerful than regular quintessence. Even just regular quintessence is powerful, granting amazing bonuses to rituals and enchanting, but Magnus told the wrong person at a bar and was kidnapped and forced to complete the idea to perfection. He also managed to figure out how to make an artificial dragon well to mine for quintessence using the super stuff, Magnus just never got an opportunity to make it.

While Leo cracks the safe, Aggy reaches out to Olivia, not entirely pleased with the fact that every House’s warding is gone. Even the explanation that he botched it doesn’t please her, but telling her that they’ve got a chunk of pure magical rocket fuel and Magnus (still sadly sober), he’s told to take Magnus back to House Cagliostro and pick up their pay. In the meantime, Magnus is going through his paperwork from the safe and they’re staring at the Super Quintessence, an ephemeral rainbow captured in a crystal phial, seemingly not even from this world.

A conversation with Magnus about his research and continuing it when a knock at the door sounds out. Leo sniffs out Olivia’s scent at the front door. Reluctant to open the door to her, they wait until she comes around back and enters through the unlocked rear door, expressing disapproval over Agrivain’s actions and Ranulf’s good habits not rubbing off on the team. Agrivain explains what is going on and Magnus explains to Olivia what is happening completely. Understanding it, she uncovers her hands where Conclave and Custos credentials lay and starts muttering a spell, casting a geas on them.

They’re never able to speak of what is going on and Magnus has been mind-wiped. Loading up all the research and taking it with her, she remarks that Magnus never got past the thought stage. It’s sure to come back sometime down the road. Admonishing Aggy about not eating and needing to take a bath, she tells them to find a stronghold and to hope that the Silver Lions never figure out what they just did.

Aftermath

The boys are left with a safe full of nearly $200,000 in non-sequential bills and a lot of components and reagents, a lot of rare and legendary components. A strange rod with mysterious glyphs. And multiple pages of spells pressed and preserved between plexiglass. The team decides to do the smart thing and spend a good portion of money on Dunkin Donuts while they try to decide what to do with the rest

After Action Report (GM)

Today’s session featuring a jump-slamming werewolf, a tychomancer mad with power, and Aggie doing what Aggie does. They put together a bit of an ad hoc mission and pulled it off mostly without incident. Agrivaine (he so vain) nearly killed himself with his ward wrecker spell thanks to a help from his little friend. Overall, fun game despite the fact that w cut it a bit short.

The Curse of PK continues and has claimed another victim. Sigh. I guess I need to dig into my applicants folder and see if I can find another player for C-Team, for now, I’m good with just the three.

Other Notes

Bonus Report here.

Soundtrack

Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell (opening song)
Strange Magic” by ELO
Hands In The Sky (Big Shot)” by Straylight Run (closing song/as Magnus’s mind is wiped)

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