OOC: Three Groups of Three Things

Three Things Chantel Wants 
1. To stop Israel’s darkest self from rampaging across Toronto (willing to make a deal with God for more help and information to do so) 
2. To pull Huntstone out of her head and destroy him properly (willing to make deals with people powerful enough to do so and cross moral boundaries to complete the task. For example, put Huntstone in the body of a baby and then kill the kid.)
3. To claim Toronto completely as her “territory” and use that power to forbid the abuse of mortals in supernatural and criminal matters. To steal a phrase from Dresden, to become a Freeholding Lord (willing to make deals, mindscrew people, gain power and murder other power holders who don’t agree with her in order to secure this power. See what Robin said about Chantel’s thoughts on getting rid of Samael. That wasn't an ideal thought) 

Three Obstacles in Chantel’s Life 
1. Malik Huntstone, who is in her head (Huntstone wishes to come back to life and is currently Chantel’s darkest self. Chantel will only stop short of killing herself to prevent him from getting out.) 
2. Her parents, who have gone back to their cultist ways (Chantel does care about them and their well being is stressing her out. Threats to them will cause her to change her course of action. She’s willing to make deals with anyone who can promise to help her “fix” them) 
3. The missing copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People (the book has sensitive information in it that Chanel doesn’t want released. She’s willing to bargain with Samael to regain the book, given she knows Vincent has it) 
  
Three Secrets that Chantel Wants to Hide From the Party
1. That in the past, she gave Huntstone power to rule parts of Toronto. Along with this, she wanted to cross over into this world to rule it in an age of madness and chaos (is willing to erase PC memories to hide this old shame).
2. The information in Huntstone’s book explains Chantel’s original nature (is willing to destroy the book to prevent this information, despite the complications this poses with the wraith) 
3. That the person who unnerves Chantel the most in the current supernatural landscape is Leanansidhe. Also, she isn’t sure if this is out of fear of Leanansidhe’s power or out of an physical attraction to Leanansidhe as an “equal” (is willing to break her stance on not lying to cover this up. Also, to prevent Leanansidhe from discussing any interactions, Chantel is willing to make promises).

Tore Down the Canvas That Held Up the Sun (Feb 12 2014, Part 2)

No right-minded club would welcome six teenagers in their street clothes. We tried to dress the part; I wore a business suit and blouse combo that I used to wear to my parent’s dinner parties, back when I was invited to such things. Really, I think that Robin needs to invest in a suit like that. Slinky dresses grab people’s attention quickly, but don’t give the sense of power you need to control a room. 

Vincent mentioned his last name to the doorman. That was enough to get us a table and a bottle of wine without being carded. The club itself was a touch simplistic and dull, although the view was nice. It was also missing Mr. Scott among the club’s patrons.

Huntstone says I have no taste. It’s not 1986 anymore, he says, and it’s hard to get a physical space that allows a crowd to slip into the right mindset for anything beyond the most simple magic. Psychology has always factored into magic and maybe it was easier to sell that state of mind in the past. It was definitely easier in the distant past, certainly. 

In the centre of the main room was a spiral staircase that led up to the VIP lounge. Our best guess was Scott was upstairs, but... well... we had tracked a sick, powerful man to his stronghold. Vincent had explained that Scott was possessed by a wraith, a shade of a dead person who couldn’t let go of life and was connected to a physical object to maintain an existence in this world. This wraith was attached to an old book, but that's all we had to go on. We needed information on what he or the wraith was doing upstairs before we walked in.  

In the middle of tossing together the barest of strategies, we noticed that Robin was no longer sitting with us. She was walking, as if in a trace, across the dining room and up the staircase.   

The rest of us stormed up the stairs. There was a supernatural threshold waiting for us at the top of the stairs; it was a spell cast by the crowd of people in the lounge. Passing through it felt like my flesh was pierced by million tiny hooks that tried to rip me apart.   

Huntstone says he’s impressed that I lasted as long as I did. He attributes it to the time I spent watching him manipulate humanity. I must have learned how to reverse basic manipulations and renforce myself. There’s no way I could have learned it on my own.    

I staggered through the spell intact. My companions weren’t so fortunate; Israel, Caleb and Ardath succumbed to their true self. Israel and Ardath didn’t reveal anything I didn’t know (full blown angel and fae), but Caleb appeared to be a shifter. Vincent didn’t go all fire and brimstone, but looked shaken up from the spell. Robin, thankfully, seemed okay and didn’t hang around long. 

Leading the cult was Mr. Scott, flagged on both sides with my parents. That explained where they had been disappearing too. The heavy magical presence hanging in the air was undeniable - the wraith was part of Malik Huntstone. The cultist that I had allied with back when I was my full self. The man who I thought I killed sixteen years ago. 

Israel’s magic knocked out all the humans in the room, my parents included, leaving the wraith still up. Ardath called upon his fairy forces. Caleb suddenly turned away from the wraith and attacked Israel, causing Israel to toss him out of a nearby window. Vincent grabbed the book that served as the wraith’s object of power and ran out of the lounge.

According to Vincent’s earlier explanation, a wraith is released freely into the world if its host body and object are destroyed. With both Israel and Ardath attacking, Scott wouldn’t be long for this world. I didn't know what Vincent was going to do with that book. If I didn't do something about Huntstone, he'd be free again.

I did what I needed to do; I unmade myself, unfolding the constraints that made me human and took up the form of my other self. I wanted to remind that fragment of Huntstone about the fear and terror of his death as I drained his wraith into my existence. The transfer forcefully and painfully jolted me back into my human self again.

Huntstone is amused that I would consider this a good idea. It’s exactly what he wanted sixteen years ago - him and I existing in the same body, sharing the same power source. He might not be in control right now, but it’s only a matter of time before I fall and he’ll take over my body. 

Most of the battle was over by the time I became human again. Ardath killed what was left of Scott's human body. Israel threatened to transform the rest of the cult into salt. I begged him not to. My “parents” aren’t really my parents, but I’ve lived with them for 16 year and desperately wanted to know why they drifted back to their old habits. I wouldn’t be able to learn that and do something about it if they were piles of salt. 

Israel backed down. He told me that everyone in that room deserved to die for what they had gone, then he flew off into the night.   

I found myself alone, standing by the body of a dead man, surrounded by a room of sleeping cultists, the sound of police sirens growing closer. The will of my former partner-turned-rival was buried in my head and none of my friends were around to help me. Well, shit.  

And Do You Think We'd Realize Just What We'd Done (Feb 12 2014, Part 1)

The Stars

There’s a voice in the back of my head that wasn’t there the day before. I’m not sure if it's really there. I’m not sure if it’s separate from me or if it’s just me criticizing my actions and attributing them to another person. It sounds and talks like Huntstone, or at least how I remember him speaking, which implies that it’s probably not real. It’s not Huntstone in my head, but his abstract will to hang onto this plane of existence. It should have a drive, but not its own voice.  

This doesn’t make it any less unsettling.
 
Welcoming me back from spring break was a note stuffed under the radio station door. It was from Vincent and claimed that not only was Mr Scott, our science teacher from last semester, a pedophile, but also not even mortal. Vincent doubted his ability to handle the threat and probably guessed that I wouldn’t tolerate that much abuse of power at the school.

That voice in my head, the Huntstone that probably isn’t, says that I was foolish to not see this coming. It’s in my base nature to challenge anyone who would dare claim to have more power than me. That was why we got along so well in the past - I can’t refuse allying with someone who admits being weaker.

I never thought much of Mr Scott, but the only way to prove Vincent’s claims and then be able to do something about them was to find evidence. After consulting with Israel, Robin, and Ardath, Scott's cellphone and computer seemed like places to start.

We knew that Scott would be in the boys locker room before rugby practice. Robin and I marched right into the locker room while the team was changing and I announced that we were girls invading their private space and required the use of their cell phones for a very important reason. The team couldn’t say “No” to us. It provided enough of a distraction for Ardath to steal Scott's cellphone.

Huntstone seems amused that I didn’t walk in and order Scott and the students to present their cellphones to me as an offering. He points out that we used to do it all the time, although the phones were bigger and the content much more important than the drivel of high school students. I tried to explain that it was because I didn’t want Robin to think less of me; she was at my side the whole time and trusts me to be a decent person.

To which Huntstone replies “If you wanted her to be there, then she should have been following you from behind”.
 
The phones didn’t reveal a lot - the team’s phones had some uncomfortable text messages from Scott, but Scott was very careful about covering his tracks. I called up Tobias to help us recover the Scott’s deleted cell data - he has a good head for tech. Tobias managed to uncover some of the deleted files, uncovering part of the evidence that we needed. Robin and Vincent went to return the cell phones to the team.
 
What happened next I’ve been only able to piece together through secondhand reports. Scott attacked Israel and a boy named Caleb after practice, assuming the form of some sort of shadow monster. Shortly thereafter, the same monster would appear in the boys locker room, attacking Robin, Vincent and Dean, killing Dean. I didn’t even know something was up until emergency services showed up at the school.  
Dean’s murder brought the group of us, plus Caleb, together in one place. It was suggested that we get into Scott’s apartment as soon as possible and seize his computer to get the rest of the proof we needed to do something about him. However, no one could agree how to get into that apartment. During the argument, someone figured out that Scott wasn’t at the apartment at all, but instead at a club downtown for the evening.
 
All of us were hellbent on making Scott pay for what happened at the school. Looking back, chasing Scott to the club and confronting him was the stupidest idea we could decide on. But, at the time, it seemed like the right thing to do.     

“As it was intended to appear,” Huntstone says.

Another Time, Another Place

Days Gone By 

From what I have been able to piece together, the year everything began was 1977. Well, not everything, but 1977 is as comprehensible to many of my classmates as the beginning of all creation. For all purposes, they are the same abstract mental concept.

But back to 1977. 

The Self-Help Book of a Madman

On a late summer day in 1977, a man named Malik Huntstone wandered into a used bookstore. Malik was an unremarkable university student in nearly every way - boring, dull and uninspiring.

While digging through the store in search of used textbooks, Malik came across a battered copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People. What caught Malik’s eye while flipping through the book wasn’t Carnegie’s prose, but the partly incoherent ramblings scrawled in the gutters and margins. The owner of the bookstore, a man named Eliot Stevens, sold it to Malik for next to nothing. Eliot seemed surprised when Malik brought the book to the counter; he didn’t remember receiving the book, nor would he have considered stocking such a damaged book.

It took weeks for Malik to make sense of the notes. He theorized that the writings referred to powerful beings from outside of normal mortal understanding and how their wisdom was interconnected with Carnegie’s ideas. Knowledge from the fae, vampires, angels and demons could be used for profit in social practices and in business. One of the referenced figures was an entity known as the Messenger From Spaces Inbetween. “The Messenger doesn’t fear truth,” the writings explained. “The Messenger speaks a fuller Truth than can be created here and lays waste to any lie that stands in its path.” But the notes also mentioned that reaching the Messenger was near impossible - it existed beyond this reality. Malik took that as a challenge.

Time passed. Malik got a banking job downtown and slowly worked his way up the corporate ladder. His drive to contact the Messenger lead to him studying very basic magic. He had mastered some elemental magic, almost strictly all earth-based, but not much more. The Huntstones a minor natural affinity for magic, it seemed, but the family line lacked any real power. Shattering the barriers of this plane of reality would take more than they were capable of.

The Illuminated Brotherhood 

The answer to Malik’s problem came in the spring of 1982, if my understanding of mortal time is correct. While working late at his office one night, Malik was visited by the man who sold him the book five years earlier - Eliot Stevens. Eliot revealed that he was a magic user himself, one from a much more established family than the Huntstones. Malik was growing dangerously in power and, in Eliot's mind, needed to be put down before he destroyed the whole city.

Eliot should have succeeded in destroying Malik. The only reason he didn’t was due to freak luck on Malik's part. Malik used his weaker magic to redirect Eliot’s intended killing blow down to the earth, wrapping the spell in a plea for Messenger to answer back. The increased power of the spell was finally enough to finally reach the Messenger, making Eliot and Malik the beginnings of a cult that would become known as the Illuminated Brotherhood.

Oh, the Messenger let Eliot live. While Malik swore loyalty to the being, he lacked enough magic skill to open up the stable connection between himself and the Messenger. Eliot’s power was required for that; he was a magic battery supply, to compare it to something in this reality. Not that Eliot was really a threat anymore. When the Messenger spoke his Truth through Malik, Eliot lost any will to rebel.

Malik retitled himself Hunterstone the Excavator. He vowed to rebuild the Messenger’s broken cult and restore it in Toronto in exchange for small tastes of the Messenger’s power. .

The decade or so that followed was a haze of drugs and excess. The Illuminated Brotherhood was formed mostly of office workers and bankers and, at the risk of sounding trite, people with such money know how to throw a good party. It was a series of banquets that would make even the Gods jealous.  

Huntstone was content to be the cult’s leader, calling the members together into secret rooms and hidden spaces normal people wouldn’t dare speak of. The Truth that the Messenger whispered to Huntstone allowed him to become a powerful businessman, one feared even outside of supernatural circles. And among the supernatural? Those that remained downtown reported directly to Huntstone. Times were good.
 
And Eliot. He was there for all of it. Sort of.

The Fall of the Brotherhood

Eventually, Huntstone realised that the power given by the Messenger would only go so far. It was the late 90s by mortal time then and Huntstone had grown listless. He wasn’t free to contact the Messenger himself - he needed Eliot for that - and the Messenger was the one who controlled if the Truth could be spoken. Huntstone was a mouthpiece, nothing more. That angered him.

Huntstone knew that Eliot's family had collected magic knowledge over generations. They had amassed a giant magical library, hidden deep within the used bookstore. It was Eliot's job to protect that library, but it wasn't like he had any freedom to stop Huntstone.
 
Digging through the library’s books, Huntstone discovered a ritual that could reforge two souls into a new being. While the ritual was intended to combine mortal souls, Huntstone speculated that the soul of something more than mortal could be fused to a mortal soul with enough raw power. The ritual involved a human sacrifice and willpower to amplify the energy from that sacrifice. The cult could provide the willpower, Huntstone decided. The sacrifice, that could be obtained easily enough.   

When the Messenger contacted Huntstone next, the cult leader explained that he had finally found a ritual to rip apart the barrier that protected this reality. The Messenger could finally have the freedom to reign Earth in its full form. The Messenger greedily agreed to go along with the plan, not questioning Huntstone’s loyalty or intentions.

Part way through the ritual, however, the Messenger realised something was terribly wrong. The ritual was meant to bind it, not let it roam free. It lashed out at the cultists, slaughtering Huntstone and countless others in a single violent blow. Unwittingly, this attack completed the sacrifice needed for the ritual - the Messenger was doomed to become mortal.

The Messenger’s existence fused to the nearest living body - an infant human intended to be the ritual's sacrifice. The two beings fused into one existence. Me? I? Us? We? They? It’s been 16 years and I still don’t have a good answer to that.

My parents were two hapless cultists who lived through the initial attack. The Messenger must have realized how impossible it was for a parentless infant to survive. Or maybe the infant, stealing some of the Messenger's power, decided it was going to make its own parents. I don’t remember who decided what needed to happen. I do know, in either case, they now believe we were a family who had been kidnapped and nearly killed by madmen.      

Not all of the cultists were swiped out. Some managed to escape. I believe Eliot lived. I don’t remember seeing his body in the aftermath. On the other hand, I haven’t seen him since. Huntstone is long dead and accounted for in the city's records. The dead cultists are long forgotten. I’m pretty sure the media wrote it all off as a mass suicide. 

This reality has such trouble coping with the Truth.

January 29 2014 Session

I dislike the fae. I don’t quite understand where they came from or what they see their progression to be. I believe their existence is tied that of this planet’s natural cycle and they cannot break free of it, although they seem to exist outside of the normal mortal cycles. There’s stories of them coming from another realm, a “fairy land” as it were, but I’ve never seen it myself. Why they would choose to remain in this plane of existence and not their home one baffles me.

Even more baffling, however, is their physical dependence on human language. This would imply that they are a either a species younger than humanity or the species humanity grew out of. But more on that later.   

After emergency services interrupted my meeting with officer Eddie Mack, I found myself at Robin’s house. I had heard of Robin through various school social networks - students transferring in mid semester are highly unusual and word gets around - but hadn’t met the girl myself.

 Leanansidhe, though, had arrived at the house before me. While Robin’s house wasn’t in Leaside proper, Leanansidhe’s presence in Rosedale was far too close to my domain for my tastes. I told her of my displeasure and Leanansidhe told me she would leave if I escorted her associates from the building.

By that time, however, the Red Cap had long since left (Who would invite Red Cap to a teen house party?! Augh! That guy creeps me out!). There were still faint lingering traces of his presence around the house. Tracing them back to Red Cap showed me a vision of him and Low Key, in full spider-mode, making a pact to destroy Robin.

I had no idea what the girl did to piss Low Key off, but I will not stand for anyone supernatural making vows to murder mortals in my domain. Robin, however, was missing, having left the party with Vincent. Israel was still at the house, escorting both Megan and Trisha out to safety. Yeah, I didn’t ask.

When I told Israel that we had a situation to fix, he corrected me and said that I had a situation to fix. He was partly right, I realized. Low Key was a shithead who tried to kill my friend and frame it as suicide over something childish. My failure to deal with that problem properly and instead insisting that Low Key admit the truth himself caused him to build a lie that grew so large that it controlled him and drove him mad.

But the truth is more powerful than a lie... right? That’s the foundation of the universe.

Israel added, though, that there is a point of no return when a person makes a choice they can’t morally recover from. Because Low Key was journeying down that path, Israel offered to help me find and protect Robin.

We went to Vincent’s place, where Vincent and Robin were holed up in a massive library. A library in a house that wasn’t easily defendable, not that I have lots of practice with sieges. I couldn’t even protect my own radio station from teens with baseball bats. Israel and I explained to Vincent the pact that Low Key with Red Cap and Israel suggested that we fall back to an old church that he knew of.  

I suppose the idea of four teenagers prepping for a supernatural military strike seems ridiculous, but I had seen the Red Cap in action before. The creature could toss cars around without breaking a sweat. Robin tried to talk Low Key down from attacking the church through a sound system I rigged up. It worked for a brief second before Low Key pressed on with the attack.

The Red Cap arrived in the church with Ardath, of all people, at his side. I had put together before that Ardath had a casual interest in the Red Cap, but the change in Ardath’s appearance implied that things with the fae had progressed into something more serious.

Vincent, Israel and I tried to negotiate with Ardath to get Red Cap to call off the attack on Robin. It was explained that Red Cap made a promise to Low Key to destroy Robin and breaking that promise would be a major fae faux pas, showing both physical and social weakness. Ardath refused to allow that to happen.    

This is the part of fae that I don’t understand. They consider themselves to be above mortals, but they allow themselves bound to phases of mortal language. Further, I can’t understand why Ardath would allow himself to submit and join such nonsense.  

For all of the build up, the actual battle was over quickly. Low Key tried to attack Robin, but Israel laid waste to him before he could touch her. With his dying breath, Low Key screamed out some nonsense, but it didn’t seem to make anything happen. I spoke to Low Key’s spider forces and told them that violent actions like these were outside of their true nature, breaking whatever hold that Low Key had over them. Vincent and Red Cap were locked in combat until Low Key’s death. Red Cap, no longer bound to that stupid promise, backed down when Robin pulled Vincent away from the fight.

In the aftermath, there was news on the police scanner about a house fire at Vincent’s address. From what I could piece together after, Vincent had asked his demon to call off a SWAT team attack that Low Key had planned. In exchange, the demon took Vincent’s home and the lives of Vincent’s adopted family. I do not think that Vincent got the better half of that deal. I have not asked him his thoughts on it. I have heard he’s moved in with Robin for the time being.    

Further, I found out that the SWAT team included Officer Mack. That ended my business relationship with the man - he had allowed himself to become corrupted by a force of madness. He’s tried to call me since, but I don’t return the calls.

I dismissed Low Key’s spider army out of guilt. Told them to go off, find themselves and find their true purpose in life. One of them, a rather small and weak one, came back to me several days later and now lives around my house. I named it Nellie. I don’t think it understood the joke.     

Israel took Low Key’s body and buried it behind the church. I offered to help, but Israel rejected my offer. I have not talked to him about that either.

I am not sure what to make of these events.

That Low Key’s motives were originated from a lie should have been doomed him much earlier, rather than snowballed so out of control that it nearly killed all of us. Further, his madness seems to be tied to him rejecting his mortal form and completely becoming the monster.  

Robin being attached to Vincent worries me also. I wouldn’t be concerned about showing my true nature to people like Vincent and Israel. I am sure they have seen stranger things then myself. However, Robin is a mortal and mortals have very closed minded ideas on the nature of reality. The idea of being forced to show my true self to Robin scares me... and that’s the first time I’ve felt that way about a mortal. If I’m lucky, Vincent doesn’t want to speak to me again and will suggest that Robin also avoid me.   

Leanansidhe’s interest in me makes me uncomfortable. I will not be subservient to another power, especially not fae. However, she brought Ardath into her fold. She’s probably considering if there’s an offer I can’t refuse.  

I suppose that saying I'm greatly confused sums up many of my feelings on what happened. Not knowing the right answer also bothers me.

Christmas Eve

I always enjoyed Christmas when I was younger. “Mom” and “dad” would give me gifts on Christmas Day. The toys were much more interesting than the pointless offerings that they would give me before I was trapped in this body. If given the choice between dead small animals and a miniature replicas of everyday objects with rounded corners and bright colours, the later would win every time. The holiday rituals were entertaining in their own right. There was something fascinating with the humans wanting to celebrate the snow and cold, despite complaining about it throughout the rest of the year. And, dare I say it, the activities were... fun, in a simple and foolish sense. Ice skating, for example. Humans put on special boots with bladed weapons on them and then show off their sense of balance. It serves no practical purpose or use, but it's a uniquely strange way to pass an afternoon.

Something’s changed over the past few years, though. I think my parent’s have been drinking too deeply from the corporate kool-aid; their holiday calendar has been packed with business parties and events. They had a business party on Christmas eve at some fancy place downtown and didn’t invite me! Who does that to a kid?

I spent Christmas eve hanging around at a local church. Members of the Christian faith consider December 24th a holy day and spend part of the evening communing with their god. Some supernatural beings might be dismissive of such acts, but I have no reason to doubt Israel is an outlet for a being of amazing power. The standoff with Low Key proved that.

Whatever entity Israel serves has successfully bridged the mortal world and the world beyond. I wanted to reach out and ask Him “How?”. How does He cope with the differences between this plane of existence and true reality? How does He handle the countless mortals who want to remain willfully ignorant to His existence? How does a lie become so powerful when truth should command the universe? Why does He make mortals search for that truth instead of just stating it? How does He remain secure and comfortable with such tiny places of power when so many other entities are at each other's throats for more and more territory?

I copied the gestures and actions of the faithful around me. I prayed, lit candles, sung along with the chants. He didn’t reply back to me. I know He exists. I’ve seen His power first hand. I understand that we aren’t peers - despite the claims of dead cultists, I do not consider myself a god - but He is the closest to what I was before the ritual that trapped me in this form.  

There was a Christmas card from Leanansidhe waiting in the mailbox when I returned home. It tried to playfully mock my attempts to protect the school and Leaside and their populations from outside forces. It also went directly into the fireplace after I finished reading it.  

That an agent of Leanansidhe visited my home while I was in the church was not lost on me. I don’t want to think of what Leanansidhe would have done if she had found me alone and depressed on Christmas eve. Not that I think she could have killed me, but there are far worse fates in this plane of existence.  

Could the timing of my church ritual and Leanansidhe’s visit be a way for Him to reach out to me? That seems far too romantic for a god, but part of me doesn’t want to dismiss the idea.