[Sorcerer] The price of power

[Joshua Bearden]

I just feel like re-posting this.  It is originally a play report on my own website http://higs.motd.org/. I don't have any particular issues to raise, I just want to share some of the fun we're having.  The following is my own play report interspersed with some comments by a player [in square brackets].


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On the 8th of May, Carter, Alissa, and Joshua returned to the unassuming tables of gaming at Games People Play to continue the story of our Sorcerers.

Event's at the end of our last session had lead most players to consider their need for greater demonic power.  I believe it ended with failed summoning attempts by both Vincent King and Stephen Demoine. On this day, Vincent gathered together a make-shift coven recruiting his pagan friends and relations from their commune out in Beaverbank to assist with a massive summoning.  They were seeking to call and contain the soul of an illustrious war hero in the King Family history. Since Nat wasn't playing today the Professor Demoine did not re-attempt any summoning today but  Detective Constable Garien, on extended enforced leave with pay, set about seeking additional aid from beyond the grave.   It took us the rest of the session to resolve these two sorcerous endeavours.  It is a shame I didn't get around to recording this entry more quickly because my memories of the details are quire fragmented. The following impressions are not likely to be complete or accurate.  Actually as I riff off those memories I'm liable to invent lots of detail that wasn't discussed at the table. [Alissa's note: confirmed. My commentary is below].

Tasha driven I think primarily by her hatred for the danger other demons posed for innocents sought to summon something to help her protect others from their powers.  Having seen both Kyoteh the shadowy strangler and Smythe in action she needed something that could interfere with those attacks. Frustrated by the limits of her own powers, she was none-the-less adamant in her refusal to dabble in the narcotic concoctions that other sorcerers often use to 'open their mind' to the Lore.  She relied as best as she could on hard cold historical research and managed (I believe)  to get her hands on a useful artifact.  The enabled her to make contact with the angry karma of a scientist, who died before his time, who had dedicated his life to the study of sound, sonic shocks and the like.  (I really hope you can flesh this out Alissa because I remember I quite liked the story).

[Clive Benjamin, a young man rendered permanently deaf by the Halifax Explosion in 1917. He became a driven scientist who studied the properties of sound as it relates to sonic booms. He had just made a major breakthrough in 1922, which would lead to revolutionary technology which could be used for defence (self explanatory) and industry (moving heavy objects). Before he could publish his work, he was murdered (strangled, he didn't hear the threat behind him) by a jealous rival scientist, Stewart Linnon. To add insult to a dead body, Stewart Linnon intended to take credit for his work. Of course the murderer was a pretty poor scientist and he couldn't make any sense of Benjamin's research; so instead he destroyed everything he could find. Some small pieces of research did survive in the form of letters and related papers (Tasha found these in the NS Archives), but sadly these only point to what Mr. Benjamin had discovered. They are not enough to recover his original research. Of some note is the fact that Stewart Linnon mysteriously drowned one year later; after falling off the waterfront into the harbour on a completely calm day. Perhaps Clive Benjamin got some measure of revenge after all.]

(Despite successfully contacting this spirit, it would take something more than mere research to bring it back across...  Still eschewing the drugs, she allowed herself to dabble for the first time in animal sacrifice.  Recently  her home had been invaded by pigeons.  A mated pair had meticulously constructed a cozy nest up in the attic and had lost no time starting a family.  Several eggs had recently hatched and three adorable squabs (or 'squeakers' as baby pigeons are also called) [Alissa's note: really? squabs? squeakers?] had begun to fill the air with their cries for food.  Their demands not only kept their parents in a constant flutter but of course also disturbed the Detective-Constables's already fretful sleeps. So we can hardly be surprised, that upon recognizing the utility of spilling the blood of live, thriving creatures in the dark rituals in which twisted and tortured souls are invited to take form once again in our universe Tasha's mind would immediately light upon a means of killing two birds with one stone... What happened next is so grim, gross, and soul-destroying I shall not describe in any detail. [Alissa's note: that's because you can't remember. As I recall it wasn't that gross or soul-destroying... but I'll agree it sure wasn't pretty and it made a big mess I had to clean up.]   Suffice to say, if Tasha lies awake, haunted and sleepless... it won't be those birds fault any more.

The summoning and binding then proceeded without a hitch and Tasha now finds herself the proud mistress of yet another object demon.  This one resides in the physical form of a miniature glass bell jar complete with aircock and diaphragm like those used in early 20th century science experiments to demonstrate the lack of sound in a vacuum.  In bright natural light the jar appears perfectly empty, but at night or indoors, it is often possible to catch curious shadows: sometimes of mysterious mechanisms, other times a human figure or even the fluttering of bird wings appears for an instant.   Whenever you are looking directly at it, it is perfectly silent. But anyone who is deaf  will 'hear' a rapid whispering when its presence. [Alissa's note: I think you "invented" this part Josh. I don't remember anything about the thing whispering. It does sound kind of cool though.]  Any sort of deafness will do, so temporarily deafening oneself permits communication. It's need is to be present and subjected to deafening bursts of high decibel noise [Alissa's note: the sorcerer may wear earplugs].  In the immediate wake of subjecting oneself to such sound, a person can also 'hear' its whisperings.

[What about Vincent King? he did a sort of successful summoning but lost his humanity and is now possessed by his ancestor demon. Also what about him slitting the cow's throat? After all, I got told off for pigeons. Nice pictures!]

To be continued...

[Joshua Bearden]

The other sorcerer Vincent King the pagan novelist successfully contacted and summoned the over-powered demon of his choice.  However lost his last point of humanity at some point in the process. I ruled that in this case, he made himself into a willing vessel for the spirit.  He is now possessed by the demon he sought to bind.

I have no particular idea about what to do with him next. I've defined humanity as compassion for the living and respect for the dead.  Sorcery in this game always involves harnessing and exploiting the mindless karma created by tragic or violent deaths.  All sorcery whether it involves sacrifice or not still endangers the living by bringing back tragic karma. The pius phrase 'rest in peace' is contradicted by 'awake in rage'.  Sorcerers, like MacBeth, slaughter that sacred sleep.

So, what does this mean for my sorcerer without humanity?   I don't know yet. I also don't know yet what to do with the player.  Play without them? Allow them to play the new character ... either as a demon or as the fragment of his characters consciousness repressed by the possessor? So many interesting choices to make.