February 5, 2008

At the Diner

The woman from the theater was in the diner reading her script.  Walter napped in a booth.  Zoe went home to get some sleep.   Ely and Kyna decided to go to the magic shop.  They discussed their options.  Ely noted that setting off the alarms was a given. With luck it would only be the magical ones.  Kyna was insistent that she get time to recharge her shield bracelet, but she did not think there were any active runes timed to the ward.  It would not cause them any harm if set off.  

Ely assumed that their entry would be detected.  Kyna suggested subduing the inhabitants.  Ely proposed appearing as mundane burglars, though they were most interested in the back room, not where the money was. Ely considered calling in associates to serve as lookouts, etc., but reconsidered as he would not want witnesses to any kind of mystical activities.

It occured to them that they had not considered what was in the floors above the magic shop.  Walter was sent to get the property rundown on the building while Kyna prepared.   Ely conjectured that they would need things to facilitate escape, things to create holes, things to clean up with, etc.  He made some calls and got some advice from knowledgable colleagues….

In the Car

Ely reiterated his plan to put noise making devices in the adjacent suites to get the occupant to leave the magic shop.  He gave Walter a ride to the Fairfax County Government Center and then went to Costco as his contacts advised.   On the way, Walter suggested some better options to facilitate the entry.

At Kyna’s House

Kyna researched what was significant about the location of the magic shop.  She prepared a spell to open a door to the Nevernever.

At Costco

Ely discovered some better options for facilitating entry to the magic shop: battery-powered saws.  He bought the specified 5000 condoms, Crisco, and duct tape his contact had recommended.  

At the Property Tax Office

The building was owned by Venture Property Holding Company, LLC., but the records also contained all the tenants of the building.  The entire second floor was occupied by a dentist office.  Various small professional offices were on the top floor.  However, the document was from the last time taxes were reported, so it was not necessarily accurate.

Some time later, Ely returned and picked up Walter.  They returned to Kyna’s house, where Kyna completed recharging her shield bracelet and her spell.  They drove to the magic shop around 9PM.

At the Magic Shop Building

Around 10PM, Ely entered the building with a bag of alarm clocks and placed them strategically to go off several minutes after each other starting at 1:03AM.

While he was doing that, Kyna used her Sight and found a lay line that ran through the building.  It seemed abandoned other than the threshold at the magic shop.  She discovered that there was an area of an extremely weak barrier between the real world and the Nevernever.  Most fey of any skill could use the door easily, however it did require some will to activate.  

They considered that mirrors or doorways could be the portal.  They realized that use of otherworldly powers could be problematic.  They needed to be careful.  

Walter kept watch, but did not see anything.   Kyna opened the portal to the Nevernever.  

In the Nevernever

Ely and Walter followed.  Walter was unnerved.  There was a gigantic banyan tree growing there right in front of them.  A pink bunny appeared.  It bit Ely.  He tried to kick it, but missed.  Kyna tried to intervene, but all Ely perceived were musical notes coming from her mouth.  Ely tried to dislodge the bunny from his pant leg.  The bunny protested and its claws dug into his leg.  It demanded candy.  Ely offered a condoms.  The bunny accepted the strawberry balloons and vanished in a puff of sparkles.

Walter noticed a tree reaching for him.  Kyna noted that he and Ely were not standing on the trail, but they could not see it.  Kyna pulled them onto the trail.  Walter and Kyna beleived that the tree was where the magic shop was in the real world.

Walter transformed into leopard form.  Ely saw a giant pink bunny.  Kyna suggested leaving.  The tree started laughing.  Kyna greeted it and told the others to be respectful.  Ely was disturbed by this.  The tree said it had been there for a long time, about two minutes.  There had been a lot of traffic, but he found them amusing, like everything else.  The tree continually contradicting itself.

They decided to return to the real world and succeeded in finding the door, even though the landscape had changed.  The tree contined to watch Ely.  

In the Parking Lot

Ely’s pant leg was covered in green goo where he had been bitten.  Ely used the first aid kit to clean the wound.  Kyna noticed a homeless man running away from the building.  The tree had been reaching out for him.

Kyna realized that the area of the weakened barrier was the size of the tree.  Trees were fixed in position.  There must have been something in the magic shop representing the tree.  The tree had spoken and devices did not normally speak, so the tree was not a device, it was a being.

They moved the car further away so as to not look suspicious.  Walter changed back and they went for sushi at the restaurant overlooking the building.  At 11:00, the restaurant closed, and they found a place to loiter until the alarms went off.  At 1:03, the first digital alarm went off and was immedately silenced.  A few minutes later, the second digital alarm went off and was immediately silenced.  When the first analog alarm went off, there was a gunshot and it was silenced.  The same happend with the second mechanical alarm.

In the Magic Shop

They decided to enter to perhaps catch the wizard off balance.  Ely tried to break the glass in the door and cracked it.  Walter changd to cat form.  Kyna readied a shield.  Ely broke the glass and the alarm went off.  Walter rushed in and crashed through the door into the back room.  Inside, the backroom contained a sculpture of a bonzai tree glowing with and inner light.  A young man with a scraggily beard was inside a circular pattern of runes that glowed with eldrich light.  He was chanting within the ward.  There was a strobing effect where one moment there was the sculpture and the next was the banyan tree.  

Kyna realized the wizard was casting a binding spell.  She also did not see a gun anywhere.  There was someone else nearby.  Then there was a scream from the tree.

Kyna destroyed a rune.  There was a glass-shattering effect and the ward was breached.  The wizard made a gesture and then returned to casting.  Walter noted a scarecrow holding a .38 pistol. He attacked and damaged it,  but it did not fall apart as expected.  Ely moved to take a shot at the scarecow without hitting Walter.  The scarecrow shot at Walter, but he dodged the shot.

A glow appeared around the bonzai and a shard flew at the wizard.  Kyna determined that the ward had not been restored.  She tried to interfere with the spell but had no effect.  Walter leapt at the wizard, but it was like jumping through treacle.  His fur caught on fire, but he was inside the circle.  Ely shot at the scarecrow, but missed and blew a hole in the wall.  The scarecrow shot him.  

The wizard’s shield blinked out.  Kyna blasted the wizard with force.  He was flattened and hit his head on the ground, but continued chanting.  Walter attacked the wizard, but he was not impaired.  Ely shot at the scarecrow, but missed again.  The sprinkler system came on.  It put out Walter’s flames.  The scarecrow closed on  Ely.

The wizard fell face first to the ground, but continued to chant.  Kyna blasted him again, but the back blast hit Ely.  Walter clawed at the prone wizard.  Bones broke, but the chanting continued.  Ely shot at the scarecrow, but it parried the barrel and punched him and broke his nose.

The barrier reappeared around the caster.  Kyna noticed that the wizard was wearing a kinetic conversion pendant.  She also realized that the spell was nearly completed.  Kyna blasted the wizard.  He screamed, started bleeding all over, and the bonzai statue exploded.  The scarecrow burst into flames.

Kyna appeared to be intent on killing the wizard.  Ely tried to talk her out of it.  She realized that the wardens would mete out better punishments.  Ely suggested looking about for things worth scavenging.  Kyna took the kinetic conversion pendant.  Ely cleaned out the cash register and policed the shell casings.  Kyna checked on the tree.  It now appeared to be a shark.  There was some kind of Hawaiian spirit.  It swam off through the air and the  aura of the Nevernever diminished.

Kyna summoned the warden.  He dismissed them.  They went home.

The Group

  • Zoe Kallas – waitress at grandparents’ diner in Arlington; journalism graduate looking for a real journalism job. (Changling who has no clue, mother was fey of Summer Court)
  • Ely Vantide – debt collector – all kinds of debt. (Emissary of Power for a Dragon)
  • Kyna Quinlan – wizard of Irish descent. New to the White Council. Muscle for Ely.
  • Walter Ballard – were-leopard and therapist to the Supernatural.