Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition - Absurd Encounter with Fear Episode 1

Mage: The Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition Chronicle:

Absurd Encounter with Fear

CAST

Chuck Carver: A member of the mysterious Ahl-i-Batin, who works as a chef on his own food truck. He spends his time observing those that can't tell he's there. Acting only when those around him are in need, choosing instead to observe and make his move as a butterfly flapping it's wings on the other side of the world. He keeps his hardened survivor exterior up for everyone to see, but deep down he lives to help others.
Reid Wind: A Virtual Adept that uses avant-garde film-making as his means to affect the minds of the masses. Has a cult following of devoted fans that also run the movie theater he owns and plays his films at instead of trying to distribute them through a corporate studio. He comes off as a contrarian for the sake of being contrary, but is a visionary that sees hidden truths and his contrary nature is aimed at exposing those truths
Aleister Marlowe: An Orphan Mage, that had a traumatic awakening after pulling the soul from the man that ran down his parents in a drunk driving accident.. He has spent his life since then trying to atone for his rage and to learn to control his magick to use for the betterment of those less fortunate. Makes a living as a private detective. He is a loner and keeps people at a distance, but has a mischievous side that he can't help giving into at times.

SETTING

Time in the M20 World of Darkness Universe: Not long after completing their training as adepts the group finds themselves largely alone in the world. Their mentors and indeed nearly all of the powerful Mages went missing after leaving short and hurried messages to friends and loved ones about being called away. The group found each other at one of Reid's midnight movie screenings. They realized they were not alone in being abandoned by their mentors. They agreed to work together to work towards trying to find out what happened.
Geographical Location: Southern California: Los Angeles and Orange County Area

NOTE FROM OUR HERO THE GM: The questionable actions of some of the characters in the write up are a reflection of the player's actions during the game and not a weird thing I added/encouraged during the game. You may also notice how the above cast bios seem at odds with much of the actions in the write up, but it's a new game and they're still learning maybe?

Flash forward to now: The day after Reid’s midnight screening the group agreed to meet up and figure out a plan for the next step in their search of what happened to their mentors. After they ate lunch together in silence it seemed no one had any ideas on where to start.

“I know of a cabin up near Mountain Home Village in the mountains that my mentor used to use as a secluded training area when he first took me under his guidance. Maybe we could start there,” Chuck offered as he cleaned up from the meal.

“Great, but I’m not riding up the mountains in the back of a food truck. We need some other way to get there,” Reid said.

“I know a guy who has a truck. I’ll call him up. Might take some convincing to get him to loan it to us though,” Aleister said.

Jimmie Garraro is an ex-detective from Mexico that works as a day laborer. Aleister has subcontracted work out to him before to help him track things down. They’ve had a good business arrangement so far, so when Aleister called Jimmie was eager to hear what new deal was going to be offered.

“Wait...you need to borrow my truck and you can’t tell me for how long or where you’re going with it?” Jimmie said.

“Yes. So hand over your keys,” Aleister said.

“Woah woah woah there. This truck is my livelihood. Every day that I don’t have it I lose out on an entire day’s wages. Not just me, but my friends that I give rides to lose out on their wages as well. I don’t think I can give you the truck. I will be happy to give you a ride though,” Jimmie said.

“That won’t do,” Aleister said casually reaching for a gun to kill Jimmie so he could take his truck.

“You should eat this taco I made for you, Jimmie,” Chuck said lifting the taco to his face before Aleister could act.

“What? No, I’m not hungry right now. Why would you offer me a taco right now?” Jimmie said confused.

Chuck made eye contact with Jimmie and used his magick to force the taco into Jimmie’s mouth, “See you love it,” Chuck said.

“Yeah, umm...it’s good. I just don’t remember taking a bite,” Jimmie shook his head as Chuck’s magick began to work on him.

“You want to give us the keys to your truck. You trust that we will bring it back in time. You really don’t care that much about your loved ones anyway, so they can go a day or two without food if necessary,” Chuck said as he continued his eye contact with Jimmie.

Jimmie’s eyes rolled back into his head and he turned to Aleister, “Yes you are right. Here, take my keys. I can walk home.” he dropped his truck keys and stumbled off down the street with half the taco still clutched in his hand.

“Alright let’s go.” Aleister said and the group headed for the cabin.

Upon arrival the sun had already begun to set. There was a car parked haphazardly in the parking area near the cabin. The grass that had grown up around the car was still poking up through the first layer of winter snow. The group entered the cabin with Reid recording everything on a camcorder. The cabin was very sparsely furnished. There were some rugs laid out, a small wash basin with a mirror, a wood burning stove, a wardrobe, and a few large pillows meant for sitting. An open hatchway lead into the earthen basement of the cabin.

“Well there’s nothing here. What do we do?” Reid said.

“Maybe I can access my mind palace to try to see if I am able to find any knowledge I may have stored about this place,” Chuck said and immediately sat down and began to move his hands in a complicated series of gestures and signs before his eyes rolled back into his head.

While Chuck did this, Aleister said a small prayer to a nameless god to grant him sight through the mortal veil and into the spirit realm to see what had happened here. He also made his fingers into glasses and put them on his face as he looked around saying “Derp, derp, derp!” to ping the spirit energy. He saw all the spirit energy had been pulled into the basement.

“There is something down there,” Aleister said as he lowered his hands.

“Quick, while Chuck is vulnerable and helpless, let’s wander into the sketchy and dark basement and see what’s down there,” Reid said as he pointed his camera at Aleister who was already headed that way.

At the bottom of the stairs the light from Reid’s camera showed them a large basement the same size as the space above. There was an alchemy table with a journal on it and ample amounts of supplies stored in various containers. Along one wall there was an intricately drawn archway filled with strange symbols and on the floor beneath the drawing was a meditation stool. As they approached a groan came from the darkness. Reid quickly turned his camera towards the noise. A half rotted body wearing the same sort of chef’s clothing as Chuck stood with eyes of glowing blackness and a jaw hanging at a grotesque angle.

“Fuck, what do we do?” said Aleister.

“I’ll try to reason with it, maybe we can get the ghoul to tell us something. HEY! You over there with your face falling off. I need you to step into the light more so I can frame the shot better. Good, now tell me what happened to the mentors and what are the Nephandi!” Reid shouted at the rotting corpse to which it responded by lunging at him to try to bite him.

“We’re in over our heads! Quick we need the chef!” Aleister said before using his deep understanding of the essence of magickal energy, and the ways it can be controlled and expelled by a skilled mage, to enhance his voice with enough magickal energy to pierce through Chuck’s dream state, “CHUCK HELP US! IT’S ALEISTER AND REID! WE ARE IN THE BASEMENT AND WE NEED TO SUBDUE BUT NOT KILL THIS FLESH EATING ZOMBIE FOR REASONS!”

Meanwhile inside Chuck’s mental demesne the Tower of Knowledge, he was sitting in the large garden park area in the center of the tower. Above him the circular building stretched up hundreds of floors, but there was no shortage of sunlight and refreshing breezes in the park. Chuck came here to be alone with his thoughts and meditate on whatever problem he is facing.

“Yooohooo! Mr Carver? Over here Mr Carcer.” a woman’s voice broke through the silence like a head on collision.

Chuck turned and saw a woman in a tour guide uniform coming up the side of the hill toward him, “Mr Carver, I’m glad I finally got to catch up to you. I’ve been trying to let you know that you’re late. You’ve missed your appointment by let’s see here, you’ve missed it by 5 years. They all went to Dossiestep already. If you want to have your appointment, you’ll need to find your way there.”

“Hmmm okay.” Chuck responded.

As soon as he did the voice of Aleister broke through the silence calling out for help. Suddenly the entire park became overcast and the wind took on a damp chill to it. Chuck turned back to look at the tour guide and she had changed. He couldn’t put his finger on it but the amount of eyes she had felt off to him, but her face was a blur.

She moved close to him and an echo of her voice came from all around him, “You’re late Chuck. You missed your appointment. The Watcher has seen this.”

Chuck panicked and snapped out of his mental demesne in a cold sweat to hear the cabin shake at the sound of Aleister’s panicked cry for help. Chuck rushed into the basement saw the undead rotting corpse of his mentor and throw a clever into a shadow to cause it to come flying out behind his mentor and slice through his leg. Chuck didn't react to seeing the undead corpse of his once beloved mentor. The ghoul fell to the ground and Reid helped Aleister tie it up.

“Let me try a mind meld with this rotting corpse that is some how still moving,” Reid said as he tried to see into the creature’s brain, “Hmmm that’s weird, it seems it’s mental consciousness was detached from it’s body. He won’t be of any use to us.”

Chuck looked around for a journal or notebook where his mentor might have left clues. He spotted one on the alchemy table, but turned away from it when Aleister called out to him.

“Hey Chuck, do you recognize these symbols on this archway?” Aleister asked after walking away from the restrained ghoul.

“I recognize some of them, but they are in a weird order. Also some of the symbols have flourishes on them I’m not familiar with, but this does look like the script of my mentor. Maybe I can summon my avatar to tell us what to do,” Chuck said and began making hand motions again while Reid filmed.

Chuck began to feel the presence of someone looking at him intently. He spun around to see a school child with oversized eyes, pale skin, and dark circles under his eyes, “The Watcher sees you.”

“Hey let’s hope Chris Hansen doesn’t show up guys. Am I right? Cause it looks like you two are about to rape the fuck out of this innocent child while I film it, ” Reid said.

Chuck ignored him and turned to his mentor, “Are you the Watcher?”

The child wandered around the room without moving its face from staring at Chuck, “The Watcher sees you.”

“Hey hey guys, Chris Hansen from to catch a predator. Am I right? Because like I said it looks like we’re about to film a child snuff film,” Reid said.

Chuck ignored him again, “What happened to our mentors? Where do I go to find Dossiestep?”

The child tilted its head to one side, “The Watcher does not see your mortal world. The Watcher sees your path through to Ascension and expanding your magick.”

“Well fuck this then,” Chuck said with a wave of his hand and walked away. The child frowned and disappeared.

“Let’s watch the footage so I can hear my Chris Hansen joke again, because I’m out of ideas on what to do here guys” said Reid.

The three gathered around the small TV in the basement and played back the footage. This time they overheard a voice when the avatar spoke. It was the voice of Chuck’s mentor, it said “I came as soon as I got your message. What’s going on? No way. Everyone?! I can’t imagine….wait...what’s that?! OH NO-” the voice was cut off at the end.

“Wow, I didn’t know I could see through time. In fact I know I can’t so it’s really strange that I was able to pick that information up from the film, because logically I am not supposed to be able to do that and it's way beyond my abilities to do that. It's almost like there was some divine guidance that was trying to pass information to us that we couldn't figure out ourselves and had to be given it a way that doesn't make any logical sense for our world,” said Reid.

“Okay let’s leave and go find Dossiestep,” Chuck said.

As the group reached the bottom of the stairs, the sound of the front door opening and thunderously heavy footsteps go across the first floor and to the wardrobe, then back out the front door again. The group moved quietly to the first floor to observe what they could through the first floor windows. Crowded at one window, the group could make out the shape of a very tall broad shouldered person with a silver axe strapped to their back and a walking stick. The person were prodding Jimmie’s truck with the walking stick.

“Quickly someone go check out what’s in that wardrobe,” Reid said in a hushed tone.

Aleister was able to move silently to the wardrobe. Inside he found large clothing that were all cut for a woman,  “I think whatever that thing outside is is a woman.”

“Check to see if any of her panties are in there. I want to feel a giant woman's panties while I record her in secret,” Reid said as he drooled and leered out the window at the woman.

“I can’t find any,” Aleister said angrily disappointed he couldn’t find any to steal.

“I’m gonna go over to the other window to see if I can get a better shot of her body,” Reid said as he leered through his lens at the giant figure outside. In his eagerness to capture an inappropriate angle for the woman and hopefully film some nudity, Reid bumped his camera against the glass window.

The giant woman outside turned towards the cabin. She began running towards the front door and as she did she grew larger on her approach. Bursting through the front door was a 12 foot tall were-grizzly snarly at all of them. In a monstrous voice it bellowed: “WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE IN THIS PROTECTED PLACE!?”

“HA! It was a woman and now it’s a bear. That’s so crazy. I can’t believe I thought about trying to find her panties, when she’s a bear. That’s so weird and I'm genuinely surprised despite my years of training as a mage,” said Reid.

Aleister sized her up and confirmed it was a female grizzly, “Well hello there sexy mama, wanna come lay down by the fire with me so we can get it on?”

The massive she-bear turned and raised her claw preparing to ripe the flesh off the front of his skull in one powerful swipe.

A moment of logical clarity hit Reid as he watched the bear prepare to kill his friend, “WE’RE HERE TO FIND CHUCK’S MENTOR SOMETHINGOROTHERMCGEE!”

“Somethingorothermcgee? You know this great teacher?” the she bear returned to her human form and calmed, “Somethingorothermcgee asked me to protect this place while he attended an emergency in Dossiestep. He swore when he returned he would help me protect the Great Basin from the oncoming plague. He has not returned and his body has whithered. I have kept him safe in case some day someone could restore him.”

“You’re not gonna kill us then? Good, we’re going back to LA. Catch ya later she bear,” Chuck said as the group climbed back into Jimmie’s truck and left.