Arianne Edwards's page

I was trying to clear a path to the chained captive, not Tom. Not that it matters immediately, since with a bunch of new friends it's time to...

Arianne whirls around and, remembering that Sean's knife seemed to work at the manor, jabs repeatedly at the approaching shades with her spear.

Kick Some Ass, +1 from Reading: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 3) + 1 = 8 3-harm.

I had forgotten about the 'retcon an attack' option on that. Seems like it might come in handy soon.

"Tom, shoot it! The big one!" Arianne calls out. As she does, she moves towards the chained boy, using her spear to try and swing the closest work light ahead of her, clearing the pool of shadow between her and the boy.

Definitely feels like an...
Act Under Pressure, +1 forward: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 3) = 8

Arianne slips through the doorway and scans the room, looking for any way to get the kidnapped kids out, trusting that Allison's magic and Sean's firepower will keep attention off of her.

Read a Bad Situation: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (6, 3) + 1 = 10
what's the best way to protect the victims?
What's most vulnerable to me?
Are there any dangers we haven't noticed?

Good news: we have a couch psychologist! Bad news: Arianne knows better than to take Sunny on as a patient :p

Arianne reports what she saw. "The good news is, I don't think they've heard us, and the kids are still alive. The bad news is, there's already something there. We'd better move fast." She looks pointedly at Sean, then at the lock on the storage unit's door.

Arianne helps Sean dress his wound. "Sorry about that. Didn't realize you were quite so close to him."

As they catch their breath, Arianne pulls out a palm-sized metal circle. Placing it against the wall at about knee height, she whispers a few words of a long-dead tongue, and bends down to gaze through the circle...

A handy doodad that lets you look through a wall. Use Magic to observe another place or time.

Use Magic: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (4, 4) + 2 = 10

Arianne lowers her spear and rushes at the figure holding Sean.
Kick Some Ass: 2d6 ⇒ (4, 3) = 7
Spear is 2-harm, +1 for Ancient Fighting Arts

Arianne feeds her spear through the fence, then follows Sean over, her armor weighing her down slightly. She heads around the opposite side of the building, hoping to flank whoever Sean was talking to.

Did Sunny have a post you were responding to? Because I don't see it.

It doesn't seem to match up perfectly with any of the Use Magic effects, but to me it's a natural modern update to a ward against scrying. Manifested as a Collectors tool...maybe an appropriate concoction drunk from a black obsidian vessel?

I think I'm ready to proceed to the hideout. One question first: would a "security cameras fritz out if they could see me" effect be Use Magic or Big Magic?

"A lifetime's not what it used to be, but even if it was, I'd still turn you down. Thanks for the info, though." Arianne hangs up, and quickly puts Zell back on her block list.

While Sean resupplies, Arianne grabs a few things from her place, and fires off a quick note to her handler: Needle can fix Peter Pan syndrome. Saved a life today. Thank the seers for me.

Arianne scrolls through her contact list three times, before dialing Zell's number with a sigh. She's relieved to get his voicemail. " Hello, Mr. Metro? This is Ms. Edwards. I've found some evidence that someone in town might be trying to bring a friend from far away here, and was hoping you might've heard something about it. If you have, can you please call me back so we can compare notes? I think this friend would probably be bad for all kinds of business here in town." She was always careful to be extremely formal with Zell; the absolute last thing she wanted was for him to decide she was interesting.

Manipulate Someone?: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 6) + 1 = 12

Offering to exchange what I've found for what he knows.

Arianne directs Sean to an occult store on the edges of Spinethorn's main retail area. "Samara, the owner, is just kind of a nut, I don't think she can tell what's real from what's not. But, her book collection usually contains at least a few useful items. Maybe we'll get lucky and there'll be something about these shadow creatures there."

As they drive, Arianne tries out loud to make sense of what they saw. "So, a summoning circle that wasn't used. Cages with nothing in them. Shadow monsters. From the lights, they were probably there on purpose, but no obvious way they were summoned. And something strong to make those holes in the basement walls." She shakes her head. "Doesn't make sense."

Assuming we get to the store:

Investigate: hitting the books on the shadows: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 2) + 1 = 7
What can hurt it?

Arianne follows the other two out of the house. Seeing Allison's barricade of the front door, she looks around. "I'm going to check on Tom and Sunny." she says, and heads around to the back of the house, spear ready.

Hoping that a partially attached shadow will buy Allison some time, Arianne carries her away from the shadows.

In the absence of a "spout lore" move: would turning out the lights (and therefore not having a shadow anymore) be a good idea, or a really, really terrible one?

Oh, are we still inside? Thought Sean carried her outside. Well, if I survive this roll...

Act Under Pressure: 2d6 - 1 ⇒ (5, 3) - 1 = 7

Wasn't expecting to act out Peter Pan tonight, Arianne thinks as she pulls out the Needle of Mending, and tries to reattach Allison's shadow. As she does, she looks at Sean. "If these things eat shadows, maybe we should get rid of ours. Can you turn out the lights?" How dark is it outside?

"Stay close," Arianne mutters, as she moves further into the building. She starts poking around, looking for signs of who or what was here, starting with the fridge. Were the kids causing trouble here, or victims of it?

Investigate a Mystery: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 3) + 1 = 8

What happened here?

Arianne, now in her Collector armor and bearing her spear, nods and follows Allison inside.

Sounds like a plan. Need to stop by my place and grab a few things, meet you there in an hour?

Arianne heads back to her house. She spends a few moments pulling out a brazier and a bone, preparing some incense, and placing the bone over the flame as she enters a trance.

Fortunes: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (4, 2) + 2 = 8 One hold.

Once the ritual is complete, she loads a few things into the trunk of her car and sets out.

As soon as Arianne hears Detective Rowe's voice, she steps back out of sight of the doorway. If he decides I'm working with Tom, I'll never get anything out of him again.

She discreetly tucks a copy of her business card into the window of Mr. Nibbi's car as she and Tom head back. "Yeah, sounds good. Let's meet them at the mini golf place? If they haven't gotten any other leads, that is."

"Tom, want some company?" Unless he objects, I'll follow along.

Great. Another 'you'll need this but we don't know what it is'. Thanks, L! When she gets back, Arianne finally checks her phone, curses, and makes herself presentable as quickly as possible.

She pulls up to Jessie's house in a old but well maintained sedan, and checks in with the crew. "Sorry I'm late. What did I miss?"

Once she's up to speed, she heads up to the house and introduces herself to Mrs. Winnop. "Hello, Mrs. Winnop. My name is Arianne, and I'm a counselor. I heard about what happened to your son, and thought I'd see if you needed someone to talk to. May I come in?"

If she agrees, Arianne will spend a while talking to her, trying to console her and also find out some details about where her son was last night.

closest fit move-wise feels like Manipulate Someone; this could also be Investigate, but it doesn't quite line up with any of the questions. Rolls for both behind spoilers

Sorry for being super late with all this...the last week has been nuts.

1. What is your organization called?

The Collectors. (There's a formal name, but it's in Latin and quite a mouthful. If you're not a member, it's the Collectors.)

2. Are they global or just national?

Global.

3. Where do they store the artifacts you collect?

Arianne's never seen one of the vaults in person, but the New England one is supposedly underneath one of the buildings in Harvard.

4. Who is your main contact?

His name is Chris; I know he coordinates efforts among a few other members in the area as well. He's based out of New Hampshire, so I don't see him in person that often.

Allison:
An ex-member of the Sect, but still friends. Ask them why they left or got thrown out.

So, why'd the "sequester dangerous magic" cult kick you out? Were you holding back? Misuse something? Or did you leave on your own?

Sunny:
You fought together when the tide of monsters seemed unstoppable. Ask them how it went.

Tom:
Friends, but they first met you under your cover
identity, and learned about the Sect later. Ask how they feel about that.

Allison's day job is a counselor/therapist, or we could've met in a hobby of some type, your call.

Sean:
You met researching mystical weirdness, and you’ve been occult comrades ever since.

Sect move: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 5) + 1 = 11

Early in the morning, Arianne is exercising, out for a jog today.

Honestly, no, not really a witch. (At least, not if you ask her.) I'd been picturing "use magic" (and "fortunes") for her as having a small collection of foci/implements/etc allocated from the Collectors to help her with her work.

For the not-obviously-invalidated history questions:
Tell me more about these preminations. How do you know the future?
Turns out, that bit with chicken bones? Perfectly legit. You need the right kind of brazier, incense, and the right trance. The cracks in the bones just kind of...hang out in your subconscious, and you'll find yourself acting on it without realizing it. Last month, I really needed a ratcheting screwdriver, and I'd tucked one in my purse that morning without even thinking about it.

How are magical items created? Do wizards imbue items with magic? Are they naturally occurring objects of power? Cursed relics of extraplanar intrusions?

They're mostly made, and mostly not by humans. That's why the Collectors exist. If a demon gave someone a warding amulet in the middle ages, it's a safe bet he was planning to gain something from it for centuries, not just for some poor farmer's few remaining years.
Lots of exceptions to that, of course - every wannabe Gandalf for the last fifty years has made a staff of some sort, for starters.

Allison being a sometime contact of the sect sounds fine. It's entirely possible I'm evaluating you for formal recruitment.

History stuff coming soon.

"No, I don't think you're crazy." Arianne told the man sitting in her office. "It does sound like you are experiencing some hallucinations, however. Combined with the headaches, I'd first like to rule out some environmental factors. " She opens a drawer, and hands her patient a small device. "This is a carbon monoxide detector. Plug it in when you get home; if it goes off, spend the night in a hotel and then have someone check your furnace."

That night, Arianne heads to her patient's house. Making sure he's safely gone (the smoke detector was rigged, but not everyone listens), she dons an old suit of leather armor, checks her knife, and slips into his basement. The ominous laugh her patient has reported started up the moment she was inside. Her handler wanted to know what it was, and she was about to find out...

One initiate, ready to go!

Before they split up, Arianne makes sure Phil has her new number. She spends another hour or two wandering the festival, looking for any indication of the tablet she's supposed to find, before accepting that it was, statistically, extremely likely to have been on the dead man. (

Heading home, she locks the door to her apartment and pulls out a small (electric) brazier, some metal rods, and a few chicken bones. With an ancient chant, she places herself into a trance, then applies the rods to the bones and contemplates the patterns of cracks that form, the dead body, the footprints, and the tablet she's supposed to find.

Fortunes: 2d6 + 2 ⇒ (3, 3) + 2 = 8 1 hold.

Then, she heads back out, trying to remember where she's seen the one armed man.

Arianne spots Derek in the trees, and discreetly steps away from the group, recounting the (admittedly limited) info from the coroner.

Sorry, last couple of weeks have been nuts.

"Think I know who you mean," Arianne says. "I saw someone like that hanging around the festival."

She considers. "I'm tempted to stay until the coroner gets here, see what they have to say. Derek, you should probably clear out before a cordon gets set up. Talk to your family, they'll understand."

Arianne quietly calls out: "There you are! Glad you're all right." She puts on her best reassuring smile. "I'm sure you have questions, but they'll have to wait. Did you see anything?" she asks, gesturing back towards the body.

As Phil approaches, she waves him over and briefly introduces the two.

Arianne shakes her head. "... That's bad news. This related to whatever you're working on?" Discreetly, she tries to get pictures of both the monstrous and hybrid footprints with her phone, before widening her search. Anyone hiding in the woods nearby? :)

Arianne grimaces for a moment at the unnatural pose of the body. She begins a careful inspection of the scene, starting with the body and circling outward. Mindful of the police, she tries not to disturb anything.

Investigate a Mystery: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (1, 5) + 1 = 7

What is being concealed here?

After a minute, she turns to Phil and asks, "What do you think?"

Arianne offers a thumbs-up in reply to Phil, as they follow the officers.

Just noticed that I apparently picked one fewer move than I should have. Contemplating either Ancient Fighting Arts or Mystic, though the latter would require having ready access to Use Magic.

I'd be inclined to describe Use Magic for Arianne as having a small collection of magic items on her that she can use; would that be OK?

Arianne pipes up. "Sergeant, I'm sure your men have things well in hand." Flattery... He likes to be told he's competent. "Agent Potter's working an out of state case, and would just like to have a look around. I've told him how skilled you all are, and I'm sure he'll be more than happy to let you take the lead. "

My gut is this would be a retcon Help Out, if that's appropriate/allowed. Otherwise, totally Manipulate Someone. I'll roll both, tell us which one stands.

"Yeah, I think so", Arianne replies to Phil. As Derek takes off, she moves to follow him, noting that he seems to be heading in the same direction the couple were pointing.

Arianne nods at Phil, and takes off with him, matching the agent's stride. As they get close enough for her to see the figure atop the wheel, she gapes briefly. That's gotta be Derek. Of course this would happen here, now, with everyone watching.

She says quietly to Phil, "Don't shoot," as she watches the crowd of officers and others, moving towards anyone who looks likely to overreact.

"No, just people watching. Had kind of a funny feeling about tonight, but so far, not much has happened. "

"Ahh, business then. Best of luck with that. Been in town long? Have you had dinner at Josie's yet?"

Arianne scans the crowd, looking for anyone moving oddly, like their bag is too heavy. Her eyes briefly fall on the one-armed man she's seen around town lately as she looks around. Wish I knew how big this tablet is supposed to be. Can't be that large, I guess.

Now that's something a little more useful. Time to get to work. As Arianne puts her phone away, she looks up and spots Phil in the crowd in front of her. No way that's a coincidence. Whatever he's here for, it's got to be related.

She approaches the agent, smiling warmly. " Phil! Wasn't expecting to run into you here. What brings you to Howling Creek?" she says, looking for all the world like she's greeting an old friend.

Initiate Sect: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (4, 3) + 1 = 8

Arianne wanders the fair; without much to go on, she follows her natural inclinations and spends time in the crowds, joining in the cheering for the hometown favorite in the pie eating contest.

Derek, sounds good. Is your family more of the "Ask nicely, and pay well for discretion" type, or the "crude threats are universally understood" type?

Magnus, want to have bumped paths in your couple of weeks here, or shall we just meet in thread?

We've both been in town for a while, so I'm open to any of the Monstrous history options applying; from my set, I'd suggest "occult investigation buddies", "friends via my cover identity" (if you're having trouble adjusting to the town, maybe you are/were a client?), or "you were described in the prophecies".

Neonblues - I'm fine with interpreting it that way. Would you see that only applying to myself, or could I e.g. shout a warning just in time to someone else?

Phil - alright, sounds good.

Phil - got any particular backstory in mind?

-wound up cooperating during field work
-wound up opposing each other in the field
-acquaintances from the "normal" side of life
-other?

Profile is mostly done, I still need to pick an avatar and one more move. I'd like to take Fortunes; any complaints about the potential retcon nature of the move?

Collectors: The stated goal is to keep them safe, but... That wasn't part of the actual formal induction oaths, and the mission instructions don't really emphasize bystander safety. (When she thinks about it, that was just what Chris told her... It's possible that was his individual goal, moreso than the rest of the group.)
Arianne's impression is the overall group is fairly small - she met a dozen or so during her time in DC, and the Indy meetings are smaller.

And Arianne is in private practice.