Episode 11: The Burning Times
April 30, 2005 (Beltane)
Willow and Tara are mad. They have spent the last month researching all things mage, “Awakening” and every prophecy they can find and there is nothing useful out there. Though lots of stories of mages going insane or accidently causing destruction wherever they go. Plus their Adourflame condition is getting steadily worse, now they can barely touch each other without setting something on fire. A quick kiss in the kitchen one night causes the microwave to explode. In fact they discover in their research that most fire-starting supernaturals are either evil or groomed by evil. Independently each discovers something that might help, the binding ritual they used on Amy and Beth to remove their own magic. They do not mention it to the other.
They do get a visitor in the form of Anya, who is here to represent Lilith. She tells them that they have learned that Witches’ Committee is pissed off and they will be sending operatives to come and get them soon. They change plans and instead look for a refuge since they figure out that the town will not be safe. They discover there is a coven of witches, The Daughters of the Flame, in Sacramento. Willow and Tara are certain they can teleport there on their own. Anya remains, not wanting to trust their new powers teleporting them to an unknown location.
Not a moment too soon either as Bob appears to tell them that there are Witches’ Committee operatives headed their way. Anya says she will try to stall them. The girls along with Bob and Cordy, teleport out.
Arriving at the covenstead Willow and Tara are surprised to see it is really a commune with a few score witches. As soon as Willow and Tara though arrive they are set upon. There is a scuffle but soon the leader of the coven, Mistress Brent, recognizes the two and kneeling she welcomes them “home”.
They all go to Brent’s office. Cordy and Bob are silent as Brent explains the history of this coven. Bob and Brent keep looking at each other, till finally Bob calls her “Cathy”. She gasps out loud and says “Robert?” Brent, like all the women here, takes a coven name that is some form of a Celtic Goddess’ name. She explains she has been expecting them for some time now. She knows they are the reincarnations of Bohdmal and Liath, the founders of this coven. She didn’t know that Liath/Tara was the daughter of Robert Mclay, a man she had known about, but never met. Tara’s mother had been raised by the coven and was sent out to work with a “Robert Mclay” many years ago. Brent blamed that man for Megan’s death. Though Brent is torn now that Megan’s own daughter is here, seeking aid and the reincarnation of Liath to boot. Cordelia asks her leave to report this situation to the Elders and find out what she needs to do.
The girls explain what their problem is, the magic and being followed by both the Witches Committee and Lilith. Brent doesn’t trust either side. Brent offers the coven’s library, but she has never heard of two witches that were becoming mages that were also Anamchara. Bohdmal and Liath were Anamchara, but they never became mages. Brent says it is an exciting time in their cycle of life to have become mages at this point and waxes on what their next life might be like. Willow doesn’t care about the next life, she wants this one, with Tara. Tara mentions the binding ritual. Brent says that would destroy their magic, all of it, and also remove them the witches’ cycle of life, death and rebirth. Plus there is the roll they have to play in the Awakening. Willow and Tara argue that a life that they can’t have each other is no life at all. Brent agrees that if they ask her to she will perform the binding. It also means that they will never see Cordy or Bob ever again, but it will stop the Witches Committee and Lilith from chasing them. But she asks for 24 hours so they can all research a better solution.
They all agree and set to work. Because of their position in the coven, Willow and Tara are given a “Guardian” by the name of Ceridwen and a research assistant named Brigh. Brigh is in awe over Willow and Tara, having studied Bohdmal and Liath all her life. She couldn’t help but notice that their auras were brighter than any she had ever seen and more strangely they were exactly the same. Brigh said that even married couples whose auras begin to blend still retain distinctive patterns. As an example she asks them to view her and Ceri. They had been handfasted a few years back (June 21, 1997) and legally married recently (in Cerri's home of Boston last year), though both agreed that their handfasting was the true date of their bond. Brigh mentions that her own aura had been disrupted due to exposure to Taint a few years ago and when she and Ceri fell in love and were married the interplay between their auras “smoothed out” the Taint. Willow and Tara are a little stunned to meet two married women and their thoughts turn to each other. Brigh notices this and studies their auras more carefully. She gasps and tells them the exchange spiked the power in their auras. She doubts that they have 24 hours. She doubts they have 2 hours in fact before their magical feedback blew a hole in reality.
With Brent involved now the girls begin to think very seriously about the binding ritual. Of course I had dropped a hint or two, but they asked not about a binding ritual, but a bonding one. They discovered that a handfast could do the same thing but also allow them to still use their magic as always. Taking that huge step they agreed. That evening they prepared. Robert stood for his daughter, Cordy for Willow and with Cerri and Brigh as witnesses. Brent performed the ceremony. The girls kissed for the first time in a month and their auras were visible to all.
The girls are given the night to consummate their marriage, but by morning the reality of their mission hits them again. The Witches Committee are at the coven’s doorstep demanding that they release Willow and Tara to them.
The Daughters of course refuse, but the Committee tells them that they are not capable of dealing with mages. If Willow and Tara were only “just witches” it would be fine, but the Committee was set up to deal with witches that become mages. Both sides agree to allow Willow and Tara to be seen by the Committee’s people (called The Keepers). To everyone, Willow and Tara’s auras no longer look like mages, but just really powerful witches. Though they still have their mage powers. The Keepers, seeing but not believing, challenge them both to a battle Arcane. If they are Mages then they will be fine, but have to go with the Keepers. If they are witches then they will loose, but can remain here. Before anyone can say anything though Willow is grabbed by the female Keeper and Tara by the male and they all phase. All four have been removed from the reality of the coven, though everyone can still see everyone else. Willow and Tara are also not in the same reality and can’t touch to get the benefit of being Anamchara. The battle progresses, and does so poorly for the girls. Willow is locked in a reality with her attacker and Tara is also locked with her own. Cordy and Bob both make different attempts to phase into either girl’s reality, only to run into a wall. Willow and Tara both try to exploit their own connections to somehow bring themselves together, but no luck there either.
Tara does notice that the aura’s of the Keepers are also strangely linked. She figured out (with some good rolls and a drama point) that these two must be sleeping together, but don’t want anyone else to know (she sees lust and guilt). She uses the binding ritual on the male keeper to pull him closer to his clandestine lover. They crash into each other, metaphysically speaking, a cancel the magics in place. Brent rules that since Tara defeated them both not with mage magic, but witch magic they don’t have to leave with them and they can stay here. The male Keeper, furious, knocks down Brent, pulls out a gun and fires on Tara. Willow throws up a barrier and the bullet ricochets off and hits the Keeper in his side. He lives, but will need surgery to repair is intestines.
Willow and Tara decide to remain with the Daughters as a “honeymoon” and as a way to be trained on their new mage powers.
Notes: Brigh was “played” as Lexa Doig, Ceri was Yancy Butler, Brent was played by Kate Jackson, I did not cast the Keepers, but any resemblance to certain Executive Producers or show runners I am sure is by coincidence only.
Ok what is going on here?
A few things. The Daughters of the Flame are a coven I had made for my 1999 AD&D Witch book. I had used the coven a number of times in my own works and games for years before that. Lisa, who had been helping write a bunch of these episodes and was my Tara had also, independent of me, used the Daughters in her own writing. Brigh, Ceri and Brent were her creations. I ran Brigh and Ceri through some WitchCraft adventures back in 2003-2004 (where Brigh picked up some Taint from a Mad God cult), so it was nice to have them back here. In my WitchCraft game at the time I specifically mentioned that Brigh can’t read auras. Ah well, I forgotten that. The Keepers were also her creation (though she only had one) and their job was to train Mages into assassins. I wanted them all here in Season of the Witch since their genesis was so related to the “witch culture” I had built in my own games (Mages were even Prestige Classes for witches in my later d20 book).
The Daughters also gave us the chance to poke a little fun at our selves, the Willow and Tara fan community. Often stereotyped as fanatical lesbians devoted to Willow and Tara above anything else, the daughters became (on the surface anyway) a group of fanatical lesbians who believe that Willow and Tara (or rather their past lives) were their reason for being. If the Wicce book had ever come out for the WitchCraft game you would have seen a more balanced view of the Daughters of the Flame. There were the “Eala” or swans that were more passive and the “Brenna” or ravens were more fanatical.
The date the girls were married is set in my world as April 30, 2005.
Marriage. If there is one thing that is debated more in W/T fan communities more than when they first had sex it is what sort of wedding the girls should have, if any at all. I forced the issue by well, forcing the issue. Since no situation would have appealed to all tastes I made it so they had to get married in order to preserve their magic. There is a nice little bit of parity there. To save their magic (which had been a metaphor for love) and likely the world they had to get married. The Keepers, who were having an illicit affair (the male Keeper was married), actually became their weakness. I don’t pretend to be subtle.
This is also the Gaelic Tree month of "Willow". Again. Not subtle.
Plus we wanted to talk about the whole same-sex marriage issue, it's not something a TV would do to be honest, at least not one at the time.
Originally there was going to more to this episode making a double episode really. Dawn was going to be there as well since she was taking college courses and still in town. Willow and Tara were going to “confront their Old Souls”, but we had kind of done that with The Dragon and the Phoenix. Cordy was mostly an NPC by now anyway, but I was happy she was at the wedding, someone from the Original Series there was nice. I had more political play between the Daughters and the Witches Committee but it never came out well in the game, so it was dropped. There was also more scenes with Willow/Tara and Brigh/Ceri. We did learn that Ceri’s birth name was Susan and she had played drums in an all girl KISS tribute band called LICK when she lived in Boston. Brigh had been born Amy Nakamura to a Japanese father and an Irish mother. She had lived in Toronto. Amy's transformation into Brigh was part of the background for my Witch Guardian post.
Next up: The Cast travels north to find the Veil between realities is torn and the witches holding it together are not in the mood to hear some new-comers' ideas on how they are supposed to do their jobs; fated or no.
Showing posts with label tara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tara. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Vampire Tara: Unisystem
Vampire Tara
I have mentioned Vampire Tara in posts in the past, specifically with Cortex and earlier today with Season of the Witch.
Quote:
Why Vamp Tara?
Why not.
Seriously.
Why not?
I personally have lost count of all the Vamp Tara and Vamp Willow fanfics I have seen out there. Most are excuses to have the girls kill people or act out their pornographic fantasies, or both. Often both. Sometimes at the same time. But all the death, killing and hot girl-on-girl action aside, there are some really good stories out there too.
So if we go with the premise that Willow and Tara are together in every world (and I always do) then it is certain that Vamp Willow must have found Tara and turned her. A great example of how this story could have played out is Leah's One Soul.
If there is a Vamp Tara, then is also stands to reason that she would come looking for Vamp Willow at some point (see Chris Golden's Chaos Bleeds). That and the fact that Amber Benson has said she has always wanted to play a vampire (and got her chance in Supernatural) Vamp Tara seems like a no brainer.
Soul or no Soul?
Now the next question arises, should Vamp Tara have a soul or not? The fanfics are about split 50-50. Some start her out soulless, and then gain a soul, others still start her out with a soul and she looses it. Of course by my own rules they cant have the Anamchara quality unless they both have souls, but I am surprisingly neutral on the subject.
In my adventure Through a Glass Darkly Vamp Tara has no soul, but the cast have the option to re-ensoul her (and Vamp Willow) if they choose, or they can stake her.
Going to the (other) experts, Chris Golden makes her soulless in Chaos Bleeds, but Amber plays Lenore with a soul, or at least a moral compass. Its apples and orange to me, or rather apples and different kinds of apples. To take in one last piece of information, vampires in the Ghosts of Albion and Chris Shadow War Saga stories all have souls. So if anything the scale might tipped towards soul, just to accommodate the different points of view.
Personality
So what is Vamp Tara like? Well lets use Vamp Willow as our analogue. Shy, dependable Willow becomes bisexual, raging psychotic killer vampire Willow. So what happens to Tara? Shy, not-large-with-the-butch, fear of rejection Tara, becomes a sex crazed nymphet. Also it is a well known rule that turning evil turns you into a sex fiend, or least prone to wear skimpy clothing and shifting morals (see Raven from Teen Titans, Jean Grey from X-Men, Xena). That being said she is not above killing a few people that piss her off. In One Soul and Through a Glass Darkly one of Vampire Taras first kills are her brother and father. Of course this will depend on the soul or no soul question above. But I can tell you that given the chance my regular Tara player enjoyed playing a tramped out, evil Tara. And lets face it. The look on your players faces when they encounter Tara and then she rips someones head off to drink from the crimson fountain belongs among the joys of being a Director.
Getting Vamp Tara into your Game
Ok, you decided to use Vampire Tara in your game. Congratulations. Now, how do you get her there? The McGuffin often used is the spell gone awry but that is what got us Vamp Willow (both times) so lets be more original.
In my adventure Through a Glass Darkly Vampire Tara casts a spell to find her favourite sex-toy, Vampire Willow. So the spell this time works exactly as she wanted it to. She needs a powerful witch to bring back Vamp Willow, so who better than Real Willow. That way if real Willow fails, Vamp Tara can still just bite her and have a new plaything to train. Trouble is how do we convince Real Willow and Real Tara to do what a bloodthirsty (literally and figuratively) vampire wants them to do? Take a page from Dracula. Vamp Tara manages to get Real Willow alone and put her under thrall. Holding Willow as her hostage (a game she played a lot with Vampire Willow I am sure) and have Real Tara go get the spell needed. In Through a Glass Darkly Tara went off with the ghost of her father, Robert McClay, to find the spell. They cast it, bringing back Vamp Willow and for a special twist (and not a few experience points earned) they re-ensouled her, ensouling Vamp Tara (her Anamchara) in the process. The vamp girls were not very happy about that.
Tara Maclay
Vampire
Life Points 66
Drama Points 10
Attributes
Strength 6
Dexterity 5
Constitution 5
Intelligence 3
Perception 3
Willpower 5
Qualities
Attractiveness (2 levels)
Empathy
Fast Reaction Time (Vampire)
Hard to Kill 4 (2 from Vampire)
Natural Weapon (Vampire)
Reduced Damage (Bullets) 2 (Vampire)
Regeneration (6 Life Points per hour) (Vampire)
Sorcery (3 levels)
The Sight
Vampire
Drawbacks
Adversary (1)
Love (2)
Mental Problems, Covetous (Lechery) (2)
Minority
Skills
Acrobatics 5
Art 3
Computers 2
Crime 1
Doctor
Driving 1
Getting Medieval
Gun Fu 1
Influence 2
Knowledge 4
Kung Fu 4
Languages 2
Mr. Fit-it 1
Notice 3
Occultism 6
Science 1
Sports 2
Wild Card Riding Horses 4
Maneuver Bonus Base Damage Notes
Bite +11 18 Slash/stab, requires Grapple
Grapple +11 Resisted by dodge
Break Neck +11 24
Punch +9 12 Bash
Kick +8 14
Dodge +9 Defense
Axe +10 30
Magic +14 Varies
Armor Value: 2 (Leather coat)
Real Name: Tara A. Maclay
DOB: 11/07/1980, turned to a vampire sometime in 1999-2000
Height: 55, Weight: 125lbs, Eyes: Blue (yellow when feeding), Hair: Dark Blond
Stories
Here are some other stories to use as inspiration.
Leah, One Soul
www.uberwillowtara.com/onesoulcover.htm
Zahir, Never the Twain
www.shadows-and-dust.co.uk/SDFA/Round1/neverthetwain.htm
I have mentioned Vampire Tara in posts in the past, specifically with Cortex and earlier today with Season of the Witch.
Interviewer: Chris [Golden] said you had a great time doing Vamp Tara (for Chaos Bleeds).
Amber: I did. I had such a good time doing that. I think that people were like oh if shes doing vampire Tara then thats bad Tara but its a videogame. To me its a completely different thing than the show.
Interviewer: Can you give us a sample?
Amber: I think it was something like, I cant even remember the words, what she said. But it was very like sexy and you know purry and she made all these like weird noises and when she got killed aaghaa [funny impression that makes everyone laugh] it was very embarrassingly funny and everyone from the Buffy game were just laughing when we did it. It was a lot of fun though.
Kitten Board Interview with Amber Benson, July 5, 2003
Why Vamp Tara?
Why not.
Seriously.
Why not?
I personally have lost count of all the Vamp Tara and Vamp Willow fanfics I have seen out there. Most are excuses to have the girls kill people or act out their pornographic fantasies, or both. Often both. Sometimes at the same time. But all the death, killing and hot girl-on-girl action aside, there are some really good stories out there too.
So if we go with the premise that Willow and Tara are together in every world (and I always do) then it is certain that Vamp Willow must have found Tara and turned her. A great example of how this story could have played out is Leah's One Soul.
If there is a Vamp Tara, then is also stands to reason that she would come looking for Vamp Willow at some point (see Chris Golden's Chaos Bleeds). That and the fact that Amber Benson has said she has always wanted to play a vampire (and got her chance in Supernatural) Vamp Tara seems like a no brainer.
Now the next question arises, should Vamp Tara have a soul or not? The fanfics are about split 50-50. Some start her out soulless, and then gain a soul, others still start her out with a soul and she looses it. Of course by my own rules they cant have the Anamchara quality unless they both have souls, but I am surprisingly neutral on the subject.
In my adventure Through a Glass Darkly Vamp Tara has no soul, but the cast have the option to re-ensoul her (and Vamp Willow) if they choose, or they can stake her.
Going to the (other) experts, Chris Golden makes her soulless in Chaos Bleeds, but Amber plays Lenore with a soul, or at least a moral compass. Its apples and orange to me, or rather apples and different kinds of apples. To take in one last piece of information, vampires in the Ghosts of Albion and Chris Shadow War Saga stories all have souls. So if anything the scale might tipped towards soul, just to accommodate the different points of view.
Personality
So what is Vamp Tara like? Well lets use Vamp Willow as our analogue. Shy, dependable Willow becomes bisexual, raging psychotic killer vampire Willow. So what happens to Tara? Shy, not-large-with-the-butch, fear of rejection Tara, becomes a sex crazed nymphet. Also it is a well known rule that turning evil turns you into a sex fiend, or least prone to wear skimpy clothing and shifting morals (see Raven from Teen Titans, Jean Grey from X-Men, Xena). That being said she is not above killing a few people that piss her off. In One Soul and Through a Glass Darkly one of Vampire Taras first kills are her brother and father. Of course this will depend on the soul or no soul question above. But I can tell you that given the chance my regular Tara player enjoyed playing a tramped out, evil Tara. And lets face it. The look on your players faces when they encounter Tara and then she rips someones head off to drink from the crimson fountain belongs among the joys of being a Director.
Getting Vamp Tara into your Game
Ok, you decided to use Vampire Tara in your game. Congratulations. Now, how do you get her there? The McGuffin often used is the spell gone awry but that is what got us Vamp Willow (both times) so lets be more original.
In my adventure Through a Glass Darkly Vampire Tara casts a spell to find her favourite sex-toy, Vampire Willow. So the spell this time works exactly as she wanted it to. She needs a powerful witch to bring back Vamp Willow, so who better than Real Willow. That way if real Willow fails, Vamp Tara can still just bite her and have a new plaything to train. Trouble is how do we convince Real Willow and Real Tara to do what a bloodthirsty (literally and figuratively) vampire wants them to do? Take a page from Dracula. Vamp Tara manages to get Real Willow alone and put her under thrall. Holding Willow as her hostage (a game she played a lot with Vampire Willow I am sure) and have Real Tara go get the spell needed. In Through a Glass Darkly Tara went off with the ghost of her father, Robert McClay, to find the spell. They cast it, bringing back Vamp Willow and for a special twist (and not a few experience points earned) they re-ensouled her, ensouling Vamp Tara (her Anamchara) in the process. The vamp girls were not very happy about that.
Tara Maclay
Vampire
Life Points 66
Drama Points 10
Attributes
Strength 6
Dexterity 5
Constitution 5
Intelligence 3
Perception 3
Willpower 5
Qualities
Attractiveness (2 levels)
Empathy
Fast Reaction Time (Vampire)
Hard to Kill 4 (2 from Vampire)
Natural Weapon (Vampire)
Reduced Damage (Bullets) 2 (Vampire)
Regeneration (6 Life Points per hour) (Vampire)
Sorcery (3 levels)
The Sight
Vampire
Drawbacks
Adversary (1)
Love (2)
Mental Problems, Covetous (Lechery) (2)
Minority
Skills
Acrobatics 5
Art 3
Computers 2
Crime 1
Doctor
Driving 1
Getting Medieval
Gun Fu 1
Influence 2
Knowledge 4
Kung Fu 4
Languages 2
Mr. Fit-it 1
Notice 3
Occultism 6
Science 1
Sports 2
Wild Card Riding Horses 4
Maneuver Bonus Base Damage Notes
Bite +11 18 Slash/stab, requires Grapple
Grapple +11 Resisted by dodge
Break Neck +11 24
Punch +9 12 Bash
Kick +8 14
Dodge +9 Defense
Axe +10 30
Magic +14 Varies
Armor Value: 2 (Leather coat)
Real Name: Tara A. Maclay
DOB: 11/07/1980, turned to a vampire sometime in 1999-2000
Height: 55, Weight: 125lbs, Eyes: Blue (yellow when feeding), Hair: Dark Blond
Stories
Here are some other stories to use as inspiration.
Leah, One Soul
www.uberwillowtara.com/onesoulcover.htm
Zahir, Never the Twain
www.shadows-and-dust.co.uk/SDFA/Round1/neverthetwain.htm
Season of the Witch: Episode 10
Episode 10: Through a Glass Darkly
March, 2005
Sunnydale
Willow and Tara are preparing for a special dinner with Willow’s parents, Ira and Shelia. Bob has been trying to get them back on “the mission”, but has agreed that at the moment they don’t have any information on where to continue. Cordy is off in northern California looking for other witches that might know more about the Awakening. Not wanting to wait around to see this domestic scene (and maybe a little uncomfortable with the connotations of what the dinner means) Bob offers to spend some time shaking down the any supernatural locals that might be left over.
The girls spend some time discussing exactly what this dinner does mean and what it means to them. Willow was introducing Tara to her parents, not as her “friend” or even as her “college rebellion or experimentation”, but as her lover, the woman she wants to spend the rest of her life with. This of course has made Tara nervous to make sure everything is perfect. Willow is nervous not because of that, but because she wonders what then the next step has to be for them.
Willow attempts to engage Tara in a conversation about what their future is going to be, will they stay here, where should the live, what should they do. Tara is too busy frantically getting dinner ready. She was making sure everything was Kosher, using new pots, pans and kitchen utensils. Tara panics when she discovers the wine they have for cooking is not a Kosher one. Willow tells her not to worry about it, they had another wine, but Tara insists on running out to the store to get more. Willow says she wants to stay home and look up something. Tara runs out to the store.
Willow spends some time researching various topics, mostly anything about witches, historical or otherwise but ends up on the website about gay marriage in Massachusetts. There came a knock at the door. Followed by Tara’s “Hello?” Willow went to the door, shouting out to “come on in”. Tara replied back that she can’t. Willow mentioned that she was only supposed to get wine, not a bunch of stuff. Willow opened the door to and Tara is just standing there. She smiled at Willow, saying “thanks, I needed you to do that.” She vamped out and attacked Willow.
Tara (real Tara) walked into the house (they are staying at the Summers’). The door was wide open and she started calling for Willow. Willow said she was upstairs. Tara went upstairs and saw Willow sitting on the stairs. She was holding a towel to her neck, she had been bleeding. Tara freaks out and asks what happened. Willow indicated that what happened was currently in the bathroom puking her guts out. Tara tentatively walked into the bathroom to see herself doubled over the toilet throwing up blood. The vampire Tara looked up at her and said “oh great, you too.”
Tara freaked out and runs back to Willow, who is fine, mostly. Vampire Tara left the bathroom, she looked awful. Willow tells Tara that she accidently invited Vampire Tara in and she attacked her. As soon as she bit her though, she began to retch, claiming her blood was “all wrong”. Vampire Tara looked at Tara and said that hers was the same. Willow, still sitting on the stairs, said that she was here for something. Something she needed them for. Tara asked if she (VT) had said that, Willow (surprised) just said she knew.
Vampire Tara talked to Willow and Tara, now in the kitchen, and told them she wanted something and her spell somehow brought her here. Tara asked her doppelganger what she was looking for. Vampire Tara looked to both girls and said “Willow” or rather her Willow, the one that made her into a vampire. She had been staked, but she wanted her back. Tara began to explain how you couldn’t do that and her spell must have backfired and brought her here instead. Willow had been silent this whole time. She had cleaned up and was using a glamour to hide her neck.
She finally said that they would help Vampire Tara, which surprised both Taras. Willow says she knows of a spell. But they will have to go to LA to get it. Tara said they shouldn’t do it. Willow said that they have too. Tara asked to speak to Willow in private and argues that Willow’s parents are showing up in less than an hour they can’t do anything between now and then. At that point Robert appeared in the kitchen, seeing Tara and Vampire Tara, Robert rushes over to protect the girls. Vampire Tara saw Bob and vamped out, saying “I killed you! What are you doing here!” The two supernaturals were getting ready to attack when Tara tried to get in between them. Bob was demanding that they kill Vampire Tara, Vampire Tara was vamped out and trying to get to Bob. She looked over to Willow and said “Willow! Help me!”and Willow stood and walked over to Vampire Tara.
Everyone calmed down to a stalemate. Tara was starring at Willow in confusion. Vampire Tara laughed a bit and said “I didn’t get her blood, but I got enough of my salvia into her system to make her a thral. Oh it will wear off soon, but long enough for me to get what I came here for.”
Tara agreed to find the book needed to bring back Vampire Willow. Bob would go with her. Willow would stay with Vampire Tara as insurance. If Bob and Tara are not back by midnight (now almost 5 hours away) she was going to kill Willow and vamp her.
Tara called Cordy, who showed up, and orbed them to LA.
Vampire Tara turned to Willow and asked seductively what they were going to do with all that time? Willow told her matter of factly that she needed to change because her parents were going to be there in less than an hour for dinner.
Tara, Bob and Cordy ended up in a underground cavern in LA. Using the maps from Willow’s research Tara broke into a run. Bob and Cordy followed her.
Willow had Vampire Tara change clothes, and was telling her that she was going to behave herself for her parents tonight or the deal was off. Willow told Vampire Tara that she agreed to this not because of the vampire thral but something else. She knew the loneliness that she was feeling, the loss, and would do what she could to help her, but vampire Tara had to help her in turn.
Ira and Shelia showed up, bringing wine. Dinner began, Willow was nervous and quiet. Shelia kept talking and to everyone’s surprise Tara was quite chatty.
After dinner conversation began. Shelia though could not help but comment that Willow needed to think of her future, what she planned to do with her life. Shelia wandered over to the computer in the living room and saw the website open on gay marriages. Shelia asked Willow if that is what she really wanted and that is she wanted to do. She continued on about how sure, she was young and her time with Tara was exciting, but sometime she would have to grow up. Shelia asked her if she ever wanted to have children?
Tara finally had enough and defended Willow to Shelia. Telling her that she loves Willow and that is all they need.
Tara, Bob and Cordy worked their way to a temple. Inside there were scores and scores of vamps all on their knees chanting before a mummified figure. The figure stood up and beckoned them all closer. Cordy exclaimed “oh crap. A Lich.”
Tara demanded to know were the book they needed was. She used her nascent mage abilities (and a drama point) to set the kneeling vampires on fire. The Lich turns to her and tells her “that was very rude.”
Back at the dinner, Vampire Tara and Shelia are still arguing. Vamp Tara breaks down and tells Shelia how much Willow meant to her how she saw her when no one else did and how she took a shy, timid girl and made her into a strong woman and in the process did the same for herself. She said they were soulmates. Argument over, Ira agrees it is time they should go and maybe they would like to have breakfast in the morning.
They leave, and Willow goes back to Tara, still in the dinning room. She asked her if she had meant everything she had said and Vamp Tara said yes. She told Willow that without her, without her Willow, she didn’t see the reason to go on. She lifted her head and vamped out and said, “so if I can’t have her, I’ll have you.”
Tara (again the real one) was facing off with the lich. He called her a curiosity, that he had not seen her kind in a thousand years. She asked about the tome. He said he had it. She asked him if she had to fight him for it. He said, “No.” To everyone’s surprise. He told Tara he would give her the spell she wanted, for a small token, that one day she or her offspring would owe him a favor that he could call upon. Cordy and Bob told her not to do it. But Tara was desperate. She agreed. He asked for her hands. She brought them out and placed the spell parchment in them. She turned to go and he grabbed her wrist. His hand were strong and cold as iron. He left a black circle on the inside of her left wrist. A mark that would stay with her till she paid her debt.
Taking the spell Tara went back to Bob and Cordy and they orbed out.
Back at the house Willow had Vamp Tara on the other side of the table trying to keep it between them. The other orbed in with the spell. Vamp Tara calmed down.
Tara and Willow embraced and she gave Willow the spell. Reading it quickly she told vamp Tara they needed something of Vampire Willow’s. Vampire Tara goes to her duster and pulls out a pair of panties. Which gets looks from everyone. Vampire Tara corrects herself and says that her Willow hardly ever wore those and gives them a pair of padded bondage cuffs instead. Vampire Tara changes back into her regular clothes and Willow and Tara prepare the spell. (at this point my Willow player hands me a note).
They draw a circle in the basement and begin the spell. The spell is complex and even with Willow and Tara both reading it it takes some time. At one point Willow begins a secondary incantation, Tara keeps reading.
There is a flash of lightning and thunder. A rift appears that gathers itself into the shape of a woman. Another flash and the blackness becomes the naked form of Vampire Willow, pulled out of time and space. Vampire Tara runs over to her, putting her duster around her asking her if it is really her. Vampire Willow, confused, only looks up asnd said “you found me!”
Vampire Tara and Willow looked at their human counterparts and said “we don’t know how to repay you. Oh. Wait. Yes we do.” and they vamped out. They told the human girls that they were going to kill them and take their places in this new world. Tara gets ready to attack, but Willow says wait (and tosses me another Drama Point). Approaching Vampire Willow and Tara double over in pain and begin to scream. They fall to the ground while magical auras form around them. Soon they stand asking what they hell did they do. Though it is obvious. Willow had re-ensouled them both. Not needing the focus since they were soulmates they acted as each other’s focus. Willow told them they were not cursed, they could be happy together, just as long as they didn’t kill anyone and they stayed out of each other’s ways.
New unlife at hand Vampire Willow and Tara drive off into the night in Bob’ Thunderbird (much to Bob’s chagrin). Tara tells Willow that her spell was amazing and Willow tells Tara getting the time and space spell was also fantastic. She asked Tara how she got it so fast, and Tara promises to tell her some time.
The next morning Willow, Tara, Shelia and Ira all have a much more pleasant breakfast at the Rosenberg’s. Shelia tells Tara that her words last night really touched her and she would be proud to have Tara in her family.
They are leaving and Willow promises her mom that she will not be so much of a stranger anymore and that she is happy to bring Tara over. Shelia tells her Ira really likes Tara, but could not help but think she was a vampire!
Notes: Ok bit of a shift here. Less action and more drama. My Willow player had the idea from the start to re-ensoul Tara and Willow when she had the chance. She planned it well and paid me enough drama points to do it.
Tara’s player played both Tara and Vampire Tara. Which was a lot of fun.
I was beginning to lose my group here, so the big magical battle with Magnus (the lich) was scrapped in favor of the more horrific Faustian deal. Also my Willow player had to play Cordy in this session too.
No overt allusions to the Awakening except at the very beginning. I wanted to focus on characters here.
Giving up the Thunderbird was a spur of the moment idea by my Tara player. They felt they could teleport via the Ghosts of Albion spell to anywhere they really needed to go. I revisited them in my WitchCraft adventure "Vacation in Vancouver" they had joined the supernatural night life there and basically enjoying the hell out of themselves. They had not killed anyone, but had plenty of willing volunteers to give them the blood they needed.
Tara’s debt is not dealt with anytime soon, but becomes a major plot point for the next season.
The title is an allusion to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s book In a Glass Darkly that gave us the first lesbian vampire tale “Carmilla”. As well as the Through the Looking Glass website, a site dedicated to all sorts of alt-reality Willow and Tara fics. http://www.uberwillowtara.com/
Next up: The girls come into their full power, but they might not be able to deal with it. Plus the Witches’ Committee is back and they are not happy about getting a depowered Amy and Beth instead of Mages Willow and Tara.
March, 2005
Sunnydale
Willow and Tara are preparing for a special dinner with Willow’s parents, Ira and Shelia. Bob has been trying to get them back on “the mission”, but has agreed that at the moment they don’t have any information on where to continue. Cordy is off in northern California looking for other witches that might know more about the Awakening. Not wanting to wait around to see this domestic scene (and maybe a little uncomfortable with the connotations of what the dinner means) Bob offers to spend some time shaking down the any supernatural locals that might be left over.
The girls spend some time discussing exactly what this dinner does mean and what it means to them. Willow was introducing Tara to her parents, not as her “friend” or even as her “college rebellion or experimentation”, but as her lover, the woman she wants to spend the rest of her life with. This of course has made Tara nervous to make sure everything is perfect. Willow is nervous not because of that, but because she wonders what then the next step has to be for them.
Willow attempts to engage Tara in a conversation about what their future is going to be, will they stay here, where should the live, what should they do. Tara is too busy frantically getting dinner ready. She was making sure everything was Kosher, using new pots, pans and kitchen utensils. Tara panics when she discovers the wine they have for cooking is not a Kosher one. Willow tells her not to worry about it, they had another wine, but Tara insists on running out to the store to get more. Willow says she wants to stay home and look up something. Tara runs out to the store.
Willow spends some time researching various topics, mostly anything about witches, historical or otherwise but ends up on the website about gay marriage in Massachusetts. There came a knock at the door. Followed by Tara’s “Hello?” Willow went to the door, shouting out to “come on in”. Tara replied back that she can’t. Willow mentioned that she was only supposed to get wine, not a bunch of stuff. Willow opened the door to and Tara is just standing there. She smiled at Willow, saying “thanks, I needed you to do that.” She vamped out and attacked Willow.
Tara (real Tara) walked into the house (they are staying at the Summers’). The door was wide open and she started calling for Willow. Willow said she was upstairs. Tara went upstairs and saw Willow sitting on the stairs. She was holding a towel to her neck, she had been bleeding. Tara freaks out and asks what happened. Willow indicated that what happened was currently in the bathroom puking her guts out. Tara tentatively walked into the bathroom to see herself doubled over the toilet throwing up blood. The vampire Tara looked up at her and said “oh great, you too.”
Tara freaked out and runs back to Willow, who is fine, mostly. Vampire Tara left the bathroom, she looked awful. Willow tells Tara that she accidently invited Vampire Tara in and she attacked her. As soon as she bit her though, she began to retch, claiming her blood was “all wrong”. Vampire Tara looked at Tara and said that hers was the same. Willow, still sitting on the stairs, said that she was here for something. Something she needed them for. Tara asked if she (VT) had said that, Willow (surprised) just said she knew.
Vampire Tara talked to Willow and Tara, now in the kitchen, and told them she wanted something and her spell somehow brought her here. Tara asked her doppelganger what she was looking for. Vampire Tara looked to both girls and said “Willow” or rather her Willow, the one that made her into a vampire. She had been staked, but she wanted her back. Tara began to explain how you couldn’t do that and her spell must have backfired and brought her here instead. Willow had been silent this whole time. She had cleaned up and was using a glamour to hide her neck.
She finally said that they would help Vampire Tara, which surprised both Taras. Willow says she knows of a spell. But they will have to go to LA to get it. Tara said they shouldn’t do it. Willow said that they have too. Tara asked to speak to Willow in private and argues that Willow’s parents are showing up in less than an hour they can’t do anything between now and then. At that point Robert appeared in the kitchen, seeing Tara and Vampire Tara, Robert rushes over to protect the girls. Vampire Tara saw Bob and vamped out, saying “I killed you! What are you doing here!” The two supernaturals were getting ready to attack when Tara tried to get in between them. Bob was demanding that they kill Vampire Tara, Vampire Tara was vamped out and trying to get to Bob. She looked over to Willow and said “Willow! Help me!”and Willow stood and walked over to Vampire Tara.
Everyone calmed down to a stalemate. Tara was starring at Willow in confusion. Vampire Tara laughed a bit and said “I didn’t get her blood, but I got enough of my salvia into her system to make her a thral. Oh it will wear off soon, but long enough for me to get what I came here for.”
Tara agreed to find the book needed to bring back Vampire Willow. Bob would go with her. Willow would stay with Vampire Tara as insurance. If Bob and Tara are not back by midnight (now almost 5 hours away) she was going to kill Willow and vamp her.
Tara called Cordy, who showed up, and orbed them to LA.
Vampire Tara turned to Willow and asked seductively what they were going to do with all that time? Willow told her matter of factly that she needed to change because her parents were going to be there in less than an hour for dinner.
Tara, Bob and Cordy ended up in a underground cavern in LA. Using the maps from Willow’s research Tara broke into a run. Bob and Cordy followed her.
Willow had Vampire Tara change clothes, and was telling her that she was going to behave herself for her parents tonight or the deal was off. Willow told Vampire Tara that she agreed to this not because of the vampire thral but something else. She knew the loneliness that she was feeling, the loss, and would do what she could to help her, but vampire Tara had to help her in turn.
Ira and Shelia showed up, bringing wine. Dinner began, Willow was nervous and quiet. Shelia kept talking and to everyone’s surprise Tara was quite chatty.
After dinner conversation began. Shelia though could not help but comment that Willow needed to think of her future, what she planned to do with her life. Shelia wandered over to the computer in the living room and saw the website open on gay marriages. Shelia asked Willow if that is what she really wanted and that is she wanted to do. She continued on about how sure, she was young and her time with Tara was exciting, but sometime she would have to grow up. Shelia asked her if she ever wanted to have children?
Tara finally had enough and defended Willow to Shelia. Telling her that she loves Willow and that is all they need.
Tara, Bob and Cordy worked their way to a temple. Inside there were scores and scores of vamps all on their knees chanting before a mummified figure. The figure stood up and beckoned them all closer. Cordy exclaimed “oh crap. A Lich.”
Tara demanded to know were the book they needed was. She used her nascent mage abilities (and a drama point) to set the kneeling vampires on fire. The Lich turns to her and tells her “that was very rude.”
Back at the dinner, Vampire Tara and Shelia are still arguing. Vamp Tara breaks down and tells Shelia how much Willow meant to her how she saw her when no one else did and how she took a shy, timid girl and made her into a strong woman and in the process did the same for herself. She said they were soulmates. Argument over, Ira agrees it is time they should go and maybe they would like to have breakfast in the morning.
They leave, and Willow goes back to Tara, still in the dinning room. She asked her if she had meant everything she had said and Vamp Tara said yes. She told Willow that without her, without her Willow, she didn’t see the reason to go on. She lifted her head and vamped out and said, “so if I can’t have her, I’ll have you.”
Tara (again the real one) was facing off with the lich. He called her a curiosity, that he had not seen her kind in a thousand years. She asked about the tome. He said he had it. She asked him if she had to fight him for it. He said, “No.” To everyone’s surprise. He told Tara he would give her the spell she wanted, for a small token, that one day she or her offspring would owe him a favor that he could call upon. Cordy and Bob told her not to do it. But Tara was desperate. She agreed. He asked for her hands. She brought them out and placed the spell parchment in them. She turned to go and he grabbed her wrist. His hand were strong and cold as iron. He left a black circle on the inside of her left wrist. A mark that would stay with her till she paid her debt.
Taking the spell Tara went back to Bob and Cordy and they orbed out.
Back at the house Willow had Vamp Tara on the other side of the table trying to keep it between them. The other orbed in with the spell. Vamp Tara calmed down.
Tara and Willow embraced and she gave Willow the spell. Reading it quickly she told vamp Tara they needed something of Vampire Willow’s. Vampire Tara goes to her duster and pulls out a pair of panties. Which gets looks from everyone. Vampire Tara corrects herself and says that her Willow hardly ever wore those and gives them a pair of padded bondage cuffs instead. Vampire Tara changes back into her regular clothes and Willow and Tara prepare the spell. (at this point my Willow player hands me a note).
They draw a circle in the basement and begin the spell. The spell is complex and even with Willow and Tara both reading it it takes some time. At one point Willow begins a secondary incantation, Tara keeps reading.
There is a flash of lightning and thunder. A rift appears that gathers itself into the shape of a woman. Another flash and the blackness becomes the naked form of Vampire Willow, pulled out of time and space. Vampire Tara runs over to her, putting her duster around her asking her if it is really her. Vampire Willow, confused, only looks up asnd said “you found me!”
Vampire Tara and Willow looked at their human counterparts and said “we don’t know how to repay you. Oh. Wait. Yes we do.” and they vamped out. They told the human girls that they were going to kill them and take their places in this new world. Tara gets ready to attack, but Willow says wait (and tosses me another Drama Point). Approaching Vampire Willow and Tara double over in pain and begin to scream. They fall to the ground while magical auras form around them. Soon they stand asking what they hell did they do. Though it is obvious. Willow had re-ensouled them both. Not needing the focus since they were soulmates they acted as each other’s focus. Willow told them they were not cursed, they could be happy together, just as long as they didn’t kill anyone and they stayed out of each other’s ways.
New unlife at hand Vampire Willow and Tara drive off into the night in Bob’ Thunderbird (much to Bob’s chagrin). Tara tells Willow that her spell was amazing and Willow tells Tara getting the time and space spell was also fantastic. She asked Tara how she got it so fast, and Tara promises to tell her some time.
The next morning Willow, Tara, Shelia and Ira all have a much more pleasant breakfast at the Rosenberg’s. Shelia tells Tara that her words last night really touched her and she would be proud to have Tara in her family.
They are leaving and Willow promises her mom that she will not be so much of a stranger anymore and that she is happy to bring Tara over. Shelia tells her Ira really likes Tara, but could not help but think she was a vampire!
Notes: Ok bit of a shift here. Less action and more drama. My Willow player had the idea from the start to re-ensoul Tara and Willow when she had the chance. She planned it well and paid me enough drama points to do it.
Tara’s player played both Tara and Vampire Tara. Which was a lot of fun.
I was beginning to lose my group here, so the big magical battle with Magnus (the lich) was scrapped in favor of the more horrific Faustian deal. Also my Willow player had to play Cordy in this session too.
No overt allusions to the Awakening except at the very beginning. I wanted to focus on characters here.
Giving up the Thunderbird was a spur of the moment idea by my Tara player. They felt they could teleport via the Ghosts of Albion spell to anywhere they really needed to go. I revisited them in my WitchCraft adventure "Vacation in Vancouver" they had joined the supernatural night life there and basically enjoying the hell out of themselves. They had not killed anyone, but had plenty of willing volunteers to give them the blood they needed.
Tara’s debt is not dealt with anytime soon, but becomes a major plot point for the next season.
The title is an allusion to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu’s book In a Glass Darkly that gave us the first lesbian vampire tale “Carmilla”. As well as the Through the Looking Glass website, a site dedicated to all sorts of alt-reality Willow and Tara fics. http://www.uberwillowtara.com/
Next up: The girls come into their full power, but they might not be able to deal with it. Plus the Witches’ Committee is back and they are not happy about getting a depowered Amy and Beth instead of Mages Willow and Tara.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Season of the Witch: Episode 9
Episode 9: Web of Lies
January, 2005
Sunnydale
Willow and Tara are back in Sunnydale. Cordy wants to report to the Elders so she orbs out. Bob wants the girls to continue their mission, but they tell him they have other things that they need to do first. The town is very quiet. Since the destruction of the hellmouth nexus in the Dragon and the Phoenix, supernatural activity is at all time low. Their friends are all away on various errands of their own (and thus not appearing in this episode). Some things are as they left them; the Bronze is still closed, but there is a new bar in town, “Hanger 61” that is a converted airplane hanger.
Tara needs to go to campus to pick up her transcripts so she can apply to grad school. Willow joins her.
On campus they notice that people are starring at them a lot. At first they think it is because they are holding hands, but it is more than that. They decide to stop a student, who gets too flustered to talk. Finally they get someone that can speak them, but all he wants to know is if they are doing their webshow tonight. Confused they ask for details and get a url. Back at home they try it out, but first Bob interrupts by saying that outside of small pack of vamps there is nothing on this town, no demons, no ghosts, nothing. It is like the metaphysical equivalent of a ghost town, pardon the pun. By this time the site loads and it is a pay porn site featuring Willow and Tara and a bunch of other naughty witches! The site is very x-rated and there is a notice that tonight at midnight PST there will be another free show.
Willow hacks in immediately and tracks down the source to a rundown hotel outside of town. The go there to discover Amy and Beth have been using glamours to disguise themselves as Willow and Tara. But that is not the worse part, Amy and Beth then proceed to use magic to kick Willow and Tara out and they put up a shield even they can’t get through.
Willow and Tara head back to the house where they hit the books and the computers. They discover that recently a lot of young men have been admitted to the ER with symptoms of massive dehydration. Normally this might stand out, but the supernatural activity is so low that it is accepted as the norm. Willow coordinates the times admitted and all happened within six hours of Amy and Beth’s free broadcasts. Tara is able to determine that the symptoms perfectly match that of a succubus attack.
Eventually they piece together enough information that leads them to believe that Amy and Beth are somehow using succubi (most likely the other girls) to drain people over the web. Since they are drawing from an audience of thousands they only need a little bit from each, though some are more prone to succubi attacks. Willow checks the subscriptions and it seems the largest audience ever is due tonight. And midnight is just a few more hours away.
CUT SCENE
A young woman gets off a bus. She is wearing a long heavy coat that seems out of date as well as too much. She walks away from the bus after conferring with a piece of paper in her hands. He movements are not unnoticed as a solitary vampire begins to follow her. A nearly imperceptible signal and soon more gather.
The young woman, no more than a teenager really, moves forward, headless of her surroundings. She turns down an alley and the vampires close in.
“Not so fast little lady. Don’t you know it isn’t safe to walk the streets alone?” Laughs as she looks around only now seeing her mistake.
“I am afraid this will have to cost you. An' here we only have one price for everything.” The vampire switches to game face. The woman squints at the vampire and says “Kyuuketsuki?” The lead vampire looks confused then suddenly bursts into flames. Soon the gathered crowd one by one bursts into flames. They scream and soon there is nothing left but ash.
Unaffected the young woman goes back to looking for her address.
Cordy confirms that there have been succubi in the area. Tara asks if the pact they made with the Mormo and Lilim will extend to Succubi and Cordy say she doubts it as succubi are fiercely independent. Bob returns and tells the girls that something has killed the last pack of vampires in town. He doesn’t know what it was, but all that was left was ash.
The cast plans to assault the run down hotel just before midnight, reasoning that Amy and Beth will need the shield down to get the essence from their web broadcast.
They get to the hotel and prepare their attack when they are all stopped by a ring of fire. Willow is able to dispel it with ease (more ease than I wanted her too) and soon they are confront by the young woman from the cut scene. She doesn’t talk to them but attacks with magical bolts of fire. Willow and Tara are able to dodge them (thanks to the then new magical dodge rules we had made for Ghosts), but Bob is not so lucky. He is hit and it hurts. Not a lot of damage, but enough to know that he can be hurt. The girls attack with magical strikes of their own, but they seem to have no effect. They do notice that with every hit the cross the girl wears around her neck glows green. Cordy orbs in, grabs it and orbs away (but not as far away as she wanted). A magical bolt from Willow sends the girl (Robin) down. In the attack though they missed their chance and the barrier has been down for several long minutes.
They burst into the hotel room expecting to see the live show, but instead they seem Amy and Beth glowing as energy is pouring into them. The Succubi are standing around the webcam and drawing the energy from it into the other witches.
Amy and Beth monologue a bit while getting ready to fight. The sucbubi are drawing magical essence from the viewer via a computer that Amy found when she went to go recruit the three nerds to help in her revenge plans. Not finding them she found all this equipment and a huge stash of net porn. Amy joined her a couple months back; she had left home right after Willow and Tara did and came straight here. Amy and Beth get all the magical boost from the viewers, who are dying now, and the succubi get all the souls. There is no need to film this time as the succubi are feeding each viewer their own personal show via illusion.
What begins is a Battle Arcane from the Ghost of Albion rules. Amy and Beth vs. Willow and Tara. Of course I have Amy and Beth more powerful. The battle begins and goes for a few turns. Cordy and Bob are busy fighting off the succubi. The entire time Amy taunts Willow telling her about all the people that are going to die.
Robin wakes up and comes into the hotel room. Willow tells her to destroy the computer, Willow and Tara can’t break the Battle Arcane and Cordy and Bob can’t get near it. She doesn’t seem to understand, so Tara repeats it in Latin first and then Japanese. Getting it, a lance of flame launches out and destroys the computer, webcam and the link. Amy and Beth power down and Willow and Tara get in their last blow rendering them unconscious. The succubi then “shimmer” (demonic teleportation) out, escaping.
Tara quickly runs up to the prone girls and cuts a strand of hair from each to perform a binding spell. She binds Amy’s and then Beth’s powers. Willow joins the spell, and Robin gives her aid, speaking the incantation in Latin.
There is a tense scene where Robin is looking Willow and Tara up and down. Tara tells her they don’t want to fight anymore, they just wanted to stop these two. Cordy orbs between them and tells her if she won’t believe them, believe her. The girl, stunned to see a Whitelighter again this time bows her head low. She tells Tara she was only following orders from her Superiors. The orders were simply, go to Sunnydale, find the two most powerful witches and bring them in alive if possible or dead. But if the witches have a Whitelighter such as Cordy, then they can’t be evil.
Robin tells them who she is working for, Solomon HQ, but knows nothing else. She says she can’t go back to Rome empty handed, so she decides to take Amy and Beth with her. After all, she says, they were more powerful. Willow, in a fit of revenge, glamours Amy and Beth to look like her and Tara respectively. Saying, well they wanted to be us so badly.
The equipment is all destroyed and the Cast leaves before the Solomon pick-up team comes to claim Robin and the fallen witches.
Back at home Tara is watching the news and there has been a rash of ER cases, which authorities are claiming is due to the college dorm food. Willow is online searching. Cordy reports back that Solomon is the real deal, a group of witch hunters dating back to King Solomon himself. She says that they only hunt evil witches and have been focusing on that. Willow hacks into their databases and discovers that the order to get them came from the highest levels and their names were mentioned specifically in the order, but were ordered to be removed when field agents got the assignment. She discover that the request to have them “bagged and tagged” came from Morgan, the leader of the Witches Committee.
Notes:
Lot going on here. Robin of course is Robin Sena from Witch Hunter Robin. I had been wanting to do another assassins go after Willow and Tara episode, but only have the assassin turn sides to help them. The setting up of Amy and Beth was one of those things that came up in the writing and it fit so well I had to use it. I had plans to use them again after this, though originally this was going to be a double episode.
Robin taking out the vamps was snark on my part. The original series spent so much time and energy in the kill and here comes my guest star who can kill them WITH HER MIND! Yeah, snark.
Again we have Willow and Tara performing the finale magical spell with another witch. This time it is Robin for 3 witches, before it was the Charmed ones for 5. We still have 7 as one of magical numbers to go. Plus a binding cast by three witches (“The power of three times three”) is very powerful.
The Witches Committee sent Robin after them, feeling that Willow and Tara were not going to do what they wanted. Again more doubt on their real agenda. Did they stop them thinking they were going to close the portal and that is what they wanted, or did they try to stop them thinking the girls were going to open it up and they didn’t want that.
The astute will notice a lot of things here that later made it into the Ghosts of Albion rules. Obviously the Battle Arcane (“Magical Duels”), magical dodges, philosophies got their start here, and the spell “Barrier Reduction Bolt”. This is also where the primary offensive spells “Azure Wave” and “Energy Dart” came from.
I brought in Amy, Beth and succubi, and really underused them all. I only had vauge stats for succubi since I didn’t see them as combat monsters. The pairing of Amy and Succubi pleased my Tara player who had once commented that Amy was probably half-succubus anyway.
The succubi were all named after various TV critics that claimed killing Tara was a good idea back in S6.
No. We were not bitter at all. For the record they were Amy, Wendy, Wanda and Kristen (the twins), Kitty and Candy. Sure not “demonic” names, but it worked. A prize if anyone can tell me who these people were.
The main feature of this episode was though the girls had come home, this was not the same place. Their friends were gone, the places they hung out were gone, even the supernatural creatures were all gone. And to top it all off the one thing new in their lives, the “mission”, followed them home and almost killed them. The Awakening was not waiting for them.
"Hanger 61" is an homage to this alternative bar I hung out at in the late 80s, "Hanger 9", which was an airplane hanger, and this dive goth bar "611" I was at in the early 90's.
The "massive dehydration" line was an in joke. Alyson Hannigan was doing an interview (for Jay Leno I think) years ago where she mentioned she had worked at a video store for a while. She talked about this customer who would come in and rent this stack of porn every morning and return them the next day for another stack. She said she always wondered why he wasn't dehydrated or something.
Up next: What is scarier than facing vampires, demons, hell gods and ancient timeless evils??
Having your parents over to dinner to properly meet your lesbian lover.
January, 2005
Sunnydale
Willow and Tara are back in Sunnydale. Cordy wants to report to the Elders so she orbs out. Bob wants the girls to continue their mission, but they tell him they have other things that they need to do first. The town is very quiet. Since the destruction of the hellmouth nexus in the Dragon and the Phoenix, supernatural activity is at all time low. Their friends are all away on various errands of their own (and thus not appearing in this episode). Some things are as they left them; the Bronze is still closed, but there is a new bar in town, “Hanger 61” that is a converted airplane hanger.
Tara needs to go to campus to pick up her transcripts so she can apply to grad school. Willow joins her.
On campus they notice that people are starring at them a lot. At first they think it is because they are holding hands, but it is more than that. They decide to stop a student, who gets too flustered to talk. Finally they get someone that can speak them, but all he wants to know is if they are doing their webshow tonight. Confused they ask for details and get a url. Back at home they try it out, but first Bob interrupts by saying that outside of small pack of vamps there is nothing on this town, no demons, no ghosts, nothing. It is like the metaphysical equivalent of a ghost town, pardon the pun. By this time the site loads and it is a pay porn site featuring Willow and Tara and a bunch of other naughty witches! The site is very x-rated and there is a notice that tonight at midnight PST there will be another free show.
Willow hacks in immediately and tracks down the source to a rundown hotel outside of town. The go there to discover Amy and Beth have been using glamours to disguise themselves as Willow and Tara. But that is not the worse part, Amy and Beth then proceed to use magic to kick Willow and Tara out and they put up a shield even they can’t get through.
Willow and Tara head back to the house where they hit the books and the computers. They discover that recently a lot of young men have been admitted to the ER with symptoms of massive dehydration. Normally this might stand out, but the supernatural activity is so low that it is accepted as the norm. Willow coordinates the times admitted and all happened within six hours of Amy and Beth’s free broadcasts. Tara is able to determine that the symptoms perfectly match that of a succubus attack.
Eventually they piece together enough information that leads them to believe that Amy and Beth are somehow using succubi (most likely the other girls) to drain people over the web. Since they are drawing from an audience of thousands they only need a little bit from each, though some are more prone to succubi attacks. Willow checks the subscriptions and it seems the largest audience ever is due tonight. And midnight is just a few more hours away.
CUT SCENE
A young woman gets off a bus. She is wearing a long heavy coat that seems out of date as well as too much. She walks away from the bus after conferring with a piece of paper in her hands. He movements are not unnoticed as a solitary vampire begins to follow her. A nearly imperceptible signal and soon more gather.
The young woman, no more than a teenager really, moves forward, headless of her surroundings. She turns down an alley and the vampires close in.
“Not so fast little lady. Don’t you know it isn’t safe to walk the streets alone?” Laughs as she looks around only now seeing her mistake.
“I am afraid this will have to cost you. An' here we only have one price for everything.” The vampire switches to game face. The woman squints at the vampire and says “Kyuuketsuki?” The lead vampire looks confused then suddenly bursts into flames. Soon the gathered crowd one by one bursts into flames. They scream and soon there is nothing left but ash.
Unaffected the young woman goes back to looking for her address.
Cordy confirms that there have been succubi in the area. Tara asks if the pact they made with the Mormo and Lilim will extend to Succubi and Cordy say she doubts it as succubi are fiercely independent. Bob returns and tells the girls that something has killed the last pack of vampires in town. He doesn’t know what it was, but all that was left was ash.
The cast plans to assault the run down hotel just before midnight, reasoning that Amy and Beth will need the shield down to get the essence from their web broadcast.
They get to the hotel and prepare their attack when they are all stopped by a ring of fire. Willow is able to dispel it with ease (more ease than I wanted her too) and soon they are confront by the young woman from the cut scene. She doesn’t talk to them but attacks with magical bolts of fire. Willow and Tara are able to dodge them (thanks to the then new magical dodge rules we had made for Ghosts), but Bob is not so lucky. He is hit and it hurts. Not a lot of damage, but enough to know that he can be hurt. The girls attack with magical strikes of their own, but they seem to have no effect. They do notice that with every hit the cross the girl wears around her neck glows green. Cordy orbs in, grabs it and orbs away (but not as far away as she wanted). A magical bolt from Willow sends the girl (Robin) down. In the attack though they missed their chance and the barrier has been down for several long minutes.
They burst into the hotel room expecting to see the live show, but instead they seem Amy and Beth glowing as energy is pouring into them. The Succubi are standing around the webcam and drawing the energy from it into the other witches.
Amy and Beth monologue a bit while getting ready to fight. The sucbubi are drawing magical essence from the viewer via a computer that Amy found when she went to go recruit the three nerds to help in her revenge plans. Not finding them she found all this equipment and a huge stash of net porn. Amy joined her a couple months back; she had left home right after Willow and Tara did and came straight here. Amy and Beth get all the magical boost from the viewers, who are dying now, and the succubi get all the souls. There is no need to film this time as the succubi are feeding each viewer their own personal show via illusion.
What begins is a Battle Arcane from the Ghost of Albion rules. Amy and Beth vs. Willow and Tara. Of course I have Amy and Beth more powerful. The battle begins and goes for a few turns. Cordy and Bob are busy fighting off the succubi. The entire time Amy taunts Willow telling her about all the people that are going to die.
Robin wakes up and comes into the hotel room. Willow tells her to destroy the computer, Willow and Tara can’t break the Battle Arcane and Cordy and Bob can’t get near it. She doesn’t seem to understand, so Tara repeats it in Latin first and then Japanese. Getting it, a lance of flame launches out and destroys the computer, webcam and the link. Amy and Beth power down and Willow and Tara get in their last blow rendering them unconscious. The succubi then “shimmer” (demonic teleportation) out, escaping.
Tara quickly runs up to the prone girls and cuts a strand of hair from each to perform a binding spell. She binds Amy’s and then Beth’s powers. Willow joins the spell, and Robin gives her aid, speaking the incantation in Latin.
There is a tense scene where Robin is looking Willow and Tara up and down. Tara tells her they don’t want to fight anymore, they just wanted to stop these two. Cordy orbs between them and tells her if she won’t believe them, believe her. The girl, stunned to see a Whitelighter again this time bows her head low. She tells Tara she was only following orders from her Superiors. The orders were simply, go to Sunnydale, find the two most powerful witches and bring them in alive if possible or dead. But if the witches have a Whitelighter such as Cordy, then they can’t be evil.
Robin tells them who she is working for, Solomon HQ, but knows nothing else. She says she can’t go back to Rome empty handed, so she decides to take Amy and Beth with her. After all, she says, they were more powerful. Willow, in a fit of revenge, glamours Amy and Beth to look like her and Tara respectively. Saying, well they wanted to be us so badly.
The equipment is all destroyed and the Cast leaves before the Solomon pick-up team comes to claim Robin and the fallen witches.
Back at home Tara is watching the news and there has been a rash of ER cases, which authorities are claiming is due to the college dorm food. Willow is online searching. Cordy reports back that Solomon is the real deal, a group of witch hunters dating back to King Solomon himself. She says that they only hunt evil witches and have been focusing on that. Willow hacks into their databases and discovers that the order to get them came from the highest levels and their names were mentioned specifically in the order, but were ordered to be removed when field agents got the assignment. She discover that the request to have them “bagged and tagged” came from Morgan, the leader of the Witches Committee.
Notes:
Lot going on here. Robin of course is Robin Sena from Witch Hunter Robin. I had been wanting to do another assassins go after Willow and Tara episode, but only have the assassin turn sides to help them. The setting up of Amy and Beth was one of those things that came up in the writing and it fit so well I had to use it. I had plans to use them again after this, though originally this was going to be a double episode.
Robin taking out the vamps was snark on my part. The original series spent so much time and energy in the kill and here comes my guest star who can kill them WITH HER MIND! Yeah, snark.
Again we have Willow and Tara performing the finale magical spell with another witch. This time it is Robin for 3 witches, before it was the Charmed ones for 5. We still have 7 as one of magical numbers to go. Plus a binding cast by three witches (“The power of three times three”) is very powerful.
The Witches Committee sent Robin after them, feeling that Willow and Tara were not going to do what they wanted. Again more doubt on their real agenda. Did they stop them thinking they were going to close the portal and that is what they wanted, or did they try to stop them thinking the girls were going to open it up and they didn’t want that.
The astute will notice a lot of things here that later made it into the Ghosts of Albion rules. Obviously the Battle Arcane (“Magical Duels”), magical dodges, philosophies got their start here, and the spell “Barrier Reduction Bolt”. This is also where the primary offensive spells “Azure Wave” and “Energy Dart” came from.
I brought in Amy, Beth and succubi, and really underused them all. I only had vauge stats for succubi since I didn’t see them as combat monsters. The pairing of Amy and Succubi pleased my Tara player who had once commented that Amy was probably half-succubus anyway.
The succubi were all named after various TV critics that claimed killing Tara was a good idea back in S6.
No. We were not bitter at all. For the record they were Amy, Wendy, Wanda and Kristen (the twins), Kitty and Candy. Sure not “demonic” names, but it worked. A prize if anyone can tell me who these people were.
The main feature of this episode was though the girls had come home, this was not the same place. Their friends were gone, the places they hung out were gone, even the supernatural creatures were all gone. And to top it all off the one thing new in their lives, the “mission”, followed them home and almost killed them. The Awakening was not waiting for them.
"Hanger 61" is an homage to this alternative bar I hung out at in the late 80s, "Hanger 9", which was an airplane hanger, and this dive goth bar "611" I was at in the early 90's.
The "massive dehydration" line was an in joke. Alyson Hannigan was doing an interview (for Jay Leno I think) years ago where she mentioned she had worked at a video store for a while. She talked about this customer who would come in and rent this stack of porn every morning and return them the next day for another stack. She said she always wondered why he wasn't dehydrated or something.
Up next: What is scarier than facing vampires, demons, hell gods and ancient timeless evils??
Having your parents over to dinner to properly meet your lesbian lover.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Season of the Witch: Episode 9 Teaser
Teaser for Episode 9: Web of Lies
Willow on a webcam, wearing only g-string and shear teddy and sitting on a bed: "Ever want to know all those dirty little secrets we keep here in Sunnydale? Ever wonder what we really do in those young wiccan meetings? Well Join me and my very naughty girlfriend (Tara crawls into the scene dressed similarly and begins to nuzzle Willow's neck) for our totally nasty, totally live web show tonight at midnight. I promise you it will be magic.
Join all of us, Young Amy (a very innocent girl joins them on the bed), we don't know how old she really is, but we do know she taught us a few things, and the nasty twins, Kristen and Wanda (two girls, twins, crawl on to the bed to join the other three). Join us tonight at the witching hour of midnight for the show. And leave the credit card in your wallets boys, this show is free!" (All the girls begin making out with each other). Willow stops in the middle of a three way kiss, "see you tonight."
Willow and Tara in their living room watching the action on the computer screen in utter horror.
A pause then Tara says "What the fu--!?"
--
CUT SCENE
A young woman gets off a bus. She is wearing a long heavy coat that seems out of date as well as too much for California. She has auburn hair that is tied up in elaborate pig tails and wears an unflatering pair of half-moon glasses. She walks away from the bus after conferring with a piece of paper in her hands. Her movements are not unnoticed as a solitary vampire begins to follow her. A nearly imperceptible signal and soon more gather.
The young woman, no more than a teenager really, moves forward, headless of her surroundings. She turns down an alley and the vampires close in.
"Not so fast little lady. Don't you know it isn't safe to walk the streets alone?" Laughs as she looks around only now seeing her mistake.
"I am afraid this will have to cost you. An' here we only have one price for everything." The vampire switches to game face. The woman squints at the vampire and says "Kyuuketsuki?" The lead vampire looks confused then suddenly bursts into flames. Soon the gathered crowd one by one bursts into flames. They scream and soon there is nothing left but ash.
Unaffected the young woman goes back to looking for her address.
Friday. Episode 9: Web of Lies.
Willow on a webcam, wearing only g-string and shear teddy and sitting on a bed: "Ever want to know all those dirty little secrets we keep here in Sunnydale? Ever wonder what we really do in those young wiccan meetings? Well Join me and my very naughty girlfriend (Tara crawls into the scene dressed similarly and begins to nuzzle Willow's neck) for our totally nasty, totally live web show tonight at midnight. I promise you it will be magic.
Join all of us, Young Amy (a very innocent girl joins them on the bed), we don't know how old she really is, but we do know she taught us a few things, and the nasty twins, Kristen and Wanda (two girls, twins, crawl on to the bed to join the other three). Join us tonight at the witching hour of midnight for the show. And leave the credit card in your wallets boys, this show is free!" (All the girls begin making out with each other). Willow stops in the middle of a three way kiss, "see you tonight."
Willow and Tara in their living room watching the action on the computer screen in utter horror.
A pause then Tara says "What the fu--!?"
--
CUT SCENE
A young woman gets off a bus. She is wearing a long heavy coat that seems out of date as well as too much for California. She has auburn hair that is tied up in elaborate pig tails and wears an unflatering pair of half-moon glasses. She walks away from the bus after conferring with a piece of paper in her hands. Her movements are not unnoticed as a solitary vampire begins to follow her. A nearly imperceptible signal and soon more gather.
The young woman, no more than a teenager really, moves forward, headless of her surroundings. She turns down an alley and the vampires close in.
"Not so fast little lady. Don't you know it isn't safe to walk the streets alone?" Laughs as she looks around only now seeing her mistake.
"I am afraid this will have to cost you. An' here we only have one price for everything." The vampire switches to game face. The woman squints at the vampire and says "Kyuuketsuki?" The lead vampire looks confused then suddenly bursts into flames. Soon the gathered crowd one by one bursts into flames. They scream and soon there is nothing left but ash.
Unaffected the young woman goes back to looking for her address.
Friday. Episode 9: Web of Lies.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Willow & Tara: Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition
Willow & Tara: Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition
I have been on a Mutants and Masterminds 3.0 kick of late. I like M&M and I love the new 3rd Edition game. So really it was only a matter of time before I tried out my favorite witches in the new system.
I have done Willow and Tara before for Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Ed. But my write-ups were straight conversions of Unisystem and that might not have worked as well as I thought. So with this I went back to who and what the characters are and stated them up from the ground up. I kept many of the same powers and skills, or at least tried to.
I set the girls at PL 10. I did PL 11 previously with 2nd ed and they ended up being really super-powered. Granted, that is fine for me, but I wanted to see what I could do with PL 10 and going by the book. Willow has more powers/spells under Witchcraft, but Tara still has her healing ability and minion in MKF II.
Given that this is for the 3rd edition version of M&M and I was working on a 3rd season for Willow and Tara called "Generation HEX" I am going to combine them together into one. Only fair really since Generation HEX's genesis was in my attempt to add more M&M and BESM style play to my games. In this case this Willow and Tara share a lot of the same history as the ones in my Unisystem games. It is 2011 and they are still together, celebrating 10 years as a couple.
Don't know if they are living in the same world as Justice, but I'd like to think so if I can figure out how, but they are certainly living in the same world with Tarot.
For the purposes of a game I would want them (or at least Tara) be teacher(s) at the local School for the Gifted. For M&M 2nd ed this would be Claremont Academy and I still like that idea.
Willow Rosenberg
PL 10
Strength 0, Stamina 1, Agility 0, Dexterity 0, Fighting 0, Intellect 6, Awareness 4, Presence 2
Advantages
Artificer, Attractive 2, Benefit, Wealth 3 (millionare), Equipment 1, Extraordinary Effort, Inspire, Languages 4, Occult Library, Ritualist, Skill Mastery (Expertise (Magic)), Teamwork, Well-informed
Skills
Expertise (Magic) 14 (+20), Expertise (Science) 12 (+18), Insight 4 (+8), Investigation 4 (+10), Perception 2 (+6), Persuasion 1 (+3), Ranged Combat (Arcane Blast: Blast 10) 1 (+1), Sleight of Hand 1 (+1), Technology 10 (+16), Treatment 8 (+14), Vehicles 1 (+1)
Powers
Magickal Senses: Senses 8 (magic, Awareness: Magical, Counters Illusion: Magical, Detect: Magical 2 (ranged), Postcognition (Limited): Touch, Radius: Magical; Affects Insubstantial 2 (full rank))
Telekinesis: Move Object 4 (mystic, 800 lbs.; Concentration)
Throw Object: Blast 2 (Alternate; magic, DC 17; Diminished Range)
Witchcraft: Magic 12 ([10 active, 30/38 PP, 3/r], DC 25; Affects Insubstantial 2 (full rank), Multiattack)
Arcane Blast: Blast 10 (Alternate; DC 25; Distracting, Noticeable (Light flare))
Astral Projection (Alternate; Activation: Move Action)
Computer Link: Other Communication 5 (Alternate; Sense Type: Computer Link; Linked (Remote Sensing: Remote Sensing 13))
Flight: Flight 10 (Alternate; Speed: 2000 miles/hour, 4 miles/round; Concentration)
Forget: Mind Control 1 (Alternate; mind, DC 11)
Glamour: Illusion 5 (Alternate; magic, Affects: All Sense Types, Area: 30 cft., DC 15)
Magic Sheild: Force Field 20 (Alternate; +20 Toughness)
Remote Sensing: Remote Sensing 13 (Alternate; Affects: 2 Types, inc. Visual - Vision and Hearing, Range: 30 miles; Linked (Magickal Senses: Senses 8) [4 extra ranks]; Concentration)
Telepathy: Mental Communication 5 (Alternate; Advantages: Extended distance with Willow; Distracting)
Teleport: Teleport 10 (Alternate; 4 miles in a move action, carrying 50 lbs.)
Veil: Concealment 10 (Alternate; All Senses)
Equipment
Ritual Tools 1, Cell Phone (Smartphone), Computer
Offense
Initiative +0
Arcane Blast: Blast 10, +1 (DC 25)
Forget: Mind Control 1 (DC Will 11)
Grab, +0 (DC Spec 10)
Telekinesis: Move Object 4, +0 (DC 14)
Throw, +0 (DC 15)
Throw Object: Blast 2, +0 (DC 17)
Unarmed, +0 (DC 15)
Witchcraft: Magic 12, +0 (DC 25)
Complications
Prejudice: Jewish Lesbian Wicca
Relationship: Tara
Languages
English, French, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Russian
Defense
Dodge 3, Parry 0, Fortitude 5, Toughness 1, Will 7
Power Points
Abilities 26 + Powers 65 + Advantages 20 + Skills 29 (58 ranks) + Defenses 10 = 150
Tara Maclay
PL 10
Strength 1, Stamina 1, Agility 0, Dexterity 0, Fighting 0, Intellect 3, Awareness 5, Presence 2
Advantages
Animal Empathy, Artificer, Attractive, Benefit, Wealth (well-off), Equipment 3, Extraordinary Effort, Inspire, Languages 4, Minion 2, Occult Library, Ritualist, Skill Mastery (Expertise (Magic)), Teamwork, Well-informed
Skills
Expertise (Horse Riding) 4 (+7), Expertise (Humanities) 8 (+11), Expertise (Magic) 10 (+13), Insight 8 (+13), Investigation 5 (+8), Perception 2 (+7), Persuasion 2 (+4), Ranged Combat (Arcane Blast: Blast 10) 2 (+2), Sleight of Hand 2 (+2), Technology 2 (+5), Treatment 8 (+11), Vehicles 1 (+1)
Powers
Magickal Senses: Senses 8 (magic, Awareness: Magical, Counters Illusion: Magical, Detect: Magical 2 (ranged), Postcognition (Limited): Touch, Radius: Magical; Affects Insubstantial 2 (full rank))
Mystic Healing: Healing 9 (Activation (move action), Limited (Touch only))
Telekinesis: Move Object 4 (mystic, 800 lbs.; Concentration)
Throw Object: Blast 2 (Alternate; magic, DC 17; Diminished Range)
Witchcraft: Magic 11 ([9 active, 27/35 PP, 3/r], DC 24; Affects Insubstantial 2 (full rank), Multiattack)
Arcane Blast: Blast 10 (Alternate; DC 25; Distracting, Noticeable (Light flare))
Astral Projection (Alternate; Activation: Move Action)
Flight: Flight 10 (Alternate; Speed: 2000 miles/hour, 4 miles/round; Concentration)
Glamour: Illusion 5 (Alternate; magic, Affects: All Sense Types, Area: 30 cft., DC 15)
Magic Sheild: Force Field 14 (Alternate; +14 Toughness)
Remote Sensing: Remote Sensing 12 (Alternate; Affects: 2 Types, inc. Visual - Vision and Hearing, Range: 16 miles; Linked (Magickal Senses: Senses 8) [4 extra ranks]; Concentration)
Telepathy: Mental Communication 5 (Alternate; Advantages: Extended distance with Willow; Distracting)
Teleport: Teleport 10 (Alternate; 4 miles in a move action, carrying 50 lbs.)
Equipment
Apartment, Athame 1, Car, Cell Phone (Smartphone), Computer
Offense
Initiative +0
Arcane Blast: Blast 10, +2 (DC 25)
Grab, +0 (DC Spec 11)
Telekinesis: Move Object 4, +0 (DC 14)
Throw, +0 (DC 16)
Throw Object: Blast 2, +0 (DC 17)
Unarmed, +0 (DC 16)
Witchcraft: Magic 11, +0 (DC 24)
Complications
Prejudice: Lesbian Wicca
Relationship: Willow
Languages
English, French, Gaelic, Greek, Japanese, Latin
Defense
Dodge 4, Parry 0, Fortitude 4, Toughness 1, Will 8
Power Points
Abilities 24 + Powers 67 + Advantages 22 + Skills 27 (54 ranks) + Defenses 10 = 150
Minion - Miss Kitty Fantastico II - PL 10
Strength 0, Stamina 0, Agility 2, Dexterity 2, Fighting 1, Intellect 1, Awareness 1, Presence 1
Skills
Athletics 2 (+2), Close Combat (????) 1 (+2), Deception 1 (+2), Insight 1 (+2), Perception 3 (+4), Stealth 4 (+6)
Powers
Fly: Flight 2 (Speed: 8 miles/hour, 120 feet/round; Wings) - MKF has wings that fold up on to her back and stay hidden unless she is using them.
Luck Control: Luck Control 1 (Negate Luck) - she is a black cat after all.
Mental Link: Mental Communication 1 (Sense Type: Telepathy; Limited (only with Willow and Tara))
Offense
Initiative +2
Grab, +1 (DC Spec 10)
Throw, +2 (DC 15)
Unarmed, +1 (DC 15)
Complications
Quirk: Lazy
Quirk: Curious
Languages
Cat, Telepathy
Defense
Dodge 2, Parry 1, Fortitude 0, Toughness 0, Will 1
Power Points
Abilities 16 + Powers 8 + Advantages 0 + Skills 6 (12 ranks) + Defenses 0 = 30
All in all I like them, but would like to hear what the experts have to say.
Tara gets the car (specially designed hybrid Subaru Outback), apartment and MKF II on her sheet to spread the points around. Willow is brilliant and the most power witch on the planet maybe, but she considers Tara to be just as potent. Both girls have Wealth, in my games Willow sold her software company, Red Witch, and remained on as their paid consultant. This gives her freedom to work when she wants and still have money. Red Witch makes the world best computer security systems; and all have a back door that only Willow knows how to access.
In my WitchCraft game, Tara has more Essence or magical energy than Willow does, not sure how replicate that here.
Note: That fantastic bit of art up there is from David Reynolds, one half of the brilliant ShadowGirls comic team.
I have been on a Mutants and Masterminds 3.0 kick of late. I like M&M and I love the new 3rd Edition game. So really it was only a matter of time before I tried out my favorite witches in the new system.
I have done Willow and Tara before for Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Ed. But my write-ups were straight conversions of Unisystem and that might not have worked as well as I thought. So with this I went back to who and what the characters are and stated them up from the ground up. I kept many of the same powers and skills, or at least tried to.
"Willow and Tara" by David Reynolds
I set the girls at PL 10. I did PL 11 previously with 2nd ed and they ended up being really super-powered. Granted, that is fine for me, but I wanted to see what I could do with PL 10 and going by the book. Willow has more powers/spells under Witchcraft, but Tara still has her healing ability and minion in MKF II.
Given that this is for the 3rd edition version of M&M and I was working on a 3rd season for Willow and Tara called "Generation HEX" I am going to combine them together into one. Only fair really since Generation HEX's genesis was in my attempt to add more M&M and BESM style play to my games. In this case this Willow and Tara share a lot of the same history as the ones in my Unisystem games. It is 2011 and they are still together, celebrating 10 years as a couple.
Don't know if they are living in the same world as Justice, but I'd like to think so if I can figure out how, but they are certainly living in the same world with Tarot.
For the purposes of a game I would want them (or at least Tara) be teacher(s) at the local School for the Gifted. For M&M 2nd ed this would be Claremont Academy and I still like that idea.
Willow Rosenberg
PL 10
Strength 0, Stamina 1, Agility 0, Dexterity 0, Fighting 0, Intellect 6, Awareness 4, Presence 2
Advantages
Artificer, Attractive 2, Benefit, Wealth 3 (millionare), Equipment 1, Extraordinary Effort, Inspire, Languages 4, Occult Library, Ritualist, Skill Mastery (Expertise (Magic)), Teamwork, Well-informed
Skills
Expertise (Magic) 14 (+20), Expertise (Science) 12 (+18), Insight 4 (+8), Investigation 4 (+10), Perception 2 (+6), Persuasion 1 (+3), Ranged Combat (Arcane Blast: Blast 10) 1 (+1), Sleight of Hand 1 (+1), Technology 10 (+16), Treatment 8 (+14), Vehicles 1 (+1)
Powers
Magickal Senses: Senses 8 (magic, Awareness: Magical, Counters Illusion: Magical, Detect: Magical 2 (ranged), Postcognition (Limited): Touch, Radius: Magical; Affects Insubstantial 2 (full rank))
Telekinesis: Move Object 4 (mystic, 800 lbs.; Concentration)
Throw Object: Blast 2 (Alternate; magic, DC 17; Diminished Range)
Witchcraft: Magic 12 ([10 active, 30/38 PP, 3/r], DC 25; Affects Insubstantial 2 (full rank), Multiattack)
Arcane Blast: Blast 10 (Alternate; DC 25; Distracting, Noticeable (Light flare))
Astral Projection (Alternate; Activation: Move Action)
Computer Link: Other Communication 5 (Alternate; Sense Type: Computer Link; Linked (Remote Sensing: Remote Sensing 13))
Flight: Flight 10 (Alternate; Speed: 2000 miles/hour, 4 miles/round; Concentration)
Forget: Mind Control 1 (Alternate; mind, DC 11)
Glamour: Illusion 5 (Alternate; magic, Affects: All Sense Types, Area: 30 cft., DC 15)
Magic Sheild: Force Field 20 (Alternate; +20 Toughness)
Remote Sensing: Remote Sensing 13 (Alternate; Affects: 2 Types, inc. Visual - Vision and Hearing, Range: 30 miles; Linked (Magickal Senses: Senses 8) [4 extra ranks]; Concentration)
Telepathy: Mental Communication 5 (Alternate; Advantages: Extended distance with Willow; Distracting)
Teleport: Teleport 10 (Alternate; 4 miles in a move action, carrying 50 lbs.)
Veil: Concealment 10 (Alternate; All Senses)
Equipment
Ritual Tools 1, Cell Phone (Smartphone), Computer
Offense
Initiative +0
Arcane Blast: Blast 10, +1 (DC 25)
Forget: Mind Control 1 (DC Will 11)
Grab, +0 (DC Spec 10)
Telekinesis: Move Object 4, +0 (DC 14)
Throw, +0 (DC 15)
Throw Object: Blast 2, +0 (DC 17)
Unarmed, +0 (DC 15)
Witchcraft: Magic 12, +0 (DC 25)
Complications
Prejudice: Jewish Lesbian Wicca
Relationship: Tara
Languages
English, French, Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Russian
Defense
Dodge 3, Parry 0, Fortitude 5, Toughness 1, Will 7
Power Points
Abilities 26 + Powers 65 + Advantages 20 + Skills 29 (58 ranks) + Defenses 10 = 150
Tara Maclay
PL 10
Strength 1, Stamina 1, Agility 0, Dexterity 0, Fighting 0, Intellect 3, Awareness 5, Presence 2
Advantages
Animal Empathy, Artificer, Attractive, Benefit, Wealth (well-off), Equipment 3, Extraordinary Effort, Inspire, Languages 4, Minion 2, Occult Library, Ritualist, Skill Mastery (Expertise (Magic)), Teamwork, Well-informed
Skills
Expertise (Horse Riding) 4 (+7), Expertise (Humanities) 8 (+11), Expertise (Magic) 10 (+13), Insight 8 (+13), Investigation 5 (+8), Perception 2 (+7), Persuasion 2 (+4), Ranged Combat (Arcane Blast: Blast 10) 2 (+2), Sleight of Hand 2 (+2), Technology 2 (+5), Treatment 8 (+11), Vehicles 1 (+1)
Powers
Magickal Senses: Senses 8 (magic, Awareness: Magical, Counters Illusion: Magical, Detect: Magical 2 (ranged), Postcognition (Limited): Touch, Radius: Magical; Affects Insubstantial 2 (full rank))
Mystic Healing: Healing 9 (Activation (move action), Limited (Touch only))
Telekinesis: Move Object 4 (mystic, 800 lbs.; Concentration)
Throw Object: Blast 2 (Alternate; magic, DC 17; Diminished Range)
Witchcraft: Magic 11 ([9 active, 27/35 PP, 3/r], DC 24; Affects Insubstantial 2 (full rank), Multiattack)
Arcane Blast: Blast 10 (Alternate; DC 25; Distracting, Noticeable (Light flare))
Astral Projection (Alternate; Activation: Move Action)
Flight: Flight 10 (Alternate; Speed: 2000 miles/hour, 4 miles/round; Concentration)
Glamour: Illusion 5 (Alternate; magic, Affects: All Sense Types, Area: 30 cft., DC 15)
Magic Sheild: Force Field 14 (Alternate; +14 Toughness)
Remote Sensing: Remote Sensing 12 (Alternate; Affects: 2 Types, inc. Visual - Vision and Hearing, Range: 16 miles; Linked (Magickal Senses: Senses 8) [4 extra ranks]; Concentration)
Telepathy: Mental Communication 5 (Alternate; Advantages: Extended distance with Willow; Distracting)
Teleport: Teleport 10 (Alternate; 4 miles in a move action, carrying 50 lbs.)
Equipment
Apartment, Athame 1, Car, Cell Phone (Smartphone), Computer
Offense
Initiative +0
Arcane Blast: Blast 10, +2 (DC 25)
Grab, +0 (DC Spec 11)
Telekinesis: Move Object 4, +0 (DC 14)
Throw, +0 (DC 16)
Throw Object: Blast 2, +0 (DC 17)
Unarmed, +0 (DC 16)
Witchcraft: Magic 11, +0 (DC 24)
Complications
Prejudice: Lesbian Wicca
Relationship: Willow
Languages
English, French, Gaelic, Greek, Japanese, Latin
Defense
Dodge 4, Parry 0, Fortitude 4, Toughness 1, Will 8
Power Points
Abilities 24 + Powers 67 + Advantages 22 + Skills 27 (54 ranks) + Defenses 10 = 150
Minion - Miss Kitty Fantastico II - PL 10
Strength 0, Stamina 0, Agility 2, Dexterity 2, Fighting 1, Intellect 1, Awareness 1, Presence 1
Skills
Athletics 2 (+2), Close Combat (????) 1 (+2), Deception 1 (+2), Insight 1 (+2), Perception 3 (+4), Stealth 4 (+6)
Powers
Fly: Flight 2 (Speed: 8 miles/hour, 120 feet/round; Wings) - MKF has wings that fold up on to her back and stay hidden unless she is using them.
Luck Control: Luck Control 1 (Negate Luck) - she is a black cat after all.
Mental Link: Mental Communication 1 (Sense Type: Telepathy; Limited (only with Willow and Tara))
Offense
Initiative +2
Grab, +1 (DC Spec 10)
Throw, +2 (DC 15)
Unarmed, +1 (DC 15)
Complications
Quirk: Lazy
Quirk: Curious
Languages
Cat, Telepathy
Defense
Dodge 2, Parry 1, Fortitude 0, Toughness 0, Will 1
Power Points
Abilities 16 + Powers 8 + Advantages 0 + Skills 6 (12 ranks) + Defenses 0 = 30
All in all I like them, but would like to hear what the experts have to say.
Tara gets the car (specially designed hybrid Subaru Outback), apartment and MKF II on her sheet to spread the points around. Willow is brilliant and the most power witch on the planet maybe, but she considers Tara to be just as potent. Both girls have Wealth, in my games Willow sold her software company, Red Witch, and remained on as their paid consultant. This gives her freedom to work when she wants and still have money. Red Witch makes the world best computer security systems; and all have a back door that only Willow knows how to access.
In my WitchCraft game, Tara has more Essence or magical energy than Willow does, not sure how replicate that here.
Note: That fantastic bit of art up there is from David Reynolds, one half of the brilliant ShadowGirls comic team.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Season of the Witch: Episode 8
Episode 8: Heart of Light
Winter 2005
Area 51
Cordelia voice over: Previously on “Willow & Tara: Season of the Witch”
The Thunderbird rolls into Roswell, NM.
Willow and Tara on the bed making out, Bob walks in.
Tara yelling at Bob, then following him outside.
Willow following Coyote out of the hotel room.
Tara panicking asking where Willow is, blows up the TV.
Scrying crystal landing on Area 51, Tara peels out in the Thunderbird and driving into the night.
Coyote turns into Oz.
Tara driving, but falling asleep. Bob yelling at her to wake up she crashes the Thunderbird into an invisible wall. See Tara bleeding and unconscious.
Coyote-in-Oz’s-form telling Willow “You are going to destroy the world and there is nothing you can do about it.”
Tara, Bob and Cordy in military custody. The base commander speaks to them. "Everyone knows what happened in Roswell New Mexico in 1947. But I am here to tell you ladies and gentlemen, that everyone is wrong."
While speaking pan to the hanging angel. Hear Cordy say “Oh. God. It’s Uriel.”
Roswell, 1947
Scene changes. Black and white, a man in uniform, an Air Force Captain, looks into a room were electrical charges can be seen reflecting on the wall along with sounds of electrical discharge and a high pitched screaming. He looks on in horror then turns away to a General examining some debris on the floor of the office. The material looks shiny, like flexible metal. There are the remains of a long sword, shattered and covered in runes.
“General! We can’t keep him here, this office is in no way equipped to deal with…with that!”
“I know son. That is why he is being transferred to a more secure facility.” Off the captain’s look. “No worries son, we have dealt with his kind before. Well maybe not exactly like his kind, but close enough.”
“Is he? Is… What is he?”
“He is a threat, a threat to the sovereignty of the United States of America. And we do not deal with threats, we eliminate them.” A pause. “This entire fiasco will covered up and forgotten. Is that understood?”
Snaps to attention. “Yes sir!” a pause. “But sir, what do we tell the press, they will be here shortly.”
The General looked over the silvery material on the ground, it was light and flexible like cloth, but nothing they had could even tear it a little. “Tell them.” Pause. “Tell them it was a weather balloon.”
Present Day
Lieutenant General Ashby informs them that this “monster” was shot down by the U.S. Air Force and that is what crashed in Roswell. The metal everyone thought was “Spaceship metal” was really his armor. The Lt. General takes them to their own cells and tells them not to worry, that a solution to the Supernatural Menace has been discovered and will be used shortly. The doors close on them. Bob cannot phase out and Cordy can’t orb out. But they have larger concerns. Tara has blacked out again and is muttering in Gaelic, more gaelic than she actually knows. Her tempature is spiking and Cordy guesses it must be at least 107. She has been trying to heal her, but her magic is not working due to the cell. Tara does come around and asks about the angel upstairs. Cordy (with the Director’s help) explains that he is Uriel and he has been missing for 60 years. A long time for humans, but for angels a blink of the eye. What is so important is that Uriel stands in front of the gates of Hell and keeps the demons from getting out. Since he has been missing the demons have been getting to Earth. Tara feels Willow is near, Cordy does not. Feeling stronger Tara uses her own heat to focus on the lock and melt it. They are able to leave their cell, but still can’t use magic. They manage to get up a level before being captured again. Ashby decides that some time in the common area with the other prisoners is what they need. So they are all locked up with various other supernatural monsters. We see demons of all sorts, a werewolf and other things. All the creatures approach them.
Willow has subdued her guards (Director Fiat, I just said she did it) and is walking around the facility. She sees the Lt. General, but not Tara. At this point Willow’s player asks if she can use magic to talk to the computer the system. There is no spell so I set a SL for her to hit and asked her to use an Int + Magic + Computers + d10 and treat it like a spell of PL 5 or 6 I think. She rolls, made it of course and communicates with the base main frame. This is the first use of her mage powers. The ability to make on the fly magical effects using a variety of skills. I let her do this one now, but another one, jumping up a few dozen feet with STR + Magic + Acrobatics I did not (even though that would have been the way to do it as a Mage. She is not all the way there yet.) She does discover that the government has a plan. They have created a virus that will kill all supernaturals, angels, demons, vampires, werewolves, and witches.
Willow finds Uriel, is mostly left alone, and manages to talk to him. She tells him she will free him. He agrees, but it won’t be now. Uriel tells her that he has been waiting for her for a very long time. She quips that is the Coyote only told her last night. Uriel warns her not to trust the Coyote, he doesn’t lie, but he hardly ever tells the whole truth. Willow tells Uriel that Coyote said she was going to destroy the world. Uriel stops and then says that may be the one time when Coyote has told the whole truth. Uriel tells Willow her path is before her, but she will not walk it alone, that her Anamchara is here, and she must find her and then they will free him. But like her, he has his love, and Willow must find her as well. Willow asks who it is and Uriel says Sherazza. He tells her there is a plan for them all to escape, they were waiting for the sign. The sign of course is the arrival of the Cast.
Back at the common cell, all the creatures are approaching Bob, Cordy and Tara. A female voice shouts stop and the creatures stop and look over their shoulders. Approaching is a tall, beautiful red skinned demoness, a Lilim. Her wings are tattered and she has obviously not been well treated, but she still has a commanding presence here. She looks at each cast member in turn. Growling at Cordy. She approaches Tara. She begins to sniff her, looking her all over. She places her clawed hands on Tara’s stomach and before Tara can say anything or react, the Lilim turns to the others and says “It is her! She has the Allaidh!” The other creatures roar in triumph. Finally asking what the hell is going on, the Lilim tells them that it had been foretold to them by the Seer that they would be freed by the one possessing the Allaidh. The demoness only smiles and says “Mother said you have questions. But I don’t have to answer them.” Mother of course is Lilith, and the Lilim tells them that they will honor the pact made by her sisters the Mormo and the one made by their mother. As long as she is here, there will be no harm to the cast. But the Lilim wants Tara to break them out now. Tara tries but she can’t do it like she did before.
Willow shows up, drawn to her Anamchara. Together the girls manage to melt the locks on the door (my players wanted to blow it up, but were talked out of it by Bob). The meet, the lilim touches Willow’s face and smiles, saying “Two? Two with the Allaidh? What engines of destruction you will become!” Willow gets ranty about no destroying anything. Tara tells her they have to go and get Uriel. Willow says they will once they rescue Sherazza. The lilim laughs and tells them they already have.
The Cast and the demons are running helter skelter through the base. Willow tells them about the virus, but the military is starting to open fire. Sherazza, flies into the crowd and begins to subdue, but not kill they notice, the airmen. The other demons do not show the same restraint.
Sherazza, goes to Uriel to free him, but she can’t. I now let Willow use a Strength + Magic + Kung-fu +d10 to rip the locks off. It works (but I give her a penalty to her magic rolls next, seeing right away that mages can be game breaking) and have her take some damage.
The rush to the room where the virus is kept to encounter Lt. General Ashby. Sherazza grabs the virus and a stand off begins.
For this I had Willow and Tara’s players take on the role of Uriel and Sharazza respectively and hit them with the Prisoner’s Dilemma. Ashby asks Sharezza for the virus, he has a gun pointing at her. He tells her he can shoot her and kill her, shoot the virus and kill them all (except him) or she can give it to him. It is the only sample. Ashby eludes to a supposed double cross where she was supposed to be freed only to betray Uriel. She denies this (I told Tara’s player it wasn’t true, but not Willow’s player). Basically then I gave both players a choice. Turn in themselves, or turn in their lover. If they turned in a lover and the other turned in themselves then that one would go back and the other would be free. So if Uriel turned in Sharezza and Sharezza turned in herself, then Ashby would shoot Sharezza dead and Uriel would go free. If they turned in each other, then Ashby shoots them both, if they turned in themselves, they went back to prison. Leave it to my Tara player to find the other option. She flies into Ashby, burning a drama point and kills him, but is killed herself.
Uriel seeing this weeps for his lost love and before “sterilizing” the base he teleports the Cast back to the Thunderbird. The cast watches as the base is destroyed. They are sure it is Uriel. Cordy “heals” the car (Whitelighter thing) and they drive on. It is late in the day now.
Willow tells Tara about Coyote. We end the episode with car driving on and entering California.
Notes: We are introduced now the fourth and last faction dealing with the Cast, the Government. Like S.A.V.E. their primary goal is to protect humanity. But of course unlike S.A.V.E. good old Uncle Sam adds, “by any means necessary”. Now one thing we didn’t want to do was paint the government as a one sided, one dimensional entity. In fact their cause is in fact noble. They just have their facts a little wrong and tend to be a bit paranoid. They make other appearances later, but mostly as a threat.
There are also other clues here to the girls oncoming mage powers. Tara blows up a TV is the obvious one, Willow talking to gods and super hacking are others, but the subtle one are the girls themselves. I told my players that they were much more amorous with each other. They ran with it and had them having sex at every chance. Which is fine, not what I had in mind 100%, but hey when life hands you hot girl-on-girl action….make lemonade and watch I guess. (????) Of course my players, who were involved in the in-world-myths, knew what was happening. This is the start of their powers growing. In game this was dubbed “Allaidh” (the “wilding” in Gaelic) by my Tara player. Sharezza makes note of it. Again another Charmed influence…the Seer is mentioned. I don’t say which one, the Charisma Carpenter or the Debi Morgan one. As much as I like Charisma Carpenter I am inclined to say it’s Debi Morgan. http://charmed.wikia.com/wiki/Seer
Ever wonder why in the 50’s we had some many UFO stories and then nothing. Then next thing you know, little bit by little bit we get flooded with tales of demons, vampires, and other supernatural baddies? Well that’s because we were being visited by angels more often then, we thought they were UFOs, and then the big bad ass angel that guards the gates to Hell and keep demons away was shot down by the U.S. Air Force. While he is in a cell for almost 60 years (not long enough for the side of Good to notice, but Evil sure did!) demons run amok. Buffy is busier than any other Slayer before, the Charmed Ones have more work to do than all the Warren Witches combined and we get thousands of supernatural themed TV shows. Of course it doesn’t help that the Veil is weakening.
One way or the other the fit is going to hit the shan.
The Uriel/Sharezza was going to play out differently. She was going to be redeemed and go to Heaven with Uriel. But we thought that that was not as interesting. Plus there is the issue of the government base. They needed to be weakened and only Uriel was strong enough to do that and he wouldn’t if he were all happy. But as the Angel of Vengeance, well that is different. Originally then Sharezza was going to be shot while they were making their escape, but I couldn’t let them get to the virus without Ashby being there. So there he was. I also was going to have him die from the virus, but that would imply he was also a supernatural, and I have seen that too many damn times in X-men, so I figure he was human with a gun that could kill supernaturals.
Another subtle nod to what will happen in the finale is here. Can you spot it? ;)
Next up… The girls are home and stars of their own X-Rated web show???
Plus the return of Amy and Beth.
Area 51
Cordelia voice over: Previously on “Willow & Tara: Season of the Witch”
The Thunderbird rolls into Roswell, NM.
Willow and Tara on the bed making out, Bob walks in.
Tara yelling at Bob, then following him outside.
Willow following Coyote out of the hotel room.
Tara panicking asking where Willow is, blows up the TV.
Scrying crystal landing on Area 51, Tara peels out in the Thunderbird and driving into the night.
Coyote turns into Oz.
Tara driving, but falling asleep. Bob yelling at her to wake up she crashes the Thunderbird into an invisible wall. See Tara bleeding and unconscious.
Coyote-in-Oz’s-form telling Willow “You are going to destroy the world and there is nothing you can do about it.”
Tara, Bob and Cordy in military custody. The base commander speaks to them. "Everyone knows what happened in Roswell New Mexico in 1947. But I am here to tell you ladies and gentlemen, that everyone is wrong."
While speaking pan to the hanging angel. Hear Cordy say “Oh. God. It’s Uriel.”
Roswell, 1947
Scene changes. Black and white, a man in uniform, an Air Force Captain, looks into a room were electrical charges can be seen reflecting on the wall along with sounds of electrical discharge and a high pitched screaming. He looks on in horror then turns away to a General examining some debris on the floor of the office. The material looks shiny, like flexible metal. There are the remains of a long sword, shattered and covered in runes.
“General! We can’t keep him here, this office is in no way equipped to deal with…with that!”
“I know son. That is why he is being transferred to a more secure facility.” Off the captain’s look. “No worries son, we have dealt with his kind before. Well maybe not exactly like his kind, but close enough.”
“Is he? Is… What is he?”
“He is a threat, a threat to the sovereignty of the United States of America. And we do not deal with threats, we eliminate them.” A pause. “This entire fiasco will covered up and forgotten. Is that understood?”
Snaps to attention. “Yes sir!” a pause. “But sir, what do we tell the press, they will be here shortly.”
The General looked over the silvery material on the ground, it was light and flexible like cloth, but nothing they had could even tear it a little. “Tell them.” Pause. “Tell them it was a weather balloon.”
Present Day
Lieutenant General Ashby informs them that this “monster” was shot down by the U.S. Air Force and that is what crashed in Roswell. The metal everyone thought was “Spaceship metal” was really his armor. The Lt. General takes them to their own cells and tells them not to worry, that a solution to the Supernatural Menace has been discovered and will be used shortly. The doors close on them. Bob cannot phase out and Cordy can’t orb out. But they have larger concerns. Tara has blacked out again and is muttering in Gaelic, more gaelic than she actually knows. Her tempature is spiking and Cordy guesses it must be at least 107. She has been trying to heal her, but her magic is not working due to the cell. Tara does come around and asks about the angel upstairs. Cordy (with the Director’s help) explains that he is Uriel and he has been missing for 60 years. A long time for humans, but for angels a blink of the eye. What is so important is that Uriel stands in front of the gates of Hell and keeps the demons from getting out. Since he has been missing the demons have been getting to Earth. Tara feels Willow is near, Cordy does not. Feeling stronger Tara uses her own heat to focus on the lock and melt it. They are able to leave their cell, but still can’t use magic. They manage to get up a level before being captured again. Ashby decides that some time in the common area with the other prisoners is what they need. So they are all locked up with various other supernatural monsters. We see demons of all sorts, a werewolf and other things. All the creatures approach them.
Willow has subdued her guards (Director Fiat, I just said she did it) and is walking around the facility. She sees the Lt. General, but not Tara. At this point Willow’s player asks if she can use magic to talk to the computer the system. There is no spell so I set a SL for her to hit and asked her to use an Int + Magic + Computers + d10 and treat it like a spell of PL 5 or 6 I think. She rolls, made it of course and communicates with the base main frame. This is the first use of her mage powers. The ability to make on the fly magical effects using a variety of skills. I let her do this one now, but another one, jumping up a few dozen feet with STR + Magic + Acrobatics I did not (even though that would have been the way to do it as a Mage. She is not all the way there yet.) She does discover that the government has a plan. They have created a virus that will kill all supernaturals, angels, demons, vampires, werewolves, and witches.
Willow finds Uriel, is mostly left alone, and manages to talk to him. She tells him she will free him. He agrees, but it won’t be now. Uriel tells her that he has been waiting for her for a very long time. She quips that is the Coyote only told her last night. Uriel warns her not to trust the Coyote, he doesn’t lie, but he hardly ever tells the whole truth. Willow tells Uriel that Coyote said she was going to destroy the world. Uriel stops and then says that may be the one time when Coyote has told the whole truth. Uriel tells Willow her path is before her, but she will not walk it alone, that her Anamchara is here, and she must find her and then they will free him. But like her, he has his love, and Willow must find her as well. Willow asks who it is and Uriel says Sherazza. He tells her there is a plan for them all to escape, they were waiting for the sign. The sign of course is the arrival of the Cast.
Back at the common cell, all the creatures are approaching Bob, Cordy and Tara. A female voice shouts stop and the creatures stop and look over their shoulders. Approaching is a tall, beautiful red skinned demoness, a Lilim. Her wings are tattered and she has obviously not been well treated, but she still has a commanding presence here. She looks at each cast member in turn. Growling at Cordy. She approaches Tara. She begins to sniff her, looking her all over. She places her clawed hands on Tara’s stomach and before Tara can say anything or react, the Lilim turns to the others and says “It is her! She has the Allaidh!” The other creatures roar in triumph. Finally asking what the hell is going on, the Lilim tells them that it had been foretold to them by the Seer that they would be freed by the one possessing the Allaidh. The demoness only smiles and says “Mother said you have questions. But I don’t have to answer them.” Mother of course is Lilith, and the Lilim tells them that they will honor the pact made by her sisters the Mormo and the one made by their mother. As long as she is here, there will be no harm to the cast. But the Lilim wants Tara to break them out now. Tara tries but she can’t do it like she did before.
Willow shows up, drawn to her Anamchara. Together the girls manage to melt the locks on the door (my players wanted to blow it up, but were talked out of it by Bob). The meet, the lilim touches Willow’s face and smiles, saying “Two? Two with the Allaidh? What engines of destruction you will become!” Willow gets ranty about no destroying anything. Tara tells her they have to go and get Uriel. Willow says they will once they rescue Sherazza. The lilim laughs and tells them they already have.
The Cast and the demons are running helter skelter through the base. Willow tells them about the virus, but the military is starting to open fire. Sherazza, flies into the crowd and begins to subdue, but not kill they notice, the airmen. The other demons do not show the same restraint.
Sherazza, goes to Uriel to free him, but she can’t. I now let Willow use a Strength + Magic + Kung-fu +d10 to rip the locks off. It works (but I give her a penalty to her magic rolls next, seeing right away that mages can be game breaking) and have her take some damage.
The rush to the room where the virus is kept to encounter Lt. General Ashby. Sherazza grabs the virus and a stand off begins.
For this I had Willow and Tara’s players take on the role of Uriel and Sharazza respectively and hit them with the Prisoner’s Dilemma. Ashby asks Sharezza for the virus, he has a gun pointing at her. He tells her he can shoot her and kill her, shoot the virus and kill them all (except him) or she can give it to him. It is the only sample. Ashby eludes to a supposed double cross where she was supposed to be freed only to betray Uriel. She denies this (I told Tara’s player it wasn’t true, but not Willow’s player). Basically then I gave both players a choice. Turn in themselves, or turn in their lover. If they turned in a lover and the other turned in themselves then that one would go back and the other would be free. So if Uriel turned in Sharezza and Sharezza turned in herself, then Ashby would shoot Sharezza dead and Uriel would go free. If they turned in each other, then Ashby shoots them both, if they turned in themselves, they went back to prison. Leave it to my Tara player to find the other option. She flies into Ashby, burning a drama point and kills him, but is killed herself.
Uriel seeing this weeps for his lost love and before “sterilizing” the base he teleports the Cast back to the Thunderbird. The cast watches as the base is destroyed. They are sure it is Uriel. Cordy “heals” the car (Whitelighter thing) and they drive on. It is late in the day now.
Willow tells Tara about Coyote. We end the episode with car driving on and entering California.
Notes: We are introduced now the fourth and last faction dealing with the Cast, the Government. Like S.A.V.E. their primary goal is to protect humanity. But of course unlike S.A.V.E. good old Uncle Sam adds, “by any means necessary”. Now one thing we didn’t want to do was paint the government as a one sided, one dimensional entity. In fact their cause is in fact noble. They just have their facts a little wrong and tend to be a bit paranoid. They make other appearances later, but mostly as a threat.
There are also other clues here to the girls oncoming mage powers. Tara blows up a TV is the obvious one, Willow talking to gods and super hacking are others, but the subtle one are the girls themselves. I told my players that they were much more amorous with each other. They ran with it and had them having sex at every chance. Which is fine, not what I had in mind 100%, but hey when life hands you hot girl-on-girl action….make lemonade and watch I guess. (????) Of course my players, who were involved in the in-world-myths, knew what was happening. This is the start of their powers growing. In game this was dubbed “Allaidh” (the “wilding” in Gaelic) by my Tara player. Sharezza makes note of it. Again another Charmed influence…the Seer is mentioned. I don’t say which one, the Charisma Carpenter or the Debi Morgan one. As much as I like Charisma Carpenter I am inclined to say it’s Debi Morgan. http://charmed.wikia.com/wiki/Seer
Ever wonder why in the 50’s we had some many UFO stories and then nothing. Then next thing you know, little bit by little bit we get flooded with tales of demons, vampires, and other supernatural baddies? Well that’s because we were being visited by angels more often then, we thought they were UFOs, and then the big bad ass angel that guards the gates to Hell and keep demons away was shot down by the U.S. Air Force. While he is in a cell for almost 60 years (not long enough for the side of Good to notice, but Evil sure did!) demons run amok. Buffy is busier than any other Slayer before, the Charmed Ones have more work to do than all the Warren Witches combined and we get thousands of supernatural themed TV shows. Of course it doesn’t help that the Veil is weakening.
One way or the other the fit is going to hit the shan.
The Uriel/Sharezza was going to play out differently. She was going to be redeemed and go to Heaven with Uriel. But we thought that that was not as interesting. Plus there is the issue of the government base. They needed to be weakened and only Uriel was strong enough to do that and he wouldn’t if he were all happy. But as the Angel of Vengeance, well that is different. Originally then Sharezza was going to be shot while they were making their escape, but I couldn’t let them get to the virus without Ashby being there. So there he was. I also was going to have him die from the virus, but that would imply he was also a supernatural, and I have seen that too many damn times in X-men, so I figure he was human with a gun that could kill supernaturals.
Another subtle nod to what will happen in the finale is here. Can you spot it? ;)
Next up… The girls are home and stars of their own X-Rated web show???
Plus the return of Amy and Beth.
Friday, February 25, 2011
Season of the Witch: Episode 7
Episode 7: Desert Rose
Winter 2005
Roswell, NM
The Cast rolls into Roswell, NM. They decide to stay and check out the cheesy tourist traps and even get a “tUFO” Burger (made of Tofu). Bob complains that this is distracting them from the mission, Tara reminds him they are not on a mission but a vacation. A couple of times during the day Willow notices a coyote, first in the road (no surprise) but then again at the restaurant.
They check into a local motel (“where all the aliens visiting our galaxy stop!”) and proceed to get down to some very hot and heavy sex. Hot being the operative word, since the air is out. Bob materializes in the room interrupting Tara’s demonstrating what she can do with that mouth other than sing. Tara blows up and begins yelling at Bob. He leaves, she feels bad and goes to follow him.
Willow, the moment now gone, decides to get her clothes back on when she sees the coyote in her room. Scared at first she watches as the coyote grabs her new boots and runs out the door. Willow chases after it.
Tara returns with Bob in tow. He feels bad and agrees not to do that again (his player though is less enthused!) then they notice Willow is gone. Nothing has been moved and there is no struggle. A quick search shows nothing. Tara calls on Cordy, who takes a long time to respond. She says something is up with this place. Like it is in some metaphysical fog. She also asks Tara why her body temperature is so high. Tara asks Cordy to find Willow. She tries for a bit and says that see can’t find her anywhere. It is like she has been removed from this plane. Tara freaks, Cordy says to try scrying, see if that helps. Tara scrys and nothing comes up. She gets angry at Cordy for not finding her and Bob for making her run out, she waves her arm and the TV in the room catches fire. Tara runs to get the fire extinguisher to put it out. Cordy asks her what the hell is going on and Tara can’t explain it. In fact the only difference she has noticed with herself is she has been more excited than usual, and in the carnal way.
Tara tries to scry again, this time the crystal lands on Area 51, some 900 miles away. Tara asks Cordy to orb them all there. She can’t. She doesn’t know why herself, but the area is off limits to supernaturals, and Angels and Whitelighters are forbidden to go there. Tara tells her fine. She will go by herself then. She packs up the car and gets ready to drive out there with Bob protesting all the way. He tells here how it is the most heavily guarded military base there is and there is no way she could get in. Tara says that is they are holding Willow then that is the only thing that might stop her, but she doubted it. Slamming the car into drive she heads out into the night.
Willow meanwhile is still following the coyote. She either lost track of her steps and of time cause she finds herself in the middle of the desert. The coyote stops, drops her boots and then gets up on its hind legs and shifts (but not shape shifts) into Oz (complete with clothes). Willow tells it that she knows he is not Oz. Coyote tells her he took a shape she would trust and he admitted, he thought Oz was cool. He says he is only borrowing this visage. Willow asks if that means Oz is dead. Coyote does not answer that. She asks him what he wants. He tells her, ”you.”
Tara is still driving, but her adrenaline is now running out and she is falling asleep at the wheel. Bob tries to keep her awake, but even though he can touch her (she is magic) he is having trouble. Something about the desert is effecting him. At this point to stay awake I have the two players both tell me stories about Tara and Bob as they see them. They story is one of when Tara was in an equestrian contest and she wanted to ride a horse that was much too spirited for her (she was 7 or 8). She rode the horse anyway and did well, but soon lost control and was thrown and hit her head. She talked about how bad she felt because she lost, and Bob talked about how he sat with her night after night until she regained consciousness. This is an expanded version of a brief outline I had given both Bob and Tara’s players back in Episode 2. I gave them quite a few extra drama points for this. They continued driving until Tara finally did fall asleep at the wheel. Bob tried to wake her but the car smashed into an invisible barrier around the base. Tara hit the steering wheel hard and was knocked out. Bob was even thrown out of the car due to the magical nature of the barrier. We cut to a scene of Tara falling out of the car, bleeding from several deep cuts on her head.
Willow instantly feels the pain and wants to go back to Tara. Coyote says she can’t, not yet, because there are still things she needs to learn. Coyote explains that the world is about to change. It changes all the time, but this time will be big, maybe too big. He tells Willow she is the agent for change and that she is destruction. Willow denies this saying that future won’t happen now, Leviathan won’t enter this realm. Coyote says Leviathan was only the blunt tool of change, it was always Willow that was going to change it. He tells her that whether it was Leviathan or the time after Tara was killed, she was destined to destroy the world. She argues saying no, that won’t happen, besides she has Tara and every reason to remain in the world. Coyote just laughs. He says “Like it or not Willow Rosenberg. You will destroy the world and There. Is. Nothing. You. Can. Do. About it!”
Bob has gotten to Tara, who is in really bad shape. He calls for Cordy, but she has trouble orbing in. Bob, desperate, uses some of Tara’s own blood and calls for Cordy. She materializes, though it is obviously painful. (Player asked if in Bob’s past he would have seen “blood magic”). Cordy tries to heal Tara, but it is taking longer than it should. She doesn’t know if it is because of all the magical interference or something else. She says it is almost like Tara is not a witch anymore. They get her stabilized only to have a group of soldiers surround all three of them. They are arrested and taken to the base.
Willow is still arguing with Coyote. He tells her not to feel bad, he is also an agent of change and change is good. He asks her if she has even noticed the changes within herself over the last few days. She says nothing. But finally she asks, if she is change, what is Tara? Coyote only says, that is something she will need to find out. She tells Coyote she wants to see Tara now. He pauses and finally says, “ok. Just go over that ridge, there will be people expecting you.” Willow walks on and Coyote has shifted back to a coyote. She gets to the ridge and sees the base of Area 51. There are soldiers there who seem surprised she snuck up on them. They arrest her as well.
Tara, Bob and Cordy are all handcuffed (yes even the ghost) and lead into the base. The base CO, a Lieutenant General Ashby. He laughs at them, saying he has been expecting them for some time since they fouled up their Bureau business last year. He looks at Bob and says to him a Marine should know better than to drag his little girl into a fight that will get her killed. But he laughs anyway and says they might as well come on down and see what it is they came all this way to see since they were never going to leave this base ever again. The Lt. General goes on about Roswell and how everyone knows what happened in Roswell and how there are thousands of conspiracy nuts out there spreading this tale in sixteen thousand different ways. He stops and laughs, and says “do you know how much money a snow job like that would cost Uncle Sam? And I got every idiot Fox Mulder-wannabe with a camera and a website keeping my secrets for me.” He goes on.
“Everyone knows what happened in Roswell New Mexico in 1947. But I am here to tell you ladies and gentlemen, that everyone is wrong.”
He flips the switch for lights and bunch of high watt halogen-lamps fire up to show a holding area with one prisoner. He is trapped, spread out like a butterfly in an insect collection. His skin is bruised and his long wings are tattered and torn. Once they must have been magnificent and white as snow.
Tara gasps. Bob says “dear lord”. Finally Cordy says “Oh God! It’s Uriel.”
To Be Continued…
(Notes after I post Episode 8: Heart of Light)
Winter 2005
Roswell, NM
The Cast rolls into Roswell, NM. They decide to stay and check out the cheesy tourist traps and even get a “tUFO” Burger (made of Tofu). Bob complains that this is distracting them from the mission, Tara reminds him they are not on a mission but a vacation. A couple of times during the day Willow notices a coyote, first in the road (no surprise) but then again at the restaurant.
They check into a local motel (“where all the aliens visiting our galaxy stop!”) and proceed to get down to some very hot and heavy sex. Hot being the operative word, since the air is out. Bob materializes in the room interrupting Tara’s demonstrating what she can do with that mouth other than sing. Tara blows up and begins yelling at Bob. He leaves, she feels bad and goes to follow him.
Willow, the moment now gone, decides to get her clothes back on when she sees the coyote in her room. Scared at first she watches as the coyote grabs her new boots and runs out the door. Willow chases after it.
Tara returns with Bob in tow. He feels bad and agrees not to do that again (his player though is less enthused!) then they notice Willow is gone. Nothing has been moved and there is no struggle. A quick search shows nothing. Tara calls on Cordy, who takes a long time to respond. She says something is up with this place. Like it is in some metaphysical fog. She also asks Tara why her body temperature is so high. Tara asks Cordy to find Willow. She tries for a bit and says that see can’t find her anywhere. It is like she has been removed from this plane. Tara freaks, Cordy says to try scrying, see if that helps. Tara scrys and nothing comes up. She gets angry at Cordy for not finding her and Bob for making her run out, she waves her arm and the TV in the room catches fire. Tara runs to get the fire extinguisher to put it out. Cordy asks her what the hell is going on and Tara can’t explain it. In fact the only difference she has noticed with herself is she has been more excited than usual, and in the carnal way.
Tara tries to scry again, this time the crystal lands on Area 51, some 900 miles away. Tara asks Cordy to orb them all there. She can’t. She doesn’t know why herself, but the area is off limits to supernaturals, and Angels and Whitelighters are forbidden to go there. Tara tells her fine. She will go by herself then. She packs up the car and gets ready to drive out there with Bob protesting all the way. He tells here how it is the most heavily guarded military base there is and there is no way she could get in. Tara says that is they are holding Willow then that is the only thing that might stop her, but she doubted it. Slamming the car into drive she heads out into the night.
Willow meanwhile is still following the coyote. She either lost track of her steps and of time cause she finds herself in the middle of the desert. The coyote stops, drops her boots and then gets up on its hind legs and shifts (but not shape shifts) into Oz (complete with clothes). Willow tells it that she knows he is not Oz. Coyote tells her he took a shape she would trust and he admitted, he thought Oz was cool. He says he is only borrowing this visage. Willow asks if that means Oz is dead. Coyote does not answer that. She asks him what he wants. He tells her, ”you.”
Tara is still driving, but her adrenaline is now running out and she is falling asleep at the wheel. Bob tries to keep her awake, but even though he can touch her (she is magic) he is having trouble. Something about the desert is effecting him. At this point to stay awake I have the two players both tell me stories about Tara and Bob as they see them. They story is one of when Tara was in an equestrian contest and she wanted to ride a horse that was much too spirited for her (she was 7 or 8). She rode the horse anyway and did well, but soon lost control and was thrown and hit her head. She talked about how bad she felt because she lost, and Bob talked about how he sat with her night after night until she regained consciousness. This is an expanded version of a brief outline I had given both Bob and Tara’s players back in Episode 2. I gave them quite a few extra drama points for this. They continued driving until Tara finally did fall asleep at the wheel. Bob tried to wake her but the car smashed into an invisible barrier around the base. Tara hit the steering wheel hard and was knocked out. Bob was even thrown out of the car due to the magical nature of the barrier. We cut to a scene of Tara falling out of the car, bleeding from several deep cuts on her head.
Willow instantly feels the pain and wants to go back to Tara. Coyote says she can’t, not yet, because there are still things she needs to learn. Coyote explains that the world is about to change. It changes all the time, but this time will be big, maybe too big. He tells Willow she is the agent for change and that she is destruction. Willow denies this saying that future won’t happen now, Leviathan won’t enter this realm. Coyote says Leviathan was only the blunt tool of change, it was always Willow that was going to change it. He tells her that whether it was Leviathan or the time after Tara was killed, she was destined to destroy the world. She argues saying no, that won’t happen, besides she has Tara and every reason to remain in the world. Coyote just laughs. He says “Like it or not Willow Rosenberg. You will destroy the world and There. Is. Nothing. You. Can. Do. About it!”
Bob has gotten to Tara, who is in really bad shape. He calls for Cordy, but she has trouble orbing in. Bob, desperate, uses some of Tara’s own blood and calls for Cordy. She materializes, though it is obviously painful. (Player asked if in Bob’s past he would have seen “blood magic”). Cordy tries to heal Tara, but it is taking longer than it should. She doesn’t know if it is because of all the magical interference or something else. She says it is almost like Tara is not a witch anymore. They get her stabilized only to have a group of soldiers surround all three of them. They are arrested and taken to the base.
Willow is still arguing with Coyote. He tells her not to feel bad, he is also an agent of change and change is good. He asks her if she has even noticed the changes within herself over the last few days. She says nothing. But finally she asks, if she is change, what is Tara? Coyote only says, that is something she will need to find out. She tells Coyote she wants to see Tara now. He pauses and finally says, “ok. Just go over that ridge, there will be people expecting you.” Willow walks on and Coyote has shifted back to a coyote. She gets to the ridge and sees the base of Area 51. There are soldiers there who seem surprised she snuck up on them. They arrest her as well.
Tara, Bob and Cordy are all handcuffed (yes even the ghost) and lead into the base. The base CO, a Lieutenant General Ashby. He laughs at them, saying he has been expecting them for some time since they fouled up their Bureau business last year. He looks at Bob and says to him a Marine should know better than to drag his little girl into a fight that will get her killed. But he laughs anyway and says they might as well come on down and see what it is they came all this way to see since they were never going to leave this base ever again. The Lt. General goes on about Roswell and how everyone knows what happened in Roswell and how there are thousands of conspiracy nuts out there spreading this tale in sixteen thousand different ways. He stops and laughs, and says “do you know how much money a snow job like that would cost Uncle Sam? And I got every idiot Fox Mulder-wannabe with a camera and a website keeping my secrets for me.” He goes on.
“Everyone knows what happened in Roswell New Mexico in 1947. But I am here to tell you ladies and gentlemen, that everyone is wrong.”
He flips the switch for lights and bunch of high watt halogen-lamps fire up to show a holding area with one prisoner. He is trapped, spread out like a butterfly in an insect collection. His skin is bruised and his long wings are tattered and torn. Once they must have been magnificent and white as snow.
Tara gasps. Bob says “dear lord”. Finally Cordy says “Oh God! It’s Uriel.”
To Be Continued…
(Notes after I post Episode 8: Heart of Light)
Friday, February 18, 2011
Season of the Witch: Episode 6
Episode 6: Deep in the Heart
Fall 2004
San Antonio, Texas.
Willow and Tara encounter a young Native-American woman (Lisa) possessed by the ghost of dead shaman. The ghost, a buu-kha, is stronger than other ghosts they have encountered before. It can effect physical objects and normal people. Magical people and the Iquanni can see it.
The girls attack it, but magic only makes it stronger. They scry for it (more Charmed influences) and finally learn that they can trap it in a “soul jar”.
The Iquanni do not trust the cast and they do not want to help Lisa.
Finally they get a soul jar, Willow and Tara perform the ritual and Bob fights the buu-kha.
They trap the ghost, but the damage to Lisa’s soul was too much and she dies.
NOTES: This was a fast one. This adventure was actually the first one written for the old “Road Stories” season and it does have a different feel than some of the others. DitH was also written by my friend Kirk Baldridge, who is not a gamer but a writer. He has credits in “Slayer’s Handbook”, “Magic Box” and “Ghosts of Albion” as a playtester and was instrumental in “The Dragon and the Phoenix”.
Deep in the Heart is more Willow focused, even if it is less “arc” focused. The Buu-kha is a new creature that later gave me ideas for Oblis in Ghosts. The Iquanni are a made up tribe, so we didn’t have to worry about making mistakes about a real native American tribe and allowed us some freedom.
As per other adventures I stole from a lot of books. This one had some White Wolf new World of Darkness stuff in it, or least the little I could learn from the web at the time. I also used some GURPS (as I had in “Under a Cajun Moon”) but GURPS has no soul and there was very little I could grab there in terms of style. GURPS Horror though was a good read for this.
Lisa does die in the end. Now it is well known I don’t like to kill characters, including NPCs. But this is dangerous stuff and Kirk wanted the players to be reminded that there are innocents out there and they can get hurt. Lisa was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There are some nice scenes here though. Willow and Tara buy cowboy hats and boots. We did a quick mention about Dark Magic and that was it.
Next Time: Everyone knows what happened in Roswell New Mexico.
Everyone is wrong.
Fall 2004
San Antonio, Texas.
Willow and Tara encounter a young Native-American woman (Lisa) possessed by the ghost of dead shaman. The ghost, a buu-kha, is stronger than other ghosts they have encountered before. It can effect physical objects and normal people. Magical people and the Iquanni can see it.
The girls attack it, but magic only makes it stronger. They scry for it (more Charmed influences) and finally learn that they can trap it in a “soul jar”.
The Iquanni do not trust the cast and they do not want to help Lisa.
Finally they get a soul jar, Willow and Tara perform the ritual and Bob fights the buu-kha.
They trap the ghost, but the damage to Lisa’s soul was too much and she dies.
NOTES: This was a fast one. This adventure was actually the first one written for the old “Road Stories” season and it does have a different feel than some of the others. DitH was also written by my friend Kirk Baldridge, who is not a gamer but a writer. He has credits in “Slayer’s Handbook”, “Magic Box” and “Ghosts of Albion” as a playtester and was instrumental in “The Dragon and the Phoenix”.
Deep in the Heart is more Willow focused, even if it is less “arc” focused. The Buu-kha is a new creature that later gave me ideas for Oblis in Ghosts. The Iquanni are a made up tribe, so we didn’t have to worry about making mistakes about a real native American tribe and allowed us some freedom.
As per other adventures I stole from a lot of books. This one had some White Wolf new World of Darkness stuff in it, or least the little I could learn from the web at the time. I also used some GURPS (as I had in “Under a Cajun Moon”) but GURPS has no soul and there was very little I could grab there in terms of style. GURPS Horror though was a good read for this.
Lisa does die in the end. Now it is well known I don’t like to kill characters, including NPCs. But this is dangerous stuff and Kirk wanted the players to be reminded that there are innocents out there and they can get hurt. Lisa was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There are some nice scenes here though. Willow and Tara buy cowboy hats and boots. We did a quick mention about Dark Magic and that was it.
Next Time: Everyone knows what happened in Roswell New Mexico.
Everyone is wrong.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Season of the Witch: Episode 5
Episode 5: Veteran of the Psychic Wars
Fall 2004
Texas.
The girls are driving from NOLA and end up in Southern Texas. They get a phone call from Faith (much to their surprise). She mentions she talked to Dawn and heard they were “in the neighborhood” and gave them directions to where she and a friend was. The go to the place Faith tells them about (a little out of their way) and the meet Faith (remember, this is AU Faith, the Faith of this world died in prison when the Knights of Eolhim attacked her) they also meet an older man, Nigel. Nigel recognizes Tara, whom he accidentally calls “Megan”. Bob recognizes him and Nigel can see Bob.
Nigel and Faith are here hunting Bigfoots. Bob does not trust Nigel and indeed, Nigel seem more interested in Willow and especially Tara than he does in Bigfoot hunting.
Faith is excited to see old friends and to be out of the demon hunting biz. She claims that she was approached by Nigel last year and he works for “The Hoffman Institute”. Bob knows the organization, a group of cryptid hunters.
Slowly it is revealed, mostly from Nigel himself that, that there is more history between Nigel, Bob and Megan than Bob has let on. During an argument between Bob and Nigel, Nigel reveals that he had slept with Megan (something Bob knew) and that the timing was right that Tara might his daughter and not Bob’s. This fun filled family moment is broken up by an attack on their camp by Bigfoot.
The creature is driven off and the cast discover that Nigel hunting Bigfoots is actually a ruse. Even Faith was fooled. Nigel is still working for S.A.V.E. and they are interested in Willow and Tara. In fact they have a rather large file on them and even know that Tara had died and her “sister” Kara never existed. Everyone is angry. But Nigel points out that while his methods were bad, he is really the good guy, he even asks Bob to vouch for him and his mission. S.A.V.E. also knows about The Awakening and wants to make sure that whatever happens that the population of normal humans are safe.
Though now they have a giant cryptid on their hands and Tara’s empathy tells them that the creature is afraid and being hunted by other hunters. The Cast decides to forget Nigel for a bit and instead focus on the Bigfoot. They find it with hunters on its heels. Willow and Tara cast a masking spell on it so it can get back to its home in the swamps unnoticed.
Nigel apologizes for his ruse and says the offer to join S.A.V.E. will always be open to them. He ask Faith to go with him to the Pacific Northwest where he has been told some strange occurrences are going on. She agrees and they all part.
Tara tells Bob that it doesn’t matter what Nigel told her, her father was the man that sat by her bed when she was sick and the one that taught her to ride a horse and drove her all her equestrian events. Packing up, they drive to Central Texas to get back onto course.
NOTES: Not everything in an adventure works. This one is a good example. I had higher hopes for this one. I had been reading a bunch of “Conspiracy” games at this point (DarkMatter, ConX, Delta Green) and I wanted to pull in material from all of them. I was also playtesting the new version of Chill. Well things just never clicked. I tried to merge various elements of all these games (the Hoffman Institute was from DarkMatter) but the problem was not the contradictions but the similarities. While I had not quite given up at this point, this did lay the seeds for me that WitchCraft/Buffy is fairly incompatible with Conspiracy X or DarkMatter.
I brought back S.A.V.E. since I was playtesting Chill 3.0 at the time, which led to my Chill conversions, and I even detail some of the information that Nigel claimed S.A.V.E. had on Willow & Tara.
Of course S.A.V.E. is the third “big org” interested in the girls and The Awakening (The Witches Committee and Lilith). S.A.V.E. is pretty upfront about what they want; to protect normal humans with Willow and Tara’s help. We still have one more big organization to go.
Cordy is missing here. Not for any plot based reason other then her player was not here. So I claimed she had other charges to deal with, after all she was only their “probationary” Whitelighter.
The adventure itself comes off as a weak monster of the week episode and even the monster, Bigfoot no less, is less than threat and more of an annoyance. This partially because at this point in the game it is becoming obvious that your garden variety monster is no match to the cast and my Bigfoot was nowhere near anything like a threat to this group.
I brought Faith back and totally underused her, meant to bring her back again, but could never find anything that I wanted to do that would do her justice. More daddy issues, this time it is Tara that has to show her support and love for Bob. Nigel really is not her father, but he did sleep with Megan. But to be fair she was still suffering from the after affects of dealing with demonic possession. Nigel had been tracking Willow and Tara all this time. He was using Faith as his way in with them.
Bigfoot was originally going to be a chupacabra, but I had watched this Bigfoot documentary a while back and they were hunting the Skunk Ape in Texas, so I figured I would go with that. The research I did then helped in the formulation of some my ideas for the Ghosts of Albion adventure “Almasti”.
One thing I established right away in this adventure was that Bigfoot is NOT a demon. Too many things are labeled “demon” in the original series; it was dull and unimaginative. Bigfoot is a bigfoot. Here are the stats for our guest star. He is a young (say adolescent) Bigfoot and not quite up to his full stats yet.
Bigfoot (young) Motivation: To live alone
Creature Type: Hominid
Life Points: 38
Drama Points: 0–1
Attributes
Str: 7
Dex: 5
Con: 7
Int: 2
Per: 6
Will: 3
Ability Scores
Muscle: 20
Combat: 22
Brains: 10
Maneuvers
Name Score Damage Notes
Grapple 24 — Resisted by dodge
Punch 22 19 Bash
Spear 22 26 Slash/stab
Next up. The Ghosts of Alamo.
Fall 2004
Texas.
The girls are driving from NOLA and end up in Southern Texas. They get a phone call from Faith (much to their surprise). She mentions she talked to Dawn and heard they were “in the neighborhood” and gave them directions to where she and a friend was. The go to the place Faith tells them about (a little out of their way) and the meet Faith (remember, this is AU Faith, the Faith of this world died in prison when the Knights of Eolhim attacked her) they also meet an older man, Nigel. Nigel recognizes Tara, whom he accidentally calls “Megan”. Bob recognizes him and Nigel can see Bob.
Nigel and Faith are here hunting Bigfoots. Bob does not trust Nigel and indeed, Nigel seem more interested in Willow and especially Tara than he does in Bigfoot hunting.
Faith is excited to see old friends and to be out of the demon hunting biz. She claims that she was approached by Nigel last year and he works for “The Hoffman Institute”. Bob knows the organization, a group of cryptid hunters.
Slowly it is revealed, mostly from Nigel himself that, that there is more history between Nigel, Bob and Megan than Bob has let on. During an argument between Bob and Nigel, Nigel reveals that he had slept with Megan (something Bob knew) and that the timing was right that Tara might his daughter and not Bob’s. This fun filled family moment is broken up by an attack on their camp by Bigfoot.
The creature is driven off and the cast discover that Nigel hunting Bigfoots is actually a ruse. Even Faith was fooled. Nigel is still working for S.A.V.E. and they are interested in Willow and Tara. In fact they have a rather large file on them and even know that Tara had died and her “sister” Kara never existed. Everyone is angry. But Nigel points out that while his methods were bad, he is really the good guy, he even asks Bob to vouch for him and his mission. S.A.V.E. also knows about The Awakening and wants to make sure that whatever happens that the population of normal humans are safe.
Though now they have a giant cryptid on their hands and Tara’s empathy tells them that the creature is afraid and being hunted by other hunters. The Cast decides to forget Nigel for a bit and instead focus on the Bigfoot. They find it with hunters on its heels. Willow and Tara cast a masking spell on it so it can get back to its home in the swamps unnoticed.
Nigel apologizes for his ruse and says the offer to join S.A.V.E. will always be open to them. He ask Faith to go with him to the Pacific Northwest where he has been told some strange occurrences are going on. She agrees and they all part.
Tara tells Bob that it doesn’t matter what Nigel told her, her father was the man that sat by her bed when she was sick and the one that taught her to ride a horse and drove her all her equestrian events. Packing up, they drive to Central Texas to get back onto course.
NOTES: Not everything in an adventure works. This one is a good example. I had higher hopes for this one. I had been reading a bunch of “Conspiracy” games at this point (DarkMatter, ConX, Delta Green) and I wanted to pull in material from all of them. I was also playtesting the new version of Chill. Well things just never clicked. I tried to merge various elements of all these games (the Hoffman Institute was from DarkMatter) but the problem was not the contradictions but the similarities. While I had not quite given up at this point, this did lay the seeds for me that WitchCraft/Buffy is fairly incompatible with Conspiracy X or DarkMatter.
I brought back S.A.V.E. since I was playtesting Chill 3.0 at the time, which led to my Chill conversions, and I even detail some of the information that Nigel claimed S.A.V.E. had on Willow & Tara.
Of course S.A.V.E. is the third “big org” interested in the girls and The Awakening (The Witches Committee and Lilith). S.A.V.E. is pretty upfront about what they want; to protect normal humans with Willow and Tara’s help. We still have one more big organization to go.
Cordy is missing here. Not for any plot based reason other then her player was not here. So I claimed she had other charges to deal with, after all she was only their “probationary” Whitelighter.
The adventure itself comes off as a weak monster of the week episode and even the monster, Bigfoot no less, is less than threat and more of an annoyance. This partially because at this point in the game it is becoming obvious that your garden variety monster is no match to the cast and my Bigfoot was nowhere near anything like a threat to this group.
I brought Faith back and totally underused her, meant to bring her back again, but could never find anything that I wanted to do that would do her justice. More daddy issues, this time it is Tara that has to show her support and love for Bob. Nigel really is not her father, but he did sleep with Megan. But to be fair she was still suffering from the after affects of dealing with demonic possession. Nigel had been tracking Willow and Tara all this time. He was using Faith as his way in with them.
Bigfoot was originally going to be a chupacabra, but I had watched this Bigfoot documentary a while back and they were hunting the Skunk Ape in Texas, so I figured I would go with that. The research I did then helped in the formulation of some my ideas for the Ghosts of Albion adventure “Almasti”.
One thing I established right away in this adventure was that Bigfoot is NOT a demon. Too many things are labeled “demon” in the original series; it was dull and unimaginative. Bigfoot is a bigfoot. Here are the stats for our guest star. He is a young (say adolescent) Bigfoot and not quite up to his full stats yet.
Bigfoot (young) Motivation: To live alone
Creature Type: Hominid
Life Points: 38
Drama Points: 0–1
Attributes
Str: 7
Dex: 5
Con: 7
Int: 2
Per: 6
Will: 3
Ability Scores
Muscle: 20
Combat: 22
Brains: 10
Maneuvers
Name Score Damage Notes
Grapple 24 — Resisted by dodge
Punch 22 19 Bash
Spear 22 26 Slash/stab
Next up. The Ghosts of Alamo.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Season of the Witch: Episode 4
Episode 4: Under a Cajun Moon
Late Summer / Early Fall 2004
New Orleans, Tara is possessed by the same spirit that had possessed her mother. Learn more about the summer that Bob met Megan.
Special Guests: Eliza Roberts as “Megan O’Kelly / McClay” and Eric Burdon as himself.
Synopsis Willow and Tara arrive in New Orleans. They are still getting used to the idea that Bob is tagging along as a ghost. He keeps reminding them that they need to focus on the mission, the girls remind him they are not on a mission. While sitting outside at a bar enjoying some gumbo (Cajun food was a very big deal for me when working on these adventures), a band begins to play some hypnotic song. Tara, unbidden gets up and begins to dance in a highly erratic fashion. Willow snaps her out of it, but not before she is seen by a tall man with his face painted to look like a skull.
The man is a voodoo priest, known as “Bone Man” and he works for a local crime lord/voodoo practioner Guillaume “Papa” Le Basque.
Papa Le Basque kidnaps Tara, who he sees as a pure conduit to the power of Loa. He takes her to Cottoncrest Manor. Le Basque is a legba hougan seeking the power of the forgotten “dark Loa” he knows is trapped in the manor.
The former owner of this manor was a cruel woman that turned an old slave plantation into a brothel. She eventually tried to burn the place down with all the girls trapped inside to cover her increasing debt. When it later became an insane asylum in the 1950s the women inside were driven to murderous rage to kill any man. Even mild depression became a murderous rampage. The government shut it down after a mother of two went on a rampage and killed 12 inmates and half a dozen staff. Even in notorious NOLA it was never used as a drug den or vampire nest for very long. The last known death was a when teenage couple came to the place after a night of tagging to drop some LSD. The girl who was 16 and described by everyone as shy, butchered her boyfriend. She was discovered days later naked, covered in blood and in a fetal position. She was never the same.
Bob and Megan had been here before and this was their last mission. Most of his team was killed, and Megan was possessed. They thought it was a simple poltergeist. It was a demon lord, Hysterix. A demon that feeds on the despair, fear and pain of women. He was trapped in the burned out house by occultists years ago. Occult Poet Eric Burden remains so he can make sure it does not escape. Le Basque believes Hysterix is a powerful but forgotten Loa. (His corporal form was destroyed, but he bonded with the house).
Bob always felt a little bit of the demon remained in Megan. Hysterix claimed he would have their daughter (they were not married yet, though the demon predicted that Megan’s daughter would be a powerful witch) and her daughters as well. Bob was relieved when Donny was born, but horrified when Tara was born a year later. Bob had to admit his love to Megan to drive the demon out.
The house is filled with the ghosts of all the slaves and prostitutes killed there, of all the people in the asylum, and even memento mori and apparitions of past sufferings. Also illusions created by Hysterix.
Cordy doesn’t want to go in unarmed…she switches to full angelic form. What can I say, the idea of a asskicking angel is just too good to pass up.
Demons feed on fear, uncertainty and doubt, but are repelled by love.
To force the demon out of Tara, Bob (not Willow this time) must confess his love for her and seek her forgiveness.
Part of the episode is also played in flashback with Tara’s player taking on the role of Megan, Bob’s playing Bob, Willow’s playing Nigel and Cordy’s playing the groups medic. The idea here of course is to get the Players to enact the same scene as in the past, with Bob confessing he loves Megan in the past and now making the same confessions to Tara in the present.
Notes: Obviously I wanted to focus on the relationship between Bob and his daughter and Bob and Megan. While Willow is somewhat sidelined in this episode, I came up with the flashback idea to keep her player busy at least. There were still plenty of ghosts in the manor to fight and Cordy and Willow were the only ones with the firepower to do it.
Again, and it may be a dead horse with me now, but I wanted to once again show that there is power, real power, in love. The demon is very much Charmed influenced, with the proclamation of love needing to kill rather than beating on it. The manor is based on this reoccurring nightmare I have had since I was small that I called my “Very Haunted House”. The woman who owned it is still in the house, mummified.
Papa Le Basque is of course killed by the demon, as most human dupes for demons are. But Bone Man, a character from my early Chill days, is still out there. Eric Bourdon appears mostly because I am a fan of “The Animals” and “War” but also due to a documentary I watched about him.
The biggest critique of this episode though came from my players and it is a good one. Basically this is another “Tara in peril” episode. I could not disagree. While I wanted to change things around, the truth is I needed this episode. It sets up the relationship between Bob and the Girls. Had to be done. Plus the demon makes a prediction about the future and that had to be said now. Sure there were other ways I could have done that, but this worked out well enough.
This episode I also introduced some items/plot from my old Chill game. I had considered running the flashback in Chill, creating characters and having even a little bit of combat. But that never really panned out.
Next Episode: Willow, Tara and Bob find Faith in South East Texas hunting Bigfoots with the last person they expected to see in “Veteran of the Psychic Wars”.
Late Summer / Early Fall 2004
New Orleans, Tara is possessed by the same spirit that had possessed her mother. Learn more about the summer that Bob met Megan.
Special Guests: Eliza Roberts as “Megan O’Kelly / McClay” and Eric Burdon as himself.
Synopsis Willow and Tara arrive in New Orleans. They are still getting used to the idea that Bob is tagging along as a ghost. He keeps reminding them that they need to focus on the mission, the girls remind him they are not on a mission. While sitting outside at a bar enjoying some gumbo (Cajun food was a very big deal for me when working on these adventures), a band begins to play some hypnotic song. Tara, unbidden gets up and begins to dance in a highly erratic fashion. Willow snaps her out of it, but not before she is seen by a tall man with his face painted to look like a skull.
The man is a voodoo priest, known as “Bone Man” and he works for a local crime lord/voodoo practioner Guillaume “Papa” Le Basque.
Papa Le Basque kidnaps Tara, who he sees as a pure conduit to the power of Loa. He takes her to Cottoncrest Manor. Le Basque is a legba hougan seeking the power of the forgotten “dark Loa” he knows is trapped in the manor.
The former owner of this manor was a cruel woman that turned an old slave plantation into a brothel. She eventually tried to burn the place down with all the girls trapped inside to cover her increasing debt. When it later became an insane asylum in the 1950s the women inside were driven to murderous rage to kill any man. Even mild depression became a murderous rampage. The government shut it down after a mother of two went on a rampage and killed 12 inmates and half a dozen staff. Even in notorious NOLA it was never used as a drug den or vampire nest for very long. The last known death was a when teenage couple came to the place after a night of tagging to drop some LSD. The girl who was 16 and described by everyone as shy, butchered her boyfriend. She was discovered days later naked, covered in blood and in a fetal position. She was never the same.
Bob and Megan had been here before and this was their last mission. Most of his team was killed, and Megan was possessed. They thought it was a simple poltergeist. It was a demon lord, Hysterix. A demon that feeds on the despair, fear and pain of women. He was trapped in the burned out house by occultists years ago. Occult Poet Eric Burden remains so he can make sure it does not escape. Le Basque believes Hysterix is a powerful but forgotten Loa. (His corporal form was destroyed, but he bonded with the house).
Bob always felt a little bit of the demon remained in Megan. Hysterix claimed he would have their daughter (they were not married yet, though the demon predicted that Megan’s daughter would be a powerful witch) and her daughters as well. Bob was relieved when Donny was born, but horrified when Tara was born a year later. Bob had to admit his love to Megan to drive the demon out.
The house is filled with the ghosts of all the slaves and prostitutes killed there, of all the people in the asylum, and even memento mori and apparitions of past sufferings. Also illusions created by Hysterix.
Cordy doesn’t want to go in unarmed…she switches to full angelic form. What can I say, the idea of a asskicking angel is just too good to pass up.
Demons feed on fear, uncertainty and doubt, but are repelled by love.
To force the demon out of Tara, Bob (not Willow this time) must confess his love for her and seek her forgiveness.
Part of the episode is also played in flashback with Tara’s player taking on the role of Megan, Bob’s playing Bob, Willow’s playing Nigel and Cordy’s playing the groups medic. The idea here of course is to get the Players to enact the same scene as in the past, with Bob confessing he loves Megan in the past and now making the same confessions to Tara in the present.
Notes: Obviously I wanted to focus on the relationship between Bob and his daughter and Bob and Megan. While Willow is somewhat sidelined in this episode, I came up with the flashback idea to keep her player busy at least. There were still plenty of ghosts in the manor to fight and Cordy and Willow were the only ones with the firepower to do it.
Again, and it may be a dead horse with me now, but I wanted to once again show that there is power, real power, in love. The demon is very much Charmed influenced, with the proclamation of love needing to kill rather than beating on it. The manor is based on this reoccurring nightmare I have had since I was small that I called my “Very Haunted House”. The woman who owned it is still in the house, mummified.
Papa Le Basque is of course killed by the demon, as most human dupes for demons are. But Bone Man, a character from my early Chill days, is still out there. Eric Bourdon appears mostly because I am a fan of “The Animals” and “War” but also due to a documentary I watched about him.
The biggest critique of this episode though came from my players and it is a good one. Basically this is another “Tara in peril” episode. I could not disagree. While I wanted to change things around, the truth is I needed this episode. It sets up the relationship between Bob and the Girls. Had to be done. Plus the demon makes a prediction about the future and that had to be said now. Sure there were other ways I could have done that, but this worked out well enough.
This episode I also introduced some items/plot from my old Chill game. I had considered running the flashback in Chill, creating characters and having even a little bit of combat. But that never really panned out.
Next Episode: Willow, Tara and Bob find Faith in South East Texas hunting Bigfoots with the last person they expected to see in “Veteran of the Psychic Wars”.
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