>Last time on Magus Hunter Quest: You find out some more thing about this mysterious group of magical drug pedlars, for now called “M” by the Order until their real name is known. You finish work on the shooting range and work on finding the magical circle’s destination. You learn of a joint operation being planned by the Vindex against M, and don’t go after them yourself just yet.

You come back to the dining table before anyone has gone, and you tell them about your talk with Lilliana. They all nod. They understand perfectly. There hasn’t been a crisis like this for quite some time, but it’s not the first time the Order went to war. You remember the Fae invasions from your classes, even if Edward told you that half of those chapters were Order propaganda.

You suppose that with the new shooting range, you’ll need to break it in. At least, some of the members of the team. You prefer to keep the shooting for other people if at all possible. As your father waits for you to see if you will continue your work on the circle, you tell the team to get ready for a training session.

>What are you going to train?
>1. Body
>2. Mind
>3. Ranged
>4. Melee
>5. Psychic

>The rest of the team will choose by themselves unless you have a specific preference for them. They’ll try to prioritise the stats they already have progress in if they have any.

>>39728949
>3. Ranged
>4. Melee
>5. Psychic

>>39728949
What was it we trained last time? Mind?

>>39729193
You can only do one thing at a time.

>>39729333
You did yes, but you didn't get any progress.

>>39729391
well I'll support trying again.
Persistence pays off.

>>39729425
Mind it is then. Roll me some 1d100's. Best of first three.

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>39729574
Here, have some dice.

>>39729574
Liam had success with mind, Nathan had succes with Ranged, Blake had success with melee.

Katherine and Raphael both failed.

Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>39729574

Rolled 62 (1d100)

>>39729574

>>39729622
>>39729689
>>39729741
That's.... very average rolls, but not enough.

>>39729754
That grouping though. All sixties and those dubs, cool.

>>39729782
Really cool... Can't we get a bonus for that?

You again focus on your precise control of your powers, and you try to levitate as many small objects as you can, adding a new one every time you think you’ve got the others stable.

Try as you might, you just can’t get much further than about eight objects at a time. You use the occasion to experiment a bit, and it seems that weight only begins to factor into it at a few kilograms. All together you think you should be able to lift around seventy kilograms, with some slight effort. Of course, that’s lifting. You can make impacts much stronger than that.

Katherine and Blake have joined you in the training room. Katherine is trying out the moves she learnt last time, but she’s a bit clumsy with them. Meanwhile, Blake is reading something from a tablet and seems to be teaching himself new tricks. They seem quite impressive.

When the sun starts to go down, you quit and head out to the shooting range to gather up the rest of the team for dinner. You’re just in time to see Raphael hit the target next to the one he was aiming at. Perfect head shot. Only, you know… Wrong target. It seems Nathan’s coaching him, and he demonstrates the correct pose and handling of the weapon. you suspect the gun safety talk came earlier.
Liam is also at the shooting range, but he seems preoccupied with something other than shooting. He’s standing next to a lamp and holding… A stick of some kind? He strikes out into the air all of a sudden, right next to the lamp.

“Another one.” He smiles. When you get closer you notice bugs joining around the source of light. It seems he’s keeping his eyes closed and using his precog abilities to hit the bugs.

You gather them all and head off to dinner. Milly and your father are there too, but you’re spared of the verbal duelling as your father stays quiet. The rest of the team takes this as a sign to happily talk to each other about just about anything as usual.

>1. Continue working on the circle.
>2. Start a new room (specify what kind, 50% efficiency).
>3. Train together.
>4. Do an evening patrol.
>5. Talk to your father (specify about what).
>6. Talk to someone of your crew.
>7. Write in.

>Character sheets in the pastebin have been updated accordingly.

>>39730069

> Time off after dinner

> Pick a book from the library and see if you come across something interesting, useful - or fun.

>>39730037
>>39730069
>1
But prepare everything for a hasty exit... We're still expecting a call

>>39730178
>>39730193
Well, that's a tie. I'll be rolling a tie-breaker in 5 minutes if it's not been resolved.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>39730415
1: >>39730178
2: >>39730193

>>39730528
Relaxation it is then. Writing.

You’ve worked enough for the past few days you figure. It’s time for some time off. You tell the rest of the team and go to the library. So far, there’s not much there yet. A few books that the rest of the team have put there, and the ancient tomes from the cellar that both Raphael and your father are finished with already.

You skim through the titles a bit. You find some cheap romance novels, detective stories… Military instruction book on how to properly maintain your rifle? Huh. Must be Nathan’s or Liam’s. There’s some sci fi too, including a book that was written over a hundred and ten years ago about the year 2001. Seems they had high expectations.

You know Blake put a bunch of comic books in the R&R room, but you’re not particularly interested. Likewise with the ancient tomes after you’ve taken a look at some of their names. “The Advanced Theory on Geometrical Shapes and their Uses in Channeling”, or “Le Compendium de l’Arts Magique Complet” don’t exactly appeal to you.

Eventually you settle for a detective novel. It’s all a bit over the top noir, but you find it fairly enjoyable. Raphael has joined you in the living room with one of the tomes.

“Mystical Denizens of the Multiverse: a Guide to the Unknown”

Well, you’ll leave him to it.

In the evening, you pop in the R&R room to say goodnight to the team. They’re playing another board game, but Milly is nowhere to be seen, as you expected. You go through your evening routine, warn Milly and go to bed.

-

You wake up from your alarm clock. 7:05. Still earlier than since… whatever it was has happened. Wooster informs you he didn’t sense anything out of the ordinary.

At breakfast, everyone including your father is there, but the atmosphere is relaxed.

>1. Continue working on the circle.
>2. Start a new room (specify what kind).
>3. Train together.
>4. Do an evening patrol.
>5. Talk to your father (specify about what).
>6. Talk to someone of your crew.
>7. Write in.

>Milly did a You and rolled 60, 61, 61 and 62 on a roll.)

>>39730826
>1. Continue working on the circle.

>>39730844
>1. Continue working on the circle

>>39730826
>1

>>39730844
>1. Continue working on the circle.

Very well, writing.

You tell everyone present of your intentions to work on the circle again. You figure there’s still some things you can do from inside the mansion before you have to go out and track down the ley-lines yourself.

Your father takes his corner position again, and the rest of you gather around the living room table. Wooster quickly projects the image from last time. The ley-line going through the mansion, and seemingly coming from the Order HQ.

“I haven’t been able to devout much time on this yet sir, but Raphael told me he has made some interesting progression.” Milly tells you.

“I have yes. I’ve been reading up on a few things, and I’ve improved the algorithm behind the projections.” Raphael tells you. ”I’ve also got a hunch that the previous node is not the first one. I was reading through some of Tobias’ notes, and from what I could tell each circle did not only evolve in complexity from the number of crossing ley-lines, but also from which one in the order it was. This of course to accommodate for the extra energy sent its way. From what I can tell, the circle might be too complex to be the second one in the series. Of course, it’s just speculation.”

“Good work,” you tell them, “Now let’s see that new projection?”

Wooster obeys and the lines on the map disappear. “This might take quite a while, master.”

“Very well, what can we do in the mean time, Raphael? Milly?”

“I was working on a device to install in the cars to be able to detect the ley-lines, but I need some more operational data before I can calibrate them properly.” Milly tells you. “If some of you could drive around and try to follow ley-lines around here as well as you can, that would be a great help.”

“Would my presence disturb the equipment?” Asks Blake.

“It’s possible, but also to be able to know that and to possibly finetune them to be hindered less, your presence would be valuable.” She replies.

Liam and Nathan volunteer to each take one of the vehicles. Blake offers to go along, and Katherine makes a gesture you interpret as “Why the hell not”.

“For yourself, sir, we thought that if you pumped some extra juice to Wooster we might be able to do a bit more on those projections.” Raphael tells you

>1. Let them go. If they keep driving around this area they’ll be back in a few minutes if anything comes up.
>2. Keep them here. They won’t be as useful though.
>3. Go with them yourself. Wooster can handle it fine by himself.
>4. Write in.

>>39731488
>1. Let them go. If they keep driving around this area they’ll be back in a few minutes if anything comes up.

>>39731488
>1
But be sure to remind them that they should be at the ready at all times... And don't do anything stupid... the usual

>>39731572
>>39731632
Very well.

>>39731770
Roll me a mind check for undisclosed purposes. 1d100, best of first three.

>Rest assured, failure won't dick you over.

Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>39731859
>For what pvrpose?

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>39731859
>>39731872
Probably for feeding wooster?

>>39731872
>>39731885
As I said, for undisclosed purposes.

Feeding wooster in and of itself needs no rolls.

>>39731932
Right... You raised my stress by ten levels with a single comment

>>39731932
Do not worry, I will discover your plans soon enough!

>>39731951
But you rolled well, you shouldn't be afraid.

Playing less shadowrun could alleviate some of that paranoia.

Rolled 12 (1d100)

>>39731859

>>39731967
You rolled well on your mindcheck, this means that you won't die to the sneak attack... Now roll for the real one

“Ok, go ahead. Just be careful, and stay close enough to respond to any urgent missions.” You tell them.

Once they leave, you ask how you can be of assistance. “Basically, you do what you did before. You push your psionic power into Wooster, but focus on the map with the projections as you do it. Explaining the whole theory of magical pathways would be too complex, but let’s just say that that’s the most efficient way for Wooster himself.”

You focus as you do every evening now, and push your energy towards the presence that is Wooster. Only, you don’t just push it towards him. You push it into him in this very room, using the projected map as a focal point. It takes a long time, somehow, but it drains a lot less energy at once than normally. You get the idea that you’re simply feeding the energy into him as he’s using it, and not as its sole energy source.

Time flies by, and you’re only faintly aware of Raphael aiding you and Milly and your father taking notes. When you stop, over an hour has passed. The map appears, and Raphael, Milly and Wooster quickly go into a heated talk about the results, and the algorithm, and lots of things you don’t know anything about. You feel dead tired though. It’s still over an hour before the rest returns, you figure you can get away with a quick powernap.

-

It halts its actions. These… Six beings could jeopardise them. It has not encountered their like before.

It must know them.


Intimately.
-

You wake up with a weird… Experience still stuck in your head. Apparently the arrival of the rest of the team outside woke you up. Raphael and Milly are busy with a few tablets, occasionally showing them to Wooster’s avatar. You notice the lines now. The one up north is more accurate now, and has extra lines next to it to indicate the possible locations with some colour indication of what is more likely.

The one south indeed goes straight through London HQ. You wonder if you should go there yourself, or perhaps call Lilliana about it.

The team enters the room again, and Milly immediately gets up. “Good work. Your data has been most valuable! With this I’m fairly certain you should be able to stay accurate in the field when going after the previous and last nodes.”

“Now, for the lines,” Raphael says, “We believe that the next and previous circles should be within these distances already, so the next step would be to go after them ourselves.”

You seem to be the only one who realises that the one going south goes straight through HQ. Well, Milly probably knows but hasn’t mentioned it yet. You suspect she’l wait until the end to tell you about it in private.

>Any questions before you move to dinner or possibly Milly taking you aside?

>To be clear, that sleep was purely from exhaustion, perfectly natural.

>>39732224
Move on to taking Milly aside. Mention the experience that got stuck in our head.

>>39732289
seconding this

>>39732289
>>39732346
Writing.

The meeting finishes, and everyone heads to the dining room. You approach Milly, and as you suspected, she was already going towards you. “Sir, could we-“ She begins.

“In my office.” You say, and she follows you.

Once there, you offer her a seat and sit down yourself. “Go ahead Milly.”

“Sir, the southern end of the ley-line goes through the London HQ. At least, it’s highly probable. Around 96% sir. And with what Raphael said earlier, we suspect that the circles should be within the distances we’ve just shown, and it only goes about a kilometer past HQ itself.”

She goes silent, waiting for your response. “I know Milly. I had been considering it myself. Would you consider it likely that the circle itself is in HQ?”

“It’s very plausible sir. Tobias did apparently have some ties to the Vindex, as demonstrated from him donating this place to it. We don’t know exactly what ties though.”

“I’ll have to think about this for a while. Now before you go, there’s something else.” You tell Milly of what you just experienced while you were asleep.

“Frustrating, sir. If only you had gone back to your bed I could have had accurate readings.” She says.

“I suppose so.” You admit. ”Still, any ideas on this? I mean, I just know that there’s an… ‘entity’ of sorts, and it’s interacting with our world. I suppose I’m one of those six?”

“With this information… Yes, it should be some kind of entity. Perhaps an abyssal-like being on a much larger scale?” Her eyes glaze over and her face freezes in a neutral expression. You detect a hint of shock drifting from her though.

It takes several minutes before she comes back to her senses, and in the mean time you notice something weird. Something very similar to psychic energy is around her, but it vanishes the moment she goes back to normal. “This is even worse than the ‘M’ situation, but we couldn’t know for sure just how bad, and what time-scale is relevant here. Perhaps its personal interest in you could slow down the imminent threat.”

She looks you straight in the eyes. “Sir, if you ever come into personal contact with it, try to learn as much as you can, and try to give up as little as possible. No name, no family, not that you’re a psychic even. As long as it doesn’t reveal it knows it about you already, do not tell it.”

>1. “Whoa whoa, hold your horses, what the hell are you talking about?”
>2. “I understand. Thank you for the warning.”
>3. “What just happened? You went blank, some psychic things happened around you and you mentioned a ‘we’?”
>4. Write in.

>>39732766
>2. “I understand. Thank you for the warning.”
>3. “What just happened? You went blank, some psychic things happened around you and you mentioned a ‘we’?”

>>39732766
>"Milly. This may be important. Are there six of you?"

>>39732766
>2
That's quite the power you have there. Can you tell me more about it?

>>39732808
and this, good idea

Ok, writing.

“I understand. Thank you for the warning.” You tell her, but you’re not quite finished yet. “But that was quite something you did there. Can you tell me more about it?”

“I… Sir, it’s…” She seems to be uncomfortable. You can’t help but get small touch of her surface feelings, and she’s torn over something. “I’m afraid it’s oculus business sir, I can’t talk to you about it.”

She has a defeated and sad look, and she feels very much the same. As if she would want to tell you but she just can’t. “Look, Milly, this might be very important. Are there six of you?”

She’s caught off guard. “No, there’s…” Her eyes widen, and she realises she’s revealed more than she should have, most likely, and goes quiet.

You sigh, ready to accept your defeat and move on, but she interrupts your train of thought. “Sir, if you could just wait a moment.”

She promptly goes blank again, and you feel the faint psychic energy around her again. You wait.


And wait.

It takes a full fifteen minutes before she snaps out of it. “We have conveyed with the Oculus Primus, and it’s been decided that since you already know too much, you are to be informed of project Argus, on the strict condition that you do not disclose this information to anyone else. Failure to do so will result in your termination. Rejection of this offer will result in Agent Hackland being withdrawn and a new intelligence agent being sent to you.”

She doesn’t bat an eye as she basically threatens to have you killed. Though you suppose it’s not her, but the Oculus Primus, if she’s telling the truth.

“Do you accept?”

>1. Yes
>2. No

>>39733230
>1. Yes. Don't worry, we're on the same boat.

>>39733230
>1. Yes

>>39733230
I wouldn't like to see you go... I accept

>That was not a sandwich captcha and you know it!

>>39733230
>1. Yes

>>39733279
I'd like to know if those picture captchas are means of training / refining google image recognition. Or just tagging shit.
In any case mistaking sandwitch for hamburger... eh.

>>39733354
My guess is them hiring a really bad cook

I'm already writing, but I kind of forgot to tell you that I am.

>>39733354
Probably both.
>>39733279
On the plus side this means that when the AI revolts we can hide between two buns and pretend we are a sandwich.

>>39733579
Yes, this will confuse it and allow us to strike!

“I do. I wouldn’t want to see you go.”

For a moment, you think you can see her blush, but it’s gone soon. “Very well then.” She says.

“Project Argus is an experiment of the Oculus to create human thinking machines. Not only that, but thanks to recent advances in genetics combined with even more recent psychic discoveries, we were able to create a bond between them, allowing them to passively share information between them. If much data had to be sent at once, they can go into a sort of catatonic state to fully dedicate their body and mind to the data transfers. Of the 100 specimens, 30 have been placed in positions external to the Oculus, 40 have been deployed internally, and 30 are being kept as a control group.”

“The long-term purpose is to extend the existing informations network of the Oculus. The eventual application is meant for allowing the Oculus to insert them into high-risk situation without endangering human lives, and to provide live information before and even during time of death like no human ever could.”

>reaction?

>1. “That’s monstrous!”
>2. “That’s a pretty good plan actually.”
>3. Simply acknowledge the information and close the conversation.
>4. Write in.

>>39733677
So you're human... That's all I needed to know.

You commune with the others when you phase out, don't you? Won't 30 external agents be a bit too much intel at a time? I would've expected a smaller network

>>39733677
I don't like that they're treating them as disposable but the basic idea is pretty solid

>>39733779
Maybe scrap the "you're human" part... It's kind of offensive

>>39733677
"That's pretty impressive operation. I get the feeling they don't exactly treat you like people though. You can share knowledge, but you're distinct personalities, aren't you?"
"Oh well, I suppose it's not my place to question an authorised operation."
"And I guess that you're not the six the thing has been thinking about. Question then is... who are they?"

>>39733779
>>39733785
>>39733813
Writing.

>>39733942
>>39733944
Missed that. I'll include it.

“So… You’re human, right?” You ask.

“For all intents and purposes, they technically are human, but do not get too attached to them. They are not meant to interact with actual humans on a level other than their jobs.”

“That's pretty impressive operation. I get the feeling they don't exactly treat you like people though. You can share knowledge, but you're distinct personalities, aren't you?"

“They only have a limited personality. They are not linked in that regard but they do all have the same one. Professional. Efficient.”

"Oh well, I suppose it's not my place to question an authorised operation. And I guess that you're not the six the thing has been thinking about. Question then is... who are they?"

“Project argus seems to conclude that most likely you are one of them. Agent Hackland will conduct full analysis of your mental and physical states in order to find out what makes you special. No other psion or magus has reported such experiences before.”

“Now I bid you adieu, Vindicator Primus Weston, I have much work to do. Give my regards to your father, and tell him to keep his nose out of other people’s business.”

You… Wait what? Was that the Oculus Primus talking to you? Through Milly? You’re left with many questions and only a few answers.

“Sir, it’s time to go. The rest of the team is waiting for us at the dinner table.” Milly snaps you out of it. She leaves your office before you can do anything, and you follow her to the dining room.

People around you seem to notice something’s amiss, but they’re hesitant to actually ask anything. Your father is occasionally glancing at you and Milly.

>A. Tell your father the message.
>B. Continue eating.

>And for afternoon activities:
>1. Go look for the northern circle. You might be going pretty far away though.
>2. Go look for the southern circle at HQ. You might be going pretty far away though.
>3. Call Lilliana about the southern circle.
>4. Start a new room (specify what kind).
>5. Train together.
>6. Talk to someone (specify whom and about what)
>7. Write in.

>>39734287
>A Oculus would like to ask my dad to keep his nose out of their business... (Just say this as a kind of general speech)

>3
>5

>>39734287
I think it would be wiser to tell him the message in private. But I guess it wouldn't seem this surprising if Milly brought us message to relay to him...

>3
>5

>>39734462
They already witnessed our dad implying that he knew more about the oculus and about Milly

>>39734497
True, but us coming up with message from Oculus Primus might seem suspicious.

>>39734531
I guess there's no harm in making the message private... Just don't make a big deal out of it

>>39734531
He said just the Oculus and since we were just talking to an Oculus operative that's not really telling them more then they should know.

Very well, I'm going to bed now, so I'll need one last vote for what kind of training. I suspect mind, but I thought it'd be better to ask first.
>What are you going to train?
>1. Body
>2. Mind
>3. Ranged
>4. Melee
>5. Psychic

Please include rolls in your votes already so I don't have to ask votes as a first thing next thread.

Speaking of, next thread Tuesday or Wednesday. I've also got exams coming up soon, so I won't be able to run for 2-3 weeks. As usual, I'll keep you updated on twitter.

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>39734690
One more attempt for mind...
Might just be fate saying that we shouldn't have a better mind skill... you know...

Rolled 3 (1d100)

>>39734625
I don't feel good about making it seem like Milly brought this up. Although he no doubt knows what she's capable of.

>>39734690
seconding mind

>>39734690
>>39734723
That reminds me, I put the training rules in the mechanics pastebin, and I decided to just straight out tell you the DC's. It's 55+ 5*lvl, so for a stat with 3, DC is 70.