Armand Eastlock sits before the prodigous screen of the monitor of his state of the art mainframe in his hidden office somewhere amongst the high-rising, soulless steel and glass towers that comprise downtown Venway City. This evening begins like most others of normality. Armand further extends his shadowy tenticles of monitoring and influence across the island. There are other screens all about his shadowy, otherwise lightless office, depicting scenes from the wharfs, the slums, the oil rigs so recently bought out by Pentex Inc. All is of minimal interest to the assassin. His business is in murder, and he continues tonight the unseen chessgame with his greatest enemies - those he does not truly know.
Cypress Dreadslay is meeting with his former friend and current hostile rival, Anarchy Montrilo. Armand knew as much. The ancient vampire's futile attempts to squash him had made the adept elven killer take notice of his influence in this shadowy warfare. No doubt Cypress wants to regain control of "his home" and no doubt Anarchy desires nothing less than the total annihilation of all who would hinder him - including the Order and including Armand. The assassin's smile is sardonic, heartless, as he sits back cooly with a fresh goblet of wine to observe the meeting.
Nor resides within the Ghost Ship's dark reflection within the twisted dimension of the Penumbra. Reflecting in a pale halo of electronic illumination across the dark mage's pale face is the glamour cast by his spiritual laptop as he types away. Soon, a duel of technology tempered and enhanced with magick commenses. He is feeling out the Enemy's defenses, finding just the right places to strike. First, Nor Black attacks his target's handy little vices. The war satellites, the unseen oceans of information criss-crossing the heavens and the streets of Venway all at a criminal mastermind's behest. But tonight, a crippling blow will be dealt to Armand, perhaps silencing him forever.
[Computer 5: Hacking + Intelligence 5, difficulty 7: 5 successes]
[Forces 1/Spirit 2/Correspondence 2, Arete 6, -1 quintessence, difficulty 4: 5 successes]
Tracing the flow of information, from his position within the Penumbra, Nor easily follows it, inconspiciously tracing it back to its source. From there, he begins the job of hacking into Armand Eastlock's complex supercomputer system...
Armand is currently dubbing instantaneous copies of the procedings between Anarchy and Cypress. Armand then begins to log onto the Warlock Order's command center across the Gaunlet, to set up a transmission. He smiles coldly, decisively. This will certainly break the legs of Cypress Dreadslay's schemes, for the present. Then it happens. Armand's keen wits and sense of bearing do not fail him in the least. His eloquently slant, almond eyes narrow darkly and in a seeming of cold annoyance as the forboding sounds of sirens begin to ring the alarm that his system is no longer secure. The assassin does not hesitate, but rather begins an instant search upon the culprit. No luck. Armand slips into a pair of reflectionless, deeply-tinted shades, staring into the screen... and past it, tapping on the "shift" key several times.
[Computer 4 + Intelligence 5, difficulty 8: 7 successes]
[Spirit 1/Prime 1/Forces 1/Correspondence 1/Time 1: Sensory Projection, Arete 6, difficulty 4: 3 successes]
Armand leaves his Warlock Order superiors standing by, instead smiling grimly, whispering in a soft, almost eerily melodic voice, as he leans closer, in a sick sort of excitement, to his screen, his fingertips racing across the keyboard. Digital arsenal opening. Soviet anti-aircraft weaponry selected. Location standing by.
"So, little hacker. You want to play with the master?"
Nor does not flinch, knowing that the assassin is already hot on his trail, but not truly caring at this point. It is all about the win.
[Correspondence 3/Spirit 3/Forces 5/Prime 4/Matter 3/Time 4, Arete 6, -3 quintessence difficulty 5: 4 successes]
Armand abruptly freezes, his rampant tapping on the keyboard in front of him ceasing suddenly. His perceptions are literally thrown violently into a mindscape that lasts only less than a split second, but seems like an entire hour to the suddenly alert and paranoid Armand. He sees only a hellstorm of firey death. HIS death. And reflecting from his own eyes is the face of his worst nightmares. Armand's Avatar has returned, and it speaks to him through this most disturbing revelation.
"Oh Fuck. Oh Fuck!"
The assassin closes his eyes behind the shield of his sunglasses. He has but one chance to evade the Reaper before it comes to claim its wayward, self-serving slave. If he fails, he dies, and Armand knows it.
[Entropy 1: Eyes of the Reaper, Arete 6, difficulty 4: 6 successes]
Nor remains methodically poised, smiling grimly. The little assassin has stalled his attempts to bombard the dark mage's location. Nor continues his momentous spell, with little thought to the hundreds of lives that will be swept away in this newest maelstrom of destruction.
[Correspondence 3/Spirit 3/Forces 5/Prime 4/Matter 3/Time 4, Arete 6, -3 quintessence difficulty 5: 5 successes, 9 total]
Armand smiles, grimly. His countenance of the ultimate villain restored. The assassin spins, giving no heed to the blinders pulled over his window, leaping cleanly through it with a spectacular shattering of glass and shredding of plastic. Freefalling, Armand exhales in a final instant of resolve, his dark, slim figure rippling through the tapestry, accelerated through the night skies in an unseen streek of dark energies.
"ADRIAN!"
[Spirit 2, Forces 3, Life 4, Correspondence 2, Arete 4, -3 quintessence, difficulty 5: 4 successes]
[Spirit 2, Forces 3, Life 4, Correspondence 2, Arete 4, -3 quintessence, difficulty 5: 3 successes]
Nor sits quietly, stoic, emotionlessly unmoved. He feels the presence of his target, the hunter that has become the hunted, slip through the grasp of his spell. Almost ready to shatter from the inside out, Nor releases the monolithic spell. The mage that destroyed the old Ghost Ship has now
unleashed one of the worst terrorist attacks in the history of Venway. Thousands of people are wiped from living memory, almost instantly, as an explosion not only spreads in a huge blast centering from the tower that once was the center of espionage power in Venway, but instantly obliterates everything within the range of the bomb summonded WITHIN the once-mighty supercomputer of Venway. Gone is one of the most richest, beautiful regions of the city. And Armand Eastlock is no longer the most powerful man in Venway. His secret, almost literally unknown monopoly on information and stranglehold on manipulations has come to a nihilistic hault. The true fate of the assassin Armand Eastlock? Only time will reveal.
Aftermath:
Venway is NOT gone. A large portion of the downtown area is, however. Armand's unknown headquarters with it. The bomb killed literally thousands of people within the span of a single second (due to the Time 4 influence).
-George, 2000, narrative from the roleplaying between myself and Jeremy.