Sophie ●○ the Monstrous ○● StatsCharm -2, Cool +2, Sharp 0, Tough 0, Weird +3 Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ○○○○○○○ Exp: ●●●○○ Moves Unnatural AppealRoll +Weird instead of +Charm when you manipulate someone. Dark NegotiatorYou can use the manipulate someone move on monsters as well as people, if they can reason and talk. ImmortalYou do not age or sicken, and whenever you suffer harm you suffer 1-harm less. Unquenchable VitalityWhen you have taken harm, you can heal yourself. Roll with Cool. On a 10+, heal 2-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a 7-9, heal 1-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a miss, your injuries worsen. IC Sophie tries to play off her inability to enter the room as hesitation, but it's too little and too late. This is bound to raise questions, but finding out what happened to Alice is far more important than keeping her own secrets. Stepping to one side, Sophie says, "Here, come and humor me. See if you and Annika can enter. The porter seemed to be havin' no trouble. Seems more likely she blacklisted me than whitelisted him." OOC I'll Manipulate Someone in hopes it gives Hal +1 for searching.

⛤᛭⛤ StatsCharm -1, Cool +2, Sharp 0, Tough +2, Weird +1 ⛤᛭⛤ Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ● Luck: ●○○○○○○ Exp: ●○○○○ Moves Cast Out EvilCast Out Evil: You may banish an unnatural creature from your presence. Roll +Tough. On a 10+ it is banished. On a 7-9 it takes a little while for the banishing to take effect—the creature has time to make one or two actions. Either way, the banished creature is unharmed, and you have no control over where it goes. This move may be used on unnatural hunters (e.g. the Monstrous). On a miss, something is keeping it here. That’s bad. Lay on HandsLay On Hands: Your touch can heal injury and disease. When you lay your hands on someone hurt, roll +Cool. On a 10+, heal 2 harm or an illness, plus they’re stabilized. On a 7-9, you can heal the harm or illness as on a 10+, but you take it into yourself. On a miss, your aura causes them extra harm. No LimitsWhen you push your physical body past its limits, roll +Weird: • On a 10 or more, your body obeys your will, to the limits of physical possibility (see below), for a moment. • On a 7-9, you do it but choose one consequence: suffer 1-harm, take –1 forward, or you need to rest right now. • On a miss, something goes horribly wrong. Advanced No Limits. If you advance your no limits move, add this: • On a 12 or more, you can continue acting at your body’s limits for 30 seconds. For the purposes of this move, “physical possibility” means “conceivably possible for a human.” For example: • Physically Possible: Lift an SUV, Jump over a truck, Punch through a wall. • Not Physically Possible: Lift a building, Fly, Punch a blast of energy at a foe. SmiteSmite: Your body and divine weapon always count as a weakness against the monsters you fight. Your unarmed attacks are 2-harm intimate hand messy. IC Content to let the others lead, Hal is quiet and follows the lead of his superiors as best he can. When Sophie attempts to enter and finds her way barred, he ponders and like the others, the sigils prove an obvious answer as to why. "Oh for the love of.... Anyone got any ideas? Otherwise I can try to do some damage to uni property. Wouldn't be the first time since I got here. Tear the damn frame off the hinges, eh?" OOC Investigate a Mystery, likely gonna roll if I need to deface public property as mentioned.

The door opens outwards, with the tidy bedroom visible beyond. But when Sophie makes to enter, she can't. The doorway might as well be a wall. The reason is clear enough with a moment's searching: all around the inside of the doorframe, where the closed door would conceal them, intricate sigils and runes have been carved.

Sophie ●○ the Monstrous ○● StatsCharm -2, Cool +2, Sharp 0, Tough 0, Weird +3 Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ○○○○○○○ Exp: ●●●○○ Moves Unnatural AppealRoll +Weird instead of +Charm when you manipulate someone. Dark NegotiatorYou can use the manipulate someone move on monsters as well as people, if they can reason and talk. ImmortalYou do not age or sicken, and whenever you suffer harm you suffer 1-harm less. Unquenchable VitalityWhen you have taken harm, you can heal yourself. Roll with Cool. On a 10+, heal 2-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a 7-9, heal 1-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a miss, your injuries worsen. IC Sophie waits until the hallway is clear and then has a look at the lock on Alice's door. She glances at Annika, knowing the young witch would probably be eager to try her hand at magicking the door open. But sometimes the simplest approach is best. She takes out a credit card and slips it into the gap... After a few moments, she hears a satisfying click. "Grand." OOC I'll Act Under Pressure

Beneath the tarp is a hole, maybe two feet in diameter and five feet deep. It is not natural. You see that immediately. The curve of the earthen wall forms a perfect circle, not a ragged pit. It didn't just happen. It was made. In the bottom, as the porter said, is a shallow pool of standing water. At the very lip of this opening, you see two sets of footprints: one an unremarkable set of trainerssneakers, the other a pair of overly large and overly round impressions without any discernable tread. No prints leave the hole. Peering in once more, in the mirrored surface of the water you see the reflection of dark clouds drifting. You glance up instinctively, but knowing already what you'll see: in Oxford, the sky is clear.

In Brief Ekram The Wronged Stats: Charm +1, Cool +0, Sharp +1, Tough +2, Weird -1 Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ●●●●●○○ Exp: ●●●●○ Playbook Moves I Know My PreyYou get +1 ongoing when knowingly investigating, pursuing or fighting the breed of monster that caused your loss. DIY SurgeryWhen you do quick and dirty first aid on someone (including yourself), roll +Cool. On a 10+ it’s all good, it counts as normal first aid, plus stabilize the injury and heal 1 harm. On a 7-9 it counts as normal first aid, plus one of these, your choice: • Stabilise the injury but the patient takes -1 forward. • Heal 1-harm and stabilise for now, but it will return as 2-harm and become unstable again later. • Heal 1-harm and stabilise but the patient takes -1 ongoing until it’s fixed properly. Never Again!In combat, you may choose to protect someone without rolling, as if you had rolled a 10+, but you may not choose to “suffer little harm.” Trust Your Gut (alt Weird)When you consult your instincts about what to do next, roll +Weird: • On a 10 or more, the Keeper will tell where you should go. Wherever that is, it will be important. You get +1 ongoing on the way to this place. • On a 7-9, the Keeper will tell you a general direction to go. Take +1 forward as you explore that. • On a miss, your instincts lead you into danger. InvincibleYou always count as having 2-armour. This doesn’t stack with other protection. ** Chosen move, Advancement ** Checkin' Out That Hole (not like that!) As David leads the porter away Ekram glances to the others, then the door, then the hole in the quad. The sneer that pulls on his lip is brief but the disdain for the pushy little man lingers in his eyes. "Give some people little bit of power..." It's a mutter as he steps away from the window. Alice's room seems like the easier place to inspect but he can't shake that tingle on the back of his neck about the damn sinkhole. It may not be related to their present concerns, but his gut tells him that it has significance and so he motions through the window. "I'm checking that out." He moves quickly out to the quad, knowing that the porter will be headed that way once David's distraction has run its course. Pulling the tarp away from the makeshift barriers, he tries to piece together what exactly about the seemingly minor natural disaster has him to focused. OOC Stuff Let us Investigate a Mystery on this, following my earlier hunch. The +1 will definitely help on that. An 11. Man, so many questions I want to ask. Let's try 'what happened here?' and 'what is being concealed here?'.

The porter seems pleased. "That's great, I'd appreciate the help. There's supposed to be two of us on every shift, but you know James is sick this week and we share maintenance guys with the Examination Halls, but they are having an issue with the lifts. I didn't like leaving it like that, it doesn't look great. We'll have it done in no time." They leave together, presumably to fetch some temporary fencing and secure the sinkhole in a less ugly way. They'll be back on the quad in a few minutes, and this corridor is deserted.

The Reverend Dr. David Beaumont, Professor Emeritus Luck □ □ □ □ □ ■ ■ Harm □ □ □ | □ □ □ □ Experience □ □ □ □ □ David might be having an 'off day,' but Ekram is on to something. Time to get our new friend out of the way so he can poke around. "Oh, that's a good idea, putting hoardings up. Better than letting someone hurt themselves, yes? Let me help, then. It's been a bit since I've been around Merton, but the storage is down this way right?" He assumes the air of a confused old man and sets off, hoping to pull the porter in his wake - and give the others time to investigate further. OOC I'm going to spend my banked advance to increase Charm, which works because it's where I was thinking about putting it anyway, then roll to Manipulate this NPC. Edit: I attempted the roll and failed, but I don't want everyone floundering around with nothing further to do until something happens. Not with Alice's life on the line. So I am going to go ahead and spend a Luck point - Mr. Porter happens to have, or had, a beloved old grandad who got a little confused sometimes, too, and he's got a soft spot 😄

you reveal some information Just as Sophie suggests they explore the the quad, the porter returns. He frowns. "Couldn't remember if I locked it." He tries the door. It's locked. "Time for you all to head off. It's getting late. Thinking about it, I probably should put some hoardings up around it before it gets completely dark."

Sophie ●○ the Monstrous ○● StatsCharm -2, Cool +2, Sharp 0, Tough 0, Weird +3 Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ○○○○○○○ Exp: ●●●○○ Moves Unnatural AppealRoll +Weird instead of +Charm when you manipulate someone. Dark NegotiatorYou can use the manipulate someone move on monsters as well as people, if they can reason and talk. ImmortalYou do not age or sicken, and whenever you suffer harm you suffer 1-harm less. Unquenchable VitalityWhen you have taken harm, you can heal yourself. Roll with Cool. On a 10+, heal 2-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a 7-9, heal 1-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a miss, your injuries worsen. IC Sophie scribbles a hasty note on a scrap of paper and prepares to slip it into the doorjam near the knob. Then she stops herself, realizing it's pointless. If Alice is in trouble, she knows well enough to be in touch. And if she's not, she's not the type to appreciate their gaggle calling on her like this. It's the tiniest of conundrums, occupying her mind when she has no other idea of what to do. Thankfully, Ekram seems to pick up on something. And anything is better than staring at a closed door and wondering. "Grand. Let's be havin' a look," she says, crumbling the note in her hand and shoving it into her pocket. "But failin' this, we're callin' hospitals. Not leavin' anything to chance, at all, at all." OOC I'll Investigate a Mystery. Clearly I am overwrought with worry for Alice.

The porter flicks a glance out of the window as he pockets his keys. "Sinkhole" he explains. "Opened up last night. Only me on today, haven't had time to put up a proper fence yet. Only about five foot deep, but enough to break a leg if someone wasn't watching. The kids cut across the grass at night. I told the Dean, I reckon it's cos the council stopped desilting the Isis. There's six inches of water sitting in bottom of it." He is keen to be gone. "I gotta get back to the desk. If I see Alice, I'll tell her you were looking for her." He leaves you in the corridor.

In Brief Ekram The Wronged Stats: Charm +1, Cool +0, Sharp +1, Tough +2, Weird -1 Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ●●●●●○○ Exp: ●●●●○ Playbook Moves I Know My PreyYou get +1 ongoing when knowingly investigating, pursuing or fighting the breed of monster that caused your loss. DIY SurgeryWhen you do quick and dirty first aid on someone (including yourself), roll +Cool. On a 10+ it’s all good, it counts as normal first aid, plus stabilize the injury and heal 1 harm. On a 7-9 it counts as normal first aid, plus one of these, your choice: • Stabilise the injury but the patient takes -1 forward. • Heal 1-harm and stabilise for now, but it will return as 2-harm and become unstable again later. • Heal 1-harm and stabilise but the patient takes -1 ongoing until it’s fixed properly. Never Again!In combat, you may choose to protect someone without rolling, as if you had rolled a 10+, but you may not choose to “suffer little harm.” Trust Your Gut (alt Weird)When you consult your instincts about what to do next, roll +Weird: • On a 10 or more, the Keeper will tell where you should go. Wherever that is, it will be important. You get +1 ongoing on the way to this place. • On a 7-9, the Keeper will tell you a general direction to go. Take +1 forward as you explore that. • On a miss, your instincts lead you into danger. InvincibleYou always count as having 2-armour. This doesn’t stack with other protection. ** Chosen move, Advancement ** Vague Signs are Still Signs As the man lingers in the doorway and the Doc seems lost in his own head, Ekram turns away from the gathering to cool his head. This motion drops his eyes on the scene outside and on any other day he likely wouldn't have even given it a second glance. Stepping away from the group, he approaches the window and squints hard on the gathering of construction gear tarped over in the quad. A hole that they're filling, maybe? Or some kind of pipe burst and flood situation? But if that's so... "...why not put it on sign?" The words leave his lips unbidden, loud enough to be heard by others in the hallway, which commits him to the idea. Glancing back over his shoulder, he motions with a tip of his head toward the cluster. "Why only put Danger on sign? No specifics?" His gaze levels on the little man with his little keyring and large attitude and he scratches his jawline as the wheels in his head spin. He calls the porter over to point out the tarped over section of the quad. "What is that out there?" Generally speaking, Ekram's hunches tend to lead him into trouble. This seems likely to be no different. But there are times when going into danger is the only way to get a solution to a problem. They'd all seen that plain enough not long back. As he directs the porters attention to the mess, he looks past him to the others and taps the side of his head, then points to the site and mouths the word "wrong". OOC Stuff N/A

OOC IaM - On a miss, you reveal some information to the monster or whoever you are talking to TyG - the Keeper will tell you a general direction to go. Take +1 forward as you explore that As the tall porter locks the door again, you all feel slight warmth in the air around you. Those among you who are the most attuned to such things have a faint sense that something has just taken notice of you. For Ekram, the sensation is more specific. His eye is drawn out of the corridor window, into the main quad, and to the out-of-place untidy tangle of cones, tape and tarpaulin that encloses and conceals a central section of the neatly manicured grass. A handwritten sign is attached to the nearest cone: DANGER

The Reverend Dr. David Beaumont, Professor Emeritus Luck □ □ □ □ □ □ ■ Harm □ □ □ | □ □ □ □ Experience □ □ □ □ □ (+1 banked Advance) Sophie's read on David was spot on, of course. It always was. He wasn't behind a desk anymore, was out making a real difference. And he had been spared most of the burns the others had been subject to, the worst of his injuries having been some bad smoke inhalation that had left him with a rough cough all throughout Christmas but had then cleared up - a far cry from the worst of the injuries he'd gotten doing this sort of work back in his youth. But age had stolen much of his vigor. He was slower to heal than he had been. And then there was the guilt. How could he be feeling upbeat when his charges had been so injured under his watch? He wasn't sure what he could have done better, but that doesn't assuage his feeling that they were so hurt as a direct result of his shortcomings. David is a thoughtful man, more prone to studying data than inferring outcomes. So while Ekram makes a cut call, he mulls over the exact words texted to them. Over and over again. Was there some sort of code hidden within them? Some secret instructions, or more detailed call for help?

In Brief Ekram The Wronged Stats: Charm +1, Cool +0, Sharp +1, Tough +2, Weird -1 Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ●●●●●○○ Exp: ●●●●○ Playbook Moves I Know My PreyYou get +1 ongoing when knowingly investigating, pursuing or fighting the breed of monster that caused your loss. DIY SurgeryWhen you do quick and dirty first aid on someone (including yourself), roll +Cool. On a 10+ it’s all good, it counts as normal first aid, plus stabilize the injury and heal 1 harm. On a 7-9 it counts as normal first aid, plus one of these, your choice: • Stabilise the injury but the patient takes -1 forward. • Heal 1-harm and stabilise for now, but it will return as 2-harm and become unstable again later. • Heal 1-harm and stabilise but the patient takes -1 ongoing until it’s fixed properly. Never Again!In combat, you may choose to protect someone without rolling, as if you had rolled a 10+, but you may not choose to “suffer little harm.” Trust Your Gut (alt Weird)When you consult your instincts about what to do next, roll +Weird: • On a 10 or more, the Keeper will tell where you should go. Wherever that is, it will be important. You get +1 ongoing on the way to this place. • On a 7-9, the Keeper will tell you a general direction to go. Take +1 forward as you explore that. • On a miss, your instincts lead you into danger. InvincibleYou always count as having 2-armour. This doesn’t stack with other protection. ** Chosen move, Advancement ** A Vacation From This Vacation The message is strange. Not just the syntax, which seems to hang up Hal a bit, but rather the intent behind it. If you're going to be too late and you send a text, why would you not send the context of the lateness in the damn text? Ekram slides his phone onto the table and listens to the others go back and forth as to the purpose of the whole thing. Sophie even puts in a phone call but meets with exactly what one would expect in this situation. The idea that they go to find her is posed and he can't really find a reason to argue against it, so he pulls the jacket off the back of his chair and dons it over his hoodie, snatching up his stuff from the table and shoving them into pockets before he follows them out. The distance isn't far but covering all routes means splitting up, so he takes the bike rather than make the walk. No sign of her on the way, and Sophie initiates the conversation with the flunkie behind the counter so again he is left to stand in the back and kick invisible dirt around the floor. "Is not like Alice." Now it's bothering him, making the burns on his arms itch and his stomach squirm around inside him. She takes her role pretty seriously and this kind of lapse in communication feels wrong. He stares down the porter, considering for a moment how he might shove past the man to check the room, but doubts about the value of the action cloud his mind. All his instincts say something is wrong now, but he's never been great at focusing that anxiety into viable information. A deep breath, a glance down the hallway, and he opens himself up to the hunches. OOC Stuff Okay, gonna try to Trust My Gut now. Never worked before so why not? See, if I smack talk the dice roller I get results.

The porter looks at you all a little suspiciously, as though suspecting a prank or scheme, but looks reassured by David's presence, and wordlessly picks up the desk phone and dials through to Alice's room. He lets it ring for a minute, then replaces it. "Since you've raised a safeguarding concern, I'll check her room. You can come, but I can't let you in." He picks up a ring off keys and leads you around the main quad, a large portion of which has been hastily covered with tarpaulin, and cordened off with cones and cheap orange tape. The porter leads to you to the first floor and an oak door. He knocks for over a minute, and then turns a key and steps inside, calling out. Thirty seconds later, he's back. "No one home". He sounds a little accusing. "We can keep a note at the front desk?"

Sophie ●○ the Monstrous ○● StatsCharm -2, Cool +2, Sharp 0, Tough 0, Weird +3 Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ○○○○○○○ Exp: ●●○○○ Moves Unnatural AppealRoll +Weird instead of +Charm when you manipulate someone. Dark NegotiatorYou can use the manipulate someone move on monsters as well as people, if they can reason and talk. ImmortalYou do not age or sicken, and whenever you suffer harm you suffer 1-harm less. Unquenchable VitalityWhen you have taken harm, you can heal yourself. Roll with Cool. On a 10+, heal 2-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a 7-9, heal 1-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a miss, your injuries worsen. IC Sophie marches around to Merton's main entrance and finds the porter at the front desk. Though Alice may be her senior, Sophie is very much her elder in all the ways that count, so she channels that into her concerned inquiry. "Here, could I have a word, sir? I'm lookin' after a student, by the name of Alice Simmons. We have some worries for her well-being, so. Could you direct us to her room, now? Much obliged, sir." OOC Let's try to Manipulate Someone.

Absent any other pressing engagement, the hunters make their way towards Alice's college, splitting up to cover the most likely routes. But no one spots any sign of her, and so in a short time they all reconvene at Merton Lodge in the dusk. Merton is a small college, with less than 300 undergraduates, and famous for only two things: consistently leading the Norrington Table that ranks colleges on their exam performance, and for walking backwards around their main quad at 2am once per year to ensure the clocks go back on schedule.

⛤᛭⛤ StatsCharm -1, Cool +2, Sharp 0, Tough +2, Weird +1 ⛤᛭⛤ Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ● Luck: ●○○○○○○ Exp: ●○○○○ Moves Cast Out EvilCast Out Evil: You may banish an unnatural creature from your presence. Roll +Tough. On a 10+ it is banished. On a 7-9 it takes a little while for the banishing to take effect—the creature has time to make one or two actions. Either way, the banished creature is unharmed, and you have no control over where it goes. This move may be used on unnatural hunters (e.g. the Monstrous). On a miss, something is keeping it here. That’s bad. Lay on HandsLay On Hands: Your touch can heal injury and disease. When you lay your hands on someone hurt, roll +Cool. On a 10+, heal 2 harm or an illness, plus they’re stabilized. On a 7-9, you can heal the harm or illness as on a 10+, but you take it into yourself. On a miss, your aura causes them extra harm. No LimitsWhen you push your physical body past its limits, roll +Weird: • On a 10 or more, your body obeys your will, to the limits of physical possibility (see below), for a moment. • On a 7-9, you do it but choose one consequence: suffer 1-harm, take –1 forward, or you need to rest right now. • On a miss, something goes horribly wrong. Advanced No Limits. If you advance your no limits move, add this: • On a 12 or more, you can continue acting at your body’s limits for 30 seconds. For the purposes of this move, “physical possibility” means “conceivably possible for a human.” For example: • Physically Possible: Lift an SUV, Jump over a truck, Punch through a wall. • Not Physically Possible: Lift a building, Fly, Punch a blast of energy at a foe. SmiteSmite: Your body and divine weapon always count as a weakness against the monsters you fight. Your unarmed attacks are 2-harm intimate hand messy. IC Empathy may be a mistake. Diving into what Hal is feeling, Sophie would find nothing but confusion and fear wrapped in an armor of paramount frustration and damnable irritation at factors outside his control: at the people who healed him, at his grandmother's influence, at his father for not even coming to visit him, at some force beyond all of this that was at once both hands off and hands on, forcing new and terrifying powers upon him. He doesn't understand it. He doesn't understand any of it, and the powers he's given make even less sense. Logically, even if Sophie is not particularly familiar with Arthurian legend, it makes sense: what does an organic sword and flaming shit have to do with Camelot or even Welsh mythology? Confusion wrapped in frustration: that's the name of the game within Hal. He reads the text again as the line goes dead and it becomes obvious on Sophie's cheek the phone call is over. "Who talks like this? 'Shall'? Is Alice possessed by the spirit of Lewis Carroll?" He jokes, but then adjusts. "Maybe we should go find her?" OOC X

It doesn't even ring once. The cut glass RP voice of British Telecom clicks on: The number you are trying to reach, is unavailable. Goodbye. The line goes dead.

Sophie ●○ the Monstrous ○● StatsCharm -2, Cool +2, Sharp 0, Tough 0, Weird +3 Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ○○○○○○○ Exp: ●●○○○ Moves Unnatural AppealRoll +Weird instead of +Charm when you manipulate someone. Dark NegotiatorYou can use the manipulate someone move on monsters as well as people, if they can reason and talk. ImmortalYou do not age or sicken, and whenever you suffer harm you suffer 1-harm less. Unquenchable VitalityWhen you have taken harm, you can heal yourself. Roll with Cool. On a 10+, heal 2-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a 7-9, heal 1-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a miss, your injuries worsen. IC Sophie reads the message on her phone and furrows her brow. She doesn't leave it to chance. Standing and moving away from the table a bit, she says, "I'm calling her." And then she proceeds to do so. OOC It's the most logical thing to do.

°•⌂→φ←ζ Aηηika, †hΣ HΣx ζ→φ←⌂•° Conditions: None Stats: Charm +2, Cool +0, Sharp +0, Tough -1, Weird +2 Harm: ○○○/○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ●○○○○○○ Exp: ●●●●● Temptation: Power Moves & Gear Bad Luck CharmWhenever you use magic and miss, the backlash never affects you directly if there’s someone else around to hit. It’ll go for allies, other hunters, and innocent bystanders. Sometimes, every so often, it might even hit an enemy. Cast the Bones Once per mystery, you may perform some kind of divination (tarot, casting the runes, reading entrails, or something like that) to glean information about the future. When you seek guidance by divination, roll +Sharp. On a 10+, hold 2. On a 7-9, hold 1. On a miss, you get some information, but it’s not what you want to hear. Spend those holds to ask any question from the investigate a mystery move, or one of the following questions: • What can I gain from this person/place/thing/creature? • Who has touched this person/place/thing/creature before me? The Keeper will answer truthfully, with either a direct answer or how to find out more. Sympathetic TokenAs long as you carry a personal object belonging to someone, such as a lock of hair, a full set of toenails, or a treasured family heirloom, you get +1 ongoing to use magic against them. You can also use magic against them at a distance. If you try to use magic against them and miss, the token is lost, destroyed, or loses its power. Force of WillWhen you apply your will to dispelling a magical effect, blocking a spell, or suspending a Phenomenon, roll +Weird. On a hit, momentary magics are cancelled completely, and long-lasting spells and effects are suspended temporarily. On a 10+, you can also spend Luck to instantly snuff out a powerful spell or strange effect. On a 7-9, you take 1-harm as the strain of dismissing magic unravels you. Rotes: Leeching Enchantment(Must be cast at night. Requires the burning of pressed flowers.) This ability works similar to the Use Magic ability: Enchant a Weapon, but with extra bonuses. On a 10+ Enchant a weapon. It gets +1 harm and +magic and + Vampiric (1 healing for each time it deals damage). On a 7-9 The effect is weakened. Choose two of the three tags. On a miss The weapon turns on you as you attempt to enchant it. Take 1 harm ignore armour. Apply no Effects. Gear: Athame(2-harm hand magic silver) Staff(1-harm hand balanced large) Annika scoffs and responds to Hal without looking back towards him. “Ha. Yeah, I think I am going to start making it a rule that we all have to be banke before each of these meetings. At least we can do something useful with our time while waiting on Queen-“ She stops as her (and everyone else’s) phone buzzes. She looks down at the text message with no small amount of confusion, “What the f*ck does that even mean?” Before anyone can respond to her rhetorical question, she is already looking towards Ekram as he checks his own messages. So his phone does work. Whatever excuse she had created for him ignoring her calls and messages over the break is completely shattered. Her lips go into a thin line and she looks away, rolling her eyes with the movement and not really caring if he saw or not. She drops her phone on the table in front of her and exhales a sigh. Annika had not enjoyed her break. The trip with Sophie to the museum had felt distant and awkward, and she knew that distance was caused by her own issues. But that had actually been the highlight of her time away. The rest was filled with time spent around her parents, which had gone about as poorly as it possibly could have. Whenever she could escape their lectures about ‘working harder to earn her privileges’, she had texted and called both of the boys to check on them. Hal seemed in unusually high spirits, which she doesn’t think is too out of the ordinary. But Ekram had completely ignored her. And, fitting her selfish and spoiled personality, Annika has assumed its because of something regarding her. He must have lost interest — or perhaps he never had it in the first place. That’s what she told herself. She has a long way to go before she’s empathetic enough to pick up on the fact that perhaps not everything revolves around her. All she knows in this moment is that she wants something and it’s not being given to her, and that is enough of a reason to pout, complain, and generally be displeasing. Because that’s what cool kids do. That’s what spoiled kids do. “Sooooo…is she not coming? What does she mean ‘too late’?” OoC N/A

The Hunters pass the time in the of the common room, until almost an hour has slipped by. Then, one by one, their phones variously buzz, ping and chime as they all receive an identical text message from the Acting President. Oh dear! I shall be too late! OOC Ekram, Hal, David - feel free to fill Sophie in on any current emotions or intentions that weren't made clear in your opening posts.

Sophie ●○ the Monstrous ○● StatsCharm -2, Cool +2, Sharp 0, Tough 0, Weird +3 Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ○ Luck: ○○○○○○○ Exp: ●●○○○ Moves Unnatural AppealRoll +Weird instead of +Charm when you manipulate someone. Dark NegotiatorYou can use the manipulate someone move on monsters as well as people, if they can reason and talk. ImmortalYou do not age or sicken, and whenever you suffer harm you suffer 1-harm less. Unquenchable VitalityWhen you have taken harm, you can heal yourself. Roll with Cool. On a 10+, heal 2-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a 7-9, heal 1-harm and stabilize your injuries. On a miss, your injuries worsen. IC Sophie was the first to arrive for the meeting, but she has remained unusually quiet except for polite greetings and terse responses to small talk. She has a faraway look, as if her thoughts are on other matters. In truth, her mind is very much on the group and its wellbeing. As each member enters, she opens herself to their emotions, probing to better understand how they are faring following the break. Annika feels the most closed off to her. She expects that it's her own fault. Ever since her mild deception was revealed, the relationship between them has been strained. The conflict with the draugr provided a temporary distraction from their issues. Sophie had hoped to mend things between them during the break, but with Annika being the only one to (grudgingly) accept her offer of a road trip to Stratford Upon Avon, things were just more awkward. Even their visit to the witchcraft museum went awry, with both of them sensing a dark presence there and prompting them to leave early. Ekram and Hal are both easier to read, but both are dealing with issues of their own and Sophie is not sure how to best help them. She's also fairly certain it's not her place to meddle, even though she senses their need for healing. Ekram's burns may only be surface deep, but Sophie can feel the emotional scars running deeper, along with a longing for a connection. Hal is a more curious case. He shows no outward signs of injury or distress, and internally he is surprisingly muted. Sophie suspects it's a kind of repression. The mind partitioning certain thoughts and feelings to the subconscious so as to allow normal function in the everyday. She's not sure if it's the result of training or just the brain's natural response to trauma. Either way, she has concerns for him as well, should that mental wall ever come down. And then there's David. She knows his mind best of all, but she senses something new. It's difficult to parse, feeling like a combination of weariness and vigor at the same time. Is he invigorated by the new blood around him, but physically tired? Or is he world weary, but pushing through to keep them all safe? She's not sure, but she's worried for him either way. Now where the hell is Alice? OOC Rolling Empathy just for funsies.

⛤᛭⛤ StatsCharm -1, Cool +2, Sharp 0, Tough +2, Weird +1 ⛤᛭⛤ Harm: ○○○ / ○○○○ Unstable: ● Luck: ●○○○○○○ Exp: ●○○○○ Moves Cast Out EvilCast Out Evil: You may banish an unnatural creature from your presence. Roll +Tough. On a 10+ it is banished. On a 7-9 it takes a little while for the banishing to take effect—the creature has time to make one or two actions. Either way, the banished creature is unharmed, and you have no control over where it goes. This move may be used on unnatural hunters (e.g. the Monstrous). On a miss, something is keeping it here. That’s bad. Lay on HandsLay On Hands: Your touch can heal injury and disease. When you lay your hands on someone hurt, roll +Cool. On a 10+, heal 2 harm or an illness, plus they’re stabilized. On a 7-9, you can heal the harm or illness as on a 10+, but you take it into yourself. On a miss, your aura causes them extra harm. No LimitsWhen you push your physical body past its limits, roll +Weird: • On a 10 or more, your body obeys your will, to the limits of physical possibility (see below), for a moment. • On a 7-9, you do it but choose one consequence: suffer 1-harm, take –1 forward, or you need to rest right now. • On a miss, something goes horribly wrong. Advanced No Limits. If you advance your no limits move, add this: • On a 12 or more, you can continue acting at your body’s limits for 30 seconds. For the purposes of this move, “physical possibility” means “conceivably possible for a human.” For example: • Physically Possible: Lift an SUV, Jump over a truck, Punch through a wall. • Not Physically Possible: Lift a building, Fly, Punch a blast of energy at a foe. SmiteSmite: Your body and divine weapon always count as a weakness against the monsters you fight. Your unarmed attacks are 2-harm intimate hand messy. IC Hal did not spend any time in the hospital. At least not in Oxford. He does not speak of where he goes, but it is in a helicopter, it is to the south, and it is away. He does not collect his things, he does not bid anyone a fond farewell (the drugs did not help with that), and then comes radio silence for a time. When the Hilary term resumes, he does not skip a beat, returning and looking... surprisingly spotless. Not a scar, not a burn, not a hair misplaced, as if there were no draugr, as if there were no fire, as if no one died, as if nothing. The look on Hal's face at his first appearance is as if nothing is wrong, everything is right, and all is well. He remains quiet, he remains a reactive kid rather than a proactive one, one known but not well amongst his peers, and one whose grades are fine. Just fine. In truth, having a grandmother with friends in high places meant medical doors opened for one in London and most of the winter break was spent listening to that awful Leon Jackson song while a train of medical gurus at the top of their fields treated him. All he really showed for it was being a smidge paler than he was before the Michaelmas break began, given the time spent inside away from windows while doctors and priests did their best to fix the sorted mess that was Hal Pereder. It meant no magical swords, no flames of God, and nothing to speak of. It did not mean things did not happen to him. And so there he was, sitting at the Bird and Baby, nursing an ale as if nothing happened and mum the word for it. At Annika's comment, he snorts. "Sooner Maggie'd get her seat back in Parliament. Maybe patience is a virtue. Maybe I need to be more drunk for this." OOC First post since we got the beat that's a player game, so we'll see if I'm in any place to do this. So far so good.