Story VIII - Reality Checks

Details of this story are on still on the main History page.

This story began on April 24-26th, 2011, and begins with the Eye of the Storm split into two groups and not only riding the End Times Ball triumph but trying to make good on its promises, one of which has departed temporarily into Mexico and into a different story genre, while the Mage contingent (minus Linda) pursued some personal and Council related threads while the wolves were away. This story had parallel chapters, at least to begin with. It was an experiment that almost destroyed the Eye, so it only lasted for a few chapters. Thanks to real life factors, the game went on hiatus during Story 8 for several years, and when it began again the group had seen significant changes in its makeup. 

Reality Checks, Chapter I

Chapter I - Look Who's Coming Pho Dinner - April 26, 2011 (Tuesday) the first Los Angeles-specific chapter of this Story: Jerome Haller comes over to the Lab to reveal where and why Jon and Christi have been missing. There's a catch, of course...

Mexico 1 - April 24th, 2011 (Sunday) - Amrita, Joseph, Eel and Jack head down to Baja California in pursuit of the Hang Fire Pack. 

Chapter I Book-Keeping Items

Joseph: n/a

Ashton: n/a

Linda: n/a

Ody: n/a

Ro: 5 WP

Amrita: n/a

Ozy: n/a

Reality Checks, Chapter II

Chapter II - Not a Dungeon Crawl - Tuesday April 26th, 2011. The Eye's mages go with Jerome and Athene down into the Seat of the Nine, get in touch with Jon and Christi, and are ambushed as they predicted, though not in the way they predicted. It gets ugly, and three important characters won't be returning for next chapter.

Chapter II Blue Books and Scenes

• Back to Lake Almanor - (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG) April 26th, 2011. The camera turns briefly back up to the area south of Lassen, following the Warpath meeting up with the McIntyres and then going down the lakeshore following up on a lead. At about the same time, Solomon Wright is out fishing on the lake and finds himself an apprentice.
• The Daughters of Ashton Knight - (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG) Ro and Christi, starting to deal with the chapter's aftermath. Discussion of what went wrong, and Jerome has some information about the attackers.
• How a Witch Grieves - (Codes: NGI, RO, Rating: PG) Set a few hours after The Daughters of Ashton Knight. Ro returns to the Lab to sort through Ash's and Ody's things, to do a little grieving in private and make a few phone calls. She gets a visitor.
• The Phone Call No One Wants - (Codes: NGI, RO, Rating: PG) - April 27, 2011, 1 PM. Amrita, in Calexico now and finished with La Rumorosa, gets back to Ro and learns what has happened back in LA. She is struck with grief.
• Brokenness - (Codes: NGI, RO, Rating: PG) Just after The Phone Call No One Wants. Joseph breaks the news to Linda, and she has a breakdown. Amrita and the rest of los cuatro pull together to get through this pain, and agree that it's time to head back to LA.
• To Mourn a Knight - (Codes: RO, Rating: PG)  Amrita and Jack, with him trying to help her through the grief of Ashton's death, and her poking at some of his demons.
• On the Drive to Glittering Dreams (Codes: RO, NGI. Rating: PG) Still 4/27/2011. The Mexico crew returns to LA and makes a few arrangements. Jack and Amrita have a convo while riding in a separate vehicle from Linda and Joseph while escorting Hang Fire pack to GD.
• To Come Together Again (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG) Yet more 4/27. The Mexico crew and the Night Sky pack roll in and take The Lab like they're running an op, reconnect with Ro and everybody does some catching up on where things stand. The group is reunited. Minus two.
• CSI: Los Angeles. Yyeah. (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) 4/28 at last. The Eye of the Storm and the Night Sky go to the Seat of the Nine and check out the site of Night and Ody's deaths, and learn of the loss of Han Zhou's sword. Amrita is disappoint. Yet, they and the Hermetics do uncover some useful information and form some further plans, despite the painful reminder of the group's losses.
• A Night With Ash's Girls (Codes: BS, RO, NGI, Rating: PG) 4/28, dinner time. Ro has Christi Knight, her sort-of stepsister, over for supper at Molly's place in Venice, and the two of them have a lot to discuss, especially about their late father... including revelations about his family, and some speculation about the late clone's purpose.
• The Looking Glass (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) 4/28, late at night. Introducing Jeremy Reuter! Joseph, Linda and (off camera) Hang Fire are scoping out the Inglewood Oil Field when a certain photojournalist catches their attention and proves to be a potentially useful resource. We get an outsider's look at Eel and Big Joe, with a side of WTF. Jeremy follows the white rabbit anyhow. Twice. Poor sod.

Chapter II Book-Keeping Items

Joseph: n/a

Ashton: deceased.

Linda: Presently laboring under a Paradox Flaw that has so far lasted 24 hours as of the Brokenness side scene.

Ody: deceased.

Ro: 3 WP. Was incapacitated, but has been healed.

Amrita: n/a

Ozy: 1 WP left. Was Wounded, but has been healed.

Reality Checks, Chapter III

Chapter III - Friday, 4/29/2011 - The memorial service for the fallen Traditionalists at the Seat of the Nine, and reconstituting the Council of Nine for the LA area is debated. Finally introducing Black Betty! Also Cyprian and Jeremy get an introduction to Mage politics!

Chapter III Blue Books and Scenes

• Night at the Culver Hotel - (Codes: NGI) Friday, 4/29/2011 - this scene is a bridge between chapters3 and 4, showing what Amrita & co meeting with Ace between leaving the Council meeting and Ro and Jeremy’s rejoining them upstairs about two paragraphs into Chapter 4.

Reality Checks, Chapter IV

Chapter IV - Friday, 4/29/2011 - The conclusion of the Council meeting, and the Eye stays the night upstairs in the hotel, making connections with potential new allies and among the Traditions, strengthening ties with existing ones, working on the way ahead and finally taking the chance to breathe while they discuss leads re: PXP and the Nephandi, and the decide to prioritize going after the former for now. Jeremy gives his two cents.

Chapter IV Blue Books and Scenes

• Cures and Chiminage (Codes: NGI, RO) Monday, 5/2/2011 - Rowena and Linda head to the Seat of the Nine for a medical appointment with Christi. The two witch-doctors treat Linda's cancer at last. Afterwards, they head back to the house for some preps relating to the rest of the week. (the first blue book both written and posted in 2015)
• Data Dive (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG) Monday, 5/2/2011, a bit after the above. Linda heads over to the Fort Institute to pick up some gear and to make her first venture into the Digital Web, looking for information on PXP, and has an epiphany that will broaden her Paradigm considerably.
• I Call it Monday: Prologue (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) Monday 5/2/2011 - A Prologue in two parts. 1. Amrita wakes up at the Lab that morning and makes a hard decision while the others aren't home. 2. Agent Wilt Jackson's monday evening ends rather worse than it began.
• Rising Sun and Rising Sun, Part 2 (Codes: NGI, Rating: R for gore) Monday 5/2/2011 - both a side scene/story bit and a system tutorial/demo as opportunity to introduce a trio of new players and their characters. This is a look at some of the actual mission talked about in passing under Rite of Passage, below. A temporary pack of 3 Garou band together with a Euthanatos monster hunter to break a few vampire skulls. Finished 3/21/2020!
• Rite of Passage (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG) Monday 5/2/2011. Where Joseph was in the afternoon and evening of the 2nd: helping Glittering Dreams and Mictlan with a joint op against Leeches. Young Billy King is deemed ready for his Rite of Passage, and has some questions about Mages.

Reality Checks, Chapter V

Chapter V, Part A - Time After Time (Codes: NGI, Rating: R for horror, violence and harm to minors) Monday 5/2/2011 - After Cures & Chiminage, Ro expects a quiet day of studying the Time Sphere with her mother. A couple phone calls later, right under the bus that idea goes for both her and Jeremy. 

Chapter V, Part B - A Text From a Dead Man (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) Monday 5/2/2011 - Following Rite of Passage, starting at the GD&L Institute. The new pack of Garou come into the main narrative at last, meeting up with Chases. They decide to form a pack, and to help him out when he gets a rather surprising message. 

Chapter V Blue Books and Scenes 

• Two E-Mails (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG) - Two e-mails sent by two very different folks to their compatriots during the first week of May.

Chapter V Book-Keeping Items

Amrita: n/a

Ashton: deceased.

Cailan: Hi all!

Candace: Hi all!

Gabriel: Hi all!

Joseph: n/a

Linda: Presently laboring under a Paradox Flaw that has so far lasted almost a full week.

Ody: deceased.

Ozy: 1 WP left. 

Ro: 3 WP. Recovered 1 from healing Linda, then spent it again against Fomori.

Reality Checks, Chapter VI: Home Invasion

Chapter 6, Part 1 (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) Monday 5/2/2011-early AM on Tuesday 5/3 - This one picks up with Ro and Jeremy, and introduces Joshua, the beginning of the chapter running concurrently with the tail end of 8-5: A Text From a Dead Man. Ro and company debrief at the Academy of Thorns, and when they're leaving they finally receive the belated messages from 8-5, and the whole group connects at last in a video call. The Lab is full of Technocrats! Plans are made to move in and deal with this, dragging poor Joshua along for the ride. Things get messy.

Chapter 6, Part 2 (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) Monday 5/2/2011-early AM on Tuesday 5/3 - This one picks up in the midst of the "mess" from part 1: the group held at gunpoint in the dining room at the Lab. A shocking turn of events pushes an already precarious situation completely over the edge.

Chapter 6, Part 3 (Codes: NGI, RAting: PG-13) (Codes: NGI, Rating: pending) Tuesday 5/3/2011 - Monday's finally over! This one starts with picking up the pieces at the Fort Institute after a very, very long Monday. Many, many threads are finally brought together at last, and everybody finally gets onto the same page. Story 8 ends at last.

Chapter VI Blue Books and Scenes 

• I Call it Monday, Scene 1 (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) - Amrita's house-sitting time at the Lab takes a turn when Jackson turns up a day ahead of schedule (see the prologue scene). It's a tense sort of meeting, but they come to a deal.
• I Call it Monday, Scene 2 (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) - Amrita and Jackson escape the Lab and shake pursuit, and they finally have a chance to talk for real.
• I Call it Monday, Scene 3 (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) - Amrita and Jackson turn towards the O, and lay some ground for their next step. 
• Mission Control (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) - Set Monday 5/2/2011. A follow up to both Data Dive and the I Call It Monday series of scenes, setting up the back end of what happened in Chapter 6. What happened with Agent Martinez immeidately after Jackson fled his condo, a look at what Linda discovered in the Web. Linda encounters a popup.
• Tropico (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) - Set Monday 5/2/2011, in the middle of Chapter 6, Part 2. Eel's interrogation by Agent Martinez. The fate of unaccounted-for Overwatch personnel is revealed. 
• The Beast Court (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG) - Set Tuesday 5/3/11, right after Chapter 6, Part 3. Ro and company pick up a teenaged Hermetic Master at the airport, and then are off to meet with the Beast Court and try a little diplomacy.
• Broken Beetle (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG) - Set Tuesday 5/3/11. Concurrent the The Beast Court, above. Jeremy, Joseph and Linda get Jeremy's car sorted out, and find a wandering Silent Strider along the way. Hi William!
• Unpacking (Codes: RO, Rating: PG) - Set the evening of Tuesday 5/3/11. Ro and Eel decompress a little and discuss the way ahead. Ro makes some decisions.
• Muckraking (Codes: NGI, Rating: PG-13) - Set Wednesday 5/4/2011, the same day as Amrita, Linda et al went to Arizona for a few days for the Uktena Grand Council. Jeremy Reuter tails a couple of PXP executives along with one Londy Fields and bites off rather a lot to chew. 
• I'm Adopted! (Codes: RO, NGI, Rating: PG) - Set Thursday 5/5/2011. Ro meets up with the Warpath, and Eel, Joseph and Amrita catch up later. Ro formally undergoes the Rite of Adoption and becomes Uktena Kinfolk. Some relationships get reaffirmed, some strained, and a couple of boys almost get in a fight.
• The Great Council - set Friday 5/6/2011. The Great Council of the Uktena Tribe.
• Papa-Paparazzi - set Friday 5/6/2011. Jeremy and Candace go to a club to take in a show... 
• Mama and the Bear - Set Friday 5/6/2011. We get our first look at the Gurahl Kalluk, and he meets Mama Bear...
• Goddess in the Machine (Codes: RO, NGI, Rating: PG-13)  Set Saturday 5/7 - Sunday 5/8/11. Starting the morning after the Great Council's conclusion, covering may departures, of different kinds, including Joseph's departure from the Warpath, and Amrita's involuntary departure from the Eye of the Storm.

Chapter VI Book-Keeping Items

Adrienne: fine.

Amrita: deceased?

Ashton: deceased.

Cailan: deceased

Candace: Fine.

Gabriel: 1 WP, 2 Rage, - 2 HL  aggravated damage, -1 die on all actions.

Jeremy: 7 WP. Acquired the Overwatch armor suit

Joseph: 0 Willpower, - 2 HL  aggravated damage, -1 die on all actions.

Kalluk: Fine.

Linda: Her Paradox Flaw finally expired on 5/5/11

Ody: deceased.

Ozy: 1 WP left. 

Ro: 1 WP, 9 Paradox