ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Thaumivore

A series of unexplained disappearances have been occurring involving women in their mid-20s. Apparently unrelated, the first of what will work out to be a series of corpses of extremely elderly women will begin to be found and reported to the authorities.

The story will center on tracking and subduing the responsible party — an Orphan mage with a flair for self-improvement along the lines of bodybuilding. Not having been trained, and warned as to the results of sustained improvement, he has strayed into thaumivorism. Can either be played as willingly killing the girls or it happening subconsciously (and taking a horrible toll on him emotionally). Characters will get involved after a linkage is made between one of the elderly corpses and one of the missing girls. Ability to drain Quintessence, thereby killing people, can be viewed as an ongoing expression of a permanent Paradox flaw. Requires sustained contact as one Health Level is taken per round. If playing him as unwilling, Flaw also gives a vampire-like hunger which can only be kept at bay so long. In fact, players may assume with proper encouragement that they are hunting a vampire.

Firestarter

A series of deadly arsons have occurred in the heart of the toughest, most run-down part of the city in recent weeks. Official investigations have revealed witnesses to the fires all recall the pressence of one, fairly nondescript individual before or just after the fires. The one striking feature all comment on, that made him memorable, is his strikingly effeminate, if beautiful, face and that he'd asked questions about the occupants who perished in the fires.

The individual will turn out to be an angel who, within Divine Rules but without Higher Sanction, has tired of watching minions of The Adversary operate with an apparently free hand. Finding specific minions, who know now what is going on and have been lying low, he uses his abilities to invoke a mystical conflagration which will destroy their physical form and cast their spirits across the Gauntlet. That mortals have died in the ensuing fires does not concern him. He did not directly cause their deaths (which is forbidden) and besides, "Mortal life is a fleeting thing compared to eternity." Player will have to figure out if they can stop the angel who, if questioned, will admit who he is as he can't lie (though he can refuse to answer).

The angel is not immune to magick, but does have its own kind of countermagick. May want to assign some static abilities. Magick, in the angel's eyes, is a presumptuous act, allowed by being created in God's image but still a sin. One truth a demon may offer is that an angel may not fail to answer a direct question from a mortal more than twice, though it may attempt to avoid the asker's presence. Similarly true, a demon may not speak the same lie three times (but no demon is going to let that one slip). Players who make an appropriate Theology, Enigmas or Intuition roll may figure this out. Direct combat against the angel should be presented as the least effective scenario. Make this a thinking man's game and have the characters either persuade him to stop (not likely) or make use of the information above to find out what will make him stop.

Perfect Doctor

Personally, my favorite is messing with the players' preconceived notions. They're all prepared to deal with soulless HIT Marks and other soldier drones of Iteration X, but it does a real head trip on them when they find the bionic surgeon who's been hardwired with the Asimovian Protocols and the Hypocratic Oath as superior to the Precepts of Damian. After all, Iteration X is about perfection and the perfection of the machine. A physician who kills people, or allows them to be killed, is by definition not a perfect physician. Major head trip for the Virtual Adept when she found that the cyborg had not uploaded her coordinates to Autocthonia.