Walking the Path

Walking the Path
Date 2081-8-2 GM ArcaneFuror Location Metaplaner Run Status Threat Level: High
Factions Involved
ShadowHaven
Riot Hotaru Captain Boomerang
Requested run to go on a metaplaner quest to upgrade Hotaru's spirit formula.

The Quest

Riot has been planning for a while to travel to the metaplanes and seek out the knowledge she needs to enhance her ally spirit, Hotaru. With a little bullying and a little asking around town, Riot was able to convince her boyfriend/sparring buddy Captain Boomerang to assist and find him some Shade respectively.

Everything started with Captain Boomerang showing up at Riot's place. He was given the dose of Shade and promptly disliked the feel of Riot's lodge, due to background counts that were not aligned with his tradition. After some banter back and forth, Riot laid down on her floor-mattress, and projected. She then proceeded to follow Captain Boomerang back to his place, so the big stupid crybaby could lay down in his own lodge to project. After Boomer's astral form emerged from his lodge, Riot and Boomer followed Hotaru, who would show them the path.

Hotaru led the pair towards the metaplanes. They were surprised to realize that the closer they got to Hotaru's home metaplane, the more... sense it made listening to him. But as they crossed and encountered the Dweller on the Threshold, they were forcibly separated from Hotaru. The dweller knew what Riot was after, and decided to test her for it. Some words were exchanged, and Boomer and Riot found themselves standing before a path. Riot tried to use her power to summon Hotaru, but the bubble metaplane they were inside forbid this, and Riot realized she might cause Hotaru harm if she kept trying. The pair quickly recognized the path as one of Hotaru's favorite metaphors, and decided the best thing to do is follow the path towards its destination.

They walked for what seemed like hours, and found far over the edge of the cliff was a fragment of a stone tablet floating in the air. Riot checked her connection to her magic to see that *that* still worked, and then asked Boomer to throw her over the edge of the cliff so she could grab the tablet and magic herself back to the edge. This was, interestingly, not the first time the pair had done something similar, so Boomer was very familiar with the best methods for throwing Riot somewhere.

With a mighty throw, Riot was hurled at the fragment, and upon grabbing it both Riot and Boomer found themselves falling into blackness, their connection to magic lost. The pair soon found themselves standing by a river bank, again, another common metaphor used by Hotaru. Seeing a path of stepping stones across the river, the pair started trying to make their way across, but after a few minutes of slow progress, they slipped and fell into the water, falling through the murky depths and eventually surfacing in a familiar sewer.

Riot recognized the sewer from her early runner career. This was a passage in the sewer system where she had originally met Hotaru, after she had fought to stop a shadow spirit, only to end up beaten within an inch of her life by the Crimson Crush gangers she had saved, who had decided to blame her for everything that had happened. She remembered waking up in a ghoul den, after her nearly dead body had been recovered by ghouls and dragged into the underground for slaughter for the meat. She remembered meeting Hotaru, who was trapped behind their wards, and she remembered making a pact with him in exchange for guidance out of the sewer.

As she reflected on this, undead forms of the Crimson Crush gangers who did this to her crawled from the muck. Riot and Boomer could feel their magic returning, and began a fight. With no access to their magical gear aside from foci, Boomer did his best to tank the incoming blows while Riot threw high force Ice Storms to try and thin the numbers. The pair was exhausted by the end, but survived.

After clearing out the gangers, they soon found the world change around them, transforming into a hall of mirrors. With a deep sigh, and tired of this, Riot took Boomer's hand so they wouldn't be separated, and began to explore the maze. After getting sufficiently lost, an image of Hotaru appeared in all of the mirrors, and Riot's motives were questioned by the dweller.

Riot stared deeply into the reflection of Hotaru, and explained her pact with him. He would show her the path, and she would help him become stronger. Riot felt she had been failing in this regard so far. When it comes time for a fight, Riot has been keeping Hotaru in the back, accepting his aid for spellcasting and asking him to help sustain her spells, but she avoided allowing him to directly participate in fights, as he simply wasn't strong enough to keep up with her. It wasn't right. It wasn't fair to him. It wasn't what should be. Riot said that Hotaru should be her ally and partner, her equal. But she has been forced to treat him like a servant, and needs to do better for him.

Satisfied, the dweller melted the maze away, and Riot found herself in an ancient arena. Boomer was sent to the stands, and Riot was set to face off with a vision of Hotaru in the form Riot hoped to elevate him to. The dweller asked that they fight, to prove her commitment. Never one to back down from a good spar, Riot agreed.

In spite of her impressive spellcasting abilities, Riot relied on her Shock Glove throughout the fight. A sparring match is no fun if it ends right away, and Hotaru would be more than capable of counter-spelling her magic. With his understanding of Riot's mentality, the image of Hotaru similarly refrained from using his elemental attack, and the two simply fought it out in hand to hand combat.

Several blows were exchanged, until Riot finally emerged victorious, only just barely. Riot and Boomer then found themselves back where they started, in front of the dweller, who awarded Riot with the remaining fragment of knowledge she needed to enhance Hotaru's spirit formula. The dweller then released Hotaru, and allowed them to leave with their prize.

Aftermath

After all was said and done, Riot rested for a day and performed the 6 hour ritual of change, empowering Hotaru to elevate him to force 6, and granting him new skills.

Rewards

• 12 Karma
• Riot obtained what she needed to know to alter Hotaru's spirit formula to enhance his abilities.
• The Ritual of Change was performed. Hotaru is now a force 6 ally spirit.