Quote Originally Posted by mmdeforrest View Post
John frowned in confusion as he cast the healing spell. “That’s not much of a favor, Keith—although healing is a much surer thing with Seraph than it is with me. Didn’t you speak with him?”

Spoiler: The Dangers of Super-Sorcery loom but do not strike here.
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Spellcasting: Healing: 1d12o12-1 2 1d6o6-1 0

Recovers?: 1d8 5 1d6 2

While checking the Healing rules, I noted that John should have been Fatigued (-1 to all Trait rolls) for his failure to heal Grayson—good thing he rolled a frickin’ 34 on his Teleportation attempt. Having failed to heal Keith, he is now Exhausted (-2 to all Trait rolls) for the next hour and remains Shaken.


“I’m afraid I have overextended myself a little today,” John confesses as his spell fails to take hold and he leans on his workbench, “Well, maybe longer than today. I’ve been running wide open for a while and my focus is beginning to suffer for it. If an emergency crops up, I will try again but I should probably take a little time to refocus myself before another attempt, if we can afford it.”

He looked up and regarded Keith. “One of your most obvious qualities, Kieth, is a desire to be a good friend to those you care for. I don’t doubt that includes me,” he continued, offering a wry smile, “even if Clea is of two minds about it. Just try to continue to be that. It will be hard enough for you to continue that in the coming days without pledging yourself to one side or another in a battle that may be inevitable. My guess is that Valèdir is not going to choose a time when anyone else is easily available anyway. He may be proud and underestimate me but he isn’t stupid enough to allow me to easily call in backup. After all, he imagines this as a fight to the death and if he is ready to die for this he won’t be around to protest that I ganged up on him.

“But like any good magician, I have a few tricks up my sleeve and more arrive tomorrow, along with your and everyone else’s new body armor.

“Well, almost everyone else’s. Auger has his own, after all, and I don’t know how practical it will be for Drake to wear his as a precaution against someone getting around his metallic form.”

He shook his head. “Anyway, I think I am going to grab a quick shower and re-center myself before I get back to work. Stolas is welcome to join me here in a little over an hour if he wishes to kibitz or just observe. I’m not sure how familiar he is with Blood Magic and Demonology, which are two of the three fields I will be primarily drawing on but if he has any thoughts as to how I can bridge the absence of a greater demon’s True Name with the ichor of her brother, I’m all ears. Dr. Riviera didn’t notice anything amiss—beyond the obvious its-a-hare-brained-scheme-and-I-have-to-be-nuts kind of thing.

“Regardless, he would be welcome if he wishes to observe.”
Keith looks at the ground and rubs the back of his neck. "Y-yeah, and I should have. Think I got caught up in the excitement of being allowed to help him out that adrenaline kicked in." As the spell failed, he raised an eyebrow in confusion at what may be eating at John. He hardly ever had things like this go wrong. In fact, he had never seen him not be able to do something.

He offered a comforting smile. "No worries, John. It's entirely understandable given..... well everything. I mean," Keith gestures as if to motion to the city. "I'll talk with Seraph again in the morning, but do appreciate it. And hope you can get some rest in."

At the next interaction, and John's observation about Keith, he couldn't help but nod silently as the possibility of having to take a side arose. It was entirely a possibility and he wouldn't put it past Valèdir to use that against him. Or John in that fight. Granted one of them is more likely to fall for it. He offered another smile as it ended though.

"It does include you, John. And, kinda used to people being of two minds of it." He shrugged. "Happens when you work with a bunch of spies. That and, I'll do that. Still wanna talk with Jaal about their claim lines to see about makin' a back up plan." He pinched the bride of his nose. That fight would be inevitable at some point. "Have a feelin' if my other plan were to start, Valèdir might just speed up his time table. So holdin' off of trying to introduce Grayson to Addi or someone at North Side."

Keith smirks. "Guess the good news there is, Raph can move a few people too." He then tilted his head. "Wait new body armor? I.... thank you." He didn't quite know what else to say. It wasn't something he had expected either. "Drake might definitely be open to it given the events we went through after lunch. Especially if we gotta run into Marrow again."

Keith just nodded in agreement about John's plan and looked at the time. They'd all need sleep with everything. "I'm sure he would love to sit in. I don't know what he knows about either either, probably more on Blood Magic than Demonology. I can recognize some Blood Magic but, well, we know my specialty." Keith thought for a moment. "What if the emptiness of the void created a space, something there and not there? Eh can discuss it more tomorrow."

He just grinned at Dr. Riviera's comment. "Kinda goes with out jobs though. But I'll go through the Empire books tonight and see if I can find anything. Maybe Jason had been planning something and we all just missed it. That, and since we know that Rin was making Nova, thank you for that again by the way; I would love the chance to just rain on that parade."

Keith shook his head. "Regardless, I hope the rest of the evening is restful, John. See ya, well later today." After any responses from John, Keith would wave and make his way back to him room.

It was time for another shower, and then a good few hours of unconsciousness.