Friday, October 19, 2018

Journal Entry One

"That I survived to tell these stories is a miracle."
~ from 'Fumbling in the dark,' the secret diary of H.P. Lovecraft

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Seattle
0333 hours, local time

The rain continued its war against the plascrete sidewalk.  The weather app on my phone was signalling a warning of dangerous acid rain, a pH value of 3.6.  The acid rain was stripping away the graffiti. Gang tags streaked and ran like shadows down the pitted walls of the Quik-It grocery.  Kevin was sitting in an old sedan, its electric engine silent under the patter of the rain.

"Oi, Stross, you know its dangerous to be out.  THEY could be watching." Kevin may be paranoid, or he may not.  You're only paranoid if people aren't out to get you and yet you keep jumping at shadows.

I climbed in on the passenger side and turned to face my best talismonger."Had to see you, chummer." I replied. "Who else is going to be able to lay hands on moonstone dust?"

Kevin raised an eye at that. "What are you planning, Stross?"

"Just a little magic, Kevin. I want that dust on hand in case I should happen to run into something from beyond the stars."  I smiled at him. "Until I can afford a power focus of my very own, its going to have to do."

"Are you a law enforcement officer?" Kevin asked.  He fixed his best glare on me.

"No, Kevin. I am NOT a law enforcement officer.  I am also NOT a magician licensed to practice in this jurisdiction." I stared back at him.  "You know this."

"No, I don't." Kevin replied. "You could be one of the lizardmen working for the cops.  Shapechangers with badges, drek! What is the world coming too?"

I didn't have an answer for that.  "Do you have what I need?"

"Yeah, I have it Stross.  Thirty-five an ounce and we're good.  How much do you want?"  He held out his hand.

"I want three ounces.  How about one hundred for all three?"  I was low on money.

Kevin shook his head. "You're robbing me, Stross. Sure.  Three ounces of moonstone dust, one hundred cash, now."

I counted out the money into Kevin's outstretched hand. He only deals in script as he doesn't trust the ghosts in the machines not to turn on him.  He counted it a second time, pocketed the money, then retrieved three small plastic bags from a case he had laying on the back seat.  "Three ounces of moonstone dust.  Perfect reagent to aid in banishment of the fungi from Planet X or for creating a warding circle against the spawn of the lord of the sunken throne. Though for that last bit you'll need a lot more dust."

"Thanks, Kevin. This stuff might save my life one day."  I said.

"Or you may be killed and have your soul consumed by a fungi." Kevin shook his head sadly. "The stars are almost right, Stross.  You need to prepare."

"I'm not sure what any of us can do to be ready."  I opened the door and looked around.  No one seemed to be watching. "Good news is, my brothers are coming back into town.  With them around, who knows, maybe we'll all live until the Old Ones actually walk out of the sea."

"Good luck. Traffic drones will be overhead in three minutes. I have to go." With that the car started to roll forward even as my feet were gaining the rain slicked pavement.

I pulled my hood up to protect myself from the acid rain and walked north toward Wildwood park.  The trees there would offer some thin protection against surveillance and a well woven invisibility spell would do the rest.  I slipped through the park, through old run down homes, to the tiny apartment I rented.

My commlink was flashing its message alert when I picked it up.  My brothers were wanting to see me later that evening.  It seemed a job was brewing and I was very light on cash....

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Thank you for reading my fan fiction!

The stories I will be telling here are going to be based on game play.  The campaign in question starts on October 21st, but I wanted to get a bit of an introduction in for my character.  I hope you'll enjoy the coming tales of our adventures as much as we do.

I also release role playing game material (though not for Shadowrun).  My latest project, Whispers of Persephone, is presently on KickStarter and is approaching its final stretch goal.  Please do check that out, support the project if you can, and do please share it with others.

My Drip page is linked at the top of this page.  I invite you to take a look there, check out what I do there (behind the scenes information and a monthly release).  Please do share that site with others as well.

Thank you!

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