Noel Nilsson

✦ The only child of two regular people and caring parents
✦ Nothing specifically noteworthy for him growing up. He lives in a small scarcely populated town surrounded by lots of fields, forests and some swamp land. It's not really a significant place in the grand scheme of things
✦ Few years into school though a handful of people in the friend group he was in start to be mean to him, he gets left out of things and all that (not invited to hang out with others, called names and all that stuff)
✦ As years go by he gets included in a couple of groups. Some of them just leave him behind, some think he isn't cool anymore (like during the 7-9th years of school he has no interest in smoking and the rest of the teens think he's boring) (and lame since he won't sneak or pickpocket things from the store for them - or throw a few pennies for 'friends' so they could get things)
✦ To not feel totally left out, lonely & abandoned, Noel does loan off some coins here and there, bit rarely gets anything back. People speak mean things of him behind his back. Eventually he willingly distances himself from others
✦ Noel has no idea on any future careers he could strive towards, so he goes to high-school after 9th grade to give himself some extra time to think
✦ Him & his family get a dog, a black & tan Shiba inu, whom Noel named Crispy
✦ On the last year of high-school he still doesn't have any concrete ideas on where to go, so he might as well spend some time in the mandatory military program

✦ Before that though, he enlists as a 'buddy/watch' person on a Summer camp (generally these are teenagers and such, at the very least a few years older than the people they look after)
✦ The kids he's looking after are fine, he has a decent time with them, playing whatever games they asked and all that stuff
✦ Some of the other watch personnel of his age are less than thrilled though. Some bullies don't mature until they go too far, and some not even then
✦ As a 'silly prank' Noel gets pushed off a pier while the watch personnel has gathered to plan their events for the evening
✦ Because of the water there being shallow he hits his head on a rock and passes out while still in the water. Another watch gets in the water to go pick him up and brings him to shore where he later recovers consciousness but obviously feels awful as a result of the incident
✦ After he was pulled out of the water and what not, a handful of strange things sure did happen. For one his hair turned white, getting even lighter than it already was. The wooden planks on the porch by the beach sauna - over which Noel had been laid down on - started creaking under people's feet as they walked on 'em, later in on the day the planks would snap under little pressure and people would notice all the nails having rusted. Even the rag rug over there had fallen apart slightly as some of it had come undone and unraveled for one reason or another. The handle to Noel's room seemingly broke too when he opened the door
✦ The rest of the watches started avoiding him, both out of the slightest feeling of guilt and unwillingness to apologize, and the strange occurrences just making people feel a slight bit uncomfortable. Practically the only people at the camp not treating him like a weirdo were few and far between, some kids didn't think too much of it and the priest looking over the whole camp itself was reassuring - although not fully understanding on what exactly was going on
✦ Noel would spend the rest of the day not feeling the greatest. And the day after he highly considered leaving the camp early, even as it would be his last chance to be a watch at a camp like that and he'd probably miss it. He was just not feeling great overall, considers himself coated in bad luck
✦ As he's sitting outside by his lonesome Noel is approached by a man, a total stranger he has never seen before and has an odd feeling to himself. The priest claims to know the man and assures Noel that he's fine, been a close friend of his for years so to speak
✦ (In reality the priest does in fact Not know the new arriver in the slightest. There's some unnatural things at play and while Noel can sense them, he figures that things have been super weird in the past 24 hours anyway so whatever happens might as well happen)
✦ The person - although somewhat intimidating in appearance - is fairly polite and offers to sit with Noel for a bit, introducing himself as Aarni Kuisma
✦ Aarni simply asks of him what happened recently, why he's sitting there alone and a few other general light questions to have himself be a little less of a stranger through conversation. He then asks if Noel remembers some big news from around 8-9 years ago, to which the boy has barely anything to recall from the past. Around that time though there was a rather significant change in world order, when it became a known thing that supernatural beings were in fact a real thing and not just stories. They had simply been hiding their existence, and for some reason or another unknown to the majority they were now making their existence a known fact. Noel does recall having heard of some of these things mentioned, but since he lived in such a relatively remote town it had simply never affected him in any meaningful way
✦ Now though? It seems like all of that suddenly became more relevant. A lot more as he has now become a Mage. What Aarni explains to him is that the moment he fell off the pier and hit his head he Awakened so to speak. There's a lot more to it that he should run Noel through, but a place such as this might not exactly be the best suited for it. Things sure are confusing Noel, but he does try his best to grasp the information he's been given
✦ Aarni forbids him from trying much out and advices for him to simply return home when he can. Noel was already thinking of that so he doesn't need much convincing on that front. Aarni does ask him what he plans on doing after this though, and Noel has no concrete answers to give him. He would probably start preparing for the military and then see about whatever. The older man however very much shakes his head on the idea of him going anywhere near the military at the moment, he's far from stable when it comes to the things affecting him
✦ After they discuss things a little more among each other, they figure that the best course of action for now is for Noel to learn more about this new course his life has taken, study it and what not. While Aarni isn't necessarily a teacher, he can speak to Noel's parents and how he's going to go study a few cities over, the subject of the studies is very specific and only the one school teaches said subject. Aarni himself lives close by though, so if the parents were to be worried about their son moving to live on his own, they'd have a bit of a safety net in knowing that there was someone that could help him living relatively near. He'd also, of course, have to be the one who gets Noel in said 'school' in the first place, but as the kind of magick associated Noel in that moment was of the Entropy Sphere, it would be only natural he further studied it with those most proficient in the use of it - that being the Euthanatoi
✦ Aarni has to leave the camp after he's helped Noel figure things out. Prior to that though, he harmlessly has those who pushed Noel off the pier experience a bit of a payback for their doings, a stroke of bad luck according to Noel, or how Aarni himself puts it, it was simply karma for their actions. (The seams in the bullies' clothing started to unravel in front of everyone, with haste)

✦ Afterwards Noel takes Aarni's suggestion and dyes his hair - just that what Aarni was thinking was for it to either be his regular color or another natural one, and not Pink like Noel went about it. Oh well, as long as Noel is happy it's fine
✦ In about a month Noel has packed his things and set off on a train towards the new city he'd be studying things. To his surprise though he notices that the dog he left at home with his parents was now at his feet in the train. He has very little idea in how, but Crispy was there travelling with him. A quick call to his parents later it seems like he was going to be taking the dog with him afterall. Another strange thing for sure. (Crispy had practically become his Familiar, Noel would simply not know of this until it was explained to him sometime later)

✦ The next few months of his life Noel lives near where he studies. He's finding all the new information he learns rather fascinating, but at the same time he's a bit frivolous about it all. A handful of the things he learns just seem very out there to him, so he has a hard time taking them seriously, his mindset on such things being 'if I haven't heard or read of it before, it's probably not that important or serious'. Because surely, if it was something he should have been very aware of, they would have taught it to him in school or it'd have been very public knowledge by that point, right?
✦ Things would take a bit of a turn one day during training. They'd be going over duels, certámen to be specific, and Noel was once again taking it lightly. He was confident in his thought of 'none of them being in any real danger' & of the fact that his opponent wouldn't Actually hit him or anything. Unfortunate for him, one less than stray dagger later he'd come to learn that yes, his opponent Would in fact be treating things as if their lives actually depended on it
✦ Noel lost his right eye in the incident, but in return he did start taking things more seriously, figuring that they were truly for real. Most of the injury was healed, and while he could get his eye back too, he chose to keep it the way it was as a reminder for himself
✦ His studies would then continue with him focusing on them a bit better, but Noel wouldn't have the chance to become a full member of the Tradition yet as something came up. To this day he's not fully aware what took place or was essentially going on at the time, but in short he had to move away and put his studies to a halt for a bit. He shouldn't just return to his parents out of the blue like that as it'd be hard to explain to them. So instead, he opted to get an apartment somewhere relatively nearby, from the city Aarni himself lived in. Seemed like a natural alternate for however long his studies would be on a break

✦ Noel gets to live in this new place for a little bit, just taking in the scenery and working out where things were and all that. Things would get rather strange from then on though, as one day while he's on a walk with Crispy, he's pulled in to get included in some business with a handful of other younger mages that live there. At first he's a little reluctant, but figures he might as well help with whatever they need to do.
✦ The 4 of them track down the mystery behind disappearing food delivery orders & the general chaos taking place in the underground mall. The cause turned out to be a couple of fae kids who had ran away from home. The conflict was handled without violence (giving them a little healthy food poisoning was just a smart strategy I swear) and the now a little tiny bit less keen to steal kids were returned to their worried relatives.
✦ Noel also helped another member of their group with a curse she got from the fae, managing to dispell it even if he had no prior experience in doing such. Noel sees this as a simple stroke of luck, while the the mage he helped gained a sort of respect towards his skills.

✦ Later the 4 of them would be called upon again, this time to a local car repair shop where a strange incident had taken place. The place is ran by a group of werewolves, so one can assume that the person who thought it was a good time to 'break in' and start a scene wasn't exactly doing too well once it was all over. The scene had already been cleaned when the mages got there though, of course, but they managed to still find out a handful of things that proved useful in the tracking of the person who had come in and picked a fight with the wrong crew.
✦ One stolen bus camera later the mages are able to confirm the identity of the person and head to his apartment for further information. There they find the boy's grieving parents and have to claim themselves as detectives who are handling the case so they can ask more. What they find in the apartment then directs them to a local bar, the 4 of them enter and try to just fit in with the crowd, getting drinks and one of them ends up on getting drunk fairly quickly with the rest of them having to act as if they didn't just get in together. The supposed owner of the bar escorts their tipsy friend to their table, and seems nice enough at first. There's something off about him though. A kind off odd feeling they can't quite explain. Noel tries to sneak a picture of the man but an overwhelming force seems to force his hand down, therefor a picture was not taken.
✦ The mages however did hear the bar having a bit of a 'secret' somewhere within it, so they're trying to carefully get more information on it. And when the bar owner asks if they know about 'it', Noel humors and simply says "Why of course~" (his hopes were on the man slipping and speaking more on the matter) and is then swiftly almost making familiarities with a knife (through some help he manages to avoid it, but it's still not a good situation to be in). At that point it's best for the mages to leave, for things are starting to heat up a little and it'd not be good for them to fight an entire bar - even if they had a few of the werewolves from earlier ready to help them outside. The case remains open, but partially because of that they get invited to go to the next gathering of the werewolves to see where the rest of them stand in the matter after their findings. Noel decides to stick with the group at least until the case is solved.

✦ The werewolf gathering is honestly in general a meeting of all sorts of shapeshifters. There are wolves of course, but also a handful of ravens and even a lion - who brought another mage with herself and practically tells him to 'go make friends' with his fellow mages. The man isn't exactly thrilled about it, but gets pulled along anyway and even partakes in a hunting event with the other mages (quite the feat fro the group, they manage to come 3rd, after such amazing line of events as 'locate the weakest prey' 'find it and make it Explode' 'drag it back to the contest area' 'jam a handful of lurking Black Furies on place with tree sap' '& drop a whole tree on top of the one who got away'). They have a decent time. Afterwards though they have yo bring up the whole bar mystery and do their best to convince the wolves to let them have another look on the matter - rather than the wolves just rushing the place and beating everyone in there to a pulp. It's a tough call, but they get their wish and the wolves agree (they'll send a few members as backups in case a conflict lights up though). All in all, the day was a success. One of the ravens follows the mages to the city though, makes acquaintances, somewhat, and lies his way to 'snatch' 50€ off the mages so he can buy pizza.

✦ Two of the mages from the group spend some time away from the city, and on the meanwhile another manages to find a way to contact the president and tries to call him over to party - the request is denied and none of the other mages are aware of any of this taking place.
✦ Once everyone is back though, they gather at their base again to discuss their plans of action. They're somewhat interrupted by the raven from before - deliberately making as much noise as he can in the air vent as he arrives - and invites the mages to come have lunch with him (at a pizzeria, go figure). The whole thing was a bit of a test to see what kinds of people the mages are, and in the end the raven decides that the lot of them are alright and commends them for it.
✦ As they're leaving the pizzeria several police cars drive past them. There's been an incident at the center market and the news are hot on their feet to follow and report on it. According to the news 3 people met their end when some science crazed mages arrived to test their magic guns or what not on unsuspecting civillians. Then some 'hero' stepped up and stopped the rampaging mages and now the police has arrested them. Noel and the rest of the mages sure aren't exactly keen on believing this story. To them this very much seemed like someone's attempt at placing mages in a very bad light. They try getting more information but are only left with more questions. With some luck though, they manage to secure a video clip of the 'hero' and a strange 'forcefield' they might have. They also figure that the 'hero' isn't a mage himself (nor were the 'mages' from before) and he seems to be a regular at the bar from before. Apparently there's also going to be some sort of event in said bar in the evening and the lot of them decide it's likely the best chance they have at figuring out what this all is about, so two of them are sent to infiltrate the crowd while the rest stay outside (with the werewolves who are informed to their plans as they prepare)
✦ The operation starts off alright - as alright as it can at least when you learn that the people gathered there at the bar are there to 'give people a way to fight back mages' - but things get weird quickly as during a sermon of sorts people at the bar start passing out when the owner of the bar has a few words with them and so forth. Once he gets to the mage group's infiltrators it becomes rather clear that neither of them are regular people. A fight ensues, takes a turn the second the werewolves break their way in and the owner of the bar decides to run instead of sticking around. The mages outside try to stop the man, but then it turns into one of the mages stopping the werewolves by jumping in front of them (almost dying in the process but succeeding) as they wanted the escapee alive so they could further question him. In the end the man is trapped via some tricks with friction and taken elsewhere to be questioned. Turns out the man is a vampire, but instead of blood he feeds on Willpower and what not. The mages decide to strike a deal with him & let him live. Afterwards everyone pretty much goes to sleep and Noel is finally being struck with all the information he has just learned. He does not sleep well.

✦ In the following days the raven returns again, asks for the mages to follow him and takes them to meet a spirit, a very big rat whom gives the mages its blessing as a thank you for them when it came to a few things. Afterward as they're leaving one of the mages gets a call which congratulates them on winning a raffle prize. Everyone is a little suspicious, but hey choose to go together to investigate. Turns out the thing was real? Well, the winner grabs a portion of their winnings (that being several bottles of alcohol) and the group leaves to sit off somewhere in the park. There a drunk person quickly makes friendly chat with a handful of them, but some aren't exactly warming up to giving information about themselves in return. For one Noel leaves at some point, not keen on alcohol himself, and wants to avoid the budding conflict that might form.
✦ Things don't fully end there though, as it seems the drunk person was a mage in disguise and practically part of the mage police. They want to know how they got the president's contact and what they were trying to do with them. Things are resolved, somewhat, and after the police leaves the rest of the mages have a chat with each other. The evening ends up with the mages and a few others running away from the pissed off spirit of Fenrir after they broke a memory seal it had placed on a person. No-one got hurt, but they decide it's a good time they reinforced the barriers of their base.

✦ Sometime later the group is invited to celebrate with the shapeshifters, as well as them wanting to thank the mages for resolving their conflict and all that. Generally the day passes pretty nicely in good spirit. In the evening they have to assist a pair of lost ladies though, keeping them safe from some faction and all that. Task completed successfully with no casualties to the mages - similarly the other side was merely knocked out and the group retain their pacifist way of solving things - in a way at least.

✦ A week later the vampire from before returns in the evening, all sorts of messed up after a seemingly even bigger conflict with the faction that was after the ladies. Supposedly said faction has now been dealt with for good, but obviously in aftermath things look a bit grim. They're able to patch him up though, but everyone remains a little confused and mildly on edge. So when Noel gets a message of a package (that he didn't even order) being delivered he's extremely suspicious and uncertain. Another mage from the group offers to go with him, but once they get there Noel only has more questions as the box is apparently from his mentor? And he has a note from the man too. He really doesn't feel too certain about any of it, asks for the other mage to go on a walk with him so they could both calm their minds.
✦ Once they get to a park though, Noel silently opens the package again to take out its contents. He's been tasked with assassinating the person he's currently on a walk with, because for some reason they're a great danger to everyone - but Noel doesn't see it that way, and doesn't want to take their life because of that. So instead he finds a loophole in the order and uses the sword that was in the box to strike his fellow mage in the back of the head - with the flat side of the blade - and considers the job done with that single strike that has the other go unconscious. To Noel this is a job well done, but to his Mentor - who was overseeing it all - it wasn't and he's disappointed in Noel, asks for the sword back (Noel willingly returns it) and leaves. Now Noel just feels awful for Multiple reasons. He wants to leave, but decides to stay by the passed out ally of his, giving them his coat to try and keep them at least a little warm while the others make their way there.
✦ They're all later informed of the curse that plagues their passed out friend & they now have two options: either get rid of his magic (that's feeding the curse) or another group will do so for them. Noel sees it as his responsibility to take care of the situation, still feeling awful over it all. In the end they come up with the solution that involves their newly-made vampire 'buddy', as well, you know, turning one into a vampire would be a solution of sorts. The mage with the curse is of course the one to ultimately make the choice, and things run their course.
✦ Noel meets up with his Mentor later on in the week, the two of them have a talk and in the unfortunate news Noel has now been kicked off the Euthanatos Tradition for not completing the task given to him & therefor no longer being fit as a member. His Mentor does give him credit for thinking for himself and is proud of Noel for making his own choice, but he cannot talk for him further and the higher-ups have said what they've said. It's not exactly a good time for Noel and once he gets home he falls into a rather deep state of depression.

✦ The next time the mages meet up Noel is reluctant to join them. They manage to convince for him to arrive at their base and all of them are then introduced to the 6th member of their group as another fresh mage has moved in town and their patron wants for the lot of them to group up and have eachother's backs. Noel isn't exactly in a good mood, nor does he know if he's even any good being there, but he's still included when the lot of them are given a task to gather up the wererat kinfolk that have gotten a bit too daring around town.
✦ After succeeding in the task their presence is requested elsewhere as one of their allies from elsewhere would like for them to fetch something from a different city as they can't make it there by themselves. So the group goes to the newly opened mega mall to try and get the requested item in question, but there's something off about the place. The group tries to find the source and just as they do the source almost finds them as well. They split up, but the newly made vampire among them finds himself in trouble as the source happened to go exactly where he did too. The rest of the group rush over to help him out, but as Noel and the new mage get there they're met with a rather unfriendly welcome in the shape of sharp wooden poles thrown straight at them. Noel gets the stake through his side and is immobilized, while the new mage's Avatar saves him but he's left unconscious in the aftermath. Seeing the rest of them in danger, the mage-turned-vampire retaliates, unable to control all the new force they have behind themself & the fae (or pretty much leprechaun) that caused them trouble meets their end swiftly via a single strike from an iron pipe. As soon as all of the group is in one place they decide to run for it and leave, with their ally/client helping them both get out and get rid of all the evidence. The group isn't exactly feeling the greatest afterwards though. One of them just took a life, another almost lost theirs and Noel overall just feels like he wasn't of much use as he was presents when all of this took place and couldn't help anyone. It was not their best day that's for sure.

✦ Some time later when it's around the end of November the group as a whole receive an invite for a Christmas gathering/party that's being held by their patron. So, of course they have to go. Everyone dresses nicely, a majority of them have at least a decent time. The new mage is introduced to all sorts of people the group has allied with and met before. One of the mages is drinking competitively with a Werefox while another is trying to figure out what the drink is made of. There's nothing too crazy that takes place during the gathering. Noel spends most of his time simply by the door outside and near where people hang their coats, still not feeling the finest. He practically only leaves when their patron tasks the new mage to try and get him to partake in something. The patron also takes their time to talk with every guest one on one at some point during the evening, and at the end of the night gifts the mage (+ 1 vampire) group an enchanted book - and the group upon bringing said book to their base proceed to immediately treat it super nicely with a whole room of its own and as the book is practically alive, they give it access to a TV and a remote control too.
✦ While they're all still at their base, the patron joins them there at some point of the night. And who would have known, has a job for them as someone has been selling illegal substances around town and their patron would rather like for that to not be done. Well the group gets planning, one of them is the infiltrator once again and they actually manage to find something very quickly, but as it's getting late they have to withdraw and get back to it the next day.
✦ The day after that proves very fruitful for them though as they manage to get the main dealer to come to the city. Their infiltrator is in quite the deep soup though with the situation, but via their several against one mass advantage the group succeeds in subduing the culprit and delivering them on over to their patron.

✦ A couple weeks pass, two of the group members are getting married, one of them ascends and the actual party afterwards has all sorts of magic involved (like making the area it takes place in be experiencing Spring while it was actually Winter). It's an all around chill time so to speak, people celebrate, there's games and good food. It's a bit of a break for all of them.

✦ Some days later they're introduced to a friend of their patron's who has just moved in the city. The person is a fae inventor, a rather interesting individual to say the least. The group has to fetch a number of strange ingredients for the inventor. All sorts of little things on the side, but the invention gets finished, it's taken on a test flight and while not perfect it's still decent.
✦ Afterwards as the group is back in their base Noel takes the initiative in asking everyone what they think of the group, as a whole. He himself is still not too sure about things, but figures it's good to ask. The lot of them end up talking and playing some games with each other afterwards just for the fun of it & to get to know each other a little better. They also decide they'd want to go somewhere together to just have a casual little vacation as a group and settle on a little ship voyage. At the end of the night Noel asks the other members of the group what color he should dye his hair (it had gone white again from all the stress weeks if not a good month ago) and while there are a few suggestions, they mostly settle on the pink it was before, with a few stripes.

✦ A week and a half later the lot of them are going to the ship voyage they planned. One of them went ahead of the others, and ended up in the wrong ship, but ended up on having a good time in the end. The rest of the group unexpectedly meets the new mage's cousin on the ship, with their two cats. While they chat the lot of them are fairly casual. The cousin however withholds a secret from the group all the while asking the rest of them what kinds of mages they are, but in return Noel won't give much information on himself unless the cousin shares something as well. A secret for a secret. The cousin then reveals themself to be a werecat, and in return Noel speaks on how he used to be but is no longer a part of the Euthanatoi. To this the cousin remarks that he certainly doesn't necessarily give off the energy & that an Euthanatos mage would have certainly been quite the 'unique' addition to the group. Noel doesn't know how to really feel about these words, but keeps to himself. They got what they wanted as a trade-off.
✦ During their voyage the lot of them end up chasing one of the cats and the ship's mascot dog around the halls (and as Noel tries to get either one of the animals to stop he has to call off his attempt and is left rather paranoid of using magic for a while), have a laser tag match against a group of older ladies and overconfident teenagers, partake in game of bingo and all that stuff. They also meet the cousin's mentor at some point, and while the meeting is brief it's certainly something. At the end of the voyage the group ends up on adopting the mascot dog as the corgi had practically turned into a part-magical creature after having worn one of the necklaces the cats were wearing.

✦In-between these two events Noel has gotten himself medication that helps him loosen up a little and be more at ease. He's not as paranoid when it comes to using magic, but prefers to not use any unless it's absolutely necessary for their progress or if someone is endangered without him using it. (Also new look let's go lol)
✦He's also been given a sniper rifle by Aarni (reluctantly at the request of their patron) and while he had been studying the anatomy of guns prior in case the knowledge would help him keep the rest of them safe in the future (he has jammed several firearms before) he hadn't necessarily considered getting one himself. It very much unexpectedly given to him and he just kinda had to learn to live with the fact he had an actual weapon now, unsure on what to truly think of this

✦ A week passes again, but in that they're closing in on the anniversary date of when magic and the knowledge of the existence of the supernatural became public knowledge. It's been some 10 years since then and while the group hasn't necessarily been personally invited, they're given the possibility of coming to witness the celebration and whatnot. Half of the group isn't too excited but says they'll go if others go, and the other half is super hyped about it. So they make their preparations needed before heading out.
✦ They start the travel against the night. Many of those on the passenger seats take the traveling time to sleep and get some rest, but as they're nearing the city of celebration a bright light engulfs the sky. The light is really bright and so both them and easily like over a dozen others crash - they manage to avoid any major damage though. Following up the flash though there's a really loud sound that damages the hearing of a couple of them, but as there are those among them who at least dabble in the Life Sphere, they're able to get this fixed. Their attention quickly turns to the several other people around them though as they try to make sure people are ok. The group both checks in on people and helps guide traffic, as well as directing people towards the nearest hospital. Once things calm down a little, the lot of them head towards the direction the flash came from, and once they get to the ground zero so to speak the place sure is wrecked. There's a whole crater there as a portion of the city is missing - even more so as the crater is super smooth, as if the missing portion was simply scooped out. At the edge of the crater they meet with the mage police again and as one of them is the same lady they've met up with before the group isn't arrested on the spot. Instead they help with crafting a bit of a barrier to the thing. Inspecting the crater with magical means is prohibited; some beginner mages tried it and now their minds and whole beings are warped.
✦ The only thing they really have going for them as information on the thing is video footage of a strange hooded figure standing in front of a hotel and starting to cast who knows what, there's a bright glow and as the screen goes completely white the video ends. Strange stuff indeed. The group sends in a little drone to go see if it could find anything over around the spot the explosion started from, as well as to get a sample. They mange to see a bit, but eventually the drone stops sending footage and they loose contact with it. The next thing they know is that beyond the barrier there's now a wall, beyond which the scenery seems to have reappeared and recovered itself - except upon closer look things seem to be in disrepair and somewhat overgrown with nature. The mage police lady 'tells them not to go' practically with an under tone that speaks the exact opposite.
✦ So of course the group sets off and makes their way over the wall. Their phones immediately lose contact and there's seemingly no people anywhere. As they walk forward they come across a  gas station of some sort and start looking for news papers, upon finding one they're taken aback by the sight of it being dated to 10 years ago. Shortly they're ambushed by a person - vaguely one at the very least, and the group deals with it swiftly and tries to ask it literally anything, but they're unable to get anything from them, afterwards the being perishes quickly. All they can find is a logo of some sort from among its robes. The group travels further and the ones of them that use magic seem to start feeling ill & the more they use the worse they get. They come across more of the beings and deal with them rather swiftly. At this point Noel notes to the rest of the group that they should limit the use of magic as it seems to really affect those using it, whereas him and their one vampire member are fine for not having used any at all. They travel deeper and end up coming across another on of the hooded people, this one is riding a giant worm like monster and appears able to speak proper sentences as they curse the existence of the group. This one takes a lot more effort to beat, but the group manages to nuke the worm and get its rider unconscious. A few of them stay looking after said person while the rest go look what's inside the hotel they just arrived at, finding some giant crystal in there - and one of them touches it and deduces that it's giving 'em magic from itself, and as they take more cracks start appearing. At this point they bolt it on out of there and as the crystal shatters everyone's vision gets wavy & the world seemingly disappears around them  until they're able to see again and find themselves in the middle of the market square with people doing normal people things. It's a bit of a mess, but the group makes their exit somewhere less surrounded by people and try to gather themselves. The aftermath is a similar mess as they're all sorting things over, but everyone is able to find some place to sleep and the festivities on the next day take place all normal.

✦ What oddities happened is gonna be in the news for a few weeks, among the supernatural it's partially the blame game. Either way, a few days pass, most of the group is at their base when they're invited to the exchange of Spring the fae are hosting tomorrow. Might as well. There are lots of different kinds of fae at the bi-yearly exchange & almost an equal amount of events to keep those attending entertained. It's a pretty good time and at the end Noel is able to humor stuff again ever so slightly

✦ 2 weeks later everyone is back doing whatever they usually do. Noel for one is in his own apartment playing games on his Switch, until the screen suddenly freezes. He doesn't think much of it first, but when he looks outside and the people outside have also frozen he starts to figure that something is off. Right in time for someone to knock at his door, which Noel isn't exactly a fan of, he looks through the peephole in his door, asks the people who they are and their answer of 'the Mage Inkvisition' doesn't exactly make him feel any better. They want for him to come with them and Noel figures that it'll be more harm if he refuses rather than goes willingly. Besides, he hasn't done anything bad, so... And after that they practically teleport elsewhere to a room where Noel is told to wait. And so he does. The rest of the group is brought in afterwards through various means and once they're all there the council asks them of the things they witnessed prior the anniversary celebration.
✦ It's figured that the group isn't the one at fault & that since they're now involved they might as well be told what's up. In summary the council is from a past universe, the same the group just visited. They had to rewrite the whole world to prevent its doom and this is that new world, the one they're currently in. Somehow some other faction knows of this too and they want to return the existence of the previous world for some reason. And now then Noel and the rest of the group are tasked with figuring out what the group is after and why and who leads them etc. After they agree to do this they contact their patron who certainly has something or another they could maybe explain & so the patron comes to pick them up, reveals some facts about themself and the sleeping corpse under the city that they're protecting. It's a whole lot of info all at once, but the group somewhat makes a plan on what they'll do in the future.

✦ About a week passes, the group is trying to find something out on the affiliation. They manage to track down some metal concert and sneak themself in among the attending group in disguises, separately as to not be affiliated with each other. At the concert a handful of fans are invited to the backroom, but things go awry rather quickly and as the whole concert turns to chaos, so does the person they were chasing into a tree, permanently, so the group leaves empty handed. Later they track down the actual band and end up most likely saving their lives. Afterwards they're further directed to try and find a vampire who is not trying to hide anything and especially not his longing for 'the good old times'. What they manage to find is the apprentice of said vampire - or rather the apprentice finds them as the group is waltzing around in the most tacky costumes imaginable. After a bit of a persuation, the apprentice thinks of them as cool fellas who are 'for real' and offers to inform the actual man behind the scene about them and a possible chance for them to to meet up

✦ {Plot events from games 15-17 to be added}