Be careful who you teach magick to.

Before getting the teeth knocked out of him by Cliff Borman, the nudist Irascimancer known as the Mean Streak had the bad sense to take an apprentice. While the Streak is now fertilizing the landscape in Southern Colarado (well, at least the legs are — Cliff couldn’t find the rest of the body no matter how hard he looked), he’s still left a mark on the Occult Underground and the mundane world alike through the actions of Lance Geiser.

While the Mean Streak literally saw himself as a cattle rustler going after society’s sacred cows in broad daylight, Geiser is more circumspect. He would never flaunt or brag about his abilities; the longer he goes undetected, the more he can accomplish. As for what he accomplishes — Geiser is basically a psychotic wreck trying to make more wrecks.

Out of children.

According to the psychiatrists that Geiser went to before he was taught magick, some people recover from phsyical and emotional abuse in their childhood, and some people don’t. Geiser didn’t; what many people repress, he obssessed over. He could never come to terms with the fact that his childhood was over and there was no way to go back and fix it. This makes him insanely jealous of people lucky enough to have emotionally healthy upbringings.

This is bullshit. Geiser not only came to terms with being beaten and neglected, he incorporated it all into his view of the world. He isn’t jealous of the emotionally stable, he’s angry at them for breaking the rules of the cosmos as he sees them and this goes double for children. They’ve somehow acheived happiness without an equivalent sacrifice, cheating the universe and everyone else who lives in it.

He has no particular M.O. except to find a kid who is particularly happy and use his magick to make the kid an isolated nervous wreck incapable of trusting anything or connecting to another human being. This is often accomplished by making friends angry without cause, or overwhelming parents with violent anger at a key moment. There have been many times when he would sneak into the children’s wards of hospitals and blast a clown or other spirit-lifter into unconsciousness or death right in front of the kids. It usually got written off as a heart attack or some such.

Needless to say, this has not made him popular, even in the Occult Underground — hardly a bastion of righteousness and morality. An ex-cop and Masterless Man Avatar named Pete Boynton has been trying to find Geiser for several months, and an Agent of Renunciation is on the rage mage’s case as well. If Alex Abel learns about Geiser’s actions, then his lifestyle may take a very interesting twist very soon. The Sleepers already know about him, and one of their operators has the green light to shut him up before he starts a riot.

Then again, that may not be the end of the traumatized kids. One of his expeditions into a hospital landed him in the room of an isolated, cynical, and angry teenager with lung cancer, courtesy of years of parental second-hand smoke. Maria Bradford, regardless of whether she beats the cancer or not, may yet prove to be a powerful and dangerous Fury.

While Maria’s apprenticeship is going well, it should be noted that very few people know how Geiser knew the Mean Streak or the details of how he was taught Irascimancy. They mentioned each other in passing; it’s possible they had a falling out, but if so neither one would mention it and risk breaking taboo.

Geiser tends to charge up by hanging around bars and getting right in the middle of drunken fights. This sometimes gets him injured, but keeps him in Significant charges. It’s not uncommon for him to have four or five… and be down about ten Wound Points as a consequence.

Name: Lance Geiser

Personality: Distant and quiet to most people.

Obsession: (Irascimancy) The power, supernatural and otherwise, of raw anger.

Wound Points: 55

Rage Passion: People who try to patronize him.

Fear Passion: (Violence) Geiser still freaks out when he sees a belt in the hand.

Noble Passion: Geiser may be an asshole, but he’s an asshole of his word. He will not willingly break an agreement he’s made.

Body 55 (Average Joe)
Climb 35%, Grapple 45%, Hold My Booze 20%

Speed 65 (Dextrous)
Dodge 45%, Drive 15%, Initiative 35%, Break and Enter 30%

Mind 50 (A Little Cracked)
General Education 25%, Notice 35%, Conceal 40%

Soul 65 (Seek Professional Help)
Acting 30%, Lie 30%, Magick: Irascimancy 45%, Inexplicably Accurate Sense of Direction 40%

Madness Meters
Violence: 3H/3F
Unnatural: 4H/1F
Helplessness: 2H/3F
Isolation: 3H/0F
Self: 5H/2F

Possessions: A moped on the verge of dying. A dusty black trenchcoat. Sunglasses that he likes to lift to get eye contact during his spells, then lower again — it makes him feel a bit like Cyclops from the X-Men.

Notes: The Inexplicably Accurate Sense of Direction skill allows Geiser to know what direction he’s facing at all times. He won this in a Gambler Avatar’s mystically charged game, staking some of his combat prowess on the outcome.

Allies: “Spike” Weiler, Kleptomancer. Maria Bradford, apprentice.

Friends: Ha ha. Good one.