Character Sheet
Name: Miriam Green
Shadow Name: Morata
Age: Sixteen.
Gender: Female

Path: Mastigos.
Gnosis: 3
Mana: 4/12
Wisdom: 7

Arcana: Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 1, (In Progress) Spirit 1

Aspirations: Unlock the Secrets of the Fire.

Obsessions:

Virtue: Faith
Vice: Curiosity

Health: 8/8
Willpower: 7/7
Defense: 2
Destiny (Merit): 4/4

XP: 0
Arcane XP: 1

Attributes:

Strength 3, Dexterity 2*, Stamina 3
Presence 2*, Manipulation 2*, Composure 3*
Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 4

Aspects:

Promising High School Student (4): She's smart and well liked around school. In fact, she has a pretty good grasp of not merely the basics of high-school learning, but even the things that are up to the senior year. Beyond what a person might learn in a she's a little lost, and so there are limits as to the kinds of things she'd know about, but if it can be found in a textbook she might have read, she's probably read it. As well, she knows how to plan her time, to get along with other people at school and not get into fights, and otherwise do well in this respect. She's best at history.

Preacher's Daughter (3): Growing up with a father who tells the gospel word, you learn how to mimic the way he gives sermons, quote the bible chapter and verse, and know more than a little about how to interact with people and their religions, faiths, and how churches function. Whether it is mingling after church, being a sounding board for her father's sermons, or playing games that involve reciting long passages of the bible from memory, she is good at it.

*A Bit of a Tomboy (2): She's really at the age where you're supposed to outgrow this sort of thing, really. But she still likes climbing things, she still likes running around the school, she still knows a little about getting into a scrap, even if she hasn't actually gotten into a fight since...well, a few years. She's keen, athletic, and very, very interested in baseball (boo, Kansas City Monarchs, boo!) which she read about, not having a radio, and that being fledgling besides. In any wise, it certainly isn't fading with time, and it's given her a set of interests and hobbies that meshes quite interestingly with her obvious piety and (reasonably, mostly) obedient nature.

Breaker of Chains (2): Abraham Lincoln was a swell guy, in her opinion. Her own father's involvement in the NAACP and her engagement in High School history has made it so that she's actually surprisingly knowledgeable on race issues, and quite talkative about them in the right circumstances. She knows how to keep her mouth shut, of course, around older white men or the like, but she has her opinions and she wears them on her sleeve, and that includes knowing a lot of things most girls her age wouldn't know about, academically and otherwise.

A Practicing Mage (2): While Morata has a lot to learn, and has only been practicing magic for a short time, she is now fully settling into magical society. She knows the Orders, and more than that she is starting to understand both the personalities and how magic truly works. It is a long journey, but she has taken another step forward.

Can We Keep Him? (1): She has had dogs and cats before, and currently has one of each, which she of course does all of the work taking care of, because her mom said that if she had to deal with that, she'd throw them out. She has a bit of a way with animals, and after the third or fourth stray, also with people and convincing them to go along with her quite innocent and well-meaning requests.

Problem Solver (1): Kids in her neighborhood and at school tend to trust and like her, or at least she's tried to be liked, and even go to her for help sometimes, whether of an academic nature or just to see what she has to say. She's not exactly a local guru or anything, but she's clever and tends to be able to help people with minor problems, or dispense advice, even if that advice is often enough 'Really, you should tell your parents, they're gonna find out, you know, and if they find out and you didn't tell them, they'll cane your hide raw.'

Sneaking The Cookie Jar (1): She's not a dishonest person, but being someone with a lot of friends means that you sometimes know how to lie for them, and more than that, that you know a little about sneaking an extra quarter here and there. Whenever caught she's full of contrition, and more than that she's not a fundamentally dishonest person, but...well, she knows plenty of people who deserve an extra cookie every now and then.

Mother's Teachings (1): Her mother has tried to at least teach her the basics of cooking, cleaning, and keeping house. The logic that she'll probably need it if she goes to college has been pretty persuasive, and while there are gaps, she's quite self-sufficient when it comes to balancing a budget or all of the other things a modern woman is expected to do, as far as it goes. She's best at cooking meat, and her recipes are all pretty simple, but it's food that'll fill a belly, and that's the most important thing.

To Dream A Dream (1): Morata has become a truly expert in the magic of dreams, and indeed has begun to truly explore what Demons and other denizens of the Astral can and will do. This is merely an extrapolation of what she can already do, hence the discount. Special: Can use Arcane XP for this.

Powers--

Mage Sight (Peripheral, Active, and Focused): She seems to be able to see something that others cannot. Magic itself, and her eyes seem especially attuned to distances and the spaces between things, as well as the minds of other people.

Mage Armor: Mind, Space

Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 2 (In Progress up from 1)

Spirit 1 (Will complete in two weeks)

Rotes--

Dividing the Mind (Mind 1): A rote to divide the mind in two, this means that it has extra reach to add to duration and so on, and that there is a two-dice Yantra that can be done to add to the power of the spell. Involves imagining the split in her mind to enact it.

Scholar's Little Helper (Mind 1): Scholarship is hard work, and it's often difficult to sift through a five-hundred page book on Astral adventures for the single passage on a threatening Goetic demon that's currently ripping the rest of the Cabal apart. Plus, cross-referencing other works can be difficult. Through this tiny little rote, the caster can input a word, phrase, or topic, mentally, and essentially search the book just by holding it up to the light, copying knowledge of what was said in those passages and the passage surround it into their brain without having to search. It does not grant perfect understanding, and sometimes the section requires context to make any sense, but it can save weeks on a big scholarship project. (Rote Mudra, Promising Student, +4) Reach: With each additional Reach, you can search an additional book in the same spell; You can absorb the entirety of the contents of the book, if not always parse its meaning, as if you read the entire book in the instants it took to cast the spell, cover to cover. It may take some hours of thinking and consideration to fully parse the contents, and of course at times understanding and applying it can be more difficult: but an entire book read in less than a second is still something.

Strengthen Mind (Mind 3): It does not, obviously, only effect the intellect, but any aspect of one's mind can be made sharper, as can one's social abilities. The key to doing this, or rather the Mystagogue form of it, involves closing one's eyes and pressing one's fingers against your forehead, as if trying to stimulate thought by motion. When you open your eyes, the spell should be cast. You cannot improve your mind or social abilities to superhuman levels (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4), Reach: You may divide the 'Potency' of the spell, eg: Potency 4, enhance Intelligence by 1, Wits by 2, and Resolve by 1; spend a point of Mana: temporarily, for as long as the spell lasts, Attributes can reach supernatural levels.

Scholar's Protection (Mind 3): Adapted from a famous Silver Ladder rote, this grants protection ot the humble scholar. They make a sign with their hands as if their hands are books, their palms pages, and then so long as they neither attack or order an attack, others struggle to gather up the will to attack them. If they do order an attack, or attack themselves, the spell automatically fails… but only for the target, and not any others. Automatons, or beings without thought are immune, but this potent spell makes it so that anyone with a Resolve less than their Mind +1 cannot bring themselves to attack. Those that can still feel hesitation, and it is as if the Mage has two points of Armor. Supernatural beings have an advantage: if they have a supernatural trait, they get +1 to the comparison of Resolve versus Mind, if it is equal to the Mage's, they get +2, and if it is greater, they get +3… even then, a weak-willed but powerful supernatural being might find themselves frozen in fear and doubt. (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4) Reach: Spend 1 Mana, the spell may now last for an entire day; You may spend Reach to increase the difficulty of overcoming the Protection, once; Attackers lose 10-again on rolls to attack someone, if that person has willpowered through the magic.

The Dedicated Will of the Just (Mind 3): A spell taught to her by her Uncle, it is in some ways an extension of previous spells. By touching the forehead and spreading one's fingers across it, yours or others, when someone grits their teeth and uses their will, they find it stretching out, like hitting a high note and holding it for longer than a single action, based on the power of the spell. (Rote Mudra, Preacher's Daughter +3) Reach: Willpower when spent can add +2 to all resistance traits; Willpower spent both increases one's ability to endure, and one's ability to 'act'; By spending a Mana, the caster can imagine the benediction and thus enact it in a single breath on themselves or any target, as fast as the speed of thought.

Determined Will (Mind 2): The Mystagogue must go through many hardships for knowledge. Whatever a materialist thinks, anyone experienced in Mind magic knows that willpower exists, and so by a series of invisible taps against either their own or--imagined--someone else's skull. By doing so the Mage can make sure that when they, or others, gather their will for a great task, as long as it isn't magic they will get a bonus to the will-enhanced roll (9-again.) (Rote Mudra: Preacher's Daughter, +3: Inspire others and inspire yourself), Reach: The bonus can be increased; the bonus might be able to be used even to enhance magic, strengthening the will that brings itself to bear in casting a spell.



The Bonds of Fate (Fate 1): It is one thing to look at someone and see them, it is another to be able to look at them and see the destinities, the curses, the broken oaths and more that mark their soul and their persons. Mystagogues imagine a cobweb of connections and strands of fate itself, and carefully reach out a finger to tap at the edges of the cobweb without breaking it, to see what creeps up. (Mudra: Can We Keep Him? (+1), the spider spins its web.) Reach: The Mage can know when someone is possessed, mind controlled, or otherwise has their destiny majorly influenced; the Mage can tell someone's Destiny and Doom, can know when the curse they're affected by will be lifted, or so on.

The Unusual Path (Fate 1) : Fate itself can sometimes intervene in small ways. Through this spell, a Mystagogue can state a goal and then receive omens, sometimes faint and contradictory, on how to begin working towards it… and can even allow them to match strength with strength: subtly twisting fate so that their talents are just the right ones needed to advance upon the goal. Miriam uses it to occasionally leverage her way through a tricky social situation. The Mudra involves tugging on strands and pulling them in with a flip of a hand, as if examining something. (Rote Mudra: Problem Solver, +1) Reach: Can substitute any skill needed while under the spell for another within the same category, e.g. the character's religious passion turns out to be just what it might take to convince the homeless person to tell you where the body is hid, instead of a skill involving the streets or crime; Can, if taken further, substitute any skill for any other skill: your athletic prowess intimidates the homeless man, your knowledge of petty trivia charms the high society lady you need to steal from.



] No Shackles For The Scholar (Space 2): A Mystagogue cannot be stopped merely by a locked door, or being chained up above a pit of sharks while a villain monologues about how the Secret of the Amazon will die with them. So by imagining their own escape, and circling around that thought a few times as fast as possible, they can affect it. Any one barrier: locked door, handcuffs, barred window, or so on is fine… though it cannot get one through a bouncer or through fire. It can also be cast on an object, such as if you want to push a macguffin through a locked door and then face the enemy yourself. (Rote Mudra: Breaker of Chains, +2), Reach: Can pass through even shackles or objects they could not move through, such as being chained up, or trapped in a coffin, or anything else; subject can squeeze through narrow gaps that they should not physically be able to make it through: you can in fact drive a car through an open front door half its width if you cast this spell on it.
Merits--

(**) 'Profession'--Student
1--Gain 9-again on any roll that can be justified as having to do with one's profession.
2--Gain two dots of Contacts related to one's 'profession.'
3--+1 to rolls against any mental, physical or social stress that might get in the way of performing one's profession.[1] This cannot create a positive bonus.

4--8-again on rolls.
5--One special bonus based on the nature of the 'profession.

[1] Okay, in this case, imagine the college student who is good enough at class that he can show up hungover and still get something out of class, or the athlete who can go out not feeling 100% and still actually manage not to fuck everything up forever, even if he's not putting in his best performance.

(***) Parents: It may seem absurd to say it, but having parents in the picture who can help solve moderate problems is a boon. Obviously the drawback is that if they get involved and it's over her head, it could end badly, and that more than that, they obviously are sure they know best, but asking Mom or Dad is totally an option available to her, and one that can enlist their aid and ask their advice.

(***) Contacts:

She has contacts with both People She Knows At Church, a broad group but in some ways self-selecting, and among those kids she knows around the neighborhood, as well as People At School. People are willing to talk to her, ask her advice, and that goes both ways, doesn't it? If she wants to ask around, she could certainly do worse than asking when she's at church, with someone inclined to see her well already.

Egregore--Mysteriorum Arche (•): In a teamwork spellcasting roll in which the character is participating, she does not suffer the –3 penalty to contribute without the necessary Arcanum rating, and adds an automatic success if a full participant. All members of the ritual team must possess this Merit.

(*)Language: Latin

She knows Latin, read and spoken.

(*) Order Status (Mysterium)

She has been initiated in the first mystery of the Mystagogues.

(*) High Speech

She can use High Speech as a Yantra in spellcasting, and knows enough to be (roughly) conversational outside of the very formal language of Spellcasting.

(*) Egregore

1) In a teamwork spell in which she participates, she doesn't take -3 to the roll if she couldn't cast the spell on her own, and if she can she adds an automatic success to her dice roll for the purpose of granting the ritual leader the bonus dice. However, everyone involved in the ritual must have this level of Egregore. This represents her connection to magic, and through it, others of the Order.

(*) Resources:

She has a little bit of spending money saved up. Not much at all, but it's something. And it's more than a lot of people have, and so she knows to be grateful for it.

(****) Destiny

Effect: Miriam does not yet know the specifics, but she is destined for greatness and yet also doomed in some way.

Currently at 4/4.

(***) Astral Adept: Can enter the Astral far easier, by paying just a WP and meditating.

(***) True Friend (Virginia)

Effect: Miriam has a true friend. True Friend represents a trusting relationship that cannot be easily breached. Unless Miriam really does something to deserve it (really, really) Virginia will not betray her, and I, the QM, has to go easy on her in terms of throwing her into danger. Slightly kid gloves with her, as part of an implicit contract, though that does not mean that Miriam's mistakes or actions might not involve her in deeper problems than she should be facing. And any roll, natural or supernatural, that has the purpose of influencing Virginia against Miriam takes a 5-dice penalty. Additionally, once per...let's say week, Miriam can regain a point of Willpower by having a meaningful/heartfelt/important interaction with Virginia.

Consilium Status (*): Consilium--Increasingly she is a known entity, someone whose existence is no secret at all and whose fame is even harder to deny.

Contacts: Vampires (1)--Her work with vampires means she has a greater awareness of where she can go to talk to them, especially once she thinks through what she saw.

Allies (1): Guardians of the Veil--In the aftermath of yet another Interview with a Vampire, she has been contacted by the Guardians of the Veil, who are curious and who are willing to trade curiosity for curiosity.

Trained Memory (1): She has trained her mind to be something like a steel trap, though perhaps rather more effective than that, all things considered: steel traps can rust, because outside of stressful moments she never needs to roll to remember anything… she just remembers, and without Magic at all.

Minor Elements:

--Having studied a Spirit Bestiary, Miriam is now more able to tell some common spirits apart, even without using magic, and can call up basic facts about said common spirits.
--Has the Memories of a vampire in her head, which can be examined/considered later.
 
Last edited:
Page 107: Priorities
Page 107: Priorities

"We need to get to that seed," Virginia whispered.

"I can handle it," Cain said. "I'll distract them, you get around. You, Suzanna, and that mutt. If that's alright with--"

The monsters charged. Hundreds of them, all at once. It was a tide of destruction, and his wave of a hand sent a line of blood slashing across a few of the ones at the edge, but they healed instantly, and he winced. His own forehead began to bleed, and Miriam wasn't exactly very knowledgeable about Demon Spawn, but she had the idea that this was a bad thing.

Rashid, though, was stepping out, throwing what looked like tacks on the ground that exploded into these strange steel things. Spider-somethings, which scuttled forward and… ah. Pinned the left flank expertly, Miriam assumed. She didn't know much about this magic, but he'd done at least a little better.

Which was when Yue Ying stepped forward, chanting in High Speech, her words strange, with an accent and an inflection she couldn't quite understand. But she could understand the mirror and the knife, rich with her blood, which were thrust forward at the enemy.

Twenty of whom suddenly slowed down considerably.

Time magic, Miriam realized, as Virginia tapped Miriam on the shoulder, her touch feeling slightly warm. She was… not quite naked again, but her clothes barely fit her, and there she was, in Demon form again.

Had she been surprised when she'd touched Miriam the first time and there hadn't been desire. Relieved? Horrified?

Miriam didn't know, and now wasn't the time to consider it.

Virginia picked Miriam up as if she were a handbag, or perhaps a cat to be cradled close to her bosom, as if she weighed nothing. Miriam yipped in annoyance, even as the fight grew more brutal. Mr. Gilt was swinging left, right, and center as Yue Ying backed up, wincing at whatever was happening to the time-slowed monsters, who seemed to be warping and changing even as they moved with glacial slowness.

And Cain finally got up something like a smoke-screen, the stuff thick and choking.

And Suzanna? She was now eight feet tall, with horns and wings, and hooves as well, and terrifyingly, almost dreadfully thin, as if she had wasted away to nothing more than the essentials, firm muscles but essentially no fat, holding guns that looked like toys in her hands, but with the same expertise as before.

"Damn your God, Wolfborne! Damn your prophecies! Damn them all to a Hell that has never existed and never will!" Suzanna yelled, as she, quite literally, bulled her way through the monsters.

"Well, let's… follow her," Virginia said, blushing a little bit. "She could get in… trouble, you know. And then I'd have to save her."

Miriam was too busy trying not to lash out, to do something about this horrific blasphemy. Her ears stung, her body almost hurt with… with someone saying words like that, taking His name in vain. And there was nothing she could do: this heretic that had said she wouldn't interfere had, and it must be something about her Demon-Spawn self, about who she was when she lost all inhibitions.

Which meant that this Virginia was… was.

What?

Virginia leapt and actually floated above the fray. Well. Fell up and then fell downwards, but slowly, the monsters rushing to where they thought she'd be before, with another kick of her heels, she moved upwards, and then sharply downwards as Suzanna shot her way through those monsters, one or two falling, and confronted the worst of them.

But now, though, the world had shrunk quite a bit. It was all about what she was thinking, all about her plans. All about that seed.

It has to be primed before plantation. Given a set of instructions, as if it were reading from a list. Without that priming, there's no way to be sure what it'll become. How it'll work, or what it'll connect. A seed doesn't need to be a beanstalk. These instructions are either very simple or very complex, and I don't have data for a definite answer. But the clear thing, obviously, is that there is a sympathetic and symbolic principle. And--

Oh, they landed. Okay, so that meant she just needed to get a good look at the seed.

"Try it!" Isiah said, with a laugh as he slashed out at Virginia. "The seed doesn't even matter now, you can't just dig it out."

Because, the moment she'd landed, she'd ran right for where the seed was, and Virginia had had to leap in front of her, blazing with fury, to keep her from being gutted. She'd almost not noticed, her conscious and active mind of the two of them doing the digging without a thought. The moon-dust burned her paws, oddly enough. It was a little weird.

He's right. The seed can't simply be removed. It's symbolically planted. Even destruction at this stage would not stop it. He's won. No, he's achieved his goal. That's not the same thing.

All around there were gunshots, as Suzanna and Virginia fought to let her mind work, to give her a chance to make this happen. She just had to focus on it, had to get this done, even sa her claws were starting to burn, feeling white hot.

And then there it was.

"I got one!" Virginia said. "A seed!" She let out a grunt of pain, and Miriam almost looked up, but if her friend was dead she'd know it, and she had to be very careful.

The seed was a teardrop, almost, with the pointed bit facing upwards. Carefully she picked it up with her mouth, thinking it through.

It's construction is simple she… was it a taste? It was a sense she got, just rolling it around in her mouth for a moment. It's been primed to create a strange creeper vine. Or… something like that. Something sympathetically resonant. It would in fact be possible to reverse or contain this with Space greater than she possessed, or with a Mastery of Time. As it was, there was only one way, and it involved the sympathetic--

Just as carefully, she spat it back into the ground and buried it, again.

There. She'd won. He'd lost. It really was that simple, when one thought about it reasonably. When one had a basic understanding of sympathy in its grossest, silliest forms.

She'd--

Oh.

Miriam had been a little distracted. Alright, a lot distracted. Two halves of her mind had shot perilously towards the same goal, and if she thought too hard about her idea she'd think it absurd and absurdly simple. That was the point, but of course her idea could be wrong.

But, well.

Isaiah was bleeding, just a little, with five or six of his monsters at his back. The battle behind them was getting more and more intense, and there wasn't any way to tell who would win there, and.

Virginia was on the ground, bleeding badly. Suzanna was standing over her, and next to Miriam.

The third party was the shock.

Occlude was holding a baseball dripping with some sort of white liquid, that Miriam recognized at once as… face cream. Skin whitener. He was grinning, his purple eyes mad as he spoke. "So it's that simple. I murder you, all of you, or you give me the seeds that are Marquis' by right. Both of them. They are his, and I shall get them to him!"

In his other hand was one of Suzanna's two guns. He was well prepared to try to make well on his strange threat.

Strange, but not so strange, she realized after a long moment. Occlude had been controlled by the Marquis, his mind and priorities warped… and then he'd inserted himself, asked to be involved, asked to be there. He'd asked because the Marquis wanted him to ask, because the man was desperate to get a seed, or both seeds, or every seed that ever existed, and he was willing to do anything, even rip to shreds the mind of another, to get what he needed.

Well. Drat.

What does Miriam do?

[] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.
[] Get in front of Virginia. Protecting her matters more than anything.
[] Try to trade the seed Virginia has to Occlude. Perhaps it'll convince him not to murder her. Perhaps it won't.
[] Try to talk to Isaiah Wolfborne. Perhaps there's some way to deceive or convince him into going after Occlude.
[] Write-in.

*******
The Tricks We Pull (Cain): 4 (Int)+3 (Occult)=Failure, ow.
The Traps We Set (Yue Ying): 4 (Time)+ 3 (Gnosis)+3 (Willpower)+2 (Words of Power)+2 (Yantras)=14-4 (Potency increases)-2 (10 subjects)=1 sux, but aftermath problems mean… ow. Okay, that's a good trap, but it's also… oh God I just got a great idea for the kind of disaster it will be.

Potency is automatically 3, increase it to 5… and you have some real shit going on.

Pay the point of Mana.
Pay Reach for numbers. Pay reach for duration. Pay reach for non-ritual and reach for instant casting.

4 dice-2 (Mana)=2 dice=2 sux. Ow, that'll hurt a little.
Useful Devices (Rashid): 5 (Devilish Devices)+3 (Sycronization)=3 sux.

Slipping Surly Bonds: 6 sux.
Suzanna's Metamorphasis: 3 (Willpower point)=1 sux

It's time to cheat, and use magic, Miriam.

First, boost Intelligence: 3 (Mind)+2 (Gnosis)+2 (Yantra)=2 sux. Yep, so Int 5 now for the next scene.

Instant, no need to touch because on self, and 1 reach for duration (1 scene)

Oh, okay this is starting to get really rough.

1 dice for overreach, and +2 for yet another paradox roll, and 8 again. So, once more, 3 dice, 8 again=0 sux. Well, boy howdy.

Mage Occult Knowledge? Let's Talk Mastery: 3 (Mind)+2 (Gnosis)+2 (Yantra)+3 (Last Willpower, no seriously Miriam, you're going to be paying for tonight for a while…)-4 (Potency up)=1 sux

Automatically at Potency 3… so, let's see

Also, 4 dice, 8 again, Paradox again no seriously Miriam you're stretching here like hell. And doing fine anyways. 0 sux.

So, Int 5, Mage Knowledge 5. IE, a fucking genius. Let's do it. Also, a 9-again for being a student, and this is going to be a hard test.

Okay, now:

Rote--Divide the Mind: 3 (Mind)+2 (Gnosis)=3 sux

And no need for a paradox roll!

A/N: What a great guy the Marquis is! Though to what extent the warping happened is still up in the air: in theory it could just be a slight twist to create an obsession, or he could have basically turned Occlude into a puppet for him. Also, I'm posting this early because it's short, and I'm bored. I'll still be doing the every-Sunday update, and that doesn't mean the vote closes and updates this Sunday.

This is way shorter than it could be, but I was just amused at the idea of Miriam missing the entire deadly fight scene to be a nerd.
 
Last edited:
Hmmm. Oh to have the Rose Knights tongue at this moment.

....

HHHHHHHMMMMMMMMMM.

Stupid spells setting of peripheral mage sight... Maybe re working one?
 
A/N: What a great guy the Marquis is! Though to what extent the warping happened is still up in the air: in theory it could just be a slight twist to create an obsession, or he could have basically turned Occlude into a puppet for him. Also, I'm posting this early because it's short, and I'm bored. I'll still be doing the every-Sunday update, and that doesn't mean the vote closes and updates this Sunday.
Haha, I didn't actually see that coming. It's still a bit silly and irrational to do so at this stage when you've not yet won and as far as I remember he doesn't actually know we have another potential use for a seed either? Far better would be to just wait a bit longer until you've won, or if you're so confident try and do something similar to Miriam and turn the current ritual into something beneficial for Marquis. It's not like Marquis didn't already have the seeds in his possession originally too, and didn't do anything with them for who knows how long. It'd also make his interactions with the Scelesti more interesting if he was capable of doing that too Occlude, could something similar have happened to some of their Mages?

Reading the rolls spoiler was pretty crazy too, as it showed off both the power and sheer versatility a Mind Mage is capable of given their capacity to buff various stats and skills, particularly when you consider a Mind Mage can still learn Words of Power to make it more likely. They're also not likely to be actually infected with paradox, and what is there to say about our paradox rolls that very fortunately failed.

[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.

We're still rocking 5 intelligence and 5 mage knowledge, so I feel Miriam is sufficiently capable to to engage in conversation or debate with them given what they desire, even if her specific social stats themselves aren't buffed being more capable of engaging in a subject of interest to the other person should give you bonuses. Both Isaiah and unfortunately Occlude - as demonstrated in this chapter - are at least a little mentally unsound and demonstrate maniacal behavior, so this action seems like it would play well to their personality.

There's also the fact that we still have Sheriff and Asmodai coming, and given just how long that scene itself took may be here imminiently. There's also the knowledge that we aren't actually in the real world but the Astral right now, and previously in Marquis mansion chapters the Mages and Demon-Spawn killing themselves was a viable approach, if one with consequences. So a fear of actual death (even if "killed") for either ourselves or our companions here should be lessened, so I feel interposing ourselves between Virginia and trading the seed away isn't as critical as it would be in other scenarios.
 
Haha, I didn't actually see that coming. It's still a bit silly and irrational to do so at this stage when you've not yet won and as far as I remember he doesn't actually know we have another potential use for a seed either? Far better would be to just wait a bit longer until you've won, or if you're so confident try and do something similar to Miriam and turn the current ritual into something beneficial for Marquis. It's not like Marquis didn't already have the seeds in his possession originally too, and didn't do anything with them for who knows how long. It'd also make his interactions with the Scelesti more interesting if he was capable of doing that too Occlude, could something similar have happened to some of their Mages?

Reading the rolls spoiler was pretty crazy too, as it showed off both the power and sheer versatility a Mind Mage is capable of given their capacity to buff various stats and skills, particularly when you consider a Mind Mage can still learn Words of Power to make it more likely. They're also not likely to be actually infected with paradox, and what is there to say about our paradox rolls that very fortunately failed.

[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.

We're still rocking 5 intelligence and 5 mage knowledge, so I feel Miriam is sufficiently capable to to engage in conversation or debate with them given what they desire, even if her specific social stats themselves aren't buffed being more capable of engaging in a subject of interest to the other person should give you bonuses. Both Isaiah and unfortunately Occlude - as demonstrated in this chapter - are at least a little mentally unsound and demonstrate maniacal behavior, so this action seems like it would play well to their personality.

There's also the fact that we still have Sheriff and Asmodai coming, and given just how long that scene itself took may be here imminiently. There's also the knowledge that we aren't actually in the real world but the Astral right now, and previously in Marquis mansion chapters the Mages and Demon-Spawn killing themselves was a viable approach, if one with consequences. So a fear of actual death (even if "killed") for either ourselves or our companions here should be lessened, so I feel interposing ourselves between Virginia and trading the seed away isn't as critical as it would be in other scenarios.

Oh, just to note, since I'm sure Miriam would have learned this but I'm not sure if I mentioned it on screen. Demon-Spawn can be killed in the Astral, but only by a single hidden weakness, something deeply personal to them. Which, yes, one of the Demon-Spawn has for Isaiah.

But, well. Why is Occlude holding a baseball covered in the sorts of products Virginia uses to try to lighten her skin?

I'm doing this because with 10 dice, there's absolutely no way that, if I rolled it, MIriam wouldn't figure out if she didn't already know.

Also, along the same lines of (10 dice, might as well), as far as Miriam can tell, the Marquis was aware of the seeds, but his power struggled to reach them, in that once he got into the greenhouse it faded a lot, at least among those he hadn't already gotten at least a few hooks in. Also also, the Marquis isn't even that good at Mind Magic, he just has a big Gnosis and is the ghost of an Archmage.
 
...Soo I feel the need to ask to be certain-Miriam basically purified the seed, so it wouldn't make Abyssal Werewolves right? I mean not having the seeds will suck, but at least we can not have the abyss have monsterous werewolves running around that basically screw up the Mages even worse (The Seers have archmagi to keep the veil and whatever they want intact, the Mages aren't so lucky.)
 
...Soo I feel the need to ask to be certain-Miriam basically purified the seed, so it wouldn't make Abyssal Werewolves right? I mean not having the seeds will suck, but at least we can not have the abyss have monsterous werewolves running around that basically screw up the Mages even worse (The Seers have archmagi to keep the veil and whatever they want intact, the Mages aren't so lucky.)

The seed was never abyssal, actually. And as for what Miriam did? Well, she's too busy feeling clever for thinking of it to explain, but you'll see next update no matter what choice you make. :V
 
[X] Try to trade the seed Virginia has to Occlude. Perhaps it'll convince him not to murder her. Perhaps it won't.
Does it suck?...Maaybe. Werewolves themselves seem like they'd not actually be that bad- it's the whole 'doomed but seriously metal' scenario they end up in that's the big issue.
 
[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.

Well, it seems like we've flipped it around so time in in our favor again. Lets see if we can provoke a monologue?
Which was when Yue Jing stepped forward, chanting in High Speech, her words strange, with an accent and an inflection she couldn't quite understand.
Also nobody's going to take a name that can be read as "Menstruation"
 
[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.

Well, it seems like we've flipped it around so time in in our favor again. Lets see if we can provoke a monologue?
Also nobody's going to take a name that can be read as "Menstruation"

Say what?
 
[X] Try to trade the seed Virginia has to Occlude. Perhaps it'll convince him not to murder her. Perhaps it won't.
Does it suck?...Maaybe. Werewolves themselves seem like they'd not actually be that bad- it's the whole 'doomed but seriously metal' scenario they end up in that's the big issue.
We'd be getting nWerewolf, remember - they're significantly less doomed, and significantly less prone to genocide and terrible decisions.


[X] Try to trade the seed Virginia has to Occlude. Perhaps it'll convince him not to murder her. Perhaps it won't.


The world needs the Uratha. Even if their maker is being kind of a dick right now.
 
We'd be getting nWerewolf, remember - they're significantly less doomed, and significantly less prone to genocide and terrible decisions.


[X] Try to trade the seed Virginia has to Occlude. Perhaps it'll convince him not to murder her. Perhaps it won't.


The world needs the Uratha. Even if their maker is being kind of a dick right now.

Though I will note that whether or not the ghost of an Archmage, as opposed to an Archmage, has the ability to do so is... questionable. The real potential here would be for information about what he did that could be helpful, secrets that he's held in his head that he can't access because he's not entirely sane and not entirely there.

(Yes, I'm holding a few more narrative cards close to my chest, just like I did the Occlude thing.)
 
Could Miriam dispel what the Marquis did to Occlude? He's not quite an Archmage anymore.

Hmm. Let me look it up. She's smart enough to at least know if she has a chance. Huh, nope!

Dispellation is Prime, which you don't have. Counterspells can be done by anyone, but once a spell is actually made.

That said, in theory you could "counter"-spell by warping his mind your own way, basically mind controlling him but in reverse/etc.
 
Hmm. Let me look it up. She's smart enough to at least know if she has a chance. Huh, nope!

Dispellation is Prime, which you don't have. Counterspells can be done by anyone, but once a spell is actually made.

That said, in theory you could "counter"-spell by warping his mind your own way, basically mind controlling him but in reverse/etc.
Oh right, I forgot the difference between dispel and counterspell. Hmm.

[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.
For now.
 
Oh, just to note, since I'm sure Miriam would have learned this but I'm not sure if I mentioned it on screen. Demon-Spawn can be killed in the Astral, but only by a single hidden weakness, something deeply personal to them. Which, yes, one of the Demon-Spawn has for Isaiah.

But, well. Why is Occlude holding a baseball covered in the sorts of products Virginia uses to try to lighten her skin?
Ah I see. It's still not very smart of him though, given as far as I believe Occlude was aware Marquis was gonna get all of the seeds regardless, or at the very least the Mages themselves were so it's still questionable. It doesn't really have to make much sense if he's mentally disturbed though I suppose. Though having the exact way to kill Virginia is suspect, given that of the demon-spawn that he's aware of, she's probably one of the least dangerous and there was no way of knowing she'd be the one in this situation. He could have other demon killing artifacts though.

[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.
[X] Try to trade the seed Virginia has to Occlude. Perhaps it'll convince him not to murder her. Perhaps it won't.

A slight change in my vote, as I don't really know which option is better, largely as even with this happening I still want Marquis to get at least one seed given just how beneficial the Uratha can be to the world and if we only recover a single seed I'd prefer it go to him. I still think delaying and getting them to talk would be good too though, which may Miriam should be able to help with, as with her 10 dice she should be able to know that they'd be beneficial to the world IC.

@The Laurent - a small question, but would Virginia just tossing the seed to us and just kill herself/wake up/whatever Demon-Spawn call it before the artifact can be used be effective? It's an avenue to ask about at least, as if someone can kill you, getting out of dodge before it can be used could be viable.
 
Ah I see. It's still not very smart of him though, given as far as I believe Occlude was aware Marquis was gonna get all of the seeds regardless, or at the very least the Mages themselves were so it's still questionable. It doesn't really have to make much sense if he's mentally disturbed though I suppose. Though having the exact way to kill Virginia is suspect, given that of the demon-spawn that he's aware of, she's probably one of the least dangerous and there was no way of knowing she'd be the one in this situation. He could have other demon killing artifacts though.

[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.
[X] Try to trade the seed Virginia has to Occlude. Perhaps it'll convince him not to murder her. Perhaps it won't.

A slight change in my vote, as I don't really know which option is better, largely as even with this happening I still want Marquis to get at least one seed given just how beneficial the Uratha can be to the world and if we only recover a single seed I'd prefer it go to him. I still think delaying and getting them to talk would be good too though, which may Miriam should be able to help with, as with her 10 dice she should be able to know that they'd be beneficial to the world IC.

@The Laurent - a small question, but would Virginia just tossing the seed to us and just kill herself/wake up/whatever Demon-Spawn call it before the artifact can be used be effective? It's an avenue to ask about at least, as if someone can kill you, getting out of dodge before it can be used could be viable.

Let's see. It might be. It takes time to do so, though. But it's possible, certainly, despite what it'd cost to Virginia.

Also, Miriam obviously doesn't have Manipulation 5 to work it out, but that Virginia means a lot to Miriam is a pretty obvious fact. Why that matters, well? Miriam is the only Mage guaranteed to be along for the ride with the Demon-Spawn thing, other than Occlude.

If you're someone who thinks Mages are more important than anyone else...
 
[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.
For now.
 
[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.
 
[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.
 
[X] Maybe one of these two enemies is talkative. Time, she needs time for her plan to come to fruition. Isaiah has already lost. And perhaps in his loss, Occlude might be a little too busy.
 
Back
Top