The Roaring Age (nWoD)

[The Laurent]

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:

Spoiler: 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--

Spoiler: 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--

Spoiler: 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.

 

[Manatee supreme]

[x] Perhaps just a little bit more exploration. While they have a chance.

Risk it for the biscuit!

 

[Amazing Abzan]

[x] It's time to get out of here. Whatever this is, it's above her at the moment.

The plan was already to skedaddle and grab the Imbued item that makes us fireproof before messing around with the actual fire. That goes double now that we know there's mages poking about.

 

[zxzx24]

"You have a baseball bat, we could just whack the old lady," Ragamuffin said.

Click to shrink...

Love him so much.

[X] Perhaps just a little bit more exploration. While they have a chance.

Take chances, get messy, make mistakes!

Edit;
Oh, and also. Did that sound like a prayer to the exarchs to anyone else?

 

[Mozzy]

[x] It's time to get out of here. Whatever this is, it's above her at the moment.

We know for a fact that mages are involved now. That is enough to say this trip was a success. Anything more is an unnecessary risk. This place is not safe and we might find something we cannot handle. The plan was to scout and then come back with a team and better equipment. It is time to leave.

 

[Kingofbooks]

[x] It's time to get out of here. Whatever this is, it's above her at the moment.

 

[mastigos]

It was actually just prose. "What we can control is nothing and everything. Fate is a word for the decisions of the Powerful, who make their own luck. Luck is just a word for the will of hidden masters, and the hidden masters can be us, if only we can seize it. These are the words of a fool who must learn the next step of the initiation, and--"

Click to shrink...

Well that sounds very much like a Seer of the Throne Acanthus wrote/thought this. Then again, it's title "a recipe for disaster" so maybe more somebody thinking about how said Seer achieved his own ruin.

"Is the book in the house?"

"Yep."

"Then how are we going to get it. Would she really ignore us breaking in?"

"Nope, she definitely wouldn't. I just thought we'd run in and try to do it fast."

"There's another way," Miriam said, frowning. It would cost a good deal of the mana she'd built up, but in exchange it'd get her in without being seen, or at least noticed. "Unless… where is she?"

Miriam frowned, always tempted to be 'stingy' when it came to Mana.

"You can hear her, she'll be going out to the barn in just an hour. She's… in the back, I think?" There was no second story. It was more a cottage than anything, which would make sneaking remarkably difficult.

Morata frowned, considering what magic she could bring to bear on this… and finding very little that would fit, except. "Couldn't we just knock on her door? Ask to borrow the book?"

"Right, right. It's an important book. Even resetting like she does, which is normal for these sorta cities, but just sucks, she'd still remember that much. Whatever weirdos are protecting that are not that stupid. Whatever's in that book, I've only been once and it was just a bunch of nonsense," Ragamuffin said.

"We could at least… see if the door can be opened."

"You have a baseball bat, we could just whack the old lady," Ragamuffin said.

"Absolutely not," Morata said. "A baseball bat is for slugging baseballs."

"Right, right. So, you're just going to try the door? Or, hm."

Morata went forward, and jiggled the door handle. Nope. She stepped back, frowning.

Click to shrink...

Is it just me or have we been neglecting to develop Morata's use of Space in favor of Mind to the point that she reflexively reaches for Mind effects without considering what Space can bring to the table? In particular I'm thinking of the Break Boundaries spell that would have let them just walk through a closed door. And more generally, she tends not to make use of the amazing utility of Outward Inward Eye

 

[Neptune]

[x] It's time to get out of here. Whatever this is, it's above her at the moment.

 

[unmatchingsocks]

A house, a barn, none of it packed quite as tight as the ghetto

Click to shrink...

Ah, I didn't know that "Ghetto" was used in USA before the WW2. You learn something new every day.


[x] It's time to get out of here. Whatever this is, it's above her at the moment.

 

[The Laurent]

Ah, I didn't know that "Ghetto" was used in USA before the WW2. You learn something new every day.


[x] It's time to get out of here. Whatever this is, it's above her at the moment.

Click to shrink...

Yeah, and it'd be pretty well known to someone reasonably worldly, at least as "the place Jews are packed into in Europe." It doesn't actually take much more than that--just awareness--to get the parallels from there. So it's probably an unusual usage, but not that unusual. It entered mainstream currency in the wake of WWII and the, uh, importance of Jewish ghettos to understanding what the Nazis did.

 

[The Laurent]

Apologies, but owing to a degree of burnout, I'm going to have to push back the update a week. I plan on beginning it today, but it will be a longer one, and so I don't think I can do it in time today and maintain its quality.

 

[The Laurent]

Page 9: Exit, Stage Right

"We need to go," Morata said, her voice firm. There was not a tremble in it, but it was a near-run thing. She was growing more powerful and knowledgeable by the week, but she was still a young Mage and even one truly experienced Mage could possibly do a lot. She had defenses, but she was a scholar, not a fighter.

"Right… yeah. This stuff is freaky. It's always… I mean, I'm fine with it, but a girl like you is probably scared out of your wits." Ragamuffin couldn't keep his voice from trembling, and in fact his lip was quivering like runny mashed potatoes.

"Sure, sure," Morata said, used to appeasing masculine egos far less delicate than this. Though not that used to it. She knew how to be polite and respectful, but she was known as a tomboy for a reason… but she was not known as a rude girl. "I understand. How do we get back, Ragamuffin?"

"Let me… okay, there we go." He opened up the book and began reading a line. "We who chance disaster chance triumph as well, and in secret signs we see the truth and the lies and know that both are the same thing." He read it with far less enthusiasm than the words seemed to indicate, in a dry, bored voice.

Morata felt the yanking as she was dragged back into… the shack. The scent of half-rotten flesh filled the air. Mrs. O'Leary stood there, a woman with greying red hair and a twisted visage that probably did not fit the reality at all. She leered at them, angrily, from brown eyes. "What are you children doing here?" she slurred, her voice with an accent so thick Miriam almost couldn't make it out. "Pox on ye, pox on ye," she said, reaching out. She was wearing a green dress, and Miriam stepped back, as Ragamuffin threw the book at the woman. Miriam's foot found a half-empty bottle of liquor and she tumbled to the ground in a heap, rolling out of the way.

Her physical strength in this form had to do not with her physical strength in reality, but with her mental strength. Even so, Mrs. O'Leary was a powerful and famous figure. She was reviled by many, and this version of her, a twisted hag with an almost comically thick Irish accent, represented what a great number of people saw her as. It could not be an accident, but the evils of those Irish Catholics.

(Miriam, whose people, Negroes, had had considerable conflicts with the Irish in Chicago, didn't hate them but did resent how they took out the abuse they received from others on Negroes. But stereotypes had power in this Astral Realm, or rather popularity had power, and what was more popular all around the world than stereotypes of people or groups?)

So she struggled as the woman raked her long nails across Morata's skin, leaving welts in their place.

"Let her go!" Ragamuffin shouted, and tried to slam the baseball bat Miriam had dropped right into Mrs. O'Leary. The woman, though, turned and caught it, yanking it out of reach and lifting it up. "You a Prot? You'll see what we do to Prots 'round here," this slurring parody of a person said.

Miriam couldn't break loose on her own, and no matter how she struggled the woman held her down, spewing vile and nonsensical curses, slipping into a foreign language as she did. Miriam twisted a little and kicked out. The woman stumbled back, and Miriam felt terrible… but not terrible enough to stop. The blood was really flowing now, and the cow was roaring.

"Damn it all to God and the Pope, you've made Bessie angry!"

Miriam could smell smoke as she grabbed onto the Ragamuffin's hand and tugged him out the door, stumbling herself as the flames already began to wrap up the small shack, moving far faster than they would have in real life.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh," the Ragamuffin said. "Blimey blimey blimey!" They were not going fast enough, the fire was already spreading to nearby buildings behind and ahead of them, and so she focused her will on a very simple set of actions. "Why you stopping?"

First, she pulled up a sort of mental shield. It was a shield of egoism, of her sense of self, and it manifested as the jacket of a major league ball player of the sort she'd never be, but which some small part of herself would have loved to become. Then, that done, she closed her eyes and

"Be that which is great, be that which is wise, be that which is clever," she said, holding and shaking her mirror for a moment as she chanted in High Speech and imagined all she knew and all she might yet know. She held it in her mind, and when she opened her eyes, her thoughts were racing, and she knew what she had to do. Her body, too, seemed invigorated by this, for in the Astral her body was her mind, and her mind her body.

She turned to Ragamuffin and scooped him up, casting another spell as she did. This one was easy. Space was an illusion, and so she cut down on it.

"Hey, what are you!"

He wasn't that heavy.

When you could take Sleepers to the Astral Realms, or when you met them in their dreams, their strength was the strength they normally had, usually. There were exceptions: the weak dreamed of strength, sometimes, the crippled of whole bodies. But when one was a Mage, one understood that a forceful personality could lift mountains in the Astral that they could never move in the waking world.

You learned, in other words, that you could do anything. Then a Mage, further, could learn that even their ego, even their charming, brainless smiles had power. Even the front, even the lie, could have as much reality as any truth.

When you combined that with magic, you could work true miracles.

What Morata thought about, though, was the fact that not that long ago she'd been scooped up and carried to safety. Now she needed to move, and fast.

It was a true effort to keep two spells in her mind at once, even as fast as it sped along, and twisted and turned with new avenues to consider.

There were two ways to see what happened next. To those watching from the outside, it'd seem like she was moving impossibly. She'd suddenly skip a few steps, suddenly blur for a moment before winding up a few feet ahead, moving fast enough that if one actually counted all the space it'd be too fast for any human, just barely, to ever achieve naturally… and without sprinting, instead a solid, steady, if breakneck run.

Instead, if one was Morata, one saw the joins and cracks in the world, the way that the mind could simply twist the space to cut the corners as if she were cutting down a garment. It was a bizarre feeling, and one she wasn't used to, but she kept on running, feeling the lick of the fire as it rose all around her. But she was moving fast to get past it, holding Ragamuffin tight as he struggled and kicked, focused on the running. Her legs still ached, but she didn't want to stop, not now. Finally she reached the edge of the zone, where above darkness and light warred quite literally: it was night in one place, day in another, and she half-leapt and half-stumbled out of the 'O'Leary Chicago Fire' city, out onto the street.

Then she half-doubled over, setting the Ragamuffin down and trying not to vomit. She'd been going faster than she expected, and now she was dizzy. As she'd ran, blood had started to pump, and that meant that blood from the half-dozen wounds had started to flow. Those nails were not that sharp, but the wounds they left ached, and she shivered a little, looking down at the kid.

"That… was… so amazing!" Ragamuffin said. "I feel like I'm, uh, a hundred years younger." Ragamuffin bounced up and began a rather adorable little dance that mostly just looked like he was turning in circles, eyes wide. "You're… oh, wait, it's a Firebug."

Indeed, a large cockroach holding a torch was standing there, stinking of oil, looking as the city behind them went up in fire. "So… beautiful," the Firebug said. Miriam had met a few such 'firebugs' before, and they were deeply disturbing, to say the least. One of its mandibles clicked as it turned and inched towards the fire.

"So, what I was saying, that was really cool. I also almost died. Sorta? I have a few extra skins lying around, y'know how it is. Like… names? Sorta. It's a bit weird. I'm a big… ish deal," Ragamuffin said. "I'm one of the best-known Ragamuffins out there."

"It's a sort of title, then? Rather than your name?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah. I've been a Street Rat, Scoundrel… oh, take that," Ragamuffin said, holding up the bloody baseball bat. "It's definitely yours. Ragamuffin's what I'm about now. But me's, I've met Gavroche and the Artful Dodger before. You can call me Tobias, I suppose. Tobias the Ragamuffin. Got a good gig going here, but you know what I've not gotten in twenty years?"

It was strange: the child Astral beings were at once not children, and all too clearly children. They could have centuries of experience, but they never necessarily grew up unless it was… the point? They were reflections of archetypes, of dreams, of types of people you met that people thought about. Perhaps somewhere there was a 'Ragamuffin grown up' which represented this… but perhaps they just imagined such a man became Fagin instead.

Still, someone who'd met the Artful Dodger was probably at least the kind of Astral being who got around, now and again.

"And you," Tobias the Ragamuffin said. "Owe me a boon. So, how about it. Sometime when you're watchin' a game, or maybe playing in one, with legs like that… you summon me. Don't have to let me possess you, it'd be kinda weird to be in a girl, anyways. You know? Right? Even a really… well, the kind of girl who's the Cat's Meow, you know? Mew!" he grinned, moving his hands as if they were paws. "So, you let me see it, and I'll make sure nobody hears anything about what happened, or how I saved your life with my quick thinking and speed."

Ah. Yes.

Miriam couldn't help but smiling, "Well, deal. I'll need a few days, though. I'll be busy with other stuff."

"Sure, sure. Feel free to look me up," Tobias said. "Now, you gonna leave the way you spooky magic users do?"

"Yes."

******

The trip back just involved closing her eyes and taking the time to remember how she'd gotten there, walking the path in her soul in reverse. It took ten minutes to calm down, especially with Tobias poking her in the arm every so often to see if she was going to go intangible, and with the pain she felt from all of the wounds she'd gotten. But sooner or later she faded away, and began to walk the path, thinking about it.

Astral beings didn't have to be as complex and storied as Tobias. In fact, most of them were just stuck in a loop, a few simple characteristics repeated endlessly, or carbon copies of a dozen others meaningfully not different. But besides those whose resonance was so great that even if they were no broader, they were deeper--Abraham Lincoln, even the most simply worshipful version of him, she was told by books, was a complex mind to read. But then sometimes, if you pulled some Astral being out of their 'rut' they could grow. If she'd grabbed one of those bystanders and dragged them out, showed them around, they might find some new way to be a bystander, or some new facet of personality shaped by their surroundings.

(There had even been experiments Miriam thought seemed rather cruel that involved moving Astral beings between different worlds to see what they did.)

Tobias the Ragamuffin should be enough to call him by and summon him, as soon as she had a chance. Baseball was still going on, of course, at this time of year. So she'd just show him what it looked like.

It shouldn't be too hard, and it was a bad idea to think too much of all the risk they'd gone through. She'd have lived if she'd been killed in the Astral. It would have damaged her, and she would have needed days to recover fully, but she would have been fine. He wouldn't, unless he was something far stranger than he seemed: some beings existed to die and come back, or had ways to get around death. You expected the villain of a penny-book to 'die' and then somehow survive and come back.

He was probably not The Ragamuffin, or The Scoundrel, or The Street Rat, so much as one version of them, and they all died often enough in stories, if dramatic feeling was needed. They made themselves relatable, or they made themselves hated, and then they could live or die as the plot needed.

Soon enough she found herself back in the Church at the center of her mind. From there it did not take much to shift, to transition back to the waking world, stiff and a little weary. She blinked awake, glancing around. Her eyes found a clock on the wall, there for just such a purpose as figuring out how long had passed. It was 1:43. She would need to hurry if she was going to go to the Athenaeum to consult on this matter before time ran out. She couldn't stop for lunch, and would just have to eat more with dinner to make up for it. They usually had food, though, in a separate area from all the books. It was never much, more along the lines of bread, coffee, tea, a few small snacks, the kinds of things a hungry person needed.

Her day had almost run out, the dreaming had taken longer than expected.

******

A question, first, however! Miriam has relationships with fellow Mystagogues. Some are positive, some are negative. What are they?

Positive (Choose 2)

[] Storia is new, just like her, a Mage in training, and thus has been something of a fellow in figuring out just what is going on. She's been a Mage for only a matter of a few handfuls of months longer.
[] Calvary, the Atavist, was a strange one, obsessed with the past and unable to embrace the future… yet despite that, he was an interesting person, and knowledgable about history, and therefore they made a connection.
[] Hatshepsut or Hatty, as she calls herself, is a researcher into Egyptian runes and Egyptology in magic, and she has provided Morata with a few pointers, now and again. She's a bit obsessive, but she does know what she's talking about.
[] Voyager is Morata's source of Astral lore, and a secondary Athaeneum specifically along those lines. So despite his tendency to drone on, she sees the value in what he's saying and tries to get through to him.
[] Thyme is a Mystagogue who finds her wisdom in folk traditions, especially those relating to her heritage from Mexico. She's also the one in charge of cooking for parties, an act of her own choice. It's hard not to like her, really, she's always there to listen.
[] Loki is an odd one, a rather kindly--all in all--and strange rich Mage who is very generous with what he has and what he gives. It's easy to like him, even if he can be difficult and strange sometimes, just like the mythological figure he named himself after.
[] Mandolin's research into sonic magic and more is fascinating to Morata, and so she's looked a lot into it, and worked together with her for a few things. He's hasty and way too busy, but so is Morata.
[] Slim's job as a Censor has thankfully not come between them so far. A Censor doesn't, well, actually censor the members of the group, but the idea of someone who goes around keeping forbidden knowledge out of people's hands would rub Morata wrong, but he seems dedicated and devoted to his job.

Negative (Choose 1 more besides that pre-checked) Obviously, you can't choose something you chose for Positive.

[] Competition is such a… annoying reality, but it has to be said that Morata and Storia are competing with each other, and it's certainly led to bad blood.
[] Calvary isn't a racist, or even really biased, but his old-fashioned ways rub Morata the wrong way, make it hard for her to get along with him.
[] Hatty and her obsession with Egyptian runes has led to a little bit of awkwardness. She keeps on trying to associate Morata's Astral ideas with her own research, and it only just makes Morata feel like what she values is all just a way to get to the 'real' point.
[] Voyager is an Astral adept, a skilled person, but his lecturing bores Morata, and while she still listens and tries to stay polite, they are not… friends, really. They're not even close.
[] Loki is rich, and his kindness can often hide insensitive rudeness. It's not that they hate each other, but Morata has been burned a little too often to think of him as a friend, even if he's not an enemy.
[] Mandolin's personality is far from even-keeled, and despite Morata's attempts to get close, an argument has led to both of them… say, cooling off. Except they haven't talked to each other since, except when they have to.
[] As a member of a multi-Order Cabal, Morata has heard just a few too many stories about Slim to be able to fully trust the Censor, and instead of trying to get close to him, she avoids him as much as is reasonable.
[X] Kalki is a Daksha, a Mystagogue Legacy that very openly believes in the inferiority of non-whites and their own personal superiority as perfect beings. No, they do not get along. At all. In any way. Morata in fact hates Kalki, and the feeling is mutual.

Spoiler: Rolls

Talking: 3 sux

Fleeing: 0 Sux.

Wrenching Free: 0 six.

Batter Up?: 0 sux.

Struggle: 4 vs. 5 dice=2 vs. 2 sux

Struggle 2: 0 sux

Struggle 3: 6 dice=5 sux, violently shoving a crazed older lady off.


Strengthen Mind: 1 reach for Instant Casting, 1 reach for scene-long duration, 2 reach for dividing out attributes, maybe?

Yantra: Rote Mudra (+4, Promising Student), High Speech (+2), Mirror (+1)

Dice Pool: Gnosis (3)+Mind (3)=6-6 (Potency increase)+7 (Yantra)=5 dice=3 sux.

--Potency: 1+2 (Spell's Highest Rating-1)=3 Potency+3=6 Potency to divide

--Paradox: 0 sux, no problem, contained.

Ground Eater: 1 Reach for instant, 1 Reach for one-scene, Potency automatically 3+1 (-2 to roll, 3 dice)=1 sux.

Step Back: 3 sux

A/N: I just honestly forgot the name of the Daksha Mystagogue. So if it's something different, tell me and I'll change it.

 

[Manatee supreme]

[x] Storia is new, just like her, a Mage in training, and thus has been something of a fellow in figuring out just what is going on. She's been a Mage for only a matter of a few handfuls of months longer.

[x] Loki is an odd one, a rather kindly--all in all--and strange rich Mage who is very generous with what he has and what he gives. It's easy to like him, even if he can be difficult and strange sometimes, just like the mythological figure he named himself after.


[x] As a member of a multi-Order Cabal, Morata has heard just a few too many stories about Slim to be able to fully trust the Censor, and instead of trying to get close to him, she avoids him as much as is reasonable.

 

[paradoxdragon]

Oh neat, a possible side story hook.

For possible negatives, either Slim or maybe Hatty. Positives would be Storia, Loki or perhaps Calvary. Something New and Old.

 

[Mozzy]

[X] Hatshepsut or Hatty, as she calls herself, is a researcher into Egyptian runes and Egyptology in magic, and she has provided Morata with a few pointers, now and again. She's a bit obsessive, but she does know what she's talking about.
[X] Loki is an odd one, a rather kindly--all in all--and strange rich Mage who is very generous with what he has and what he gives. It's easy to like him, even if he can be difficult and strange sometimes, just like the mythological figure he named himself after.
[X] Calvary isn't a racist, or even really biased, but his old-fashioned ways rub Morata the wrong way, make it hard for her to get along with him.

Loki looks like a good choice. Loki seems to have a lot of resources and experience as a mage. It is an attractive combo. If we need something, we can ask him and he can get it for us. We might not even need to pay for it if he is feeling generous. If we want to know something, he could answer our question or point us to someone who can answer our question. This is just my impression of him from the one meeting earlier, but it was a good impression. A solid pick for me.

I am less solid about Hatty. I like her enthusiasm towards her topic, but the other choices are also compelling.

I am picking Calvary as the negative relationship because it seems to be based off of misunderstanding than true dislike. As we become more experienced, our tolerance towards his quirks will increase and a positive relationship can develop. Some of the other options are more about dislike developing between 2 people, which would take more work to change.

For example, we have an option to develop a competitive relationship with Storia. It explicitly says that bad blood would develop between the two of them. It would take work to overcome this in the short term and if left unaddressed could change into something more serious in the long term. With Calvary, it would take work to understand him better, but in the long term there is not other obstacle to develop a positive relationship. It is just learning to understand and tolerate his quirks.

 

[Amazing Abzan]

I'm so glad we've got the promise of more Tobias the Ragamuffin in our future. He seems like a useful guy to know and a fun character, so I'm all for making him a regular fixture in the quest. Maybe we can even make him our familiar one day?

For the vote, I like making friends with Storia and Loki. Loki seemed cool when we met him and he's someone I'd love to see more of. As for Storia, she's probably not the most useful contact, but it seems fun to have the two newbie mages bonding over their shared confusion and commiserating about all the grunt work they get saddled with.

[x] Storia is new, just like her, a Mage in training, and thus has been something of a fellow in figuring out just what is going on. She's been a Mage for only a matter of a few handfuls of months longer.
[x] Loki is an odd one, a rather kindly--all in all--and strange rich Mage who is very generous with what he has and what he gives. It's easy to like him, even if he can be difficult and strange sometimes, just like the mythological figure he named himself after.

For the negative, I'm thinking Slim. For one, the conflict seems to be one sided, so we don't have to worry about him actually being an outright enemy, and it'd be easier to patch that relationship up if we ever feel the need. For another, it's a problem that has nothing to do with race whereas the Kalki issue is entirely about race, so I appreciate the variety.

[x] As a member of a multi-Order Cabal, Morata has heard just a few too many stories about Slim to be able to fully trust the Censor, and instead of trying to get close to him, she avoids him as much as is reasonable.

 

[zxzx24]

[X] Thyme is a Mystagogue who finds her wisdom in folk traditions, especially those relating to her heritage from Mexico. She's also the one in charge of cooking for parties, an act of her own choice. It's hard not to like her, really, she's always there to listen.

[X] Loki is an odd one, a rather kindly--all in all--and strange rich Mage who is very generous with what he has and what he gives. It's easy to like him, even if he can be difficult and strange sometimes, just like the mythological figure he named himself after.

[X] Competition is such a… annoying reality, but it has to be said that Morata and Storia are competing with each other, and it's certainly led to bad blood.

Woo! All astral journeys must come to end eventually...

 

[Neptune]

[X] Hatshepsut or Hatty, as she calls herself, is a researcher into Egyptian runes and Egyptology in magic, and she has provided Morata with a few pointers, now and again. She's a bit obsessive, but she does know what she's talking about.
[X] Loki is an odd one, a rather kindly--all in all--and strange rich Mage who is very generous with what he has and what he gives. It's easy to like him, even if he can be difficult and strange sometimes, just like the mythological figure he named himself after.
[X] Calvary isn't a racist, or even really biased, but his old-fashioned ways rub Morata the wrong way, make it hard for her to get along with him.

 

[unmatchingsocks]

[X] Thyme is a Mystagogue who finds her wisdom in folk traditions, especially those relating to her heritage from Mexico. She's also the one in charge of cooking for parties, an act of her own choice. It's hard not to like her, really, she's always there to listen.
[X] Hatshepsut or Hatty, as she calls herself, is a researcher into Egyptian runes and Egyptology in magic, and she has provided Morata with a few pointers, now and again. She's a bit obsessive, but she does know what she's talking about.
[X] Calvary isn't a racist, or even really biased, but his old-fashioned ways rub Morata the wrong way, make it hard for her to get along with him.

 

[Kingofbooks]

[X] Hatshepsut or Hatty, as she calls herself, is a researcher into Egyptian runes and Egyptology in magic, and she has provided Morata with a few pointers, now and again. She's a bit obsessive, but she does know what she's talking about.
[X] Loki is an odd one, a rather kindly--all in all--and strange rich Mage who is very generous with what he has and what he gives. It's easy to like him, even if he can be difficult and strange sometimes, just like the mythological figure he named himself after.
[X] Calvary isn't a racist, or even really biased, but his old-fashioned ways rub Morata the wrong way, make it hard for her to get along with him.

 

[The Laurent]

Page 10: Old Ground

Miriam was used to the main Athenaeum . There had been a point where she was not even allowed to know where it was, where she had to be brought via blindfold. She now knew that it rested on the levels beneath a rather large brownstone building that served as the offices of a number of figures that were in the employ of the Mystagogues… some of them. Others of them were what Loki would have called 'decorative coloration.' There were two levels below the ground floor, and there was no easily visible stairwell. But there was a set of actions--in this case a set of hand motions--that served as the key that opened up the stairwell. The first lower level included the ritual areas, the kitchens, and sleeping areas, and more, but also the library areas where she had learned her first lessons, the ones available to those without permissions.

The floor below it held both a small vault for the most forbidden lore--that which wasn't so secretive that it had a secondary site--but also all of the information on the kind of mid-level spells that Miriam was just starting to dip into. This particular library focused especially on Space, Prime, and Time lore, as well as spirit bestiaries and… it was a generalist's library, but its collection of Astral texts was not all that impressive. That was the other Athenaeum, which of course rested in a private library in the mansion of a professor.

"Hello, Morata," Hatty said when Miriam stepped in and began looking around. The whole place smelled of dust, but Hatasput especially smelled just a little like a tomb. She was a strange one, though in a way Morata was not all that different. Morata wasn't wearing a suit, but she had… man-like, let it be said, clothes in a bag, and she intended to change into them. Hatty wore a button down suit that made her look as if she was about to ring on Miriam's doorbell with a slick smile and something to sell. It looked odd when combined with her delicate features, skin that marked her as from around the Levant, and of course the fake black beard that she wore at all times.

"Hello, Hatty," Morata said, nodding at her. "How has research been?"

"Not too bad. You know very well how it is. You have slow weeks and slow months, when it comes down to it. I can research what I have for years, but unless I find more in the way of Egyptology then I'm just scratching against the walls of a tomb." Hatty gestured, broadly. "But even in a city like this, it's hard to get permission. There's Mages in Egypt, after all, who--"

"Have first dibs," Morata finished, in time with her. It wasn't that Hatshepsut was against the idea that perhaps they shouldn't dig around in other Mage's ancient relics and cart them off. Egypt was independent now, and the Mystagogues in Egypt were apparently all part of a 'Tomb Keeper' sort of society that crossed the boundaries of Orders.

"But, how about I say something new, then," Hatty said, pulling out a piece of paper from her breast pocket, and flipped open the paper. On it read: 'Come, come in peace my daughter, the graceful, who art in my heart, King Maatkare, .I will give thee Punt, the whole of it...I will lead your soldiers by land and by water, on mysterious shores, which join the harbours of incense.'

"This was from a book written less than twenty years ago. Maatkare is Hatshepsut, my namesake, and it is a passage about Punt. We do not know for sure where Punt is, and there are references to stranger places that have been missed." Hatty shrugged. "But I feel it would be far easier to get into Ethiopia, one of the possible Punt sites, than Egypt, and if I can do the former, perhaps I could talk to the Tomb Keepers while I'm there."

"That… would make sense. Is Ethiopia the most likely guess?"

"Perhaps, perhaps. It's certainly the most desperate guess, when it comes to its willingness to let people in. Everyone knows that Italy is eyeing Ethiopia like, well, an extra helping of spaghetti with meat sauce," Hatty said, with the care and respect for European cultures that Morata had come to expect from her. She certainly never talked like that about Egypt, or Libya, or Turkey. "The point is, everyone knows that the Mages of Ethiopia need the help and foreign allies if they want to resist some… startling actions. So, I go to Ethiopia, and then I go from there. I need to talk to them. I should be able to get a line, eventually. They do have Mystagogues, after all. If I can't… do you think you could help me? I'd owe you."

Guaxni was a complicated concept in many ways. It wasn't about bribery or vote-trading, and it could not be bought. But the bond between the trading of information, deeds, and favors, between Right Exchange of knowledge and the bonds that tied together the whole of the Mysterium. It was not about getting one up on others. No, it was about creating connections, so that even if you didn't know anyone who knew something, you knew someone who knew someone, and owed favors and were owed favors all along those lines. There was no law, no rule, that said you had to contribute all the time, and that you must repay debts… and of course, you did not quite repay them so much as change the balance.

Morata had been helped by Loki, Hatty, and others, and had helped Hatty run through a few of the newest Egyptology books by Sleepers, telling her if they said anything interesting. They hadn't. And with Loki she'd taken part in a magical ritual a few weeks ago, just as a minor role. Then there was Marco, who she owed help with a ritual, in fact. And she had to summon Tobias the Ragamuffin, sometime.

"I can," Morata finally answered.

"Thank you. Now, you should go to the bathroom and get changed. You'll be less uncomfortable once you've changed."

"Are you implying anything?" Miriam asked, a little uncomfortably.

"Simply that you like wearing those clothes, just like I like wearing the beard. So, get changed. What are you here for? Loki's not in, if you wanted to talk to him about the Fate matter."

Loki had been helping her with that, among other things. He was a man of many varied talents, all in all, whereas Miriam had not yet branched out all that far from the typical Mastigos skillset. Though apparently her attitude and mindset, at least so far, were unusual: Mastigos were 'supposed' to have a cynicism about human nature from knowing so much about it.

"Is Bookie in?"

"Yes, actually. I think he's downstairs looking at a few of the new books."

"Thank you, Hatty."

*****

Miriam really did feel much better once she had on her snappy outfit, smart and crisp. She found the stairwell and walked down it. There was a dumbwaiter in the library, for when there were too many books to haul up and down, but Miriam just made extra trips if she had to.

Downstairs, there was less room. The shelves were closer together, and there were more warnings plastered on some of the shelves, listing what sorts of things could be found there. The room seemed to close in, but it had no less space than the floor above. In fact, it had even more. Towards the back was the vault, designed after a modern bank vault, and Miriam's steps echo on the wood as she searched the aisles.

At last she found him, sitting at a stool flipping through a slim green volume. Bookie is the Curator, the effective head of the Mystagogues in Chicago… sort of. There is an unspoken figure above him, far too busy for the day to day politics, completely unconcerned with them in fact. He hadn't shown up to the meetings, in fact, except to send immaculately written updates on a project that seemed to involve the history of spontaneous wells of power and their relationship to the weather.

Miriam had read the updates, slim summaries of summaries, and still been entirely lost as to what was being written.

Obrimos, when asked, though, nodded at it with something like awe.

Bookie, an older white gentleman with a bushy handlebar mustache and an impeccable suit, looked up. "Ah, Morata. Is there a problem involving Ostanes… assignment? I do assume you're also here to get the imbued item, but that is upstairs at the moment. It is not enough of a danger to be too closely guarded. Of course, it is in the small vault."

Upstairs there was a small vault to hold requested books and imbued items for borrowing, but only some of them.

"No, it's related but not quite the same thing. I discovered a strange Astral Realm, and it had--"

"Please, one moment." Bookie waved a hand, a simple, easy gesture. "There we go."

"What did you do?"

"Being overheard is itself a matter of luck, among many other things. It is trivial to change it so that we will not be unlucky enough for anyone, intentional or not, to overhear." He smiled, a little smugly and said. "Go on."

"I was looking at Astral versions of the Chicago fire. One of them can be found in a book held by Mrs. O'leary in a biased version of it."

"Ah, yes, yes," Bookie said, though he didn't sound surprised.

"A Chicago fire caused by Magic had Atlantean writing in it: 'Accident is no Excuse/Excuse is no Accident.'"

"Ah." Bookie did not react otherwise, and after a moment Morata said.

"So I came back to you."

"Yes, yes. Very good. It took you less than a day to find it. It took two weeks for the previous investigator to stumble upon it, perhaps thanks to their focus. Or perhaps they were simply not the right person for the job. They were certainly busy with other matters," Bookie said darkly. "But Slim--" the Censor, the shadow in the dark, the man who made sure that knowledge was not discovered that needed to be kept from the unwise, "discovered it almost three years ago. He left that sign. If when you enter such Astral locations, or hear people using certain secret codes. It is a way to mark the false cults."

"The false cults?"

"You know that the Silver Ladder has their own cults and organizations of all kinds, and that of course the Folk protect some, and the Arrows have death cults and warrior-organizations. And we protect those who have some access to deeper and forgotten truths as well. The Guardians have such organizations too. But they exist to deceive the Sleepers, to trap the unworthy in a labyrinth of conspiracies, secrets, and lies without true meaning," Bookie said, his mustache quivering with annoyance. "So we mark them out. So far as we know, then, there is no real truth in their perception of the Chicago fire."

Miriam hesitated, her mind dancing through several linked conclusions that she was not entirely sure of. She also felt a great deal of dismay. She'd found something that'd already been found, and warned of something that didn't matter. But… "Are they using this particular Astral vision and whatever cult it spawned, in dreams and in life, to hide something about the fire?"

"You really are trying to impress. That is the conclusion that the analyst came to after the full month was done. It was a conclusion I'd assumed, but the evidence from the report of her two-dozen Astral realms examined seemed to make that even more certain. It is a way to control the narrative," Bookie said. "Which leads to the question: why, and how?"

"There was a report of that sort and I was not shown it?" Morata asked. Then her eyes widened. "I mean to ask, why did--"

"I assume that he wished you to make your own conclusions, all things considered," Bookie said, with a soft frown. "But I can get you access to the report, or to a redacted version of Slim's on the matter."

It's unlikely he'll take to many demands on his time, so what do you ask? (Choose 1)

[] The analyst's report would be useful, even if it is to know what routes not to go down, or figure out what went wrong.
[] There's value in talking to last year's analyst, perhaps? If they're still around. That will allow a more frank discussion.
[] See a redacted version of Slim's report. Even if it's redacted, it's still important and valuable information, all things considered.
[] Try to talk to Slim to get a version of his report that might well be redacted… but which might be redacted for the information most important to her. Asking Bookie would get her foot in the door there.

******

A/N: So the mystery deepens and grows more shallow at the same time!

 

[Mozzy]

[X] See a redacted version of Slim's report. Even if it's redacted, it's still important and valuable information, all things considered.

We are going deep into the fire, so Slim's report should be more relevant than the previous investigator's.

 

[Manatee supreme]

[X] See a redacted version of Slim's report. Even if it's redacted, it's still important and valuable information, all things considered

 

[Neptune]

[X] See a redacted version of Slim's report. Even if it's redacted, it's still important and valuable information, all things considered

 

[Amazing Abzan]

I'd totally forgotten that Hatty was gender-nonconforming. That friendship makes a lot more sense now, and I probably would have voted for it if I'd remembered that. She's mentoring Morata in magic stuff and queer stuff.

[x] There's value in talking to last year's analyst, perhaps? If they're still around. That will allow a more frank discussion.

I feel like an open discussion is more valuable than a report, and we're a lot more likely to get one of those by talking to someone who isn't the Censor.

 

[Kingofbooks]

[X] See a redacted version of Slim's report. Even if it's redacted, it's still important and valuable information, all things considered