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.

 

[zxzx24]

I like banishers. They are generally deranged and mad people, but the misguided and mad crusade always appealed to me.

The fellow who seems to be directing them... that's concerning. Things that lead a troupe of banishers are usually very bad.

Too say nothing of how much worse banishers are with effective leadership.

 

[The Laurent]

Miriam Green's Progress


Arcana Progress (Choose 1)

It has only been a matter of days, Miriam has not learned a new Arcana… but she has begun work in doing so, or at least in exploring more about it.

[] Death: The thought of those vampires haunts her, and perhaps a little bit of magic to understand them would not be amiss.
[] Spirit: It relates to her job with the Cabal, and there is value in learning it… it also would put her back in contact with the Astral Ghost she's fallen out of contact with.
[] Life: At a low level it's just analysis, but at higher levels it can be survival itself… and she certainly feels as if she needs it.
[] Prime: The Magic of Magic seems especially relevant to her now that she is searching for a lost library.
[] Time: What… happened?


Rote (Choose 1)

As things grow tense, Miriam wishes for another Rote directly relating to her situation… and the dangers she faces.

[] Shield of the Mind (Mind 2): Mind magic can be terrifying. By a series of subtle gestures towards oneself's mind, or another's, a Mystagogue can protect their mind (or that of an ally) from the mind magic, influences, or other such malign powers. (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4) Reach: Can protect against the physical attacks of Goetia; can enhance the duration and power of the spell.--As the danger increases, the sanctity of her mind will only decrease.
[] Clear Thoughts (Mind 3): This one Miriam might well have learned from Sara. By making a wiping sort of motion and a set of complicated twists of the finger, one can remove, temporarily, mental conditions, such as a panic attack, a freakout, a strong bout of depression, the mental stupor (but not the physical effects) of drugs and alcohol, or more. Technically it can also be used to snap someone out of a particularly euphoric or good mood, but that seems cruel to Miriam. (Rote Mudra: Problem Solver, +1) Reach: The subject regains a point of Willpower, once: it cannot be repeatedly applied to the same subject ot abuse this gain; The effects of the spell are 'Lasting' and thus while it cannot actually cure any mental illness, the conditions do not come back the moment the spell end: the panic attack is over, the downturn of depression is gone, at least for today.--She is going to get scared, and her thoughts will need to be cleared.
[] House Whisperer (Space 1): This one was picked up from an Archeomancer. By cupping one's ear, and thus creating a 'globe' around it, one can understand what the purpose of a building is, where its exits and entrances are (potentially even hidden ones, if hidden only by geography), whether there are any weak walls, or leaky pipes, and more. (Rote Mudra: Problem Solver, +1), Reach: Spent to help increase the size of the building one can examine; One can learn the nature of any spatial warp areas, and where they are.--Knowing how to get in and out of a building may be a vital skill for her in the coming weeks.
[] Harko's Map (Space 1): With this simple rote, involving pointing a finger and slightly spinning it, a Mage can always know which direction is north, and also how to get from where they are to somewhere they've been before. It is a simple trick, but one so popular that basically every Order, and the Seers, has their own version of it, all with slightly different Mudra motions. (Rote Mudra, Sneaking the Cookie Jar, +1, mischief as it were) Reach: The user can also tell, in a vague sense, where they are; the caster can know their exact location, whether it's a stress address or otherwise; the user can chain together a mental map between places they know to know all the directions in advance.--What if she's lost?
[] 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.--What if someone captures her?



Merits (Choose 1)

[] Contacts: Vampires--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.
[] Contacts: Scoundrels--Not pure criminals, but she knows at least a few people who run the numbers or smuggle alcohol. They may be useful for her to… cultivate, as painful as it is.
[] 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.
[] Allies (*): Guardians of the Veil--In the aftermath of the meeting with the vampire, she has been approached once more and asked to lend a hand. This comes with a cost, yes, but also allies.
[] Allies (*): Coffin--He is not willing to do all that much to help her, but she trusted him and he proved that trust, and so she can perhaps prevail on him later.
[] Shadow Name (*)--While not even remotely a different person, her understanding of the ability to separate Morata from Miriam has strengthened in terms of how to act to keep the two divided, and this can be used in some small way to aid her magic if the symbolism of "Morata" can be employed as a magical tool.

A/N: The first level of Allies is of course small favors, all things considered. An Ally 1 will not die for you, they might not even bleed for you. But they'll do some things for you. Similarly, Status 1 is a small amount of status, but a start.

Once this is chosen, I'll update the character sheet and maybe also pin it to the top. I decided to just give you a number of advances rather than fiddling with exactly XP cost.

 

[Mozzy]

[X] Spirit: It relates to her job with the Cabal, and there is value in learning it… it also would put her back in contact with the Astral Ghost she's fallen out of contact with.
[X] 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.--What if someone captures her?
[X] Allies (*): Coffin--He is not willing to do all that much to help her, but she trusted him and he proved that trust, and so she can perhaps prevail on him later.

Alright, it is time for another XP vote. While the choices are small right now, they will build into bigger things in the future. I am going to explain my choices below.

Arcana is easy for me. We already know stuff about spirit, and picking up the skill will let us do more with what we already know. It seems like a natural expansion to our kit.

Coffin as an ally is my choice because he is an individual. We know what he would provide for us. The rest of the choices are groups. The amount of aid we can get in any situation is dependent on the circumstances and can change every time we ask. Sometimes it is a good thing, but sometimes it is not. An individual is consistent in ways that groups are not, so Coffin is my pick.

When it comes to rotes, one thing to keep in mind is that we can do all of these without the rote. Rotes provide consistency and scale to a spell. All of these rotes are nice to have, but they are not necessary to the spell.
Edit: I originally chose the map because we are going into an unknown part of the astral looking for the special Chicago, and a map would help, I changed my mind because I would rather be able to cast this spell in an emergency consistently. Better to have it and not need it rather than need it but not have it.

 

[Amazing Abzan]

[x] Spirit: It relates to her job with the Cabal, and there is value in learning it… it also would put her back in contact with the Astral Ghost she's fallen out of contact with.
[x] 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.--What if someone captures her?
[x] Contacts: Vampires--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.

Arcana: Spirit is something we already have some practical experience in, and it fits our niche as the person who explores weird mystical places. Life would also be good just in terms of keeping us alive, but it would take some more investment to reach the point where magical healing is possible (let alone practical).

Rote: Defensive rotes seem like the best choice here, given the Banishers are after us. With that in mind, I prefer the Space rote to any of the Mind ones. Our Mind is good enough to let us consistently cast those defensive spells when we need to, but the same isn't quite true of our Space. You just get more utility out of taking rotes for Arcana of lower level.

Merit: Between the werewolves, the demons, and that one encounter with Changelings awhile back, we're already developing a niche for being in contact with/being the resident expert on the various non-Mage magical beings and societies. This just takes things one step further in that direction. Although to be honest, I'm mostly picking this because I want more tense meetings with vampires in this story. That bit with the Prince was really cool, and I'd love to see something like that happen again.

 

[zxzx24]

[X] Spirit: It relates to her job with the Cabal, and there is value in learning it… it also would put her back in contact with the Astral Ghost she's fallen out of contact with.
[X] 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.--What if someone captures her?
[X] 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.

Status, an extremely effective merit.

 

[Manatee supreme]

[X] Spirit: It relates to her job with the Cabal, and there is value in learning it… it also would put her back in contact with the Astral Ghost she's fallen out of contact with.
[X] 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.--What if someone captures her?
[X] 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.

 

[GardenerBriareus]

[X] Spirit: It relates to her job with the Cabal, and there is value in learning it… it also would put her back in contact with the Astral Ghost she's fallen out of contact with.

[X] 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.--What if someone captures her?

[X] 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.

 

[mastigos]

[] Death: The thought of those vampires haunts her, and perhaps a little bit of magic to understand them would not be amiss.
[] Spirit: It relates to her job with the Cabal, and there is value in learning it… it also would put her back in contact with the Astral Ghost she's fallen out of contact with.
[] Life: At a low level it's just analysis, but at higher levels it can be survival itself… and she certainly feels as if she needs it.
[] Prime: The Magic of Magic seems especially relevant to her now that she is searching for a lost library.
[] Time: What… happened?

Click to shrink...

Why these 5? Personally I want to be shoring up her relative weakness in Space before chasing non-ruling Arcana. And learnining Space is intuitive for Mastigos so there's always justification

 

[Kingofbooks]

[X] Spirit: It relates to her job with the Cabal, and there is value in learning it… it also would put her back in contact with the Astral Ghost she's fallen out of contact with.
[X] 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.--What if someone captures her?
[X] 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.

 

[The Laurent]

Chapter 3: Ye Have Made It a Den Of Thieves (September 10, 1924-???)

"If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself."
― George Orwell, 1984

"Nobody owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death."
― William S. Burroughs

It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.-- H. P. Lovecraft

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"--Genesis, 4:9

 

[zxzx24]

I'm in a prosaic mood, so... some speculation?

"If you want to keep a secret, you must also hide it from yourself."

Click to shrink...

I think this is connected to mages in some way? And what was buried or lost. The gaurdians know, sometimes things are buried or lost for a reason.

"Nobody owns life, but anyone who can pick up a frying pan owns death."
― William S. Burroughs

Click to shrink...

Somebody be getting the violence maybe? Perhaps in the future it will be more clear.

It is absolutely necessary, for the peace and safety of mankind, that some of earth's dark, dead corners and unplumbed depths be let alone; lest sleeping abnormalities wake to resurgent life, and blasphemously surviving nightmares squirm and splash out of their black lairs to newer and wider conquests.-- H. P. Lovecraft

Click to shrink...

Pretty much every supernatural on the world of darkness would agree with and endorse this world view. Correct or not. The horrors in the dark are real, and they are coming for you.

Many mortal hunters would too.

Interestingly I was reading about the Cult of Seth from Vampire last night. So the reminder that some vampires do consider it their job to keep worse things than them suppressed.

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?"--Genesis, 4:9

Click to shrink...

Another reference to murder. And also lying. Hm.

 

[The Laurent]

Page 37: Choices

It had not even been a day since her quest to find the information of that vampire's death, but she'd spent most of it resting and trying to recover from what she'd been through. She'd stayed up late, and felt as if she'd brushed past the Grim Reaper at least once. The 9th was a lovely day, and so she went for a walk and tried to take it as easy as she could manage. She did a little bit of studying, but she knew that she'd need to actually talk to other Mages if she wanted to find out the secret of the slaying of Rosaline.

Miriam knew enough not to declare it a murder, when it was an open question whether one could murder an ancient vampire centuries old. She understood the cruelty of capturing and torturing some new vampire recently turned, but any vampire which drags out its existence over centuries would be very powerful and incredibly dangerous. Was there such a thing as preemptive self defense? Was it literally just an act of self-defense? Perhaps she'd look and find that some innocent Mage had defended himself and then lived and eventually died during a Seer attack or a Banisher assault.

In a sad way, Miriam had to admit that this would in some ways be an ideal outcome. She didn't want someone to have died, but if she could just wring her hands and say that there was nothing to be done and that she would like the details of the prophecy now. But God would not want her to take the easy way out, and now that she was committed to the effort she needed to search through and figure out what happened. She also just wanted to know, because the thought of it now burned in her head, the thought of uncovering just what had happened and why. It wouldn't change anything, nobody would be saved from the knowledge, but if she only wanted knowledge for what it got her she would not have joined the Mysterium. Yes, Morata sought out knowledge in the hope that it would help the world, or at least the Consilium, but in the end knowledge of God's creation was its own reward and one which was more precious than rubies.

So when she sat in front of Anant in the Astral Tower to nowhere, she did not think of time that was being wasted. It was early in the morning of the 10th, and she was running low on time in one sense. School was going to begin before too long, and yet when it did she would not be gaining much if any wisdom from it. She had friends she could see more often, and there were things she could learn about life and the world there. Miriam told herself this on repeat, again and again, because otherwise it would be too easy to imagine disengaging from education which was not going to help her much. She needed her good grades in order to go to university, but she was now playing for stakes which could not be understood or even described. No wonder some Mages felt a disconnect between themselves and their Sleeper friends and loved ones. She wasn't finding it hard to maintain her friendships now, but there was so much that she was up to that she couldn't even really talk about at all.

She could never tell Dickens about all the strange things that apparently happened in London in the 19th century which would make the stories of Dickens seem grounded and sane.

She could not even begin to describe or even transpose what was happening at this moment. She was seated in a garden that existed only in a Tower that stretched between the collective dreams of all humanity and the dreams of the cosmos and the beasts and monsters of the universe, piercing and connecting the two. Within this dream-garden, she was now seated in front of a naked old man who was teaching her cosmic wisdom from thousands of years ago, because he was a Ghost… a Mind Ghost, which was totally a thing that existed. A celtic Mind Ghost who had been entombed in the tower for longer than any of her ancestors had been in America, long before… long before much.

And what was this totally normal naked Celtic ghost wizard teaching her? About the spirits which occupied and were part of all living things. There were answers on how to explain that in a Christian framework, since all things existed under God and from God sprung all life even the metaphysical, but it was certainly nothing that she could have preached in front of her father's congregation even if she had been allowed to.

Nothing about this situation could be turned into something that was okay to talk about. It was all secrets and lies and ancient truths which looked at first blush like lies.

She loved it.

"It is often difficult to begin a new Arcana, because at first what you can do with it is so much less than you are used to," Anant said. "Any Mage who Awakened in that Path can match or outdo you, and the level of understanding that an initiate has is just that… understanding." Anant grinned at that. "There's a few clever tricks, but by the standards of the Mage it seems so small. Yet a spirit shaman who was not Awakened would and has killed for even one of the things that even the weakest Mage who knows Spirit can do. It can take weeks of research to know the secret ban of a Spirit, and yet it is a single spell to do so. Yes, a Spirit can hide it, and yes the stronger a spirit is the harder it is to understand its details… but so? It can save weeks. And because all things have spirits you can affect the world far more than you would think: let your enemy's sword sway a little to one side, let the river run a little swifter to prevent a foe from crossing… you see what I mean?"

"Yes, it is that way with Mind as well," Morata said, then frowned and admitted, "Though some of it I know only indirectly." There were powers she had which could trivially make someone do something their mind was inclined to: a hungry man could be persuaded to take a lunch break, a sleepy guard to nod off… but to do that would be to influence the mind of others, and she was hesitant to do that just for practice. Perhaps she should, in some controlled moment where it would not hurt them or anyone else, but it felt too close to Hubris, to think about messing with people just to test the extent of her powers.

"So you need to focus. Your soul is vast, the soul of all Mages is, and you can contain within you multitudes. There is no wisdom inherent in powerful Arcana, you are not a better person for being a stronger one... necessarily. But you can be so, and you must, because virtue without strength is not alway useful."

"What do you mean by that?" Morata frowned.

"The strength to care for those you love, the strength to protect those under your shield and those stronger than you when they need help as well. Virtue does not exist in merely Being. It is in becoming," Anant said with a snort. "Why do you think I'm happier now? Because I have something to do with my Arcana, something to dow ith the soul that has rotted and mildewed for centuries. I know you have much of politics to deal with now. You do not need to tell me every detail for me to know. You barely visited last week: you are distracted and exhausted. What is it?"

Morata began to explain, though she kept things vague. But if they did not want her to tell Anant, then they were going to have to say it outright. "On top of all of that… I'm supposed to give the interview with the Vampire on Friday, I have at least some work in the Atheneaum cleaning up that I need to do, I have to keep up with my friends and do a bit of my own studying… and on Thursday there's supposed to be a brief meeting to talk about the 'Werewolf' situation, then on Saturday a Cabal meeting, on Sunday a meeting both with the group for the… the project and with Marco to do the ritual… and somewhere in there I need to also connect with Diagora to ask for her help about my dreams."

"The ones of odd sounds?"

"Yes," Morata said. "That's… a lot to do and I have to somehow fit it all together. There's only so much time: a week from Monday I have school again."

"And you do not have Time magic? Quite a shame. Or perhaps no shame at all," Anant says. "Having to choose helps narrow you down, does it not?"

Morata… nodded, but she'd much rather not have to choose at all, when she has so much to do.

"Think through what you want to do most…and then do it."

******
Wednesday, the 10th

First, the investigation into Rosaline's Death (Choose 1)

[] Try to visit the Atheneaum to look up if there are any records of vampire attacks or the like. It's a long-shot, yes, but it would be humiliatingly foolish to discount it only for the truth to just be buried in a file folder.
[] Try to talk to some members of the Mysterium about Vampire-Mage relations in the past, just in case this was actually big news back in the day that simply… hadn't been relevant now.
[] Go ask her Cabalmates. The odds of them knowing something are also pretty low, but they can be sworn to secrecy quite easily.
[] Write-in.

Second, Friendship/Sleeper Activities! (Choose 1)

[] Dickens is always fun to visit, if she's willing to talk about fiction and reading and otherwise just… relax. There's a lot she can't tell him now, but there's still value in catching up iwth him.
[] Visiting Sara again could be nice, see her in a different environment than normal to see if things are holding up with her.
[] Abe and Franklin have invited her to one last baseball game before school makes it a lot harder to find the time.
[] Write-in.

Third, Other Duties (Choose 1)

[] She should clean the Athenaeum today, while she's still thinking about it.
[] Perhaps she should schedule the meeting with Diagora… if she can catch up with her.
[] Perhaps she should look more into her own research, which has by and large stalled because of everything else she has going on?

******

A/N: It starts slow... but new mechanics next update.

 

[Amazing Abzan]

[x] Try to talk to some members of the Mysterium about Vampire-Mage relations in the past, just in case this was actually big news back in the day that simply… hadn't been relevant now.
[x] Visiting Sara again could be nice, see her in a different environment than normal to see if things are holding up with her.
[x] Perhaps she should schedule the meeting with Diagora… if she can catch up with her.

 

[Kingofbooks]

[X] Try to visit the Atheneaum to look up if there are any records of vampire attacks or the like. It's a long-shot, yes, but it would be humiliatingly foolish to discount it only for the truth to just be buried in a file folder.
[X] Abe and Franklin have invited her to one last baseball game before school makes it a lot harder to find the time.
[X] She should clean the Athenaeum today, while she's still thinking about it.

 

[zxzx24]

[X] Try to visit the Atheneaum to look up if there are any records of vampire attacks or the like. It's a long-shot, yes, but it would be humiliatingly foolish to discount it only for the truth to just be buried in a file folder.

[X] Dickens is always fun to visit, if she's willing to talk about fiction and reading and otherwise just… relax. There's a lot she can't tell him now, but there's still value in catching up iwth him.

[X] She should clean the Athenaeum today, while she's still thinking about it.

 

[The Laurent]

I wanna maybe close the vote tonight, but can't really do so with three votes, tbh.

 

[Shard]

I wanna maybe close the vote tonight, but can't really do so with three votes, tbh.

Click to shrink...

Ask and ye shall receive.

[X] Try to visit the Atheneaum to look up if there are any records of vampire attacks or the like. It's a long-shot, yes, but it would be humiliatingly foolish to discount it only for the truth to just be buried in a file folder.
[X] Abe and Franklin have invited her to one last baseball game before school makes it a lot harder to find the time.
[X] Perhaps she should look more into her own research, which has by and large stalled because of everything else she has going on?

 

[No7sHere]

[X] Try to visit the Atheneaum to look up if there are any records of vampire attacks or the like. It's a long-shot, yes, but it would be humiliatingly foolish to discount it only for the truth to just be buried in a file folder.
[X] Abe and Franklin have invited her to one last baseball game before school makes it a lot harder to find the time.
[X] Perhaps she should look more into her own research, which has by and large stalled because of everything else she has going on?

 

[Shador]

[x] Try to visit the Atheneaum to look up if there are any records of vampire attacks or the like. It's a long-shot, yes, but it would be humiliatingly foolish to discount it only for the truth to just be buried in a file folder.
[x] Dickens is always fun to visit, if she's willing to talk about fiction and reading and otherwise just… relax. There's a lot she can't tell him now, but there's still value in catching up iwth him.
[x] She should clean the Athenaeum today, while she's still thinking about it.

 

[BiopunkOtrera]

[x] Try to talk to some members of the Mysterium about Vampire-Mage relations in the past, just in case this was actually big news back in the day that simply… hadn't been relevant now.
[x] Visiting Sara again could be nice, see her in a different environment than normal to see if things are holding up with her.
[x] Perhaps she should schedule the meeting with Diagora… if she can catch up with her.

 

[The Laurent]

Informational--Schedules

Saturday: Phasma Light Meeting (x), Cabal Meeting (X)
Sunday (15th): Hidden Archive Meeting (X), Marco Ritual

Note: Monday, the 23rd... back to school.

Need to do: Be a Friend, Do Research, Clean up the Athenaeum and do odd tasks, meet with Diagora before Sunday, start researching Rosaline's death.

 

[The Laurent]

Page 38: The Archive

It was a cliche that a Mystagogue's first instinct was to go to the library. There was a lot more to it than that, and Miriam wanted to explore a little bit more of the other side of things when she could. If she had the time off, if she hadn't been so busy all summer with getting settled in, she might have gone to see religious ceremonies: Mystagogues cared about magical wisdom, and that didn't just come from dry tomes. Sometimes it was living, and there were entire cults and religious practices kept alive by the Mysterium for the purpose of keeping their wisdom alive and more than just a dusty note in a forgotten book.

But there were a lot of dusty notes, and there were a lot of forgotten books. Yes, everything was categorized, and all of it in a system that meant that she should be able to find anything and everything. But not everything was where it should be, in her experience, and the Athenaeum was something that had to be constantly cleaned. It wasn't helped by the fact that there were entire side rooms filled with objects of mild curiosity. Old tax records, things taken from… ah, vampires. She remembered now. There was at least one vampire fang in the back, carefully preserved in a glass jar, though if she recalled the label said '1909.' There were all sorts of little bits of magic detritus, non-Mage magic detritus, and other things that always wound up in that kind of place.

She was required to show it to the person in charge before taking anything… but as a member in good standing, if it wasn't some foul bit of trickery, she was allowed to take them out in a way she wasn't Artifacts or even Imbued items beyond the protection from fire that she still carried and had used constantly. Constantly enough that she really did need to get it recharged, and that was another thing she could do… though not in the Athenaeum unless she asked very carefully.

It was seven in the morning, and the game was an afternoon one, so she was going to have to not take too long when doing what she did. But she did want to go out, and cleaning up the area, sweeping the floors and so on would do the duties she needed to do. It wasn't that there was a chore list somewhere with the names of all the neophytes carefully placed on them, but it was understood that sometimes you were assigned such work as a matter of course, and that if you did it ahead of time before being asked and were noticed, they wouldn't see a need to drag you into doing it when you were busy with something else. There was a lot that Miriam needed to research, she was still only truly new to it. She still didn't fully understand what magic truly was. She knew what she thought it was, she knew what she believed it was, but the nature of God was not a puzzle to be solved in a few days… it wasn't a puzzle at all, but it was something she could understand.

******

The trip was a blur, almost literally with the magic she summoned up to ease her way. It made it easy for her to just slide in and out of it. It was as if God was holding her up and guiding her every step. But soon enough she was there, walking up to the front desk to… ah.

There was someone she hadn't seen in a while. She'd only met the woman sitting at the desk ten or so days after she'd been initiated, and she'd been with another figure that she hadn't seen again… the older woman that she was pretty sure was a respected elder of some sort. Bookie had smiled and said, "It is good to see you, Gyre, I was worried when I did not see you… this is our newest member, and the newest to face the Mysterium Arche."

The woman was grizzled, a little bit like tree bark in the texture and the curves of her body, but oddly her eyes seemed almost young, blue-grey and mobile on a face that seemed a little as if it was in the process of sucking a lemon. Grey-white hair framed the face, and Gyre was dressed in workboots and men's clothing, rough men's clothing that was dirty and dusty. "A fast ascension, but I can See that you have not given her Life, but that she has taken it with both hands. Well met, Morata--"

She had not, of course, been introduced by name, but Miriam just assumed that either she'd heard the name or… well, if she really was some sort of honored elder, then of course she might just have ways to know.

"It is good to meet you ma'am."

"Very polite, too," Gyre said.

"We had someone asking after you, Tek, from over in Missouri. What do you want us to tell him, now that you're back?"

"There's not much left of the Basmachi, and those that they unknowingly sheltered, but the lore at least has been preserved if dusty by the Jadid. The local Mystagogues should be able to… manage the situation about as well as one can," Gyre said, unheeding of Morata's presence. "It is no secret, truly, not now that the examination is done: I was in central Asia, checking up on several folkways and secret orders of Sleepers and Sleepwalkers in that war-torn area."

She later tried to look up the Basmachi and after a long time understood that they were some sort of set of rebels against the Russian Soviets? The news was vague and filled with platitudes about their heroic resistance to tyranny, when they mentioned it… which was only once or twice even though she'd dug for it.

What this did tell her, though, is that Gyre had somehow managed to get there… was she someone with a powerful Mastery of Space, then?

And then behind her.

"And this is my Sleepwalker assistant…"

April sat and looked at Morata. She was somewhere in her forties, Morata thought, and had a long, drawn face. She was starting to grow old, but Miriam didn't want to stare too much or guess anything about her. She hadn't learned much about April that time they'd met. No, she had just smiled and said 'hello' to Morata with all the respect that then and now was still unusual. She kept on waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Ah, greetings honored Willworker Morata. What can I do for you today?" Alice asked, sitting at the usual desk.

"Is…"

"Gyre is on the site doing some research, and she asked if I could take over so that Marco could help her out without any worries," Alice said pleasantly with a smile. "Speaking of, Gyre said that Bookie had plans to help train you in the classification system so that you could work the desk."

Morata nodded. She'd heard just that, but talk about it had stopped a week or two ago, probably because of the new project she was involved in. She leaned against the desk, tugging at the collar of her shirt. "I need help finding something."

"Oh, of course, Morata. What are you looking for?" Alice stood up, her long skirt barely moving as she did, and ready to look through.

"Where would I find things on local vampires?" Morata asked.

"Local… are you doing a history of the 1909 crisis?" Alice asked, frowning. "If so, that's going to be a few different places."

"The 1909 crisis?" Morata asked, feeling the tension of the words. If there was something called a "crisis" then why hadn't the Prince even mentioned it?

"Yes, I was newly a Sleepwalker at the time, but there was a clash between the vampires and the Adamantine Arrows and several other Cabals. It was a mess, though no Mages were killed and only one vampire died. But it was ultimately settled peacefully. I… believe it was about ownership of certain pieces of land which were magically significant both to true Magic and to the strange Blood Magic which they held. I believe we compromised by giving up a site that was marginal for us but useful for them in exchange for keeping the other two? But I was not the negotiator in charge of it, was I? I was just a curious Sleepwalker. There were a few unAwakened allies who died or were injured during the carnage, and there were a few Mages that might have died without magic. And I think it was a similar situation for the bloodsuckers, that they relied heavily on their supernatural healing to survive some of the clashes. It was a bad time… but we have quite a few records from that period."

Morata now had a lot of questions to ask of the Prince or someone else, but it was very clear to her that 1909 was not the 1890s, and so this was not the same set of incidents. But perhaps it could teach her something anyways. "I'm looking for older things, interactions from back in the 90s."

"Oh, the nineties, what a terrible time to be alive," Alice says with a shudder. "Everyone was poor and nobody was happy. I wasn't even half-awake then, so I couldn't tell you… but if there are any personal accounts, local accounts, they'd be in the Teratology wing, I can write down the location. A few of the accounts of the struggle are there, but there's more in History and a little bit in the Teratological politics sub-section, donated by a Mystagogue shortly before his death. Beyond that? There's I think one account from shortly after the fire… maybe?"

As she spoke she was looking through the records and pulling more and more out. "Also, there are quite a few Arrow accounts from 1909 about tactics against vampires, which might also tell a little bit about their magic, if that is of any interest."

This was a lot to think about, but there was one more thing. "Do you know where the brooms are? I thought I'd sweep up a little bit while I'm going through the archives. Something to do between looking."

"Ah yes," Alice said, and then knowingly, "Get out ahead of anyone asking you to do it?"

Morata did not flush, but she did fidget a little as she looked at the blonde woman before her and tried not to admit it.

"Well, I can get that for you too. But, where do you want to go?"

Morata knew that she did not have the time to look up all of these disparate areas, not if she wanted to read through them in anything like decent time. But she could perhaps manage two… and, if she was feeling risky, a visit to the miscellaneous sections where the detritus wound up.

"I'm sorry there isn't more," Alice said with a frown at her indecision. "This is not an Athenaeum with a lot on vampires, none of the ones in Chicago contain much, compared to the size of the archives."

She understood that fully. There were so many books and scrolls and articles and more that if a subject had a dozen books about it then it was an obscure one of little interest to the archives. Somewhere, there was probably a an Athenaeum dedicated to the 'Kindred' and their nature, to Death and Blood and other such magic and holding hundreds or thousands of books on the subject from every conceivable angle.


What does she want to check out? (Choose 2)

[] The section where the Arrows talk about Vampire Magic and the fight against Vampires. Perhaps knowing more about their mysticism would have value.
[] Accounts of Vampire politics around 1909 might help her make sense of just what is going on that the Prince has not said.
[] The Post-Fire accounts of Vampires might hold some significance, even if it's as far from the… event as 1909 is, just from the other way.
[] Look up histories which include the Vampire conflict in it: these are mostly in the early 1910s, before there were much more significant events to anchor understanding of Chicago's magical history.
[] Look up general Teratology books on vampires, perhaps one was written by a local who uses local examples.
[] Write-in.

Check out the detritus room?

[] Yes.
[] No.

*******

A/N: Get ready for research rolls!

 

[zxzx24]

What a fun interaction, and a fun vote!

April seems wise. Very nice how she comes off as somehow respectful, deferential, and instructional.

[X] Accounts of Vampire politics around 1909 might help her make sense of just what is going on that the Prince has not said.

[X] Look up histories which include the Vampire conflict in it: these are mostly in the early 1910s, before there were much more significant events to anchor understanding of Chicago's magical history.

History and politics let's gooooo!

[X] Yes

 

[Kingofbooks]

[X] Accounts of Vampire politics around 1909 might help her make sense of just what is going on that the Prince has not said.

[X] Look up histories which include the Vampire conflict in it: these are mostly in the early 1910s, before there were much more significant events to anchor understanding of Chicago's magical history.

[X] Yes

 

[No7sHere]

[X] Accounts of Vampire politics around 1909 might help her make sense of just what is going on that the Prince has not said.

[X] Look up histories which include the Vampire conflict in it: these are mostly in the early 1910s, before there were much more significant events to anchor understanding of Chicago's magical history.

[X] Yes