“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power.”

   -Jim Morrison

_____
Looming over Grant Park like a tombstone, the Congress Plaza Hotel was one of the largest hotels in Chicago. Most of the tourist guides knew it as being built after the great fire to show off at the World's Fair. Others would learn of it as the home of Al Capone, and still some would celebrate it as the home of one of the country's first serial killers. Whether it's power had attracted that history or history had attracted it's power would be a question that had no answer, but it was there, humming in the air loud and clear for anyone who could hear it.

Leaving the convocation hadn't been much of an issue; most of the other attendees had already begun their forms of celebration, and the alcohol had already begun flowing as the group was heading out. It seemed that Faux was not lying about their hopes that they would become a cabal; few seem surprised when they were seen leaving together. The Hierarch had given the address of the hotel along with a room number; 1200, South Tower. The floor had started with 1201, but true to his advice, the journey yielded otherwise.

They had traveled two floors up, down one in another elevator, then to the top in the original elevator, down to the 11th on the same one, and then had to take a stairwell to the 12th floor to find it. The hallway still looked all the same; a blue carpet with a repeating red pattern, white walls with small gold embellishments, and numbered doors all the way until the hallway's end. The only difference was that this one had a room 1200 at the end of the hall, whereas before it had simply been a window overlooking a space between both of the hotel's towers.[Private to Midas: Ever since your Awakening, the world has had a pallid shade to itself...but something about this place was especially bleak.]

Unlike the other ones, however, room 1200 had no door handle. There was still a bracket at eye level with the room number and a peephole, but in the place of a know was a smooth gold-plated panel screwed into place...

"Alright, let's be smart about this."  Olympic says, facing the handle-less door.  "If he is or was an Obrimos like me, he'll have used Prime to bind his wards.  I'm going t check for that first." Olympic took a deep breath , closing his eyes.  Then, letting the air from him lungs in a slow, controlled manner, he reopens his eyes, which were now fully dilated.  Without touching it, he examines the door and the walls around it.

---

OOC:
Entering Active Mage Sight: Prime.  I don't think I need to roll for this.

Mnemosyne nodded, pulling her coat a little tighter up around her shoulders. She was still not particularly happy to be here in her good clothes - it's not like she can just throw money at new dresses on a grad student's salary! - but at this point she'd be damned before she admitted it.

"There's probably another special trigger that'll open the door," she said, nodding to Olympic as she fished around inside her purse. She pulled out an ornate-looking gold - or brass? - fountain pen, which she began twirling absentmindedly between her fingers as she too takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and feeling the now-familiar sensation of her senses pushing through the skin of the Lie, and opening them to see the world overlaid with the symbolism of Pandemonium.

Animus, she thinks, though not to herself. You there?

Always... her familiar purred softly, from a few inches behind her ear. She suppressed a shudder. He loved doing that to her.

Be alert. If I can find a way to get you inside, I'm going to send you in ahead to scout.


OOC: Also activating Mage Sight (Mind and Space), and spending a point of Mana to add Spirit as well.

Also, ST, from my understanding of the rules, Unmanifested Goetic Familiars don't have any actual form, even in Twilight - they're just disembodied Minds. So couldn't Animus just like... slip underneath the door, or through an air duct, or any other small but "open" space to get inside the apartment ahead of us to look around? Assuming there's nothing else magical to stop him.

Parcelsus agreed with the overall opinion to look first and touch later. Blindly walking into a mage's sanctum was asking for trouble.

She fished her pocket watch out of her vest pocket and ran her fingers along its cover, feeling the pulse of the mechanism in her fingertips. Her vision shifted to see behind the veil that hid the truth. She studied the lines of possible futures and the stable past in and around the door.

OOC: Activating Mage Sight - time and fate

---

Olympic

Opening your eyes to the arcane was like staring into the sun, but seeing past the blinding light to reveal the chaos beneath. As he stated at the door, there were lines that he could not see, but could feel were there. Leviathan's working no doubt, with a nimbus that left a taste of burnt food when it was detected.

There was a spell woven deep along the walls, like rebar in concrete, reinforcing it from intrusion. It was created just as he had guessed, although it's purpose wasn't clear. Maybe if he dug a little deeper...

Roll Gnosis + Prime - 3 to pierce the effect and read what the spell is

---

Mnemosyne

As the fallen world showed it's reason, the sense of spacial warp was overwhelming at first. Normally the mage sight would have a slight motion to it when walking into an area where reality had been folded in on itself more than once, but this was more than just a slight turn of the stomach.

While reaching out with her Mind did not find a thought other than that of the people she was with, the Spirit added it's own complexity. She'd seen the Gauntlet more than once, and knew how to tell if it was thin or not, but it probably wasn't supposed to look this shredded...

OOC For the most part, yes. Spirits and Ghosts exist in Twilight unless fettered or anchored, and the only things that can exist in both the Fallen World and Twilight are creatures, items, or phenomena. Buildings generally don't exist unless they are remembered, in which case they can form a ghost structure in Twilight that can inhibit them. That said, this is a "phenomena" case that isn't solved so easily, and to save time I'll let you know that Animus could not penetrate the walls if they attempted to.

---

Paracelsus

Reality fractured as she re-opened her eyes, able to see the many branching paths that the future could take. It did not seem that time had been altered here, although the sight allowed her to see remnants of magic used in every corner of the hallway like splatter from a can.

OOC Active Mage Sight does allow Paracelsus to see the that this hallow is tied to a Destiny, or has one directly on it; the details are not clearer than the fact that some bigger event awaits it.

As she gazed around the room, Hohenheim pushed himself against her heels, the cat purring loudly at her feet.

Paracelsus crouched down to pat Hohenheim's side as she studied the area. "This is clearly the right place, but I expected to see some hung spells and there aren't any. Maybe there's a way to hide them."

"One thing is certain, all paths lead to something very important happening here."

Midas closes his eyes momentarily and breathes deeply. "This place has a bleak scent to it. Death, I think, has occurred here, and likely one of the more unpleasant kinds."

He opened his eyes and focused, allowing his perception of Death to grow, encompassing the tragedy before him.

OOC: Activating Mage Sight: Death Arcana.

---

Midas

The hallway almost feels like it wears death as a shroud, although there were no obvious signs of doom. The door remained as it did, however, silent and sturdy and still lacking a handle.

[Private to Midas: With your two-dot attainment in Death (ala Death Sight), you do detect ghosts. You cannot directly see them, but their presence can be felt beyond the door.][Private to Mnemosyne: with your two-dot attainment in Spirit (ala Spirit Eyes), you can sense the edges of Twilight creeping from beyond the door. It's almost if pieces of the Supernal are torn away to expose it.]

Midas paused. "The unquiet dead linger beyond the door. But first, we must open it," he said, looking it over. "Maybe we're overthinking this. Not every problem has to have a magical solution, right? Maybe there's a secret lever, or something like that."

He closed his eyes momentarily, and stopped looking at the world through the lens of Death. Instead, it was Matter that now colored his vision, hoping to discover the secret to opening the door.

"Leviathan... I know that's some kind of mythological monster, but wasn't that also, like, the title of a philosophy something or other? I think it was written by that 'nasty, brutish and short' guy."

Olympic shields his eyes, apparently nearly blinded by what he sees. "Oh wow, I guess I should have expected that.  He definitely used Prime to weave something into the walls..."

---

OOC:
10:28, Today: Olympic failed (no successes) using 2d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 1,6.  Gnosis + Prime - 3 + 3 for Spending a WP to not make it a chance Die.

Turning off Prime Sight, going into Forces.

EDIT:
21:08, Today: Olympic rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 8,5,2,8,1.  Forces + Gnosis + Willpower - 2.


This message was last edited by the player at 02:11, Fri 30 Dec 2016.

"Hobbes," Mnemosyne answered Midas without looking away from the door.

She frowns, deep in thought, before she speaks again. "Be careful - something's very wrong here." She steps forward, leaning in to look closer at the edges of the doorframe. "The Gauntlet here has been torn to shreds, and something's not right with Twilight here either. Paracelsus, you have some experience with Spirit, right?" She motions toward the door. "Come take a look at this. And be on guard for roaming spirits, who knows what's gotten through..."

OOC: ST, can I roll to Scrutinize the "Twilight edges" I see with Spirit sight?

"Spirits?" Midas said, with an edge of nervousness. "That's... not really in my purview. But I'm sure that's a bad sign, whatever this 'Gauntlet' and 'Twilight' stuff is," he said.

He shook his head. "Excuse my ignorance. I've only been at this for, like, two weeks."

"The short version," Paracelsus said to Midas, "is that everything is alive and there are multiple dimensions that stack up on each other."

She smiled, "The long version will have to wait until later."

Paracelsus took a closer step to where Mnemosyne indicated. She recited the spell and focused on the door.

OOC: I'm still puzzling this out so let me know if I make a mistake.
Exorcist's Eye
1 Reach- Casting Time

Yantras
- High Speech +2
- Concentration +2

Spirit 1+ Occult 4+ Yantras 4= 9 dice, no paradox dice

15:56, Today: Paracelsus failed (no successes) using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((6,2,3,5,7,7,3,6,5))

"I'm not seeing anything," Paracelsus frowned. "I don't think it worked."

Hohenheim brushed up against Paracelsus' leg. They were both disappointed that the spell hadn't worked.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:36, Thu 29 Dec 2016.

Somewhere in the distance, an old heater rumbled to life, making every vent along the hallway shake before the rushing of hot air becoming background noise.

Midas

Midas' eyes gloss over as he began to gaze past Death, locking in on the pattern and structure of the world around him. The walls and doors here were strange; it was as if they were made of regular materials, but were durable beyond reason. This wasn't just along the door; the entire length of the hallway seemed to be that way, woven with magic along it's seams.

As he looked at the door, the handle was there; at least, on the level he could sense, it had never left. It still wasn't tangible, but it was there.

Roll Gnosis + Matter - 3 to use Mage Sight and try to get more information from the door.

---

Olympic

As Olympic opened his senses even further, the motion of the world reached out...or it would, normally. The air may have been still in the hallway before, but to the sight, it was placid. He could feel the still air hanging around him from his skin to the vents, and even the electric lights didn't surge and flicker with the surges that he was used to seeing.

The movement he did feel was the door handle before him. As he focused his Sight, he saw the spell that was cast on the handle, forcing it to vibrate so quickly that it became both invisible and intangible.

With active Mage Sight, Olympic can see this is a Forces-based effect, so the Counterspell attainment can be attempted.

[Private to Olympic: I'm not going to have you change it since you got two successes and not one, but how does the math on that reroll work out? Gnosis 1 + Forces 3 + Willpower (3) - 3 should be a dicepool of four and not five, right?]

---

Paracelsus

Hohenheim looked up at her, a short mew coming out before brushing a tail along the door. The crackling energy of the failed spell hung around in the air like small fireflies, disappearing from her vision within seconds as she felt the Supernal fade, leaving a strange taste in her mouth.

---

Mnemosyne

The tattered edges of the Gauntlet flapped like a flag in an invisible wind.

You can. In fact, let's put these Mystery rules to the test. I'm going to be referencing the System Reference thread that I created for this, so if I'm quoting anything wrong from the book it's because I wrote it wrong there (and apologize in advance).

The Twilight Tear is a Mystery with an Opacity 2. You can attempt to have a Revelation about it (roll Gnosis + Spirit - 2) or spend a Willpower point and do actual Scrutiny (roll Gnosis + Spirit). This may be an extended action (first with two successes, second with one), although rolling an exceptional success lowers the Opacity by 2 instead of 1. If you fail to finish this by three rolls (equal to the unmodified dice pool), the Opacity will go up and then start increasing from there.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 05:05, Sun 01 Jan 2017.

Mnemosyne was only half-listening as she leaned in closer to the doorframe. She holds up her pen and begins tracing it in the air along the jagged edge only she can see, allowing a little bit of Mana to leak out of her pattern as she focuses her awareness, feeling the Fallen World fade further from her senses as the symbols of Spirit begin to come into focus...


OOC: Alright, let's see how this goes! Since my dicepool for Revelation would be 1 dice, let's skip that, spend a WP point, and go straight for Scrutiny.

First Roll (Gnosis 1 + Spirit 2, and spending a point of Mana for an automatic success):

10:33, Today: Mnemosyne rolled 1 success using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((1,4,8)).

That's 2 Successes with 1 point of Mana spent, which should reduce Opacity to 1.

Second Roll (Gnosis + Spirit 2):

10:38, Today: Mnemosyne rolled 2 successes using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((10(+1),3,10(+7))).

Success! Mystery Unlocked!
This message was last edited by the player at 15:43, Fri 30 Dec 2016.

The other awakened in the hallway became paler shades of themselves as Mnemosyne's refocused through her Sight. Twilight and the world usually rested together as one, but in this place, they had begun to peel off of one another in what looked like a rather violent fashion.

When she looked closer, it wasn't so much the things she saw as the feelings that crept into the peripheral of the wider lens. There were different energies in the air, hovering about like a static charge on the skin. First she felt the remnants of Paradox, having been released into the air not too long ago, as well as the taint of Abyssal energies that burned the back of the throat. There was also the subtle buzz of the Death and Spirit Arcanum as a fuel for it, leaving every sensation served on a grim palette.

While it couldn't be confirmed without seeing it, from the things Mnemosyne had studied, a botched summoning wasn't a bad theory...

"Aha!  I see what you did there... the knob is here, we just can't see it or touch it normally.  I think I can reverse this.  Um.. It's definitely a Forces effect though, so you all might want to take a step or two back.  For safety."  Olympic says as he rubs his hands together.  He holds them about three inches away from where the knob is hidden, and focuses.

---

OOC:

Counterspelling is basically a clash of wills, after you spend a mana, right?

11:13, Today: Olympic rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,1,6,8.  Forces + Gnosis.

[Private to GM: A failure of math is how, my apologies.  I can't really remember how I got there, but you are 100% right, the pool should have been 4, not 5.  Thankfully, the final die there was not one of the two successes, so the result should still be the same.]
This message was last edited by the player at 16:18, Tue 03 Jan 2017.