“Light thinks it travels faster than anything but it is wrong. No matter how fast light travels, it finds the darkness has always got there first, and is waiting for it.”

   -Terry Pratchett

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From the stories that the Orders told the newly-awakened before attending their first Convocation, this one should be one to remember.

The Pentacle had less than a hundred members in Chicago proper, a number that had been dwindling down for the last decade as less and less people seemed to see the Truth that stood before them. It was not a phenomenon singular to the Windy city either; the Awakened society as a whole had been shrinking for some time. It was not that more of them were dying, however, but that less and less seemed to Awaken. Naturally, it made sense why the Awakening of four new Mages within the span of the last few months seemed to be something to celebrate, as it ended Chicago's two-year dry spell of new members to their way of life.

The Acanthus saw it as Fate swinging their way just as the Obrimos saw it as the crazy roll of the dice, but the possibility of society as a whole was something even the most stubborn of Hierarchs could help themselves but to smile at the thought of. If it were truly an omen, then what was better to bring them together and lead the path for the society together?

The invitation extended to attend as a "Guest of Honor" had not made it's undertones secret; many wanted to discuss the ramifications of your presence, and felt it was important to bring the four of you together. Most of the Cabals that were spread across Chicago catered to one or two Orders tops, as the ideologies had forced them into cliques years ago before the society's population had begun to dwindle. As anyone from their Order would have explained it, in many ways, agreeing to work with these strangers would give them a larger hand in the culture of mysteries that they already lived in.

Held at the Congress Plaza Hotel in downtown Chicago in one of the large ballrooms, the newly awakened were each given a key and instructions to let themselves into a suite on the top floor. It was accompanied with instructions to arrive at 8pm for drinks and late dining the day before the Convocation began, and was personally signed by Hierarch Faux, the leader of one of Chicago's largest Consiliums. It appeared that you arrived before him, although there were a selection of alcohols available at a small wet bar as well as an expensive-looking cheese tray...

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OOC: Welcome to the first current-day thread. This takes place between days and months from your last scene, but assumes that (a) you have found a mentor or Order to walk you through the basics, and (b) are ready to take on responsibility. No more permission slips required. Feel free to paint a bigger picture if you want with the first post; I'm going to expect all of you to do at least a little scenery-chewing whenever we get everyone together like this.

[Private to GM: https://games.mindseyesociety..../convocation-primer/]

Anne had dressed in her navy suit for the evening, a bright blue scarf with a fractal pattern that she had bought on a whim brightening it up. Her pocket watch was attached to her vest with the traditional chain. Comfortable black shoes rounded off the look.

Since the night of the storm, Anne had found herself dressing more flamboyantly and buying new clothing on impulse- which she had never done before. She had always carefully planned her wardrobe based on what was respectable, conservative, and practical.

Her hair had been the same way until the day after the storm when she walked into a random hairdresser and told the woman, "Give me something stylish and exciting." She had been surprised to see what her mother would call "crazy braids", but found that they suited her.

Everything had started to change after that night. In a broad sense, there seemed to be so much more out there: she ran across interesting people and things that she would have walked past before, opportunities that just came to her out of nowhere, and plain good luck.

That first night, the cat had settled in and made himself at home, although he said he would only stay if she gave him a good name. Just before Anne had left for her mother's house on the fateful day, she had been grading papers for her Medieval History class. It seemed like every student had chosen to write their papers on Paracelsus.

Fortunately, he turned out to be a captivating figure- a physician, philosopher, alchemist, and occultist. Anne had been fascinated by his pioneering work on the relationship between disease and psychology, which led to Jung’s theory of the symbolic language of alchemy. Following a quote in one of the papers, Anne found herself engaged by "The Hermetic And Alchemical Writings Of Paracelsus" to the point that the afternoon flew past- that had been the beginning of things running late that night.

So Anne decided to name the cat Hohenheim, Paracelsus' original name. And when her mentor had told her that she needed a shadow name, "Paracelsus" was the obvious choice.
***

Anne was used to this kind of get-together: the schmooze and move. It was the main way she socialized with fellow students and other academics, so she was fairly comfortable. She did wonder about mage social rules and would keep an eye out for anything unusual. Was it impolite to use magic around other mages or did some flout their abilities? Did they share information about their current research or was everything kept private? There were certainly particular people she should approach, but she wasn't sure who they were yet. She'd have to keep her eyes open.

For the moment they were alone so she checked out the cheese platter and got a small plate of cheeses and meats, bypassing the alcohol.

The cat had started the evening prowling around, but they were both a little nervous about this meeting and Hohenheim quickly decided that he preferred to stay close and ride around on Paracelsus' shoulders. He had a better view that way.

The door to the room opened and another person entered.

Hohenheim nudged her with a paw, ~I think that's one of them~. He flicked his ear toward the newcomer, ~They look new.~

~Let's go say hi~ Paracelsus replied.

She set a smile on her face and walked up to the newcomer. Offering her hand, she said, "Hi, I'm Paracelsus."

OOC: Telepathy in ~ brackets.

He wore a suit on his body, a tie around his neck and a smile on his face, but there was something about the way Simon walked in that made him seem... peculiar. No, morbid. Maybe it was the way the shadows seemed to dance around him, or how everything seemed just a little bit older around him. Even his fancy suit had the feeling of fraying around the edges, even though he'd gotten it only a couple of days ago.

And besides, he wasn't Simon anymore. At least, not here. The ankh around his neck reminded him of that. No, here, he was Midas, and though it seemed pompous to him, no other name felt quite right. "Simon" was a ruse he put up for friends and servants, a mask he put on to ease the worry of others around him. How appropriate, then, that he was approached by the Guardians of the Veil- though he had not met his mentor in person, yet (the Guardians seemed to enjoy operating under layers of obfuscation), he had quite liked their proverbial elevator pitch.

As he walked through the door, his eye first drifted to the bar and its delicious alcoholic supply, but he had little time to dwell on that before the strange woman with the frizzy hair approached him, hand stuck out. Though he was taken aback for a moment, he quickly recovered and shook her hand.

"Midas. Pleasure to meet you, Paracelsus."

Olympic checked his overcoat and scarf at the door, taking a few minutes to charm the coat check girl. She said she felt a spark between them as he kissed her hand. He laughed it off, saying that it must be the static electricity.

He cut a dashing figure in a light grey suit and brilliant gold tie. He hummed a Christmas carol as he entered with a spring to his step, and, after gathering a scotch neat and a bit of the best Brie he'd ever tasted, joined the other two new mages, waving at his mentor, who had arrived early, on the way.

His mentor, a professor of computer science and information systems at the university of Chicago, had approached him about a week after his awakening. The Acanthus had been impressed by his story, and by his claim that he had managed to read a symbol of High Speech before fully awakening. He had been fair in his depiction of the other orders, but as providence would have it, Olympic liked the philosophy of the libertines.

"Midas, huh?  Please don't be offended if I don't shake your hand!" He quipped as he joined the morose fellow and the girl with the interesting hair. "Call me Olympic. Nice to meet you."

Paracelsus smiled, "Midas? A man with a gold touch."

~He's touched all right,~ Hohenheim summed up, not unkindly.

Curious, Paracelsus checked him out for signs of wealth- a gold watch? $5000 suit? That ankh looked interesting.

"And this is Hohenheim," Paracelsus added with a mental apology to the cat for forgetting to introduce him. She was still getting used to that part of their relationship.

The cat nodded to Midas in a rather human way.

Paracelsus turned to consider the newcomer- he was as light as Midas was dark. She offered him her hand, "Paracelsus. And Hohenheim."

The cat again nodded politely to Olympic.

"We certainly do have high opinions of ourselves," Paracelsus said with a light laugh.

"Dress to impress" had always been Mnemosyne's method, and tonight was an important night to make an impression - as a "Guest of Honor", no less. On the other hand, she didn't want to make the wrong impression, so after much deliberation she had settled on the standard Little Black Dress - albeit one with a rather daring cut down the back - with matching heels and some conservative jewelry (gold at first glance, but actually brass; an affectation she'd picked up after her Awakening). Her neck-length red hair was tied up and pinned artfully behind her head with brass pins.

"Good evening." She nodded her head politely as she reached the group, a small drink in one hand. She'd seen one of them - the younger man with the long hair - earlier while checking her coat, flirting with the girl working the desk (a fact she'd already filed away for future reference) but the other two were new to her. Her mentor had given her a little coaching going into this - important people, factions, things to say, things not to say - but even he didn't know anything about the three new Awakenings. Which meant doing things the old fashioned way - mingling.

"Mnemosyne," She said, smiling. "I'm guessing you're the other 'Guests of Honor' tonight?"

[Private to GM: Incidentally, what would her mentor have told her, going into something like this? I imagine since he's Silver Ladder he'd have some idea as to the social and political goings-on of the Consillium.]

Midas chuckled at Olympic. "Don't worry, I can't turn people into gold. Well, not yet, anyway." He raised an eyebrow at the man. "Olympic? And I thought my name was pretentious."

He turned his attention back to Paracelsus. "Indeed we do. Paracelsus, Hohenheim... why does that sound familiar? I feel like I heard it somewhere before," he said, furrowing his brow. "You'll have to excuse me, I was never the best student in school." If Paracelsus studied Midas, she'd see he actually lacked anything with precious metals- the only real marker of wealth was the ankh, which had rubies encrusted in it, but which was itself apparently carved from bone.

He was about to continue before seeing Mnemosyne and getting taken slightly aback. He hadn't expected to see someone wearing anything so... daring, certainly not an event like this. Granted, he had half expected people to show up in wizard robes, so who was he to judge.

"Mnemosyne, eh? And yes, I believe we are," he said, going to retrieve a drink. "Apparently, we're a big deal, or something like that."

"My name would be more pretentious if I had given it to myself." Olympic said with a genuine smile. "Really, it's because I used to be an athlete, and my brither used it to pick on me."  Then, turning to the ladies, "Para...scelus and Mnemsemony?  I'm sorry in advance for the number of times that I mispronounce your names."  He blushes a bit. "There's a reason us jocks give each other short nick names, we can't handle the complicated stuff.  Hell, I'm lucky I got the Midas reference. I almost asked if you could help with my car!"

"Paracelsus' original name was von Hohenheim," Parcelsus replied to Midas. "He was a philosopher, occultist and physician during the Middle Ages. He laid the ground work for a lot of scientific methodologies today."

Paracelsus had to stop herself from expounding about her namesake; he really led a quite fascinating life.

She was about to ask the others about their jobs, then stopped. That might be one of those subjects that was off-limits. If someone knew your job, that would make it easier to find out who you really were.

Paracelsus struggled to think of another acceptable subject while she fed a piece of turkey to Hohenheim.

"Have any of you met our host before?"

"Oh yeah! Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim!" Midas said, chuckling. "That's a name you don't forget anytime soon."

He looked to Olympic. "Alright, makes sense. Personally, I was never good at sports. That's why I got an MBA- the worst physical activity you have to do in business is go out golfing every once in a while, and no one cares if you need ten shots to hit a Par 3." He elbowed Olympic gently in the ribs. "Plus, you get to get wasted at the 19th hole, which is the best part in my opinion."

Midas raised an eyebrow at Paracelsus' question. "No, I haven't got a clue who we're meeting. I thought that was kind of the point- be all mysterious and stuff to throw us off guard, make us quake in our boots. Kind of like pledging for a frat, although hopefully with less assault."

The conversation drifted on for a few more minutes before being interrupted. With the soft beep of an electronic keycard, Hierarch Faux entered the room followed by two other members of the Consilum. He did a quick count when he saw the others gathered in the room, smirking and waving the other two off into the other room without a word; the followed seemed used to this type of behavior, quickly shuffling into an attached bedroom and closing the door.

"My apologies for being late. I was hoping this wouldn't be the first impression I made." Despite having almost as many years on him than any three of the newly Awakened combined, the Hierarch carried himself with the strength of a much younger man. His blond hair was slicked back over the grey that grew at the back of his head, and his jaw seemed to set itself firmly at the end of every sentence. There wasn't much information to spread on him from their collective pools of knowledge. Hierarch Faux had maintained his role in Chicago for twenty years, appointed by the previous one before they stepped down. He had previously served as the Thyrsus Councilor for the prior twenty years, and was rumored to have roots in a powerful political family within Chicago.

"I'm glad you all seem to be getting along, hopefully that is a portent of things to come." He chuckled softly with the words, the barest whistle at the end of scattered words. "I'm also sure you're tired of that kind of talk, leaving the sleeping world and being treated like some sort of miracle- too many want to 'bang the boat,' if you will. They would call a bad lunch an omen if you let them stare at it long enough."

He shook his head, obvious stopping himself from going on a tangent. "Let's not talk about that, however; I called you here because I like to meet all the movers in my city at least once. I am Faux, Hierarch of the Greater Chicago area. I was hoping to talk to you about your future in this city before the we began libations. Has your Order spoken to any of you about forming a cabal?"

[Private to Mnemosyne: Most of the Chicago Consilium are members that have held their position for a decade or more; the political infighting had become frowned upon once they realized their own population had been dwindling. The only exception was that the Obrimos Councilor seat was currently open due to the mentor having disappeared without a trace for more than a month...]

Mnemosyne nodded deferentially at the Hierarch - who else could it be? - as he joined their group, laughing politely at his little joke.

She was ready to more formally introduce herself when he plunged straight to the point. "My master did mention something to that regard, yes," she replied after a moment. "I assumed we didn't have many other choices, given how few of us there are."

"I haven't met my master, as such," Midas said. "But from what I have been informed, it basically comes down to there being strength in numbers, right? Together we stand, divided we fall, and so on and so forth."

Paracelsus nodded politely to Faux, who was obviously the one they had been waiting for.

"I've been told about the many benefits of being allied with a cabal," Paracelsus said. "I had the impression that we are expected to form one."

Olympic shook his head a bit at the Hierarch's question.  "My... I guess you would call him a mentor, never said anything about forming a cabal, but he's pretty hands off.  It's probably a Libertine thing, let us make our own mistakes and all that."  He looks at he other mages appraisingly, and shrugs. "Sure, why not?  You all seem like you'd be interesting to spend some more time with."

"Well, some of you, at least." The Hierarch smiled at their reactions, nodding in agreement. "Most of the councilors feel that your arrival within such a timeframe of one another is not a coincidence, something I agree with. No one will force you to form or remain in a cabal against your will, but I won't lie, your appearance is something for the spirit of others." He ran a hand along the side of his head, smoothing his part before continuing.

"However, I didn't invite each of you here thinking that just standing and shaking hands would simply do it all, otherwise I would have sent my Herald. You are not as encumbered to the politics that will take place over the next few days, and since no one else wants to lose their voice in the forum, there is a task that needs to be done. It's a matter that involves a certain amount of discretion, however; I need your word of silence for now before speaking of it. I will assume your staying in the room is accepting my offer, unless any of you would care to leave first."

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ooc when Faux runs his hand along the side of his head, your Mage Sight tells you that the ring on his right hand is magical; he doesn't seem to make an effort of hiding it, and you can tell that there is no direct effect tied to it other than raw power.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:54, Thu 08 Dec 2016.

Paracelsus and Hohenheim both perked up at news of a secret mission. Whatever it was, it was bound to be interesting. They weren't going anywhere.

Olympic looks intrigued.  Since his the revelations about Brian on the night of his awakening, the trail had again gone cold.  perhaps a distraction was in order to give some distance.

"I'd want to hear what you need before agreeing, but I'm interested.  Would you like some precautions?  I've been playing around with this imago for a cone of silence type spell I'd like to try out."

"Its not a controversial move as much as helping to plug a leaking hole, if you will." The Hierarch spoke in an encouraging tone as he listened to Olympics suggestion, crossing his arms. "And silence is not a bad idea, if you would. Nothing fancy, of course. Just long enough for those that choose to remain to hear me out..."

Midas folded his arms. "I'm listening, and I'll promise to stay quiet, although I'm not sure what you think we're going to be able to do that you can't."

Olympic smiles at the group like a child who's been told that they can break their piggy bank. "Let's do this!"

He closes his eyes a moment, and intones a couple words in high speech, "^Let none eavesdrop.^"   A ripple of energy is felt, and suddenly sounds heard by the group seem to oddly lack a reverberance that the room had granted previously.  "Ok!  Speak freely, Hierarch."

---

OOC: Creative Thamaturgy! Let me know if I'm doing this wrong

Intended Effect:  Conceal sounds made in a radius around our group from the rest of the room = Forces Veiling

2 Free Reach:
Casting Time
Adv. Duration

Yantras: +4
Concentration +2
Mantra +2

Factors: -2
Scale -2
Range touch

Total Die Pool 3 Forces + 1 Gnosis + 4 Yantra - 2 Factors = 6 Spending 1 Willpower +3 = 9 Dice, no paradox dice.

17:29, Today: Olympic rolled 2 successes using 9d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,5,6,9,4,7,6,3,8.  Creative Thamaturgy!  Cone of Silence.

The Hierarch watched as Olympic cast the spell, a grin at the corner of his mouth. "Excellent." He glanced around the room as if searching for his own voice, uncrossing his arms when he saw the spell was still in effect. "I see it comes naturally to you. That is a gift that ill help you along the way."

Rubbing his hands together, Faux looked between the mages again before speaking, as if confirming their own commitment. "With that in place and your assured silence, we can proceed. As I said, it's of a...sensitive nature. Councilman Leviathan, who has been occupying the Obrimos seat, seems to have taken a leave of absence without arranging his affairs or informing anyone that he would be missing. We have been working to track him down, but in the meantime, some of his holdings have gone vacant- specifically ones we don't want to sit vacant."

"Councilman Leviathan had control of a small Hallow downtown, and while we normally wouldn't dip into his affairs, places of power have a tendency to attract all sorts of unsavory types. We would look into them from here, but he was paranoid enough to have a series of wards in place that prevent scrying from a distance. I was hoping the grouping of you, if not forming a cabal, would at least do this job for me together and check on his holdings and report back to me?"

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ooc marking 1 Willpower spent for Olympic. Spell completed excellently, thank you.

Paracelsus was ready to jump at the opportunity to investigate a hallow, but she wasn't about to go in blind.  "Does Councilor Leviathan have any specialties that he might have used to protect the Hallow?"

"A fair question. He did not reveal all of his resources to us, as is his right, but we aren't completely devoid of information." Faux went to a desk that was in the room, quickly scribbling an address down on a piece of paper. "Leviathan believed that the best defense was to not be found in the first place, and due to that, it's main defense is obfuscation."

The Hierarch held out the folded paper to the collection of mages, tossing the pen back on the desk with the other hand. "The key is the journey there, not the location. There is a sequence in the elevator of ups and downs between floors that you have to complete before arriving there. I believe we have the sequence that was last being used, although I don't know if he would have changed it in the interim. Of course, any other way in you find would work as well."

"When you find your way into his hallow, reach out to my provost Araxis; I've included his phone number. We are hoping that it may provide some details to where Leviathan is, or at least, why he is no longer in contact with anyone."

"Just tell me we're not going to wind up in John Malkovich's head," Midas joked, taking the piece of paper. "But alright, we'll check it out. Hopefully, he's not dead... or if he is, whatever killed him isn't still around."

Paracelsus was ready to go right then; too bad they still had a meeting and a dinner to get through. She was curious to see a senior mage's sanctum- not to mention the presence of a Hallow.

"I'm sure we'll be able to handle it," she said to the Hierarch with a smile.

"Well, I can assure you we wouldn't knowingly send you into danger. Still, if you feel it is outside of your scope, don't needlessly endanger yourselves; it would be a blow to the society to see our newest members snuffed out."

He clapped his hands together, which notified the two servants to return from the adjacent room to his side. "Now, I understand it is getting late, but you may certainly proceed tonight if you wish; the meeting would be informative as our newest members, but as I'm assuming none of you yet have grievances to air, it could also be somewhat of a bore. If not, then I implore you to proceed early tomorrow, as time could be of the essence."

"Are there any further questions before I take my leave?"


_____
ooc time for a quick one, as it turns out. if no one wants to drill any more information, we will just move forward to the next scene instead of getting involved with the politics of a dinner...

The thought of the missing Councelor being a fellow Obrimos caused Olympic to raise his eyebrows in interest.  He kept quiet for the conversation though, maintaining his focus on his spell, and releasing it when the Hierarch raised his hand to clap his servants to him.

Taking a deep breath after the rush of magic left him, Olympic's smile returned. "I think I'm ready to go out.  How about you folks?"

Paracelsus nodded; she was eager to go. She certainly didn't want to wait around for a meeting. She had been to enough work meetings to know that she would find out a lot about the local mages at one, but that they could be deathly boring at the same time. "We'll report back as soon as possible."

As they left, she asked "I don't suppose any of you knew Leviathan personally? Or anything else about him that might help?"

"I've been doing this for a couple of weeks," Midas said to Paracelsus. "I wouldn't know Leviathan if he were my own best friend. And if he's the kind of guy who builds a secret hideout in the middle of town, you can bet he's not the most friendly or open guy around."

Midas stretched. "Yeah, let's head out. But be ready for anything- who knows what insanity might happen in a mage's hideout?"

"Are any of you experienced in scrying?" Paracelsus asked. "He probably has heavy wards around his sanctum, but we might be able to get a glimpse."

She paused, then added, "I'm not sure if this breaks some kind of protocol, but if we're going to be working together, it would be helpful to know something about each other. I'm Acanthus, I specialize in Fate and Time with a little Spirit on the side."

Mnemosyne shook her head, finally speaking up. "No, thank you, Hierarch. We'll be sure to let you know what we discover as soon as we do."

She kept up her polite smile and poise until the Hierarch was out of earshot before letting out a sigh. "Um, guys? I'm glad you're all excited to get started on this, but..." She lifted up one foot and pointed down at her shoes - heels. "Some of us didn't dress expecting to do any, um, 'fieldwork' tonight. Can we at least stop by my place and let me change? Because I'd really rather be wearing pants for this."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:24, Sun 18 Dec 2016.

Midas shrugged at Mnemosyne. "I don't see how it'd make much of a difference either way. If you want, though, we can just stop off at a shoe store somewhere on the way and get you some sneakers. I can cover the bill, at least."

scene [1.1] fade out...