By a circuitous route that shunted the cabal across vast distances in the space of a few dozen strides, Mistral brought them back to the S.S. Grey with reasonable confidence they’d not been followed.

Mistral couldn’t help but agree, “That could have gone far worse, pour certainement.  We left expecting our souls to be scoured from existence, yet we returned with honors, however begrudgingly given.”  To the compliments from both Noah and Sal of how she looked in her pantsuit she gave a mock curtsey and said, “Merci beaucoup.  I do favor this outfit far more than the absurd gown I was given to wear to our last disastrous formal event.  You all looked rather sharp yourselves.  Particularly when correcting the arrogant misapprehensions of the most esteemed mages this world has to offer.”  To Noah’s apology she reassured him with a light touch to his scaled neck, “Au contraire, mon dragon.  I could not have asked for a more compelling distraction of all attentions.  I had worried I might be called to give testimony, but none could look past the dragon de quatre cents kilogrammes.  I regret I had naught to contribute to this area far outside my expertise.  You did not require my aid, anyhow.”

Noah smiled at her touch and the memory of her in the first date dress. "More than happy to be a distraction for you or away from you. Being strange is my strong point."

"Before I forget for the fifth time." He pulled a tube out of the wall that had been brought up from the Fabratory. The tube was then presented to Mistral. "I had forgotten to give you the star charts covering all points from earth to Grey's entry point into our space. You're about the only one who knows space magic well enough to make any use of her progress."

He set his chin back down and tilted his head side to side at Sal. "Eh, One on one yea. But in groups, it means they are less likely to be the one who goes first on a dragon. But you are right. Still, if we didn't step up and if I didn't out myself they would have all been dead in new york. Only demons would have remained as any organized supernatural force. They can be scared and act like Imma eat them. I'd rather than mad and alive than dead and sad."

He also made sure that Talion was presented with one of Noah's memory back up units. More for his inspection than anything else.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:27, Sun 26 Jan 2020.

Argentus came back from the conclave fairly elated.  One of the best ways to be able to rally support to a project or cut through foolishness was to have rank.  And this afternoon - largely thanks to Noah and Talion, he'd put them all years to decades (or in Sal's case likely centuries) ahead on that.

When he saw Talion, he asked for some brief instruction in the theory behind Shadow Magic, and then, "You said you had a hopeful lead on Emily.  What is it, and how can we help?"

 Talion snapped out of his reverie when Argentus spoke to him and, in response to his questioning, Talion handed him a handwritten leather-bound book of about a hundred pages, filled with equations in Atlantean runes as well as handwritten descriptions of the hidden fundamental nature of the tapestry and magic in general (though less of a "how to" and more of an informational guide) and how Shadow Magic functions.

 A quick flip through the handwritten manual seemed to indicate that Shadow Magic required a metaphysical "trigger", similar to the material foci of normal magic but different in that it required ephemeral concepts rather than concrete items (for example, working shadow spirit magic required a formal, nonmagical pact with a spirit and the pact itself serves as the basis for a shadow spirit spell). The working of such a spell eases the transition of a spell into reality (and is apparently required to work with this form of magic)

 The next several pages involve the math behind spell inversion and the altering of consensus of reality itself. Trying to digest the information made your head ache. The information in this manual would take weeks to digest properly.


 After giving Argentus time to flip through the manual, he finally spoke. "I've just received news from the Goblin Market. It took a while to track her down, but my informant came across some the transaction records of a Fey mentioning Emily's name. I've tracked his home to the Fey Realm accessible from the Bermuda Triangle by sprinkling yourself with Pixie Dust inside the fog."

 He turned his gaze slightly to Niri, who immediately hid behind Argentus, before turning to the group. "I need to make sure she is found before I make my appearance in the Fey Realm. My nature was muted in the Aetherial Realm because of the raw energies of creation surrounding us. That won't be the case when I enter Arcadia Proper... and I need to make sure the ones that have her don't see me coming until I can pinpoint her location."

 He handed each of them a bracelet, a simple plastic affair that looked almost like a nonfunctional child's watch. "These will protect you from the temporal dilations of the Fey Realm and ensure you don't get spit out in the future again. It'll also notify me the moment any of you come into sensory range of Emily. All I need if for you to see her or hear her voice. I suppose any of the other senses will do... though I'm sure to have questions for you if the sensory perception of her I get form any of you is 'taste'."

"Don't look at me, I know better," says Sal.

Noah picked his head up and sat up before curling his chin on Mistral. "Jade tower." in spite of his normal meaningful mental brick walls to prevent himself from doing silly things Noah scooped Mistral up and twisted around. Tails and wings, claws and sparks all a dance before he smoothy moved to his big chair in the room with her. "A long way traveled with yet longer to go. Still, a victory."

He looked at Talion. "You're a mad man for letting me have it. I deal with the insane limits of magic and I cannot be impartial. Yet it's too late to go back on such a choice. It's going to be a season before people are caught up enough not to mind wipe a synth by accident."

 Talion smiled wearily. "I know, but I know you can handle the challenge. I do apologize for dumping it on you without consulting you first... but the Concilium was the best place to unveil my plans. Of course, that's not the only thing I need help with. I need to found three more Orders, one to oversee the integration of synthetic parts into organics, one to close the rifts that open as I repair the tapestry, and one to oversee the draining of the Abyss.

 My synthetics did not mingle evenly with the population, so there will be holes in the plan. I need competent people to train mages in the restoration effort. I was hoping I could ask each of you three to head an Order and train new mages."

 Then he turned to Sal. "And I was hoping to speak with you as well. I understand you are currently ronin. Would you care to serve me? I've already sired two vampires, though more as punishment than anything else, so I have status among the vampiric community."

Argentus mulled over what he had read while Talion spoke.  A thought came to him, and naturally, it issued from his mouth.  "Since you mentioned it.  Do you need our sensing of her to be immediate?  Does the sense of her within the Fey realm allow you to track her, or would it be us you home in on?  I ask because after seeing the hedge and the Goblin Market, it seems conceivable that we could trade for a recent sense of her.    Is that enough, or will it need to be us personally experiencing it originally?"

He contemplated Arcadia.  He had little power to deal with anything there, so he'd have to be extremely careful.  He saw only one main way he could make arcane use of the trip.  "Polt, does Pluto have any contact with Ceres through the hedge and goblin markets?  And if so, are their relations good?"

 "I've had no luck finding finding any trace of her, even with my current offering to the Goblin Market. Her name on a contract has been the only thing I could find these past three months... but, if you could find a sense of her, or even a wisp of resonance from her, I could track her anywhere."

 Polt shrugged. "I don't know. I've never heard anything about it but I'd imagine any such communications would be done in secret if they were done through the Goblin Markets, given the risk... and, naturally, she'd be wary of any contact from another god of the underworld, considering what happened with her daughter."

 Talion quirked an eyebrow. "Ceres? Do you think she may know something?"

Argentus nodded to Talion's request about heading an order as he tapped the book.  "Once I wrap my head around this and ensure that I don't need to have something purge me from existence for corrupting myself with it, I'd be happy to head an order and train people in it."

"Fair enough, Polt.  Thanks." He responded to the death spirit's explanation.

Argentus shrugged at Talion's question.  "She's a goddess of the realm, so she might.  Besides that, she might be willing to lend support toward the restoration of the ladder, in order to be better able to exercise her domain on earth again.  Even if she doesn't have direct knowledge to aid us, treating with her might give us some opportunity to explore the area with less pressure from its denizens than might otherwise be the case."

 Talion nodded. "Fair enough. As with everything ese, there is no rush... but here."

 Talion extended a hand and, inside, was something that looked like a cross between a small melon and a coconut, roughly the size the fit perfectly in the average adult's cupped hands. It smelled faintly of freshly cooked bread.

 "Take this as a gift to her from me. It's something that I've developed and I'm certain it would be of interest to her."

Sal thought about Talion's offer, before responding, "That is a serious proposition for one of my bloodline. I am not ready to vow my loyalty to anyone just yet. However, I already agreed to help rescue your wife, and will likely be amenable to work for you toward other goals in the future. In time, perhaps."

 Talion smiled a weary smile. "We're not married yet but..."

 He pulls a ring out of an inner pocket. He holds it for a moment without saying anything and then puts it back. "Again, I am not in any particular hurry but I wanted to extend the offer nonetheless."

Mistral took the tube and clicked the button on the side, which projected a holographic star chart into the air.  She circled the projection slowly, adjusting the virtual orientation of the solar system with swipes of a finger and tracing the gleaming path highlighted within it.  At length Mistral mused thoughtfully, “A ballistic vector, yet unmoored from gravitation...  Intrigante.  What progress is it that this data represents?”


Mistral was preoccupied with the star chart, but was also listening fully to the conversation.  She caught the bracelet from the air and coiled it about her wrist, then attached Noah’s to save him a troublesome task for claws, all without taking her eyes from the three-dimensional cloud of celestial bodies.  She asked Talion, “Merci.  Who is this Fae that has drawn the Doctor into its dealings?  What is the nature of the contract?”


Mistral let out a huff as she found herself gathered up by a dragon and brought with him to a dragon-sized seat.  She glowered at Noah and said evenly, “Excusez-moi.  I was studying.”  She extended a hand, which faded into a small swirl of mist before emerging from a matching vortex on the other side of the room, then snatched the star chart tube and drew it back through.  She leaned casually back against dragon-Noah as she resumed her study of the star chart.  Mistral scratched the scaly crest extending from the edge of his draconic jaw and asked, “Order of the Jade Tower, hm?  Or shall it be neon jade?  What will be the mission and tenets of this order?”

To Talion’s offer for each of the mages present to found a new order she replied skeptically, “You have upset much already, Monsieur Talion.  Alienating and invalidating la société des sorciers may not be the most politique means to enlist their aid.  The extant Orders may well be willing to take up these tasks, if given the chance.  The Guardians and the Arrow have closed fissures dimensionnelles for millennia, and have many archmagi among them more capable of this than I.”

Prometheus came back to the boat with a killer headache and after thanking Mistral for the portal, moved quickly to get some pain medicine, trying to end the quickly growing headache.

Taking both a pill of Ibuprofen and Paracetamol with water, he waited a few seconds as the placebo effect to kick in. The actual medication would help latter, but his brain thinking its better would be enough for the moment.

Looking up in the mirror he tilted his head slightly...something didn't seem right. Not really.


Blinking twice he splashed some water in his face and the feeling was gone. Then he put the pills away and returned to meet the others.


With that he returned to the deck, just as Mistral mentioned the new Orders that Talion suggested. As he heard Mistral's objections, he had to add his own, "There is also the fact that using the term Order implies a fractured club like structure that I suspect the tasks you desire can't afford. There is no one Mage in charge of the Guardians of the Veil, or Silver Ladder, and if you call it an Order, not only will you insult and fight with existing Orders, for members, you will quickly find most members don't want a leader.

If you are going to do this, make it separate from Concilliums, and Orders. You want something like a Ministry, or Bureau, or something. Organized, structured, with a set goal and a finish date. But most importantly you can be a member of this group and still maintain your Order Membership.

I don't think Noah desires to leave the Free Council, or Argent leave the Silver Ladder. And once these tasks are done, your Orders will be no longer required...The Pentacle is eternal."

Argentus looked to Talion.  "Promethius raises a good point.  Is there an ongoing need for something like an eighth of all mages to perpetually be involved on these jobs, or will the need be reduced once the initial work is done?  It seems like what he suggested, or even legacies, might be the way to go.  Less resistance from the Pentacle mages - who would have to change their names - and beyond possibly causing a war, even with our demonstrations, Octacle Mages just doesn't sound great."

Noah closed his eyes and enjoyed the contact as limbs moved about. His wings curved on either side of the chair. "I dunno, a bright Jade seems to be a little fitting." Noah pointed at one spot on her star map bringing up an image of a humanoid lizard. "One of the races they ran into." He replaced his hand about her middle. "The Jade tower is to be part of synth care and production. I can only ponder on its charter but it must include treating each synth as a unique person and worthy of care."

"They are a submissive race so it's going to take people who care. Hell, even Scar let us poke holes in his memory without a word. I had to corner him to get the backup system running."

He looked up, "I encourage you all to take him up on his offer. It's not going to be splitting orders. More like 'knights of the round table' kinda deal. A house of a number of specialized mages. Not to mention there is likely a weight to it. If you say there is a mass of paradox that needs handled, or a rift about to open, they ask less questions and start working faster."

"When the Merlins people started trying to Frankenstein a synth as Merlin's helper was really useful I yelled at them. Due to the Ark, no one questioned it and I did not have to explain that the memories in an arm can afflict the memories in a leg. Combining they get unstable."

"A weight of authority so in the future, you can avoid delay when haste is a must."

 Talion drew a pentagon with a star inside. "Then I can simply call them Towers. Jade, Ebon, Ivory, and Diamond... and then the Cosmic tower. I'll have to head that one myself as it involves cultivating archmastery.

 The contract was a slave contract and the Fey in question is called 'Pan'. It's my understanding that he usually abducts children. One warning I received from the goblin in question was not to drink the water. It may be wise to bring your own."

Prometheus paused, considering what Talion had said, before he finally said, "It could be seen as presumptuous to say the least, to compare ourselves to the Oracles..."

A small smile graced his features and he continued, "Although worst case scenario we can just blame any accusation of Hubris and Ego on Noah. At this point, such comparison would seem par for the course. And no one would expect us to argue with a Fire Breathing Dragon.

Regardless, I like the continuance. Five Towers rose to begin to fight the Exarchs, and five more towers rise to finish the job. The Five towers were the constant enemy of the Seers and 5 new towers will destroy them. Ten towers, Ten Arcana, working together to close the Abyss."

Moving onto the rescue, Prometheus frowned, "I know little of the Fae, but eating the food and drinking the water is always a bad idea...as is going such a place without Cold Wrought Iron. I don't suppose we have a supply?"

As is trusting reality when the Fae decide to fuck with you, but they couldn't really prepare for that. He would just hope the stories were wrong.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:11, Tue 28 Jan 2020.

"Well, as the towers are post-Atlantean, and as they should somewhat fade from central importance once the Supernal has direction contact with the world again, it seems like that will probably be a better way to get this done without conflict with the other Orders."  Argentus commented.

He queried Talion and Noah.  "I've been working on a spell to enable me to have a Shadow Realm emissary to accomplish work for me when I can't be there, somewhat like Noah is able to do with his custom self-synth.  I can fabricate just about anything in the Shadow Realm, though obviously it can only function there - which suits my purposes, and I can imbue it with Spirit abilities to approximate my own.  However, I've got two major hitches: first, I can't copy my mind to it.  Second, while I can by virtue of my court cast on it and give it the ability to send messages back, I have no way to retrieve full information of its experiences from it, nor to gain any back if it is destroyed prior to transmitting.  Would one or both of you be able to help me out with it?"

"Will it be like the Underworld, where I suddenly find myself in need of food and water again?" Sal asked. "And does anyone even make cold wrought iron tools or weapons anymore? I imagine those might be hard to come by."

Mistral nodded, satisfied these names would be less likely to incite revolt from the entire mage community.  She cocked an eyebrow at Prometheus and remarked drily, "Presumptuous?  We are about to found the Ivory Tower.  Presumption ought to be expected."  Turning back to Talion she said, "I have already agreed to aid in the stabilization of anomalies spatiales resultant from your work on the Tapestry, prior to our unplanned banishment.  It remains my concern, and there is much work yet to be done."

She sighed, but said with resolution, "I do not feel I've attained sufficient mastery to lead such an endeavor and I am a poor éducatrice, but I will rise to the need.  I will be your Maîtresse de la Tour Ebon.  Mistress of the Ebon Tower.  It has a good sound."


"Pan...  We all know of the folkloric character, but I would guess the real being is something different.  Any resource found in the Fae should be considered suspect.  I will investigate a means to bring resources without overburdening ourselves."

---

Int + Occult check to see if Mist knows anything true and useful about Pan, from mage knowledge rather than folklore:

• 13:42, Today: Mistral rolled 1 success using 6d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 2,10(+4),4,5,2,7.  Int + Occult.

This message was last edited by the player at 21:49, Tue 28 Jan 2020.

 Talion was silent for a time. "I feel I ought to be direct with you about this. The towers that exist will not be remaining for long. The Observatory was built using material from the Tower of the Leaden Coin. When I forged the initial path between the Fallen and the Supernal Realms, I needed an object of tremendous power to do so... but the bridge is incomplete. I will need the remaining four to complete a bridge that cannot be destroyed, opening a supernal gate strong enough to allow for supernal energy to flow properly.

 These five towers will be their metaphysical replacement and the Observatory will be the gate of their awakening."


 "The Adoni Institute taught all sort of crafts, including blacksmithing and the forging of cold iron. If the synthetic that taught it hasn't been destroyed, he could teach you how.

 As for your spiritual attendant, I'll see what I can do"

 Talion nodded with a smile as Mistral announced that she would take up the mantle. "Thank you. You honor me."

 To Sal, he responded. "Not so likely, but the Hedge responds to vampires differently than to mages. Their thorns will make you bleed and will twist paths to lead you to prey. Hunger Frenzy will be a very real danger for you. You should take a supply of artificial blood with you."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:10, Wed 29 Jan 2020.

"Good to know," said Sal. A hunger frenzy anywhere would be disastrous. In Faerie, it would be worse, still.

Remebering that some people present had not been there from the start Noah held up a hand, moving in such a way as to not distrub Mistral. It took a moment but he held in his claw a small portion of the Tower of Death and the Tower of Prime. "They are, indeed, made of fantastic substances." Thus far Prom only had their word to go on. Outside of the small portion of the sandstorm in the land of the dead, there was no unique evidence anyone had provided him, and that was a shame. He spirited the small stones away and produced a tiny box containing the scales Prom had requested.

"There is so much high-end planning going on... What kind of time table are you looking at? Do we have time to make course work? Do we need to find hidden away places for clandestine educational meetings?"

"Now I gotta design jackets and decoder rings."