All Roads/Session 1
ST: Do you guys want to do a quick summary of your characters before we start, or shall we just get going?
Isis: (I've seen Nebuchadnezzar's sheet but I have no idea about the others)
Kenan: I'll paste my character's brief bio, if that's all right
Kenan: need to put it on the wiki
Kenan: Paul is the youngest child of a London middle-class, white-collar family. His older siblings, Natasha (32) and Jeffrey (30), have both attended universities and are now working, as a physicist and lawyer respectively. His parents, Anna (56) and Reginald (60), have spoiled Paul when he was younger; nowadays, he's still the beloved child of theirs, although also viewed as something of a disappointment.
He's carefree, for the most part, he's been coddled and never really had to work hard - most things came easily to him. there were some conflicts with older siblings, but nothing out of the ordinary. He had a pet dog which died a few years back - a not entirely successful attempt by the parents to teach Paul aka Kenan some responsibility. [more to follow]
Kenan: Paul is 5'9", with short-cut, dark red hair; he has gentle facial features and is quite slim; there is a small scar running through his left eyebrow and a similar one on his left cheek, as well as a slightly deeper and longer scar on his left arm. He's fond of wearing casual clothes. He is a light-hearted, careless young man with short attention span who managed to get his anthropology degree mostly because he Awakened, and made use of magic to further his studies. His Awakening, and casual use of his newfound powers was noticed by Andrew Appleby, one of the senior staff members, a mage and member of Mysterium, who took the young mage under his wings. Paul tends to rely too much on hunches, intuition and good luck, doesn't believe much in the benefits of hard and scrupulous work; while generally happy to help if it doesn't cost him much effort, he strongly dislikes being forced to do (or prevented from doing) things, but will usually comply, mostly to avoid the hassle of standing up for himself. Faced with siginificant difficulties, he will often retreat, and either try to find a less effort-taking approach, or will abandon his goal altogether.[...]
Kenan: As a student, Paul found absorbing new facts to be exceedigly easy, and he would have easily been a brilliant student, if it wasn't for his laziness. He would quickly master subjects that were of interest to him, while he'd neglect almost everything else. His natural curiosity, and innate good luck would have been *almost* enough for him to finish the studies - luckily, at a moment of particular stress, he discovered he could actually affect the world around him and bend it to his will.
He recently moved on from renting a small apartment in one of the cheaper areas of London to his cabal's new sanctum; he's making his living by taking odd jobs and helping "luck" in small ways; currently, he's employed part-time in an antiques shop owned by his mentor, Dr. Appleby, and occasionally trusted to perform minor tasks for the Mysterium.
Kenan: that's that. this might change in some minor way, but the key things are set
Isis: Isis: Condensed background summary: Isis has been a Sleepwalker from a very young age before Awakening and grew up in a remote group of mages implementing some sort of mildly insane experiment to recreate Atlantis within the Fallen World. She Awakened running away, on the Path of Mastigos and somehow ended up in London where a Mysterium mage found her wandering the streets confused.
Isis: She's a prodigy of the Mind Arcanum, and has initiated into the Sphinx Legacy.
Isis: Copy and paste description: A girl of perhaps fourteen years with strangely ageless blue eyes that make her seem much older than her apparent age at times, long blond hair, and a light but healthy complexion. Her clothes are usually second-hand and often seem mismatched in styles and colours, though that appears to be a conscious if strange aesthetic choice most of the time. Faded jeans, socks of different colours, a too-large shirt with obscure designs or abstract patterns and an old cardigan for colder weather are a familiar sight on her. Isis is well-spoken with only the slightest hint of a Romanic accent to her English, but her demeanour sometimes seems quite foreign. She is never seen without her athame, an old damascus steel dagger she treasures over all other material possessions as a reminder of her mentor-guardian.
Isis: (or just look up http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/Character:Isis )
Syntagma: I'll have to get it all posted somewhere, but Syntagma looks quite a bit like Desmond from the Assassins Creed games (The link was made by ST, and it worked). He had a regular upbringing from a supportive family, but tragic things happened around him. Large accidents and attrocities would occur to those around him and would always make it out. He became convinced that he should be dead, and it's onlydue to some sort of karma that he is here, but is still on borrowed time. He isn't sure when the axe will come down, but he going to go down protecting those under his care. He has a 'first in, last out' outlook and has trained himself to take punishment. He is currently unalligned, but still has a position as a Sentinel, watching over the city with others. Some may not trust him as he doesn't have the backing of an order, but then he is not biased towards one either. He used to belong to the Mysterium.
ST: Right
ST: Most of the players might experience al ittle deja vu, as the beginning of this will play out similar to the first session last time.
ST: It's a gray and overcast Saturday, deep into September. Autumn is quickly encroaching and the days are quickly getting shorter.
Kenan: (will it turn out it was me messing with the time flow?)
ST: We begin in the cabal's modest, town-house sanctum near central London.
ST: In the weeks leading up to this moment the concilium has been embroiled in a bitter political standoff. Against the backdrop of escalating abyssal intrusions in the city the Adamantine Arrows demand that the Mysterium hierarch, Jean-Louise, step down.
ST: With the backing of the Free Council they have enough sway to force a vote on a new Hierarch. They propose their own leader, Latimer. A fiery-tempered man, though charismatic and a reputation for getting things done.
ST: The Mysterium are backed by the Guardians of the Veil. The Silver ladder, however, refuse to cast their vote and as such the concilium is held in a tense stand-off.
ST: Their motives for doing such can only be speculated, though the most common theory is that they mean to act as kingmaker, and play each side for the better deal.
ST: But for now it is early morning, and if you are not already awake you are roused by the sound of knocking on the sanctum door.
Nebuchadnezzar: Rising from his drawing table in room given over to his Study, Nebuchadnezzer wipes his hands and rises to open the door. His eyes flick over to the window noticing the thin light of dawn with some surprise as he leaves the room.
Kenan: muted and mildly angry "bgr'f" can be heard from Kenan's bedroom
Syntagma: Syn opens the wooden door of his room and steps out with a rooled-up towel around his neck and a set of wireless headphones perched on them.
Isis: Isis is in the sanctum's small kitchen, humming to herself as she is boiling water for tea and watching the patterns in the rising steam. The sound of knocking interrupts her observation and she abandons the water for the moment to see who is visiting the cabal.
ST: The knocking comes again, more insistently and in the frosted glass is the silhouette of a huddled figure. Syntagma: (Did we get a floor plan?)
ST: (No, but feel free to assume layout for now.)
Isis: (so who's closest? If she can see one of the others going for the door Isis will let them go ahead)
Kenan: Kenan will stay in bed unless the doorbell rings again, or there's a lot of noise
Nebuchadnezzar: (I reckon you are Isis)
Syntagma: Syn walks hastily to the doorway, figuring that Kenan is still asleep and doesn't want to be woken up
Syntagma: He reaches for the latch and opens it, bringing a beam of light into the hallway.
Isis: Seeing Syntagma already near the door Isis hangs back, curious but also remaining not too far from her water.
Syntagma: (Who wants to interrupt the NPC with the info we were told last time? :D)
ST: Standing in the door way is a scruffy man, perhaps mid 30's. His short brown hair is a mess, tousled by the wind and his hands are shoved deep into his coat pockets. You recognise him as Solaris, a Mysterium herald.
ST: "Ah, alright Syn?" He grunts. He looked chilled to the core. "Mind if I come in?"
Syntagma: "Solaris?" He stands aside and gestures for him to come in. "Are one of the others expecting you?"
Isis: "Hello Solaris," Isis joins Syntagma now. "You look cold."
Nebuchadnezzar: Nebuchadnezzar walks into the room, wiping the last of pencil and ink from his fingers, his short black hair a mess and dark circles under his eyes. He looks from Syn, to Isis to Solaris and offers just a nod of greeting.
Kenan: "h'zzat?"
ST: "No, no." One of his hands emerges from his pocket clutching a folded envelope. "Sorry for the early visit. Mail call." He gives a humorless smirk. "Isis. Neb."
Syntagma: As soon as Solaris steps past Syntagma, he will look outside the door and retreat back inside, closing it.
ST: His expression dims almost instantly after shuffling inside, "Just need you guys to take a look at a photo." He offers the envelope to Neb. "Suspected Scelesti." With a grim look he lets the term speak for itself.
ST: Considering the ongoing abyssal attacks and events you have been hearing about, this would be interesting news.
Isis: "Oh," Isis says quietly.
Nebuchadnezzar: Neb frowns, "Is this going to take long?" He says yawning and looking at his watch. "I have a meeting with a client in an hour and a half." He gstures to see the photo.
Kenan: Kenan emerges from his bedroom, rubbing his eyes, with nothing but a pair of boxers on, and listens to the conversation. seems he's been up until late last night
ST: Solaris hands it over. "Just see if you can recognise him."
Isis: Isis watches the envelope warily, not liking the smell of fear and suspicion it spreads. Could anyone they know really be one of the Accursed?
Kenan: Kenan comes up and examines the photo
ST: The picture depicts a scene of chaos. A crowd packed in tight, jostling and full of panic, the fear evident on their faces. What they flee from isn't evident, but admist them all stands a young man, shaven-headed with a look of utter calm on his face despite all going on around him.
ST: He is quite handsome, and while he does not face the camera the look in his eyes is strangely intense despite his serene expression.
ST: "He's the one they want for the Orchard street incident." Solaris adds. You have all heard of this. It happened only days ago. A peaceful protest was turned into a full-scale riot when the abyss was called down into its midst. You haven't heard any first-hand accounts, but from the rumors you know it was a tragedy.
ST: Unfortunately, none of you recognise him.
Isis: Isis looks at the picture, taking in the man's appearance and stance. There's a slight pressure against everyone's Unseen Senses as she Perfects her recall, then she shakes her head. "I don't know who that is. I don't think I've ever seen him before."
Kenan: "sorry, don't know the man"
Syntagma: SYn looks at the picture and lets out a relaxing exhale. "Do we have any leads?"
Nebuchadnezzar: "I don't recognise him Solaris." He gives a shrug by way of apology, followed swiftly by another yawn.
Syntagma: (Is his head completely shaved? Does he have anything noticable like a visable tattoo or strange clothing in poor condition? etc.)
Isis: "Have you tried a Scrying?"
ST: (He's got very close cropped brownish hair. It's hard to tell the colour as it's so short. There are no tattoos or piercings, but he is fresh-faced and he has very bright green eyes. Looks in his early twenties.)
ST: "No leads yet. We've got assurances from the Guardians they're working on it. No-one around here seems to know him, though." He shrugs, then offers a slight shake of his head to Isis. "Haven't heard anything."
ST: "The Guardians are staging a recreation this evening that they would like as many people to attend as possible."
ST: "You'll probably hear from one of their lot later on. It'll be down at the old brewer's hall on Court road." It's a fairly local place. You know the Guardians hold a demense there.
Isis: "Of course that would probably need a group ritual casting," Isis adds after a moment, more to herself than to the others.
ST: He then glances at Isis, before looking back at Syn. "Uh. Might not want to bring the little'un, though."
ST: "I hear it's a bit hairy."
Kenan: "what do you think, Isis? do you want to give this a miss?" Kenan is curious as to her reply
Syntagma: "To be honest, I'd rahter not go. I think I'd be better off finding out what I can from the other Sentinels. I planned to do some voluntary duty, anyway."
ST: He nods to Syn. "Reminds me. Arclight wants you down at his for 5pm, if you can make it. Sentinel business. Think it's a meeting concerning whats going on." He gestures to the photo.
Isis: Isis' expression shows annoyance at the suggestion of excluding her, badly concealed. "I have no particular problem with hair. I'll be there."
Syntagma: Syn nods back and looks at the others. "Looks like I'm out." he shrugs his shaulders, raising his hands slightly in the process before crossing his arms and leaning against the wall behind him.
Nebuchadnezzar: "Humm rioters, thieves and benefits cheats." He glances at Isis, "Probably not the thing for a young girl to see even before the Abyssal incursion." He pushes his glasses up his nose so they fit more snuggly. "Guardians as well. No place for any of us."
Isis: She really doesn't like being treated like a child. Being one of the wise should trump mere age, she thinks, but of course that's a point of view far from being shared by all.
ST: Solaris looks between them. "Its your shout. You don't have to go. I'm going to take a look myself though, see what I need to watch out for."
Isis: "Well, then I'm going," Isis declares, her look defiant. "It won't be all Guardians, right?"
Syntagma: "One less if you go" He gives a smile to Isis.
ST: "Not just. Should be all sorts if they get the crowd they want."
Isis: It's probably a reaction to the suggestion she should not go more than actual motivation to be there, but here she is ... "Unless you're instructing me otherwise, Dadukos," she asks Nebuchadnezzar with particular emphasis on the title.
Kenan: "when is this again?"
ST: "Think it was at 7."
Kenan: "okay, I'll be there, I'm finishing work before that" - Kenan shuffles back to his room
Isis: Isis nods as if to say 'see? It's settled then'.
Nebuchadnezzar: Nebucadnezzar sighs, "As long as one of the others accompanies you I don't intend to be present." He sighs which morphs into another yawn, "I have research I need to finish."
Syntagma: "Wait...we're going to leave her with Kenan?"
Nebuchadnezzar: He glances back to Kenan, as the younger man walks away. "He has to learn responsability somehow." Nebucadnezzar says to Syn with a shrug turning to face the other man, "You ok with making sure Isis makes it to school today?"
Isis: (is there school on a Saturday?)
Nebuchadnezzar: (Neb totally doesn't know what day of the week it is)
Syntagma: "Uh...Neb? It's a Saturday."
Isis: "It's Saturday," Isis echoes Syntagma. "Are you not sleeping again?"
Syntagma: Syn looks over at Isis. "What are your plans between now and seven?"
Isis: (btw, English being Isis' second language as well you can take any strange syntax or mistakes I might unwittingly make as IC ;) )
Kenan: (Kenan has no such excuse ;) )
Nebuchadnezzar: He looks down at the girl with a not particularly guilty but affermative shrug.
ST: Solaris looks between the gathered cabal mates before piping up. "I'll leave you lot to it, then."
Isis: "I was going to make chamomile tea just now - " she looks to Solaris, "you should have a cup before going out again, it's cold outside - and then breakfast and then ..." She smiles happily. "No schedule or plans at all."
ST: "You've got my number if you need to get in touch. Ah, and heads up, I think I heard the Aldwych library's getting a big clean out, so be ready to take some of their rubbish."
ST: He refers to the mysterium cache in the city centre. Periodically they catalogue its contents, and re-determine where there aretefacts are best stored. You occasionally get some shipped over to your own bunker.
ST: "No thanks," He speaks to Isis. "I'd love one, but I got work needs doing."
ST: With that he nods his final goodbye and makes to leave.
Isis: "Ah," Isis nods. "Of course. Goodbye."
Nebuchadnezzar: Neb waves and then tiredly climbs the stairs back to his study.
Isis: Turning back to Syntagma Isis grins. "Well, if we're getting another big chest of treasures today then maybe I'll look at those."
Syntagma: "Maybe..." Says Syn.
Syntagma: "If you don't have anything to do later, you'd be welcome to assist me with my patrol. A good judge of character could be helpful."
Isis: (what sort of patrolling does Syn do?)
Syntagma: (He's a Sentinel, so just patrolling for wierd goings on, and responding to problems.)
Nebuchadnezzar: There is some sound as Neb hastily moves around upstairs. He lifts the drawing he has spent the last few nights on from the draughting table and looks at it with his not so fresh eyes. With a sigh he rolls it up ties a band of black silk around it and places it amongst his other drawings.
Kenan: some chanting can be heard from Kenan's room
Kenan: (feel free to move on, I'm not planning on doing anything more in this scene)
Isis: "Unless they are indeed sending over their treasures ... why not!"
Isis: (sure, next scene is fine)
Syntagma: "Well I'll give you a call later and we'll play it by ear." He gives a smile and starts walking towards his room.
Syntagma: (All done)
ST: (Right, what's everyone planning on doing in the day?)
Isis: "Super," Isis nods and returns to the kitchen to brew that pot of tea.
Nebuchadnezzar: He leaves to get changed for the meeting he had arranged for today, aware that his days and nights blurred together and his plans beyond what he was required to do that day had ceased to mean much to him again.
Nebuchadnezzar: Darting back into the office after he has changed clothes he grabs a roll of drawings tied with yellow silk and grabs his breifcase, heading out for the meeting he knows he has today. The last thing visible is the drawing he worked on, part of it visible where he was rummaging through the diagrams showing a lead frame on an odd looking skyscraper.
Nebuchadnezzar: (Neb will likely cast an improvised Mind spell on himself to get himself through his meeting, which I imagine will take most of his day and then return to the townhouse to sort the artefacts coming over and try to sleep)
Kenan: (Kenan will shortly be off to work in the shop, back by 5ish)
Syntagma: (As soon as he finds his clothes :))
Isis: After breakfast Isis turns to homework - very briefly - before skipping ahead to the more interesting things. Also homework, but from Diana, her Sphinx mentor, rather than boring Sleeper school. By the afternoon her room looks as if a newspaper stand has exploded, small cut-outs covering every surface in a chaotic pattern.
ST: (Alright, as it's approaching 11 we'll leave the evening's activities til next session, but we may as well wrap up what happens during the day.)
Kenan: (well, unless you're planning on Kenan interacting with anyone important, I'm good)
Isis: (that is, Isis is practising her Sphinx attainments by using them to investigate all patterns in the newspapers of the last week, from the superficial to the random to the possibly supernal, and doing the Oblation)
Isis: (I imagine her room looks rather crazy in the process, Beautiful Mind style)
ST: Later in the day both Neb and Syn recieve a call from a Guardian herald by the name of Eidolon. He confirms Solaris' info on the reconstruction.
Syntagma: (I tell him where to stick it : D)
Nebuchadnezzar: (I'm tempted to do the same but know the others may wish to go)
ST: Following that Neb is indeed contacted by the cabal holding the Aldwych library, as it turns out they will be sending some items over later in the afternoon. Nothing too volatile, they promise.
ST: All in all it turns out to be a busy day.
Syntagma: (I'll text Neb at some point in the day to ask about the transfer and what time it's expected to go down.)
ST: They say 4 pm
ST: Only two boxes. Mainly books, but some items of curiosity.
Syntagma: (I'll leave it. Too close to my meeting.)
Isis: Once she hears that there are indeed 'treasures' coming in Isis prepares everything to receive, sort and safely store them.
ST: You often recieve objects not dangerous enough to warrant storage in the main mysterium vaults.
Kenan: (kenan should be coming back little past 4)
Nebuchadnezzar: Neb will be back at 3
ST: Alright. We'll deal with all of that next session.
ST: For now, 3xp each for answering the door.
ST: And 10 points for gryffindor.
Isis: (we have learned much by answering that door!)
Isis: (how does spending xp work? Do we wait until the end of a story arc, for downtime, etc?)
ST: Whenever's plausible
ST: Just run it by me.
