All Roads/Session 8

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Isis: Isis returns from school with a determined look on her face and seemingly in a hurry. Barely taking time to fix herself a sandwich she retreats to her room and immerses herself in a seemingly endless chant switching between Latin and High Speech.

kenan: all cabal members receive a text from Kenan - he's out with Arclight in one of the pubs in the area, for about an hour

Isis: A few minutes later a return message reaches Kenan from Isis. "My best, and ask if there's any news."

kenan: kenan texts in reply "seems someone tampered with the soul stone, under investigation, please keep it quiet"

Isis: After a moment's consideration Isis deletes both messages. If it's something both related to subtle matters and sensitive better not to trust it to soulless machines.

Isis: Isis' casting takes until long after dark, the pressure of a spell more powerful even than the sanctum wards building up from her room.

Isis: Around half past 11 Isis briefly comes down into the kitchen for a glass of water and a bite to eat. Quite unlike her usual self she looks deeply disturbed or perhaps frightened.

Nebuchadnezzar: Neb still isn't back by 11. Or if he has his door is closed and his room and his study quiet.

kenan: (Kenan would probably be back by then, but I'm still chatting with Arclight)

Isis: Just as quickly as she came Isis returns to her room, which remains quiet now.

Nebuchadnezzar: (I'm still chatting IC, but we'll say passed out. I imagine Isis could probably wake him should she try. He is only sleeping as he has no doubt reached his limit and therefore will sleep dreamlessly)

Isis: (She's trying to deal with things by herself for now. That may change come the next morning.)



Meanwhile from Isis' PoV:

Isis: ((To recap, Isis was using a variant of the memory-reading spell to investigate that dream and where it came from, suspecting that there had been a memory alteration in addition to the phantasm back at the vision ritual)

Isis: ((any relevant boni or penalties to the spellcasting?))

Isis: One of Isis' favourite metaphors is of the mind as an ocean of swirling waters, perpetually in motion and hiding unknown depths.

Isis: The experience of diving into ones own mind would be a strange one if she had not done it many times before, exploring and learning the ways of the Mind Arcanum.

Isis: Manifold currents, from the massive and slow aspects of character to the small and transient of fleeting thoughts, surround her. Each has their own strength, texture, and flavor.

Isis: Together they create a large part of the pattern in the tapestry of creation that calls itself Isis.

Isis: And patterns she can read like few others, her very soul forged to be a key to all riddles and enigmas.

Isis: If the flow of thought and memory is not as it should be, if their pattern has been changed, then should she not be able to see it?

Isis: ((if this was Exalted I'd call it the over all stunt for the extended action ;) )

ST: ((Haha, yes.))

ST: Looking into your own bank of thought and memory you begin to search for any outside hand, or indeed anything untoward at all with regard to the dream.

ST: What you find is that the material, the raw emotions and images, that were used to create it are all part of you. They are all products of your own experiences, at least to your scrutiny.

ST: This is strange, however, as despite being a part of you fundamentally you cannot seem to relate any of the events of meanings within them to yourself.

ST: There is no pattern linking them to you specifically, and this shows up starkly in your gifted vision.

ST: It's as though your psyche pulled them out of thin air.

Isis: Still dancing between currents of her own mind Isis deepens her sight to include not just the substance of thought but also the Supernal presence of Mind.

Isis: ((Mind-based mage sight at Potency 6 to detect any spells or attainments that might be involved, including those that are deliberately obscured if they are of Potency 6 or lower))

ST: You can't see any evidence of direct tampering, supernal based or otherwise.

ST: School is a minor distraction as this investigation plays out in your head.

ST: The big question you are left with, one you see forming in your own mind in fact, is how exactly was that dream implanted?

ST: Assuming, of course, it was an outside influence.

Isis: Blinking once ends the inward search and returns Isis to a plane closer to reality once again. Washing her hands for appearance's sake she considers: Clearly there is something wrong.

Isis: Even if all the components seem spun from the stuff of her own mind, such a distortion can hardly be natural.

Isis: It is of course possible that she is going insane - there a good reasons, both mundane and magical that could account for that. Maybe her oneiric gift has slipped her control.

Isis: But considering that she had been subject to a powerful psychic attack just before these dreams began an outside influence still seems the most likely theory.

Isis: Banishing fatigue and once more splitting off a small part of her mind to take care of mundane matters around her Isis begins the painstaking business of precisely delineating and probing the boundaries of the suspect patches of thought.

Isis: ((On second thought, no, she'll begin with that after school))

Isis: ((this will be Know Thyself, the spell specifically designed to analyze any alteration or inconsistency))

Isis: ((Barring somewhat desperate measures Isis is, for the moment, at her wits' end, so this will be an extended casting with a target of Potency 20. She needs to be sure.))

Isis: ((And neglecting homework, cabal duties, and everything else to spend a full seven hours on a ritual casting she achieves the desired potency))

Isis: ((Know Thyself is in Guardians of the Veil, p. 194))

Isis: ((basically she wants to precisely mark out everything inconsistent and possibly altered and if possible determine whether it was and if so what sort of outside influence was at work))

ST: Nearing the end of the school day Isis recieves a text.

ST: Kenan isn't going to be home when she arrives, he's having a drink with Arclight.

Isis: "My best, and ask if there's any news," Isis returns.

ST: After arriving home and shutting yourself in your room you quickly get to work on the spell. The itch to discover the truth is a powerful motivator. It is a strange feeling, knowing that your mind has been violated, that part of it is no longer of your own making. Perhaps even moreso for you, having been more in control than most everyone else.

ST: After a few hours of laborious searching and sorting you finally weed out all of the material that isn't your own.

ST: You manage to segregate it from the rest of your mind, to study it more easily.

ST: It's all infuriatingly mundane, even to increasing scrutiny. These memories were written in your mind from the stuff of your mind, only by someone other than you. As you investigate further it becomes increasingly apparent that they are the work of someone else.

ST: They do not have your signiature, as it were.

ST: Hours pass, and as they do you are no closer to discovering who this creator could be.

ST: That is, until something strange begins to happen.

ST: A chill of anxiety runs down your spine, then as you watch your mind begins to churn with new material.

ST: Slowly another memory forms, new and utterly alien.

Pete: Smoke and fire, a dark shadow, fear. You could piece it together, but something greater becomes readily apparent.

Pete: Something mundane, but deeply unnatural is at work here. The smallest portion of your mind has warped into a pattern, or even a conciousness that disgorges this material into your memory.

Dakkareth: (('mundane' meaning 'not supernal' here?))

Pete: ((Yes. It's not setting off your unseen senses.))

Pete: It's gone before you can study it, but you know its still part of you.

Pete: It's 11pm though when you finally break the spell and come back to reality. It's dark outside and the streetlamps illuminate your room.

(OOC discussion)

Pete: ((From her knowledge it could be possession, or it could perhaps be an attainment. Astral intrusion is also an option yes, but as you said it would be difficult.))

Pete: ((An extended int and occult is a good idea though for Isis to narrow it down.))

Dakkareth: Isis sits very still, remaining motionless in her meditative position almost paralyzed. It takes all she has not to run - anywhere! - screaming.

Dakkareth: It takes her several minutes but in the end she manages to calm herself without turning her magic upon her own emotions.

Dakkareth: First thing first, she considers, attempting to lock away all that is alien or twisted. It can be no more than a temporary measure, but still ...

Dakkareth: ((An advanced version of Memory Hole she calls Memory Vault, exceptional success - if this stuff is susceptible to her magic))

Pete: The memories are shut away securely, separated from the rest of your mind.

Dakkareth: Next she attempts to flood her Oneiros with psychic energy, a flood of mind-water to wash away any possible intruders, and with luck even Intruders.

Dakkareth: ((Purge Oneiros, Potency 4, to throw out anyone or anything foreign residing in her Oneirus, resisted by Resolve+Gnosis))

Pete: You feel no different for the effort, but then again you're not sure you would.

Dakkareth: Finally, she begins to organize all that she has found out into discrete little notes. No fact or impression is too small, no possibility she can think of too outlandish. Time becomes meaningless as she adds them all as pieces to the puzzle before her.

Dakkareth: Somewhere here will be something, a connection, a pattern, or even just a vague instinct that might allow her to deduce something about what is going on.

Dakkareth: Her mind sharpened to the utmost she can accomplish, her narrative reordered to bring fate on her side, Isis sets out to order the small galaxy of coloured notes into something that might make sense.

Dakkareth: ((Supreme Honing the Mind gives Isis an Intelligence of 6 and Resolve of 5 for one day))

Dakkareth: ((does Isis' Legacy specialty for riddles, puzzles and enigmas apply here? and what would be the time increment for an extended occult roll be?))

Pete: ((Yes, and take it in 15 minute intervals))

Dakkareth: ((after one hour 27 successes accumulated))

Dakkareth: ((43 after two hours))

Pete: For something to effect you so fundamentally you're either looking at extremely powerful, intricately designed magic, or more realistically something is altering your pattern directly from within.

Pete: You deduce that the most likely option is an intruder in your Oneiros, which you may have already dealt with.

Pete: If it's magic then you're going to need someone even more powerful than yourself to help, but it's less likely.

Dakkareth: ((yeah, it would take a completely obsessed master of simply ridiculous Gnosis levels to do it directly))

Pete: Additionally, for something to have the ability to alter your mind so fluidly and mundanely, it's not out of the question that it's an Abyssal Intruder.

Pete: Which is not a nice thought at all.

Dakkareth: Her spirit strengthened to inhuman levels Isis examines even the nightmarish possibility of an Intruder without flinching much.

Dakkareth: ((the memory changes had subsided again, right?))

Dakkareth: ((so it was something that happened sporadically rather than constantly?))

Pete: ((Sporadically, yes.))

Dakkareth: But either way, if whatever it is remains determined to cause her harm it is likely that she will need the help of her Cabal, Isis concludes.

Pete: Fair enough

Dakkareth: But until then reinforcing her protections will have to suffice. With all foreign influences locked away she merely needs to prevent new additions.

Dakkareth: ((So she casts a combined Mind Shield and Seal Oneiros, Potency 7 both))

Dakkareth: ((after which not much remains of the night))

Dakkareth: are Arcane XP per session or per enigma solved?

Pete: Take an arcane xp point yeah