All Roads/Session 15

Nebuchadnezzar: has been continuing daily life much as normal. He works during the day. researches during the night and collapses when he must, taking into account time off to rest in blissful dreamless slumber

Kenan: is utterly consumed by his idea for the spell, and is focusing hard on attaining sufficient understanding of the Time arcanum to attempt proper experiments with it. He spends many hours reading obscure texts and meditating; for the time being, he stopped working at the shop and hides himself away, in the Library, or in the Sanctum's basement

Isis: Isis seems to have recovered from the ordeal she has gone through for the most part. If she is rather careful to keep up her mental shielding now, well that's just a reasonable precaution, isn't it? Her choice of reading material in the less restricted parts of the Mysterium library has maybe shifted a bit as well, under the pretext of the Abyssal incidents still coming up now and then.

Isis: But that's only part of her studies. Between harassing Neb to teach her more about the mysteries of Stygia and engaging in experiments with Space it's a good thing her grades in Sleeper school are secured by magic she.

ST: At around 4 am the two of you are woken by a sudden, fairly loud commotion from Isis's room.

ST: After a short moment though it all falls quiet.

ST: Neb is probably already awake to hear it.

Kenan: rubs his eyes, and without sitting up, casts Prophecy

Isis: From what can be heard Isis seems to be walking around in her room, pronouncing words in High Speech a few times.

Kenan: after a short while, groaning and muffled sounds can be heard from Kenan's room, as he's getting up and dragging his feet to check out what the scuttling legs in Isis' room belong to

Isis: A bit later there's the scraping noise of furniture being moved ... or at least of someone trying to move it with very limited success.

Kenan: "I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Kenan: on the way, Kenan looks for something long and relatively sturdy (a broom, a standing lamp, perhaps a chair)

Isis: Startled silence. After a moment the door to Isis room opens and she looks out left and right. "Uhh, sorry," she says with a sheepish look on her face. "I didn't mean to wake anyone up ..."

Nebuchadnezzar: Neb slowly leaves his room, his glasses askew, his face gray

ST: A broom is easily at hand.

Nebuchadnezzar: "Is something the matter?" He asks, he doesn't look like he was sleeping.

Kenan: "something with big legs is scuttling in Isis' room", Kenan mutters, grabbing the broom and for a moment it seems like he's to bump into Isis. "Oh. Hello, did you sort that out yourself?"

Isis: "Oh, nothing at all," Isis explains brightly, opening the door fully. She steps out into the corridor looking somewhat un-magelike in her pink and yellow pyjamas, at least to those without active mage sight. "Just some sort of spider-golem. It's quite fascinating really."

Isis: "I wonder how it got all the way up from the Athenaeum into my room, locked doors and all."

Kenan: "how curious. From Athenaeum, you say? I don't remember us having a spider golem-thingy there"

Kenan: "and what did you do with it?"

Isis: "Trying to make it come out from behind the drawer, but even though I switched off the light again it won't come out by itself. So I was trying to move the drawer but it's heavy."

Nebuchadnezzar: "Find out where it slipped through from. I'd rather we didn't have anything creeping into or out of the Atheneaum." Neb says tiredly

Nebuchadnezzar: But he does stay staring at both Isis and Kenan

Kenan: turns to Neb "by the by, there's a meat pie in my fridge, I don't like those, I'm not sure why I bought it, but I don't like perfectly good food going to waste - help yourself to it, if you like"

Isis: "Do you want to take a look? I mean, now that you are awake," she adds, looking at Kenan.

Isis: That Neb was still awake is no surprise, of course.

Kenan: "now that I'm awake. Yes." Kenan stares blankly ahead "yeah, why not, let's see this monstrosity". he scratches his head "air vents?"

Isis: "I think it might be that one artifact from the last shipment, the one that was inside the cage and looked like nothing but a piece of wood."

Kenan: "the cage was closed, though, wasn't it?"

Isis: "Indeed," Isis says happily. "Like the doors were locked. It's a mystery!"

Isis: After a moment she laughs. "Probably not for long though, now that you're here."

Kenan: "I can certainly postcognify that cage, yes. when did you spot that little scamp?"

Kenan: enters Isis' room and turns the lights on

Isis: "Just now." Isis points towards the ceilings and indicates the thing's path. "It was up there, then when I turned on the light it crawled down there." She tilts her head slightly, remembering. "It went down the wall, so that's another point towards the golem theory. They are powerful creations of Matter after all."

Isis: "Because of the sticking to the wall and even the window, I mean."

Isis: "I can give you a spell to look at it, or you could just move the drawer ... though it might go for a different hiding place then."

Kenan: "did it look like it might bite or something?"

Isis: "I don't think so. I mean, it probably could, but it doesn't seem like it would."

Nebuchadnezzar: "Golems.... hummm." Neb says after quietly studying the two of them

Isis: "It has no mind to speak of, so likely there are only the commands of its creator inside."

Kenan: "if I see it, I can slow it down and make it easier to catch"

Nebuchadnezzar: "I will be right back." Neb heads back towards his office and bedroom.

ST: Despite Isis's attempts the strange creature is still wedged down pretty tightly and is quite difficult to see without getting close, or without the aid of magic.

Isis: At Kenan's assent to the spell Isis retrieves a small keychan compass from her desk and waves it toward him in a circular motion.

Nebuchadnezzar: returns a few moments later, curious about the small golem

Isis: The effect is a little strange. At first it seems like nothing has changed, but quickly it becomes apparent that all it takes to see past an obstacle is the intent to do so. It's not quite x-ray vision, but very close.

Kenan: "hmm, are you sure it's something that crawled out of athenaeum? it looks pretty nasty, too"

Kenan: "seems capable of giving a very painful bite"

Nebuchadnezzar: "Should I disable it?" Neb says straightening his glasses. "That way we can place it somewhere safe for further study."

Isis: "Interesting, isn't it? Of course we can't be completely sure until it turns back to the piece of wood state before our eyes, but Gwendolyn said it sometimes came alive and the description sort of fits."

Kenan: "sometimes? Did she mention what might cause it to awaken?"

Isis: "It's a mystery," Isis grins broadly.

Isis: "I did dream about a spider, but that may just have been precognitive."

Isis: "Can you disable it without hurting it?"

Isis: "Because it's not doing anything bad so far ..."

Isis: And we won't be able to see what more it does then."

Isis: "Oh, do you want to see if you can retrace it's path with postcognition? I don't know when it arrived here since I was sleeping, but you could just go backwards from eight minutes ago?"

Kenan: "an interesting idea. let me focus"

Kenan: Kenan chants briefly as he's casting the spell

Nebuchadnezzar: "It looks like clay, but that is not clay." He draws breath through in over barely parted teeth. "We may need Syn."

Nebuchadnezzar: "Flesh... is messy."

Isis: "What is it?" Isis looks from the spider to Neb and back curiously. "Living flesh?"

Isis: To complete her assay she replaces her mage sight once again, into the spectra of Space and Death this time.

Kenan: "I don't even know why they bothered with the cage" Kenan, bemused, announces, after the vision ends

Kenan: "that thing is very bendy, it can squeeze through just about any opening available"

Kenan: "we'd have to put it into a jar or something if we don't want it to get out"

Nebuchadnezzar: "Easily doable" says the adept of Matter

Isis: Isis frowns slightly. "It has known Death in some way. And there are no commands or animating intelligence inside it. Why would someone make a golem but not give it orders?"

Kenan: "remote control, perhaps?"

Nebuchadnezzar: "To see what it does?" Neb says looking at the creature in disgust. "Or to see what trouble it leads us into."

Isis: "Remote control ..." Isis tilts her head and speaks a word in High Speech.

Kenan: "well, let's leave it here for a moment and go talk outside"

Kenan: goes out of the room, and further away into the corridor, while keepin an eye on the door

Isis: Isis gives the creature or thing one last look, then nods and follows the others out. "It's mind is on the order of an ant or something like that. Controlling it might well be possible." She doesn't say anything about her embarrassing failure to get a proper hold on its tiny mind.

Nebuchadnezzar: who has not properly entered the room follows

Kenan: "well, i did notice there was some Prime impulse that woke it up to life, and it did come from outside. the animating force seems rather destructive. this impulse passed quickly, though, so I don't think it was control; perhaps merely activation"

Kenan: "I have no idea where the source might have been, or what its nature is"

Isis: "It can't have been a spell from outside or I would have gotten notice that the sanctum wards were breached ..." Isis is rather proud of those wards.

Kenan: "I have no way of telling if this spider was its only target, or whether there were other creatures affected by this 'wake up call', but that is pure speculation on my part. In any case, the energy that woke it was pure and primal. The source was quite distant"

Kenan: "come to think of it..." Kenan muses, seemingly ignoring Isis' remark "it might have been a natural phenomenon of some sort. The nature of that impulse might be an indication of this"

Isis: "Energy ... but was it a spell? I mean there are other types that aren't quite like Supernal magic ..."

Nebuchadnezzar: "Your aware that the machine this hallow sits on... comprises of even is very strongly aligned with the the Obrimos Tower?"

Isis: "If something came in through the Hallow or through ley lines ..." Isis looks thoughtful. "Something like that would probably fall under the Supernal paradigm so to speak and my wards would notice it. Probably."

Kenan: seems deep in thought

Kenan: "again, a speculation, but perhaps some 'natural' magical phenomenon occurred, which caused this activation"

Isis: "Maybe if you look at that again with Mind Sight you might be able to pick up on emotions or intentions - if it was someone caused by a thinking entity. Or not, if it was natural?"

Kenan: "I can look deeper into why this ugly thing might have got up and crawled out of its cage, if you want"

Kenan: "won't hurt trying, I guess"

Isis: Isis nods. "I'll help. I wanted to look at it anyway, I just had other things to do ..."

Isis: Before Kenan looks back in time again she opens his Third Eye for him.

Kenan: "well, the thing itself just seems to hunger for something. Good thing it's not human flesh, it was staring at you for, like, 5 minutes before you woke up" Kenan offhandedly remarks to Isis as he's looking into the past again

Isis: "It would probably carry a deeper stain of involvement in people's deaths in that case," Isis nods, not put off in the least.

Isis: Recalling her dream with a Perfecting practice Isis casts a few spells of her own while Kenan is busy.

Kenan: "it's odd, the energy resonated with... almost excitement. I could try identifying that source if I could look at it closer, it might not be a natural thing after all"

Isis: "You can follow its trail? That of the energy, that is?"

Isis: "Because I don't think I could get anything but the most tenuous sympathy this way."

Kenan: "nothing at all, sorry, it's too vague and distant"

Kenan: "well, too vague, at least. I can't even tell the distance itself!"

Kenan: "if you have any ideas what else I could try..."

Kenan: "I could always try to predict something about it"

Kenan: "or see what Fate has in store for it"

Kenan: "in a manner of speaking"

Isis: Isis seems a little absent. "So you can tell that it's distant, but not the direction?"

Kenan: "I... can't really define it. Direction is completely unclear to me, as for the distance, it's just a feeling that it's not close at hand"

Isis' Dream

ST: You're standing in an open, hill-top field unlike any you've seen before. It's dark and the lights of the city are far in the distance.

ST: A cool breeze blows, but what catches your attention the most is the sky. It's a beautifully clear night and the stars above are shining brighter than you've ever seen them before.

ST: After a moment you notice that some seem to be gleaming brighter than the rest. Eight in all, arranged in a vague circle.

ST: As you watch the eight become brighter and brighter. In the dark sky around them their golden light forms into a strange constellation, snaking into lines connecting them together. Each becomes the tip of a great, celestial spider's legs.

ST: Each begins to move, slowly at first but with increasing pace. At once they're weaving a web of starlight that begins to stretch across the entirity of the night sky, casting its glow down to light the ground.

ST: Then you notice you're not alone. All around you are people, standing and staring upwards. You recognise some. Diana, Solaris, there's even Jean, the scelesti mage you encountered.

ST: Some you don't, though you find yourself looking at one person in particular. She's tall, unspeakably gorgeous with delicately pale skin and wavy black hair.

Pete: "The Weaver's points, tipped in gold, spin a story unforetold." She smiles at you as she says it, an easy and serene expression.

Pete: Then, at once, you're awake and staring at the ceiling of your bedroom instead of that star-studded sky.

Pete: As your eyes adjust slightly to the darkness though you do catch the smallest hint of movement on the ceiling right above your bed.

Isis: Although rationally she knows she is as safe as she can be, the walls of the sanctum around her, the quiet mental hum of her own wards attesting to their power to keep out all that is hostile ... even so Isis sits up with a start, her heart pounding.

Pete: Either it's stopped moving, or you've lost sight of it but the dark in that spot seems reluctant to reveal anything more.

Isis: A Shielding comes to her lips unbidden, followed by an Unveiling, followed by ... with a mental effort Isis stops the unthinking reflex and takes a hold of herself. Breathe.

Isis: In and out. Nothing of the Abyss can reach her here. This fear is irrational and she knows it. And in knowing it she can master it. Breathe, slowly, controlled.

Pete: Your augmented sight quickly confirms that there is indeed something there with you in the room.

Pete: Tracing its outline in space you realise that the creature is the largest, most monstrous spider that you've ever encountered. It's easily the size of a dinner plate, perhaps a little larger.

Pete: Its fanged mandibles rub together slowly, though the rest of its body is still for now.

Isis: As always - at least for her - the light of reason banishes the shadows creeping up on her quickly and decisively. Isis puts aside her blanket and blindly reaches for her slippers with her feet, her gaze directed upward curiously.

Isis: So long as it's only some sort of spider there is no reason to fear. She hasn't seen specimens this large in this part of the world so far, but for all she knows they might be quite common.

Isis: Rising Isis invokes the Mind's Eye on her way to the light switch.

Pete: The thing is almost mindless. You see the slightest sparks of instinct, but no real mental processes going on.

Isis: ((and magical? and of course she switches on the light ;) ))

Pete: Magical, yes. It lights up like a christmas tree.

Pete: Mana, or at least some form of it runs all through its form.

Pete: When you flick on the light though you only catch the quickest of glimpses.

Pete: It's flesh coloured, and almost devoid of arachnid features aside from the shape of its body, its eyes and fangs.

Pete: It's almost as though it was molded out of clay.

Pete: As soon as the light comes on though it skitters across the ceiling and down the far wall, its legs thumping over the window as it goes, before it finally disappears behind a set of drawers.

Isis: Magic ... clay-like ... a golem? Isis tilts her head, intrigued. With Tiferet in her mentor's Cabal she could hardly avoid hearing about that piece of kabbalistic magic, but to actually see one alive (so to speak) ...

Pete: Now that you've seen it properly you can determine that yes, it does bear resemblence to a particular artefact you've been holding.

Isis: "Oh, this is interesting ..."

Isis: Isis switches off the light again, waiting to see if it re-emerges

Isis: After a moment's thought she replaces her Spatial Map with an improved version that ignores obstructions that it can find a way around, and her Mind-based mage sight with one that also includes Fate.

Pete: You can see it there, nestled in the space between the set of drawers and the wall.

Pete: It's not moving.

Pete: Though in your fate sight you detect that the strange creature is indeed fated for something greater, though it would take study to determine more.

Isis: anything interesting under Death or Space sight?

Pete: Strangely no. It has very weak, almost no spatial connections.

Pete: Actually

Pete: Death reveals that it has no soul, but it is indeed flecked with blood.

Pete: So it has experience with death in some way.

Pete: And no, not possessed or controlled.

Pete: Its own being, by all accounts.

Isis: and is the shadow of Death deep enough for it to have caused a death itself?

Pete: It's a weak connection to death. It was involved, at least. You're not sure if it was the cause.