Editing Invisible Monarchs/Session5 (section)

==Back at the Sanctum== 
Forcas:	And indeed, at around one in the morning he rises again, showers and prepares for the next day. There is much to do.

Forcas:	Sitting in the previously identified middle of the sanctum the Warlock, surrounded by a circle of white candles, chants in High Speech as he meticulously raises new and stronger wards about the sanctum.

Forcas:	Around eight in the morning he releases the finished spell, the candles briefly flaring high before going out.

Alice:	And at that 'flare', Alice wakes up, rubbing her eyes and coughs up a single butterfly.

Alice:	"Blagh."

Alice:	"Stupid life."

ST:	The butterfly flutters by, moving around your head in a lopsided circle, orange and black wings sending it shooting up and down.

Alice:	She gets up, letting the butterfly float with her into the kitchen.

Alice:	"Forcas, are you awake?"

Forcas:	In the cathedral Forcas slowly rises, stretching after the long period of immobility, and begins cleaning up. Wax circles are good to focus the mind but annoyingly difficult to remove again.

Forcas:	*Candles are good to focus the mind, but the wax is annoyingly difficult to get off rough surfaces.

Forcas:	A few minutes later he enters the kitchen, heading straight for the coffee machine. "Ah, good morning, Alice."

Alice:	"How good are you in looking in people's heads?"  She is having cereal while talking.

Forcas:	In this house this is a normal question - though not from Alice, perhaps - and Forcas only blinks once before answering. "Depends on how badly they want to keep me out. Only surface thoughts though, except in the context of a memory download."

Alice:	"Darn."

Alice:	"I found some wards on my memories."

Forcas:	tilts his head. "Your mother?"

Alice:	"Mhm."

Alice:	"They didn't hurt me, but they broke what I remembered of one of mama's parties."

Alice:	"I have to do a lot of weeding, but I'm not iron."

Forcas:	frowns at the metaphor. "So, are they locked away, obscured, eroded, decohered, or scattered?"

Alice:	"They broke when I got too deep, I think they are just hidden."

Alice:	"But I think the Uncle we know about was there at one of mama's parties... and he said something about daughter*s*."

Alice:	"A Mary being very, very talented," she says distractedly as she finishes her breakfast and puts things away.

Alice:	"I was there though... and I actually get safe from the wards, but they break everything else."

Forcas:	"How do they break things?"

Forcas:	"If you want I can see if I can find the memory block - your mother being a master though it would likely take quite a while. Several hours."

Alice:	"We could visit your master as well.  I don't think she realized I would awaken."

Alice:	"Crestfallen can hide my true name while you do it."

Forcas:	Forcas smiles, "Ah, it's not like searching through your memories. I can't do that. What I would do is simply put together a Third Eye spell - mage sight - of extreme potency."

Forcas:	"Then I would be able to see the spell your mother laid on you."

Forcas:	"To breach or break it would require an Adept of Mind or a Disciple of Prime, though."

Forcas:	"What I could do is help you organise the memories you do have remaining."

Alice:	"I did break one memory."

Alice:	"Maybe you can patch that one up?  I think it had uncle in it."

Forcas:	"You ... broke a memory? How did you do that?" There's the whispering of a spell being cast against Alice's Unseen Senses.

Alice:	"The wards did."  She winces, clutching Crestfallen.

Forcas:	"So, rather than lock aways a ward 'broke' a memory?" Forcas doesn't quite follow, perhaps because Alice doesn't use the common terminology of Mind.

Alice:	She sighs.  "I was in the memory, then mother turned around and said I shouldn't be here.  The vines all over tried to attack me, but I brought in Crestfallen to keep the vines away.  Everyone's faces shattered into butterflies."

Forcas:	"Anyway, what I can easily do for you is help you organize your memories into different containers. Then you can show me the memories in one container while keeping private all others. And I can see if I can help you make sense of those particular memories."

Alice:	"The problem is that the memories will would have my true name mentioned, wouldn't it?"

Forcas:	"And ... out of professional curiosity I would be very interested in how you 'were in your memory', as an active presence. It sounds a lot like an Oneiric journey, but our Hallow is not powerful enough to allow such."

Forcas:	"You could decide to leave your real name in a different container from the one you show me."

Forcas:	"This is a technique often used among Guardians of the Veil - if the risk of revealing dangerous secrets was other than extremely small it would not be used."

Alice:	"I don't know..."

Alice:	She shrugs.

Alice:	"I know a little bit on how to Dream..."

Alice:	"BUt I was just looking in my head."

Forcas:	"The only catch is, that you have to actively separate out the secrets you want to keep from the memories you can show to someone else."

Forcas:	"But that is what the spell is for."

Alice:	"I was thinking maybe Crest could keep it warded instead?  It wouldn't be hard to tell a Spirit-made one, would it?"

Forcas:	shrugs. "For the procedure I proposed there could be no 'instead', since that step is vital to the process. That sort of ward, if Crest can create it, could work on top of it, though."

Alice:	She wrinkles her nose, trying to think of something.

Alice:	"Let's try it with the 'broken' memory and see if I can get it to work?"

Forcas:	"If that is what you would like to do. All I can do is offer you options."

Forcas:	"If you so desire I can make myself forget afterward."

Alice:	"If you find out the name, yes please."

Forcas:	nods. "Let's sit down comfortably then."

Forcas:	Once both are sitting Forcas explains: "First I will cast a spell to allow you to sort your memories - it's like being in a library and making copies of certain pages in certain books, then putting them together in one place while the actual books are somewhere else. You control what pages, or even what sentences on the pages to copy and what to leave."

Alice:	"That will be easy then.  There's already one library there, and we'll be going there."

Forcas:	He touches his index finger to Alice's forehead and there's the unseen whisper of a spell being cast.

Forcas:	"Once you have all the copies that belong to the memory in one place, you'll find that you can 'show' them, bring them to the surface of your mind. When you do that tell me and I can look at the copies and only the copies."

Forcas:	"Then I'll see if I can put the pieces together, like gluing together a page that has run through a shredder."

Forcas:	shrugs. "I'm not actually sure that metaphor is accurate, since I don't yet know what that ward did to your memory, but we'll see."

Alice:	She shuts her eyes and in the 'sight' of Mind, it likely looks like... skeet shooting?

Alice:	Confetti of birds, all shaped in fragments gently drift from Alice.

Forcas:	"Ready?

Alice:	"As I ever will be..."

Forcas:	It's a strange feeling, a touching of minds, a metaphorical hand that reaches out to take the memories that are being offered.

ST:	The memory that is transferred is a jumble, a childs half-remembered and foggy moment, and further broken by the workings of Puppet, the entire thing feels like a jagged edge in your own memory, but you can feel the fractures and with time should be able to put it back together. 

Forcas:	"Ah ... I ... see. Yes, give me some time ..." Forcas turns to the table where he moves his fingers over the wooden surface as if assembling a puzzle.

Forcas:	"Not easy at all ..." Forcas stares at the empty table in focused concentration, puncuating each movement of an imaginy puzzle tile with a whispered word of High Speech.

Forcas:	Finally he nods. "Yes, just like that."

Forcas:	"Alice?" He looks up and around. "I have your memory glued back together."

Alice:	"Oh?  Can I see?"

Alice:	She looks up from her handiwork, some sort of suit for a tiny person.

Forcas:	"Yes, of course. Download commencing in 3, 2, 1, ..." There is a rushing sound and a stream of memory flows back into Alice's mind.

Alice:	"We... probably should go to someone to find who Mary is..."

Alice:	"if it's the same one..."

Alice:	"But I think it'd take a really long time we can't do..."

Alice:	"... Oh."  o.o

Alice:	"I know a good way to do it, but it'll mean more debt to your teacher."

Forcas:	looks very tired. "Oh? I'm sorry, but I think I'm missing some context to the memory. And I don't quite follow, good way to do what?"

Alice:	"We can ask Medea to do the weeding while I'm at school, if I'm a student of hers."

Forcas:	He rubs his eyes. "Note to self. 10 hours of ritual magic is a bit much before breakfast."

Alice:	"Probably.  :D"

Alice:	"When should we try approaching the school?"

Forcas:	"Oh right, the infomaterials arrived this morning." He points. "There beside the newspaper."

Forcas:	He looks at the clock. "Is Virgil still sleeping? Or just not in the mood for breakfast?"

Alice:	She goes over and picks them up.

Alice:	"Give him time."

Forcas:	"In the meantime ..." Forcas goes back into the kitchen for a second cup of coffee and something to eat.

Forcas:	"I renewed the wards, by the way," he calls out while juggling jars of marmelade and honey. "Should be a good deal safer here now. No scrying, no portals, no teleporting bombs into the bedroom."

Alice:	:D

Alice:	"That's good."  She just finished a small suit, lifting it up appraisingly.

Virgil:	enters, looking as scruffy as normal. His white shirt is creased and his hair is a mess.

Virgil:	He yawns, "I'm still behind, what's for breakfast?"

Alice:	"You know..."

Alice:	She looks embarrassed.

Alice:	She gets up.

Alice:	"I'm going to try making something."

Forcas:	"Good morning, Virgil." Forcas sits at the table, drinking coffee. "Bread and various sweet things."

Forcas:	"So far, that is. Looks like we'll get more sophisticated now." He smiles.

Virgil:	"At the moment as long as it is food, it'll do. Find anything interesting out last night?"

Forcas:	"Interesting and alarming. Fascinating how these things seem to go hand in hand."

Forcas:	"Probably just as well I spent the night reinforcing our wards."

Alice:	Alice heads into the kitchen, setting Crestfallen in a place where she can keep an eye on her mistress and then checking what they have.

Virgil:	"That's the way of things I suppose." He says beginning to prepare coffee. "Coffee?"

Forcas:	Forcas briefly gathers his thoughts. "Alright, the short version. Something is seriously strange about Mosades' ghost. It's far stronger than a normal ghost has any right to be and it's making trouble."

Virgil:	sighs warily.

Alice:	"Do either of you guys preferred sunny side or just mixed up?"

Virgil:	"Sunny side up please."

Forcas:	"I'll take the chef's recommendation."

Alice:	"Okay..."  >.>  She sounds just a little hesitant.  "I'm just making something I used to make when no dolls were there or if they really messed up breakfast."

Forcas:	"What's more, it has apparently *eaten* several other ghosts in the Ghost Library, which is seriously messed up."

Alice:	"eeeew."

Forcas:	"Not to mention all the rattling of chains, chains everywhere. I thought that was just a myth, ghosts being noisy with chains."

Virgil:	"Wait eaten other ghosts? Wow."

Alice:	"Spirits can do that..."

Forcas:	"Yeah. I didn't even know that was *possible* for ghosts, though. And neither did Charon."

Virgil:	"And chains too. That must be quite a cool image. Shame I didn't go with you."

Forcas:	"Anyway, Charon's been having serious trouble and Mosades will now go to super-max solitary."

Forcas:	"Oh, I do have images aplenty, in 3D with sound and mage sight."

Forcas:	"I can download them into your mind if you're interested."

Virgil:	"Sure. Sounds cool. I probably need to learn more Death before dealing with something like that in person anyway."

Virgil:	"So what is everyone up to today then?"

Forcas:	gestures with one hand and a bunch of memories are downloaded into Virgil's mind. Mosades' rattling his chaings and railing against his magical bindings. Mosades' eating another ghost. And more of the same.

Forcas:	"Do you have any idea how this sort of thing might come to pass?"

Alice:	"I have to do the stuff for the school.  I was going to talk to Medea about weeding the memory wards in my head and let the Veil handle it."

Forcas:	"I mean, you know Death and Alice knows Spirit ..."

Virgil:	blinks and shudders slightly. That's a rush.

Virgil:	"That's a rush. And I only barely know Death, I really need to learn some more. One of the reasons I was going to visit Master Bloom later today."

Forcas:	"And, well, since it's something none of us or even Charon knew was possible, it may be worth looking into. After all it was us who brought Mosades in. If he becomes some sort of terrifying monster-ghost ..."

Virgil:	"So your set on going to Medea's place then. Well I guess you couldn't be safer." Virgil says grudgingly.

Alice:	"I don't like letting someone poke in my head but it'll help, I think."

Virgil:	Turning to Forcas, "I'll see what I can find on it." He pours a cup of Coffee

Forcas:	nods. "Thanks. Apart from being informative it might also help keep that hive-soul ghost contained."