Gloria Munda Update
First off, we had Winter back last night, so let's deal with her. You'll recall that in the mighty snafu with the Promethean, she was the one who wasn't injured but was still arrested. She was only in custody for a little while, though, before a man from the FBI showed up and took her away. En route to "questioning," he asked her for a statement, and after some questions she came up with a name: Knave (one of SMG).
At that point, the driver pulled over and revealed himself to be, in fact, her mentor, Victor (yes, it's a Masque - he's a Guardian, remember). Victor told her that it was a really bad idea to let the mortal authorities know a mage's Shadow Name, and certainly not their real names. She needed more schoolin', and he asked if she'd reconsidered joining an order. She had, but hadn't chosen one. He asked what her goals as a mage were - "What kind of mage do you want to be?" She said she wanted to be able to defend her cabal. Victor said that any order could teach her defense, but that the Arrow was probably best at it. He also pointed out that the orders in Boston were different than they might be elsewhere. He tried to help her make the choice, to look ahead to her destiny or to make a decision, but she didn't quite seem to know what to do.
(Part of the problem, here, is that the player has read the order write-ups in the core book but doesn't feel inspired by any of them, and doesn't seem to be able to imagine how she might find a way to express her character as any of them. That's a failing on the part of the orders and their write-ups, yes, but in my opinion if you know your character you should be able to make the choice. But in any case, I'm not making the choice for her and I ain't telling her what to do. Initiative, people!)
Anyway, meanwhile the rest of the cabal was looking over the lists that Ogma had found. I'll reproduce the lists below. Ogma used Augment the Mind on everybody and raised their Intelligence ratings by four, so I gave them a lot of the details. Here's the lists.
Short List:
Archer, Ikazuchi, Hades, Meneleus, Eleggua, Blanchefleur, Ranae, Hrothwulf, Khumeia, Thanatos, Faustina, Ogma, Tyrrhenus, Ivan, Winter
Long List:
Chaplain, Nebuchadnezzar, Moriah, Chain Parris, Simon, Magdalena, Sophia, Silentium, Raphella, Niamh, Morrigan, Kathryn, Clint, Ferrum, Cathubohdva, Hydra, Reigna, Seraphim, Eve, Davy Jones, Ishmael, Rabid Annie, Sunjata, Knave, Babbage, Rennard, Potestas, Aurem, Appolonia, Draco, Agdos, Vision, Hangman, Mercy, Avalon, Numa, Nemean, Tiamat, Arathnos, Sheol, Tempest
Some patterns and weirdness they noticed: Only one known Guardian present (Hades). Hades is also the only one on the short list with any real Consilium position (he's a Sentinel). Kathryn and Clint aren't currenlty in the city, but they're listed. Jack's not present and actually had some Consilium status, but isn't listed. Only one Free Councilor on the short list (Eleggua). Two of the dead mages are on the long list (Hangman and Babbage), while the Seers and the independent who died (Sandro) aren't mentioned.
In looking at this, Morrigan cast a Matter spell to detect whatever substances seemed to be present. She noted a trace of coffee - cheap, black, crappy coffee. It also held traces of cigarette smoke. She saw fingerprints; two different sets, besides hers and Ogma's. Niamh looked back in time and saw the letter sitting on the desk of one Edward Strathairn, Chief of the Bureau of Detectives of the Boston PD, a few hours before Ogma found it. Note, by the way, that Strathairn was also the guy who interrogated Morrigan the day before. She called up Hades to run the list by him; he met her (in his cop guise) in the hospital parking lot.
Hades looked at the list but wasn't immediately able to tell her anything. Then he started and looked at a man standing by the elevator smoking, and muttered to Morrigan that he'd felt magic from him, and asked if she'd check it out. She wandered over (while Hades made a copy of the list) and looked at him magically, which produced nothing. She noted what floor he went to and then went back to Hades, who handed her back the list.
Morrigan followed the man upstairs to the maternity ward, but as it's a locked ward she wasn't allowed in. She stepped into Twilight and heard a dreaded phrase: "Roll initiative." OK, it was the player who heard that. A dog spirit slammed her against a wall. Uncharacteristically, she submitted, and the dog told her that she wasn't allowed in near the children. The dog did go and sniff the man she was following, and said that he was just there for the birth of his son. Before Morrigan buggered off, she noticed a strange symbol - a great clawed hand - scratched into the spiritual "wall".
Back downstairs, the mages pored over the lists some more, but weren't able to come to any conclusions. Niamh, Tyrrhenus and Morrigan went home while Ogma stayed at the hospital to heal up some more. Victor dropped Winter off (still no decision), and Tyrrhenus went to work converting seawater into Mana.
Next time, hopefully some brilliant inspiration about the list, perhaps another visit from Ruby and Gold.
At that point, the driver pulled over and revealed himself to be, in fact, her mentor, Victor (yes, it's a Masque - he's a Guardian, remember). Victor told her that it was a really bad idea to let the mortal authorities know a mage's Shadow Name, and certainly not their real names. She needed more schoolin', and he asked if she'd reconsidered joining an order. She had, but hadn't chosen one. He asked what her goals as a mage were - "What kind of mage do you want to be?" She said she wanted to be able to defend her cabal. Victor said that any order could teach her defense, but that the Arrow was probably best at it. He also pointed out that the orders in Boston were different than they might be elsewhere. He tried to help her make the choice, to look ahead to her destiny or to make a decision, but she didn't quite seem to know what to do.
(Part of the problem, here, is that the player has read the order write-ups in the core book but doesn't feel inspired by any of them, and doesn't seem to be able to imagine how she might find a way to express her character as any of them. That's a failing on the part of the orders and their write-ups, yes, but in my opinion if you know your character you should be able to make the choice. But in any case, I'm not making the choice for her and I ain't telling her what to do. Initiative, people!)
Anyway, meanwhile the rest of the cabal was looking over the lists that Ogma had found. I'll reproduce the lists below. Ogma used Augment the Mind on everybody and raised their Intelligence ratings by four, so I gave them a lot of the details. Here's the lists.
Short List:
Archer, Ikazuchi, Hades, Meneleus, Eleggua, Blanchefleur, Ranae, Hrothwulf, Khumeia, Thanatos, Faustina, Ogma, Tyrrhenus, Ivan, Winter
Long List:
Chaplain, Nebuchadnezzar, Moriah, Chain Parris, Simon, Magdalena, Sophia, Silentium, Raphella, Niamh, Morrigan, Kathryn, Clint, Ferrum, Cathubohdva, Hydra, Reigna, Seraphim, Eve, Davy Jones, Ishmael, Rabid Annie, Sunjata, Knave, Babbage, Rennard, Potestas, Aurem, Appolonia, Draco, Agdos, Vision, Hangman, Mercy, Avalon, Numa, Nemean, Tiamat, Arathnos, Sheol, Tempest
Some patterns and weirdness they noticed: Only one known Guardian present (Hades). Hades is also the only one on the short list with any real Consilium position (he's a Sentinel). Kathryn and Clint aren't currenlty in the city, but they're listed. Jack's not present and actually had some Consilium status, but isn't listed. Only one Free Councilor on the short list (Eleggua). Two of the dead mages are on the long list (Hangman and Babbage), while the Seers and the independent who died (Sandro) aren't mentioned.
In looking at this, Morrigan cast a Matter spell to detect whatever substances seemed to be present. She noted a trace of coffee - cheap, black, crappy coffee. It also held traces of cigarette smoke. She saw fingerprints; two different sets, besides hers and Ogma's. Niamh looked back in time and saw the letter sitting on the desk of one Edward Strathairn, Chief of the Bureau of Detectives of the Boston PD, a few hours before Ogma found it. Note, by the way, that Strathairn was also the guy who interrogated Morrigan the day before. She called up Hades to run the list by him; he met her (in his cop guise) in the hospital parking lot.
Hades looked at the list but wasn't immediately able to tell her anything. Then he started and looked at a man standing by the elevator smoking, and muttered to Morrigan that he'd felt magic from him, and asked if she'd check it out. She wandered over (while Hades made a copy of the list) and looked at him magically, which produced nothing. She noted what floor he went to and then went back to Hades, who handed her back the list.
Morrigan followed the man upstairs to the maternity ward, but as it's a locked ward she wasn't allowed in. She stepped into Twilight and heard a dreaded phrase: "Roll initiative." OK, it was the player who heard that. A dog spirit slammed her against a wall. Uncharacteristically, she submitted, and the dog told her that she wasn't allowed in near the children. The dog did go and sniff the man she was following, and said that he was just there for the birth of his son. Before Morrigan buggered off, she noticed a strange symbol - a great clawed hand - scratched into the spiritual "wall".
Back downstairs, the mages pored over the lists some more, but weren't able to come to any conclusions. Niamh, Tyrrhenus and Morrigan went home while Ogma stayed at the hospital to heal up some more. Victor dropped Winter off (still no decision), and Tyrrhenus went to work converting seawater into Mana.
Next time, hopefully some brilliant inspiration about the list, perhaps another visit from Ruby and Gold.