Gloria Mundi update
Heading home from the hospital after the big zombie fight, Tyrrhenus left a message for the Nemean and in the morning (10/19) they got a visit from the Consilium Herald, Arathnos. He took their story and said that he'd relay it to the Nemean, but that they should expect a summons. They got one later and headed out to Salem.
They told their story to the Nemean, Chain, Anacoananaanana, a member of the Ebon Noose named Sheol, and, of all people, Simon, Morrigan's former mentor (now a member of the White Putnams*). The mages talked for a while about what the heck was going on; the cabal (which has a name now - "Rogue Element") had determined that the people who became the zombies had died in the "Combat Zone" in Boston's Chinatown. They also learned that the Zone is apparently a Demesne - Paradox just doesn't hit mages there. That explain a lot; creating zombies and throw Space magic all over the place is vulgar as hell. More evidence led to Chambers, but still nothing truly conclusive. They also discovered that the poison used to kill the unfortunate victims was last used at the Danvers Asylum, closed in 1992 for gross patient abuse. Sheol mentioned that the building had been a haven for the Tremere Liches, and suddenly Chambers' interest in history and misery, along with his general creepiness, fell into place a little more clearly.
Morrigan has several opportunities to fess up to her involvement in the ghost attached to the mirror, but didn't, and neither her cabal nor Simon called her on it. After the meet, though, Simon took her for a walk and told her that he was concerned. He gently reminded her that he wasn't going to judge her (that's God's business), but he can sure stop her from hurting people if he needs to. The important lesson there, I think, was "you are what you do."
Morrigan rejoined the cabal, they went to dinner, and Ogma made the mistake of using Emotional Urging to try and calm Morrigan down. She noticed and flipped, they argued, she threatened to kill him if he did it again. Great scene. Tyrrhenus finally stepped and asked them not to argue about "mind invasion" in public, and the cabal headed out.
Their next course of action was to find Judge Napier, the guy who'd signed the extremely spurious warrant that got their house searched several nights before. They broke into his house and Tyrrhenus stood on his nuts until he told them what happened - he said a guy showed up and "paid him off" to sign the warrant without reading it (the cabal suspects, correctly, that magical persuasion might have been involved). Jack looked back in time saw that the man who "paid him off" was a) Chambers and b) not paying in money, but with a young drugged girl.
During ensuing discussions of what to do with this bastard, Ogma felt a Space spell going off. Next thing you know, Napier starts twitching. Jack used Shifting Sands to rewind time to counter the Scrying spell, Ogma Warded Napier and they all ran for it. In the car, however, Chambers smashed through the Ward and murdered Napier. The cabal now had the body of a dead judge in their car. Death magic is wonderful thing, however, and the cabal fixed it to look like a very convincing suicide.
The problem now is, though, that they know that Chambers is their man and that he operates out of the Combat Zone. What next? (10/20)
*Simon is a character in Boston Unveiled. Quite coicidentally, Morrigan's player named Morrigan's former mentor "Simon," so I decided to combine 'em. That meant that Simon was once Adamantine Arrow and left for the Silver Ladder, but that was pretty easy to work into the character's backstory.
They told their story to the Nemean, Chain, Anacoananaanana, a member of the Ebon Noose named Sheol, and, of all people, Simon, Morrigan's former mentor (now a member of the White Putnams*). The mages talked for a while about what the heck was going on; the cabal (which has a name now - "Rogue Element") had determined that the people who became the zombies had died in the "Combat Zone" in Boston's Chinatown. They also learned that the Zone is apparently a Demesne - Paradox just doesn't hit mages there. That explain a lot; creating zombies and throw Space magic all over the place is vulgar as hell. More evidence led to Chambers, but still nothing truly conclusive. They also discovered that the poison used to kill the unfortunate victims was last used at the Danvers Asylum, closed in 1992 for gross patient abuse. Sheol mentioned that the building had been a haven for the Tremere Liches, and suddenly Chambers' interest in history and misery, along with his general creepiness, fell into place a little more clearly.
Morrigan has several opportunities to fess up to her involvement in the ghost attached to the mirror, but didn't, and neither her cabal nor Simon called her on it. After the meet, though, Simon took her for a walk and told her that he was concerned. He gently reminded her that he wasn't going to judge her (that's God's business), but he can sure stop her from hurting people if he needs to. The important lesson there, I think, was "you are what you do."
Morrigan rejoined the cabal, they went to dinner, and Ogma made the mistake of using Emotional Urging to try and calm Morrigan down. She noticed and flipped, they argued, she threatened to kill him if he did it again. Great scene. Tyrrhenus finally stepped and asked them not to argue about "mind invasion" in public, and the cabal headed out.
Their next course of action was to find Judge Napier, the guy who'd signed the extremely spurious warrant that got their house searched several nights before. They broke into his house and Tyrrhenus stood on his nuts until he told them what happened - he said a guy showed up and "paid him off" to sign the warrant without reading it (the cabal suspects, correctly, that magical persuasion might have been involved). Jack looked back in time saw that the man who "paid him off" was a) Chambers and b) not paying in money, but with a young drugged girl.
During ensuing discussions of what to do with this bastard, Ogma felt a Space spell going off. Next thing you know, Napier starts twitching. Jack used Shifting Sands to rewind time to counter the Scrying spell, Ogma Warded Napier and they all ran for it. In the car, however, Chambers smashed through the Ward and murdered Napier. The cabal now had the body of a dead judge in their car. Death magic is wonderful thing, however, and the cabal fixed it to look like a very convincing suicide.
The problem now is, though, that they know that Chambers is their man and that he operates out of the Combat Zone. What next? (10/20)
*Simon is a character in Boston Unveiled. Quite coicidentally, Morrigan's player named Morrigan's former mentor "Simon," so I decided to combine 'em. That meant that Simon was once Adamantine Arrow and left for the Silver Ladder, but that was pretty easy to work into the character's backstory.