Water of Life update
The search for the Aspect of the Ibis began.
An initial idea was to just get a photo of a tropical bird, but I reminded them that Calogero had said that the more work they put into this, the more they'd get out of it. So they went to the Chicago Natural History Museum to poke around in the Egyptian exhibit. They found the sarcophagus that Hank had slept in, and noted that the plaque said that it had been found smashed open but that it had a mixture of herbs and clay in the corners meant to mystically seal it. This gave Hank pausel; he'd always thought he'd chosen to go to sleep. Had he been imprisoned?
Looking around further, they found a scroll with an ibis on it describing the execution of a man who had dared to create a "mighty servant who smashed stones with the strength of many men, made from dead flesh." Hank, again, thought this might refer to him, but he always thought he was made of stone and clay. Since the scroll was incomplete, he couldn't see what else it said about him. Hank considered trying to find a job at the museum (after all, he can read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics), but figured credentials and his lack of modern context might screw him (that and his high Azoth).
The group initially talked about breaking in and stealing the scroll, but they decided that such a thing would be too difficult and risky (I know, I'm shocked, too). So, they did a little digging.
Julia's Elpis showed her walking toward a series of pictures, but the pictures were all plastic. She could see her shadow out in front of her. That by itself didn't seem to indicate a path to them, so back to the books.
They stumbled upon the Thoth-Hermes-Mercury connection and decided that anything hermetic might work (this with input from Al, who didn't know anything about hermeticism but somehow remembered it; this is called "Residual Memory"). They bought a deck of Tarot cards and went to a reader and had her do a reader for each of them and one for the group. This enabled me to dig out a deck of cards (Rider-Waite; I have dozens of Tarot decks, but hey, stick with the classics) and do a cold reading for the characters. The most interesting thing to come out of that was the reader deciding that there was some sexual chemistry between Al and Marty, which had some interesting looks from both of them (and a lot of "Brokeback Promethean" jokes). The reader, by the way, didn't succumb to Disquiet once.
They headed back to the warehouse and gave Calogero the Moon card (rather than the whole deck; Jesus gave him just that card because "this is what we want, not the whole thing"). He told them the next ingredient: Unadulterated Vitriol. Jesus decided they needed funds, so he stepped out to go find some work, and felt Azoth calling to Azoth...another Promethean nearby.
An initial idea was to just get a photo of a tropical bird, but I reminded them that Calogero had said that the more work they put into this, the more they'd get out of it. So they went to the Chicago Natural History Museum to poke around in the Egyptian exhibit. They found the sarcophagus that Hank had slept in, and noted that the plaque said that it had been found smashed open but that it had a mixture of herbs and clay in the corners meant to mystically seal it. This gave Hank pausel; he'd always thought he'd chosen to go to sleep. Had he been imprisoned?
Looking around further, they found a scroll with an ibis on it describing the execution of a man who had dared to create a "mighty servant who smashed stones with the strength of many men, made from dead flesh." Hank, again, thought this might refer to him, but he always thought he was made of stone and clay. Since the scroll was incomplete, he couldn't see what else it said about him. Hank considered trying to find a job at the museum (after all, he can read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics), but figured credentials and his lack of modern context might screw him (that and his high Azoth).
The group initially talked about breaking in and stealing the scroll, but they decided that such a thing would be too difficult and risky (I know, I'm shocked, too). So, they did a little digging.
Julia's Elpis showed her walking toward a series of pictures, but the pictures were all plastic. She could see her shadow out in front of her. That by itself didn't seem to indicate a path to them, so back to the books.
They stumbled upon the Thoth-Hermes-Mercury connection and decided that anything hermetic might work (this with input from Al, who didn't know anything about hermeticism but somehow remembered it; this is called "Residual Memory"). They bought a deck of Tarot cards and went to a reader and had her do a reader for each of them and one for the group. This enabled me to dig out a deck of cards (Rider-Waite; I have dozens of Tarot decks, but hey, stick with the classics) and do a cold reading for the characters. The most interesting thing to come out of that was the reader deciding that there was some sexual chemistry between Al and Marty, which had some interesting looks from both of them (and a lot of "Brokeback Promethean" jokes). The reader, by the way, didn't succumb to Disquiet once.
They headed back to the warehouse and gave Calogero the Moon card (rather than the whole deck; Jesus gave him just that card because "this is what we want, not the whole thing"). He told them the next ingredient: Unadulterated Vitriol. Jesus decided they needed funds, so he stepped out to go find some work, and felt Azoth calling to Azoth...another Promethean nearby.