Shadows of San Fran: Friendly Counsel

**ReubanBrightwood** · Apr 8th, 2026 01:37 PM

The public areas of the circle of creation are public. Any Acknowledged mage may enter this plot by joining this thread. Be warned there is risk of character death in plots.

Skye LadySin Thirteen Abyssalstar

The circle of creation is the near perfect replica of Westminster abbey hidden from sleeper, seer, slcesti and banisher. It is also the were the Two river city Consilium of Sacramento meet and have the five orders have their bases of operations. A highly magical and very well hidden shelter from the storms of fallen reality. It is to this most wonderous of sanctums the hierarch had directed the two mages fresh from the shit show that had been the meeting with mages from the golden Consilium just a few blocks away. Although perhaps be virtue of having his own sanctum located on the other side of the city, and being rather restricted to public modes of transport the Moros does not seem to be present just yet.

**Skye** · Apr 8th, 2026 01:45 PM

He had said asap, no need to make him wait as she walks into the circle the wind that so recently had touched her discolored face one that were still felt and danced upon her with a warm softness. Leaning herself against a wall, some light blood still clinging to her clothing. She had removed it at one point sure but not like the wound healed instantly after that and hadn´t made a tad more appear upon it, and not exactly grave enough to warrant immediate cleaning nor did she enjoy the thought of trying to heal herself for something that were both unlikely to leave a scar or take long to be fully healed.

Taking out her last protein bar she had brought for the evening with slow careful nibbles, content with the chance to just catch her breath and be for a moment whilst waiting for him to appear. The sooner they got this done the sooner she could get rid of this awful tan and shower the hair coloration away, their purposed served. At least the current buddha bun hairstyle had been a nice find and quite enjoyable, likely one she would use again both for its simplicity, meaning and feeling alike.

**Thirteen** · Apr 8th, 2026 01:56 PM

When Thirteen entered the Circle a few moments after Skye, she was... well, fuming would be a good descriptor. Jinx, swooping into the area alongside her, was a bit more upbeat.

"Well," he said, settling on a table, "That was a a heck of a party! Think they'll invite us back?"

The Libertine removed her leather jacket is about as angry a manner as one could probably manage and threw a silent glare at her familiar.

"Riiiiiiight, not the time for jokes, then. Gotcha." the bird concluded. He wasn't truly abashed, but he could see the Acanthus was not in the disposition for his usual mood-lightening humor.

Seeing no sign of Chambers yet, Thirteen resorted to pacing about and muttering under her breath. Unlike the Arrow, she was not wounded nor greyish.

New scene, so the Acceleration spell has worn off.

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Spells and Stats

**Chambers** · Apr 8th, 2026 02:21 PM

Having rushed to the best of his ability the Moros is not to long in his coming, wearing a plain blue t-shirt and jeans it seems he had grabbed whatever clothes had most immediately been to hand a bleached short stem pipe is thrust throw throw a belt about his waist and the gooseflesh along his forearms suggests that his attire might have been a little light for travel through a spring night. His breath catching a little as his pace slows upon entries also a indication that he had travelled in a rush.

He comes to a stop upon seeing the two mages eyes narrowing briefly in confusion before realization dawns. "What's happened?" No sense beating about the bush nor any sign of his usual warm and welcoming demeanor. To be called out urgently and find two mages awaiting him did not bode well and a sense of foreboding dread at whatever new crisis might have befallen the Consilium, or city.

Ignroe the ST marble for now I will use as.if it is needed.

**Skye** · Apr 8th, 2026 02:58 PM

Looking upon the angered councilor, she herself had enjoyed the ride here but seemed like it was best to give her a chance to just breath and work it out. The boon of having her primary concern having been Thirteens safety meant she could at least take relaxation in that to just lean back for the time being, drink a bit of water and slowly get the meal down.

Not seeming like they were getting long though as the Hierarch soon arrives, raising her hand towards him with a brief friendly wave whilst turning towards him. Feeling no real need to point to draw attention to the little wound upon her nor giving any inclination towards hiding it.
”Hierarch.” Giving it a second for him to catch his breath. ”Excuse the sudden call, thank you for being so quick. We ventured back into the San Fran awakened´s area, found another flier, same kind of code with the message of a meeting, and decided to attend. Things did not go well, they were quite hostile, a proclaimed servant of the throne showed up for the meeting. And best I know Athena stabbed him to death, the matron woman also prepped high speech so not sure exactly what her spell did or what gave the final blow.” Not having stayed around long enough to witness it. ”Prior to that we could find pathways around the area marked with their symbol starting from the notice board, but nothing else. No marks on what great rights they follow, nothing other than their marking. The designated meeting place was also shifted from the house used last time to a Starbucks, where Leo worked behind the counter.”

Turning her eyes towards Thirteen.
”You feeling calm enough to give your opening?” She was the ranking one of them, making herself ready to leave the second either of them would request it as such having made sure to bombard in the most essential parts she wasn´t sure if Thirteen knew right away.

**Thirteen** · Apr 8th, 2026 03:55 PM

"Chambers. Shite's hit the fan," was all she got out before Thirteen stood back and listened to Skye's basic rundown of events. Once that was done, she gave a half a smirk, "You left out the part where Athena tried to kill you. Have you even healed that knife wound yet?"

She turned her eyes to the Moros, "Right, so, as Skye said, we went to scout around Zinfandel and ended up attendin' a meetin' they'd advertised in code. I wanted to get a feel for these Golden Consilium people, familiarize myself with the place. Back room of a Starbucks. About five of the Goldies there, and two independents we didn't know. The leader... damn that hag. So feckin' condescendin'!" Her fists were clenched, and she hadn't stopped her pacing. "Proclaimed themselves the official Consilium of Sacramento! The feckin' nerve!"

"Anyway, one of the indies stands up and refutes her claims. I was rather enjoyin' what he was sayin' until he said to have been here! He knew all about the Circle. Said he'd been shown around by Philip Crosen and someone I can only assume was Winter, unless there's another 'stoic chap' I'm unaware of." An angry shrug. "Then he claimed he was abandoned by them. Fellow was really angry. I... tried to play diplomat. Didn't want the Goldies thinkin' he was representin' us and make things worse."

"Then he identified himself as Cartwright. That ring any bells?" She gave Chambers a questioning eyebrow quirk. "It did for me. Last year, when Asclepius and I went to that hospital to get Philip and Corn's things, and ran into that Seer, Jaculus. There was a patient in Corn's burn ward room. An 'S. Cartwright.' Bandaged up like a mummy and in a coma or somethin'. Gotta admit I kinda forgot about him, but then here he was, awake and Awake! Oh, and then someone started spyin' on the meetin'. Seems I was the only one to notice the cloaked Space glyph that popped in near Cartwright. I pointed it out, and some others confirmed it."

"Then Cartwright announced himself as a feckin' Seer of the Throne! That's when everything went to shite!"

"You can say that again," Jinx chimed in.

The Libertine continued as if she hadn't heard the crow. "The Goldies acted fast to attack. We were about to join in, but I noticed somethin'. Cartwright wasn't fightin' back. No weapons, no spellcastin'. Didn't defend himself at all. Not even an Armor spell up, far as I could tell! He just stood there and let the Goldies start stabbin' him! I smelled a trap, so I warned everyone and Skye and me got the feck out. The other indie Mage, a big bloke, followed us. Poor bastard just seemed be wrong place, wrong time."

"We went downstairs to the coffee shop, and a portal of some kind opened and this... this thing came crawlin' out! It was like a tumor with tentacles!"

"Spirit," Jinx added. He would probably know, being one.

"We got out through a fire exit. The fat guy... Duke, he called himself later? Was slower and the... the spirit almost caught him. We were facin' off with the critter in the back car park when the Goldies started comin' down. Guess they finished killin' Cartwright, and I dunno if anythin' bad happened once he died. The old crone started trying to get the spirit under control. I think it may have been a security measure that got loose? And then one them, Athena, feckin' stabs Skye! Leo moved to stop her and told us to run. So we did. That creepy spirit also did somethin' to Skye, she looks... well..." Thirteen gestured at the Arrow's current appearance.

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Spells and Stats

**Chambers** · Apr 9th, 2026 01:49 PM

And like that the report broke. Attention flicking between Thirteen as she spoke, and then to Skye who gave the cliff notes version. At first the Moros eyebrows raise with a combination of surprise and concern as he catches his breath and listens. A concern that is only added to as the report continues. Skye seemed all to calm considering what she was describing.

Before giving comment of his own, he waits and hears the additional context from Thirteen. The Scottish women seemed rather more irate then the Arrow. When all was said and done he takes breath and pinch's the bridge of his nose. It was a lot to take in and process, things needed to happen that much was clear. But what precisely. To give hi ma moment to order his thoughts he pulls the pipe from his belt and loosely packs with tobacco from a pouch within drawn from a pocket of his jeans followed by a scratch book of matches. The smoke smells like rosemary, cloves and chocolate but he makes sure to exhale it towards the door and away from the mages. "Right firstly." Using the stem of the bleached white pipe to point at Skye. "I know little of spirits and not enough life to offer you healing. Can your sort yourself or should we be contacting Asclepius? Aurora?" The paramedic or the most powerful Thyrsus in the Consilium both seemed like good options if Skye was unable to heal herself.

The pipe goes back to idling in his hand, the well being of the arrow seemed to have been his first and foremost concern. Be it their lack of numbers, or genuine care for the mages in the Consilium is matter of what you think of the man himself. "We always knew they were looking to be the Consilium of Sacramento, that they have declared it is not so surprising." Say something enough, convince enough people and it might become true. "Given we still get new arrivals I think it's safe to say that hasn't caught on yet." But did that matter? "But A seer just walked in declared himself and got killed?" What was the purpose there. "Killed by a group proclaiming themselves the official Consilium of Sacramento, why do I doubt the seers will care who actually holds that title." What else did they know of them? "Thirteen can you remind what the last seer you encountered was after?" The hierarch seems to be thinking hard, trying to make pieces fit. "No, I can't say the name is ringing any bells. Should it?" The enchantress fills in the gaps. "Another body was found in Corns room also dead. His wife was accused of killing both men, I don't know how that panned out." Corn had been compromised that was known. His family targeted. His son taken. "The man that ended up in Corn's bed also happened to be a seer of the throne, I don't take that as coincidence." No that felt like a set up, or a trap now. "Did they put Cartwright in the room as a reason to have a visitor nearby and monitoring?" He was thinking out loud. If the Seers had nothing else to go on then setting traps and steak outs was not beyond their methods.

But that was the least concerning thing. "This seer knew about the circle ... had been here?" He says this slowly. That was really bad. An icy feeling crept down into his guts. "Philip and Winter both did most of their operating in the city before I had managed to get a Consilium reestablished I little to nothing of what they were doing." But surely neither would have shown a seer into the circle. "Okay well if the seers do know where we are, we have to very very careful." The building itself. "They aren't storming the gates as we speak or casting spells into the place so the building itself seems to have held." The wards at least. "But if they have an address ambushes on the way to for from have just become a very real possibility." The knowledge someone had watched was actually not the worst. "So if that room was warded they were weak enough they can be overcome. Thirteen you were present at the place, have a connection to it of at least some degree. Can you view it's past from here?" A chance to study any glyphs, spells, resonances catch details could be very important.

And it came back to the seer, this cartwright didn't fight back? There was an angle here, something he himself was unable to see. Attention slips to Jinx as the familiar conforms the beastie to be a spirit. He addresses the familiar. "Thank you Jinx. If it came out of a portal what are the odds it was a spirit road?" He knew what the arcana could do very well even if his knowledge spirts themselves was lack luster. Back to Thirteen. "In the car park? Was it seen? was the veiled breached?" That would be both very bad and yet so sweetly perfect. "If this was a spirit guardian of theirs that it got out at all is good for us." It was careless on the part of the San Fran mages. "The stabbing is harder to use, fights between mages happen. But if you were there under open invitation it's definitely a point of contention and debate in the lex." Which was still better then a nothing, every bullet in their gun so to speak. "As for the marking Skye we don't know if they are operating as a cabal or just marking the ways to what they are calling their Consilium meetings." That argument probably had the least legs to stand on for their purposes.

He has a feeling this is far from over, and rightly so a lot had happened and all of it of great concern. He puffs slowly on his pipe trying to think it all through, put the pieces into some kind of picture that made sense.

**Skye** · Apr 10th, 2026 08:14 AM

Shaking her head towards the Councilor.
”It will heal in a day or less, healing myself over such trivial injuries will only weaken me in the long run.” Removing such minor things would just remove the ability to be accustomed to function whilst damaged besides she healed exceedingly fast.

Keeping calm but yikes that was a massive info dump on the out of breath Hierarch, granted best to share the information still a chance to at least catch his breath before they bombarded him might have been kind?

Instinctively shifting her position at first sight of the pipe going up, repositioning herself a tad further away before leaning back against the wall, making certain to not be anywhere near the immediate vicinity where that infernal smoke would come out. Some nicely scented ones in all honor but not having a clue what he would bring forth, and tobacco itself reeked.

Shaking her head towards Chambers.
”My wounds would be a simple matter to heal, but they are shallow, a day max before they will be diminished to nothing. My affliction though is a separate matter, and will likely need to either run its course or aid of Councilor Aurora.” Not certain how long it would last, and if not dissipating soon she would likely need to contact her.

Taking her time to listen through the words carefully before speaking up again.
”A couple of matters to be added, first of this entire meeting felt off. Their locale was changed from a house where they would have had control to a Starbucks of all places, that is far more cramped and their security was severely lessened. Last time they were careful on how people got in, checked us out, demanded removal of spells in our patterns, not keen on weapons, this time it was just a nod of where to go.” Either they had gotten extremely sloppy or something was amiss to begin with. ”Second seeing as we were quick to exit the room so did we not see what transpired but from the sounds of it Duke did notice something in his extreme slowness to get down.” Still a tad annoyed at not having that piece of information.

”Their group did already seem to not be ideally matched last time, but at least functional. This time however I sensed something of a discord amongst them. Primarily aimed at Leo, his flirty behavior garnered him stern looks of cutting it down instantly from the Matron, despite them being aimed at me.” Not one of theirs so why should they care? ”When Athena broke out he made sure to run after her, and said with a quote "Athena, no." To which Athena answered "we need to." What exactly caused them or her to suddenly need to is unknown, planned from the start, a response to us having seen the spirit, or from what occurred with the proclaimed seer would just be speculations. But it was a severe enough matter to her that despite Leo holding her in place she did flail around armed towards him in his grip as we ran.” Hopefully she would at least not have killed him but a weapon on an ally was severe to begin with.

Taking a breath to think the matters over.
”When Cartwright proclaimed himself a seer and Thirteen ran, yet moments before I followed suit Leo stuck out his arm, focused around his ring with a green glyph to enhance his strength in a very visible manner. Meaning we should consider him at least a disciple of Life with his tool being his ring.” Not as much information as she would have wanted but something at least. ”The one whom attempted to quell the spirit were the Matron, both with words and arcana alike. Lastly as for extra parts I could only see one new unknown member of theirs. We had Matron whose name we do not know, Athena their stab happy one, she either held back or is quite poorly trained in how to utilize a knife properly.” Skills sure but technique was lacking. ”Leo, and Anubis whom acted watchdog and observer. Didn´t say a word and just took observation/lookout spots, even before he kept watch on the noticeboard and nothing else. Then lastly one new woman, she didn´t do much more than seek to hide towards the Matron when things happened but she still sought her out for protection and safety, so safe to assume she was either with them from the start or if not should be considered as such from now on.” A real shame though, artsy, cute and not to tall. ”Quite small of frame, I would say closer to Phoenyx than myself, 5'2"-5'4", with mousey hair. Again no name, nor did we have a chance to get one. The meeting was way to short for that. ”Apologies I did forget, I might have been stabbed but made sure to not leave blood behind before running so they do not have access to it.”

**Thirteen** · Apr 10th, 2026 09:16 AM

Now that she had gotten a lot of her frustrations out of her system, the Libertine was calming down. She was still visibly irritated, but not as much as before her little ranting exposition.

A critical eye was cast towards Skye, "You do know that knife had been used to stab Cartwright, don't you? Repeatedly. You really want to be infected with Seer blood?" Thirteen certainly wouldn't. Not that she thought it would do anything detrimental. It was the principle of the thing.

"Ew, Seer blood! Gross!" the crow echoed.

She looked at Chambers and listened to both he and the Arrow before she spoke again.

The last Seer she had encountered, and what did he want? "Jaculus. Aye, he spoke of makin' amends and honorin' some sort of deal. The Iron Pyramid would offer his services to us. We just had to name our price and the cease fire would go back into place. Either he was lyin', or the previous Consilium was more fecked up than I realized. We're to give our answer to the manager of someplace called Harringwood Community Centre. I'm assumin' we haven't done that yet?"

"I been thinkin' about the hospital situation." Her pacing was calmer and slower now, less like a stalking panther. "Jaculus was posted to watch Cartwright's room, and when he saw us go in, he started textin' his superiors like a good like watchdog. They must have told him to follow us and make the offer, and not to start any fights. He was spoilin' for one, and kept tryin' to goad us into throwin' the first punch. Anyway, Cartwright must have joined the Seers by then, because why keep an eye on comatose arse at all? Question is what the hell happened to him to put him in the burn ward? Some shite must have gone down after Philip and Winter ghosted him."

Jinx puffed up his chest feathers at the praise. "I was watching from across the street, when Red here came bursting into the coffee shop like the Road Runner! She was poking at the front door when the rip opened up. That was deffo the Shadow Realm on the other side! I know home when I see it! It stayed open, too. Dunno if it closed after Pippi zipped out the back and I followed her."

"Yeah, I must have tripped their only security measure. Probably set to activate if there's someone in the shop without one of the Goldies present. Which is weird, because like Skye says, their security was shite, otherwise. No Ward as far as I could tell. If there was, no one was monitorin' it. Damn fools didn't even have Mage Sights up. After I pointed out the Space glyph, they all started throwin' their goggles on... includin' Cartwright. Don't think he expected to be watched."

Veil breaches? Thirteen shook her head. "We were careful. The Goldies, less so. Don't believe there were any Sleepers in the immediate area, because the old hag was castin' some vulgar Spirit spells at Mr. Tendrils and she suffered no Paradox."

Could she view the past of that room? The Acanthus looked annoyed with herself. "No. My Space magic isn't good enough yet. It's actually next on my to-do list now that I got my Sanctum up and runnin'. Give me a month, maybe six weeks to practice and I can do it. On the bright side, I do have a lock of Cartwright's hair. Snipped it when we were in his hospital room."

"You collect the weirdest things."

"Says the bird that grabs every bottle cap he finds."

"Those are shiny and valuable!" he crowed!

Moving on, she mused, "Fights between Mages happen, sure. But we weren't the enemy just then. I uncovered the Seer in their midst. I pointed out the Space spy. If anything, they owe us. Athena's behavior was strange. She didn't just stab Skye. When Leo retrained her, she stabbed him, too."

**Chambers** · Apr 10th, 2026 12:21 PM

So that's what it was like having some refuse to heal an injury with magic. The differences being his had been hubristic and it was someone else offering to take risk to heal him. Yeah in his own mind his own suffering was entirely warranted, Skye's was not. And his Brow furrows at the arrow. "We don't know if we have a day. You might be called on to fight at a moments notice. Would you risk being injured if such were to occur?" As for the affliction. "Aurora is your best bet, unless you can learn more about the affliction with your own skills? Doesn't the life arcana have a way to determine your state of being?" Not knowing if that would help at all but information was power and knowing Skye's state might help in alleviating it.

Change in locale was not entirely unexpected. "If they don't have a permanent base of operations they might need to move. The lesser security is odd though." Surely that would increase if they were more nomadic? "It could be this spirit guardian of there's made them feel more confident." And made it sound more like they had settled at the Starbucks if they were investing in it. "Or it could be you were previously at someone's actual sanctum and this is a less personal place." But that is merely speculation.

The news of discord was well received however. "There is infighting in the pentacle we know this, ideologies clash often in all manner of ways. We might be able to use this. If Leo feels isolated or cut out, could we flip him?" A dangerous proposition to be sure, but if they could weaken the group, better yet gain insights from a former member that would be significant. "And this Athenea sounds like she could be in the grips of mental instability, definitely lacking in wisdom if she is attacking her comrades." Mages suffered from all manner of afflictions and sometimes worse then sleepers. Or she might just be violent by nature.

Skye moves in more what he would call personalized information. "Leo has Life magic, uses a ring. Athena stabs. The Matron deals with spirits. And they have a fifth we don't know of before." All good to know. More then they had before. "Good work on getting some clean up done given all that was going on." That must have been hard.

Thirteen seemed to be cooling off, honestly that was impressive just getting brought up to speed was proving plenty agitating for him, never mid not have just had to live through it. "Right so we have the first Seer shows up with words of peace ... but spoiling for a fight ... and now we have a second ... who showed up to die." Two didn't make a pattern. But. "Does that seem to similar to you?" Or was he reading to much into it? "No I haven't made contact with a place a seer told us to go to. I don't trust it even for a moment." as that cowardly? maybe. But he didn't owe the seers an answer it should by all rights be self evident. "He could have been keeping an eye on the room more then Cartwright. But yes that seems unlikely." And relatively immaterial now. "Unfortunately neither mage is around to let us know what was going on with that situation." If Philip and Winter even had meet with him. It was very convenient to name to mages no longer about, then again given the cities turn over also not outside the realm of possibility.

Jinx then says what might is a good contender for the most alarming thing. "You could see the portal, staying open from outside the starbucks." If the spirit could see it, others could have seen it. Sleepers could have seen it. If they had not was only good fortune. "And it stayed open ..." That was dangerous for a spirit road, anyone or anything could use it.

He takes a pull on the pipe and breathes it out towards to the door again. "Maybe you did maybe you didn't. We have that unknown spell Skye mentioned. The one the Matron spent time to chant for." If she had needed to overcome the gauntlet then high speech would make sense. "It's good courtesy to remove spells when visiting another mages sanctum. Or if you cant cloak then having glyphs in your pattern gives those who can something to perform scrutiny on." So no mage sight was not entirely unheard of. "But you would think one of them would have." For the very reason Thirteens sight had proven useful. "She might have gotten lucky or absorbed it." But a visible gate, a spirit in the carpark. These were useful things for them.

As for the viewing. "Right. I can perform the spell but I don't have what I would need on me." He had rushed out rather quickly. "And I would need to borrow the connection from one of you two, which for me to do, in full honesty would also tell me a lot about you, a lot of very personal things." Which he understand most mages would not be happy about. The hair was an option. "If you have the time it happened, I could view his death. From there I've seen the room which is better then nothing." A good alternative. He would still need ritual components.

Trying to make sense of mages behavior was a field that needed its own university. "They could have been trying to cover up. Enact some prior plan. Eliminate a threat." He really had no idea, the options were just to vast.

Shadows of San Fran: Friendly Counsel

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