Shadows of San Fran: Friendly Counsel

[Skye]

Such massive concerns over the faintest of injuries from both of them, it would either heal in less than a day or need a few seconds for her to heal but fine if it would soothe their worries better get to it. Turning her head down with a soft blow of to her green mist into the insistent fragmented symbols floating above her wounds, letting them reshape into quills and fly through her wounds with the weakened power she could muster forth.

Self-healing, 2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2026-04-10 12:56:30	Skye rolls 7 to Self healing (life+gnosis+ex-3/tol) (10 Again)	2, 7, 3, 2, 9, 10, 5, 2	2 successes

”It does, and getting ahold of her will be my next matter after this. But even without an examination I can feel the effects, spell contagion is enhanced, my energy to push myself is lessened, I get out of breath a lot easier. My physical strength is not diminished, nor is my ability to move my body. In short I am in no condition to fight at the moment, nor have there been a moment to dig deeper into my state we came straight here from the meeting.”

Shrugging at the words of flipping him.
”It is not impossible he could be, but such an act should be approached very, very carefully.” A wrong move and he would just felt pressed against two different spots, and humans do tended to take the known over the unknown in such situations. ”It should be added that he worked as the barista and he does not seem to enjoy it. If they keep that as a more permanent locale, or at least regular it could well be that he is often put behind it and that explains his sour disposition.” Who would enjoy being forced into such a position? ”With permission I would like to request being one to reach out to him to get a feel.”

Giving that a few moments to marinate before going on.
”My reasonings is that if they act as a Consilium in full he does not seem to be high on that ladder, are they are just a cabal claiming they are a Consilium again not high there either.” Both a boon. ”At present I am the only one we have that has both been here long enough to at least be able to claim my experience of this Consilia, hold no seat within it, in addition to actually having met him. That gives me a chance to speak with him from a position that others lack.” If it would be enough a different matter. ”We all know that I tend to present caring, which for someone feeling disgruntled should hardly be an unwelcome sensation.” Cooking her head with a light grin. ”And I think he wants to dance with me under the sheets which hey he did save me from that stabby bitch and helped me avoid having to show her how to use a knife so I hardly mind, in fact.” Just blinking with a teasing grin, assuming they would know what that meant, knowing Thirteen did not know her dispositions to well in that regard but what the Hierarch had picked up during their many talks was a different tale.

Hardly surprised that nothing had been done on that front, that just matched with what had been said during the meeting it was brought up.

Head turned slightly away at the coming of the smoke, she was already weakened not wanting to get a coughing fit from it should it somehow get to close to her.
”Especially their watchdog, his positioning was to place himself by the window, and keeping his eyes out on the alley behind the store. Now why he felt the need to keep his eyes out there, be it protection habit or elsewise again unknown.” Could just as well be his standard to keep ready.

Turning her head towards the Councilor.
”Recall Leo waved us both pretty easily towards the meeting as well, he seemed to basically not care much at all. Almost as if he were just going through motions. Last time the Matron was the one who opened the door and led people inside, and she argued over active spells straight of the bat, holding nothing back.” Wait a second. ”I noticed no dox from Leo´s enhancing himself either which is a spell that does get attention, but did not exactly stay long to observe so could have missed it.”

Softly shaking her head.
”Do not be to certain, when we saw the spirit I did throw out my supernal sensing aimed at humans and whilst I cannot say where so did the number of humans within range exceed our known quantity by one. So there were at least one more around somewhere, awakened or sleeper, having seen something or nothing is a different question though.” Turning her head towards Jinx. ”Noble lord of the skies did you notice any humans around outside whilst the gate opened?”

Turning her head back towards Chambers.
”It should be noted that we did nothing to harm Cartwright, nor any of them, the most physical we got was trying to help pull Duke out something I hardly doubt he minded.”

Holding back a sigh, not wanting to force Thirteen through that if it could be avoided and the connection would prove absolutely necessary.
”Do you have details on what kind of things borrowing that connection would tell you about the one you use it on?” And looking back towards Thirteen. ”What do you say, can the meeting have gone maybe 7-12 minutes after its start time if we take Leo´s ascent into account or is even that to long?” Things had gone damn quickly.

[Thirteen]

Thirteen watched as the Shaman finally healed her wound, and seemed satisfied. "I think the spirit did the same thing to Duke. He had the same greyness to his complexion and that thing had it's creepy arms on him." She looked to Chambers. "I gave him a means to contact me later, if he desires. I offered to help him with his stolen property issue. Seemed like a good idea to keep us on his good side. Besides embarrassin' the Goldies a little, he might make a good independent eyewitness if we need it." She gave a little shrug. "Not that I expect him to go anywhere near Zinfandel again after tonight."

The nature of the different locale for the Goldies' meetings had her offering this idea up, "Could be they're just expectin' to take over the Circle in the near future. Why establish somethin' permanent when you believe you'll soon be handed the keys to this place?"

On the topic of Athena, "If there was a cover up plan, she was actin' on it alone. No one else except the spirit came after us, and their battle axe of a leader was orderin' the beastie to stop. Very loudly. Even ordered her people to kill it before she finally got it magically leashed." The Acanthus replayed events in her head. "Athena pushed her way outside, and came straight towards me. I thought she was just repositionin' to attack the spirit. But then I moved to help pull Duke free of the tendrils, and she turned around to knife Skye. I think she was intendin' to kill me first, but I got out of range so she switched to a closer target."

As for the Lion of Zinfandel, "I think Leo might be Free Council. He drew a half finished icon of my Order on a napkin to show me. I misunderstood what he was doin' at the time. Not sure how he knew I was F.C., or if he did at all."

The history of Cartwright had her musing, "The way he talked, I think he was newly Awakened when he met Crosen and Winter. He spoke of how they made him stop helpin' others. I guess he was usin' his newfound magic to be a hero or somethin', and probably breaking the Veil in the process. I'm inclined to think he has actually been here. He described it as a 'catherdral' and the 'Westminster buildings.' He'd only know that if he'd seen this place... or someone in the know told him."

Her fingers idly played with her silver necklace as she voiced a theory. "He gets told he can do what he wants if he joins... but then Crosen dies and Winter takes off and he can't contact anyone else here? He feels abandoned. The Seers swoop in, convince him to join. He said somethin' about 'He' lied to him. Maybe Jaculus fed him a bunch of horseshite and Cartwright found out? Maybe it had somethin' to do with why he was in hospital with those burns? Now he doesn't trust the Seers, either."

"You can see the gears turning in her head," Jinx chuckled.

The Enchantress ignored him, not losing her train of thought, "He wakes up, gets angry... finds out about the Goldies. He goes to Zinfandel, maybe thinkin' it's his last shot at findin' a place to belong. But he sees what a pathetic operation they got goin'. He was definitely not impressed."

She took a long breath, "So, Cartwright... just wanted to die? In the moment, I thought he was suicide bombin' the meetin'. If he had a conjunctional Fate effect ready to go off the instant he died, he could take out the whole room. That's why I yelled trap and ran. Seems I was wrong, but better safe than sorry." Her brows knit together in frustration, "Unless they didn't kill him. But they don't have the facilities to hold a prisoner."

"So it might be suicide by cop. One last feck you to the world. I know it don't sound logical, but that sort of thing rarely is. I've... had my low points in life. Never acted on it, but I know that sort of hopeless feelin'."

She sighed, "Anyway, he had no backup from the Seers. This wasn't some big operation of theirs. But if Jaculus or one of his superiors was on the other end of the scryin' window, they know the Goldies killed him. I'd be surprised if they let that slide."

Thirteen gave Chambers a quizzical look, "Similar? How so? And aye, agreed that this Harringwood place is dangerous territory, and not to be approached. I'm gonna hit the library soon and see what I can dig up on it, and Cartwright. Whatever put him in the burn ward might have hit the local news."

The crow-spirit cocked his little head to one side when the Hierarch questions him, "Oh yeah, big windows on that coffee shop. I could see right in there. No humans strolled by when I was watching, but they easily could have."

"So you think the Crone opened the spirit gate? No wonder I didn't see a glyph. It would have been upstairs where she cast it." She nodded, "And that would explain why she had no direct control over the damned horror. She just opened the door and let it out." Her nod turned into a head shake. "Daft bitch. What was she thinkin'?"

"I'd like to try it myself, the time scry, when I'm ready. If you don't think it prudent to wait, I can get you the hair sample, Chambers."

The Libertine looked at Skye and smirked, "Leo likes you. I saw him flirtin' with you." Then she raised an eyebrow, "No, nowhere near that long. Meetin' started at 8 P.M. We all talked for a couple minutes, but when the fight started, shite happened fast. I'd say we were runnin' down the street less than 30 seconds later." Acanthus had a good sense of time, unsurprisingly.

[Chambers]

Well if a fight did come there way at less then a moments notice their arrow was now slightly more ready to take it on. Slightly being operative after the remaining effects are listed. "A spirit able to negatively effect spell tolerance. That sound like a nasty but effective guardian." And something they need to sort out sooner then later. Much sooner. "If you can perform any kind of self diagnosis please do." Given her watch tower Skye herself had the most potential to be equipped, to know, learn and handle whatever had been done to her.

The idea of flipping one of the San Fran mages was incredibly risky. But offered equally large possibilities. "If you think your best suited to reach out to him, I'll leave it to your discretion. But either take someone with you or inform then when and where you plan to meet at a minimum." The possibilities of a trap were very real. Talk of flirting, and so on were not what he had been expecting. "Maybe it would be better not to lure him in with false pretenses." If Leo flipped just because Skye took him to bed, that would indicate a volatile and unreliable person at best.

There was a lot of speculating going on that was fir sure. "Having someone keep watch is not uncommon. If they don't own the Starbucks it's possible other employees could have shown up unexpectedly?" Always a risk when using a public or accessible space.

That however could explain the security. "Maybe Leo and this matron have differing views or degrees of strictness on security." Different mages performing the same job would likely do it differently. "As for the no dox, again he could have got lucky or absorbed it." Every vulgar spell risked paradox but the abyss did not always take notice. In fact more often then not spells would go off without interference.

So information was not matching up? "Did you ever see a person in the vicinity that could account for your numbers being off?" Had they been invisible? hidden? simple going without notice? The mind arcana could do things like that.

Now this was a choice, how essential was it to look back at that room. It takes the Moros a few breathes to temper his desire to be the one to perform the spell. Such personal wants would only cloud his best judgement. "Thirteen if you can be reliablely sure you will be able to cast the spell then I will wait on you." It was the stronger connection, carried less risk. Revealed less secrets all in all. "I will offer to aid you in the ritual of course, the more potent the spell the longer you will be able to view." No point hiding he could do it, and as hierarch offering his skills to support these endeavors felt like a must do where he could.

Now this duke. "Okay well it is good he can contact you to a degree, as a witness yes he could be important." So finding him was going to be important. "But same as with Skye don't go to any meeting alone, or as a minimum tell someone when and where." This other independent mage was still a total unknown to the Moros, and trust was hard come by in this situation. "Stolen property? Do we know what that's about in any more detail?" This mage had gone to the meeting looking for help? Or to reclaim something the gold mages had taken? Given the recent encounter wit ha certain rouge cabal it left a bad taste in his mouth.

He stares into the embers of his pipe bowl briefly. "If they want the circle why not come and take it?" If the golden mages were members of the pentacle or even apostates they should be able to see, find and enter as they wished. "They've set up shop more or less on our front door." No that was very odd indeed. What was keeping them out?

However the efforts of Athena while still enough to make some anger boil in his gut, did not surprise him. "If Athena and the matron are members of different orders they could have vastly different views on how to solve a problem. It is often a point of contention isn't it." The mysteruim and the free council stereotypically butted heads over such matters an awful lot. "If she is more inclined to killing as a solution well it doesn't eliminate any order." They all had there members who thought that way. "But some orders are more inclined to martial solutions then others." Or again she could just be insane or blood thirsty and took her chance. "That their spirit attacked you but they didn't want it to is very interesting." What did that mean? "So why open it where they did instead of in the room with the seer they were killing?" Again something was off there, it effectively rendered their guardian useless to their current needs.

That Leo might be free council was mildly interesting but it was far from confirmed. "Did he actually associate the symbol with you? Or was it his go to symbol?" Shame they didn't have more test samples really. "And did you keep the napkin?" If they did plan to go after Leo that could be helpful.

Alright so there was some solid working out there. "So Cartwright has been or been told about the circle. Meaning he has meet a pentacle mage before. Likely one from this city." But again it raised a question. "If he had been here regardless of Philip and Winter no longer being in the picture he has somewhere he can come for help, to make contact." So why hadn't he? As he ponders that Chambers listens to the rest of Thirteen guesswork and deductions. "There is one thing I can agree on there with some certainty. And it's what I meant by the encounters being similar." Taking a steadying breathe. "If it was a seer watching, they watched a seer of the throne getting killed by a group claiming to be the official Consilium of Sacramento. No they won't take that lying down." He pauses to make his thoughts ordered and clear. "Twice the seers approach mages and instead of causing violence and destruction, instead of using secrecy to great effect they reveal themselves and try to provoke the pentacle into starting a fight." Very unlike them if stereotypes were to be believed. "If there was some form of binding treaty in place that had conditions or enforceable punishments, well they might be trying to wriggle free of it themselves." Now that was guesswork on his part, but it fit the emerging pattern of encounters. "I think your right and Cartwright was there to die. But to a slightly different end. I think it was an operation." His face does soften all be it very briefly as Thirteen makes mention of darker times, but hardens up again quickly. he can only address so much at once.

Thirteens detective skills were known at this point, she had dug up information on the hunters quite effectively. A public place like the center should be possible. "I know you know this, just be careful." Surveillance, now that was in the seer tool kit and even searching or showing interest in the place could tip them off.

He shrugs a small gentle movement. "I think its a possibility she opened it and let a guardian out yes. I can't confirm anything but it would explain why the portal opened just not why it opened there." It would also explain why the spirit attacked like that, if the guardian had orders to attack intruders or something it just went after the first peopel it saw and didn't recognize.

[Skye]

Well at least they seemed to have calmed down now. I wonder what they would say if they knew how much I force my body to self heal on the daily.
”Beyond what I have already shared so yes a deeper dive into my physical state is within my ability to diagnose but it would take me a moment, and make it nigh impossible to hold a conversation. I do believe it would be wiser to ask Councilor Aurora with her skills in the Spirit arcana for a deeper fuller insight, if you are interested in her words on the matter I would suggest we see if she is available now else contacting her will be my next stop.” With some luck she was in her order wing.

Eyes on Thirteen, that was a lot think over and she would need to backtrack to keep it all straight.
”I am not certain he does, he might just be a flirt overall.” And back on Chambers. ”Well if he do share his order with Councilor Thirteen she does have one advantage, I have the ones listed.” Softly shaking her head. ”You do not get a good headways with someone in his situation by giving false pretenses, or even lying, sure we could make temporary headway but you do not build something lasting in a positive light like that.” That would just in a best case scenario make him flip on his current group and then come after them later once he learned the truth. ”I believe we have a far bigger chance with a warm hand, and letting him be himself.”

Thinking there for a moment.
”As if for meeting several of us so that depends how initial contact would go, again I do not think we should fool him, and meeting one of us he might be convinced to do. Two on the other hand I find less likely, and if he would the only ones eligible are in this room.” Be it for position, or familiarity. ”I do not think you should risk meeting him though Chambers, making sure you both and Provost Talon Asclepius knows when and where I am all to open to though. As a safety measure something should be left behind for me to be tracked with as well. Paired with trying the meeting in public, with plenty of Sleeper´s close by, that would give us both a sense of protection thanks to valuing secrecy, and I do believe that without arcana usage that might risk that I have the better chance at resist being easily pulled away. A lunch date might even be ideal, not that I know the restaurant scene.” Diner´s and street vendors sure but restaurants not so much. ”And should he be flirty, who knows nature might take its course and I leave him with a positive memory, but that will be if I feel it and not done as a lie, deceit or false pretenses.” Long as he stopped with wanting fun, and he could keep the little flame he had birthed ablaze.

Shaking her head.
”No, once the Sleepers/customers left and Leo locked up so did I not see anyone close by again until after we had escaped, nothing to warrant the number being off.” Endless possibilities sure but no more.

Now that was a sense of relief, not keen on giving that up about herself, sacrifices where needed in all glory but if they could be avoided all the better.

Eyes back on the Councilor with the long deduction now a tad more processed.
”Something I am curious about is the area itself. Now last time I was there it was totally different, we were talking sheds that were empty and easy to walk into. Barely any people around, it was like the neighborhood was a lightly desolate suburbia, not dead or lulled just budding so to speak. And now, well you saw it.” It had really flourished. ”And they had time to get their path markings in everywhere, be it signs, or lawns, either they would have to have worked their ways to assert some of it, they would have to be the owners of some of the residences, work there.” Doubting a gardener had set to much up but hey not impossible. ”Or they had a finger in the area´s either blossoming or gentrification, not knowledgeable about its past enough to say.” Either way something that had caught her eye. ”Might be me thinking to hard but could it be worth looking into the areas past and see when things started to change? And to be clear I do not mean with arcana, there might well be a paper trail and the public history should be easy enough to dig up to see when plans were set in motion, when it changed, and with that deduce if they choose to hole up there out of necessity or if they potentially had a hand in its shift.” A longshot sure, yet know thine enemy.

”This is speculation but I do not think they want the Circle like that, they seem to want it in a manner where they are in control, can keep a moral high ground, and keep a good relationship with the Consilia of San Francisco. They could have come here to integrate at any point, given their numbers in contrast to ours of the time we first noticed them they could even had secured key posts for some of them had they gone that route from the start. But they clearly weren´t satisfied with that.” And on that note. ”You spoke of clashing order ideologies, if we take their current state in contrast to how we saw it last so should we not forget the human psyche. If some of them expected this to be quick, and now we are moving into years so would that also explain why some of them have shifted.” Be it wanting quick results, frustration, or starting to gnaw at one another, cabals did not always last and they might be on the verge of breaking down. Which would explain both some actions, along with their claims. And not like even orders were always in agreement, ask a tower, a dragon or a crucible and they would all have different views, surely other orders had their factions as well.

Suicide by cop yeah heck she might very well have ended in a similar way had it not been for her mentor knowing how to set her on the right path, knowing all to well how broken she were after trip to the primal wild.
”So in essence the Consilium of the city might well be of importance in a supernal sense to these seers, their proclamation to be the official one created a potential opening where we did not give one. Making Cartwright a potential pawn they recruited when he was at a very low point in his life, used and discarded as means to further their ends. Not to unlikely to have been prepared as a backup from the same moment you and Provost Asclepius met with their representative.” If he had attempted to get them violent, and now they managed to force these idiots to be violent then that certainly did track.

[Thirteen]

Thirteen had crossed her arms over her chest, and had stopped pacing. "I'll get the practicin' and preparin' for the rit soon as possible." Arcana training. What fun. Maybe Salem could give her some pointers. "I'll let you know if I need help." Call it an independent streak, but she wanted to do this herself.

There was a moment when she wondered if the cloaked Space glyph had possibly been herself, peering in from the future, but immediately dismissed that idea. The glyph was pure grey. No cyan involved. It did bring up questions in her mind about temporal mechanics. Was there no postcognition glyph because she hadn't decided to do it yet? Or was it already there and just unnoticed, because she was always going to look back at that scene?

This is gonna give me a feckin' headache.

She raised a red eyebrow, "I'm not suggestin' she bang the poor bastard. Just that he clearly likes her and that makes him more open to listenin' to her." The Skye suggested leaving Leo with a positive memory. "Or maybe she'll bang him, I dunno." The Libertine shrugged. She wasn't going to judge.

The idea of an unknown person lurking about made her a little edgy. The Enchantress didn't like that. "Would your senses have picked up this person in the Shadow Realm, Skye? Was the spirit road open at the time?"

As for Duke and his stolen property. "No. He never had a chance to bring his issue up in detail. The meetin' went sideways before could. I'll be careful of him, though."

Then there was the matter of the Matron and her Spirit Friend, "Maybe she let the squiggly thing out of it's doghouse believin' it would come upstairs and attack Cartwright. Makes no sense why she opened the doorway downstairs, especially with all the windows lookin' out onto the street. Sloppy of her."

The slowness of the Golides to take over River City was indeed a mystery. "That's been botherin' me for a while. If their claim to our city is so solid, why the wait? Zinfandel was established twelve years ago, and my research leads me to think San Francsisco's had it's hands in it from the start. They've gone to a lot of time, trouble and money for this... and now they're just dawdlin' about in a Starbucks?" The Acanthus shook her head in annoyance, "The Hag talked like it was a fully settled matter, and we'd be brought to heel soon. Again, why the wait? If the Lex is on their side, there's nothin' stoppin' them from knockin' on our front door."

"Also, I got the feelin' she doesn't know about the Duel Arcane. She denied my sayin' that things weren't written in stone yet."

About Leo and the Napkin, "No, I handed it back to him. I was a bit baffled by what Leo had been doin'. I hadn't seen him do the napkin with Skye before me. He treated her differently. Maybe because I was a new face?" She looked to the Arrow. "Did they do anything like that the first time you visited the Goldies?"

She nodded, "If there's somethin' in the public library the Seers don't want us to find, I'd think they'd have removed it already. Regardless, I'll be careful."

"And I'll be there to watch her back... through a window! They don't let crows into the library," the familiar sighed.

Her brows furrowed over the motivations of the Seers, "If there was some sort of cease fire or mutual aid pact in place, it doesn't apply to us. Different Consilium. Don't apply to the Goldies, either. Same reason. But if they're just tryin' to urge someone to attack them... then maybe the cease fire thing was a lie all along. It was just Jaculus tryin' to get us to throw a punch."

She thought for another moment. "Cartwright had this strange chained nature to his destiny. I noted it in his hospital room last year. Somethin' had been messin' with his fate. Multiple supernatural forces. Tonight, when he announced himself as a Seer, I saw those chains tighten. He was fully locked in, ready to meet his destiny. What if there was some Fate-bound oath on him? One he couldn't break on his own? What if... what if Cartwright didn't fight back because he literally couldn't? What if sacrificin' himself was the only option left to make some plan work?" Some dots connected in her head. "What if that's the lie Cartwright mentioned? What if the Seers tricked him and laid a geas on him? Forced him to sacrifice himself for their benefit? Could explain why he was so angry goin' into the Starbucks. Although... that would imply the repercussions of breakin' the geas would be worse than death."

[Chambers]

Skye's insistence on not taking good care of herself was going to be a lethal habit if she was not careful. "Right Skye, contact Aurora, then do what diagnosis you can. If you need to step aside then that's fine. The better we know what we are dealing with." For a simple reason. "We don't want it getting worse or anything of that sort." Most of the report seemed to have been given over as it was, given that speculation was now making up a large part of the conversation.

A hand wave indicates he has no need nor want to know or discuss about anyone sleeping with anyone. "Since you have the most ... positive relationship with him then Skye I will leave it to your judgement." Good grief they didn't even know if the mage was a credible candidate to flip. "Around sleepers has both advantages and disadvantages. If you end up needing magic it will be harder." And risk breaching the lex to boot, more ammo back to the San Fran mages was not what they wanted from this.

Right so they had a mystery person to worry about. "How many did you spell detect again, and could you confirm for me everyone you are aware of being present." Best make sure they had all their facts in a row here.

Twelve years? "That'd date back to the previous Consilium I have no doubt. And what I know of the accusations they are within the last twelve years." Had the circle been here that long? He had to assume so, Aurora had never mentioned a time before it .. But that might be for other reasons. "Frankly what group of mages wouldn't want the circle, its one of the most magical things I've ever witnessed in the fallen world." Talking on what was said by whom and how, was going to get him no where he didn't know these outside mages even slightly. "They might not know because I've not approach San Fran yet, between trying to give Asclepius as much time as I can, and waiting to have something more concrete to shoot back at them, especially with out plan I didn't want to alert them or give them time to prepare if it can be helped." Skye does raise a good point. "But yes if they are cracking intentionally be it from ideology, time or anything else that is only advantageous to us." And long may it continue.

For once he does not nod, something is gnawing at him, something bad. "It's fate bound oaths or similar I am worrying about in relation to this cease fire." If the agreement had been reached and struck between the seers and the Consilium of Sacramento then how would a punishment fall down on the side that broke it? "I can say we don't have one, we don't support one and so on till I'm blue in the face and mean every word of it, but is there is magic of some kind holding one in place, what I say might not have as much bearing as I hoped." The meeting were he had first been told of it is playing out in his head again, his face darkens as he tries to work out mysteries that are quite beyond him.

As for the actual subject of bound fate. "I think you might well be onto something with Cartwright there as well. Chained fate, a Geas fits. And would be hard to break." He sighs heavily. "Curses can affect people down generations, if a Geas had a nasty curse tied to it that could be a factor. And lets not forget if he was using magic to help people, there are people he cares about out there. Even if the curse only affects him, they could be target or threanted." And Seers were not above such evil manipulations. "Tricked, bound, manipulated and sacrificed for some plan of the seers, sounds on brand for them." Lose a pawn to advance their agenda be it cooperate or even just someone's personal power play.

Realizing he had missed a few of the straggling points the Moros breathes smoke again, once more towards the door as quickly catches up. "Stolen property but we don't know what or by whom. There's no grantee this Duke is on the level. If he makes contact direct him to me. If he is just a mage in need having the hierarch take an interest looks good for us. If he is not, I'll handle it." He pauses. "The two of you have plenty to be worrying about as it is." Better to have them both focused on this particular mess at the moment.

The spirit he ponders. "Well I'm of the mind that yes it was careless, but what effect do we all know that causes spells to be wrest from our control go awry?" Opening a spirit gate was a vulgar spell after all.

As for the scrying He frowns. But makes the call to trust the enchantress. "If your sure you can handle it, then I'll the scrying to you." It's not like he would have seen himself anyway if he had just been helping.

[Skye]

A look at the Hierarch.
”I will call her momentarily then.” Best to get back into shape where she could actually be of use. ”Want me to meet up with her by my lonesome or ask her to come here?” Making the information of what afflicted her fully known to them all quickly having its boons.

Eyes darting between both of them.
”Hey I will leave things open for it to occur, but not seek it out. But I do want this to be recalled, he has a likely flirty nature, the Matron shot it down, if that was just for the meetings sake or her generally being tired of it.” Hopefully she were and it had not been the first time. ”Is hard to say for certain, he however need to feel that he will not feel a negative association with it from us.” Then they would likely be screwed. ”To conclude that matter so I do not know if we can genuinely flip him, he will have trust uncertainties. As such I do believe that even just a chance he will do less, or be less inclined to aid, or stand with them in the end is likely some of the best we can hope for. Still one less person to worry about, or whom might hesitate when things matters is something at least.” Everything was better than nothing.

Now there was a truth.
”Yes but he will be handicapped just the same, its a balance, the major boon with around Sleepers will serve to both hamstring our usage of arcana, potentially give us ammunition if they break it.” Which no she did not want. ”And it makes an ambush of his allies harder for them to employ, never safe though.” That didn´t exist in this world.

Raising her hands with closing eyes.
”Lets see let us start with the irrelevant of six avians, no cats, nor rodents, then there were nine humans. We can account for
One - Matron
Two - Mousy haired short girl
Three - Anubis
Four - Leo
Five - Athena
Six - Duke
Seven - Cartwright
Eight - Thirteen
and the ninth being the unknown” That had been all right? ”The spirit road was open yes, I employed it the second I saw it but before the tentacled thing had come out. Will not say that I have ever tried it in such a manner, potentially it might have been able to but will not say that it certainly would.”

And a nod to the carefulness.
”I am still bothered by just how slow he was to get down, I saw him start to head for the door before I did, having reacted just as much to Councilor Thirteens warning to run as I did. Yet we had time to get down, run across the front of the store for a little bit, and change course before he even made it down the stairs. Now I do admit that Thirteen was fast enough to have been a cartoon, and I myself am slightly faster than the average person, which naturally means being faster than someone seeming to be in poor shape is not hard. But he was to slow.” Perhaps a repeated point but it deserved to be said.

Twelve years!?
”What? Over a decade? Yet I was there just under two years ago and damn it was nowhere close to where it is now, as said I could literally walk into sheds, had no issues with Sleepers around and had you told me they had maybe spent a year or two on it then I would have believed it, but over a decade no.” That didn´t make sense.

Softly shaking her head.
”Nothing of the sort whilst I was present, but both Guru and Cavendish entered before I did that time. However unless I grossly misread him so did he point me to where to go before he put the pieces together of who I was, and nothing more than a tired direction as if he was just going through the motions wanting to be done with his workday.” Poor bastard.

The rest of the points mostly feeling like they were just matters she would speculate on opting her to remain mostly silent.
”This is old information, and I do believe you both already know it so I am only reiterating it to make it fresh in memory.” Taking a small sip of water. ”I have been at the place where the incident they speak of occurred, not on the night in question but I have been there. Two others of ours where there, those being my ex brother in arms Kaze, and that dark blonde/almost auburn haired mineral, gemstone” tapping her forehead lost in thought for a second. ”Crystal, and then of course I am aware that Guru was there at another time. I was there early 2021, so just over five years ago.” Five years? Yikes the years truly did start to run away.

”Now if you excuse me.” Flipping up her phone, and starting to call Aurora.

[Thirteen]

"Duke also had this spiritual ailment. If he needs help dealin' with it, that could be another way to win him over if we need him for an eyewitness. I've no idea of his Path or Arcana specialties, so it would depend on if he can diagnose and cure himself."

Thirteen had nothing left to say on how or if Skye should seduce flip Leo, so she let that topic go.

She raised an eyebrow as the Arrow did a rundown on the human population of the Starbucks, "I've not cast that Life spell before, so forgive me if I misunderstand, but are you not forgettin' to count yourself, Skye? You'd be the ninth human, right? Or does the spell not include you in the count?" It felt like a silly point to raise, but she didn't want to neglect the possibility.

"I admit the connection is a little flimsy. There's only so much I could get from public records. Zinfandel is a wine grape, and the most important vineyards for it around here are all centered around San Francisco. It's zinfandel grape country. While it could be a coincidence, it could easily be some Goldie bein' cute with the name." She looked to Skye's account of the development from two years ago. "So they accelerated construction? Zinfandel's been facin' financial and legal issues recently. There was some hold on construction due to zonin' laws."

She mentally reviewed what she could remember of her Zinfandel research, "There was also a company, based out of... Irvine? I think that's near Los Angeles. They bought the villages back near the start... including a Starbucks. But then they got scammed in some ponzi scheme. That may have held up the Goldies' plans for some years. There's other investment groups involved since then. Whole thing's a bloody rat's nest, so it's not surprisin' that construction had taken so long."

So the Duel Arcane wasn't even official yet? "Oh. I thought the thing was already arranged."

"I've never sensed any sort of bindin' oath on the members of this Consilium." Even now her Fate-sighted eyes scanned over Chambers and Skye. "No chained fate seen on anyone but Cartwright, and he stood out bright as day. If we're all bound to somethin', I can't see it." And that was scary.

"Aye, I put nothin' past the Seers. They'll sink to any level. Them sendin' Cartwright in to take out all the Goldies was the first thing I was worried about."

Her eye twitched a little when the Hierarch tried to take the Duke/stolen property issue away from her. "You..." she paused, and was quiet a moment. She hated to admit it, but her plate was full already. In fact, she'd just given herself more work with a trip to the library, and he did trust her to handle the time scrying by herself. She took a breath and let it out slowly, letting her irritation fade. "Fine. If he contacts me, I'll refer him to you." The Libertine didn't look pleased, but apparently she was letting it go.

"I suppose the spirit road's placement could have been some sort of Paradox, but if so, it's a fairly minor inconvenience."

Discussion of Duke's slowness seemed to have her confused, "Did you not see the man, Skye? Not to be rude, but he's a fat arse. He probably hasn't run before in his life, unless a pizza was involved. Meanwhile, you're built like a feckin' Olympic athlete and I used Time magic to superspeed out of there. Compared to us, he was a snail." She left it at that, since the Thyrsus was now making a phone call.

[Chambers]

Skyes question was rather odd all things considered, well odd to the Moros. "If she is available there is no reason she can't come here." As Skye was already present it made more sense, and besides her the very apparent need to help sort out whatever was wrong with Skye, her insights into matters spiritual could be very useful.

He leaves the part of Skye sleeping with leo to her, she was a grown up by all rights and can make that decision for herself. "Any discord we can sow amongst them is beneficial. if he flips wonderful, but we ourselves need to be careful about not getting played." The potential for a double cross was all to real.

That was the key point, never safe. And the idea of using Sleepers as a deterrent, a shield if you will was not sitting all that comfortably. They didn't know better, had no options or protections if one of the awakened did decide to abuse their power. Well no protections other then the quintessence, the sleeping curse itself and that was not something to be encouraged. "Indeed never safe." That was after all key. And in a non magic tussle Skye was well, he would bet money she would come out on top in most circumstances.

As the arrow recounts the humans present he goes to say something but Thirteen beats him to it. Rather ne nods in his agreement with the enchantresses speculation.

The rudeness of thirteens description aside, he also had to agree here. "Skye you are hardly a fair comparison to even someone reasonable athletic, never mind the more average or yet the physically impaired." Be by excess weight or other factors. "If he was slower then the average person he would seem painfully slow to someone of your athletics prowess." The arrow often took the time to show her contortionist, gymnastic or athletic skills. And that was just what she did in passing, the Moros struggled to imagine what she was truly capable of.

He knew nothing of the history of the area so takes in what Thirteen had evidently already researched. "Just food for thought but the circles address would register on Zinfandel drive unless I have missed my guess." Not to sure what that added if anything but it was pertinent if there was a connection to San Fran mages. "It sounds like an investment nightmare. All in all. Was this the same Starbucks you meet in earlier?" Anther point that might be nothing but it seemed odd for the chain to come twice in relation to the place.

On Talk of the Nexus Chambers goes quite, he had never been himself but he Knew Guru had been and had witnessed the event in question. The details however had never been forthcoming. "I had lead on that. It has disappeared." Something had traumatized Guru to the point of even half a decade later the mystagogue reaction had been physical visceral to even try and think on it. "I'm working on something else." But that would be time consuming and risky.

As for the mage named duke. "That could be a blessing in a strange way, he might be encouraged to seek out contact with us if he is afflicted, looking for help." He cared far less about a mage that distanced themselves from then Consilium then he did about Skye's condition. He voice holds far less concern. Thirteens visible irritation does get a look from the Moros, one of questioning. "I am not omniscient, if you think I have made the wrong call. Tell me so." The enchantress had the right as interim councilor for her path to advise him. Beyond that he was not so proud as to think himself perfect in his decision making.

For that matter her fate trained vision would flicker over chambers, as it has done on occasions before now. There is something there, but it's evidently well hidden. "Perhaps not, but could it bound the concept of the Sacramento Consilium, to pentacle mages in Sacramento? Could it be tied up in the circle of creation enchantments? Those are cloaked so powerfully I have never been able to see them." No one had to his knowledge. So many unknowns. And then there was what Winter had imparted to him in that first one to one meeting, had it been a warning after all? He looks worried, even a little scared by something going on in his head.

With a sigh he tries to move past those thoughts for the moment. "No, no the duel is not arranged yet. It's a very good tool to keep in our back pocket if the San Fran mages try something." A wonderful way to delay and possibly resolve an over step on their part. Beyond that he had seen no reason to tip their hand or alert anyone to their plans. "The Seers, yes they have no qualms about sacrifice." The pentacle was not much better truth be told. "As for the spirt road well, it opened somewhere in what we would call sensory range. If she did cast I doubt she was trying to open it somewhere sympathetically." That wouldn't have served the situation at all. "And it matters a great deal because it open somewhere sleepers could see, and if it was tainted by paradox, she would have lost control and been unable to close it." Meaning sooner or latter sleepers almost certainly saw it. "Which breaches the lex, precept of secrecy." If they could confirm this they well that thought , that one manages to bring a smile back to his face.

[Skye]

Nodding towards Chambers on the matter, nothing else needing to be said there, if they were not about to break or have her leave then there were no issues to ask Aurora to come there.

Stopping for a moment, looking between the two with a sigh, and defeated nod in that they were indeed correct on the number of people, uncertain if she had just become to accustomed to forget counting herself or if the situation had just been to stressful to actually keep proper mental track.

On that matter she wasn´t really sure.
”I am not really sure that I would say that they advanced construction, more like the infrastructure was there but the community was not.” Taking a moment to think. ”The houses were there, the buildings were there, but most houses just had no residents. Never did venture down beyond the little residential area so couldn't speak there, after me and Jenga girl aka Lachesis found the paper on the noticeboard she split, Guru and Cavendish came, and we checked out a little around the residential area, no more than that. The new residents might also be why they could no longer use the house, either it was never theirs, or using the garden or even house for that matter now comes with snooping neighbors.” Cause neighbors snooped right? She didn´t really have much experience with having any, but the ones at work often snooped when they could get away with it, granted it was mostly the kids but still. ”But as said they have certainly worked their hand into the neighborhood.”

A glance between the two, perhaps she was not as poorly informed as she had believed herself to be but oh well better to assume she were especially with the upcoming task at hand.

Shaking her head, completely oblivious to the thoughts of the Hierarch on her views about using the Sleepers as a dual shield for them both, in both hamstringing their arcana as well as preventing physical confrontation to be easy.
”Such is our world.” Or well the world, a lot of Sleepers were just unaware of all the things that lurked just out of eyes view.

Chuckling towards the Councilor.
”I was scouted for it at one point, but kinda turned my back on it. Still he was to slow, then again secure a position, watch and wait would not be strange.” And a glance over towards the Hierarch, what was this with them both offering such praise all of a sudden, she was an arrow sure, strongest woman she knew as well fine, but this felt like they overestimated her by a mile. ”I am above average sure but I am not all that, I still have a lot of hours of training to undergo before being worthy of such praise.” Except for gymnastic prowess so did she have a habit of underestimating herself though.

”Considering what I felt that night so will I just say be careful, be very careful.” It had been to strange a night, to strange a place to underestimate and doubting it had been different when Guru was there. Still wondering how the San Fran ones had managed to get the information though. ”I am still curious what made the information spread to San Francisco to begin with.” How did they get information on events transpiring in their area, at a point of power like that?

Biting her lower lip with a look to the side.
”Apologies for speaking out of turn here, but I am not sure that any one of us with a Consilia title should be doing a meeting alone with the amount of enemies and dangers we have.” Yes that left her and her alone as the exception but where a Councilor was to valuable to lose, the Provost one she did not want to lose so would anything happening to the Hierarch be a far more dangerous blow if anyone could get all combined information he was sitting on out of him. So was she the expandable one from a Consilia standpoint.

”Breathe Chambers, breathe.” All to familiar with letting the gears in her own mind spin to no end. ”The more breaches they rack up the weaker their claims against us, yet it also leaves potentials of them getting desperate and doing things on a far to bad scale for us all that will attract unwanted attention.” Should they keep spiraling so would they need to be dealt with in one way or another soon, even if that would just be for their parent Consilia to step in and take responsibility for their actions, but with their luck that was unlikely.

Looking up from her call.
”She´s on the way.”