Dancing Dolls

[Swift]

Cast in Sanctum earlier, during morning adoration (1 ambient mana spent to extend duration to 24 hours):

  Unseen Aegis, 2 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-14 22:28:51		Samael rolls 4 to cast Unseen Aegis (Matter + Gnosis) (10 Again)		2, 6, 8, 9		2 successes

Samael arrives at the museum and pauses for a moment. He is dressed in the same thing he has worn out for the past several years. Black shirt and slacks, black leather shoes, black belt, and a black jacket. The only contrast is the small square of white collar visible at the center of his throat marking him as an ordained priest of the Catholic church. He pulls a slip of newspaper cutting out of his inside jacket pocket and checks the article against the address.

Samael gives a slight nod and tucks the scarp of newsprint back into his jacket, padding the pocket habitually after he closes his lapel to ensure everything is where it should be. He mutters a quick prayer under his breath. "As you did for the blind man, Lord, I ask that you open my eyes to the world. Remove the mud from my eyes so that I may see all that is wrought before me." The only question is haunting, or animation? In either case... However, as it turns out it is not yet time for Samael to fully open his Sight.

Shaking his head with a rueful smile, Samael heads to the entrance of the museum, keeping his eyes open and his senses alert for any sign of the strange.

  Dark Matter, failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-14 22:31:14		Samael rolls 4 to cast Dark Matter (Matter + Gnosis) (10 Again)		3, 1, 3, 5		failure

  perception, 3 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-14 22:33:05		Samael rolls 7 to perception (Wits + Composure) (10 Again)		4, 7, 8, 8, 4, 9, 7		3 successes

[Iblardora]

ooc

I am posting but sphen can come in at any time.

The museum is moderately busy, with a small group of people just outside the front, reading through what appears to be the "Hipsters guide to Sacramento." As you move inside the old Victorian mansion you are greeted by thousands of cold dead eyes. They stare at you from every angle, all colors and shapes.

Some of the Dolls are behind glass, others are stacked with similar once, plaques mention the dolls origins. These dolls go down the halls, the plaques continue.
One small room to the right is a "museum shop. " Behind what might have been a bar is a little old man, his face so old it seems to be folding in on itself.

[Swift]

Samael heads into the museum after paying his admittance. He slowly peruses the museum displays, preferring to keep an eye and an ear out for any stray detail or snippet of conversation for now. Slowly he makes his way to the exhibit mentioned in the newspaper article.

  Investigation 4suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-16 13:23:42		Samael rolls 4 to Wits + Investigation (10 Again)		10, 10, 10, 2, 7, 10, 7, 6		4 successes

ooc

Being new to Mage I'm not entirely familiar with how they would recognize each other. Also I don't believe Samael is expected others so he's just going to take a look around. If there is a detail he should pick up on for the others, please let me know. Otherwise I'll see how they find him!

[Jack Falley]

Bookkeeping: Cloaked Armor and Sight for the waking hours

Casting Temporal Dodge as a rote, Instant cast, 24-hr and Prime Cloaking.
Mana Cost: Base 0 + 1 (duration = 24 hrs) + 1 (Prime Cloak) - 1 (Cast at Hallow) = 1 Mana spent.

Followed by Supernal Vision as a rote, Ritual cast, 12-hr duration, Potency 5, Prime Cloaked.
Mana Cost: Base 1 - 1 (rote) + 1 (Prime Cloak) - 1 (Cast at Hallow) = 0 Mana spent.

  

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-17 00:59:47		[02] Jack Falley rolls 9 to cast Supernal Vision rote (Wit + Occ + Prime + spec; Target: Pot.5/Dur.+2) (10 Again)		6, 7, 4, 7, 6, 8, 8, 3, 8		3 successes
2012-05-17 00:59:47		[01] Jack Falley rolls 9 to cast Supernal Vision rote (Wit + Occ + Prime + spec; Target: Pot.5/Dur.+2) (10 Again)		10, 10, 5, 3, 5, 7, 10, 2, 10, 4, 1, 9, 6		5 successes
2012-05-17 00:56:10		Jack Falley rolls 9 to cast TempDodge rote (Dex + Ath + Time) (10 Again)		9, 6, 6, 2, 8, 10, 6, 8, 5, 7		4 successes

Temporal Dodge results in Potency 4. Updating sig after posting.

Jack pulls up to the doll museum in his Camry dressed in his standard affair: striped t-shirt (today's flavor: dark green heather with stripes) plus cargo shorts. It's so liberating not having to wear pants all the time in that cold museum, heh... he mentally muses as he enters the mansion after paying his admittance fee.

The first thing he notices are the two other people who are moderately lit up with spell-work, which makes him frown slightly. Hmm... Maybe the other Orders sent people? Best be cautious, still... Jack thinks as he observes the different dolls, mostly impartial to the thousands of eyes as he reads descriptions while keeping an eye out for anything blatantly magical about any of them. He pulls out his iPhone to look back up the article regarding the dancing dolls, referring to it every so often as he looks for the ones mentioned in it.

  Investigation: 2 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-17 02:25:28		Jack Falley rolls 6 to looking for clues (Wits4 + Investigation3) [other 6 dice] (10 Again)		10, 10, 1, 5, 7, 2, 7, 1		2 successes
2012-05-17 02:24:57		Jack Falley rolls 1 to looking for clues (Wits4 + Investigation3)		3		failure

(OOC: Jack's spells are Cloaked, so he doesn't appear to have any spells on him unless your Sight's Potency beats his spells' Potencies.)

[Iblardora]

The people around you are talking in low whispers but it seems most of them are espousing the joys of being ironic but you do catch that one person who seems to have brought a tape recorder and an emf detector. They are talking about how the possession might come to be in a doll, which according to them is normally used as a place to house the dead.

The museum plaques lay out a lot of information, the first uses of dolls as housing for dieties, then as play things for children. It mentions that, as you peruse, you should notice that the older dolls are actually adults. It explains that it wasn't until the 1880's that dolls were made to look like younger children. Descriptions of different types of dolls, from rags to wood to Porcelain, depict a fascinating world of symbolism.

The last room, and the largest one, is less cluttered. Here in the low lighting and climate control, there are displays showing the prized dolls. A wooden creation made from a stump, A multicolored marionette of a jester, a knight posed on a wooden horse, and even a Dragon puppet marked "Water puppet."

At the end of the long room sits a single pedestal with the doll on it.

[Swift]

Samael had already been considering that the unusual goings on here might be the product of restless dead when he overhears the comment about dolls being used to house the dead. The priest closes his eyes and crosses himself and willing the spell to work. At first nothing happens, but Samael concentrates, bringing his focus to a razors edge. And then he opens his eyes.

Samael then quietly walks through the room, careful not to disturb the young man taking pictures of the doll. He pauses a few feet away and focuses his gaze on the doll, attempting to discern if there is anything unusual about it. However, his scrutiny does not reveal anything to terribly useful. This is not where my talents lie. If I knew of anyone I could trust to assist....but we do what we can with what we are given.

  Grim Sight, 4 suxx on second attempt

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-18 00:07:26		Samael rolls 5 to cast Grim Sight (Death + Gnosis - 1 second attempt) (10 Again, WillPower)		7, 10, 10, 10, 2, 4, 10, 5, 6		4 successes
2012-05-18 00:06:44		Samael rolls 3 to cast Grim Sight (Death + Gnosis) (10 Again)		1, 1, 2		failure

  Unobtrusively approach, 2 suxx

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-18 00:13:11		Samael rolls 6 to move quietly (Dex + Stealth) (10 Again)		9, 6, 10, 3, 7, 1, 4		2 successes

  Examine the doll with the Sight, failure

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-18 00:17:26		Samael rolls 3 to Scrutinize the doll (Int + Occult) (10 Again)		6, 5, 1		failure

  Notice being noticed, failure - the die roller is laughing at me

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2012-05-18 00:19:23		Samael rolls 5 to notice that Jack took notice of him (Wits + Empathy) (10 Again)		3, 1, 7, 7, 6		failure

[Iblardora]

Beej

The pictures come out quiet nice and the dragon seems almost like hes smiling in one of them... but then again with the amount of teeth it has...

The dolls name is Miriam, or so the story goes. She was given to a young Spanish girl of great power and wealth in the 13th century by a man named Ashar' Arif. He was said to be an eccentric genius who lived near by and whom she had become friends with. According to legend he told her that his toys judged and punished those who were evil.

The young girl was thrilled, as the toy had been made in the likeness of her friend Miriam who had died just a year prior. She began to take it with her everywhere, and soon she slept with it and talked to it like any real human.

Miriam, according to the next paragraph, was created as a puzzle doll. Indeed it in the surrounding area there are a dozen or so parts for each extremity and the torso hung on the wall. You would take the doll apart and put it together. If you got the correct order a small swing door on the torso would open revealing another little toy.

Its made out of various kinds of silk and leather with an inner frame work of copper. It therefore can be posed as well as attached and detached. Its hair is made of what appears to be donated human hair, and its eyes are glass. They go on to gush about what a wonder of doll making this is and how they got it.
Some way down the page of how it came to be in the museums hands it notes that part of the doll was taken for analysis. Because of the beauty and well made parts as well as the fact that in the 13th century a doll like this was rare if made at all. It has proven to be from the right century which makes this doll very valuable.

It seems all fairly unobtrusive and from what you can remember Europe's basic idea about any sort of doll in any sort of magic is representational. You represent a person with a doll and you control them. Since this doll can change, and yes there are heads with different hair styles and colors, this doesn't seem that sort of doll.

Under supernal vision though this thing is lit up. Its a Pandemonium, with a strong backing behind it. The feeling of the casters nimbus is that of a twisted feeling of joy and judgment, like Schadenfreude, mixed with hope and pride.

As you look at it the magic flows and ebbs, making the eyes catch the light, making her almost look aware and alive. The face now, when looked at straight on has almost a calm face of someone paying attention in a slightly bored way, but when you turn the eyes seem to gleam with pleasure and the mouth quirk.

Samael

Grim sight floods around you, but you can't get a grip on the doll. You manage to sidle up to the doll and look it over.

Jack

You get the same article, a bunch of stuff about haunted dolls, a few paranormal sites quoting witchcraft at you or claiming something about the dolls being a sign of the new age. Apparently the dead will rise up from the grave an posses the bodies they find. When you do find a credible source it claims that, while most dolls are harmless when haunted, what ever is in that doll is not of human origin. Its possessed by Demons. It cites that every person who has ever owned the doll has either gotten rid of it or died. Stories of dead men found clutching the doll, parts spread around it, covered in days worth of their own filth. Others were caught, but spent nights crying for it, needing it. They then either go insane or send it away.

The other dolls mostly seem alright but one large clockwork lion is starting to freak you out as it does glow lightly with magic, though drained as if this once had magic but now no longer does or is waiting for a refill.

As you move by it , eying the claws that are serrated, you reach the room with the doll in it and spot that only the ghost hunters have come this far back, being behind you as you move, and in front of you are the two other mages.