Campfire Stories

Feb 16th, 2016 02:08 PM

Continued from here

Faust was in a good mood as the Magi returned to the campfire and it's furry companion. He scratched Puppy's head for a moment before picking up the jacket he had left earlier and putting it on, glad to warm back up some. The Savant pulled his duffel bag close before sitting down near the fire and pulling out a bottle of amber liquid and a few plastic cups. "Scotch?" he offered, holding the bottle up and looking between his fellows as they got comfortable, then poured glasses for anyone who took him up on the offer.

Once everyone seemed to be settled with whatever food, drink, or clothing they seemed to want Faust spoke up again. "There's actually something I've been wanting to ask each of you about, so now seems a good time if everyone is ok with talking about business for a bit." The Warlock paused to see if he was in the clear to continue.

**Wayland** · Feb 17th, 2016 01:50 AM

Walking back to the camp fire, Wayland felt renewed. He was always looking to improve himself, and a reflection on the past was a good transition to the future.

Sitting down in front of the fire, he pulled the hood on his jacket forward to cover his face for warmth. "Yeah! You're the best bro." he responded to the offer of scotch. Not as good for warmth as rum, but scotch tastes better anyway.

"Ask away Doc. Im happy for a little shop talk." Wayland looks around the campsite, looking for a suitable piece of wood to whittle.

**linkrulesx10** · Feb 17th, 2016 11:26 PM

Flidais appeared out her tent, Varyx's clothes in hand and wearing something that covered her skin unlike the previous pelt that exposed much to the elements. Enjoying her new found warmth she handed back the clothes to Varyx and helps her self to some of the offered spirits. "I'm listening." Puppy meanwhile continues to be a dog and trots over to Flidais and takes a nap on her legs.

**Varyx** · Feb 18th, 2016 03:00 PM

Varyx took a seat next to Flidais, slipping her jacket on over her shoulders again, and took the offered drink from Faust. She lifted the glass to her nose, then grinned. "Ohh. This is nice stuff. Thanks, Faust."

She settling comfortably, took a sip of her drink, then nodded. "What is it you wanted to speak about?"

Feb 18th, 2016 04:39 PM

"It is my pleasure," Faust responded with a smile to the appreciation showed for the drink before taking a sip himself and remarking to Varyx, "I've been saving this for a good occasion."

The demonologist took another drink before clearing his throat, "I've got something of a personal project that will inevitably spill into both Cabal and Order business. As you all know my work is primarily concerned with certain varieties of spirits, and as such it would be useful to have access to related resources. While it would certainly be useful to eventually begin to map out some particular features of the Shadow it would be prudent to start on this side of the Gauntlet. To begin with I want to see Steel Phoenix lay claim to at least one locus. This is why I wanted to talk to you Varyx," Faust turned his attention to the other Warlock here. "As you are our Farseeker it is my duty to keep you informed of any planned acquisition of resources as well as allow you the opportunity to take charge of any such endeavors." he offered this explanation in a formal tone, but added with a more personable one, "Plus I'm not incredibly well versed in Mind, and as I'll be looking primarily for loci with emotional resonances I would welcome the help if you wanted to get involved."

"Furthermore," Faust continued, turning his attention back to the group at large, "as long as I am in the process of finding a locus for Steel Phoenix I expect that I will find others and Miach has confirmed that the Mysterium has no record of them in Sacramento. This is where you come in Flidais," he now turned his attention to the Shaman, "I thought that you, as both a fellow Mystagogue and as the only Thrysus in town, may be interested in working on a catalog of loci. I am also willing to make you this offer as well: If you help me lay claim to a locus for my Cabal, I will aid you in securing one for yours."

Once again turning back to all of them, Faust followed that thought, "Of course securing loci will almost certainly be dangerous. Spirits will have already lay claim to some, not to mention the unknown dangers simply caused by their influence on the world around them, and who knows what else. I'll take all the help I can get. And Wayland," Once more Faust turned to focus on a particular one of their number, "When we first met I asked about your skill with Prime. I know you are not at the point of enchanting weapons thusly and I know you aren't yet a skilled warrior, but it certainly wouldn't hurt to be effectively armed and I'd feel better with an Arrow at my back nonetheless. Plus if I am to ask you for your help later down this path it would be a good idea to get you some experience with spirits while we're still on opposite sides of the Gauntlet."

Having made his general announcement and his specific requests of each of them Faust paused momentarily. "You are of course all free to do as you wish."

**Wayland** · Feb 19th, 2016 08:01 AM

Access to a Locus. Hmm, that would be useful to the cabal, though not so much personally to Wayland himself. But, one in our control would certainly bring honor and prestige to their cabal.

A Locus was much more significant to those who pursued the Spirit Arcanum, and about the limit of his knowledge of it was that it was the preferred method to refine the Perfected Metals by passing them through into a twilight state and back.

"For my cabal, I will always stand by your side bro. And about my skills, I'm totally planning on like, rectifying some things yo. Give me a bit of time and I'll be able to make weapons capable of damaging the Shadow."

**linkrulesx10** · Feb 20th, 2016 07:06 AM

Flidais raises an Eyebrow as Faust phrases it that 'steel pheonix' claims a locus and not 'mysterium' or 'we' however she remains silent and listens to the entire speech. His offer was maybe fair in an ideal world but not a good one generally. Did she want a Locus? Not really, not at this stage anyway, her Spirit was never that great. Secondly it meant that there would be two appropriate Loci that would be usable by mages and that they are of equal value. She would be getting shafted hard if only one such locus was safe enough to use in Sacramento. Lastly her cataloging multiple Loci was a very separate task from laying claim to one. The question that buzzed in her mind was now how did she state to Faust that his offer was not a fair exchange.

"No. At least not with those turns, what you propose is not an equal exchange, at least if I gathered your intentions, it assumes there are two loci of equal value and that my group would even want one. Honestly I am not sure we are large enough to maintain security on two separate areas as well as our homes and also 'our library'. What I think would be better is a Joint claim between Steel Phoenix and TDS or even 'our order' if you don't too many people around until such a time that as a community we are able to take care of two sites, if they even exist. It may not be how things are done traditionally but this city is far from conventional, if we don't adapt to the environment we will die, it is a lesson many a creature has learnt the hardway." Once she finished speaking Flidais headed over to the cold box and started pulling out some cheese and meats as well as some crackers from a box next to it. It wasn't a feast or even all that great, with many things a generic brand, albeit none of it was heavily processed. She then proceeded to work on starting a fire to get lunch cooking.

**Varyx** · Feb 20th, 2016 11:58 PM

Varyx's eyebrow lifted in response to Faust's proposal. She had no personal interest in claiming a loci, but he was right. She was the Farseeker. And if their Lorekeeper said they needed it, who was she to argue? She offered him a smile. "Well, it's my job to help the Lorekeeper get what he needs. I'm not sure what help I can be, but if you think my skill with Mind could be of assistance, I'd be happy to join in. Absolutely."

Of course, as she listened to Flidais' response, she found her respect for the woman rising immensely. She was well aware of the value of what she was being offered, and had no issue at all refusing what she felt was an unfair deal. Confident and concise. And she had a thought about how to respond, too, maybe to help her warm up to the idea of helping them out. But this was Faust's plan. She'd let him respond first.

**linkrulesx10** · Feb 23rd, 2016 08:51 PM

Bump Faust

Feb 23rd, 2016 09:30 PM

Sorry, I'm having a hell of a week, and not in the good way

While glad to hear the responses from his Cabal-mates Faust's attention focused primarily on Flidais. "That's-" he began, sounding very much like the word was about to start an entirely different sentence than the one he finished, "actually a very valid point." The Warlock pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket with a sigh and took his glasses off to clean them. Something about the act of removing his spectacles seemed to drain all the life out of him; he deflated, heavy bags under his eyes that spoke to a significant lack of sleep became noticeable without any obstruction in front of them, and he developed the ragged look of someone with too much stress for too long. "I'm still not used to this city, the lack of established tradition and resources," he said with a forlorn voice, "the things I took for granted, gone. I've been to my fair share of less developed places in this world, but I've never felt so much like I was on the frontier."

Finished cleaning his glasses Faust put them on and blinked, allowing his eyes to adjust to the clearer vision. In an instant his vigor returned as if nothing had happened, "But I suppose that is all the more reason to do what needs to be done. You are right of course, I've gotten ahead of myself. First things first is to find out what is available, then we can figure out what needs to be done. Maybe we get really lucky, maybe we can find a mobile locus." Here he seemed to stop and think about how to proceed before adding, "The truth is I have a lot of work to do filling in some of the blanks in our collective knowledge of the local Shadow. I will admit to blatant self interest in this, as well as for the attempted betterment of my Cabal, our Order, and the Concilium at large. Ultimately while I am certainly glad for the help I do have," here the professor offered grateful smiles to Wayland and Varyx, "As far as I'm aware you are the only other Pentacle Mage in the city with any understanding of Spirit and having your help could prove invaluable. I'm willing to negotiate terms up to and including what we collectively do with the resources we find."

Campfire Stories

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