(1909) Constructing Consilium's Circle

[Campanella]

"Oh, they are human. Like us."

Campanella responded first to Cosmo Xander . His last words sank into a hiss of emphasis.

"And I am certain that they may have some strange allies or minions at their disposal. The insights of a Shaman would be welcome at this point, I think."

Campanella then turned his attention to the Libertine Shodan Woland .

"Not unidentified. They are a person of power. Who..." Campanella paused briefly while he formulated a response. "Who has taken up residency in a part of town that was once under the protection of a now defunct Cabal. As far as I can make out their intention is do little more than watch, as they represent interests who have taken upon themselves the task of curtailing the Seer's... transgressions and un-Wise use of the Arcana."

He breathed, both to calm himself and to manage his thoughts.

"I have spent the last few months working with them, if you can call it that. I found it... draining... hence why I am in need of a good night's rest, a shower, and a fine wine. Before anyone asks, I have offered them a place within our Consilium - as was their right as a member of the Awakened Nation. Yes, I did remind them of their duties; to present themselves to the Consilum - and they may, in due time. Or, they may send a representative of some sort in their stead. However, when one is dealing with... power such as this, it is probably wise to leave it alone. And I did get the impression that this person wished to be left in peace."

He stopped, smiled thinly.

"What I am saying is that I agree. This whole situation does appear suspicious. You have a right to be suspicious. I know I am."

A beat.

"And that is why I would rather that this person be left alone. I have not come across a situation like this. I doubt any of us have. One wrong move; one misplaced move - and we may have a new problem to contend with. Get too close, and we may find ourselves a target for something more than the Seers because they view us as a weak link with which to antagonise our new... friend. Not to mention, if word got out, we could find ourselves swamped by truth seekers, the mad and the arrogant."

Another pause as he stopped himself from speaking.

"We must proceed with caution. As Hierarch it is my duty to preserve the Consilium and at present I cannot see all ends from this... play. There is much that has been hidden - and, yes, even from me."

It was an admission and a warning. In this, the Moros was being totally forthright and honest.

"First, though, we must play out the only move me have: this Seer asset." And her the savvy Hierarch sought to turn to the conversation back to what he wanted.

And book keeping.

  3 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-09-16 05:00:05		Campy is hard to read... rolls 7 to Manipulation + Subterfuge + WP (10 Again, WillPower)		5, 10, 5, 1, 9, 10, 1, 3, 6		3 successes

  2 successes

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-09-16 04:58:16		Campy to deflect / channel the conversation rolls 7 to Manipulation + Subterfuge + WP (10 Again, WillPower)		3, 6, 9, 10, 1, 3, 1, 4		2 successes

Campanella will completely miss Spark's deception - he has other things on his mind right now

Campanella is more concerned with meeting Shodan's challenge. At this point, he will manage to turn the focus of the conversation back to their one remaining Seer lead. He will also be hard to read - for those seeking to gauge his words - but it will be obvious (Campanella spent WP here) that he is carefully crafting his speech. He is not being deliberately deceptive, but he is not revealing his innermost thoughts and opinions. Not here. Not yet.

[October]

The Acanthus is quiet as she listens. Eyes moving from Awakened to Awakened. Everyone had some good points and some excellent reasons to be concerned.

But it was Campanella’s words that she took most seriously.

“I share some of the concerns, I don’t think anyone would agree to this without some doubts and fears.” Cause, obviously.

“But I’m willing to but my faith and trust in what you say Hierarch. I only hope at some point our concerns can be put to rest.” And that was all she would say on that.

It seemed to be a debate that no one was going to win. Back and forth. No resolution, no answers, so she was moving on.

They would have the answers they wanted at some point. Everything always came out.

[Winter]

The Guardian could tell that the Hierarch wasn't being forthcoming. Alas, he felt there was no need to antagonize the Mystagogue... for now. Very few secrets couldn't be revealed with the passing of time, and besides, the Consilium wasn't exactly in a position to refuse help, even if the hands offered were attached to strangers whose motivations they couldn't fully understand.
Nevertheless, one should always be distrustful of authority, and as much as believed the Hierarch's heart to be in the right place, the Guardian would be doubtful of the Moros' appraisal until he could verify the facts himself.
Secretly, it appeased him that the rest of the Magi were voicing their own skepticism so openly. Trust no one.

[Kaze]

Kaze takes it all in, the Hiearch is clear in what he's asking if not too clear in who our possible allies are. That's good enough for now at least.

Spark isn't telling everything, but who does?

The new arrival, the second one so far after such a long stretch of departures, is an Arrow!

"Hi. Right over there." Kaze says, to the newcomer, smiling and pointing to Phoenyx.

  1 success

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2019-09-16 22:21:22		Kaze rolls 4 to Sense deception (Wits 3+Empathy 1) (10 Again)		6, 10, 1, 2, 6		1 success

[Spark]

Spark chose to remain quiet while the Hierarch spoke, clearly the mage had missed a lot of history in this cabal so he simply listened and watched. He had already volunteered his help and that was enough he supposed. That said he did find himself regretting the need to lie during his first meeting with the mages of Sacramento.

Not like the truth would have gone over any better. He thought to himself. 'Oh yeah gee, I need to learn Death magic so I can resurrect my dead sister.' I'm sure that would have gone over like gang busters.

"So basically it's 'check out this asset' or do nothing?"

[Mobius]

Mobius checked her phone one last time to be sure that she had come to the right place. The address certainly matched. Standing outside the Consilium, she looked up upon the towering peaks, her mouth slightly agape. "It's definitely ostentatious." she said to herself gently. She took one last moment to appreciate the irony of a bunch of mages hanging out in a church before making her way inside.

The place appeared even larger on the inside, but she always seemed to be able to wind up in the right place - good luck, probably. Eventually, she came upon a gathering of people. Bingo, she thought. It seemed like a serious conversation was taking place, so she didn't want to interrupt anything important. She maintained her distance at the back of the crowd, not hiding of course, but just trying not to cause a disturbance. Meeting new people was always hard enough, but new people that could alter reality? Whole different level.

For the moment, she was content to get a feel for her peers.

[Cosmo]

Cosmo could only roll his eyes as Shodan's desperate attempts to insert himself where he didn't belong just kept on keeping on. A meeting he wasn't invited to? He doesn't consent. Contact with another awakened? He had to know the exact circumstances.

"Shodan," Cosmo's contempt once again settled on the Libertine. "Back off."

"So far you have tried telling the head of the Arrow and myself we couldn't have a conversation in private with the people we chose because you didn't agree with the circumstances. You have refused to back down after everyone else moved on from your bickering. Now you presume to order the Heirarch to answer your inane questions without offering meaningful additions and pretend you are not being rude and wasting all of our time?"

Cosmo shook his head.

"Allow me to educate you on Mage one oh one. A Heirarch leads the Concilium as the Wisest of us all. He answers to the Council, not to you. Our society functions as the Council deems Wisest. The only scenario where the best of us is held to account by the dross is in an Assembly. A Concilium is not an Assembly. End of lesson."

The Apostate took a deep breathe, dramatically rolling his eyes again as he does.

"As for your delusion of not being rude, you can't ask such pointless questions and delude yourself into thinking you are not imposing on everyone. If you trusted Campanella, you wouldn't need to keep prying into his contacts and masking it as altruistic intent. Someone is out there and wants something. Investigating that something can give us insight into how this awakened learned of it and why they want the Seers gone. Resolving this issue shows we have use, use that can be leveraged for more information as I was getting at. Not to mention that a powerful enough force to fix all these issues isn't just going to answer to Campanella because he asked nicely. Campanella has what they wanted to provide, and is providing what he has and deems important. If you trust him, there is no need to further this waste of our time."

His attention now flowed to the rest of the mages, decidedly ignoring the Libertines.

"So like I was saying since every detail needs to be spelled out for someone to keep up, we investigate this influence, prove we have use, and try to leverage that use to either continue fighting our own enemies or gather intel on this individual."

Finally Cosmo looked at the two new mages slipping in.

"Hey new people, I'm Cosmo. The entitled control freak is Shodan."

A finger stabbed in the Libertine's direction.