Mysterium Meeting III

[Campanella]

Campanella did not move; his eyes resting firmly on Aurora For a long moment his shoulders slumped and his head seemed to bow.

"I do not know. Not for the foreseeable future. I have no idea how long my... Master... will consider the apprenticeship. He lives not too far away but I will be working with him and my attention will be purely on my esoteric study. In effect, I'll be a Solitary outside of the Consilium. Perhaps one day I will be able to return."

He gave a shrugging gesture, raising and spreading his hands.

"I would miss this place too much, otherwise. Between the baked goods and the... experimental beer."

A private smile was flashed toward Aurora. Then he twisted in his seat so he could focus more on Corn

"Reach out to the Order in Los Angeles. Or San Francisco if you prefer a challenge. There are some small tests but the one's I experienced were not too onerous. I doubt any would seriously stop you attaining the degree - our Order here still needs structure and hierarchy. And once I am gone, who is allowed access to the Athenaeum, and under what conditions, would fall on the ranking members of the Order - or in the absence of rank, a general consensus."

He let his gaze slide out across the group.

[Guru]

He was all smiles and laughs especially given Crystals revelation. Unable to help but wonder why everyone else was concerned about how long he'd be gone. It was like a week on, week off thing surely. Then he deflated a bit when Campanella delivered the news and frowned, slouching back in his seat. "Bummer."


He really hadn't been expecting it to go that way, "Well, at least we'll still get to see you every now and then. And when you're down you'll be back knowing more than you ever have. So here here." He followed Crystals example and knocked on the wood. He didn't know what that was for, he just assumed it was a group thing and wanted to fit in. He couldn't help but see the silver lining in things.


"Oh, the artefact." He definitely lacked some of the earlier punch still. "One I brought up in Consilium, don't know if it's Cursed or Wrong. I neither possess the knowledge of Fate or Prime. It had turned a man, don't know if normal or other, into a ravening, hulking beast. He, uh, unfortunately did not survive." He bowed his head solemnly giving himself a moment to pay his respects for returning to the conversation. "Figured it was a good gesture and it'd be safer here either way."


"I, uh, am a bit more unconventional. Experimental. But we can talk about that later maybe." He'd been leaning over the table to respond to Corn quietly but not discreetly at all. Slowly sliding back into his chair giving an apologetic grimace not sure if he'd interrupted the official part of the meeting or not.

[Crystal]

Oof, luckily Crystal didn't have ego problems or abandonment issues, otherwise he would have more problems dealing with this situation. Sure, Aurora was closer to Campanella, so she was the natural main addressee. "I guess you wouldn't tell us if you hadn't thought it through. In that case I wish you all the best." Because the Moros' mind was made up and Crystal didn't see any reason to try to talk him out of it. Still, he would miss the Daduchos.

"As for the Order's future: do you want to have a final say in the matter? As in: should we discuss this at the end of this meeting or should we sleep over it and schedule a separate one?" Although he had no doubt that Corn was the natural successor as a somewhat leader for the Mysterium. Nobody took this stuff more seriously then him and hadn't he just expressed the ambition to rise in the Order's ranks? What better thing to add to your resumé than leading the Sacramento branch?

He let the others ask their questions and have their side discussions about projects, cursed items (sidebar: Mr. Sunshine himself had killed a man?!) and whatnot. They had an agenda and so far it still would be Campanella's job to decide when they were going to move on. Not like his paper was that big a deal - even more reason not to just barge forward on his own accord.

[Aurora]

She heard Corn talking, but her mind was elsewhere. Campy was leaving.

Catching his look, her own eyes quickly shifted to something else. Anything else. Oh look, a book.
“You will always be welcome back, and will have our support if you are in need.” At least from her. Other words she wanted to say were not spoken.

What would the Order be without him? He was a calming force, a font of wisdom and guidance. Would anyone here be able to fill those shoes? She doubted it.

Glancing to Guru, “I don’t have any knowledge in those Arcana’s unfortunately.” At least, not anymore and she had never picked Fate back up. “But I agree with your assessment, it is safer here, with us, then any other place. But it needs to be studied, the power it has needs to be understood, if possible. Them maybe we could figure out if there are more and how best to deal with them.” Seems that might be a bit of a challenge for them, but, they’d figure it out.

[Corn]

"We will miss you, that's for sure. It's big shoes you leave, Dadouche, that's for sure." Corn said.
To Guru , he replied. "How each of us approaches gaining and preserving knowledge is not as important as larger Concilia would have you think, Guru. And that's the reason I would contact Los Angeles instead of the snobs in San Diego. I can't say that I miss them a lot although I was in good relations with them when I left." But they would probably find my work here 'substandard' and use that as a reason to deny me any further involvement until they have something to gain from me. he thought.
"Speaking of that, do you know anyone in Los Angeles that I could contact, Campanella ? Looking for members of a small secret society in a multi-million people metropolis is not easy else the hunters and banishers would have already done it. "


About the strange item, he said, "I am an initiate of fate. But I have no prime and if that thing can turn me to a ravenous beast... " then he turned to Aurora "could you perhaps turn me back? I don't want to die as a monster. I am getting married in a few months. I don't think we're in any particular hurry with the cursed thing so let's think more about how to approach that issue."

Then, he addressed one of the reasons he asked for this meeting.
"I have finally created a workshop for all of us to use. Including you, Guru, if you are granted access to the Athenaum. It is more geared for metallurgy but I guess it is serviceable for Alchemy to some extend. I was planning to use metallurgy, chemistry and the like to purify gold, silver and mercury so that it could be more easily be perfected. And I planned to ask you for some not-expensive gold and silver jewelry, Campanella so I can upgrade it. Old coins have silver that I could extract and work on to purify. Cleaning mercury from impurities is harder - and potentially more dangerous but I have my magic - but also mercury is much, much cheaper.
I may not have a lot of funds, but I don't need to buy lots of the substances in question." Corn said pointedly avoiding to look towards Crystal that was rich enough for silk pijamas. I hope he takes the message that he should chip in... Corn thought to himself, smuggly.
"Furthermore, Neokore Aurora , I would like to ask whether you are able and willing to help turn the purified substances, once we have them, to perfected substances. I can owe you a favor for that, if you want and the Perfected minerals will be for the order, not for myself."
And we need to find a master to turn them to Thaumium now that Campanella is leaving.

[Campanella]

Campanella smiled softly and bowed his head at the compliments. His eyes - torn, sorrow filled, determined - returned to Aurora.

"Thank you."

He paused for a long time with his gaze lingering on the Shaman and his oldest friend; the ebb and flow of the continuing conversation dull in his ears. It was with an effort he returned his focus to the meeting.

"Ah. Yes. I can provide the appropriate introductions to our colleagues in Los Angeles. I'll give them to you before I go."

Now he turned his gaze toward the Mastigos.

"No. No I shall leave that entirely up to you. It is best that I make a clean break rather than linger longer than I need. Plus you will need time to make your own adjustments and having me around can only complicate such matters."

Then he lent Corn his ear, nodding with approval.

[Guru]

Guru couldn’t help but frown when Campanella used the phrase clean break, he thinks he remembers using that line on some of his paramours in the past. Maybe he’d misunderstood, in fact he probably only heard what he’d wanted to initially. He thought Campanella would still be there for meetings but not beyond that. Now it seems like he wouldn’t be there at all. It darkened the otherwise sunny shaman’s disposition casting a storm cloud over him. He did his best to soldier on but Guru wore his feelings on his sleeve.

People went on about the cursed artefact and it took him a second to respond, the words breaking through the despondency that had began taking him. Work. Progress. Something to do, something to keep busy. “I don’t either but it has transformative powers and that looks like life. I don’t know if the beast was truly mad or just unable to communicate in its state. So it could be linked to Mind as well. I’ll be working on Prime eventually to complete my work. I know you’re leaving but if I need to call on you for Mastery Mentoring would that be ok?” He quirked a brow at Campanella, they had discussed it but the circumstances changed and Guru went with the flow. If not he’d figure something out, but going back to LA was definitely not high on his list. Too much baggage there.

“I’ll take you up on that Corn.” He looked around the room conspiratorially before letting out a half-hearted laugh as he remembered where he was. “So I have a Lab. If there’s space for it here I can move in some of my equipment too. Thaumium is on my list of things to achieve but it’s only step one. I’m mostly curious if the same can be replicated with other elements. If Mercury why not Oxygen, Hydrogen? Matter is more than…” He didn’t finish his sentence he just put his hands on the solid table and pushed against it trying to demonstrate his point.

[Crystal]

When Corn went off again about his ambitious project Crystal kind of tuned out. At least Guru seemed to be following similar goals, so the two could create a kick-ass study group to do whatever. He wouldn't know what to do in a metallurgy Workshop, but it's certainly nice to have.

Since he didn't have anything worthwhile to add to either Alchemy or cursed artefacts he just let the other Mystagogues take the floor and waited.

[Aurora]

An eyebrow raises, “I don’t know. I know I can change others safely into another form, and change them back. But I have never tried to change someone turned into something I did not cast. Is it out of the realm of possibilities?” a shrug, “Perhaps not. But I will not make any guarantee or promises. Anyone attempting such a thing, is doing so knowing they may perish.” Was it harsh? Yes. But she never made promises in such things. “Maybe the safe and wise thing to do is study it, learn more about it, what magic is tied to it, then move forward to experimenting with it.” But if he was quick to try, then, whatever.

Listening as he moved on, “As I don’t know a whole lot about the metals you speak of, what purpose would they serve the Order?” never offer to help without knowing what you are helping with.

Was this what it felt like when someone you cared about was leaving? The ache in your chest and pain in your stomach? If so, she didn’t like it. And it reminded her of why she always fought against feeling anything for anyone. Pain.

Move her thoughts on, not wanting to feel the pain anymore. “Both are a possibility.” Mind and Life.

Then more talk about things she knew nothing about. Making her feel a little out of place sitting at the table.

[Corn]

To Guru and Aurora Corn replied "Thaumium is also on my list to achieve but that requires mastery in matter, gold, silver and mercury and someone that can pass purified metals in and out of our reality and into twilight several times to create perfected forms of said metals, the 'archetypal' gold, silver and mercury if you want. And then, it requires someone to do something useful with it. I was frankly thinking, even before Guru brought us a cursed object, a safe inlaid with Thaumium so that mages cannot easily break through with magic and steal what's inside. " Let's not mention the thaumium bullets at this point.

Moving back to the cursed object, he shrugged to Aurora's words. "The issue I see is that if we study it, even from a distance, it may affect us. At this point, we don't know how it triggers that curse. One may even study it with sight from the other side of the world or seek information about it through the strands of fate and it could still activate. So, it is encouraging that your answer is "perhaps" instead of "no", neokore. Guru, if I may, what happened to trigger it? What did the victim of that curse did? In short, what is the first thing we should not do, in order to avoid testing Aurora's skills to turning back people that a thing turned to monsters?"
He made a small pause. Well, we're mysterium here. I will ask and if they mock me, so be it. He thought.

"Does anyone know if that curse would affect shapechanging cryptids or they can revert back? Or mages that like Dadouchos Campanella have chosen to pursue a legacy to move closer to ascension and chose one that allows them to change their shape at will? Not that I know of anyone. I just find the whole concept of shapechanging very interesting and I wonder whether we could, you know... fix the rampaging part and keep the 'change to something else' part. Turn this from a cursed item to a useful item. "