(RE: Call to Legate) Sins of the Pope

[Conner Wells]

Conner heads straight to the library; with as little time as he has, he's not sure a sweep towards the Citizen Hotel would be prudent. But while awaiting on one of Vincenzo's ghouls to secure a quick feed, he does try and run a quick purview of the outside from a few streets down, using his Heightened Sight to try and catch any details.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:16:49	Conner Wells rolls 6 to Spy on Citizen Hotel (Wits + Composure) (10 Again)	3, 5, 3, 7, 7, 1	failure

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The investigation team were likely either already indoors or still at the Hyatt. But there could be other venues to gather later.

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:38:05	Conner Wells rolls 4 to Feeding Roll (Str + Subterfuge) (10 Again)	3, 9, 7, 5	1 success

And while he was there, it wouldn't hurt to grab a little snack. His recent stint in the Barrens had made him more alert when it came to noticing stray dogs.

Conner still knew some of the movers and shakers in the library scene since his college days. Turns out a BA in English was good for something! He called them on his personal phone. "Hey {name}, it's Conner. I'm cramming for a research project for a friend and was curious if you had anything on Arkwright Cemetery, specifically about any large standing structures or major activity moving coffins from inner Sacramento to the Cemetery between the 30's and 40's?" Assuming Pope wasn't much larger than Mr Kowalsic, and that his followers were in a hurry to relocate him from his original resting place, the trip to Arkwright would've involved some flurry of activity that might've left a trail.

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:23:37	[01] Conner Wells rolls 7 to Research: Arkwright Cemetery (Int + Academics + Allies: Academia) (10 Again)	1, 6, 6, 7, 7, 1, 2	failure

failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:23:37	[02] Conner Wells rolls 7 to Research: Arkwright Cemetery (Int + Academics + Allies: Academia) (10 Again)	5, 7, 1, 1, 3, 6, 1	failure

The first hour of research is dangerously low on any leads...

6 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:34:35	[01] Conner Wells rolls 7 to Research: 40's Sacramento (Int + Academics + Allies: Academia) (10 Again)	8, 9, 9, 1, 1, 8, 10, 8	6 successes

7 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:34:35	[02] Conner Wells rolls 7 to Research: 40's Sacramento (Int + Academics + Allies: Academia) (10 Again)	1, 9, 8, 10, 8, 10, 10, 9, 5, 1	7 successes

But perhaps he'd been to narrow earlier. While there wasn't a lot of specifics on Arkwright, his friends DID seem to know a LOT about Sacramento in the 40's. Perhaps that would be just enough to scoot by on.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:26:52	[01] Conner Wells rolls 7 to Research: Arkwright Cemetery, Hour 2 (Int + Academics + Allies: Academia) (10 Again)	9, 6, 6, 8, 1, 3, 1	2 successes

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:26:52	[02] Conner Wells rolls 7 to Research: Arkwright Cemetery, Hour 2 (Int + Academics + Allies: Academia) (10 Again)	5, 4, 7, 9, 7, 1, 7	1 success

After the third hour, Conner starts to make some progress. He uses the notebook he got from Vincenzo to start furiously scribbling down notes...

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:29:21	[01] Conner Wells rolls 5 to Research: Occult Cyphers (Int + Occult) (10 Again)	7, 4, 10, 1, 3, 1	1 success

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-17 16:29:21	[02] Conner Wells rolls 5 to Research: Occult Cyphers (Int + Occult) (10 Again)	9, 4, 5, 3, 9	2 successes

Conner quickly turns his research to occult light cyphers in the next hour, relying on his own library and whatever he could acquire from the public library to supplement his knowledge...

Almost daylight! Conner tries to decide whether he has enough information, or whether to push on into the daylight hours from his Haven.

Bookkeeping for Heightened Senses/Feeding Roll will be in follow up post

[Seryna]

As he waited, his burner phone beeped. The ghoul, Maxwell, said 'Have the bag around the corner of 22nd'. This was about a two block walk from the hotel, in a dimly let alley. The ghoul seemingly blitz attacked a young man, who lay unconscious on the ground. The ghoul waited for Maxwell's approach, and then went to stand by the mouth of the alley. He appeared to be lounging, on his phone. Conner was alone with the person. What would Conner do?


His academic contact knew of the Arkwright Cemetery outside of the city. He said for Conner to check his email. The email his contact sent him is below.

The email

Arkwright Cemetery is a Victorian garden cemetery located outside the city on a once-scenic spot overlooking Rock Creek. Originally, in 1848, it was just a small burial yard on what is now called Chapel Hill.
As the cemetery’s attractive location came to be coveted by people throughout the county, burials overflowed the old yard into Potter’s Field and Arkwright Terrace. The Civil War expanded the cemetery again, creating Soldier’s Square and bringing the Christian cemetery out to the edge of the Jewish graveyard nearby.
In the 1880s, the cemetery was substantially redesigned according to the vision of a few community leaders. The Victorian notion of a garden cemetery — a spot that would be a pleasure to visit on Sunday afternoons, where people could commune with nature and their dearly departed — reached Arkwright. Locals spent years planting and pruning the grounds and building the eight-foot-high stone wall that surrounds most of the cemetery to this night. Arkwright expanded to absorb the Jewish cemetery (which took the name of Sherah Israel is 1923) and a row of hillside mausoleums overlooking
Rock Creek and built by the families of Civil War officers.
The cemetery was a popular park and community treasure through the Great War. During the years of the Great Depression, Arkwright fell into disrepair. Though burial services continued to be carried out, the grounds went unmaintained except by caring volunteers and the families of the dead. By the 1970s, the cemetery had become an overgrown tangle of unchecked vines, rusted wrought iron and broken, weathered stone.
Vandalism went unopposed. It was a prime spot for teenage drug use, pregnancy and suicide — dozens if not hundreds of kids ruined their lives on the grounds of the dead. A new volunteer organization was begun in 1986 with the goal of renovating the whole cemetery. Funding was a serious problem, though, until a couple of new factories and office parks opened in town in the ‘90s and the life insurance money of dead executives justified handsome new spaces to plant their corpses. Throughout the 1990s, Arkwright underwent major cosmetic changes, including repairs to its outer wall and new landscaping and roads in its most visible sections.
The Arkwright Historical Society focused on renovating a stretch of expensive Victorian mausoleums called Millionaire’s Row in the hopes of attracting prestigious burials and new funding.

Conner's research turned up a few leads. Likely worth writing down.

• The Jesuit priest and pioneer in early optics, Athanasius Kircher, first described the mechanisms for a "stenographic mirror" in his text Ars Magna Lucis et Umbrae in 1671. The stenographic mirror, capable of projecting an image painted on glass over a distance of 500 yards, was built using many of the same principles that made so-called magic lanterns possible three hundred years later.
• Italian mathematician Girolamo Cardano changed the study of mathematics forever when he wrote the groundbreaking Latin manual on algebra in 1545. It was titled Artis Magnae, Sive de Regulis Algebraicis, but modern mathematicians call it simply Ars Magna.
• According to folklore, the Romans referred to anagram games as "Ars Magna" (The Great Art). Rearrange the letters of "Ars Magna" and you get "anagrams."
• The Ars Magna Latomortum is "the Great Work of Masonry," or sometimes "the Great Work of the Masons," a phrase adopted by various Freemasonic lodges throughout the world.
• Ramón Llull's name is often associated with "Ars Magna," due to his 13th century attempt to create a quasi-scientific system of thought to quantify all faith and rational thought. He published his work, today called the Ars Magna, in a 1305 text called Ars Generalis Ultima, which he upheld as a systematic method of thought through which all other beliefs and sciences should be considered. It involved the random combining and juxtaposing of keywords associated with the perception of God across interfaith lines. He intended it to be a rational, scientific means of converting Muslims and Jews to Christianity. After his death, Llull's work was condemned by Pope Gregory XI and, later, by Pope Paul IV, yet his cult was formally recognized by Pope Pious IX in 1858. Tonight, Llull is sometimes thought of as an alchemist, though he condemned practices of the occult when he was alive

[Conner Wells]

Conner observes the ghoul as he hands off the young man, coldly professional as all ghouls are. He looks down and sees a poor reflection of himself, once upon a time. So naive. So blissfully ignorant of the horrors around you. So full of banal joys and loves and dreams. Conner envied the man, envied his humanity that he no doubt took for granted as he did. But Conner's envy doesn't withhold his hunger; if anything it intensifies it. The beasts of the Barrens and the alleyways were just food, like eating plain bread day in and day out. He missed the bittersweet spice of Humanity that came only from people like him. The feeling of human connection, however twisted. Conner kneels down to the unconscious man, and whispers a prayer. "Let this be enough." And the Beast is sated...

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-08-18 21:36:25	Conner Wells rolls 6 to Gift for Feeding (Str + Subterfuge + ST Equipment 2) (10 Again)	7, 8, 3, 3, 3, 9	2 successes

Conner stands, wipes his mouth, and looks to the ghoul. "See to it that he's removed safely, but don't harm him further." His tongue swirls over the remnants of blood on his lips and chin. Say what you will about ghouls, they were as efficient as they were diligent. The young man would likely awake with a bad headache and a fear of dark alleyways, which was exactly what Conner wanted from all of his targets.

As Conner goes over the various clues from his research his mind races to make use of them before the moon gets too low. He sends out a text to Vincenzo using the burner phone, compiling his thoughts...

text to Vincenzo

If Pope's body was recently discovered after being hidden, it's likely underneath or within one of the mausoleums in Millionaire's Row; they've recently been renovated, which would explain why Pope was lost until now. Also, the cypher used to locate Pope is likely a stenographic mirror; a device that projects glass images over long distances. It's possible the cypher may require the user to be standing at an elevation above Millionaire's Row, perhaps higher on Chapel Hill? There's also a recurring reference to Ars Magna; the cypher image or Pope's hiding place may contain references to Ramon Lull, the names of God, and or the Freemasons. So we may be looking for a mausoleum in Millionaire's Row with stained glass windows referencing one of the names of God for the cypher to project through or onto.

He was running short on time. Daylight was coming soon. The more they could get done quickly, and without detection, the less they could leave for the other investigators to find. He waits for Vincenzo's response, knowing it will be swift and decisive...

[Seryna]

A text came back...
The artifact hasn't been discovered. The other team found evidence of where it could be. And mobilized.

That's why we're going to the cemetery. To follow them.

This phone isn't encrypted...

[Seryna]

Regarding his meal- the ghoul doesn't return to the unconscious victim. It was Conner's meal. Conner's business.
The victim remains unconscious on the ground until Conner does something about it.
And Maxwell wasn't Conner's ghoul. Evidenced when Maxwell headed out in his car, likely on another mission before daylight.

Time was short.

Conner had received a reply, yet it seemed his partner didn't want to talk over the phone or text.

What does Conner do?

[Conner Wells]

Conner winces. Don't get blood-drunk just yet you dummy! If we're running against an Invictus coterie, they're going to have resources! He turns and realizes that Maxwell has left, leaving him almost literally holding the unconscious body. Oh yeah, ghouls...single-minded loyalty. I can see why Rowan hated working with them.

Shrugging off his annoyance, Conner dials 911. "Hey, I'm on 22nd street right by the Citizen Hotel. There's a guy in the alleyway who looks like he got beat up. He's unconscious, but he's still breathing. Can we get somebody here to take a look at him?" He makes sure dispatch has an officer on the way, then looks down one last time at the unconscious form. Now that he wasn't hungry, there was a surge of regret. Don't go soft! He'll wake up in a hospital bed with a headache, an itch in his neck, and a fear of dark alleyways. And in the end, isn't that what we want? Such was the price of the Lancea's mission; his mission. Why else would those fleeting moments of humanity stolen from lives like this one be so tantalizing? So intoxicating? Because of the thrill from which they came.

Conner sends out a quick text to Maxwell...

Text to Maxwell

Pick me up at {address}.

Permission would come later. He could only hope that Quinn would be willing to forgive, if...when word came back to her. Conner heads to his Haven to rest through the daytime hours. There would be plenty to pray on for the upcoming night.