Promoting Death Positivity

**Aeolus** · Jan 27th, 2022 04:19 AM

It showed who lead the local Mysterium: Corn readily shared his findings with everyone else, made sure they were on the same page.

Or they would be if it weren't for Eulogy's pride. He had done everything in his power to make this a place of peace, a place where death wasn't to be feared and people could say their good-byes in reverence. Desperation? Hardly plausible. And Corn knew that Mordechai didn't like the title - could jealousy color the other Moros' actions?

That aside, the investigation began, starting with the oldest gravestone. There didn't appear to be any traces of Awakened Magic and the stone itself didn't seem remarkable - except on closer inspection Corn and Zeromancer saw a fine layer of Ephemera on top of the surface, like a medieval woodcarving. It depicted a scene of a burial: a slim figure gave a speech while several people stood to both sides of a hole in the ground.
Something struck Corn as odd: Twilight was supposed to contain broken things, dead things - how did this picture fit in? Someone - or something - had been putting this there. Did that mean that other gravestones had similar pictures?

Just to be clear - I don't want to forcibly change Eulogy 's attitude or thoughts, but that was just a little intrusive thought brought to you by your dramatic failure. Proceed as you wish.
If you want to look further, just tell me where you want to proceed (randomly, just go to the nearest one, by descending age..) and give me another (Int + Invest) roll.

**Corn** · Jan 27th, 2022 06:22 AM

"Wow... Do you see this, guys? The Ephemera art?! I am not skilled in such things. Mordechai , have you ever encountered anything like that? Zero , do you know if the camera can capture this? I didn't even know that ectoplasm can retain its form for many days without magic. I think this is a very interesting find. "

Corn checks the nearby gravestones.

failure

[1] See ghosts
[1] Sybil Sight
[3] Grim Sight

Spells active: 3/6
Spell Tolerance: 3/3
Vulgar spells: 0
Mana: 8

Equipment:
Small backpack
Flashlight
Cellphone
Lead Medallion (dedicated Tool)
Wallet without his ID, a credit card and some cash
His cross and his wedding ring
A bottle of water and a candy-bar

**Zeromancer** · Jan 27th, 2022 09:50 AM

Corn must have been reading Zeromancers thoughts because he had put down his bag and raised his Kirlian Camera to snap a photo of the gravestone. Zeromancer said as he focused the camera, "I don't know I have never tried it on ephemeral energy before, so lets give it a shot and see if we get an image or even traces of energy."

Aeolus if I need to roll for taking the picture please let me know.

failure

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**Eulogy** · Jan 28th, 2022 10:45 PM

Well Corn didn't need to be so glib about it. The other mage going on about how he is not practiced in death then calling out something that Mordechai himself could not see. Then he adds further insult by insisting there is some sort of ephemeral substance and Zero going along with the ruse. As if Eulogy wasn't the greater mage than Corn. If they could see something, I sure as shit would be able to. I don't know what they are playing at but if they are just going to screw around why bother coming at all. With a sigh he left them too it, choosing the gravestone across from where they were looking Mordechai began his own investigation.

1 success

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**Aeolus** · Jan 29th, 2022 05:34 AM

Corn and Zeromancer look around, either lacking a systematic approach or some background information to make sense of what they find.

The next gravestone showing an ephemeral image Corn finds depicts men in suits - some pencil-pushing officials by the looks of it - locking or unlocking the iron gate around the Green. In the distance, hardly recognizable because of the woodcarving-like aesthetic, a pudgy figure was watching.

Zero took photos of the first image, but further investigation around on the old stone brought up nothing.

Eulogy, bruised ego or no, used his knowledge of the location to find the few next oldest gravestones. He looked at the next oldest and saw pretty much the same thing the other two Moros noticed: a scene of a burial. This checked out with what he knew of the place: even before Sacramento was founded people lived in the area and the good Protestants that lived here got buried at what later became Solomon's Green. Did those stones tell a story and if so - who is doing the telling?

No roll for the camera - I'd say the pictures are as described (showing a smudge or a ball of light for Sleepers), but with an active way too see ghosts in Twilight it shows what the photo is of.

By now you know the drill: (Int + Investigation) and please specify how you want to proceed - otherwise I'll just guess or go by context clues.

**Corn** · Jan 30th, 2022 07:29 AM

Unaware of Mordechai 's bruised ego or thoughts, Corn turned to the councilor.
"There are more of these ephemeral descriptions carved on these stones, Mordenchai. Someone or something is at work here. Do you make any sense from the stones you're investigating? I think I will try to find whether these are only on old graves or the newer ones too and whether the 'scenery' changes." corn said and tried to find a recent - as in the past couple of years - internment.

2 successes

[1] See ghosts
[1] Sybil Sight
[3] Grim Sight

Spells active: 3/6
Spell Tolerance: 3/3
Vulgar spells: 0
Mana: 8

Equipment:
Small backpack
Flashlight
Cellphone
Lead Medallion (dedicated Tool)
Wallet without his ID, a credit card and some cash
His cross and his wedding ring
A bottle of water and a candy-bar

**Zeromancer** · Jan 31st, 2022 09:03 AM

Zeromancer takes a look at the pictures he just took and realized that the images were caught. He went around examining and photographing the other gravestones when he had a thought. Zeromancer then asked Eulogy "Hey Mordechai, other than these old gravestones is there an older mausoleum or building that may hold urns or unburied corpses?" Zeromancer had a sneaking suspicion something or someone was trying to tell them a story.

1 success

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**Eulogy** · Feb 4th, 2022 11:06 PM

Mordechai instantly felt bad for his thoughts. He realized now that it was hubris to think himself the best of the three. [color=white]They were right. There is something here. How did I miss it? Oh Nevermind Mordechai worry about that later. You have to focus now.[color] He listened to Corn's suggestion and answered. "It is the same over hear. I can't seem to make it out.

He heard Zero and answered. "No this is the oldest. There are some pretty intricate statues as the technology of the age became available but no mausoleums. The urns are buried in a plot, usually four to a space. For the families who want to be cremated but stay together. And no corpses, we keep those inside and I haven't had any in a little while"

After a moments thought he added. "Maybe you should go with Corn. I will stay here and try to figure this out until you get back. I just don't like the idea of someone wondering off alone."

1 success

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**Aeolus** · Feb 5th, 2022 05:49 PM

Corn looked for newer graves, which lead him away from the chapel. The looks of the gravestones changed - they became more modern, in better shape and more elaborate. He couldn't find any more ephemeral images though. The newer gravestones seemed.. well, not exactly untouched but there wasn't any conscious effort put into changing their Twilight-appearance. Looking closely he could make out signs of wear, struggle. It was hard to see, but one particular statue at a grave was so well-kept that the scratch-marks found in the Twilight stood out.

The other Mystagogue went around without much of a system, but stumbled over one other interesting image: at this one gravestone from 1853 there was another burial depicted, but there was a chapel in the background and standing at the head of the grave was now a pudgy man. More detail went into picturing him and Zeromancer got the impression that the pastor seemed well-liked - at least judging by this carving.

Eulogy kept working chronologically. They pretty much stayed the same, safe for a few changes in details. One: at the gravestone earlier photographed by Zeromancer he found a depiction of when the graveyard changed owners and finished building the chapel. Going from there, the sceneries only became more positive, more thriving with mourning people around open graves. This checked out with what he knew about the history of the place. The McNally's - who took over the flock and built Solomon's Green - had some good years. Lucrative years.

You can continue giving me those rolls, if you like. Telling me where your character is looking might give more coherent answers.

Just to keep you on the same page, there is a description of the area in the Location description (LINK).

**Zeromancer** · Feb 5th, 2022 10:36 PM

Zeromancer looked at the headstone and snapped a pic with both his digital camera and his kirlian camera. He thought to himself "I wonder if Eulogy knows anything about this pastor?" As he thought this, he decided to call to Eulogy.

Zeromancer called out, "Hey Mordechai, I think you should come check out the markings here. It may interest you and may provide some information about the grounds." Zeromancer then began to study the headstone more closely to see if he can determine any visible landmarks between the image and the cemetery grounds.

1 success

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Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-27 06:21:10	Corn rolls 5 to Wits+inv (10 Again)	5, 3, 4, 3, 4	failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-27 09:44:44	Zeromancer rolls 4 to Int2 + Invest2 (10 Again)	3, 4, 3, 4	failure

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-28 22:45:22	Eulogy rolls 4 to intellegence + Investigation (10 Again)	6, 10, 1, 1, 6	1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-30 07:28:59	Corn rolls 5 to Wits+inv (10 Again)	4, 10, 8, 1, 6, 5	2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-01-31 09:05:03	Zeromancer rolls 4 to Int2 + Invest2 (10 Again)	8, 1, 2, 7	1 success

Promoting Death Positivity

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