Mysterium Meeting VI

[Crystal]

"Eh." He tilted his hand in a see-saw motion when Aurora asked. Recently he had had an epiphany of sorts. Just a small idea, but it started to take form. "I don't know. Good. Ish."

Not that Crystal was in any way, shape or form close to Zeromancer but it seemed 'being all over the place' has started to become the norm, not the exception around here. Bummer.


When Corn kicked off the meeting properly Crystal sunk a bit deeper in his chair. He was mostly listening to the Moros praising Aurora (and man, is she going to hate that), but he was also doing something he almost never did: he listened to what was going on in his gut. There was a sinking feeling which only intensified as Corn listed off everything everyone else had been doing the past few months. While he had been doing jack shit.

Unearthing Artifacts and items from different realities? Amassing knowledge and resources for the Order? And all he had to show for it was a conversation?! Fuck, he was not a prideful guy but this was embarrassing. "Daduche, before I cast my vote I would like to hear from everyone to describe their achievements in their own words, if that is okay." He didn't expect his voice to sound as nonchalant as it did, but it was nice to see that he still had some of the old razzle-dazzle left in him. So he bought himself some time. That was good.

[Zeromancer]

"Yes, very much so." Zero responds to Aurora with a wink.

Zeromancer listened as Corn spoke about their adventure into the Twilight as well as what Belle had discovered. A new artifact to study made his ears perk up. Not just as a member of the Mysterium but also as the Censor. "I was wondering if I can join in the investigation into the artifact. As the Censor I think that I should be able to take a look into it and be sure that what we are looking at is not any danger to us or the Order."

As for the rest of the meeting, Zeromancer was intent on listening before he spoke. He really was not one to speak of his achievements and did not care to brag either. "I would like to hold my vote and listen to others as well. You already spoke of what we had done in the Twilight Corn ."

[Aurora]

A warm smile to Belle, “Thanks.” She was all about comfort right now, and the suit was comfortable.

Sounds like all the right questions were being asked, so she was content to just listen.

Shrugging to Corn, “Only Latin and French right now.” Those had been fairly easy to get into. Then an eye roll to him, seriously, she was not all about the attention for this. Sure, she was a performer by trade, and could work an audience, but she wasn’t after attention or praise.

“I know you mean well, but I’m not one seeking attention and praise for doing something I’m interested in that could help the Order. And to be honest, I can do without the fancy words and accolades.” Really, it just was not her. Maybe years ago she would have basked in it.

Now mentioning what happened? She was no expecting that. He could have remained quiet on the whole thing, and no one would have asked too many questions. Nothing needed to be added, and she simply picks up her drink and takes a sip.

But the pickaxe caught her attention. “Do you know anything about the ghost or the importance of the object to it?” Spirit was not her go to Arcana, but as a Master, she should look into it when she could.

“I’m game to vote, but I would prefer to not have my name considered.”

Crystal wanted to hear more, and that sounded good to her. Sounded like Zero was thinking the same way, and she simply nods. It would be interesting to hear about the item or experience from the person themselves.

[Belle]

Belle beams as Corn begins his usual geeking out over the Mysterium and the accomplishments of his friends. Belle takes a look over to Aurora as the Shaman takes in the praise. She can see how both Magi had a valid point: that Aurora was humble as well as knowledgeable was important, since hubris could just as easily turn a Mage like Aurora into a deadly, nigh-unstoppable force. But given that Aurora's choice was to be humble about, perhaps a spotlight wasn't needed here. Look at that, beautiful compromise without hurt feelings. "We're certainly glad to have you here." ​She gives the Shaman a thankful smile, thinking of the patience tutoring she's gotten in French from Aurora in the past. Corn's mention of something past doesn't go completely over Belle's head, though she's pretty sure he means what happened last Consilium. At least, I hope so. Is that wrong?

Then the conversation turns to Roxie's Choker. Belle nods as Corn gives her the floor. She stands and, sans powerpoint, decides to use theatre of the mind. "The Artifact we recovered was Roxie's Choker: it's got a nasty reputation of being involved in some toxic Magi/Sleeper relationships. But basically it's got two major effects. The first is grating Mage Sight to sleepers, in this case the activation is via kiss. The second is granting the wielder the power to speak with the dead. In this case, Corn was able to speak with a spirit who was last anchored to the Choker. It's some high-level magic, so attunement for this baby will likely be out of reach for some time, but we at least have it contained here in the Athenaum." ​She sits back down, clearly confident in her knowledge and description.

The talk of a Twilight pickaxe causes Belle to lean forward in her seat. "A ghost weapon? I can't imagine that was easy to bring back. And by 'ancient' how old are we talking?"

Oh yeah! Crap! The 'gaunxi' stuff! Belle looks around to see everyone's reactions. It looks like the group is deferring to hear more about the accomplishments to be considered. But Belle's never been a patient gal. "All things considered, my vote goes to Zero and his recovery of the Twilight weapon." She looks over to the toughened Mystagogue. "And please, be my guest if you need to look over the Choker. I trust you'll be careful with it, considering you got something as fragile as that pickaxe from one Realm to the other." ​That and Zero seems to be pretty darn serious about his Censor role. And good Censors knew Artifacts were worth their weight in knowledge...and sometimes blood.

[Corn]

Corn nods to Crystal and Zeromancer 's words, without comment. Towards Aurora he shakes his head, in minor embarrassment. "Okay, no praise for you. I got it, I got it. Puck made that clear enough in the monthly gathering."
Meh, that is difficult. Can't she see how her actions could inspire and motivate Crystal others? She is too good a mage. Aurora will be archmage in a few years and act as if daduchos of the order is too much of an honor. I guess that's why Archmages are withdrawn from society... Perhaps Puck is right and I could learn some humility from her.

Then Acquisitor Aurora, the person that dropped blood literally so they could get the choker after dealing with the apostate, turns down the consideration over a magic item. Of course she would...
As long as the Watchtowers bring to them mages like Aurora, the Exarchs will not win. He thought to himself. Is that what ascension is like? He was not sure he would EVER be that humble and non-greedy.

Belle gave a good synopsis of the artifact and Zero was correct to get in censor-mode.
"Censor, the artifact is already secured in a safe place. Since I trust every one of you in this gathering, which may or may not be true for future members, I will tell you all: The 'safe place' is a hidden compartment inside the safe there. I have left the other magic item we have, the one Guru found, in the front. The artifact is, to my understanding, one of the most powerful artifacts around. And we are a small order so I would implore all of you to help in defense cause that's the kind of thing that draws attention. Each one of you has been in the order before it was found so we all know we are trustworthy and not moles from other Mysterium caucuses here to steal the artifact.
And for those of you that think the other Mystagogues would never do that: The Mysterium Order is not as united as we pretend to be in front of outsiders. Those of you that have been in universities, have seen what academic rivalries could look like. Now put in the ability to reshape the world to your will and an artifact that emulates a great power and that it probably holds more mana than I do in my pattern at this point!

As for the other orders... the artifact can pull the veil safely from a Sleeper's eyes. Make a sleeper not only see what we do, but also not disbelieve it and speak with ghosts to boot. This is probably the wet dream of the Silver Ladder and honestly, if the Ladder shows up again here in numbers I will hold a vote on whether to give them this artifact or not, and it is probably the worse nightmare of the Guardians. Make no mistake, this is an item that could get any one of us banished if we use it and for a good reason. It reveals the mysteries to a sleeper, beyond any bullshit excuse we could use.
Censor Zeromancer, I officially charge you to look to the safety of this item, in your role in the order. Nobody may remove or examine this item without your consent. Not even I.

Long story short: This is the kind of item that attracts trouble, it is both very useful in our quest to enlighten humanity and very dangerous, and of course Yeazz to be us!" He concluded with a smile and raised his arm in triumph.

Then Belle returned to the pickaxe. "No, it was not a weapon and the ghost... " Then he remembered they have decided to let each one tell what they had done before the vote.
"Zero? Could you take that one please? And elaborate on what we did so people can make informed votes?"

[Crystal]

Crystal was only half-listening as the others went into more detail on how they were doing a much better job at this than he was doing. Mostly he was mulling over this budding idea - he wanted to quit the Order. It was more than just trying to avoid responsibility, it was about taking control in a way he could manage better. But was it better to announce it now, to give them the option to throw him out of this meeting before he learned any more secrets and disregard his vote? Or wait until later to drop the bomb to not interrupt what was going on right now?

All the while they described powerful Artifacts and mysterious ghost-tools and masteries and what-not. "Yeah, Censor Zeromancer should really go into more detail about that pickaxe." How much time could he buy until he had to come clean? And was this a mistake about to be made in affect? It felt right, that much was certain.

3 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-06-12 15:45:42	Crystal rolls 7 to act cool (Man 4 + Subter 3) (10 Again)	10, 2, 4, 6, 8, 8, 4, 3	3 successes

The good thing about the shallow club-culture? He at least nailed down the art of looking chill while he mentally prepared for the barrage of words that would certainly come to convince him to stay.

[Zeromancer]

Zeromancer stood up at the request of Corn and begun to speak.

"At the behest of Eulogy, Corn and I decided to investigate the cemetary. While doing so we went through and found evidence to an inhabitant that was causing discord in the otherwise peaceful cemetary. Upon exhausting all efforts in the fallen, Corn and I entered into the Twilight and resumed our investigation. Following the clues we found the ghost that was causing the discord. We got into a fight with the ghost, but I was able to finally banish it when I destroyed its anchor. It was at this time that Corn noticed the pick axe that was near the ghosts anchor and decided to bring it through the portal back with us. We are going to study it closer eventually but the pick axe seems to have changed from ephemeral to physical when it was brought through."

Zeromancer then sat back down not really wanting to answer any questions.

[Aurora]

A grateful look to Belle, “Thank you, that means a lot to me.” More than she could express.

Then listens carefully as she talks about the choker. One she had helped get, but hadn’t been asked to help research. Which kinda hurt. “I would like to take a look at it at some point. I haven’t seen it since it was found, and I might be able to see something.” It’s a possibility, a low one, but one worth trying.

Sounded like, from what Corn said, that choker was not to be removed from the room. Fair enough, and it was a call she supported. “Where does the Order stand on informing the other Orders of such powerful artifacts? I only ask because we are a small Consilium and I want to make sure we are all on the same page. I am quite content to not let any of the other Orders know unless it is a life-or-death situation and the city is in danger.” Otherwise then that, fuck em.

To Zero, “Have you ever heard of an item like the pike axe? I mean the whole changing from ephemeral to physical?” she didn’t think she had.

Then looking to the room as a whole, “Perhaps studying it in Twilight could yield some answers.” It was sort of a question. More an idea and a thought. Cause, yah, dangerous.

[Belle]

Belle's expression tightens as Corn verbally works his way through processing Aurora's desire to stay quiet, but her smile resumes. She's learning to be more comfortable with people working out their issues differently. She does echo Corn's fist pump enthusiastically. Good to know we aren't taking ourselves too seriously.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2022-06-17 13:55:12	Belle rolls 5 to Is Crystal Bluffing? (Wits + Empathy) (10 Again)	4, 10, 8, 1, 6, 5	2 successes

At least Crystal seems pretty chill about things. I wonder what he's been working on?

She gives a nod to Zero and Aurora. "I'll be happy to assist anyway I can with research, but I'll leave it to Zero to handle containment. And I'd love to team up with Aurora to see if she can find any details we missed." Her smile brightens at the prospect of working with her friend/Archmage-in-training.

Speaking of: when Aurora mentions the other Orders, Belle looks over to Corn with just a hint of worry in her eyes. Corn's not thinking of using Roxie's Choker as a bargaining chip? ​"Aurora makes a good point: I can't think of a scenario where Roxie's Choker would be 'useful' per se. So there shouldn't be any harm in just keeping the other Orders in the dark unless it's needed as a MacGuffin." The mention of studying the pickaxe in the Twilight makes the Warlock's skin crawl just a bit, but she can't deny the possibilities of learning. "I mean...sounds like a good plan. Do we have someplace secure in the Atheneum where we could do that?"

[Corn]

To Aurora and Belle corn answers:
"The order, in general ... is not best known for sharing knowledge about artifacts. I am a dadouchos, and they barely tell me anything about them. In the order supposedly, you have to 'earn' the right to study an artifact. Technically, none of us are considered qualified to know the artifact exists, let alone have it in here. Thus, better avoid telling your mentors in other cities that we got a powerful artifact.
To get back to the question: as mentioned, I am against telling other orders about the artifact. Or letting them know about it from other sources - I will come to that soon. It may bring resentment and it may invite multiple duels and challenges over it, or even a burglary.

That said to focus on something Belle said: I believe in what the Pentacle preaches. Our job as an order is to catalogue and safeguard knowledge in order to help humanity reach its potential. And it is the Silver Ladder's job to actually do that. This artifact could be useful to the Silver Ladder perhaps, when they slowly reveal the Mysteries to Sleepers in their quest to awaken them. Perhaps. Which means, it may not be useful to the Silver Ladder at all.
As mentioned it is our job, as an order, to safeguard knowledge. And we will do that. If and only if we are convinced as an order that the Silver Ladder has something promising, something that could benefit from Roxie's Chocker, we will discuss as an order whether we should give it to them to aid in our common quest for humanity's future.

I suggest we stop referring to Roxie's Choker by it's known name and call it instead "Dina's Lock" to throw off people aware about the artifact.

Now... an unpleasant discussion that we should have... " Corn sighed and rubbed his hands, a frown finding its way in his face.
"The 'Banisher'. That apostate, that may not be a banisher, probably knows about the artifact. I am not suggesting killing a man in cold blood so he doesn't spill our secrets. But we should be ready to refute what he says about the artifact. Depending on who is with us, we may try to trick our way out or ask others to not endanger the order by revealing we have this artifact. And we need to prepare so we have our story straight.
Some of you may already know, but the Mysterium order has ordered deaths of people that knew things that we didn't want them to know. In Sacramento, we are not that kind of Mysterium order. We will not kill a man because it is convenient. Now, if he goes gaga and attacks, all bets are off. But do not provoke him to attack in order to get rid of him.

Aurora, can you ask Phoenyx to try and put the Apostate to sleep, if she is with us when we find him? Crystal ... I know that you will not like what I will ask but... can you wipe out the knowledge of the artifact from his mind? Tamper with his memories? I will not demand you to do something that is against your personal taboos and principles. Your powers are yours to use or not use. I just want to know whether this is on the table or not, because if it is, we will all be safer.

Regardless, in case we do not manage to contain that information and it leaks out, we need to improve the security of this place.
Censor , we may actually have to move the safe to twilight, if you think that will make it safer.

That said, while I certainly would like to hear your opinions on the Apostate, the artifact and security, perhaps we should start voting on your reward too?"