Legacy of the Stone Assembly, Chapter I: The Cabal, The Quill, and the Concord

[Solarious]

Jeremiah harrumphs a little and frowns at the piano and the music sheet.

"My own divination into the subject leads towards music and the sensation of longing for something that wasn't. The music's resonance is odd, as if it was disjointed somehow, not of this world. And the sheet itself... it is fated somehow, and powerfully so. I don't believe in coincidences, especially if destiny has something to do with it."

"Time to see where the threads lead." Mumbling softly in a nonsense language of High Speech, the Guardian cups his hand over his mouth, as if transmitting some secret, and willed the invisible connections of the world to reveal themselves.

[sblock=OOC]Jeremiah will cast Correspondence (Gnosis 1 + Space 2 + High Speech 2 = 5), and examine the sympathetic connections of both the piano and the sheet of music separately, with both Sybil's Sight and Third Eye. Assume he drops Gain Skill.

He will also utilize Third Eye's ability to see what went into the creation of the resonance of 'not belonging' of the music sheet.

Also, might was well, can you roll to see what Jeremiah knows about Spirits in Twilight?[/sblock]

 

[Hella_Tellah]

Jeremiah will cast Correspondence

(Gnosis 1 + Space 2 + High Speech 2 = 5), and examine the sympathetic connections of both the piano and the sheet of music separately, with both Sybil's Sight and Third Eye. Assume he drops Gain Skill.

2 successes on each.

Jeremiah called to the piano to whisper its connections, and felt it speak an image into his mind of a worn stage in a very small theater. Jeremiah felt as though a woman's long, thin, calloused fingers had played across his keys for thirty-three years. Then, arthritic and liver-spotted, the hands could no longer play more than the slowest adaggio, and finally stopped short in the middle of Faure's Requiem.
The sheet music spoke of three longed-for homes on the coast of Massachussets that had never existed. It also dreamt of a large, multi-volume encyclopedia, which enveloped it all around. Imagining himself as part of the encyclopedia, Jeremiah remembered being swaddled in infancy, and felt the most profound sense of belonging.

He will also utilize Third Eye's ability to see what went into the creation of the resonance of 'not belonging' of the music sheet.

Scrutinize Resonance: Intelligence (3) + Occult (2) + Density (0) = 5 dice, 5 rolls, 2 successes.[/quote]
Tearing his attention away from the sensations projected from the piano and the sheet music, Jeremiah examined the sheet music's emotional emanations at length. He felt that the resonance in this sheet music was the result of an overwhelming longing for something that is not and cannot be. It was such an absolute, single-minded obsession that so utterly consumed the creator that, feeling momentary sympathy with the creator, Jeremiah felt that he was nothing more than that feeling--no skin, no bone, no muscle or sinew, but pure obsession to the core.

Also, might was well, can you roll to see what Jeremiah knows about Spirits in Twilight?

Intelligence (3) + Occult (2) + Difficulty (untrained in Spirit, -2) = 3 dice, 0 successes. Unfortunately, Jeremiah knows no more about spirits in Twilight than the average Sleeper. Although he is less likely to believe the outright fabrications present in Sleeper myth, he has little, if any, actual knowledge of the workings of Twilight beings.

Try as I might, I can't make this post look pretty. I am straight up ready to strangle something over this dang thing.

 

[BlueLotus]

With her voice low to not disturb Jeremiah as he worked his magic, Levanna voiced her opinion as well. "I'm hesitant to break the ward as well," she said. Her cheeks colored a little. "I've.... had some uh.. bad experiences in my Spirit studies. I'd rather be sure of what we're going to do before we do it."

 

[Shayuri]

Thorn nods at Levanna approvingly.

"Still, it does sound like this is pretty unique," she admits. "It's probably the one. It fits all the..." She flips a hand vaguely, "...you know. Demands."

"So okay...it tried to get me to write down what it was saying...and it's locked in the piano."

For a moment she watches Jeremiah, then says, "You know, it's probably in there because it keeps trying to force people to write stuff on this music sheet or something. And the big guy doesn't approve."

 

[Solarious]

For the second time that night, Jeremiah removes his glasses and rubs the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes as he does so. "The resonances I detected on the sheet are fairly indicative of what spirit the Heirarch wants us to remove. The source of the dissonance is an obsession, overwhelming, single-minded, and fleshless, almost as if it never had a body in the first place, or ever had to deal with one. Spirits are... disembodied, aren't they?"

He sighs and replaces the glasses, grumbling softly about his ignorance. "I also followed the sympathetic connections, and I wager that whatever architecture the sheet describes, it doesn't exist. Three houses on the coast of Massachussets, I believe. However, the oddest sensation was that of a series of volumes of encyclopedias, enveloping, and belonging, all at the same time..."

"The spirit is bound here deliberately, by a fairly powerful mage. That means, it is here deliberately. But the spell itself is weak, and easy to dispel. I believe it has been placed here by the Heirarch, as a test. The only thing left to do is to dispel the fettering and force it to move on. I don't have Prime or Spirit, so I can't help in that regard. Unless one of you could give me a quick rundown in Spirits 101... I don't know much besides they are something Sleepers aren't fully capable of comprehending."

[sblock=OOC]Dispelling this is going to take someone with both Spirit and Prime; you can't combine Arcana in a spell unless both casters have a 5 dot merit that lets them do so. We're going to need Gabriel for this... maybe we should try encouraging Annalist to rejoin us? We're together, interacting, and not subjecting him to NPC-interaction doom now, not to mention I'm finally finished my finals and BlueLotus is also back. Jeremiah can finally psudo-antagonize Gabriel now.

Also, a PM to Tellah about radically changing my Arcanum choices for Jeremiah[/sblock]

 

[Hella_Tellah]

"The spirit is bound here deliberately, by a fairly powerful mage. That means, it is here deliberately. But the spell itself is weak, and easy to dispel. I believe it has been placed here by the Heirarch, as a test. The only thing left to do is to dispel the fettering and force it to move on. I don't have Prime or Spirit, so I can't help in that regard. Unless one of you could give me a quick rundown in Spirits 101... I don't know much besides they are something Sleepers aren't fully capable of comprehending."

Gabriel took a few seconds to examine the piano.

"I think I could dispel that without too much trouble," he said. "If Thorn or Levanna could stand by ready to command the spirit to leave, I'll take care of the dispelling."

 

[Shayuri]

Thorn stood up and glanced at Levanna.

"We could both try. It doesn't always work, so two might be better than one."

(OOC - Is 2 dots in Spirit enough to 'command it to leave'? Don't have my book here, sadly. )

 

[Solarious]

[sblock=OOC]2 dots in Spirit isn't enough to make spirits do anything - 3 dots are required to command it, exorcise it, or to harm it with spells.

2 dots, however, lets you summon weaker spirits, analyze them for strengths/powers/weaknesses, discover their Ban (which is useful in compelling it anyways, as Spirits can't violate their Ban for any reason), and even lets you give them a good punch while they exist in Twilight. The last one is Vulgar, however.

You can only use Teamwork rules if everyone involved can cast the spell in question. A 3 dot merit lets you contribute what Arcana ratings you have to a spell, or just Gnosis even if you don't have any. 5 dots then grants you the ability to cross-pollinate your Arcana to cast spells no one in the group can cast alone. Everyone needs the merit for this to work, though.

I also encourage you to use this post as an easy reference to basic spells a person can cast with dots in a certain Arcana. It is by no means comprehensive, and doesn't list the more complicated spells, but it does form a great starting point to understand what you're capable of.[/sblock]

 

[magic_gathering2001]

Deciding that this task will be accomplished equally well without his help, Prometheus will begin to scrutinize the auras of those close to him. Beginning with his earlier companion, he will attempt to locate how these new allies feel when put under the stress of capturing the ghost, when their guard will be the weakest. Endevoring to do so as quickly and subtly as possible, so as not to alert their suspicions.

[sblock=rolls]What is the density of a mage, I know it was a bonus, but I forget how much.

3 Gnosis + 3 Prime + Density

Delegate 1 success to each of the other mages, to recognize their aura later, and put the rest of the successes into analyzing an emotion from each of them. If all aren't affected evenly, the order would be: Thorn, Jeremiah, Levanna, Gabriel.[/sblock]

 

[Hella_Tellah]

[sblock=rolls]

What is the density of a mage, I know it was a bonus, but I forget how much.

3 Gnosis + 3 Prime + Density

Delegate 1 success to each of the other mages, to recognize their aura later, and put the rest of the successes into analyzing an emotion from each of them. If all aren't affected evenly, the order would be: Thorn, Jeremiah, Levanna, Gabriel.

It's actually Intelligence + Occult + Density, as it's a special instance of scrutinizing resonance using your existing Mage Sight. Good news for you, because that works out to Int (3) + Occ (5) + Density (1) = 9 dice! I rolled it four times for you, since it's an extended action, with 2 successes, then 2, then 1, then 8 successes, for an exceptional success! This takes 12 seconds of in-game time.
As far as doing it quickly and subtly, that sounds like a Composure + Subterfuge roll to me. You aren't casting a spell, so it isn't pinging the other mages' Unseen Senses, but you are staring at them.
Composure (5) + Subterfuge (2) = 7 dice, 2 successes.[/sblock]
Prometheus' eyes flitted about the room, scanning the resonance of each of the mages in the room. He noted the unique way each of their auras shimmered with mana, and kept a mental record of the way magic radiated off of their patterns for future reference.

[sblock=Important information for the other mages in the room]What does your aura denote about your emotional state? Please use page 206 of the core book for reference and post the color of your aura here. You're also getting a Wits+Empathy to see if you notice Prometheus scanning your aura; you'll need to meet or beat his 2 successes (defenders win).
Gabriel: Wits (2) + Empathy (2) = 4 dice, 1 success. Does not notice.
Jeremiah: Wits (3) + Empathy (1) = 4 dice, 1 success. Does not notice.
Levanna: Wits (3) + Empathy (-1, untrainted) = 2 dice, 1 success. Does not notice.
Thorn: Wits (3) + Empathy (-1, untrainted) = 2 dice, failure. Does not notice.[/sblock]