Session 16 Downtime

Character Fluff - Tracing the New Plague

Wisps of Autumn fog curled around the edges of the observatory's open roof. Below, Locke stepped carefully through the area, taking careful stock of his surroundings, his pen scrolling down a checklist in a tidy notebook, making marks as he verified that all was in order.
 
Glittering focusing lenses. were set all around the leather-bound chair which stood in the center of a complex circle of carefully-inscribed chalk glyphs. Check.
 
Behind them, lanterns with colorfully tinted glass, lit and shining their glow into the lenses. Check.
 
Eight braziers spaced evenly beyond these, stocked with plenty of smoldering coal.
 
Above, a new assembly of brass and glass was affixed into the ancient Orrery of Anu. Check.
 
Satisfied, Locke closed the notebook and placed both it and pen into his labcoat pocket. From a box sitting in the staging area beyond the strange circle, he measured an even scoop of finely milled powder into each brazier. The smoldering coals shone brighter, and lines of smoke rose from each one, blending with the fog, which responded strangely, seeming to curl into a swirling orb of mist within the circle.
 
With a satisfied nod, Locke stepped into the circle and took a seat upon the comfortable chair. He closed his eyes, reaching deep within himself for the talent... the quiet night, the sweet smoke of the braziers, the soft damp of the fog... he settled quietly into a trance, reaching for the right mental configuration, the right spot... almost... and there, there it was.
 
The swirling mist within the circle grew denser, and the light focused through its surrounding lenses became visible within the circle. As the lanterns flickered, the brightness and focus of each ray of light passing through the lenses seemed to change. In a moment, it began to seem that this was no random pattern of fluctuation, but a response to... well, difficult to say, but it seemed as if it was a response to something happening at the interface of Locke's consciousness and his contraption, the changes in the lights a reaction to something changing second by second within the world around him.
 
Over the next few minutes, this effect became more pronounced. The lines of light projecting from each lense seemed to pulse with almost predictable patterns, growing at their height into beams which almost seemed solid within the mist, but which diffused into a soft shell of light surrounding the man at their center. When the meaning of the lights could not be denied, the ancient orrery grated slowly into movement, its massive metal orbs swinging upon one axis then another, moving through a cosmically impossible dance in relation to the lights.
 
At the bottom of the device, almost unnoticed, the assembly of brass and glass chittered and clicked, carefully engineered bits within moving into positions which could later be decoded and interpreted.
 
After a time, Locke's face firmed as he withdrew from his trance. The clicking of the device quieted. The whirling of the orrery slowed and stopped. The orb of mist dispersed. He got up, cleared away the braziers, set aside the various bits of magical paraphernalia, and retrieved the device from its mount at the orrery's base. This would be it, the last data he needed to understand the New Plague.
 

Completed Arc: Uncover a Secret: the New Plague Arc

• Step (Investigation) - Preliminary experiments into detecting and measuring the effects/emanations of the New Plague (+1 acumen)
  
• Step (Investigation) - Build the orrery attachment which allows the data collected by the Locke's experiments to be encoded in a Sefirot, and then perform the experiments again. (+1 acumen)
  
• Step (Tracking) - Identify that the destination of information collected by the New Plague is my very own Blood Prince. (+1 acumen)
  
• Step (Tracking) - Send the Blood Prince a report on these findings, request comments. (+1 acumen)
  
• Step (Revelation) - Meet with the Blood Prince in person, have conversation where cards are laid out on the table and and understanding is reached. (+2 acumen and +1 joy)
  
• Resolution (+1 acumen)

 

Advanced Arc: Restoration: Bookworm

• Work - Put together a letter of explanation including testimonials from prominent members of Satyrine academic and literary society (using my 2 points of connections with Scholars, as well as my status as an actual bookseller) to let these bookshop owners and library directors, which denies the filthy rumors that Locke is a danger to their collections. It does not openly say that he is not an Eats Knowledge forte, but instead focuses on the vandalism charges.

 

Started Arc: Uncover a Secret: Isolating the Ontological Interference

Something or someone is interfering with us by meddling with the reality of the world we inhabit, or with our perceptions of that reality. Who or what is doing so? Why are they doing it? Are they friend or foe? Is this related to our time in Shadow, or to the War?

• Cost (Seeker) - What the hell is going on? (-2 acumen)
  
• Opening (Naming the Secret) - Who or what is interfering with our perceptions of reality? (+1 acumen)
  
• Investigation - Experimentation with Superfiction (+1 acumen)
  
• Investigation - Experimentation with Staring at Long-forgotten Yesterdays (+1 acumen)
  
• Investigation - Experimentation with Instauration (+1 acumen)

 

Started Arc: Build: In the Beginning

This world isn't good enough. I'll have to build my own. (I'm not sure this is the best arc for this. We might need to make up a new archetype for this. Essentially, this is a research project to determine how to create a powersource to make a half world, and then to actually make one. I am expecting it to take quite a long time.)

• Cost: The Idea (-2 acumen)

 

XP Expenditures

Apostate Ability: Extra Ephemera (-1 crux)

• +1 Connections with Nine Princes (-2 acumen, standard for connections)
  
• +2 in Secret Lore: Divination (-2 acumen, narrative skill, normally would be -4 acumen but for Loremaster)
  
• Learn level 2 spell Decisiveness of the Blade (-1 acumen, normally would be -2 acumen but for Iu)
  
• Learn level 2 spell Eyes of the Hawk (-1 acumen, normally would be -2 acumen but for Iu)
  
• Learn level 2 spell Lore of the Book (-1 acumen, normally would be -2 acumen but for Iu)
  
• Learn Sign Against Puissants (-1 acumen)
  
• Learn Sign Against Dirt (-1 acumen)