Session 13

We were sitting on the garden patio at the Angel, celebrating Fynlan's birthday. Suddenly, Fynlan and Locke are attacked by a thing (I take 2 points of damage and 1 scourge to physicality). We see two folks in Church of Midnight attire, who shout at us, "YEAAAH THAT'S WUT U GET MUTHAFUCKA" then run away.
 
We go after them. I use Witchstep to get to the front of them, then an incantation to make the book I'm holding 10x biger, in order to block the door. Simone and Fynlan chase into the store after them. Gwyn runs around the side, and engages in something... can't quite tell what's going on over there. After that, I Witchstep again, where Simone has cast a binding spell on these dudes, point at them and yell, "Stop those men! They attacked us!"
 
They teleport away though. I figure out that Simone is being attacked by something called a nul, which does not exist when something perceives it. After consultation, we close our eyes to stop perceiving it, then when it manifests and tries to attack, Simone grabs it and uses her forte magic to turn it into a nut, instead.
 
The cops come, because Fynlan called them. Gwyn fucked off. We gave the police a report. We then warn our friends and associates that we're being attacked by the Church of Midnight, then get together to do a quest with this guy Callahan, who had sent Gwyn a letter asking for help.
 
We take a Justice arc for this, and meet Callahan at a restaurant called Manressa. He thanks us for showing up, saying that Steven Ursula and Ursula Ursula spoke highly of us. They have an Object of Power called a Blinding Rod, which we are going to do in this scenario.
 
We go along with the plan, going with Callahan to the Red Lobster. We go along with Callahan's plan, when then reality becomes unreality. Gwyn and Locke are pulled into Wysterin's memory. It's a sunny day in the countryside; Wysterin is having a picnic with her friend in a field. Molich is hanging out in the trees looking like a pervert. Locke goes to Wysterin and Gwyn goes to Molich. I discover that altering Wysterin's memory is terrible for her, and will cause her massive anguish. Gwyn yells at Molich and tells him to go away. Molich runs into the woods.
 
I eat Wysterin's last 5 minutes of memory in order to clear the thing I'd done to her, then back into the woods. Gwyn takes off after Molich. I move to follow him. In the woods, Gwyn stunlocks Molich with his momentary dynamo. Locke Witchsteps out and tells everyone what happened. We get them to the embassy and we get Gwyn out.
 
Wystrin is unhurt, Callahan is happy. He offers us 8 mage coins or to assist us with a favor. We go with the favor, and ask him to get us the deep and meaningful skinny on the Church of Midnight. He tells us that a woman named Thae Nitaris is a foe of the Church of Midnight and has come up with a ritual to spy on them. We should to talk to her. We do that. She sends us to buy a Monograph of the Four Verities, letting us use a ritual specialized in spying on servants of the Enemy.
 
Monograph: https://naturaltwenties.slack.com/files/U10E23AG6/FMFQ12PHN/screen_shot_2019-08-17_at_3.22.14_pm.png
 
Before doing this, we decide to talk to a Demon that Fynlan knows about. Fynlan summons it and bribes it with a daetha blade. Chester the Demon. From the demon, we learn that the only reason the Church of Midnight went after us is because they, ganglike, wanted to smack us back.
 
Then we use the ritual.
 
Gwyn's Question: Where is Mr Agon?
Gwyn's Answer: The Vault of the Last Hour.
 
Locke's Question: What specific evil and/or illegal plots and/or schemes is the Church of Midnight up to?
Locke's Answer: The grave-robbing cited in the Daily Sights newsletter.
 
Simone's Question: What does Sebastian want with the Old Quay and what does the Church of Midnight want with the Old Quay or Simone?
Simone's Answer: The Midnight Church has no interest there other than gaining influence. Sebastian has other motives as a member of the Vespertine Order.
 
Fynlan's Question: What is the common name of the demon from the Hate Cyst?
Fynlan's Answer: The Enemy of Truth.
 
We also learn this stuff via other research: https://naturaltwenties.slack.com/files/U10E23AG6/FM9D6BP41/screen_shot_2019-08-17_at_4.08.32_pm.png
 
We follow up and learn these things:
The Vespertine is a group of insidious, sinister infiltrators that ultimately serve the Dark and hate the suns. Dark gods and demons act as patrons and advisors to the organization. The Vespertine are destructive nihilists who seek no less than the extinguishing of all the suns and destruction of all the realms. The Church of Midnight can be quite dark, but the destruction of everything would not even remotely serve their goals. (Even demons of the Red, if pressed, would admit that they don’t want to destroy everything, if for no other reason than there would be nothing left to destroy.)
 
Locke goes to visit with Chorian to use his library. When he mentions The Enemy of Truth, Chorian gets into serious mode. There are entities that identify themselves the enemies of a concept. They are not to be fucked with. They are less powerful than a Warden or the Deathless Triumverate. I would be best to think of them as generals or gods of the Dark. His Library does know about the Vault of the Last Hour. It was constructed and sealed by the Church of Midnight in the Orchard of Mausoleums in the Confederacy of Cloisters, decades ago (presumably before the War). https://naturaltwenties.slack.com/files/U10E23AG6/FMHLH3E6T/screen_shot_2019-08-17_at_4.23.38_pm.png
 
Jordan does no additional research. Fynlan talks to his associates among the dead to ask about the graves which have been robbed. He doesn't really get anything useful, other than that all of the members were members of the Church of Midnight.
 
We get back together and discuss the things we've learned. We decide that the avenue to pursue is investigation of the Vespertine Order. I decide to see if the Blood Prince will do the ritual with us. While I'm filling them in, when I finally get to mentioning The Enemy of Truth. The Blood Performs a massive magical working; they have aligned themselves with multiple currents. (One of the Currents is Current D, the inverse of Current A, AKA the Nightside Current.) The Blood Prince confirms that the Enemy is among us, and I should go find Levandra. They give me a proclamation: "You have one week to resolve this or I will, and if I do, I will resolve it."
 
 
 
Justice: Saving Wysterin (total +7 Acumen and +1 Joy)
Cost: Vow (-2 Acumen)
Opening: Declaration (+1 Acumen) -- Rescue Wysterin from Molich, bring Molich to the Pale Embassy.
Step: Tracking the Guilty (+1 Acumen) -- Fixed up the Binding Rod, prepared magic to buff up Callahan, whose job seemed the most dangerous.
Step: Tracking the Guilty (+1 Acumen) -- Went to the restaurant with Callahan, set up the trap .
Step: Helping the Victim (+12Acumen) -- Took care while inside Wysterin's memories to cause as little damage as possible. When Locke did accidentally do something that would hurt her, he took steps to erase it, and heal her pain.
Climax: Confrontation (+3 Acumen, +1 Joy) -- We capture Molich
Resolution (+1 Acumen)
 
+1 despair for the surprise attack, +1 acumen for succeeding on the Wysterin quest, +1 despair for the book I bought from Chorian which was filled in the margins with weird and terrible and unspeakable comments.