Posts for Tane 2

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

If we're not cutting anyone out, that's around 9 cabalmates, right? Like the council! He said merrilly handing his bags of snacks to Colin, since it was his house.

"Yeah or the first Cabal, but then it did not go to well for them."
Bruce said and frowned.

We have to do something with the number, come on! Sounds great as a charm, and names can be enchanted to buff us all. "Three times Three" or "Nine Victories", "A Part of Nine" like the nautic gun! "Nine Inch Nails"?

"I think that last one is taken."
The Orphan said.
"Well those names do work but they might be a bit more in your face rather than the more symbolic ones we have had suggested before but they do work."

[Tane's apartment, Sunday September 27th]

Tane wrote:Oh... Tane looked perplexed at first, and then he looked troubled Yeah... Then i suppose it's true...

Colin nodded, "All the same, you'll want to verify with others, I expect."


[Cabal Meeting, 10 AM, Wednesday September 30th]

Tane wrote:Luck is for mediocres, succeses to you! Tane wished Nichole.

He arched an eyebrow, "Oh, I do resent that; luck is what you make it."

Tane wrote:He lost himself in the hunt a little. Sea is full of... abominations. And he was getting rusty. He's managing the cold of this shores, so maybe in little time he'd be able to withstand this cold.
The imagery would depend on what are the things you want to point out and it's significance to you, i'd suppose.

He nodded, "I hope he's doing better now."

Tane wrote:If we're not cutting anyone out, that's around 9 cabalmates, right? Like the council! He said merrilly handing his bags of snacks to Colin, since it was his house.

Anja wrote:"Yeah or the first Cabal, but then it did not go to well for them."
Bruce said and frowned.

He frowned, "We would want to avoid that association."

Tane wrote:We have to do something with the number, come on! Sounds great as a charm, and names can be enchanted to buff us all. "Three times Three" or "Nine Victories", "A Part of Nine" like the nautic gun! "Nine Inch Nails"?

Anja wrote:"I think that last one is taken."
The Orphan said.
"Well those names do work but they might be a bit more in your face rather than the more symbolic ones we have had suggested before but they do work."

He pondered, "We'd certainly want to avoid drawing attention to ourselves by using a band name. And referencing The Nine would be seen as arrogant or bordering on blasphemous. Three times three... How would you divide us up, though? We're don't have so clear groups of three."

Tane wrote:Hey, kid, how's it hanging? Tane asked and wnt to get a high five as greeting.

Serge enthusiastically returned the high five. "It's going all right. Got accepted into a cabal. How about you?"

Tane wrote:We have to do something with the number, come on! Sounds great as a charm, and names can be enchanted to buff us all. "Three times Three" or "Nine Victories", "A Part of Nine" like the nautic gun! "Nine Inch Nails"?

"I think that last one is taken."
The Orphan said.
"Well those names do work but they might be a bit more in your face rather than the more symbolic ones we have had suggested before but they do work."

"We're using nine in the symbolism of our coat of arms." Serge said although he quite clearly enjoyed Tane's suggestion. "How about Nine to one? Like a play on 'All for one' . That one might be stretching things though. How about 'The Novenary'?"

I forgot posting this sorry:

[Steelhaven Hall, Monday September 28th]

He paused, "You know, I never asked that question, myself. Though I think it may be a particular variant of orange grown in an area called Jaffa. Don't assume that's correct before we verify, though."

"There is a place named Jaffa Dad? For real?"
Anna asked.
"That is really cool where is it?"

He smiled wryly, "I could do no less for a lady in your circumstances. More so since I recognized you... In the fifteenth century, your song rang out as beautifully, and you went by the name Sister Bernadette of the Celestial Chorus then... a member of the First Cabal. Anna here was a member, too - she was Louis DuMonte of the order of Hermes back then, and... you two never got along all that well in those days, but perhaps that is one of the things that will be different now."
He sighed softly, "It is interesting times that we live in; the First Cabal, it seems, must be reunited, to uphold the promise once made..."

Captain Welder's eyes widened a bit.
"I...recognize those names Mr Wainwright."
He said and she looked from you to Anna.
"I recognize her even if I have never laid eyes on the child before...I..."
She seamed quite shaken and Anna nodded.
"I recognize her as well Dad...I can feel her but I can not pinpoint why."
She said and the Knights Templar nodded.
"Which promise is it that you speak of Mr Wainwright that we are supposed to fulfill?"

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

He nodded, "In this case, ignorance does offer some protection."

"And yet I have never been much fond of ignorance Colin."
Bruce said and frowned.

He grimaced, "A Nephandus with no head would be safer, I suppose..."

"Or one without an Avatar."
The Orphan replied.

He nodded, "We need to make a few preparations - perhaps call a Cabal meeting with the note 'bring cake', without referencing Jon specifically? That might help avoiding forgetting to celebrate on... er... when is his birthday, anyway?"

"That might actually work if Jon is not directly involved his Arcane should not trigger and we should remember as for his birthday it is on the...the...but I had it on the tip of my tongue a moment ago...damn..."
Bruce grunted.
"I can't remember..."

He arched an eyebrow, "You never forget your first time, I suppose... I envy you yours, though."

"Yeah you told me about how you Awakened Colin, I am glad mine was...kind and calm, just reading until the right questions triggered in my mind and then I made a device...just that but no I am never going to forget my first rote."
Bruce said and he glanced over at you.

He nodded, "Sandwich fixings might be appreciated, then. And perhaps a few gallons of bottled water."

"I think they would appreciate that."
The Artificer said and nodded.

He looked at the jacket, "Hum, if it's something needing constant refreshing and it'll cost you Paradox over time, perhaps it would be better to try to get hold of some Primium weave... to line my regular suits with..."

"I can not yet work with Primium but if you can find someone to do it yes it should work well."
Bruce said and nodded.
"That being said I can make something a bit more...natural and bulky for you that will cause less Paradox."

He frowned, "We would want to avoid that association."

"Yeah that would probably be best."
Bruce said and frowned.
"I mean already one of us got close to Gilgul let us not get any close to the First Cabal than that."

"Sounds like a fond memory." Serge said with a smile. "Wrench it is then."

"Yeah...yeah it is."
Bruce said and smiled to the young Cultist.

"We're using nine in the symbolism of our coat of arms." Serge said although he quite clearly enjoyed Tane's suggestion. "How about Nine to one? Like a play on 'All for one' . That one might be stretching things though. How about 'The Novenary'?"

Bruce grunted at this.

"You planning on suiting up to be a proper English gentlemen spy? Because I 'd love to see you take down a group of bar thugs with just an umbrella. I mostly just want to see that umbrella." Serge said with a wry grin.

"Nah...Colin would talk the thugs into going home apologizing to their mothers for their bad behavior and then changing their ways."
Bruce said sounding amused.

Serge reached out to touch the jacket as well and looked quite impressed with it's look and feel. "How much can this protect you from? Is it bullet-proof?" Serge asked curiously.

"It is bullet proof yes and spread the impact over the surface of the entire garment to reduce damage."
Bruce said proudly.
"It works pretty well."

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

Adley frowned a little. "As we said to Nicole, sometimes knowledge is dangerous. So...imagine it being more that partitioning some information is to keep the assbiting to a minimum. And that sounded extremely dirty." He picked up the water and drank some of it.

"I am not going to pry or make a big deal over it but I can't say I like there being such a big secret around this Cabal but so be it."
Bruce said and frowned.

"Hrm, I can temporarily enchant items as well, to work against spiritual entities for example. But a week is a pretty long time, mine do not last nearly that long yet, I assume partly it is a result of you working with the matter itself."

"Yeah I think so, duration is the main thing I am training on to get to the point where I can make permanent enchantments, however yes I think duration is easier to get to work right when I put the rote directly into the materials themselves."
Your Cabalmate said in a grunt.

"You never know...but thank you, I would of course also offer in trade, though I don't know what you might want from me..."

"Hum...well what would be most useful to me would be your help with some translations, some of my grandfather's texts are not in English and so I have had a problem reading them, so I am sure we can find arrangement if you find that you need something made."
Bruce said and smiled.

"I suppose it has its uses, as well but yes that sounds as if it could become frustrating."

"It is certainly a double edged sword."
The Orphan commented.

"Of course you can't," he said, sighing and putting a hand through his hair. "Well, we can try to find out."

"There have to be some record somewhere right? Perhaps Master Sharaya knows?"
Bruce asked.
"Or Master Steelhaven. We could ask them. The question is how to avoid forgetting it again once we learn it."
He added and frowned in frustration.

"Would that interfere with your casting?"

"Primium, yes off course it tend to make all kinds of magick harder mine are no exception."
Your Cabalmate said and sigh.

"Hm, this is nice..." he said, turning it over and examining it and then handing it to Serge and Colin to look at. "Trade in my professorly jacket for a leather one," he said, looking amused and plucking at a loose thread on his coat. "But Colin has promised to take me to get something nice, and if it's going to cost that much of my salary I will indeed want it preserved against stains as well. You have anything stronger than Scotchguard?"

Bruce considered then he pulled a battered notebook out of his pocket and made some calculations after a while he said.
"Yes...I can enchant fabric to turn stains into some other kind of matter that can be easily brushed of, though with living things such as blood this will only happen once it dies."

"How much of a beating can it take?"

"Quite a bit but it is not indestructible, and the duration of the enchantment will suffer if it is damaged to much."
He said and shrugged.

"That is indeed what we're trying to choose, Mr Karyak," he said, glossing right over the comments about the Nine. "There are nine known spheres of magick, in our current organization system. Names can indeed be enchanted," he said thoughtfully, making a note on his notebook for later. "Nine is an interesting number..." He pulled out his phone and searched around for a bit of inspiration, since he didn't have his books with him. "Hm, I'm not sure how much Richard places in numerology but 9 is a favored number in Chinese, as well as being correlated to the dragon, which has nine forms and there are some Chinese Medicine relations to it that I do not understand." He continued searching. "There are nine Muses in greek mythology. The Ennead were nine egyptian dieties who decided who should inherit Egypt, Set or Horus. The number of perfection, the horizon before returning to ten. Of course, there are less fortuitous associations, like Dante's hell having nine circles, or how many days t takes to fall to Tartarus. It is a favored number of the Bahá'í faith, a divine number to Hindus. One branch of Indian mysticism relates elements, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Ether, Time, Space, Soul, and Mind. Odin hung himself from an ash tree nine days to aquire the knowledge of runes. There are nine choirs of angels in Christian belief. The letter tet in Hebrew, relating to the sephirah of Yesod, the Foundation, originally Cheth in the Jewish formation. Doing something three times has many occult associations, basically indicating it is true, or meaning it, or that threefold return, and so forth. The ninth trump Tarot card is the Hermit, carrying the Lamp of Truth...wait..." he said, frowning. He looked curious, almost as if talking out loud was his way of thinking to himself. He scratched something else down on his notebook, then muttered, "Foundation. Foundry?"

"If it is a symbol of dragons what about a nine headed dragon?"
Bruce asked.
"What where you thinking about a Foundry?"

"Or threaten to tell their grandparents what a naughty little boy they're being. I've heard he isn't afraid to fight dirty." Serge said with a sly grin.

"Oh that he will, fight dirty that is, when he need to."
Bruce said and grinned.

Serge looked at the garment armor for a few more seconds and said, "Is it pain proof? As in...would you still feel the impact of the bullet even if it didn't penetrate? I've heard that even with normal bullet-proof armor you'll still get severely bruised if you get shot."

"No it is not pain proof, however as the impact is spread over a big area you do not feel to much from smaller guns but if you get shot by something powerful wearing that it will still hurt and you will bruise but chances are you will live."
Bruce said and grunted.

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

"Man that's cool. I wouldn't mind having some armor like this. Might make going outside seem less frightening." Serge said as he glanced at the garment armor. "I don't really get into situations that would warrant bullet proof armor though. So perhaps it's not the greatest wardrobe choice for me."

Bruce considered for a moment before the replied.
"I am not so sure it is physical armor you need Mr Yager, I think I could make you the best set I am able to and you would still be afraid to go outside, perhaps it is your inner armor you have to work on and I can not help you there."
The large man said surprisingly softly.

Yeah, well, like many things. It's significance is not lost and even with their demise. Remember that is not always about the tree, but a forest is made of seeds too

"You are right, their purpose to unify the Traditions got lost in Teomim's betrayal."
Bruce agreed and nodded.

Well, enemies are at bay for a moment and I can finally sleep as a human being, i'm getting closer to cleansing avatars or at least I got an idea, and I'm helping a couple of friends get by, so I'm feeling pretty confident we're going to start in a better position than we were when this conflict started.

Bruce raised an eyebrow at this but he di not say much just.
"Make sure you do not expose Bee to any dangerous experiments Mr Karyak."
He said and frowned.

Even in corruption, after death, they are precious. Always remember we are a doomed race Tane said unamused, looking at his cabalmate in a grim manner.

"A Nephandus without an Avatar is still far easier to deal with Mr Karyak I said nothing about how the without Avatar had happened, perhaps it had just left or perhaps it was a baby hedge wizard Nephandus."
The artificer commented and shrugged.
"And we are a doomed race? What do you mean."

I know it's cheesy, but... "The Foundry of the Nine Blades"? Or the Nine blades?
Our name should make our enemies think it twice before opposing us

"It is not a bad name however I have to say that I would not be to terrified of the name The Nine Blades, I would think more historical renactors or RPG nerds than something I should stay away from."
Bruce said sounding amused.

Can I ask what the fuck? I wanna know if there's any danger

"I think they would have told us if we had been in any danger from this Mr Karyak."
Bruce commented but he clearly did not like the secrecy either.

[Cabal Meeting]

Tane's Post:

'No, we've not met. Only came in a few days back, just in time for the attack on the Fallen.' the large woman replied.

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

No, no, Bee is alright right now. Her little god is not strong enought right now to go through any kind of treatment. Once it is alright we have her do rehab, psicologic and then, if she's willing, we'll try less invasive treatments as she were. Only if we are forced we will try something more drastic.

"She still have some way to go before she is all right but she will get there and we are not going to push her into anything."
Bruce said sternly.

In any case, i've been wondering in this free days of mine... Are Widderslaints' avatars as corrupted as they were in their previous life? or do they cleanse themselves over time and reincarnations? If this last natural cleansing is the case, then it's clearly easier to cleanse them than we have thought. There are spirit treatments that can filter the avatar, theoretically. So i'm thinking that might be a way... now i need to document if it is any more corrupted before reincarnating...

"As far as I know a widderslainte is as corrupted as their previous incarnation that is why the Traditions deal with them the way they do, since they will just continue to spread the corruption incarnation to incarnation, if the corruption slowly vanished over time there would be no need for that. The thing is that is the weapon of the Nephandi once they have their claws in a soul it is forever."
The artificer grumbled.

Tane twisted his lips, not liking the idea at all since he knew they had only one kind of way of dealing with nephandus, but saying nothing
Mages are decreasing our numbers every day. When avatars slumber back to souls and are not strong enough to awaken again... we are vanishing.

"Ah that is what you meant, you are right the Union have caused allot of damage and a much harder Consensus, hopefully we will eventually be able to beat them back."
Bruce commented and frowned.

My lvl 4 Paladin is not amused.

That made the large man laugh.

[Cabal Meeting, 10 AM, Wednesday September 30th]

Anja wrote:"And yet I have never been much fond of ignorance Colin."
Bruce said and frowned.

S7trif3 wrote:Adley frowned a little. "As we said to Nicole, sometimes knowledge is dangerous. So...imagine it being more that partitioning some information is to keep the assbiting to a minimum. And that sounded extremely dirty." He picked up the water and drank some of it.

He nodded, "I am not fond of secrets, myself. But this is one of those times when secrecy can literally save lives."

Anja wrote:"I am not going to pry or make a big deal over it but I can't say I like there being such a big secret around this Cabal but so be it."
Bruce said and frowned.

He nodded, "I'm not expecting the secret to be kept forever, but for now, you are safer not knowing. When that changes, you'll be given the full story, as far as I can tell it."

Tane wrote:Can I ask what the fuck? I wanna know if there's any danger

Anja wrote:"I think they would have told us if we had been in any danger from this Mr Karyak."
Bruce commented but he clearly did not like the secrecy either.

He frowned, "There's always danger... but in this particular case, your not knowing makes you safer, for now. It pertains to the legal hostilities we're in the middle of, and right now, your ignorance will shield you from spillover."

Tane wrote:Twice then Tane twisted his face in disagreement and distaste, but as before, he said nothing, aside from You know we're here to help, and neck deep with you. If there's anything we can help with, just say the word.

He nodded, "If the time comes, we will let you all in on the secret... and then ask for your help."

Anja wrote:"Or one without an Avatar."
The Orphan replied.

He frowned, "...Did you actually meet Mrs. Cunningham? While you are sort of right, a Nephandus without their Avatar is not a Nephandus anymore..."

Tane wrote:No, no, Bee is alright right now. Her little god is not strong enought right now to go through any kind of treatment. Once it is alright we have her do rehab, psicologic and then, if she's willing, we'll try less invasive treatments as she were. Only if we are forced we will try something more drastic.

Anja wrote:"She still have some way to go before she is all right but she will get there and we are not going to push her into anything."
Bruce said sternly.

He frowned, "On that note, I've had a prophetic vision of a battle over Horizon, in some twenty years. The Handler of one of the battlecruisers in that timeline was the reincarnation of Beatrice. In that timeline, she was killed in a Technocracy attack here on January second, three months and change from now... She will be informed of this before then, and whatever she chooses to do, whether to hide elsewhere or fight, we will support and protect her as best we can. In twenty years, the attack will likely hit, and if Beatrice lives, I'll have a harder time of getting close enough to that Handler, but that's my problem. The important thing is, we know the most dangerous moment for Beatrice, and we have a chance to twist around Fate... Wrinkle warned me that changing her future like that will make the future battle harder for me, but he did not suggest that he would be forced to intervene... Now, this is not up for debate; Beatrice will get to make her own decision about what she'll do that day, and we'll all do what we can to protect her then. Any questions?"

Tane wrote:In any case, i've been wondering in this free days of mine... Are Widderslaints' avatars as corrupted as they were in their previous life? or do they cleanse themselves over time and reincarnations? If this last natural cleansing is the case, then it's clearly easier to cleanse them than we have thought. There are spirit treatments that can filter the avatar, theoretically. So i'm thinking that might be a way... now i need to document if it is any more corrupted before reincarnating...

Anja wrote:"As far as I know a widderslainte is as corrupted as their previous incarnation that is why the Traditions deal with them the way they do, since they will just continue to spread the corruption incarnation to incarnation, if the corruption slowly vanished over time there would be no need for that. The thing is that is the weapon of the Nephandi once they have their claws in a soul it is forever."
The artificer grumbled.

He frowned, "When an Avatar Falls, it is torn to tiny bits and put back together twisted and wrung. That's not something that will heal naturally... but not all widderslainte are monsters. It seems that actually depends a fair bit on the circumstances of their Falling in the first place, and how long they lived to be further corrupted in personality afterwards... It seems that if someone enters a Caul to save another from further suffering, that compassion can linger strongly in the Avatar for quite some time, even into the next life. The darkness is always there, but not always obvious, even to the widderslainte. Interestingly, though, Lady Dalisse, the battlecruiser's Handler, knew as certainly as that humans need air that a Fallen Avatar can be untwisted and restored to the Light. That little detail strikes me as most interesting, since it suggests the Nephandi knew this perhaps already at the time when they were overtaken by the Malfean faction... As for how much the Traditions know about Fallen Avatars, well... it's not as though the research on restoration has been particularly... diligent or exhaustive. I blame Guernicus for that, really, with that bloody ritual..."

Tane wrote:Even in corruption, after death, they are precious. Always remember we are a doomed race Tane said unamused, looking at his cabalmate in a grim manner.

Anja wrote:"A Nephandus without an Avatar is still far easier to deal with Mr Karyak I said nothing about how the without Avatar had happened, perhaps it had just left or perhaps it was a baby hedge wizard Nephandus."
The artificer commented and shrugged.
"And we are a doomed race? What do you mean."

He frowned, "Endangered, perhaps, but hardly doomed."

Tane wrote:Tane twisted his lips, not liking the idea at all since he knew they had only one kind of way of dealing with nephandus, but saying nothing
Mages are decreasing our numbers every day. When avatars slumber back to souls and are not strong enough to awaken again... we are vanishing.

Anja wrote:"Ah that is what you meant, you are right the Union have caused allot of damage and a much harder Consensus, hopefully we will eventually be able to beat them back."
Bruce commented and frowned.

He arched an eyebrow, "Ebb and flow, I think. There's room for the broken in the light yet, and Earth is not the only place where Magi exist. There are Technocrats who come to us, too, whether by defection in one life or reincarnation in the next; the situation is less dire than you might think."

Anja wrote:"That might actually work if Jon is not directly involved his Arcane should not trigger and we should remember as for his birthday it is on the...the...but I had it on the tip of my tongue a moment ago...damn..."
Bruce grunted.
"I can't remember..."

He nodded sagely, "That seems to be how the damned thing works..."

Anja wrote:"There have to be some record somewhere right? Perhaps Master Sharaya knows?"
Bruce asked.
"Or Master Steelhaven. We could ask them. The question is how to avoid forgetting it again once we learn it."
He added and frowned in frustration.

He nodded, "The best thing I can think of is to obfuscate the reference so it does not immediately point to Jon."

Anja wrote:"Yeah that would probably be best."
Bruce said and frowned.
"I mean already one of us got close to Gilgul let us not get any close to the First Cabal than that."

He grimaced, "We are closer than that... A Nephanda tried to do that to me, too, on Saturday. Didn't exactly pan out for her, but all the same, it hurt..."

Tane wrote:Yeah, well, like many things. It's significance is not lost and even with their demise. Remember that is not always about the tree, but a forest is made of seeds too

He frowned, "There's more truth in that than you realize..."

Anja wrote:"You are right, their purpose to unify the Traditions got lost in Teomim's betrayal."
Bruce agreed and nodded.

He frowned, "Not lost... Shifted, misplaced, delayed, but never lost. And if you'd read the Fragile Path, you might note that had Teomim not betrayed their Cabal, something worse yet would have come along."

Anja wrote:Bruce considered for a moment before the replied.
"I am not so sure it is physical armor you need Mr Yager, I think I could make you the best set I am able to and you would still be afraid to go outside, perhaps it is your inner armor you have to work on and I can not help you there."
The large man said surprisingly softly.

He arched an eyebrow, "...Sounds like one of my lucky charms, for confidence, might serve better than a suit of armour. Why not swing by my shop one day and pick one up?"

Jeremy wrote:"You planning on suiting up to be a proper English gentlemen spy? Because I 'd love to see you take down a group of bar thugs with just an umbrella. I mostly just want to see that umbrella." Serge said with a wry grin.

He smiled wryly, "Just don't expect much of a visit to a church..."

Anja wrote:"Nah...Colin would talk the thugs into going home apologizing to their mothers for their bad behavior and then changing their ways."
Bruce said sounding amused.

Jeremy wrote:"Or threaten to tell their grandparents what a naughty little boy they're being. I've heard he isn't afraid to fight dirty." Serge said with a sly grin.

Anja wrote:"Oh that he will, fight dirty that is, when he need to."
Bruce said and grinned.

He grinned, "I certainly would try."

Anja wrote:"I can not yet work with Primium but if you can find someone to do it yes it should work well."
Bruce said and nodded.
"That being said I can make something a bit more...natural and bulky for you that will cause less Paradox."

He nodded, "I'll think about it - I know Master Haagen is capable of working Primium... might be able to persuade him."

Jeremy wrote:Serge looked at the garment armor for a few more seconds and said, "Is it pain proof? As in...would you still feel the impact of the bullet even if it didn't penetrate? I've heard that even with normal bullet-proof armor you'll still get severely bruised if you get shot."

He nodded, "Most body armour will disperse all the kinetic energy of an impact a fraction of an inch across into an area that makes it feel like a horse just kicked you. You might lose a rib or two, and you'll be black and blue - mostly blackish - for an extended period of time afterwards, but that's still preferable to a bullet in the lung and bleeding out on the battlefield..."

S7trif3 wrote:"Would that interfere with your casting?"

Anja wrote:"Primium, yes off course it tend to make all kinds of magick harder mine are no exception."
Your Cabalmate said and sigh.

He frowned, "Yes, it probably would, to some extent... It would not be impossible to overcome, though, but... hum, perhaps the Kelly formula would be better suited; there's a near-Primium quality refinement that has most of the properties of Primium except the dampening effect. Easier to work, too, I believe. I should inquire about that formula."

S7trif3 wrote:"Hrm, I can temporarily enchant items as well, to work against spiritual entities for example. But a week is a pretty long time, mine do not last nearly that long yet, I assume partly it is a result of you working with the matter itself."

He nodded, "I can make little lucky charms that last for months... Not very powerful, but they'll make the bearer's life a little easier for a while. It takes some effort to make it stick for that long, though, but it's a convenient thing that doesn't greatly irritate Reality."

Anja wrote:"Yeah I think so, duration is the main thing I am training on to get to the point where I can make permanent enchantments, however yes I think duration is easier to get to work right when I put the rote directly into the materials themselves."
Your Cabalmate said in a grunt.

He smiled wryly, "It seems there's a trade-off between duration and potency... There's only so much power we can add at our level, it seems."

Tane wrote:Well, enemies are at bay for a moment and I can finally sleep as a human being, i'm getting closer to cleansing avatars or at least I got an idea, and I'm helping a couple of friends get by, so I'm feeling pretty confident we're going to start in a better position than we were when this conflict started.

He smiled thinly, steeping his hands, "We are in a far better position to restore Avatars than a week ago... We know of two possible means for certain, and a potential third if your werewolf idea has merit. All we need is to stall for time to actually make it."

Tane wrote:Fate is nothing in the face of mortal men. We tell stories of heroes to remember ourselves we are too capable of being great.
Reality has a way of killing the undying.

He shrugged, "Fate is what you make it... Knowing what the current most likely outcome will be is a good way to choose a course of action that will either ensure or prevent that foreseen outcome. Luck, though - that's a lot more intangible, and yet it can be wielded like a sledgehammer or a feather duster by someone with the knack for it."

Tane wrote:I don't think we should compartment ourselves that way. But if we have to, I want Bee and the Kid in my corner

He grinned, "Cabal Leader's prerogative - I'm calling dibs on Adley and Beatrice. You can have Dr. Lee instead; you might find a lot of surprisingly common ground."

Jeremy wrote:"We're using nine in the symbolism of our coat of arms." Serge said although he quite clearly enjoyed Tane's suggestion. "How about Nine to one? Like a play on 'All for one' . That one might be stretching things though. How about 'The Novenary'?"

He arched an eyebrow, "Nine to one? I'm not sure I like those odds..."

Tane wrote:The Nine Musketeers? Numenera?

He pondered, "Might run into some trademark problems with those - Nine Musketeers should probably be unproblematic, but I think Numenera is a game system of some sort. I'm fairly sure I saw that in that section of Barnes and Noble recently."

S7trif3 wrote:"That is indeed what we're trying to choose, Mr Karyak," he said, glossing right over the comments about the Nine. "There are nine known spheres of magick, in our current organization system. Names can indeed be enchanted," he said thoughtfully, making a note on his notebook for later. "Nine is an interesting number..." He pulled out his phone and searched around for a bit of inspiration, since he didn't have his books with him. "Hm, I'm not sure how much Richard places in numerology but 9 is a favored number in Chinese, as well as being correlated to the dragon, which has nine forms and there are some Chinese Medicine relations to it that I do not understand." He continued searching. "There are nine Muses in greek mythology. The Ennead were nine egyptian dieties who decided who should inherit Egypt, Set or Horus. The number of perfection, the horizon before returning to ten. Of course, there are less fortuitous associations, like Dante's hell having nine circles, or how many days t takes to fall to Tartarus. It is a favored number of the Bahá'í faith, a divine number to Hindus. One branch of Indian mysticism relates elements, Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Ether, Time, Space, Soul, and Mind. Odin hung himself from an ash tree nine days to aquire the knowledge of runes. There are nine choirs of angels in Christian belief. The letter tet in Hebrew, relating to the sephirah of Yesod, the Foundation, originally Cheth in the Jewish formation. Doing something three times has many occult associations, basically indicating it is true, or meaning it, or that threefold return, and so forth. The ninth trump Tarot card is the Hermit, carrying the Lamp of Truth...wait..." he said, frowning. He looked curious, almost as if talking out loud was his way of thinking to himself. He scratched something else down on his notebook, then muttered, "Foundation. Foundry?"

He pondered, "That's a decent spread of associations... but realistically, how many of those do you think an average Mage would get?"

Anja wrote:"If it is a symbol of dragons what about a nine headed dragon?"
Bruce asked.
"What where you thinking about a Foundry?"

He arched an eyebrow, "Single colour, or nine different heads?"

Tane wrote:I know it's cheesy, but... "The Foundry of the Nine Blades"? Or the Nine blades?
Our name should make our enemies think it twice before opposing us

Anja wrote:"It is not a bad name however I have to say that I would not be to terrified of the name The Nine Blades, I would think more historical renactors or RPG nerds than something I should stay away from."
Bruce said sounding amused.

Tane wrote:My lvl 4 Paladin is not amused.

He shook his head, "We're not a war Cabal, as such. Half of us are better suited to work at the rear, rather than at the frontline. And your level 4 Paladin is not Queen Victoria, so his amusement is not pertinent to the discussion."

Tane wrote:I don't think we should compartment ourselves that way. But if we have to, I want Bee and the Kid in my corner

"What would be the name of that little group? The child, the witch, and the shark? Sounds like a children's book." Serge said with a chuckle.

Tane wrote:Well, enemies are at bay for a moment and I can finally sleep as a human being, i'm getting closer to cleansing avatars or at least I got an idea, and I'm helping a couple of friends get by, so I'm feeling pretty confident we're going to start in a better position than we were when this conflict started.

"Good to hear. I wish you great success on your quest to cleansing Avatars. Let me know if I can help in any way." Serge said with a smile at the Dreamspeaker.

[Cabal Meeting, 10 AM, Wednesday September 30th]

Jeremy wrote:"How on Earth do you still fight after a blow like that? I'd be down for the count almost instantly if the equivalent of a horse kick hit me in the ribs. I'd be as good as dead." Serge said amazed.

Colin smiled wryly, "I believe the suitable adjectives for that would be 'desperately' or 'gingerly'. In most such gunfights, though, one is seldom alone, and one's companions can focus on taking down the opposition instead of worrying about the downed fighter bleeding out rapidly. So no, I don't think most people shot like that will get up and keep fighting right away, outside of Hollywood movies, but a full-body bludgeon is still shorter recovery time than a bullet in the vital organs."

Jeremy wrote:"Could be the odd for our opponent, when they realize who we are." Serge said with a grin.

He nodded sagely, "How often do you see us gang up on a single opponent, though? We're more likely to face more equal numbers..."

Jeremy wrote:"It's gotta be different heads. One to represent each of us." Serge said adamantly. "If we do go that route."

He nodded, "Well, mine should be easy to design; green and scarred."

((OOC: Looks like you may have glossed over a few bits in my post, Jeremy. 'Salright, though; there was a lot in that post. ))

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

He nodded, "I am not fond of secrets, myself. But this is one of those times when secrecy can literally save lives."

"I am not happy about it Colin, but I will trust you."
Bruce said and frowned.

He nodded, "I'm not expecting the secret to be kept forever, but for now, you are safer not knowing. When that changes, you'll be given the full story, as far as I can tell it."

"I do not particularly favor being kept in the dark for my own good like a child Colin but like I said I am not going to pry."
The large Orphan said and frowned.

He frowned, "...Did you actually meet Mrs. Cunningham? While you are sort of right, a Nephandus without their Avatar is not a Nephandus anymore..."

"Yeah I have seen her brought down a corridor, poor woman."
Bruce muttered and shuddered.
"Well a Nephandus without an Avatar could still be working for the Nephandi that is Nephandus enough for me."

He frowned, "On that note, I've had a prophetic vision of a battle over Horizon, in some twenty years. The Handler of one of the battlecruisers in that timeline was the reincarnation of Beatrice. In that timeline, she was killed in a Technocracy attack here on January second, three months and change from now... She will be informed of this before then, and whatever she chooses to do, whether to hide elsewhere or fight, we will support and protect her as best we can. In twenty years, the attack will likely hit, and if Beatrice lives, I'll have a harder time of getting close enough to that Handler, but that's my problem. The important thing is, we know the most dangerous moment for Beatrice, and we have a chance to twist around Fate... Wrinkle warned me that changing her future like that will make the future battle harder for me, but he did not suggest that he would be forced to intervene... Now, this is not up for debate; Beatrice will get to make her own decision about what she'll do that day, and we'll all do what we can to protect her then. Any questions?"

Bruce looked at you and blinked then he shook his head.
"Shit Colin you can't put this at Bee's feet, you know she would fight, if she is able to there is no way she would run an hide when the Chantry is in danger."
He said and shook his head.
"We have to make sure we get reinforcements and that when this battle comes it do not go the same way and someone have to fight at Beatrice's side so that she is protected! The future be damned we are not loosing her now!"

He frowned, "When an Avatar Falls, it is torn to tiny bits and put back together twisted and wrung. That's not something that will heal naturally... but not all widderslainte are monsters. It seems that actually depends a fair bit on the circumstances of their Falling in the first place, and how long they lived to be further corrupted in personality afterwards... It seems that if someone enters a Caul to save another from further suffering, that compassion can linger strongly in the Avatar for quite some time, even into the next life. The darkness is always there, but not always obvious, even to the widderslainte. Interestingly, though, Lady Dalisse, the battlecruiser's Handler, knew as certainly as that humans need air that a Fallen Avatar can be untwisted and restored to the Light. That little detail strikes me as most interesting, since it suggests the Nephandi knew this perhaps already at the time when they were overtaken by the Malfean faction... As for how much the Traditions know about Fallen Avatars, well... it's not as though the research on restoration has been particularly... diligent or exhaustive. I blame Guernicus for that, really, with that bloody ritual..."

Bruce just scowled darkly at this then he sigh.
"So it might be ways to help Bee and the Chief's brat?"
He asked.

He arched an eyebrow, "Ebb and flow, I think. There's room for the broken in the light yet, and Earth is not the only place where Magi exist. There are Technocrats who come to us, too, whether by defection in one life or reincarnation in the next; the situation is less dire than you might think."

Bruce nodded at this.
"Perhaps we can get the space cadets on our side sooner or later they are often more friendly towards us than other Technocrats."

He nodded sagely, "That seems to be how the damned thing works..."

Bruce grunted at that.

He nodded, "The best thing I can think of is to obfuscate the reference so it does not immediately point to Jon."

"Perhaps Adley could do a numerological chard of our collective birth dates to do a reading on the Cabal, then he would need Jon's birthday but it would not directly target him sort of."
The artificer suggested.

He grimaced, "We are closer than that... A Nephanda tried to do that to me, too, on Saturday. Didn't exactly pan out for her, but all the same, it hurt..."

"Yeah you said so, shit, well I am glad you are not as injured as Bee or worse."
Bruce said and frowned.

He frowned, "Not lost... Shifted, misplaced, delayed, but never lost. And if you'd read the Fragile Path, you might note that had Teomim not betrayed their Cabal, something worse yet would have come along."

"I might have to read the book sooner or later Colin...hum....still betrayal is betrayal."
The large man muttered.

He grinned, "I certainly would try."

Bruce grinned at that.

He nodded, "I'll think about it - I know Master Haagen is capable of working Primium... might be able to persuade him."

"I think he worked some when he had his ranking test to become acknowledged as a Master of the Art."
Bruce agreed.

He nodded, "Most body armour will disperse all the kinetic energy of an impact a fraction of an inch across into an area that makes it feel like a horse just kicked you. You might lose a rib or two, and you'll be black and blue - mostly blackish - for an extended period of time afterwards, but that's still preferable to a bullet in the lung and bleeding out on the battlefield..."

"Yeah it at times hurt more than actually being shot, I took a bullet to the thigh once, shattered the bone, Master Nassa fixed me up good as new, but the thing is that it did not hurt, one moment I was standing there and then I was on the ground feeling sick and I could not feel my leg at all."
Bruce said and frowned.
"Well in either case my armor spread the impact out a bit more than than causing less injury but there might still be bruising."

He frowned, "Yes, it probably would, to some extent... It would not be impossible to overcome, though, but... hum, perhaps the Kelly formula would be better suited; there's a near-Primium quality refinement that has most of the properties of Primium except the dampening effect. Easier to work, too, I believe. I should inquire about that formula."

"I would be most interested in that formula Colin."
Bruce said his eyes growing wider with excitement.
"Where did you hear about such a thing?"

He smiled wryly, "It seems there's a trade-off between duration and potency... There's only so much power we can add at our level, it seems."

"Yeah that would be the problem."
Bruce said and frowned.
"So I need to get more skilled."

He pondered, "Might run into some trademark problems with those - Nine Musketeers should probably be unproblematic, but I think Numenera is a game system of some sort. I'm fairly sure I saw that in that section of Barnes and Noble recently."

"There is a computer game to, pretty good actually but one of the locations look like a Labyrinth with living walls full of eyes and mouths that eat people."
Bruce said and smiled.

He arched an eyebrow, "Single colour, or nine different heads?"

"Nine different heads I was thinking, I guess they could be different colors as well but it would look neater with all of the dragon being one color and then they might have nine different colored flames."
Bruce said.

He shook his head, "We're not a war Cabal, as such. Half of us are better suited to work at the rear, rather than at the frontline. And your level 4 Paladin is not Queen Victoria, so his amusement is not pertinent to the discussion."

"Well as Queen Victoria was actually a celebrated Master of the Art her amusement though would be important."
Bruce said and grinned.

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

"Yes, we really should discuss anything together before trying to apply it."

"Agreed."
Bruce said simply.

"The caul unbirths them from reality, having broken their avatars and then sends them back to the plane of existence where they no longer feel as if they can belong, due to that process. They have lost their connections to it, though some, I think, do remember some things...and that is a key, I feel."

The large Orphan nodded but he did not comment further this being far outside of his area of knowledge.

"You know, things were different back when Guernicus made that spell, I'm not even sure it is the same one, due to the fact the application of it is now different. Back then, people had wellsprings, and they did not commune with their avatars as they do today. It was only hrm...let me see," he thought about Erjne and the time period that he was in,

"Actually some of the texts I inherited from my grandfather spoke about that, our ancestor a artificer from before the Order of Reason was formed spoke of his Fount."
Bruce commented. You could remember Ernje's Gift, his Fount and how that felt, to him, up until his last glorious moment it had just been the source of his magick and nothing more. Back then though Gilgul where not performed so much to stop corruption it was just a severe punishment as most mages would rather die than loose their magick and become mundanes and it was a much simpler rote that probably did not do the same as the one today do.

"I don't know if that's so, it may be that they sleep for now, until the Technocracy's stranglehold weakens...besides, we were never all that numerous to begin with, I think now that we are so connected all over the globe, it seems it is more scarce."

"I mean also if you enhance your senses to see energies and such and just walk around a mall or something there is so many you see a bit of magick in, I think we might be more numerous than many think it only that most never end up joining a faction or developing their abilities past always being soothing and healing when they tend to their sick family members or always knowing what to cook to put their household in a good mood."
Bruce commented.

"I work primarily with ars vis...Prime directly, since I have not studied matter. It does make sense though that it would last longer on the material plane when working with physical materials though."

"Yeah...it is easier for the hedgies though, for us making anything permanent and static is hard but for them, I mean I have seen beginner hedigies make permanent enchantments."
Bruce said and frowned.

"What language is it in? Also, certain types of things are harder to translate, such as medical jargon and so forth, since it involves highly specific terms but I can at least look for someone who might be facile in such."

"I am not sure I think it might be Coptic or something, some of the texts, most of them are Latin and I have with difficulty been able to get through that but not Coptic."
Bruce explained and shook his head.

"We made this miraculous invention called the pencil and paper...of course, if we forget where to look...hrm..."

"Here is an idea, what if we write it up and tape the note to our bathroom mirror, that way we will see it when we brush our teeth, and if we forget where we put the note it will be easy to find again."
Your Cabalmate suggested.

"Hrm, well perhaps I can ask one of the Verbena, they probably have very good solutions to that kind of thing."

"They would be the ones to ask about removing blood stains."
Bruce agreed.

"Sort of like a shield spell then."

"Yeah it would be sort of the same yes."
He said and nodded.

"Yeah..." Serge said as he took one more glance at the jacket. He smiled and said "Still think it'd be cool to have a jacket like this though. Just cause it'd look cool on me."

"I can make one for you if you have anything to trade for it."
Bruce said.
"But it do take quite a bit of effort."

Serge nodded at that. "Yeah. We're capable of so much yet hold ourselves back too often. Only showing our true strength when adrenaline is high and we have everything to lose."

Leaning back in his chair, Serge thought about something for a moment and said, "I wonder if I can add that to the armor. The painless part. I'm not as good at enchanting items as you guys. Hell I only learned how to do something like it two days ago. But it could be a fun thing to try."

"Painless might not be good in a fight, that might disassociate you from what is happening but a way to reduce pain so it do not disturb concentration and ability to move would be most useful."
Bruce agreed.

"Now hold on there. That's one point of fighting. The most common one. But I think your wrong in saying that's the only reason people fight." Serge said glancing at Bruce. "It is not always desperation or killing to achieve a goal. Gladiators fought to entertain a crowd and even tried to win without spilling blood as that required more skill. Hell even fights between martial artists are pretty entertaining to watch and in those they are typically trying to show off their skills rather than kill each other. Same with MMA fighters. Doubt they're trying to kill each other."

"I was not talking about Martial Arts contests Mr Yager which are sports and not actual combat and off course there are many reason why someone might fight, some are thrill seekers, others might try to rob someone or they have some goal in mind, but most only fight life and death when they are desperate and gunshots and the like that you describe that is not a part of a martial arts contest."
The large Orphan said and grunted.

Re: Little Moments Between Steptember and November, Meetings and Endings IC Thread 30

Post by s7trif3 Today at 10:26 am

Yeah, well, like many things. It's significance is not lost and even with their demise. Remember that is not always about the tree, but a forest is made of seeds too

He frowned, "There's more truth in that than you realize..."


He raised an eyebrow at Tane. "There is more to it..."

I don't think we should compartment ourselves that way. But if we have to, I want Bee and the Kid in my corner

He grinned, "Cabal Leader's prerogative - I'm calling dibs on Adley and Beatrice. You can have Dr. Lee instead; you might find a lot of surprisingly common ground."


He frowned, about to say something but Colin called dibs and there was no need to - but Beatrice and Colin were his family, in spirit and there was no way he wasn't going to be connected to them.

Well, enemies are at bay for a moment and I can finally sleep as a human being, i'm getting closer to cleansing avatars or at least I got an idea, and I'm helping a couple of friends get by, so I'm feeling pretty confident we're going to start in a better position than we were when this conflict started.


"I wouldn't count on our enemies being at bay," he said with a frown. "But do tell me of your idea, I'm curious and also researching that."

Bruce raised an eyebrow at this but he di not say much just.
"Make sure you do not expose Bee to any dangerous experiments Mr Karyak."
He said and frowned.


"Yes, we really should discuss anything together before trying to apply it."

No, no, Bee is alright right now. Her little god is not strong enought right now to go through any kind of treatment. Once it is alright we have her do rehab, psicologic and then, if she's willing, we'll try less invasive treatments as she were. Only if we are forced we will try something more drastic.

In any case, i've been wondering in this free days of mine... Are Widderslaints' avatars as corrupted as they were in their previous life? or do they cleanse themselves over time and reincarnations? If this last natural cleansing is the case, then it's clearly easier to cleanse them than we have thought. There are spirit treatments that can filter the avatar, theoretically. So i'm thinking that might be a way... now i need to document if it is any more corrupted before reincarnating...


"Her god is healing," he agreed, cautiously. "Once a person's avatar goes through a caul, the caul experience is one of the spirit which is not one linked to time until it is put back into a physical body, a vessel. Us. I do not know if, without effort, they are simply restored or not over time. But it seems that concentrated effort with certain techniques as well as certain /reasons/ why they...did that...and also their upbringing may have some effect. It is not easy, whatever way we cut it."

"As far as I know a widderslainte is as corrupted as their previous incarnation that is why the Traditions deal with them the way they do, since they will just continue to spread the corruption incarnation to incarnation, if the corruption slowly vanished over time there would be no need for that. The thing is that is the weapon of the Nephandi once they have their claws in a soul it is forever."
The artificer grumbled.


"The caul unbirths them from reality, having broken their avatars and then sends them back to the plane of existence where they no longer feel as if they can belong, due to that process. They have lost their connections to it, though some, I think, do remember some things...and that is a key, I feel."

He frowned, "When an Avatar Falls, it is torn to tiny bits and put back together twisted and wrung. That's not something that will heal naturally... but not all widderslainte are monsters. It seems that actually depends a fair bit on the circumstances of their Falling in the first place, and how long they lived to be further corrupted in personality afterwards... It seems that if someone enters a Caul to save another from further suffering, that compassion can linger strongly in the Avatar for quite some time, even into the next life. The darkness is always there, but not always obvious, even to the widderslainte. Interestingly, though, Lady Dalisse, the battlecruiser's Handler, knew as certainly as that humans need air that a Fallen Avatar can be untwisted and restored to the Light. That little detail strikes me as most interesting, since it suggests the Nephandi knew this perhaps already at the time when they were overtaken by the Malfean faction... As for how much the Traditions know about Fallen Avatars, well... it's not as though the research on restoration has been particularly... diligent or exhaustive. I blame Guernicus for that, really, with that bloody ritual..."


"You know, things were different back when Guernicus made that spell, I'm not even sure it is the same one, due to the fact the application of it is now different. Back then, people had wellsprings, and they did not commune with their avatars as they do today. It was only hrm...let me see," he thought about Erjne and the time period that he was in, "in medieval times that such a thing started to happen, and no one seems to know why. But I do agree that there has been a dearth of recent research, perhaps someone knows more than we think, but for now it seems they've settled on one...way to deal with them. I am very curious about Lady Dalisse's knowledge, amicus..."

He frowned, "On that note, I've had a prophetic vision of a battle over Horizon, in some twenty years. The Handler of one of the battlecruisers in that timeline was the reincarnation of Beatrice. In that timeline, she was killed in a Technocracy attack here on January second, three months and change from now... She will be informed of this before then, and whatever she chooses to do, whether to hide elsewhere or fight, we will support and protect her as best we can. In twenty years, the attack will likely hit, and if Beatrice lives, I'll have a harder time of getting close enough to that Handler, but that's my problem. The important thing is, we know the most dangerous moment for Beatrice, and we have a chance to twist around Fate... Wrinkle warned me that changing her future like that will make the future battle harder for me, but he did not suggest that he would be forced to intervene... Now, this is not up for debate; Beatrice will get to make her own decision about what she'll do that day, and we'll all do what we can to protect her then. Any questions?"


He frowned. He'd known about this already but was still extremely displeased.


Tane twisted his lips, not liking the idea at all since he knew they had only one kind of way of dealing with nephandus, but saying nothing
Mages are decreasing our numbers every day. When avatars slumber back to souls and are not strong enough to awaken again... we are vanishing.

"Ah that is what you meant, you are right the Union have caused allot of damage and a much harder Consensus, hopefully we will eventually be able to beat them back."
Bruce commented and frowned.


"I don't know if that's so, it may be that they sleep for now, until the Technocracy's stranglehold weakens...besides, we were never all that numerous to begin with, I think now that we are so connected all over the globe, it seems it is more scarce."

Can I ask what the fuck? I wanna know if there's any danger

"I think they would have told us if we had beenTwice then Tane twisted his face in disagreement and distaste, but as before, he said nothing, aside from You know we're here to help, and neck deep with you. If there's anything we can help with, just say the word. in any danger from this Mr Karyak."
Bruce commented but he clearly did not like the secrecy either.

He frowned, "There's always danger... but in this particular case, your not knowing makes you safer, for now. It pertains to the legal hostilities we're in the middle of, and right now, your ignorance will shield you from spillover."


"You can ask, but you will receive the same answer for now as the others have... but thank you for your offer."

"Yeah I think so, duration is the main thing I am training on to get to the point where I can make permanent enchantments, however yes I think duration is easier to get to work right when I put the rote directly into the materials themselves."
Your Cabalmate said in a grunt.


"I work primarily with ars vis...Prime directly, since I have not studied matter. It does make sense though that it would last longer on the material plane when working with physical materials though."

"Man that's cool. I wouldn't mind having some armor like this. Might make going outside seem less frightening." Serge said as he glanced at the garment armor. "I don't really get into situations that would warrant bullet proof armor though. So perhaps it's not the greatest wardrobe choice for me."

"I am not so sure it is physical armor you need Mr Yager, I think I could make you the best set I am able to and you would still be afraid to go outside, perhaps it is your inner armor you have to work on and I can not help you there."
The large man said surprisingly softly.


"Are you afraid of going outside?" he asked Serge.

"Hum...well what would be most useful to me would be your help with some translations, some of my grandfather's texts are not in English and so I have had a problem reading them, so I am sure we can find arrangement if you find that you need something made."
Bruce said and smiled.


"What language is it in? Also, certain types of things are harder to translate, such as medical jargon and so forth, since it involves highly specific terms but I can at least look for someone who might be facile in such."

"There have to be some record somewhere right? Perhaps Master Sharaya knows?"
Bruce asked.
"Or Master Steelhaven. We could ask them. The question is how to avoid forgetting it again once we learn it."
He added and frowned in frustration.


"We made this miraculous invention called the pencil and paper...of course, if we forget where to look...hrm..."

Bruce considered then he pulled a battered notebook out of his pocket and made some calculations after a while he said.
"Yes...I can enchant fabric to turn stains into some other kind of matter that can be easily brushed of, though with living things such as blood this will only happen once it dies."


"Hrm, well perhaps I can ask one of the Verbena, they probably have very good solutions to that kind of thing."

"Quite a bit but it is not indestructible, and the duration of the enchantment will suffer if it is damaged to much."
He said and shrugged.


"Sort of like a shield spell then."

He pondered, "That's a decent spread of associations... but realistically, how many of those do you think an average Mage would get?"


He laughed. "An average mage...at any rate, one or so, but we're all so different I figured that it might apply each to us differently."

"If it is a symbol of dragons what about a nine headed dragon?"
Bruce asked.
"What where you thinking about a Foundry?"

I know it's cheesy, but... "The Foundry of the Nine Blades"? Or the Nine blades?
Our name should make our enemies think it twice before opposing us

"It is not a bad name however I have to say that I would not be to terrified of the name The Nine Blades, I would think more historical renactors or RPG nerds than something I should stay away from."
Bruce said sounding amused.

My lvl 4 Paladin is not amused.

He shook his head, "We're not a war Cabal, as such. Half of us are better suited to work at the rear, rather than at the frontline. And your level 4 Paladin is not Queen Victoria, so his amusement is not pertinent to the discussion."


He chuckled at Colin's remark and then replied to Bruce first. "Related to foundation, but also taking some of the symbolism of a forge and crucible, although I suppose it would be more of a factory...I enjoy a good pun and layered meanings. Not all of us are martial, I agree with Colin, though swords are also a symbol of mental arts, the tongue is the sword of the mouth, and swords without the S are words," he said with a tired smile.

// forgot to copy this for you, sorry!

Re: Little Moments Between Steptember and November, Meetings and Endings IC Thread 30

Post by s7trif3 Today at 10:44 pm

"Perhaps Adley could do a numerological chard of our collective birth dates to do a reading on the Cabal, then he would need Jon's birthday but it would not directly target him sort of."
The artificer suggested.


"I am not strong in numerology in that sense, though I am sure that information would be useful in the right hands, especially in conjunction with other things like your name. Strange how we're conditioned now to just hand these things out on any old form...they even assign us a number at birth now. Also, I will pretend I didn't hear you call my brother a brat..."

The large Orphan nodded but he did not comment further this being far outside of his area of knowledge.


"That is my current theory at any rate."

"Actually some of the texts I inherited from my grandfather spoke about that, our ancestor a artificer from before the Order of Reason was formed spoke of his Fount."
Bruce commented.


"Coptic sort of looks like Greek," he said. "I can probably read it though I am not sure about the jargon. I can investigate."

"Yeah...it is easier for the hedgies though, for us making anything permanent and static is hard but for them, I mean I have seen beginner hedigies make permanent enchantments."
Bruce said and frowned.


"We all have our talents."

He frowned, "Yes, it probably would, to some extent... It would not be impossible to overcome, though, but... hum, perhaps the Kelly formula would be better suited; there's a near-Primium quality refinement that has most of the properties of Primium except the dampening effect. Easier to work, too, I believe. I should inquire about that formula."

"I would be most interested in that formula Colin."
Bruce said his eyes growing wider with excitement.
"Where did you hear about such a thing?"


"I am a bit curious too, though I admit that I do not understand much of what you just said."

"You would be amazed at what one can do when one have to Mr Yager, when you know you will die and your friends will die unless you get back up, but yes it is not like in allot of moves where a bullet proof west mean one can just shrug of bullets, being hit still means a trip to the emergency room but with a west you can usually then walk back out again when you have been patched up instead of being rolled into the OR or the morgue."
Bruce said and shrugged.


"It hurts a lot but you aren't dead and you still have to fight."

"Don't have much...would a drawing that paralyzes anyone who looks at it work?" Serge asked curiously.


He raised an eyebrow at that. "Remind me not to causally peer at your sketchbook."

Leaning back in his chair, Serge thought about something for a moment and said, "I wonder if I can add that to the armor. The painless part. I'm not as good at enchanting items as you guys. Hell I only learned how to do something like it two days ago. But it could be a fun thing to try."

"Painless might not be good in a fight, that might disassociate you from what is happening but a way to reduce pain so it do not disturb concentration and ability to move would be most useful."
Bruce agreed.

"That's true. I've been hospitalized a couple of times because of that. Not realizing what state my body was in until I passed out from dehydration or starvation that I didn't feel." Serge said as if that was a normal thing to happen to a person. "But yeah that's what I meant. Something that makes you ignore pain so it doesn't get in the way of your concentration. You'll essentially be fighting at full strength regardless of your injuries."


"That can be useful in an emergency, like you said, being injured means you aren't performing well. But the other side of it is, if you push yourself more than you should, since your pain is not there to remind you, then you could hurt yourself worse. Even die. I had to watch out for that when I used that potion and honestly, I was very lucky not to have made things very much worse than they were. If I had to have done, I would have pushed myself until I died if it meant that we got through those battles alive. I would have had little choice. I am glad that you are alright, Mr Yager that does not sound pleasant."

"Now hold on there. That's one point of fighting. The most common one. But I think your wrong in saying that's the only reason people fight." Serge said glancing at Bruce. "It is not always desperation or killing to achieve a goal. Gladiators fought to entertain a crowd and even tried to win without spilling blood as that required more skill. Hell even fights between martial artists are pretty entertaining to watch and in those they are typically trying to show off their skills rather than kill each other. Same with MMA fighters. Doubt they're trying to kill each other."


"The spilling of blood was also costly to the gladiator's patrons, so there was more reason behind it than just finesse and skill. They didn't want them to die."

"Well, normally no, but I haven't been in Boston for that long. Everything is a bit new to me. Not to mention I'm not a very outdoors-y guy in general and with my overactive imagination I tend to think everything wants to attack or harm me. So I'm not really a fan of exploring the great outdoors. At least not in this world." Serge explained.


'It can feel that way if you get in the way of the morning joggers and you're not running," he said, with a bit of a wry look. "A good amount of paranoia is probably healthy for us, but we can't afford to be so afraid that we get in our own way either. It's difficult."

// sorry I missed a few bits earlier today

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

"Don't have much...would a drawing that paralyzes anyone who looks at it work?" Serge asked curiously.

"No sorry kid, I do not think I have much use of that."
Bruce said and he shook his head.

"That's true. I've been hospitalized a couple of times because of that. Not realizing what state my body was in until I passed out from dehydration or starvation that I didn't feel." Serge said as if that was a normal thing to happen to a person.

Bruce gave you a very odd look.
"Ehum...okey then, perhaps some sort of alarm to remind of you such needs would be a good idea."

"But yeah that's what I meant. Something that makes you ignore pain so it doesn't get in the way of your concentration. You'll essentially be fighting at full strength regardless of your injuries."

"Yeah that would be quite useful to put into an armor."
Bruce agreed and nodded.
"You can do this kid?"

"Sorry, sorry. If we're only taking about life and death combat then yeah your right. The only point is to fight desperately for what you want, ready to kill or be killed in the process. No fun and games." Serge apologized secretly thinking that he had won the argument for getting Bruce to admit there was more types of combat than just the one the Orphan had described.

"There is no need to apologize kid."
Bruce said and sigh.
"It is perfectly fine to say something others do not agree with."

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

"I am not strong in numerology in that sense, though I am sure that information would be useful in the right hands, especially in conjunction with other things like your name. Strange how we're conditioned now to just hand these things out on any old form...they even assign us a number at birth now.

"I guess you are right about that Adley we give out our name and birthrate on every form there is, and knowing what can be done with them that is a bit scary."
Bruce agreed.

Also, I will pretend I didn't hear you call my brother a brat..."

"Yeah sorry about that."
The Orphan said and he scratched his head.

"Coptic sort of looks like Greek," he said. "I can probably read it though I am not sure about the jargon. I can investigate."

"I can bring the books over to your room if you will, and thank you."
Bruce said and smiled.

"We all have our talents."

"That we do."
He agreed.

"It hurts a lot but you aren't dead and you still have to fight."

Bruce nodded at that.

"The spilling of blood was also costly to the gladiator's patrons, so there was more reason behind it than just finesse and skill. They didn't want them to die."

"True the gladiators was after all highly trained and expensive the old roman Bastards would not want their investments to just die."
Your Cabalmate agreed and nodded.

"Well, maybe Next time we can organize a more relaxed gathering and meet properly. It'd be nice" Tane proposed to her and more So, to the group at large.

"Well this is pretty relaxed actually Mr Karyak we are just sitting around and talking."
Bruce commented.

"In that case, although I need to confirmate, it's a shame. I will still see if we can mechanically filter the soul's corruption."

"There would not be anything to filter, it is like talking about filtering the rabbit out of a rabbit, an Fallen Avatar is changed it is not like with Jhor which is a lingering taint which can be removed or as you said filtered out."
The Orphan said and frowned.

As we are, we are doomed. If we are to survive, we have to adapt and that changes us. We can't survive being who we are now, but to survive we have to give up something of what we are.
I just hope mistakes are enough, though.

"Hum...I can not really say I get what you are taling about here Mr Karyak, in what ways are you claiming we need to change?"
Bruce said skeptically.

"I'll need a fucking etherite space craft for that so i'm trying to think of a way to make it easier to pursue"

"Him over there is getting lessons in Umbra ship piloting the way I understand it."
Bruce said and pointed at Colin.
"And we have gotten ourselves a Etherite now in Miss Bouchard."

[Cabal Meeting]

Tane's Post:

'Yes, that would be nice.' the large woman replied. 'Well, better be off...' Unless stopped by anything, she'll move to the door, the last view being her large behind encased in the form-fitting semi-leggings...

[Leaves Scene?]

[Cabal Meeting, 10 AM, Wednesday September 30th]

Tane wrote:"In that case, although I need to confirmate, it's a shame. I will still see if we can mechanically filter the soul's corruption."

He nodded, "It's not necessarily forever, but Newton's first law could be applied - an Avatar will remain in its current state until and unless acted on by an outside force. An Avatar in its right state can be made to Fall, and a Fallen Avatar can be restored, but it cannot do so entirely on its own."

Anja wrote:"I am not happy about it Colin, but I will trust you."
Bruce said and frowned.

Anja wrote:"I do not particularly favor being kept in the dark for my own good like a child Colin but like I said I am not going to pry."
The large Orphan said and frowned.

He nodded, "Likewise."

Tane wrote:"Ah, alright then, just let me know if I can do something to help, then"

He nodded, "Certainly."

Anja wrote:"Yeah I have seen her brought down a corridor, poor woman."
Bruce muttered and shuddered.
"Well a Nephandus without an Avatar could still be working for the Nephandi that is Nephandus enough for me."

He frowned, "Hypothetically, I suppose... They do have Linear Magi as Pawns, true enough, but a former Nephandus... I'm not so sure..."

S7trif3 wrote:He frowned. He'd known about this already but was still extremely displeased.

Anja wrote:Bruce looked at you and blinked then he shook his head.
"Shit Colin you can't put this at Bee's feet, you know she would fight, if she is able to there is no way she would run an hide when the Chantry is in danger."
He said and shook his head.
"We have to make sure we get reinforcements and that when this battle comes it do not go the same way and someone have to fight at Beatrice's side so that she is protected! The future be damned we are not loosing her now!"

He shook his head, "I am not going to tell her now, before she's recovered a fair bit. But i am not going to deprive her of agency when the time comes; I've already got a few promises of reinforcements, and will be exchanging personal favours if necessary to secure more - and I am going to assume she will want to fight, but that does not mean I accept her death as inevitable. We have the advantage of knowing she'll be at risk of death - and that means we can do more to protect her in particular; I've already denied death several times over, for Anna, for Rodger Tasselwell, for the whole bloody group that retrieved Liv Bergen from the vampire's apartment in Chicago; I am not going to simply roll over and let Bee die, either."

Tane wrote:"So we"all reach that point so soon? But wait, this will be a battlecruiser captain with only 20 years? And he will be with the Union?

I'd appreciate more insight over how you'll have it harder and how acurate or true your visions are"

He shook his head, "No, that battle will be an attack by the Nephandi. The Battlecruiser's captain will probably be an adult, but the Handler will be a mere teenager, if we are unable to change that particular part of the timeline. As for how accurate my visions are - so far, 100% up to the point where I act on the information to change the outcome. That vision informed me of Chief Morgan's newly inherited Umbral Shuttle before the Mercere who brought the message arrived, and there have been other visions that have either been ensured or prevented. The most recent saved the lives of my daughter and Mr. Tasselwell, and ensured the capture of our would-be assassins, plus it saved the life of Captain Welder."

Anja wrote:Bruce just scowled darkly at this then he sigh.
"So it might be ways to help Bee and the Chief's brat?"
He asked.

He nodded, "No hypothetical about it; it IS possible. The question is whether we succeed or not, but it has been done, and it will be done again. Anna visited from a future point where she had restored her Avatar, and brought munitions for the battle."

Anja wrote:Bruce nodded at this.
"Perhaps we can get the space cadets on our side sooner or later they are often more friendly towards us than other Technocrats."

He smiled, "That would be a highly fortuitous alliance, not just for the Umbral superiority we would attain."

Anja wrote:"Yeah you said so, shit, well I am glad you are not as injured as Bee or worse."
Bruce said and frowned.

He smiled wryly, "Thank you... Between an attempted Gilgul and a dip in a Caul, my Avatar has been manhandled enough for several lifetimes..."

Anja wrote:"I might have to read the book sooner or later Colin...hum....still betrayal is betrayal."
The large man muttered.

He nodded, "Betrayal is betrayal, but it was necessary, however regrettable..."

S7trif3 wrote:"You know, things were different back when Guernicus made that spell, I'm not even sure it is the same one, due to the fact the application of it is now different. Back then, people had wellsprings, and they did not commune with their avatars as they do today. It was only hrm...let me see," he thought about Erjne and the time period that he was in, "in medieval times that such a thing started to happen, and no one seems to know why. But I do agree that there has been a dearth of recent research, perhaps someone knows more than we think, but for now it seems they've settled on one...way to deal with them. I am very curious about Lady Dalisse's knowledge, amicus..."

Anja wrote:"Actually some of the texts I inherited from my grandfather spoke about that, our ancestor a artificer from before the Order of Reason was formed spoke of his Fount."
Bruce commented. You could remember Ernje's Gift, his Fount and how that felt, to him, up until his last glorious moment it had just been the source of his magick and nothing more. Back then though Gilgul where not performed so much to stop corruption it was just a severe punishment as most mages would rather die than loose their magick and become mundanes and it was a much simpler rote that probably did not do the same as the one today do.

He frowned, "Originally, Guernicus' spell severed the connection; Lady Dalisse knows this intimately - she was one of Guernicus' original test subjects, back in the Schism War... her Fount was severed, but she managed to escape a little while later when he returned as a badly scarred Avatar, a hoary old man with a strong Primordial bent. She revealed him to me; quite the imposing figure... and yes, Lady Dalisse's knowledge of Avatars would be well worth inquiring about, but that's going to be a little... difficult."

Tane wrote:"You warm my heart with that knowledge, Colin. Could you help me find this Lady Dalisse? I'd like to ask some questions at her"

He looked at Tane with a blank expression for a few seconds, then smiled wryly, "I will admit, there have been a few moments where I've entertained the idea of sending you careening off into the Deep Umbra on your own, but... I'm afraid Lady Dalisse's legal status is in a bit of limbo right now, so consulting with her before the Quaesitors have fully debated whether contact is legal or not might be... a bit of a gamble. Plus, I don't think either of us would be able to navigate the Deep Umbra on our own, an adequate ship or not - but yes, I do know how to contact her. It's just not entirely safe to do so, nor reliably quick."

Tane wrote:As we are, we are doomed. If we are to survive, we have to adapt and that changes us. We can't survive being who we are now, but to survive we have to give up something of what we are.
I just hope mistakes are enough, though.

He arched an eyebrow, "How right you are..."

Tane wrote:"I'll need a fucking etherite space craft for that so i'm trying to think of a way to make it easier to pursue"

He frowned, "Well, that's oddly fortuitous - I do have access to one such Deep Umbra research vessel, however, flying her is contingent on my being able to cleanse her of the corruption that permeates the entire ship after it accidentally wound up in the Caul dimension... that's going to take a while to accomplish, if it can at all be done, but at that point, I suppose you could be added to the crew roster for a small such detour."

Anja wrote:"I mean also if you enhance your senses to see energies and such and just walk around a mall or something there is so many you see a bit of magick in, I think we might be more numerous than many think it only that most never end up joining a faction or developing their abilities past always being soothing and healing when they tend to their sick family members or always knowing what to cook to put their household in a good mood."
Bruce commented.

He nodded, glancing at Adley, "It seems that a little extra vigilance would be in a class of its own..."

Anja wrote:"I think he worked some when he had his ranking test to become acknowledged as a Master of the Art."
Bruce agreed.

He nodded, "So he did."

Anja wrote:"Yeah it at times hurt more than actually being shot, I took a bullet to the thigh once, shattered the bone, Master Nassa fixed me up good as new, but the thing is that it did not hurt, one moment I was standing there and then I was on the ground feeling sick and I could not feel my leg at all."
Bruce said and frowned.
"Well in either case my armor spread the impact out a bit more than than causing less injury but there might still be bruising."

He smiled wryly, "Sounds like your armour would put most mundane Kevlar variants to shame, then."

Anja wrote:"I would be most interested in that formula Colin."
Bruce said his eyes growing wider with excitement.
"Where did you hear about such a thing?"

S7trif3 wrote:"I am a bit curious too, though I admit that I do not understand much of what you just said."

He arched an eyebrow, "I spoke with Miss Kelly, the daughter of Dr. Kelly, about it when I borrowed the fuel tanks from her Ethership. 44 drams of highly corrosive, corrupted Quintessence. Disgusting stuff, but highly effective for taking down the defenses of the Chicago Labyrinth once wielded by someone who could do so without risk of Jhor. The good Miss Kelly has a... harness of the material, owing to a serious injury that would otherwise leave her paralyzed; with her harness, she's fully mobile."

Anja wrote:"Yeah that would be the problem."
Bruce said and frowned.
"So I need to get more skilled."

He nodded, "Or merely more powerful. Hum, I suppose investing more time and labour into each item might make it possible to squeeze a little more out of your work, but there would be a time where you'd hit severely diminished returns..."

Anja wrote:"There is a computer game to, pretty good actually but one of the locations look like a Labyrinth with living walls full of eyes and mouths that eat people."
Bruce said and smiled.

He frowned, "Alright, Numenera is out of the question."

S7trif3 wrote:He laughed. "An average mage...at any rate, one or so, but we're all so different I figured that it might apply each to us differently."

He nodded, "Your mileage may vary, indeed..."

Jeremy wrote:Serge nodded at that. "Yeah. We're capable of so much yet hold ourselves back too often. Only showing our true strength when adrenaline is high and we have everything to lose."

Leaning back in his chair, Serge thought about something for a moment and said, "I wonder if I can add that to the armor. The painless part. I'm not as good at enchanting items as you guys. Hell I only learned how to do something like it two days ago. But it could be a fun thing to try."

Anja wrote:"Painless might not be good in a fight, that might disassociate you from what is happening but a way to reduce pain so it do not disturb concentration and ability to move would be most useful."
Bruce agreed.

Jeremy wrote:"That's true. I've been hospitalized a couple of times because of that. Not realizing what state my body was in until I passed out from dehydration or starvation that I didn't feel." Serge said as if that was a normal thing to happen to a person.

"But yeah that's what I meant. Something that makes you ignore pain so it doesn't get in the way of your concentration. You'll essentially be fighting at full strength regardless of your injuries."

He frowned, "I'd recommend not going that far. Pain dampening, yes, but not negation. That's ridiculously dangerous."

Jeremy wrote:Bruce gave you a very odd look.
"Ehum...okey then, perhaps some sort of alarm to remind of you such needs would be a good idea."

He nodded, "Seconded - could be done with a self-induced mental compulsion, I think; making your subconscious ring a proverbial bell when it has been a certain number of hours since you ate or rested..."

Jeremy wrote:"Someone should create a spell that causes everyone to fight by Hollywood rules." Serge said with a smile. "Wouldn't that be something? Guns firing everywhere but nobody gets hit. All cover is impenetrable. Nobody needs to reload. Explosions happening everywhere. Stuff doesn't happen unless it happens dramatically.....maybe I'm the only one who'd enjoy that."

He shook his head, "That... would not be good; that would mean only small nicks or very serious, probably fatal wounds. An all-or-nothing scenario in a fight is not something you would want. Being laid out for a couple of weeks from an injury is pretty unpleasant, true, but it's far preferable to dying."

Anja wrote:"Now would not Wrinkle love that one kid."
Bruce said and grinned.
"I think you are missing the point of fighting Mr Yager it is not to be cool but usually for some purpose desperate enough that you are willing to kill...or die to achieve it."

Jeremy wrote:"Sorry, sorry. If we're only taking about life and death combat then yeah your right. The only point is to fight desperately for what you want, ready to kill or be killed in the process. No fun and games." Serge apologized secretly thinking that he had won the argument for getting Bruce to admit there was more types of combat than just the one the Orphan had described.

He sighed, "Wrinkle, alas, would not care one bit. If any Paradox spirit were to take an interest in that, it would not be one that would be bothered with politely discussing the error of your ways."

Jeremy wrote:"Now hold on there. That's one point of fighting. The most common one. But I think your wrong in saying that's the only reason people fight." Serge said glancing at Bruce. "It is not always desperation or killing to achieve a goal. Gladiators fought to entertain a crowd and even tried to win without spilling blood as that required more skill. Hell even fights between martial artists are pretty entertaining to watch and in those they are typically trying to show off their skills rather than kill each other. Same with MMA fighters. Doubt they're trying to kill each other."

Anja wrote:"I was not talking about Martial Arts contests Mr Yager which are sports and not actual combat and off course there are many reason why someone might fight, some are thrill seekers, others might try to rob someone or they have some goal in mind, but most only fight life and death when they are desperate and gunshots and the like that you describe that is not a part of a martial arts contest."
The large Orphan said and grunted.

He frowned, "Duels and performance fights are not the same as bloody war... And most duels and tournaments frown upon using, hm, performance enhancers. "

S7trif3 wrote:'It can feel that way if you get in the way of the morning joggers and you're not running," he said, with a bit of a wry look. "A good amount of paranoia is probably healthy for us, but we can't afford to be so afraid that we get in our own way either. It's difficult."

He smiled wryly, "The invitation to tag along with my morning run remains open; it's a brisk way to work up an appetite for breakfast."

Jeremy wrote:"We ganged up on those oil men. I think we did at least. Their was a lot of them but more of us. That fight was a while ago." Serge said trying to recall that strange fight.

He grimaced, "Ah, yes, Dr. Jace's... kitten. The less said about the man's work, the better."

Anja wrote:"Nine different heads I was thinking, I guess they could be different colors as well but it would look neater with all of the dragon being one color and then they might have nine different colored flames."
Bruce said.

Jeremy wrote:"I'll go multicolored like this crayon." Serge said pulling out one of the mystical crayon he had gotten from the Deaconess.

He arched an eyebrow, "Where in the world did you acquire such a crayon?"

Anja wrote:"Well as Queen Victoria was actually a celebrated Master of the Art her amusement though would be important."
Bruce said and grinned.

He frowned, "Yes, well, she was also Etherite before the Etherites defected to our side..."

S7trif3 wrote:He chuckled at Colin's remark and then replied to Bruce first. "Related to foundation, but also taking some of the symbolism of a forge and crucible, although I suppose it would be more of a factory...I enjoy a good pun and layered meanings. Not all of us are martial, I agree with Colin, though swords are also a symbol of mental arts, the tongue is the sword of the mouth, and swords without the S are words," he said with a tired smile.

He arched an eyebrow, "So, Swords of Duct Tape and Determination? Hum, come to think of it, what's the Tarot association of Nine of Swords?"

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

He nodded, "Likewise."

Bruce just nodded at that.

He frowned, "Hypothetically, I suppose... They do have Linear Magi as Pawns, true enough, but a former Nephandus... I'm not so sure..."

"Perhaps not, we are however getting far off topic."
The other Orphan stated.

He shook his head, "I am not going to tell her now, before she's recovered a fair bit. But i am not going to deprive her of agency when the time comes; I've already got a few promises of reinforcements, and will be exchanging personal favours if necessary to secure more - and I am going to assume she will want to fight, but that does not mean I accept her death as inevitable. We have the advantage of knowing she'll be at risk of death - and that means we can do more to protect her in particular; I've already denied death several times over, for Anna, for Rodger Tasselwell, for the whole bloody group that retrieved Liv Bergen from the vampire's apartment in Chicago; I am not going to simply roll over and let Bee die, either."

"Good after all she have been through Bee deserve better than to be killed by the Union."
Bruce said and frowned.
"We are going to protect her."

He nodded, "No hypothetical about it; it IS possible. The question is whether we succeed or not, but it has been done, and it will be done again. Anna visited from a future point where she had restored her Avatar, and brought munitions for the battle."

"Your time travel escapades are giving me a headache Colin but hum...if you say so I will accept it as possible, the question then is how do we accomplish it?"
The artificer asked.

He smiled, "That would be a highly fortuitous alliance, not just for the Umbral superiority we would attain."

"Agreed, the question again is how do we do that?"
Bruce said and frowned.

He smiled wryly, "Thank you... Between an attempted Gilgul and a dip in a Caul, my Avatar has been manhandled enough for several lifetimes..."

You felt a humph from Mia as Bruce nodded.
"Let us try to avoid a repeat of that, how are you feeling by the way are you okey?"

He nodded, "Betrayal is betrayal, but it was necessary, however regrettable..."

"Perhaps so, but there have to have been other ways Teomim could have gone about it."
Bruce protested.

He frowned, "Originally, Guernicus' spell severed the connection; Lady Dalisse knows this intimately - she was one of Guernicus' original test subjects, back in the Schism War... her Fount was severed, but she managed to escape a little while later when he returned as a badly scarred Avatar, a hoary old man with a strong Primordial bent. She revealed him to me; quite the imposing figure... and yes, Lady Dalisse's knowledge of Avatars would be well worth inquiring about, but that's going to be a little... difficult."

"Poor woman, being a test subject can not have been fun."
Bruce said and frowned.
"This is the Handler of the Nephandi ship you told us about?"

He smiled wryly, "Sounds like your armour would put most mundane Kevlar variants to shame, then."

Bruce grinned a little at that.
"I would be a poor mage if I did not have a few tricks up my sleeve now would I not Colin."

He arched an eyebrow, "I spoke with Miss Kelly, the daughter of Dr. Kelly, about it when I borrowed the fuel tanks from her Ethership. 44 drams of highly corrosive, corrupted Quintessence. Disgusting stuff, but highly effective for taking down the defenses of the Chicago Labyrinth once wielded by someone who could do so without risk of Jhor. The good Miss Kelly has a... harness of the material, owing to a serious injury that would otherwise leave her paralyzed; with her harness, she's fully mobile."

"Hum...and you could wield it safely due to the rote you have been talking about Colin?"
He asked then he nodded and smiled.
"Most interesting I would love to talk with the person who made that metal and have a look at that harness."

He nodded, "Or merely more powerful. Hum, I suppose investing more time and labour into each item might make it possible to squeeze a little more out of your work, but there would be a time where you'd hit severely diminished returns..."

"I do think that right now I am more limited by a lack of understanding than a lack of power."
Bruce said.
"But I will need to improve both eventually."

He frowned, "Alright, Numenera is out of the question."

Bruce grinned at that.

He frowned, "I'd recommend not going that far. Pain dampening, yes, but not negation. That's ridiculously dangerous."

"Agreed."
The large Orphan said.

He sighed, "Wrinkle, alas, would not care one bit. If any Paradox spirit were to take an interest in that, it would not be one that would be bothered with politely discussing the error of your ways."

"Ah...well that is even better then."
Bruce grunted.

He frowned, "Yes, well, she was also Etherite before the Etherites defected to our side..."

"Unfortunately that she was, I doubt she would have been plesant to encounter."
Bruce said and frowned.

"Well darn. The only thing left is me owing you a favor if you ever needed my help in the future. But since I'd do anything if you asked me, regardless of if I owed me a favor or not, that's not really that helpful." Serge said looking a bit disheartened.

"If it was something simpler I would do it, but such a coat takes allot fo time to create, and then there is the upkeep to keep it enchanted and the fact that I will get Paradox if you ever have to use it's effect, that is a bit much for you to feel cooler, sorry."
Bruce said.

"Yeah that! I'm just making you ignore the searing pain of a bullet. Ignoring it so strongly it's like it's not even there. Sort of like injuries that only begin to hurt when you realize that you have them" Serge explained.

"It do not work like that Mr Yager, yes metal focus and not thinking about pain can help reduce how affected you are but the reason why some wounds only hurt after a while is that the nerves are stunned and take some time to recover enough to send pain impulses to your brain."
The Orphan commented.

Serge nodded. "Yeah, I should be able too. Enhancing or diminishing the senses is a specialty of the Cult of Ecstasy. I'd just need to find a way to draw on clothing. Can't say I'm used to drawing on that sort of medium though so their might be issues. Could make for a fun experiment though."

"There are pens that you can draw on cloth with and then seal it by hot ironing it in, and then there is embroidery."
Bruce said and shrugged.

"You don't have to follow all the rules. Just the ones that benefit you." Serge said with a shrug. "Nameless mooks go down immediately. Guns seem to jam and the environment gets in the way of the bad guys to give the good guys time to escape. Good guys always win. Not all Hollywood battles are the super climatic battle against the final villain. Some are just the first act battles to show how cool and strong the protagonist is. And those typically end in a stomp for the good guys."

Bruce sat his cup down on the table with a loud bang as he gave Serge a very stern look.
"Get one thing straight kid there are NO nameless mooks in real life, every person in a fight, every single one have a name, they have dreams, hopes and usually family, when you aim your weapon at someone and take their lives their hope dies, their dreams dies and their mothers cry themselves to sleep, we are not protagonists, there are no good guys or bad guys, there are people who have goals and at times those goals crash and at time violence rise from that, but to the Union for example we are the bad guys. So no a spell to make a real life fight into a fucking movie shoot out would not be cool, do not take light on the death and suffering of the so called bad guys, fights are not dramatic, they are not cool they are gory, horrible things when you are so scared you want to piss yourself, sometime you do piss yourself, fighting others who feel the same way, an when it is over there are pain and death, that is what combat is!"
The large man said and he still glared at Serge sternly.
"Are we clear Mr Yager?"

(OOC: If he spent the entire month studying then I would allow the spend of EXP on it.)

(OOC: Ok Nicole leaves the scene.)

"Perhaps so, but there have to have been other ways Teomim could have gone about it."
Bruce protested.

"Oh really? How do you know? Perhaps all the other options were exhausted, and this was his last one, or the only one the thought that would actually make a difference. I'm not saying what he did was right, but what if there were no good choices and you still had to make one? Would you not make any choice, one of the ones laid out before you that you thought would probably fail, or would you make the one that affected the fewest amount of people for the most benefit you could imagine? Those situations are easy to say after the fact, well, they shouldn've done it that way...I'm sure they wished there was another way, too." He frowned, and picked at the edge of his coat, pulling off one of the loose threads.

"I guess you are right about that Adley we give out our name and birthrate on every form there is, and knowing what can be done with them that is a bit scary."
Bruce agreed.

"Thanks, Technocrats. If you think they're not using numbers to control people, you're just not paying attention. They might scoff at numerology but they use them."

"Yeah sorry about that."
The Orphan said and he scratched his head.

"I wouldn't let the Chief hear it."

"I can bring the books over to your room if you will, and thank you."
Bruce said and smiled.

"Sure," he agreed with a nod.

"So we"all reach that point so soon? But wait, this will be a battlecruiser captain with only 20 years? And he will be with the Union? I'd appreciate more insight over how you'll have it harder and how acurate or true your visions are"

He sighed. "They've been pretty accurate so far."

As we are, we are doomed. If we are to survive, we have to adapt and that changes us. We can't survive being who we are now, but to survive we have to give up something of what we are.
I just hope mistakes are enough, though.

"Hum...I can not really say I get what you are taling about here Mr Karyak, in what ways are you claiming we need to change?"
Bruce said skeptically.

"I don't know what you mean by that. The Order of Hermes has survived quite a long while and though I agree some things can benefit from some changes, there is still something good as well that we each bring to the table. It would be nice if the Technocracy would stop trying to eradicate us."

He shook his head, "I am not going to tell her now, before she's recovered a fair bit. But i am not going to deprive her of agency when the time comes; I've already got a few promises of reinforcements, and will be exchanging personal favours if necessary to secure more - and I am going to assume she will want to fight, but that does not mean I accept her death as inevitable. We have the advantage of knowing she'll be at risk of death - and that means we can do more to protect her in particular; I've already denied death several times over, for Anna, for Rodger Tasselwell, for the whole bloody group that retrieved Liv Bergen from the vampire's apartment in Chicago; I am not going to simply roll over and let Bee die, either."

"You have Colin and not all of those manipulations with time have come easily. I just...I just..." He shook his head, scowling. It was clearly hard for him to accept that just as they got started trying to help Bee, that she recovered, she'd be in battle and then quite possibly, even likely, die.

He smiled wryly, "Thank you... Between an attempted Gilgul and a dip in a Caul, my Avatar has been manhandled enough for several lifetimes..."

"Forever, preferably."

He frowned, "Originally, Guernicus' spell severed the connection; Lady Dalisse knows this intimately - she was one of Guernicus' original test subjects, back in the Schism War... her Fount was severed, but she managed to escape a little while later when he returned as a badly scarred Avatar, a hoary old man with a strong Primordial bent. She revealed him to me; quite the imposing figure... and yes, Lady Dalisse's knowledge of Avatars would be well worth inquiring about, but that's going to be a little... difficult."

He looked thoughtful and then surprised as he said that Dalisse was one of his subjects. He winced. "I see, well...that does support my thoughts on the matter. It severed the connection but did not destroy here avatar, though it obviously was damaged. Even now, with the version of the spell we've seen, it breaks it into shards, some of those may survive. There was once an upper limit on magic, that fell under the realms of God...now we have developed so many ars that put that limit to the side, yet I wonder if an upper limit for us is destruction or creation of an avatar. We've learned how to break them into pieces, sever their connections to their vessels, brand them, all of this are like children hammering on the finest of creations, or cavemen painting on walls...no, I feel it's unwise to often take those measures. To cleanse one from what's happened when they go through the caul, that I think is a much more worthy investment then smudging one's highest vibration with crude scratches to show they've done wrong in their human life."

He nodded, glancing at Adley, "It seems that a little extra vigilance would be in a class of its own..."

"Yes, well...it's quite taxing and unnerving at times to go around with your senses turned up all the time. It would have spared me some surprises though...perhaps I could have acted sooner, in at least one case," he said.

He arched an eyebrow, "I spoke with Miss Kelly, the daughter of Dr. Kelly, about it when I borrowed the fuel tanks from her Ethership. 44 drams of highly corrosive, corrupted Quintessence. Disgusting stuff, but highly effective for taking down the defenses of the Chicago Labyrinth once wielded by someone who could do so without risk of Jhor. The good Miss Kelly has a... harness of the material, owing to a serious injury that would otherwise leave her paralyzed; with her harness, she's fully mobile."

"I see."

He arched an eyebrow, "So, Swords of Duct Tape and Determination? Hum, come to think of it, what's the Tarot association of Nine of Swords?"

He seemed amused at the first part and then said, "Swords are of Air and often seem to have a negative impact, like cutting away of the wheat from chafe or misfortune," he said, and consulted his phone to remind himself of the two decks he'd seen most to see if his memory was accurate. "When I was an apprentice, I studied a few decks as meditation. One had a weeping woman with swords hanging above her. In the other deck, it was known as the Lord of Despair and Cruelty. It represented the price of pride and severity without mercy but also could mean ridding oneself of a difficult burden. We're more like the nine of wands, injured from battles, but we won and are ready to fight again if we have to do so because we've not yet reached our goal." He toggled off the page. "Wands are just torches that are waiting to be lit."

"Sketchbook is fine. Just remember to not go into my room uninvited." Serge said with a grin. "Or actually please do. Please! I wanna see if it works."

"You might want to tell the Cheif that, since he's got keys to everyone's rooms in case of an emergency in there. I don't think I want to test your alarm system," he said. "I have too much to do to be passed out for several hours."

"Yeah I know. That's the main philosophy of the Ecstatics." Serge said scratching the back of his head nervously as he remembered the many times his mentor had said those exact same words to him. "Once I get settled in I might try and hunt down an art store."

"If I get some time, I can drive you there. Kyle might like to go, perhaps he will find some healthy outlet there to help him."

"Don't worry. Just a few art and netflix bingeing sessions gone a bit too far. It wan't anything too bad." Serge said reassuringly.

"You passed out from watching too much TV?" he asked, sounding incredulous.

Jeremy wrote:
"I'll go multicolored like this crayon." Serge said pulling out one of the mystical crayon he had gotten from the Deaconess.

He arched an eyebrow, "Where in the world did you acquire such a crayon?"

"Deaconess O'Connor gave it to me. It's made with material given by a unicorn. Or it was made by the unicorn. One of those two." Serge said looking at the crayon. "It's pretty sweet. Draws well. I always get a rush of inspiration and creativity whenever I use it. Although I typically save it for more...expressive drawings."

He looked over at what was in Jeremy's hand. "Very interesting. A unicorn, hrm? Well, perhaps that will help you find us some symbols."

Serge nodded. "Yeah, I should be able too. Enhancing or diminishing the senses is a specialty of the Cult of Ecstasy. I'd just need to find a way to draw on clothing. Can't say I'm used to drawing on that sort of medium though so their might be issues. Could make for a fun experiment though."

"There are pens that you can draw on cloth with and then seal it by hot ironing it in, and then there is embroidery."
Bruce said and shrugged.

"I've drawn on clothing before for minor enchantments, you might try making a patch of clothing that can be affixed to your garments on the inside of them," he suggested.

"You don't have to follow all the rules. Just the ones that benefit you." Serge said with a shrug. "Nameless mooks go down immediately. Guns seem to jam and the environment gets in the way of the bad guys to give the good guys time to escape. Good guys always win. Not all Hollywood battles are the super climatic battle against the final villain. Some are just the first act battles to show how cool and strong the protagonist is. And those typically end in a stomp for the good guys."

Bruce sat his cup down on the table with a loud bang as he gave Serge a very stern look.
"Get one thing straight kid there are NO nameless mooks in real life, every person in a fight, every single one have a name, they have dreams, hopes and usually family, when you aim your weapon at someone and take their lives their hope dies, their dreams dies and their mothers cry themselves to sleep, we are not protagonists, there are no good guys or bad guys, there are people who have goals and at times those goals crash and at time violence rise from that, but to the Union for example we are the bad guys. So no a spell to make a real life fight into a fucking movie shoot out would not be cool, do not take light on the death and suffering of the so called bad guys, fights are not dramatic, they are not cool they are gory, horrible things when you are so scared you want to piss yourself, sometime you do piss yourself, fighting others who feel the same way, an when it is over there are pain and death, that is what combat is!"
The large man said and he still glared at Serge sternly.
"Are we clear Mr Yager?"

"It's very hard to compare movie violence with what really happens and those who have experienced the latter...well, I suppose we know too well that sometimes we're alive because we were lucky, not because we were 'the good guys.' I fight and know that thankfully, other people I care about don't have to go through that."

[Cabal Meeting, 10 AM, Wednesday September 30th]

Anja wrote:"Perhaps not, we are however getting far off topic."
The other Orphan stated.

He smiled wryly, "So we are..."

Jeremy wrote:"Sketchbook is fine. Just remember to not go into my room uninvited." Serge said with a grin. "Or actually please do. Please! I wanna see if it works."

S7trif3 wrote:"You might want to tell the Cheif that, since he's got keys to everyone's rooms in case of an emergency in there. I don't think I want to test your alarm system," he said. "I have too much to do to be passed out for several hours."

He frowned, "Seconded, the Chief needs to know... Searching Mr. Bergen's room for traps was unnerving enough, what with the lethality of the wards there, but yours... I expect you've got some nasty mental trickery that would get me lost for hours."

Anja wrote:"Good after all she have been through Bee deserve better than to be killed by the Union."
Bruce said and frowned.
"We are going to protect her."

He nodded, "So we are."

Anja wrote:"Your time travel escapades are giving me a headache Colin but hum...if you say so I will accept it as possible, the question then is how do we accomplish it?"
The artificer asked.

He smiled wryly, "The Union will make a surprise attack. We will completely bugger that up by being prepared; we know the day, I can possibly get a little more information about their attack plan, but the important thing is to get additional support here in time."

S7trif3 wrote:"You have Colin and not all of those manipulations with time have come easily. I just...I just..." He shook his head, scowling. It was clearly hard for him to accept that just as they got started trying to help Bee, that she recovered, she'd be in battle and then quite possibly, even likely, die.

He nodded, "I know, Adley... I know exactly. There's always a price to pay, and this one... I may have to pay in twenty years. Hopefully, that day can still be saved, too..."

Anja wrote:"Agreed, the question again is how do we do that?"
Bruce said and frowned.

He smiled wryly, "Diplomacy and patience, I'm afraid. The Union may well be souring the waters for the Engineers, but after what happened to the Adepts, there may be some... reluctance to part ways with the Union all the same."

Anja wrote:You felt a humph from Mia as Bruce nodded.
"Let us try to avoid a repeat of that, how are you feeling by the way are you okey?"

S7trif3 wrote:"Forever, preferably."

He smiled wryly and patted his chest absentmindedly, "I'm... fine, much as can be. She's a little displeased with my calling her 'manhandled', it appears... And yes, forever is a good amount of time."

Anja wrote:"Perhaps so, but there have to have been other ways Teomim could have gone about it."
Bruce protested.

S7trif3 wrote:"Oh really? How do you know? Perhaps all the other options were exhausted, and this was his last one, or the only one the thought that would actually make a difference. I'm not saying what he did was right, but what if there were no good choices and you still had to make one? Would you not make any choice, one of the ones laid out before you that you thought would probably fail, or would you make the one that affected the fewest amount of people for the most benefit you could imagine? Those situations are easy to say after the fact, well, they shouldn've done it that way...I'm sure they wished there was another way, too." He frowned, and picked at the edge of his coat, pulling off one of the loose threads.

He frowned, shaking his head, "There were no other ways, outside of Falling - Teomim's Avatars had to be torn apart, lest they become Moloch. That path had to be completely blocked, and to ensure Gilgul, striking a balance between severe enough, and not so severe as to tear the Traditions apart was... difficult. Again, Salonikas' prophecy is quite enlightening on the subject... But, this was 545 years ago; we'd best concentrate on the present and the future, rather than debate what-might-have-beens in the Renaissance."

Jeremy wrote:"Yeah I know. That's the main philosophy of the Ecstatics." Serge said scratching the back of his head nervously as he remembered the many times his mentor had said those exact same words to him. "Once I get settled in I might try and hunt down an art store."

S7trif3 wrote:"If I get some time, I can drive you there. Kyle might like to go, perhaps he will find some healthy outlet there to help him."

He arched an eyebrow, "There's a small, cozy store some four blocks down from here - Beatrice sent me there for some new paintbrushes a while ago; the shop is too small to carry a very wide range of stock at any given time, but they do take special orders and are able to deliver in a timely manner and at tolerable prices. As for Kyle, he does play Magic: The Gathering; he'll end up teaching Anna. And, of course, he's fond of his video games."

Anja wrote:"Poor woman, being a test subject can not have been fun."
Bruce said and frowned.
"This is the Handler of the Nephandi ship you told us about?"

S7trif3 wrote:He looked thoughtful and then surprised as he said that Dalisse was one of his subjects. He winced. "I see, well...that does support my thoughts on the matter. It severed the connection but did not destroy here avatar, though it obviously was damaged. Even now, with the version of the spell we've seen, it breaks it into shards, some of those may survive. There was once an upper limit on magic, that fell under the realms of God...now we have developed so many ars that put that limit to the side, yet I wonder if an upper limit for us is destruction or creation of an avatar. We've learned how to break them into pieces, sever their connections to their vessels, brand them, all of this are like children hammering on the finest of creations, or cavemen painting on walls...no, I feel it's unwise to often take those measures. To cleanse one from what's happened when they go through the caul, that I think is a much more worthy investment then smudging one's highest vibration with crude scratches to show they've done wrong in their human life."

He nodded, "Indeed, Lady Dalisse, once of the Order of Hermes, and House Diedne... and the early experiments she suffered were not yet refined enough for a permanent severance. As for an upper limit... perhaps we will see if there truly is one..."

Anja wrote:"Hum...and you could wield it safely due to the rote you have been talking about Colin?"
He asked then he nodded and smiled.
"Most interesting I would love to talk with the person who made that metal and have a look at that harness."

He nodded, then frowned, "The rote works perfectly, and I'm sure I could arrange a meeting with Miss Kelly. Dr. Kelly, though, is... not likely to be available; he's been in a Jhor-induced coma since his ship emerged from... well... have you ever seen the movie Event Horizon? That's pretty much what happened to the Mary's Seraphina..."

S7trif3 wrote:"Yes, well...it's quite taxing and unnerving at times to go around with your senses turned up all the time. It would have spared me some surprises though...perhaps I could have acted sooner, in at least one case," he said.

He nodded, "A small amount of vigilance when you see a new crowd for the first time might be advised, yes... How is she doing now, by the way, do you know?"

S7trif3 wrote:He seemed amused at the first part and then said, "Swords are of Air and often seem to have a negative impact, like cutting away of the wheat from chafe or misfortune," he said, and consulted his phone to remind himself of the two decks he'd seen most to see if his memory was accurate. "When I was an apprentice, I studied a few decks as meditation. One had a weeping woman with swords hanging above her. In the other deck, it was known as the Lord of Despair and Cruelty. It represented the price of pride and severity without mercy but also could mean ridding oneself of a difficult burden. We're more like the nine of wands, injured from battles, but we won and are ready to fight again if we have to do so because we've not yet reached our goal." He toggled off the page. "Wands are just torches that are waiting to be lit."

He grimaced, "Nine of Swords is out, then... Though the Nine of Wands does sound more appropriate. Hum, there seems to be a lot of lanterns and torches popping up..."

Anja wrote:"I do think that right now I am more limited by a lack of understanding than a lack of power."
Bruce said.
"But I will need to improve both eventually."

He nodded, "Don't we all... Hum, one thing that might help, though - my workshop is my Sanctum; that attunement to my work does help. Have you made any such enhancements to your forge, to make it truly your own place where others can only work freely by invitation?"

Jeremy wrote:Serge nodded. "Yeah, I should be able too. Enhancing or diminishing the senses is a specialty of the Cult of Ecstasy. I'd just need to find a way to draw on clothing. Can't say I'm used to drawing on that sort of medium though so their might be issues. Could make for a fun experiment though."

Anja wrote:"There are pens that you can draw on cloth with and then seal it by hot ironing it in, and then there is embroidery."
Bruce said and shrugged.

S7trif3 wrote:"I've drawn on clothing before for minor enchantments, you might try making a patch of clothing that can be affixed to your garments on the inside of them," he suggested.

He nodded, "A regular permanent marker should do the trick. Though you might want to consider the issue of deformation when clothes are being worn."

Jeremy wrote:"You don't have to follow all the rules. Just the ones that benefit you." Serge said with a shrug. "Nameless mooks go down immediately. Guns seem to jam and the environment gets in the way of the bad guys to give the good guys time to escape. Good guys always win. Not all Hollywood battles are the super climatic battle against the final villain. Some are just the first act battles to show how cool and strong the protagonist is. And those typically end in a stomp for the good guys."

Anja wrote:Bruce sat his cup down on the table with a loud bang as he gave Serge a very stern look.
"Get one thing straight kid there are NO nameless mooks in real life, every person in a fight, every single one have a name, they have dreams, hopes and usually family, when you aim your weapon at someone and take their lives their hope dies, their dreams dies and their mothers cry themselves to sleep, we are not protagonists, there are no good guys or bad guys, there are people who have goals and at times those goals crash and at time violence rise from that, but to the Union for example we are the bad guys. So no a spell to make a real life fight into a fucking movie shoot out would not be cool, do not take light on the death and suffering of the so called bad guys, fights are not dramatic, they are not cool they are gory, horrible things when you are so scared you want to piss yourself, sometime you do piss yourself, fighting others who feel the same way, an when it is over there are pain and death, that is what combat is!"
The large man said and he still glared at Serge sternly.
"Are we clear Mr Yager?"

S7trif3 wrote:"It's very hard to compare movie violence with what really happens and those who have experienced the latter...well, I suppose we know too well that sometimes we're alive because we were lucky, not because we were 'the good guys.' I fight and know that thankfully, other people I care about don't have to go through that."

He frowned, "Mr. Yager... I like that you are quite innocent in many ways, but that attitude to battle is... dangerous. I would like to invite you to draw a few battles from my memory; for example a recent fight with the Fallen up near the Verbena Life Tree in Boston. That might be unpleasant for you, but perhaps the safest way to impress upon you what a real fight is..."

Jeremy wrote:"Deaconess O'Connor gave it to me. It's made with material given by a unicorn. Or it was made by the unicorn. One of those two." Serge said looking at the crayon. "It's pretty sweet. Draws well. I always get a rush of inspiration and creativity whenever I use it. Although I typically save it for more...expressive drawings."

S7trif3 wrote:He looked over at what was in Jeremy's hand. "Very interesting. A unicorn, hrm? Well, perhaps that will help you find us some symbols."

His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, then a flicker of hilarity crossed his face, "A unicorn... I'm almost afraid to ask what part of the unicorn it came from."

Jeremy wrote:"That's the whole point though. I'm not saying their the same. I'm saying that they're all types of fighting done for different purposes, one of which is entertainment." Serge said. "And yeah I wish they did allow drugs. It'd be cool to see what the human body could do when freed from it's limitations."

He shook his head, "What the human body can do when 'freed from its limitations' is pretty much the reason why drugs are banned from athletic contests... Sure, there's a boost to performance, but the price is high, often to the extent of a shortened lifespan. There are no free lunches, as they say."

Jeremy wrote:"Unfortunately that she was, I doubt she would have been plesant to encounter."
Bruce said and frowned.

He smiled wryly, "Oh, I hear tell she was quite pleasant to encounter, unless she had a reason to not be amused by you. As Traditionalists, I suppose we would give her a very good reason, though..."

[Cabal Meeting, 10 AM, Wednesday September 30th]

S7trif3 wrote:"I just want to protect her," he finished.

He smiled, "We all do. The hard part is going to be to make sure Master Nassa doesn't get himself killed while protecting Beatrice, too - his newest apprentice will need him, perhaps more than Beatrice ever has..."

Jeremy wrote:"You wouldn't pass out, you'd be mesmerized." Serge corrected. "Stood still staring at a picture, transfixed on it's never-ending nature, devoting all your focus to staring at it and trying to find an end that didn't exist."

"If you see Master Morgan anytime soon feel free to tell him. You see him a lot more than I do."

Jeremy wrote:"I haven't finished that piece yet." Serge said with a wry grin.

He arched an eyebrow, "I am not sure whether I should feel relieved or concerned by that statement."

S7trif3 wrote:"That would be a good place to start then," he said with a nod. "I don't feel we'd need a delivery but good to know there are options. There are also lots of bigger stores around the Art university, I'm sure."

He blanked for a moment, "Ah, no, I meant deliver as in deliver on the agreement, not actually delivering a package with supplies. The greatest advantage of the little shop in the neighbourhood is that they can get virtually anything, rather than being limited to standard stock."

Jeremy wrote:"That could be a fun trip. I can get more pretentious art supplies and play Magic with Kyle." Serge said with a smile. "Count me in. Wouldn't mind looking around the Art University as well."

He grinned, "Well, if you go get some Magic cards, would you mind helping out with getting Anna a deck, too? Something built around that Jace character is quite up her alley."

S7trif3 wrote:"Wait, she was a Diedne?" he said and sat up a little. "Shit. All of this stuff about avatars, and the...Schism War...is that one of the links we've been missing, the connection between the two...sort of the origin of the problem, and now it's tumbled down through history to us..."

He nodded, "Didn't I ask you to mention her to Master Nassa? But yes, that was her; both Lady Crexia and Master Tolle recognized the name. And I have a wonderful piece of Tass from her, proving the state of her Avatar. It seems this past week has seen many old things come full circle..."

Jeremy wrote:"That's what Rosa said! Why does everyone keep questioning that? Your making me worried." Serge exclaimed as he gave a nervous glance to the crayons and placed them back in his pockets.

He smiled wryly, "Well, I've been on the internet enough to know which end of the unicorn the rainbow-coloured matter usually is shown expelled from..."

Jeremy wrote:"Those'll do." Serge said with a nod. "The pen I mean. I don't know anything about embroidery."

He grinned, "Well, there's a Lich coming to visit next year, she's quite good at embroidery. I'm sure she could be persuaded to show you the ropes, if you ask politely."

S7trif3 wrote:He looked down at the table. "Not good Colin," he said. He pulled out the tablet and wrote out: 'She is in the hospital Richard works at, in a coma. I don't know if she will make it, or what problems she might face if she does make it. She was linked to her brother so strongly that when he died...I wish we would have thought about it, she told me that killing her might impact him, but I didn't see it, that it could do the same for her. I hope she will be okay in time, she did not deserve all of this bad fate.' He passed over the tablet to him.

He frowned, "Well, then, I'm going to have to pay a visit to her, then... Hum, do you think Kyle would like to come along, as moral support? Visiting the hospital as a guest might be good for him..."

Jeremy wrote:"Nine Wands sounds the best. What better way to describe a group of magick user's than with the classic symbol of wizardry. Each one stylized to our liking and producing an effect symbolic of our own magick." Serge added. "Wands as torches is also cool. It's perfect for standing against the darkness if that's the motto we choose."

He nodded, then smirked, "Now, why am I reminded of the Shawarma scene from The Avengers"

Jeremy wrote:"If the person is willing to deal with the consequences shouldn't they be allowed to do it?" Serge argued. "If they're properly informed of the danger and are still willing to go through with it than who are we to stop them."

He frowned, "Because there is the expectation of fair play. People watch sports to see who is the best athlete, not to see who has the cleverest chemist. If doping was tolerated, then the Olympics would deteriorate to a chemical arms race rather than a display of physical prowess. Plus, there have been cases of people actually dying in doping scandals, whether by fighting clean against an opponent hopped up on drugs, or by suffering overdoses. Permitting doping in contests is near the height of irresponsible drug use."

Jeremy wrote:Serge was looking at his notepad but still spoke, this time in a timid voice unlike his cheerful one moments before. "The last time I saw someone going through your memory it didn't end well for him. Are you sure you want me to do that?"

His expression softened into a half-smile, "The specific memory Siege found was a particularly horrific one, and incidentally one of his absolutely greatest fears... the memory I would share with you is quite graphic and unpleasant, but magnitudes less traumatic. It even includes meeting Jareth for the first time. I'm not going to pretend you'll like what you find, far from it, but it would be a safer way to teach you the harsh realities of combat than giving you a gun and throwing you into the fray. But, it's up to you. I expect you'll want to consult with Dr. Boudavich first, of course."

((OOC: Quite alright, Anja - you get your R&R, and we'll see you when you're back on your feet. ))

[Adley, Colin, Nicole, Tane and Serge] (Cabal meeting 10 in the morning Wednesday 30/9 2015)

"Oh really? How do you know? Perhaps all the other options were exhausted, and this was his last one, or the only one the thought that would actually make a difference. I'm not saying what he did was right, but what if there were no good choices and you still had to make one? Would you not make any choice, one of the ones laid out before you that you thought would probably fail, or would you make the one that affected the fewest amount of people for the most benefit you could imagine? Those situations are easy to say after the fact, well, they shouldn've done it that way...I'm sure they wished there was another way, too." He frowned, and picked at the edge of his coat, pulling off one of the loose threads.

Bruce sigh then he nodded.
"I guess you are right Adley but still Teomim betrayed his Cabal I can not help but think there have to have been something else he could do, but perhaps you are right."

"Thanks, Technocrats. If you think they're not using numbers to control people, you're just not paying attention. They might scoff at numerology but they use them."

"Yeah I would not put it past him."
Bruce said and sigh.
"Damned Union."

"I wouldn't let the Chief hear it."

"I will try to avoid it."
The large Orphan said and grinned.
"I would not want the Chief mad at me."

"Sure," he agreed with a nod.

"Thanks Adley I will bring them over later today."

He seemed amused at the first part and then said, "Swords are of Air and often seem to have a negative impact, like cutting away of the wheat from chafe or misfortune," he said, and consulted his phone to remind himself of the two decks he'd seen most to see if his memory was accurate. "When I was an apprentice, I studied a few decks as meditation. One had a weeping woman with swords hanging above her. In the other deck, it was known as the Lord of Despair and Cruelty. It represented the price of pride and severity without mercy but also could mean ridding oneself of a difficult burden. We're more like the nine of wands, injured from battles, but we won and are ready to fight again if we have to do so because we've not yet reached our goal." He toggled off the page. "Wands are just torches that are waiting to be lit."

"Would you like me to light your wand for your Adley since wands are torches wanting to be lit?"
Bruce joked then he nodded.
"Let us not go for nine swords then, nine wands through might work."
He commented.

He nodded, "So we are."

Bruce nodded solemnly at that.

He smiled wryly, "The Union will make a surprise attack. We will completely bugger that up by being prepared; we know the day, I can possibly get a little more information about their attack plan, but the important thing is to get additional support here in time."

"Agreed, at least now we know they are coming, ad we will be waiting for them."
Bruce said then he looked at Serge.
"Perhaps you get to try out your security system after all kid."

He smiled wryly, "Diplomacy and patience, I'm afraid. The Union may well be souring the waters for the Engineers, but after what happened to the Adepts, there may be some... reluctance to part ways with the Union all the same."

"Yeah...Jon told me that 800 Adepts left the Union but by the time the accepted Dr Spence's amnesty, there where only 200 of them left, and even now the Technocracy is cruller towards the Adepts then towards any other mage."
Bruce said and frowned.
"That is bound to give the Void Engineers pause, after all in the position they are in they are protected even if they might not agree with everything the Union do, it is hard to give that up."

He smiled wryly and patted his chest absentmindedly, "I'm... fine, much as can be. She's a little displeased with my calling her 'manhandled', it appears... And yes, forever is a good amount of time."

"She is a lady Colin and she have her ideas of how she should be spoken to."
Bruce said sounding amused.
"I hope she will stay safe though."

He frowned, shaking his head, "There were no other ways, outside of Falling - Teomim's Avatars had to be torn apart, lest they become Moloch. That path had to be completely blocked, and to ensure Gilgul, striking a balance between severe enough, and not so severe as to tear the Traditions apart was... difficult. Again, Salonikas' prophecy is quite enlightening on the subject... But, this was 545 years ago; we'd best concentrate on the present and the future, rather than debate what-might-have-beens in the Renaissance."

"Yeah you are probably right, we need to stay in the here and now and while we are also nine it is not like what happened to the First Cabal do not matter much to our situation."
The large Orphan agreed.

He nodded, then frowned, "The rote works perfectly, and I'm sure I could arrange a meeting with Miss Kelly. Dr. Kelly, though, is... not likely to be available; he's been in a Jhor-induced coma since his ship emerged from... well... have you ever seen the movie Event Horizon? That's pretty much what happened to the Mary's Seraphina..."

"I have seen that movie yes and ouch!"
Bruce said and frowned.
"I would like to talk iwth Miss Kelly anyway this material you speak about is exiting."
He said and the other Orphan did indeed sound exited about it.

He nodded, "Don't we all... Hum, one thing that might help, though - my workshop is my Sanctum; that attunement to my work does help. Have you made any such enhancements to your forge, to make it truly your own place where others can only work freely by invitation?"

"No not at the forge since there is every chance that eventually it will be siezed by the police, but I have done so at my grandfather's workshop at my parents house."
Bruce said.
"So it is just a forge and you are free to use it as you please, I can bring you out there but like I said we might want to also bring Miss Bouchard."

He smiled wryly, "Oh, I hear tell she was quite pleasant to encounter, unless she had a reason to not be amused by you. As Traditionalists, I suppose we would give her a very good reason, though..."

"The woman cleaned out a Labyrinth in London single handedly at one time when they had kidnapped one of her grandchildren, she kicked ass an we would at the time be her enemies so no I doubt she would be amuse at us."
Bruce said and grinned.

"I just want to protect her," he finished.

"We all just want to protect her."
Bruce said and frowned.

"Turns out after about three days your body needs water or it'll pass out from dehydration. It was either that or sleep deprivation." Serge said nonchalantly. "My magick can make me ignore sleep and all my bodily needs. So it can be easy to get carried away."

"Then perhaps an alarm of some such would be a good idea...Mr Yager."
Bruce said and he gave you another look.

"No problem, I understand. It was wishful thinking anyways." Serge with a grin.

"Perhaps in the future when you have more to trade or I can make the enchantments with more ease."
Bruce said and nodded.

Serge gave a Bruce an odd look before saying, "Maybe that's how it works for you. My world is a lot different."

"Unless you are a Marauder Mr Yager or we are in some unusual reality zone basic biology still affect you."
The large Orphan said and he glanced over at the Cultist.

"Nine Wands sounds the best. What better way to describe a group of magick user's than with the classic symbol of wizardry. Each one stylized to our liking and producing an effect symbolic of our own magick." Serge added. "Wands as torches is also cool. It's perfect for standing against the darkness if that's the motto we choose."

"Indeed and they can be customized, mine can be a hammer or a wrench, yours can be a pencil Mr Yager, I have seen more than one Hermetic use one as a wand when caught without their tools."
Bruce said and nodded.

"Those'll do." Serge said with a nod. "The pen I mean. I don't know anything about embroidery."

"They have them at most hobby stores."

"If the person is willing to deal with the consequences shouldn't they be allowed to do it?" Serge argued. "If they're properly informed of the danger and are still willing to go through with it than who are we to stop them."

"I it is a person who want to do this just for teir own benefit then sure go ahead but we can not have that in organized sports."
Bruce said and frowned.

Serge deserved it but it still hurt to be talked down upon. He shrunk down in his seat and his face turned red with embarrassment as he glanced back down at his notepad wanting to avoid eye contact with any of his new cabal mates. "I understand sir." Serge said nervously, his pencil tapping on the notepad as Serge desperately tried to think of something to distract him from the current situation.

Bruce still just looked at you for a moment then he simply nodded.

He smiled, "We all do. The hard part is going to be to make sure Master Nassa doesn't get himself killed while protecting Beatrice, too - his newest apprentice will need him, perhaps more than Beatrice ever has..."

"Master Nassa is getting a new apprentice?"
Bruce asked sounding surprised.
"And no we do not want our best healer to get killed no."

"The people who want to watch the best natural athlete can go watch the drug-free section of the olympics. I'm not saying replace everything with drugged up athletes. Separate the clean athletes from the ones who've let go of their limits. We can have the best of both worlds. Their can be different sections for different types of athletes." Serge replied. "I'm sure there's a fair number of people who want to watch the true extent of what human's are capable of. If it was regulated, with an age limit, doctors informing the players of what exactly they were getting into, and making sure they didn't kill themselves in the process, it could be an interesting dynamic to watch."

"Granted I never said this was a good idea. Just an interesting idea to think about. I'm not a fan of taking away a person's options just because some organization wants to control what they think is and isn't right." Serge added afterwards.

"Well when drug assisted we are no longer talking about the extent of what human beings are cabable of Mr Yager, and yes one day transhumanism will have to be considered in sports however with the drugs we are talking about they are extreely dangerous and take allot out of the participant, shortening lives, making them more agressive and generally being negative. Now what you are not considering in this Mr Yager is that viewers like to see the most extreme sport, they want to see the best performence so it will be the drugged up athelets getting the most attention and anyone else will be pushed out of the game, this mean that young athletes will be under an extreme pressure to drug themselves in order to get anywhere."
Bruce said then he frowned deeper.
"How man women's sports teams do you know about? There are female themes for about all the sports but they o not even get a fraction of the popularity as women, even top trained women generally can not get to as impressive levels physically as a top trained man and so they are forgotten. The same will happen with non drugged athletes if drugs where allowed, it would no longer be one person choosing to use drugs in their own home which I have nothing against it would mean a young kid with a talent would be told use these drugs that might kill you or kiss that scholarship goodbye, and that is not a situation we want."
The Orphan said and shook his head.

"That said, the point of this cabal meeting was to discuss some things and come up with a name for the cabal. I think a lesson in the horrors of war might be a bit misplaced. And also I'd rather you not have to recall an unpleasant memory just for me. Perhaps you can traumatize me another time."

"We can wait until the Cabalmeeting is done Mr Yager however there have been a few times now where you have spoken about combat in ways that deeply concern me Mr Yager, we have to make sure you understand the realities beore we end up in a combat situation."
Bruce said sternly.
"For everyone's sake."

(OOC: Thanks guys it is the hormone and glandular problem I have been struggeling with, I use herbal remedies to treat it as the doctors can't sea to figure it out and the medicine work for a while and then it stop working and I need a new combination. My docor have said he is willing to treat the thyroid problem blind but that would be dangerous so I prefer to see what I can do with herbal supplements as long as possible. I should be fine in a few days.)

[Cabal Meeting, 10 AM, Wednesday September 30th]

Anja wrote:Bruce sigh then he nodded.
"I guess you are right Adley but still Teomim betrayed his Cabal I can not help but think there have to have been something else he could do, but perhaps you are right."

He nodded, "There were other options. They were worse. So much worse... and they hoped to avoid the worst of the consequences for their Cabal, which, unfortunately, did not go entirely according to plan..."

Anja wrote:"Agreed, at least now we know they are coming, ad we will be waiting for them."
Bruce said then he looked at Serge.
"Perhaps you get to try out your security system after all kid."

He grinned, "You know, that could make for some excellent preparations - some manner of hallucination trap, triggered by an Awakened individual looking at it? How many posters do you think you could put up overnight?"

Anja wrote:"Master Nassa is getting a new apprentice?"
Bruce asked sounding surprised.
"And no we do not want our best healer to get killed no."

He nodded, "Fairly soon, too... Though I need to try to get that ritual to summon a Psychopomp translated fully first; that's probably going to help greatly... Er, it's a bit of a complicated story."

Anja wrote:"Yeah...Jon told me that 800 Adepts left the Union but by the time the accepted Dr Spence's amnesty, there where only 200 of them left, and even now the Technocracy is cruller towards the Adepts then towards any other mage."
Bruce said and frowned.
"That is bound to give the Void Engineers pause, after all in the position they are in they are protected even if they might not agree with everything the Union do, it is hard to give that up."

He nodded, "We'll essentially just have to wait until the Union pours too much vinegar in the Engineers' coffee..."

Jeremy wrote:"She is a lady Colin and she have her ideas of how she should be spoken to."
Bruce said sounding amused.
"I hope she will stay safe though."

He grinned, "She's a lady indeed; she reminds me a lot of the Lady Violet Crawley in attitude, only younger and more physically agile, if that makes sense for an ephemeral being..."

Anja wrote:"Yeah you are probably right, we need to stay in the here and now and while we are also nine it is not like what happened to the First Cabal do not matter much to our situation."
The large Orphan agreed.

He frowned, then nodded thoughtfully.

Anja wrote:"I have seen that movie yes and ouch!"
Bruce said and frowned.
"I would like to talk iwth Miss Kelly anyway this material you speak about is exiting."
He said and the other Orphan did indeed sound exited about it.

He nodded, "I'm sure I can bring you along some time when I go to examine the 'cursed ship' a little closer; the material is indeed intriguing, and I am curious about the formula, myself. Just be aware that the Mary's Serafina is... deeply tainted, and quite unpleasant to examine magically. Extremely so, in fact."

Anja wrote:"No not at the forge since there is every chance that eventually it will be siezed by the police, but I have done so at my grandfather's workshop at my parents house."
Bruce said.
"So it is just a forge and you are free to use it as you please, I can bring you out there but like I said we might want to also bring Miss Bouchard."

He nodded, "Perhaps you should consider testing if you feel any tangible difference in how easy your work is between your grandfather's workshop and the, hum, public forge, then."

Jeremy wrote:"Jace is my spirit animal. He has my favorite type of magick and we both use illusions and mind-fuckery. Forget green lantern, he's everything I want to be as a mage." Serge said with a smile. "Sure thing. Blue decks can get kinda complicated for newer players but I'm sure Anna can get a hang of it quickly enough. It'll help her learn the trickier aspects of the game."

He grinned, "This is where I kind of wish I actually knew something about the game. All I pretty much know is that Anna is good at not letting others cast spells, and that fireballs are red and cost one red and X mana..."

Jeremy wrote:"The collective minds of millions of people and that's what the internet decides." Serge said with humorous shake of his head. "Don't you guys have magick sight though? Couldn't you guys figure out what it's made out of?"

He smiled wryly, "I suppose I could examine it... I'm just not sure either of us would want to know the answer."

Jeremy wrote:"Ahh, the Avenger's. Earth's mightiest Cabal." Serge said with a chuckle.

He pondered for a moment, "Iron Man would be a Virtual Adept, I think, possibly an Etherite, Bruce Banner would be a Cultist, Black Widow, Captain America and Hawkeye would probably fit the Akashics best, Thor would... probably be a Hermetic, I think; possibly Flambeau?"

Anja wrote:"Indeed and they can be customized, mine can be a hammer or a wrench, yours can be a pencil Mr Yager, I have seen more than one Hermetic use one as a wand when caught without their tools."
Bruce said and nodded.

He smiled thoughtfully, "I'm sure Dr. Lee would appreciate a Rod of Asclepius, mine could be a wand of metal... Adley, how does a ruler sound for you?"

Jeremy wrote:"The people who want to watch the best natural athlete can go watch the drug-free section of the olympics. I'm not saying replace everything with drugged up athletes. Separate the clean athletes from the ones who've let go of their limits. We can have the best of both worlds. Their can be different sections for different types of athletes." Serge replied. "I'm sure there's a fair number of people who want to watch the true extent of what human's are capable of. If it was regulated, with an age limit, doctors informing the players of what exactly they were getting into, and making sure they didn't kill themselves in the process, it could be an interesting dynamic to watch."

"Granted I never said this was a good idea. Just an interesting idea to think about. I'm not a fan of taking away a person's options just because some organization wants to control what they think is and isn't right." Serge added afterwards.

Anja wrote:"I it is a person who want to do this just for teir own benefit then sure go ahead but we can not have that in organized sports."
Bruce said and frowned.

Anja wrote:"Well when drug assisted we are no longer talking about the extent of what human beings are cabable of Mr Yager, and yes one day transhumanism will have to be considered in sports however with the drugs we are talking about they are extreely dangerous and take allot out of the participant, shortening lives, making them more agressive and generally being negative. Now what you are not considering in this Mr Yager is that viewers like to see the most extreme sport, they want to see the best performence so it will be the drugged up athelets getting the most attention and anyone else will be pushed out of the game, this mean that young athletes will be under an extreme pressure to drug themselves in order to get anywhere."
Bruce said then he frowned deeper.
"How man women's sports teams do you know about? There are female themes for about all the sports but they o not even get a fraction of the popularity as women, even top trained women generally can not get to as impressive levels physically as a top trained man and so they are forgotten. The same will happen with non drugged athletes if drugs where allowed, it would no longer be one person choosing to use drugs in their own home which I have nothing against it would mean a young kid with a talent would be told use these drugs that might kill you or kiss that scholarship goodbye, and that is not a situation we want."
The Orphan said and shook his head.

He shook his head, "Human bloody nature - the ones running things would find loopholes, be deceitful and deliberately misinform their doped-up athletes if they thought they could increase profits that way. With no care for the athletes' long-term well-being."

Jeremy wrote:Serge thought about it for a bit, silently scribbling nonsense on his notepad in an attempt to appear as if he were drawing something. "No, I don't think that's a good idea. My mentor's in no position to be advising me. She needs her rest. Plus it would defeat the whole purpose of me doing things on my own. I've already seen stuff so traumatic it nearly consumed my mind, so I think I should be able to handle whatever you want to show me."

"That said, the point of this cabal meeting was to discuss some things and come up with a name for the cabal. I think a lesson in the horrors of war might be a bit misplaced. And also I'd rather you not have to recall an unpleasant memory just for me. Perhaps you can traumatize me another time."

Anja wrote:"We can wait until the Cabalmeeting is done Mr Yager however there have been a few times now where you have spoken about combat in ways that deeply concern me Mr Yager, we have to make sure you understand the realities beore we end up in a combat situation."
Bruce said sternly.
"For everyone's sake."

He smiled warmly, "Smart lad. Still, keep in mind, it's an offer, not a demand, and the memory I have in mind is hardly the harshest, or most traumatic; I want you to understand the impact of combat, not break you apart. The day you feel like resuming this train of thought, I'll be here."

Anja wrote:"The woman cleaned out a Labyrinth in London single handedly at one time when they had kidnapped one of her grandchildren, she kicked ass an we would at the time be her enemies so no I doubt she would be amuse at us."
Bruce said and grinned.

He grinned, "I'm sure she would at least consider letting us go if we helped protect her grandchild that day... but probably best not to gamble on that, common enemy or not."

((OOC: Raptus this weekend - the int'l comics festival in town. Probably won't be online much all weekend.))