Lorant has found Zsuzanna’s lair, in one of the low quarters of Prague.

 

Tycho’s daughter is getting married in a few weeks.

 

Using the Llull-Bruno machine to see if there have been any writings on godwalkers.

 

Lorant decides to intrude upon Zsuzanna’s Haven, it is an old stable building in a once prosperous inn. This is hardly the luxury of the wine cellar of the Great Hall of the Castle. She walks out into the night as Lorant sits in his carriage with his coachman, Moishe Shrevnitz, 45 minutes after sunset. She climbs into the carriage beside Lorant.

 

“One day. You were able to find me in one day?”

 

“As you yourself said, I am the Prince of Prague.”

 

“There is no Elysium in this city yet. You are the only Kindred you know.”

 

“As far as I know. And as you can see, I found you fairly easily.”

 

“If that’s the case, why have you come here? Other than to rattle my cage,” she says, gesturing at her new Haven.

 

“I wanted to speak to you some more. While not under the restrictions I was last night.”

 

“With you and your Mages, your mortal kine at the school.”

 

“We all have our plots and schemes, my dear.”

 

“I don’t have any of those anymore. I am a woman with a country, certainly without servants.”

 

“I think it would behoove us to not work at cross-purposes. I wanted to welcome you and help you establish yourself. Find you a better Haven than an old rundown stable.”

 

“Goodness, whatever will I need to do for the Prince to get such largesse.”

 

“Not everything needs to be a quid pro quo.”

 

“That is exactly what a vampire with no subjects in his city would say.”

 

Lorant knocks on the roof of the carriage. “Do your abilities extend to Obfuscation?”

 

“Historically I’ve never had the reason to develop such abilities.”

 

“You prefer to hide in plain sight?”

 

“Previously, I’d been at Michael’s court and needed nothing more than a bit of Majesty here or there. Why do you ask?”

 

“I am trying to find the best place for you in the city.”

 

“Certainly amongst the kine. I work well amongst them. I daresay there are still servants at Prague Castle who still dream of me.”

 

“The Castle, as I said last night, is off-limits.”

 

“I understand!”

 

They arrive at a house of minor nobility, which Lorant speaks of. “So you are going to throw me into this household with no knowledge of the politics therein? Like a barber sticking a leech to a patient?”

 

“I can instruct you.”

 

“You certainly rule your domain in an interesting way. I appreciate your gesture, but I figure if this is a frontier, I should stake my own claim. I do not much fancy entering a house you have hand-chosen for me. I would rather stay in that stable until I find something. I’m assuming you don’t mind me hunting in that district.”

 

“I hope you have learned your lesson, and discretion.”

 

“I realize I made a bad choice. I don’t make the same mistake twice.” Z continues. “Should we set up an Elysium?”

 

“That would be wise.”

 

“I don’t wish to be a self-fulfilling prophecy, but I believe with two of us here, there is a likelihood there will be more.”

 

“I agree. See, isn’t this better, working together?”

 

“I agree. This size city will support 5 or 6 of us. And I would like to be sure of hunting ground. So the Elysium, somewhere neutral? At the full moon?”

 

Lorant tables this, he needs to figure out where.

 

---

 

Ernst is in the hall during the afternoon break. He sees Zayed eating by himself, without Maryam. 

 

“Sir,” Zayed says.

 

Ernst opens in Spanish. “How are you enjoying your accommodations?”

 

“Quite fine. Better than anything we had on the road.” Ernst can sense he’s more troubled than usual.

 

“How can we make your stay better?”

 

“I, I am… doing fine sir, it is Maryam that is troubled. She speaks to me about this things, you understand.”

 

“Is it something I can help with?”

 

“I speak to you in candor and honesty because I believe it’s important. She has spent the better part of a year and a half on this journey. Now that she has found you, she lacks purpose. She is a very driven woman, has been, all her life. She has nothing to do. And in this land, she knows she will not be married, she will not hold a profession. Even though she is knowledgeable, she feels at her wit’s end.”

 

“What was she driven to do back home?”

 

“She managed the household. She took care of her mother. She always yearned for something more, but those kept her busy.”

 

“What did she yearn for? I ask because there’s plenty to do here. I can certainly give her… busy work.”

 

“Do you think that is something she would want?”

 

“And that is why I ask.”

 

“Again, with all due respect, why don’t you ask her? She spent her entire fortune and almost two years of her life looking for you. If you cannot ask her, no one can.”

 

---

 

Matthieu and Salih in the Star Palace. They are using Time and Fate magic to look for references to Godwalkers in the printings of the Llull-Bruno Machine. It’s the first time Salih’s been in the presence of the Machine. 

 

Salih’s Mage Sight and his instinct make him feel like this thing is... wrong. Salih decides to examine the Resonances in great detail. The Seers themselves have left their mark on it; it is attuned to their style of magic. The machine itself is also older than just a few months. The Seers didn’t build it.

 

Why is it wrong? Because it’s designed to steal information from people, and do it with pain. Salih considers the namesakes of the machine: Llull goes back to the Middle Ages, and Bruno was recently killed by the Church for his ideas. They both wanted to make information-storing machines. It’s the Seers’ idea for what an information-gathering and storing machine should be. It’s not meant to gather knowledge without force. And its purpose is to do this. Layers of Resonance over the decades have made this thing, essentially, evil.

 

Salih wonders if he could take the bits of the machine off that makes it Resonate badly. It would involve making the transfer less physically invasive (the gold lead). And using Time magic… he’ll end up seeing the traumas inflicted on the people who have been used by them.

 

Salih uses Destined Precognition with a power word and paints an Atlantean rune on the machine; in the isolation of the Star Palace both can be used easily. 

 

This book comes from a Diamond Orders Mage, 70 or 80 years ago, who was taken by the Seers. It’s in an Awakened Grimoire. The Godwalker is an accepted method for a Mage to be functionally immortal. There are other ways: Astral domains, Time magic, Death magic, Life magic. The advantage of the Godwalker path is that you latch onto a powerful Spirit and follow its rules in the mortal world. You copy what the god did, you shape yourself to it. You fulfill it, you follow the bans and rules. The spirit actually dies after this, and if a Godwalker dies, a spirit will inevitably take up that mantle. 

 

Salih asks himself if this age Perun possesses, according to Lorant, means he was a mortal then or Godwalked back then. Or was it even a Perun spirit? Who at the Consilium knows Perun? How long have they known him?

 

“That would be easy for you to find out,” Matthieu says. Salih defers on this due to his Mentor relationship.

 

Salih asks if living in the mortal world has distanced him from his God role. Matthieu says, “Wait a moment. For example, if I were a Godwalker, I could set up self-perpetuating roles to keep it going. I am a Forces Mage, I set up lightning and thunder, and I walk away. Which means you might be able to find his signature in the village in Twilight. Is Perun a man on record, does he have an identity at court?” Salih says no, he is supposed to walk and live incognito among the court.

 

Salih: “Obviously he’s keeping it a secret from the rest of the Consilium.”

 

Matthieu: “Does the godwalker path interfere with the path of Ascension?” The answer is yes. Salih is shocked; this is against the Silver Ladder philosophy.

 

Matthieu: “Has the story of this opera been told before?” Their previous research indicates that the Pythagoras myth is convoluted, but it’s never been told that way before.

 

Matthieu: “You seem to be thinking about something.” Salih: “What’s your idea?”

 

M: “I want to talk to Lorant first. If we were to use our resources here through your magic, we could come up with a book that indicates the story has been out before.”

 

S: “Irrelevant. It’s new to the Consilium.”

 

M: “It doesn’t have to be. I could pop it on the bookshelf.” Add magic to give it background.

 

Salih asks if there’s anything else we need. Matthieu says we should check to see if Perun appears anywhere in the machine’s history. Nothing on Perun, which makes Salih think the machine’s been in Western Europe, outside of Slavic lands.

 

Salih goes to leave. Matthieu tries to stop him, and then Salih teleports away. 

 

---

 

Maryam and Ernst. IIn her chambers, she has lots of paper and maps of her journey. Ernst encourages her to write. 1:20 - 1:37

 

Matthieu and Lorant, then Salih joins them in the Powder Tower. Memory palace. Salih says he has obligations to Perun as Mentor but the cabal comes first.  1:37 - 1:53

 

Ernst by himself, building up the rocks, a henge to protect the Hallow. Gauntlet is thin. Ernst is afraid he’s been possessed. 1:53 - 2:03

 

The final confrontation with Perun. They are getting Perun to mentor Ernst on Spirit. 2:03 - 2:14

 

Salih and Ernst: not possessed, Perun will work with him. Maryam 2:14 - 2:19

 

Lorant meets with the Emperor on the opera. 2:19 - 2:20

 

A week passes, Maryam seems to have reacted well. Salih and Maryam meet regularly. Encourages her to write. Fate Sight tells him she’s tied closer to Ernst now and that it also is helping Ernst regain his Awakened soul. Salih offers to help with translations and work with her.What about Zayed? Maryam says he may want to return. 2:20 - 2:37

 

---

 

Matthieu coming into the post of Provost. Meet with Perun to discuss his ascension to the position. Matthieu has rarely spoken with Khunrath, the councilor of the Lead Coin, and finds his paradigm troubling. Perun says the tasks of the Council are for the good of the Consilium. Any acts that require Mastery of Death or Matter, he’ll be called upon. Also, paperwork and bureaucracy. Perun tells Matthieu anyone can bring business to the table. Matthieu pointedly asks why there is little business before the Consilium right now. Makovsky is gone, Typotius is gone.

 

M: “I ask because we are planners, and when we came before you last, we brought big business to you.”

 

P: “You don’t consider it settled?”

 

M: “The future fate of Europe?”

 

P: “Oh, I thought you meant Makovsky. What sort of actions do you think we should take?”

 

M: “If this is bad as Salih predicts, and I am inclined to agree, then the business on the table must be a movement of an already-secret society even deeper underground. The safety of the Mages is our top concern and we don’t have much time to prepare. I don’t know what happened to Typotius. But since my arrival in Prague, safet of the Mages has been the most important thing to me.” 

 

P: “I believe your dynamism will be of help to us. We have been hidebound for too long.”

 

M: “I have one more question. What can you tell me about Khunrath?”

 

P: “He is one of my cabalmates, so I can tell you quite a bit about him. His studies are in the same vein as Maier. He looks for alchemical themes resonating throughout reality.” Khunrath acted to quell the hysteria around alchemists and magi after the Kelley affair. “That is how he rose to the Council.”

 

---

 

Lorant: the stage for his opera is being built. Tycho comes across the courtyard. “In my hands, I have four exquisitely designed and sealed envelopes. What do you suppose is in them?” Lorant uses Auspex. “By the looks of the envelopes, another banquet perhaps?”

 

Tycho says it’s a wedding, and acknowledges the rumors. “My daughter will have a title, a husband. She will have a better life than I have.”

 

“That is a very pragmatic view. The wags will always wag.”

 

“And they aren’t invited. The members of your esteemed faculty,” his voice is dripping with derision over the loss of Benatky, “are all invited.”

 

“Is this you?” he says drawing attention to the stage.

 

“Yes, it is a new opera.”

 

“This is why I couldn’t get the courtyard. It’s all right, we’ve gotten the courtyard of the gardens. We’ve invited the Emperor.”

 

“I will try my best to get him to attend.”

 

“What is it about?”

 

“A translation of Ovid’s Metamorphoses about Pythagoras and his cult.”

 

“I know little about this. Would you mind my attending?”

 

“No, in fact, you may have an invitation to the rehearsal.”

 

“We should… talk of Kepler.”

 

“Is he proving difficult?”

 

“He is proving distracted. It is the religious upheaval and getting his fortune out of Graz. He has been away so long. I have tried very hard to get him his money. The request is winding through the bureaucracy right now.”

 

“And you know as it goes from person to person, there will be nothing but a pittance left.”

 

“Your companion Ernst has been away and his associate Ludovic has not had the power to do what Ernst has.”

 

“I would very much like to deliver that for you.”

 

“No pressure. He is away. You haven’t heard anything about him… setting the tongues wagging we talked about earlier.” 

 

Lorant stays silent, realizing he hasn’t heard Kepler doing it. But he has heard people doing it. 

 

---

 

Ernst, about a week after his soul was ripped, has a dream. It is Ernst, much older. An entirely grey beard. His body feels older, his years are numbered. He still is not Awakened in this dream. He stands upon a great cliff: the White Mountain, but he can also see Benatky. Dream-geography. The dream’s camera zooms to Benatky. The villagers of Benatky are suffering from famine, leprosy, and they have been ravaged by war.

 

Inside the halls of Benatky, blurry forms go to and fro. They exist in shadows, and when Ernst can see the figures more clearly, he sees dark robed figures. In the deepest part of Benatky, Ernst sees, coiled on the floor, a large serpent. It sits and pulses on top of the Hallow. Twelve robed blurry figures are there around the serpent, one of them raises their cowl and it is Lorant. Still vampiric, still young.

 

---

 

Salih: checking in to the clock tower room. (Holding off on Zayed until next time) He checks the figurines, which have been expanding. Now there are all the courtiers, all the students, all their families, and further webs as more and more pieces are added.

 

---

 

Matthieu and Khunrath. Khunrath compliments Lorant. Matthieu comes bearing a gift for Khunrath. Khunrath says he and Typotius had a cool relationship, mostly due to their difference in Orders.

 

“My understanding is one of the beliefs of the Mysterium is the preservation of Awakened knowledge.”

 

“Yes, and I do not wish to put these histories and artifacts out in front of either Mages or Sleepers. But there are secrets to the universe that are universal.”

 

“Not only do I believe that, but I believe these things can be discovered through Awakened magic And that Sleepers need to come to it with their own lens. I also currently believe that for the protection of our awakened knowledge at Prague is the most important thing. Take a walk with me.”

 

Matthieu takes him on a tour through the Kunstkammer, and then to the (fake) salamander egg. Khunrath examines it with Matter magic. “Tell me true. Did an actual salamander hatch from this egg? I see no… well, it is what it purports to be, but the fibers are artificial.”

 

“The answers to your questions are no. Would you like to ask another question?”

 

“Was this constructed?”

 

“Yes. Would you like to see the real one?”