Scene 1: Prep, scene setup. Ernst: progress. Lorant: opera, Zsuzanna. Matthieu: investiture, planning for war. Salih: 0-8

Scene 2: Salih at Benatky. Working a ritual to find the best personal items for each of them. 8-19

Scene 3: Salih asking Ernst and Lorant for personal items. Lorant gives him the signet ring. Ernst calls Salih down to his room. Lorant suspects, and goes to astrally project. Salih tries to make peace. Discuss the dream, Ernst betrays suspicion of Lorant. 19-40.

Scene 4: Salih with Lorant. Salih talks about Ernst's dream and Salih's own vision at the clock tower room. Salih asks him to be more conscious of the students. Lorant hadn't considered being manipulated by the Ordo. Salih wants to broker peace between Ernst and Lorant. 40-50

Scene 5: Salih's ritual. The imbalance of the cabal will lead to Benatky dying. Ernst won't have a stake in the survival of Mages. In order for Benatky to be the Invisible College and savior of Mages, all members of the cabal need to be there. 50-1:02

Scene 6: Investiture Ceremony. Lead Coin. Matthieu brings new business to the consilium. Form the committee. Cosmas, Libuse, Salih, Matthieu, Maier. 1:02 - 1:32

Scene 7: Ernst with Perun. 1:32 - 1:36

Scene 8: Cabal Meeting. Matthieu talks about his rationale for the committee. Bring Orders together... under the Guardians? Salih says he'll save his question for the committee. Salih tells Matthieu about the schism between Lorant and Ernst. Satellite school. The Emperor, the Opera. 1:36 - 2:25

Scene 9: Salih and Matthieu sidebar. Can you watch the play for Maier and Lorant's symbols. See if other things are happening. 2:25 - 2:27

Scene 10: Dress Rehearsal: Matter (Matthieu), Fate (Salih), and Prime (bestowed on Ernst). Matthieu is impressed with his stagecraft, it's bleeding edge technology. Salih thinks it's a great recruiting tool and a great indoctrination tool. Ernst feels like while the play is not a spell, there is a chance to pump magic through the play. They'd need to know their cues. Or be instinctive enough to pick up on this (more unlikely). Was it consciously constructed this way? Maybe not. Maier lays symbolism in everything. Ernst takes it to Maathieu and Salih, and Matthieu says, "Now we go to Lorant." This will be the debut performance, but ideally not the only one. 2:27 - 2:36

Scene 11: The Review: how to deal with the "embedded" spell. Matthieu flatters Lorant's stagecraft and FX. 

Matthieu then speaks about the symbolic perspective and says Ernst has seen something there. E asks who has seen this. L says just the troupe. Perun had a seat from the tower. E says he has a worry a ritual could be performed. L says he would like to avoid that, citing the autopsy and Makovsky. S says that is something he could do. Forge Destiny to lock in the purpose of the play. M asks if that is what he wants. L says it would be nice to keep these ritual aspects intact in case we want to use it. E asks could we manipulate the score, by adding in vignettes or subtracting it, so no two performances are exactly alike. The violin is a virtuoso, and Maier is the conductor. S asks if we want to bring him in. M asks if Maier did it on purpose. Do we just want to see what it does? L says maybe we should negate it and see how people react: Maier, Perun, etc. Will the reactions to the play cause the effect, E asks. Salih is reluctant to cast magic on magic. L wants the play to stand on its own two feet.

In the rehearsal, the students at Benatky perceived the themes inherent in the opera. L is confident that it will be a hit and it will convey the precepts we want to. L is all right with having Matthieu being the defense of last resort: Death 5.  2:36-2:48

Scene 12: The Opera.

The attendees are the sort of people who were at the autopsy: doctors, occultists, a smattering of curious nobles. A few of Jiri's Jesuits, and some of the foreign dignitaries. A cosmopolitan cross-section. Some Benatky students. The Emperor is watching from his tower room. He is intent on not going out; his window is essentially his Royal Box and visually, he is isolated. The command that Lorant gave him to commend the play is still in effect via Vinculum. Also watching, from the Powder Tower, is Perun. 

Mage Sights: Prime for Matthieu, Prime for Ernst, Fate for Salih. All three can see Perun has Prime Sight up. Maier has no spell effects up.

The stage: there is a backdrop where emblemata are projected via magic lantern. Greek-style: a masked chorus. Trap doors are evident for special effects. One violinist stands alone on stage. 

The first act: Pythagoras' parents go to the Oracle. Smoke rises from a trap door. The father seeks information on his business ventures, but the Oracle tells him his son will be a great man. And Ernst's Mage Sight shows him that the Christian symbolism, deliberate symbolism, is attracting spirits. Hard, angular, sectarian Christian spirits. This is clearly outside of the realm of Prime Sight, but Ernst's experience with spirits give him this extra information. And Ernst knows, inherently: his test is now.

Ernst stands up and shoots a look at Perun. He sees no echoes in his aura to indicate he was involved. Matthieu and Salih see him, Lorant is backstage working the effects. Salih urges Ernst to sit back down. They whisper. Ernst gestures to the spirits. "Christian spirits. Everywhere. I think this is my test." Salih drops Fate Sight and brings up Prime. The spirits Ernst sees are trying to co-opt the message of the play. They are spirits of inspiration, information, Mind. Matthieu thinks if there was a Mage behind this, they did it so no trace of them could be found. Not a spell effect, no aura. 

Lorant peeks out at the audience, sees the Mage Sights on his cabal and nothing else. Matthieu bestows Touch of the Grave on Ernst. Ernst sees no ghosts, but he does see fuzzy spirits. One spirit is clearer: the Christ-child. The hollow in the play is being filled with a spirit of the newborn Christ. It's like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, but it's like a grinding of metal against metal. In the end, it's still a hole to be filled. Not only is the spirit of the Christ-child here, it is a weird Chimera: a combination of the adored/adoring child of Catholic iconography with the colder, more rational one of Protestant iconography. An image of Christ that would appeal to Catholics and Protestants. And now Ernst knows, this is no accident. This spirit was sent here.

Ernst begins coughing uncontrollably. A few of the audience members turn around, but the spirits do not notice. Ernst moves through the crowd to backstage, faking a coughing fit.

Salih Shifts the Odds for Perun to change to Spirit Sight. Perun does so, and is shocked. He decides to start a Spirit Counterweaving. As Ernst gets to the side of the stage, he sees the Christ-child spirit be dismissed. Act One ends. Salih meets Perun, and Ernst and Lorant. Matthieu keeps an eye on the crowd.

Lorant asks what this is all about. Ernst explains the Christ-child to Lorant. "That's interesting," Lorant says. "I think I'm well-equipped with Matthieu's spell effect. Do you have any spare costumes and masks." Lorant looks at him nonplussed. "I can communicate with any spirits yet to come with no interruption to your production." Lorant says, "Your idea is so crazy, I'm going to let you do it." Lorant gives him a Hebrew priest costume to be the Jerusalem priest who Pythagoras meets.

Perun tells Salih, "I want you to use Time, I want to see in my sight the path the spirit took." "Done." Salih gives him the spell. "I don't know the individual aura on the spirit summoning, but the type of magic, the spirit they chose... I am fairly sure it was the Seers."

Ernst 6, Lorant 8, Matthieu 14, Salih 16. 2:49 - 3:20.