Aftermath of arrest attempt, Matthieu dealing with Paradox and hoping to rest. Vladislav is now convinced he was drugged and equipped with a forgery to arrest an innocent man. Matthieu asks Ernst, "Why were they here? I know, to get Zayed, but… what was that all about? Was it a different cell of Seers? Did they know you were speaking to them?"

 

E: “If I were the Seers, I would keep up appearances. To target me, and if I’ve been showing resistance, to find a different way to bring me over. This was too hamfisted and too on the nose.”

 

The Seers should think Ernst is still disenfranchised by Cabal and Consilium; his soul is regularly scoured and he used no magic other than his Legacy Sight. 

 

E: “I may take this opportunity to reach out to my contact, to find out what is going on, because this could’ve gone poorly for everyone involved. It’s not like they haven’t done big impact things before.” Ernst acted according to his current plan to act as a double agent.

 

M: “They also have a structure where the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. So you could reach out to them, shake them by the collar, and let them know this won’t fly.”

 

Ernst’s signal is that he will leave a candle in his window and work late in his office. Ernst decides to go back to Prague, but not before checking his spirit alarms.

 

Matthieu, knowing that he knocked the Seer’s soul off-center a bit. So the idea would be for Ernst to summon a spirit, send it to find this soul, and report back to Matthieu.

 

---

 

Salih takes the list of equipment from Talbot, and Salih seeks out Matthieu to discuss these happenings.

 

Ernst summons a spirit to track and return; a hound. Ernst instructs the spirit to catch up with Vladislav, sniff out the residue of the Seer who was inhabiting him, and then find the Seer. Ernst then departs for Prague.

 

Salih teleports back to Benatky as Matthieu is healing his Paradox damage. S: “You’ve had a difficult afternoon?” M: “We’ve had an eventful afternoon. The Seers were here.” S: “Was anyone killed this time?” M: “No, I did manage to separate a soul of a Seer from the body it was inhabiting, it’s now being tracked by a spirit that Ernst enlisted.” S: “What were they here for?” M: “Zayed. Once I had ejected the Seer, we convinced the mortal that he had been drugged and tricked into this. And I told them never to come to our door again.” 

 

S: “Today, I met a very interesting gentleman. Hiding in… the mines.” M: “What mines?” Salih makes a nod, meant to convey a hint. “Makovsky’s gold mines?” Matthieu asks. Salih corrects him: “Our gold mines. He has been living there. He wishes to escape to England. And he fears that people will be hunting him. His name is Talbot.” Matthieu recalls the flurry of mortal mountebanks who tried to cheat the Emperor. He’s a fugitive from the Emperor. “He clearly did not want to be found. I was quite surprised to find him there.” M: “Does he know there is a bonanza there?” S: “Yes, he did find it. He is some sort of metallurgist. He asked me to get this list of equipment.” Matthieu inspects it: it’s legitimately metallurgical equipment and not alchemical.”

 

M: “Why on earth would we provide this to him?” S: “Well, it was an interesting conversation.” M: “This is for him to extract the gold.” S: “But this is too much for one man to extract or spend?” M: “No, but one man could form a company to do so.” S: “That is what we need you for.” M: “Are we harvesting it now?” S: “At your convenience.” M: “Are we bringing him these things? While we commit acts of vulgar magic in his presence?” S: “Yes, but I could isolate him from this. Keep him busy.” M: “I’d like to rest and recover a little bit longer. And I need to get Lorant out of his oubliette.” S: “We’ll need more shovels then,” Salih jokes.

 

---

 

Lorant is in his Memory Palace, putting the finishing touches on his cult text. Lorant is still pretty sure that all of the figments were just that, even Zalmoxis. Maybe they embodied doubts about his path; Lorant could finish the text thanks to rebuking these figments. When Lorant awakes, his hands are still attached to the machine, writing one of the three texts. Two flasks of blood are available for him; Matthieu preserved it well enough to give him some sustenance. But Lorant is distressed, his hands are his livelihood. And he can’t reattach them himself. He needs Matthieu. The room is pitch black, and so Lorant just shuts off his sight. And with his other senses heightened, Lorant can just barely use his Auspex to realize: he is being scried upon.

 

---

 

Ernst rides like a bat out of hell back to Prague. He goes right up to his office to settle in in the hopes of summoning the Seer. While he’s waiting, he does a little research on Vladislav and his records at court. When he came to Benatky, it was signed off on by who it was signed off by. He is a Protestant noble named Count Thurn, he has gained his title through his ancestors’ service to Rudolf’s ancestors. He is recently returned from the front against the Turks. He was an ambassador to the Turks in his younger years, in a reverse trajectory to Ernst’s. Why he wants to arrest Zayed, Ernst right now has no idea. Ernst puts his signal up in his window. Ernst keeps no magic up, but relies only on his Legacy Attainments.

 

Christian borrows the body of a household servant. “Freiherr, good evening. So you wish to speak.”

 

E: “It’s good to see you. The show of force at the school was quite the demonstration.” Ernst sees genuine surprise cross the Seer’s borrowed face. C: “What show of force?” E: “The dozen or so soldiers you sent up to arrest my daughter’s companion. C: “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” E: “Then you need to get your people in line.” C: “It was one of us? This is what I’ve been trying to tell you, Freiherr.” E: “You’ve been trying to tell me you’re running an incompetent group of…” C: “No. This is not my Pylon. This is not one of my people. The Superiors are getting impatient. They want to move things along quicker than even I do. I and my Pylon are supposed to be in charge of this operation in Prague. But it’s obvious that they are not paying attention to that, so it’s obvious they are moving things along at their own pace. I don’t know anything about your daughter, who is this companion of hers?” E: “If you know nothing about them they are no business of yours.” C: “I only wished to help you.” E: “If you really wish to help me, I am in Prague for the next couple of days. You come back here tomorrow night and that this has been dealt with, we’ll be fine.” C: “Freiherr, I may not be able to deal with this in a night’s time. This may be at a higher level than I can…” E: “Then we will cross that bridge when we come to it.” C: “I don’t want to embroil you with internal struggles inside my faction.” E: “I believe you. But a line was crossed today, and I need to see some sort of indication this will not happen again.” C: “At the very least, I will make arrangements that you and those close to you will not be touched. I cannot offer such assurances for your cabal.” E: “My cabal is of no consequence.” C: “They want this war to start as soon as possible.” E: “We are at least of one mind on that. Lord knows I’ve had enough run-ins with my cabal over this very issue.” C: “I understand. What good is it if they, in the process of trying to get things started, leave you in the lurch and not bring you onboard with us?” E: “Then it is important that my daughter and her companion, they have no opinion on any upcoming war among mortals, or between Pentacle and Seer.” C: “It would help if I knew a little bit about this person who was targeted, this companion.” E: “I will be glad to give you that information if I see a good faith effort to address this. I will share his story and you will find it very curious.” C: “I don’t know how to address this with my Superiors.” E: “It is important that you do right by me, not them.” C: “Very well, then. The same time tomorrow night.” Christian leaves Ernst’s presence humbled and concerned.

 

Ernst now sets to seeking Count Thurn.

 

---

 

Salih asks Matthieu, “Is there anything I can do to help with respect to the Seer?” Matthieu gives Salih the information on his aura, gives him the writ, and says whatever he can do to get this soul. Matthieu gives Salih the ability to peer across so he can use Fate and Space in this search. 

 

---

 

Lorant sits down to project himself into Twilight. He does so effortlessly because he was just in a bodyless state. Lorant sees near the Llull-Bruno Machine, a scrying window, one made by a Mage. Lorant cannot see back through it, and the second he goes into that form, the window winks out of existence.

 

Matthieu spends Mana to open the Death Gate into the road from Benatky to the Star Palace. He excavates Lorant and his oubliette, and Lorant considers entering body. Matthieu goes right to work with his doctor’s bag, and Lorant remains out of his body to watch Matthieu’s surgery. Takes him about 20 minutes.

 

L: “I need to eat.” Matthieu brought him a goat which gets Lorant out of hunger.

 

L: “So there was someone scrying on me when I awoke.” M: “What were you able to find out?” L: “I projected and they left, but I saw their scrying window.” M: “Were they not expecting you or not expecting you to see them?” L: “The latter.” Lorant considers this and realizes the window was pointed squarely at the Llull-Bruno Machine.

 

---

 

Salih has the writ. He goes into his safe place in Benatky and uses of Word of Power. Combining this with the Effect that Matthieu bestowed, Salih can see where the soul is trapped. In the real world, it is a castle, very new looking. The foundations and older walls still stand, but the modern walls are done in an Italianate Renaissance style. There are a few lights on in the building. It’s lived-in. In the lands of the dead, it is suffused with rot and disease. There are thousands of ghosts dwelling here, all of them seem to be suffering from diseases, disfiguring ones. The entire field in front of the castle is swelling with rot and filth, and these ghosts are suffering. There is no Awakened soul in the field, but it’s probably in the building.

 

Salih layers on a Space effect to find out where this is. And next he wants to look around to find a likely spot to teleport. As he scouts out the walls and doors, he looks for heraldry. He does memorize a shield. Inside the castle grounds, the Shadow reflection is… glorious. It is protected from the rot and filth. Somewhere in the center of the castle, something is shining with crystalline and metallic energy, and it shines in its ephemeral form, like it existed at one point in the real world and is destroyed.

 

The Space effect notes it is 15 miles south of Prague.

 

(Long term plan for Salih: searching for good candidates for going to the New World)

 

---

 

Lorant: “They were scrying the machine, so you may want to ward this place. They’re coming for your cache.”

 

Matthieu concurs, and Lorant goes back to the city to feed. Matthieu considers a plan to destroy the entire Star Palace and use it as a citadel in the lands of the dead, but decides any plan to trap/ward the Profane Urim and the Llull-Bruno Machine is dependent on Salih. So Matthieu decides to confer with the rest of the cabal. The standard triple ward: Salih’s Ward, us speaking in the lands of the dead, and over Lorant’s telepathy.

 

Salih begins: “Fate led me to a hermit in the mountains, an Englishman named Talbot. He wants to get back to England.”

 

Lorant immediately knows: it’s Kelley. L: “Where is this man?” S: “In the mountains south of Prague.” L: “Be very careful with that man.” S: “For now. So in chasing after your soul, I believe it is located in a castle to the southwest of here. The keep had this shield on it. There was some sort of powerful dead relic inside the castle, and the lands outside were horrifying. Covered in disease.” Lorant and Ernst cannot immediately identify the shield.

 

Lorant says, “Do we really want to mess with Kelley? We’re liable to anger the Emperor, and the Servitores.” Matthieu asks if we really want to help him. Salih says he did not know who this man was. L: “He’s part of the reason the Servitores exist.” S: “It seems a shame to let this all slide and get in the way of the Servitores.” L: “I’d be at least interested in talking to the man.” S: “He’s not going anywhere, he’s been hiding out there for a long time and he’ll be there until I can help him escape to England.”

 

Ernst does the research. Ernst finds the coincidence startling: it’s Count Thurn. E: “That is interesting.” Salih is unfamiliar with him, but he feels the coffee bean network tug at him. And apparently his desire to bump one of his network into the Seers… actually worked! E: “Let’s just say his name is known to me.” S: “You seem reluctant to talk about him, is there a problem?” Ernst pauses. “Let’s just say it’s become personal and I don’t believe that the personal business should get in the way of what we’re trying to do here.” S: “If we need to raze his castle, would you like to be part of it?” E: “What do you mean?” S: “I assume you do want the soul that is there?” E: “When are you considering doing this?” S: “As soon as possible. I only just discovered the information, I wasn’t involved with this Seer or severing him. I just found him.” E: “I worry that attacking him could be a little… overt.” L: “What happened?” Matthieu informs Lorant about what happened. L: “They sent cavalry to our home. They were overt.” E: “What I do know is that there is a bit of a split within the Seers right now. There’s the Seers I’m dealing with, and there’s the group that did this.” M: “And they are different?” E: “Yes.” S: “Are you sure?” E: “They claim to be, yes.” Matthieu reiterates their Pylon structure and their “one hand knows not what the other is doing” methodology. Ernst says he’s working this angle and he’ll know more tomorrow one way or the other. “I worry we may be playing into their hands if we act tonight in that fashion. I’m not saying we never storm the castle, per se, just not tonight.” M: “Of our pool of gifts we know they have, Death is not high on the menu?” Spirit, Forces, Mind. 

 

Matthieu asks Salih what he saw in more detail; Salih can only say they were rotting and diseased. M: “Disease is not a monolith.” Salih’s imprecision infuriates Matthieu. Ernst asks if having this many ghosts in one place is evidence that Death magic is being used. Matthieu doesn’t believe that there is a Mage marshaling these; more likely it’s a mass haunting. Salih scries on the field with Destined Postcognition.

 

Salih goes back about 180 years to a battlefield. This is a medieval battle; virtually no cannon. Salih looks at the heraldry and can’t come to any knowledge about the sides of the battle. One side, the side inside the castle, is definitely imperial, and they are evacuating crates and barrels and put them on horseback and get them out of there. The actual siege happens a few days later, and the leader of those besieging the castle decides to go to the burial fields, digs up the recently-dead peasants, puts them into catapults and flings them over the walls. Gathers up dung, flings that over the walls. And slowly but surely, everyone inside the castle slowly dies.

 

Back in the office, Ernst and Lorant know this was the Hussite Wars. It was the Hussites attacking the castle, and Ernst and Lorant didn’t know this detail about the disease warfare. This castle has a large focus for being a center for religious strife. It seems like a very suitable place for Seers to lair. It’s a big nexus or knot of energy and Resonance around religious strife.

 

L: “Best case scenario, let’s say we storm the castle to get the soul. What do we do with it?” S: “There’s also an important relic there in the lands of the dead. I assume the thing they were carrying.” M: “It could be something missing, it could be something that was destroyed.” Salih says he could use regular Postcognition now to see what it was. L: “Information is always helpful.” S: “I find that… the Seers, one of the things they do is make us second guess.” M and E don’t disagree, E says not all of their groups. M: “It’s the goal of their structure, isn’t it?” E: “The goal of the structure is exactly how I would run a subversive structure.” Silence. “You keep the people who need to know in the know, and you run your real business on the side.” M: “I believe honestly that all of them is the real business. That the hundreds of Pylons out there are all working towards the same overall goal.” E: “And their goal is to usher in the war that is coming.” S: “No. Their prime objective is to end the Pentacle Orders and give rise to the Exarchs.” M: “Do you believe they chose this castle intentionally?” S: “I don’t find it surprising. What I do want to know more about is how they chose this place.” 

 

Ernst on Count Thurn: he is a Protestant and a pretty fervent one. His family has been Protestant for three generations. And he has no problem with the Emperor. It’s only the last couple of years where the Papacy has been sending legates to get the Emperor to be more Catholic that there’s been inklings of strife. But Thurn is young, successful, been at war and at diplomacy… his history, going from Emperor to Muslim potentates (Istanbul, Syria, Egypt, Jerusalem) to being at war… he’s the one who signed the warrant for Zayed. 

 

Lorant asks what we do next. Ernst says he has business to attend to. “I fear an overt action could disrupt a lot of what we’re doing.” M: “Because the lands of the dead are not fully in their repertoire.” E: “We assume that.” Matthieu considers this: he could have been trying to get back to his body in Karlstein Castle, or he could have been drawn there.”

 

L: “You just want to save face with your Seer contacts if they come sniffing around?” E: “Yes.” L: “Fine, let’s leave then. We’re going back to Benatky.” Ernst could use this. “I’ll need to speak with my contact again, tomorrow when he is expecting me.” L: “It seems like time is of the essence, though. Matthieu says this soul may not be trapped forever.” E: “If they trust me as a contact, we won’t have anything to worry about.” M, his voice raised, “Your actions don’t have to have anything to do with our actions on this. You’re acting as a subversive agent, we’re acting as ourselves.” L: “That is true, we’re keeping up appearances.” E: “I’m not asking that you do anything, but I am requesting you give me 24 hours.” S: “Why.” E: “So I can speak with my contact.” S: “About what, and why. All there is is a disembodied soul at a specific location. How does it affect you?” E: “Such an overt action will only endanger our plans.” M: “They came to our home, I took care of this.” E: “Do as you wish, do what you feel is best.” S: “What do you hope to accomplish regarding this?” E: “If we act immediately, we’re showing our hand, and I’m worried that it will be the wrong move. I feel like this attack on Benatky was less an attack and more a ruse to see how we’d react, they want to see if they can draw us out.” L: “You’re saying they planned this soul get disembodied.” Ernst gets frustrated, shuts the book. “I’ve said my piece, I’ve argued my point. I have made my request and that is the last I’ll say of it.” M: “We’ll take it under advisement.” 

 

S: “What if it’s meant to distract us.” M: “If this conversation is to continue, and Ernst, this is not meant to insult you, we need to take it elsewhere.” S: “Why would they do it? Even if Zayed were arrested, it would take nothing for us to get him released.” M: “It’s meant to send the message that we are not safe in our home.” Vladislav made the point of saying Muslim over and over. Exposing Benatky as a haven for Muslim spies. Salih is untouchable at court, but Zayed is big and young and scary. That plot sounds like their mode. The soldiers will go back and gossip. M: “So it’s an attack on our reputation.” The way the Seer spoke, there’d be no other reason for it than to make the soldiers aware. It’d be a lot more civil under most circumstances.

 

Ernst seeks a guard to find out if Thurn has been at court recently. He has not been at court in the past couple of weeks. Ernst asks guards informally to alert him if he comes back.

 

Lorant says he should keep an eye on Ernst. Matthieu says that is Lorant’s task at court now. L says he is too tentative now since he’s been back with his powers. Matthieu says the Consilium has a new task force just dedicated to Seer tasks, one member from each cabal, and Lorant is ours. (Petras, Holoch, Brux, all have Mind). Second on Matthieu’s agenda, should we try to defuse the diseased battlefield Resonance? Sending them to their final rest? Lorant doesn’t think it’s a bad idea, Salih thinks we need more information. M: “For so many human souls to be moored to this earth is a tragedy anyway.” S: “I agree.” 

 

So Salih and Matthieu will go, and Lorant will go to keep an eye on Ernst. Lorant tells about the Llull-Bruno Machine. Salih says, “You left the Machine? This is exactly the kind of distraction I was talking about. The first thing I do before I go somewhere is scry. If it’s clear, I go. We should go. It was well-warded.” L decides to come. They Portal to the Star Palace. The Llull-Bruno Machine is safe, the Profane Urim is safe.

 

Salih has three ongoing effects up: the coffee network, the Ward on his Sanctum, and the game pieces. A fourth will be the Ward: Star Palace, Word of Power and Atlantean Rune. Potency 8.

 

Lorant goes to Ludmila’s to feed, and then goes back to Neska’s as a Haven so he can walk under daylight as a projection.

 

How to get to Karlstein. By horse, through the lands of the dead, or by Space. Should we just approach, Salih asks? If anyone would be a good person for me as a Turk to speak to at court, it’d be him. Matthieu says you need to announce you’re coming. M: “Can you take us to the outside edge of the field?” S: “I was going to go into the castle.” M: “I could seize a ghost, quicken its form, and send it in to grab the soul.” 

 

Before departing, Salih scries on the ghost once more. This time there is a ward for Salih to press through. Salih puts up Unseen Spy (Prime) to hide his probing of the ward. Salih is able to pierce the ward. It is a room within Castle Karlstein. It is inhabited by four Awakened individuals. There is overt Seer iconography everywhere; it is their Sanctum. Given the sympathetic connection Salih has fostered with the “trapped” Seer, he can discern which one he is; he is back in his body. They are four men, and they are speaking in German. The gist of the brief conversation is that they have not been here long, and the one whose soul was jostled is that he does not want to remain here. Two of them are dressed as Protestant Lutheran ministers. They are guests of the Count. One of the mages sees the scrying window, looks up in the direction of it, and sighs. He does not look directly at the window, but he’s looking for it. Searching for it. He says, “Someone’s prodding at it.” They look at their soul-jarred companion. “It’s you.” He looks back and tries to dispel the scrying. He shouts of Word of Power. And is not able to dispel the scrying window.

 

Matthieu senses the hound returning. It speaks to Matthieu. “I found him, he was wounded, his friends helped him out of the trap. It’s very scary there. It took me a very long time to get through all of the hedges and thorns around the big house.” He’s speaking of the spirit world, not the lands of the dead. He didn’t get injured, just there were a lot of obstacles. M asks if he saw any other spirits. “I think the thorns are spirits, they are so old they’ve grown up as part of the land. They can’t move anymore. They’ve grown… fat.” M: “Do they have a Resonance?” Hound: “There was… a lot of fear, and a lot of death.” M: “The men who rescued him, were they Spirit mages?” Hound: “Spirit or Death.”

 

Salih scrying. He memorizes their auras and uses Correspondence to tie their sympathy to three more objects. The item in the lands of the dead was not in the room with them. Matthieu crashes in Prague, Salih goes back to Benatky to do Oblations.

 

Lorant walks in the day. He goes to the castle and tails Ernst, and Ernst actually manages to catch him doing so. Ernst takes a quick turn into an alleyway, trying to lose him. Lorant says, “Good morning.” E: “So what’s this?” L: “I’m to keep an eye on you. There is some concern with what is happening with the Seers.” E: “So you’re going to be the puppy following me around now, this is what we’ve come to?” Ernst pushes him out of the way, and goes back to the castle.