God is Spanish IC: The Machinery of Heaven

[Silent_Interim]

"Mmm. Yes, that's true, Camille. I've not met her personally, but that all sounds correct."

[Matthias]

"It sounds like someone who would take the decision of whether to attack out of our hands, and then execute the decision of precisely how to with skill," says Luis, "though I'd be concerned about whether she'd be optimizing for her own position relative to war goals in general. Possibly we could indicate that we have valuable information - I could wipe myself of the specifics and make clear that I have True access to them later, in exchange for her oathbinding or something to employ it in good faith."

[aetherialDawn]

Montesquieu - or 'Monty' - nods as Athanasius asks for help in figuring out the results of contacting the Strategos of Paris. With what he can do, it's a difficult question to determine; trying to sort through if/then questions in the future is clouded, headache-inducing, and so far hasn't been much better than educated guesses.

"Rooster is who the Free Council chose for this position - I am inclined to trust her with the information on that basis even if we think she might not be ideal. As a general statement of principles, I do not wish to hide the Throne's secrets from an honestly elected representative of the Council... Even if I would not personally vote for her."
After a moment, he cautiously continues, "If you would like to moderate that position... then I think perhaps we could ask Marianne, at least, to join us when we speak with her. Moderating positions is, after all, one reason for the Pentacle to be a whole."

"If everyone can accept that, then I can take a look at some of the reactions and we can refine our position, but conditional divination is beyond me; that is part of why I want us to have more support to stop the Great Clock." He is pretty sure within himself, now, that part of the reason he has so easily been willing to accept this war is that it might stop the Clock - it's unpleasant to think that of himself, but... truth is useful even when it hurts.

Coming back to the external world again, Monty adds, "... I thought of one more question. Let me check if the Parisian Strategos will even target the Clock first - maybe I can catch some side-details that will help, too." He then flips open his mirror yet again to look into it; he's reasonably certain that Rooster will find out eventually and have a hand in the decisions, with how the discussion is going - and that means that, hopefully, there will be a clear enough image of that moment of future Time to get more details.

[First, Exceptional Luck... is what I would say if I had bought Gnosis 2 at the start of the game. Or Divination as a Rote. It's on the wishlist.
For the actual Divination: One reach to Instant Casting, one reach to detailed answers. Gnosis 1+Time 2+Yantra 1=7, 8, 3, 9=2 successes. Default potency is 2, so two questions. (I keep forgetting that I get two questions, and picking the second question more or less based on what comes to mind... and yet those have often been the most useful answers. It might be Fate!)
Will Rooster direct the Free Council towards the Great Clock as an opening move of war?
Will Marianne and Rooster agree to a meeting with both of them and all of us to discuss the Clock, the information leak in the Council, and war?]

[Also, that Int 3+Politics 1+Free Council 1 roll - 6, 8, 2, 2, 7=1 success, so probably about the same information as Luis got. Yes, I know voting for her is worth an extra die, but A) It's Paris and Montesquieu is not-new-but-hardly-old so he might not have actually voted in the relevant election at all, I'm not sure and B) She seems like kind of a jerk! Who might happen to be the right jerk for this situation, but Montesquieu was not anticipating bloody war and changing the functions of Time itself during voting. Well, he wasn't last time he voted, at least.]

[Thanqol]

[First, Exceptional Luck... is what I would say if I had bought Gnosis 2 at the start of the game. Or Divination as a Rote. It's on the wishlist.
For the actual Divination: One reach to Instant Casting, one reach to detailed answers. Gnosis 1+Time 2+Yantra 1=7, 8, 3, 9=2 successes. Default potency is 2, so two questions. (I keep forgetting that I get two questions, and picking the second question more or less based on what comes to mind... and yet those have often been the most useful answers. It might be Fate!)
Will Rooster direct the Free Council towards the Great Clock as an opening move of war?

Absolutely not. Her opening move right now is probably 'instigate a democratic revolution/civil war in Russia'. Reading it through the lens of your successful politics roll below, that's a 'we thought we were safe in Paris, you thought you were safe in Moscow, TURNS OUT EVERYBODY IS WRONG' move. You reckon she'd find the clock pretty incidental to all this (and this is a problem with Mastigos magi - they're really good at dismissing stuff as irrelevant).

The flux-point in that is how much information she gets. If she gets half-baked information she will wage a half-baked war. The more you bring her the more refined and precise her strike becomes and the more she focuses on the Clock itself. You'll need more than you have now, though.

Will Marianne and Rooster agree to a meeting with both of them and all of us to discuss the Clock, the information leak in the Council, and war?]

Yes 100%. Heirarchy strengthens the Lie - Rooster is for her faults a pretty good Free Councilor and doesn't think of herself above a meeting with a bunch of out-of-towners.

[Also, that Int 3+Politics 1+Free Council 1 roll - 6, 8, 2, 2, 7=1 success, so probably about the same information as Luis got. Yes, I know voting for her is worth an extra die, but A) It's Paris and Montesquieu is not-new-but-hardly-old so he might not have actually voted in the relevant election at all, I'm not sure and B) She seems like kind of a jerk! Who might happen to be the right jerk for this situation, but Montesquieu was not anticipating bloody war and changing the functions of Time itself during voting. Well, he wasn't last time he voted, at least.]

Something specific that you'd get as a Free Councilor: While Rooster is totally committed to the tenants of the Free Council, she strongly believes that corruption is an integral part of democracy and that it ceases to function properly if it's removed. She thinks ideological charge leads to partisanship which leads to the breakdown of compromise and discussion. Thus: she's pretty bribeable!

(This is, understandably, a pretty ideologically charged position in and of itself and the core of a pretty big argument.)

[aetherialDawn]

Montesquieu conveys the information as best he can - no reason to hide it. Even if he were going to be held back by embarrassment, the Seers having a line into the Free Council has already long blown past that point.

"How much information we can bring to Rooster makes a large difference - I think more difference than what arguments we bring. And... This is less certain, but I think the more information we bring, the more she focuses on the Clock but also the more successful... Ah, no. The more precise the early war is for the Council and probably the Diamond. I haven't Seen this, I am extrapolating - but if we want help with the Clock without starting a war, then we might want to bring as much information as possible, so that this can become a surgical strike instead of a war." At least today, but he doesn't say that. The structure of the world-as-it-is invites this sort of potential war, but the structure of the world is also changing over time.

"We can definitely bring Marianne and ourselves both to a meeting with her. I did not actually See how much Marianne might moderate things, but I don't think it would hurt and my own sense says it's more likely to help. Also..." As a matter of fact, it turns out that he can still be embarrassed, but that won't help anyone. "Also, for ideological reasons - it's complicated - Rooster can be bribed, and Marianne would have more pull there. I don't think she would compromise on the actual principles of the Free Council... but she might be swayed from one method to another."

He pauses, gathering his thoughts, and says, "So... investigating this Parisian building will tip off the Clock. Telling everything we know to Marianne or to Rooster now will start a war from a workable position, but maybe not a good enough one to stop the Clock before it becomes moot."
"I think that we should make our plans for the next chunk of our research now. Start with Ramses, as our best lead on an expert - end with the mystery building, since it might set things off early. Then present everything. I'll keep trying to watch if any countdown appears - if it does, we should investigate the building immediately since it's probably very important, and then present everything while being prepared to pay whatever bribe we think our knowledge is worth." After a brief moment of feeling like he has forgotten something - probably a common and odd thing to see in active Mind Sight - he adds, winding down towards smaller details, "And if either of you - Zeno, Lyell - have ideas on how to contact the sun or moon in any form, that would actually also be very helpful. ... Did I already mention that the Sun has a Destiny?"

[Matthias]

"That seems wise. Xena, can you hop us on over to Egypt? Need a rest first? I know a great wine bar around here, basically free if you're willing to let goetic ghosts of dead litterateurs rant at you...

"Or - hmm, I wonder if contacting the sun might be doable at Versailles? Sun King's palace, all those planetary rooms, presumably some good geomancy going into the design? I mean, assuming Hegemony doesn't use it as a temple or orgy supercenter or whatever after-hours."

[Silent_Interim]

"I'm always down for a hop across the world. Give me a few hours, and I can have that done. Though. Do we know anyone there? It'll be easier if I have a sympathetic link." Irene paused. "Did you say wine bar? I could argue with some Goetia for a bit if it means getting roaring drunk..."

[Thanqol]

"That seems wise. Xena, can you hop us on over to Egypt? Need a rest first? I know a great wine bar around here, basically free if you're willing to let goetic ghosts of dead litterateurs rant at you...

Anything to avoid paying an airfare.

"Or - hmm, I wonder if contacting the sun might be doable at Versailles? Sun King's palace, all those planetary rooms, presumably some good geomancy going into the design? I mean, assuming Hegemony doesn't use it as a temple or orgy supercenter or whatever after-hours."

This is an excellent idea.

Do we know anyone there? It'll be easier if I have a sympathetic link."

So you're Mysterium, and the Mysterium have some... techniques to move people safely over long distance or establish bizarre sympathetic links. You haven't been initiated into them yet, but the Louvre is a pretty immense Mysterium fortress not far from here and if you call in your Order Status for the session they'll help you out.

[The_Snark]

"And if either of you - Zeno, Lyell - have ideas on how to contact the sun or moon in any form, that would actually also be very helpful. ... Did I already mention that the Sun has a Destiny?"

"Speaking with planetary bodies is not my specialty. Zeno could probably get us to the surface of the moon, if that would help. I would not know; so far as my magic is concerned, the moon is simply a very large object."

"I'm always down for a hop across the world. Give me a few hours, and I can have that done. Though. Do we know anyone there? It'll be easier if I have a sympathetic link." Irene paused. "Did you say wine bar? I could argue with some Goetia for a bit if it means getting roaring drunk..."

"You are still metabolizing alcohol several times more efficiently than normal," Camille reminds her. "If you must be intoxicated, I can make the necessary changes to your brain chemistry directly."

[Silent_Interim]

"You are still metabolizing alcohol several times more efficiently than normal," Camille reminds her. "If you must be intoxicated, I can make the necessary changes to your brain chemistry directly."

"Okay, so, two things. First, you are entirely missing the point of getting drunk. Second, when you spoke just now, what I heard was 'Challenge people to drinking contests for money before that spell wears off.'"

[aetherialDawn]

"Okay, so, two things. First, you are entirely missing the point of getting drunk. Second, when you spoke just now, what I heard was 'Challenge people to drinking contests for money before that spell wears off.'"

"Confused as we might be on how to best do things, I'm afraid we definitely have more important things to be doing." Despite his words, Adan can't help a bit of a smile slipping through.

"I think that Ramses... ah, Ramses the second... Should be our first stop still, ahead of Versailles. Whatever he did, I'd like to have the human perspective on what worked and didn't before we start trying to speak with anything as large as a solar... spirit, probably. Or the actual Sun, if we can manage it. I can probably find you something with a sympathetic connection to Cairo if we can wait an hour. Marianne definitely cannot wait an hour for a response, though..."
"We'll ask her for a week to get our information in order, and then we'd like to present to her and Rooster together so that the Council response is orderly?"

[Silent_Interim]

Irene sticks out her tongue. "Aw, but I'm broke! Can't I scam some idiots who make assumptions based on my gender about how well I can hold my booze out of a few bucks?" She shakes her head. "Damn shame. Nothing like parting fools from their money..."

"Anyway. Sun's gotta have a lot of sympathetic connections- hell, it probably has one just to the Earth. I've... huh. I've never bothered to check. But yes, I agree. Ramses first. I can port any or all of us over to Cairo. If you can't get me something, I can pull strings down at the Louvre to get access to a connection. And say what you want to Marianne."

[Matthias]

Luis types in to the .ppt: hey gotta scram and check some things! dont want to go on offensive until until on surer footing. thx & merci beacoup!! lemme know if you're ever in salmnca :)

[Thanqol]

A pyramid of glass. The sun shatters upon its point and all the world is filled with light.

The front square of the Louvre is a labyrinth carved in sunbeams and moonbeams. Every ray of light is a bar on the walls of this fortress. To the wise, though the square is filled with Sleepers drifting about randomly, each of them is in truth walking in single file, curving and twisting, space and minds bent to make them think they're everywhere else. They walk around the pyramid and the fountain in glyphs and patterns, minds and perceptions wandering the corridors of the museum. They dream of the art contained within and the great wooden doors remain firmly locked.

Everything you seek is inside. Rameses - the Mysterium have him in a box somewhere and therefore they can have him in a box here. The Clock - if the Awakened know about this the Mysterium will have those secrets in some hidden vault. A conversation with the sun? Well, for the right price, they can arrange that too.

The Mysterium is not so mercenary as to demand money, or favours, or even knowledge in exchange for treasures like this. Zeno, you know this - they do not keep their secrets hidden because they seek to enrich themselves by manufacturing scarcity. They treasure these things because they are treasures. The Mysteries are alive, magic itself is ALIVE - and the same things that give women and men value are the same things that give magic value.

The first trial to enter the Louvre is to cross this square through the orbiting, snaking Sleepers.

Cross by the sunlight on the left and the price is skill. A petitioner must demonstrate they have mastered a craft of their mind or body through dedication and practice. Any demonstrable skill roll at a -5 penalty will take you to the threshold where you may knock upon the great wooden doors. There is only one chance to do this, otherwise one must take the moonlight walk.

Cross by the moonlight on the right and the price is secrets. A petitioner must choose the memory of a precious secret and as they walk it will be drawn from them by the web of moonlight. This secret will be displayed for all to see within the square, Sleeper and Awakened, and for a month thereafter any who meet you will dream of the secret the night after they speak to you.

Each must make their own way across the courtyard. For each of you: sunlight or moonlight?

[Silent_Interim]

Irene grins. She's been here before, "inside" once as a Sleeper, and outside while Awakened. This would be the first time she's really been inside.

She steps into the path of sunlight, and swings a punch at a Sleeper. They fall back, surprised, and she follows it up with another swing. For a minute, there's a back-and-forth, the Sleeper swinging back (and missing every time), before Irene finishes the fight with a sucker punch to the gut. No point fighting fair.

Zeno steps forward and knocks on the door, satisfied with her performance.

[Rolling Str 3+Brawl 5-Imposed 5 for a dice pool of 3. Rolled 5, 7, and 9 for success.]

[Matthias]

"Violence! Sheer, unadulterated, unjustified violence!" exclaims Luis, bending down at the poor Sleeper. "What use has this at an art museum? Is not art's duty to create the world and beautify it?

"Oh, yes, if you read Plato you'll realize that it is, but this isn't the temple to Plato, is it, it's the temple to France and all Her beautiful outrages, so my friends," he addresses the crowd, "it's time to commit another act of violence, burn your Plato, and pick up Sorel! Wasn't it generations after generations of French thinkers who rejected the Enlightenment and universal truth in exchange for the particularity of violence, the nation, and all those other barbarities?" He reaches down and inexpertly applies first aid, continuing to address the crowd. "Sorel, Maurras, Barres, wasn't it their ideals - a heady mix of colonialism, sociopathic art pour l'art, spontaneity worship, and of course the discrete patronage of monied interests - that endeavored to build this pyramid? Yes! You all know the aphorism that the most perfect expression of Dada would be to fire randomly into a crowd, which this obscene woman" - he points to Irene at the door - "wouldn't have hesitated to carry out, had I not so foresightfully disarmed her - no, Mssrs. Gendarmes, please allow me to fully arraign this criminal at the philosophical level before you debase our proceedings with her mere violations of positive law..." he taps the back of his foot against the door... "but where the Dadaists imagined themselves to be rebels they were in fact faithful paladins of the oldest error in the book. As early as..."

[Int 4 + Academics (History of Philosophy) 4 ⇨ 4 + 5 - 5 ⇨ 6,10→7,5,10→8 ⇨ 3sux]

[The_Snark]

Camille rolls her eyes at Irene and Luis's... she's not going to dignify that with the word performance, let's call it an exhibition. Silliness. But a kind of silliness that reflects the people they want to be, she supposes, which is probably good enough.

She glances at Adan, gestures for him to go next. Art demands that she be either first or last, and the former is taken.

[aetherialDawn]

Adan considers both paths; the moonlight is almost his first choice - forcing himself into honesty with the world he might otherwise reject in favor of easier paths; a geas of his own selection for the sake of truth.

There's a momentary temptation to interfere with Zeno's fight, but it passes into a different form easily enough; alongside Luis he helps them up and ensures that their encounter with cognitive dissonance and Zeno's fists leaves no lasting harm. He chooses instead to speak with the Sleeper - these may be Mysterium grounds, where magic, mastery, and knowledge hold sway more than anything else... but he is visiting as a Free Councilor, and if Magic is a grand garden alive - Sleepers could be gardeners.
It's worth a try, at least.

"I hope you're alright, there. Can I ask you what pieces you're looking at today?.."
...But, even as the Sleeper is rising, their eyes are turning back to the shadow-bars and already the brief meeting of the different layers of perception in the courtyard is fading. Adan is at peace with that, at least, even as the Sleeper continues in his single-file dreaming and Adan has to dance back from too-harsh sunlight that turns from warmth to chastisement; it was worthwhile to try.

[Wits+Empathy-5 gave only a single die, which turned out 4 - failure. C'est la vie, but it's likely for the best anyway.]

Turning back to Camille for a moment - in case she would prefer to try the sunlight last before Adan passes through the moonlight - he turns to secrets instead. Maybe the silver path was Fated, given his mirrored Nimbus - but probably no more than any other choice. He spends a few moments flipping through possible secrets - won't harm anyone else, doesn't belong to anyone but himself, hopefully won't harm him... in the end, with rising uncertainty being suppressed, he picks something that the Mysterium will perhaps appreciate. Or be warned off by, but this is a secret Adan wants to shed all shame of, so he chooses to accept that possibility and hope for the best.

---

As Montesquieu-Adan steps across the moonlit path, doubly-reflected light reveals imperfect memory carefully preserved - core details are sharp with occasional contemplation, but things and thorns dart around the hazy periphery. Another moonlit path, and a faceless, face-stealing fae presence - and the quicksilver spectral chain of sworn oaths binding Adan to him/it. Tinged with the regret of mistakes - foolish words that still shouldn't be taken back. Details skip - events not relevant to this secret, maybe relevant to other secrets, but not truly part of the same memory in a human construction, to the moment when Adan smashes the chains against a rock, continuing until his own blood corrodes them away. Another skip, and he's signing his Name on air, a contract with a silver tower in oathbreaker's blood. It's sacred and blasphemous all at once, emotional content carrying over that this is the most important part; something chosen even against knowing the cost of it.

[Thanqol]

The doors of the Louvre open and it is not a Mage, nor a man, nor any other mortal thing that greets you - nor is what greets you a sight for sleeping eyes. You feel the gentle trill of a demesne; the soulstone-studded network that holds back the Abyss and fills this place with all the intrinsic magic of the inside of a human soul. And, as is appropriate for a museum of art and culture in the hands of those with no barriers on their reality, the grand hall is a marvel. Stairs and doors bend and shift in ways that were unimaginable before Hollywood special effects, and the roof is open to reveal shining stars made out of ice and water reaching across the void to each other with the trails of glittering comets. In a less jaded time stepping foot into this place would be such a shock to almost be a second Awakening; in today's world of digital illusion and electric shadows it is simply very damn cool.

Your greeter is a Supernal entity - a show of luxury, power and possibly hubris to enlist such a creature as a mere manservant. It has the form of a pristine white cube, orbited by the silver rings of Saturn edged with a violet so royal you could cut yourself. Suspended in the air, it unfolds, inverts, drops wrapped boxes with silver bows on the ground in front of each of you and you feel the music of Christmas. Open the box and you each receive a silver key, a glass of wine - a 2015 vintage but sent back in time to 1923 to make its way back here the long way - and an old fashioned cassette walkman which will read you directions to various places in the museum if you ask politely, and fill the time between instructions with catchy neo-medieval revival music.

Adan receives none of these things. Adan receives a heavy metal collar and a blindfold. The Free Council and the Mysterium do not get along and even this is honestly a pretty friendly gesture that's only being made because a Mysterium initiate brought you here.

[aetherialDawn]

Adan is well-informed enough to have some idea of the background of the Mysterium's gesture. On the other hand, the Mysterium is living down to the whining of drunk Councilors rather than what Adan had hoped for.
Before stepping foot through the doors - or touching the collar and blindfold - he decides to enjoy the view and consider options for how to avoid insulting the Mysterium, or the local Free Council (or himself.)

Twisting a bit of mana through his own perceptions, he looks at as full a grasp of the view as he can - including turning to look over the Sleepers in more detail.

[1 Mana to do Arcadian Mage Sight with Prime added.]

If the blindfold hasn't got anything terribly unpleasant on it - besides the symbolic blindness/rejection - then Montesquieu dons a faint smile and puts it on first - and then starts to peer into the future, using the loss of his sight in the present to sharpen his more mystical senses, simultaneously shifting the meaning of the blindfold.

[Divination, which it looks like the Mysterium will not be sharing a Grimoire of. It was a long shot anyway, what with... not being part of the Mysterium, and all.
Using the blindfold as a Yantra - the blind seer is a strong image, and is a more polite way to rebel against their snubbing than refusing outright.
One reach for Instant Casting, one reach for Detailed Answers. Gnosis 1 + Time 2 + Yantra 1 = 8, 2, 3, 7 = 1 success. Default Potency is 2.
-Will using just-out-of-step Postcognition to 'see' despite the blindfold offend the Mysterium enough that I regret it later?
-Will any of the Sleepers who saw my secret still remember it a week from now?]

[Matthias]

Luis bows graciously to his newfound servant. "The hospitality of the Mysterium would most certainly be famous, were it not for its temporary need to operate as an arm of our little esoteric conspiracy. Thank you for welcoming us to this most shining example of human beauty." He doesn't bother connecting this fulsome praise to his denunciations of just a second ago; those who want to collate the performances are free to do the work themselves.

He does feel guilty about not lending his vision to Adan just yet, but he wants to check out the scenery, first, and opens up Mage Sight.

[aetherialDawn]

[Assuming my assumptions in my prior post are as I expect]

After some introspection - is refusing the collar just a matter of pride on his own part? Is it an insult to the Free Council he ought to respond to? Will submitting to that sort of chaining in a place so close to the Supernal be a bad idea? - Adan barely stifles a laugh. The secret he offered, the Mysterium has surely seen.

Accepting chains that he is willing and able to break ultimately means nothing. And everyone he meets is going to dream and know it. There's a tinge of regret that the opportunity to play along politely in full honesty is essentially gone with that realization, but the giddy spite does bring the poor relations between the Council and the Diamond as wholes into greater clarity.

So ultimately, Adan puts on the collar too. A blind, chained Fool, walking into almost-hostile territory. Smiling a little, he feels oddly light and dangerous, really. It is perhaps not the best mental space to be meeting with the Mysterium, but they ought to expect karma from the Path of Fate; perhaps there will be a good chance to enact that.

[Thanqol]

Adan is well-informed enough to have some idea of the background of the Mysterium's gesture. On the other hand, the Mysterium is living down to the whining of drunk Councilors rather than what Adan had hoped for.
Before stepping foot through the doors - or touching the collar and blindfold - he decides to enjoy the view and consider options for how to avoid insulting the Mysterium, or the local Free Council (or himself.)

Twisting a bit of mana through his own perceptions, he looks at as full a grasp of the view as he can - including turning to look over the Sleepers in more detail.

[1 Mana to do Arcadian Mage Sight with Prime added.]

Safety, security - and layers and layers of magic. Every aspect of this place is controlled and maintained by Mages and the Practise of Shielding is by far the most common motif - right after Veiling (the glyph the Sleepers walk is an elaborate Mind Veiling symbol). A deep pulse of Time magic runs through the building, looking forwards to any point where the sanctity of this place is disturbed. There is nothing left to chance here.

It's not uncrackable but it's as close to it as Mages can get. It's been the dream of a great many to crack the Louvre but security here is excellent. If theft is a goal plan carefully.

If the blindfold hasn't got anything terribly unpleasant on it - besides the symbolic blindness/rejection - then Montesquieu dons a faint smile and puts it on first - and then starts to peer into the future, using the loss of his sight in the present to sharpen his more mystical senses, simultaneously shifting the meaning of the blindfold.

[Divination, which it looks like the Mysterium will not be sharing a Grimoire of. It was a long shot anyway, what with... not being part of the Mysterium, and all.
Using the blindfold as a Yantra - the blind seer is a strong image, and is a more polite way to rebel against their snubbing than refusing outright.
One reach for Instant Casting, one reach for Detailed Answers. Gnosis 1 + Time 2 + Yantra 1 = 8, 2, 3, 7 = 1 success. Default Potency is 2.
-Will using just-out-of-step Postcognition to 'see' despite the blindfold offend the Mysterium enough that I regret it later?
-Will any of the Sleepers who saw my secret still remember it a week from now?]

So if you use Postcognition that displaces your senses in time. If you're wearing a blindfold you're still blind because your senses are being blocked - your eyes are time travelling, basically, but your blindfold isn't. That said you can absolutely use a minor Fate working to guide you through the room safely.

To answer your question, the Mysterium won't be 'offended' but they will think less of you. Knowledge carries a price and trying to circumvent their price just means you pay a different price.

In the most muddled terms. The Sleeping Curse will eat away at any specifics and they will be unable to tell the truth from lies. They will remember but they won't know which version is true - yours or the Abyss'. Such is the nature of the Lie.

Luis bows graciously to his newfound servant. "The hospitality of the Mysterium would most certainly be famous, were it not for its temporary need to operate as an arm of our little esoteric conspiracy. Thank you for welcoming us to this most shining example of human beauty." He doesn't bother connecting this fulsome praise to his denunciations of just a second ago; those who want to collate the performances are free to do the work themselves.

He does feel guilty about not lending his vision to Adan just yet, but he wants to check out the scenery, first, and opens up Mage Sight.

Much the same as Adan, you perceive the rolling skein of shielding spells and perception games that secure this place. This magic is everywhere, a marvel in and of itself - ask specific questions if you're curious about any individual function.

The Supernal entity speaks, and it speaks in High Speech - the raw symbol-language of the Supernal. It is like communication in Imagos, so fluid and pure as to be almost incomprehensible for human minds as anything more than a focusing tool. Each word is layered with meaning and this entity seems to be babbling especially quickly. An analogy might be a creature that speaks natively in computer code - a language that skilled people can understand but certainly don't use to talk to each other.

HAPPY GIFTS/GOLDEN MEMORY/NEW BICYCLE --- ELSE RUINED CHRISTMAS; PUMPKIN KING/CHILDHOOD TRAUMA/WELL INTENTIONED MISTAKE
FEAR/STOMACH CHURNING/ANTICIPATION/PRIZEGIVING
SKIN/PACKAGING/WRAPPING UNVEILING/QUESTION/SEEKING --- BUBBLE WRAPPING/PRETTY BOW/EAGER --- ELSE BAD ADVERTISING/GUESS WHAT'S INSIDE/TOO SMALL

[aetherialDawn]

Montesquieu/Adan decides - after a brief temptation - not to investigate the security more closely with spells. At least... not until he can ask permission. The Time elements are likely fascinating - and a place so obviously, conceptually Secure might provide useful information - if the Clock is not defeated, it might yet be evaded, after all. Maybe. With his blindfold now secured and collar more reluctantly secured, he's ready to... think about things and follow his friends, which could be a lot worse.

He silently files away the spark of disgusted hatred/guilt for the Abyss that his divination's answer engenders in him. It's not pleasant information, but a useful warning and notice of likely problems all the same. Forgetting might have been better, for those afflicted by the Abyss.

With regards to the Supernal... butler?... and its rapid, extremely conceptual communication, Montesquieu tries to think of how the meaning 'translates' down. This is a memory, certainly, to examine later - for now, better to focus on where the many-overlaid-concepts touch upon his experience, rather than make an error.

[Wits 3 + Empathy 3 to try and get an idea of what the concepts this Supernal being is broadcasting at us are meant to convey in terms of meaning. Hamete says, 6d10 = 1, 6, 5, 9, 4, 3 = 1 success.]

[Thanqol]

With regards to the Supernal... butler?... and its rapid, extremely conceptual communication, Montesquieu tries to think of how the meaning 'translates' down. This is a memory, certainly, to examine later - for now, better to focus on where the many-overlaid-concepts touch upon his experience, rather than make an error.

[Wits 3 + Empathy 3 to try and get an idea of what the concepts this Supernal being is broadcasting at us are meant to convey in terms of meaning. Hamete says, 6d10 = 1, 6, 5, 9, 4, 3 = 1 success.]

You come away from it was an impression of earnest worry and focus on the boxes it has given out. Essentially you feel like it's sincerely worried if you like the gifts or not. It's an eerily human emotion - but then again, what are humans if not reflections of Supernal concepts?

[The_Snark]

Dance is about...

... well, dance is about a lot of things, depending on who you ask. For some people it's about art: the creation of something beautiful, using the human body-in-motion as a medium. The poet, the painter, the dancer - all three occupy the same niche in the human consciousness, that of artist both touched and tormented by the muses. Others say it's about passion. That's always a popular answer in Salamanca, where so many of the Latin dances demand that you not only act out your role but feel it, translating your emotions into physical energy and back again while you ride the cresting waves of euphoria. Sometimes it's the thrill of performance that draws a dancer to the stage: vanity's more visceral cousin, the giddy rush of holding an audience spellbound. Others don't need a stage, because they're focused inwards, performing for themselves and themselves alone.

Right now, for Camille, it is all of the above. She dances for herself, but she is also a strident perfectionist, and commanding the audience is part of her craft, like it or not.

(She does. There was a time when that was hard for her, when dancing felt like something pushed on her rather than something she was called to. She has since mastered that, made it her own.)

Camille stands there a while after the others enter, watching the passers-by and charting their course. Choreographing. An open space like this, with so many people moving sedately along predictable, ritualized courses, practically demands ballet. Maybe ballroom dance, although that wants partners. Pity, she doesn't love either those genres, but she'll have to make do. She can understand them, and sometimes that's enough.

She begins slowly. Step, then stillness. Two steps; stillness again. Then over to a passerby in a swift bounding motion, touching them on the shoulder to draw them in, taking their hand, drawing them in for a spin before sending them on their way. From there she moves smoothly to her next partner, and again, like a billiard ball in slow motion. The people around her shift in response, slowing their pace to watch, moving out of her path, being drawn into her wake. (From above, the Mysterium's runes writ in the crowds are changing, but not dissolving; they flow from one sigil to another in planned patterns.) Around the glass pyramid she goes, bouncing gently from corner to corner, until at last she comes full circle to stand before the door.

And knocks once, lightly, the final movement of the dance.

[Presence 4 + Expression 5 + specialty = 10, spending a point of Willpower for +3, final pool 8 dice. Rolled 4 successes.]

[Matthias]

Luis clears his throat:

HAPPY STUPID BOY
OPENS UP TEN POUNDS OF FUDGE AND DEVOURS IT INSTANTLY
COULDN'T BE MORE PLEASED; TELLS HIS AUNT SHE IS THE BEST AUNT EVER IN FRONT OF OTHER AUNT
ALSO WHICH WAY TO THE EGYPT SECTION
I AM TOLD THAT NAPOLEON STOLE A LOT OF COOL STUFF
OR IF I WERE SEEKING AN AUDIENCE WITH THE SUN
DO YOU KNOW THE BEST WAY TO GET ON HIS ROLODEX
BESTEST AUNT EVER

[Silent_Interim]

Zeno shakes her head at Luis' bluntness. No subtlety, no class- not an accusation she of all people is prone to making, but one that seems, nonetheless, appropriate. As a member rather than a visitor, she's privy to additional information. She pulls a pair of old opera glasses from a pocket- only one lens, but here, and now, of all times and places, it's quite literally the thought that counts- and begins looking around through them. She smiles, content, for the moment, to just observe, rather than act.

[Thanqol]

She begins slowly. Step, then stillness. Two steps; stillness again. Then over to a passerby in a swift bounding motion, touching them on the shoulder to draw them in, taking their hand, drawing them in for a spin before sending them on their way. From there she moves smoothly to her next partner, and again, like a billiard ball in slow motion. The people around her shift in response, slowing their pace to watch, moving out of her path, being drawn into her wake. (From above, the Mysterium's runes writ in the crowds are changing, but not dissolving; they flow from one sigil to another in planned patterns.) Around the glass pyramid she goes, bouncing gently from corner to corner, until at last she comes full circle to stand before the door.

And knocks once, lightly, the final movement of the dance.

The doors swing open.

You see something that the others do not through their approach - a flicker in the glyph, a murmur in the pattern of people. It changes, adapts, moves slightly like a dog trying to get comfortable after being woken for a sleep. You feel a strange sense of organic thought to this abstract magical working.

Luis clears his throat:

HAPPY STUPID BOY
OPENS UP TEN POUNDS OF FUDGE AND DEVOURS IT INSTANTLY
COULDN'T BE MORE PLEASED; TELLS HIS AUNT SHE IS THE BEST AUNT EVER IN FRONT OF OTHER AUNT
ALSO WHICH WAY TO THE EGYPT SECTION
I AM TOLD THAT NAPOLEON STOLE A LOT OF COOL STUFF
OR IF I WERE SEEKING AN AUDIENCE WITH THE SUN
DO YOU KNOW THE BEST WAY TO GET ON HIS ROLODEX
BESTEST AUNT EVER

The entity flinches a few times at your syntax and grammatical mistakes but seems especially pleased with a few well chosen thoughts and images. It bounces in the air happily and then it rotates; every silver sphere and orbiting ring moving in a different direction but all returning to the same point. Its motion is a word and that word is the symbol of your questions answered.

The first question, the Sun. It speaks a Name, with all the associated imagery and themes: Ahab. A hunter who's hunt has become obsession, and his white whale: The Sun. Implied in the edge of uneasiness and dislike in the way the entity pronounces the name: A dirty office, a scary man, and no appreciation for Boxes whatsoever. But he is the expert.

The next question, Egypt - this topic it likes. It blabs for about a minute about what a genius idea the concept of putting people in boxes was, and it then praises you for two minutes on behalf of your species for coming up with the idea. It communicates another name-concept: Vauban - a siege engineer and responsible for most of the Louvre's defences. The entity cheerfully informs you that he's gone and Boxed himself inside layers and layers of fortifications and sieges and isn't talking to anyone while he looks into the Boxes with even more detail. Vauban even summoned it to help with the Boxes and box-based administration!

While the entity's enthusiasm for Vauban is pretty catchy, looking at the images it's transmitting objectively you kind of get the impression of an entire wing of the museum walled off, fortified and filled with traps. It's like a happy kid's drawing of a paranoid's survivalist bunker.

Zeno shakes her head at Luis' bluntness. No subtlety, no class- not an accusation she of all people is prone to making, but one that seems, nonetheless, appropriate. As a member rather than a visitor, she's privy to additional information. She pulls a pair of old opera glasses from a pocket- only one lens, but here, and now, of all times and places, it's quite literally the thought that counts- and begins looking around through them. She smiles, content, for the moment, to just observe, rather than act.

You can see through a twist in space to a corkboard by the entrance. It's a general purpose greeting and message board full of boring administration and check in notes, a mundane convenience that would detract from the visually impressive spectacle of the main hall and therefore cloaked from the unworthy.

The conversation on the board goes something like this:
WARNING: Vauban has gone mental and locked himself inside the Egyptology wing. Someone should do something about that
Who is 'someone', call the Heirophant
I am aware of the situation and cannot spare the time to deal with minor situations like this. Talk to him yourselves. P.S.: Do not use the Comic Sans font. We are an ancient order of occult masters, not a lemonade stand.
I say let him have it.
ALL STAFF: Potluck is Friday! Bring a little something for the pot and a little something else for the dance floor!
Archimedes checking out for two weeks. Usual note about circles.
TO THE UNWORTHY MACBETH: Thy actions at the potluck have proven thy craven character - and so I challenge thee to single combat!
I believe the symbol out front is gaining sapience. I am claiming it as my own sphere of study.
All staff shall be expected to attend stargazing with me this weekend. I expect that the experience shall be so mystically enlightening that all mundane and earthly feuds and concerns are swiftly forgotten.

[aetherialDawn]

Montesquieu remains mostly quiet throughout the process - Athanasius is doing more-or-less what he would intend anyway, just faster and less cautiously.

He offers to the entity, GRATITUDE FOR BOXES TO FRIENDS and GRATITUDE FOR EXPLANATIONS, and after a moment for a response turns to Zeno for less harrowing language.

"Unless you have good reason to think otherwise, can we speak with Ahab first? It sounds like Vauban isn't taking casual visitors."