LibriumArcana.Games

Location: Point Pleasant
Population: 65,678 (1993 Census)

The City of Point Pleasant sits along the shore of the Silver River, a fresh water river which claims as it's main tributary Rainbow Lake. Rainbow Lake is a deep fresh water lake, made popular during the summer by the excellent beaches. For those of the scholarly bent, Darkmuth University offers the best in mundane secondary educational offerings in the coun.....

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Location: Silverguard Chantry, Northern Outskirts of Point Pleasant
Time: Late Morning

The Silverguard Chantry was founded in the year 1895 by the Cabal "Sombra Encendida". Taking advantage of the still recent founding of the township, the Cabal was able to locate and asecure a reasonably powerful Node to create their Chantry before the Technocracy was able to do so. In the century since the Chantry's founding, only two of the original Mages are still with it, the Lady Rowin of Verbena and Darek Steele of Order of Hermes. Other famous (or infmaous) Mages involved at one time or another with the Silverguard include 13of6 bani Euthanatos and Chase Cooke bani Virtual Adepts - though neither keep lodgings at the Chantry anymore.

With the loss of their beloved Chantry-mates, both Lord Steel and Lady Rowin sought to bring in fresh blood to their Chantry, including Gren Grimnod of the Virtual Adepts, Doctor Zoom of the Sons of Ether. Still, always in search of expanding the horizons of young minds, new Chantry members are tried and tested. Some are accepted with open arms, while others are turned away. If you look to your left, you'll see Lady Rowin and Gren enjoying a brunch of spiced apples, fresh orange juice and.....

I'll ask you all again, please do NOT touch Supiyaw Ravu . Remember the rules for this trip, the Silverguard Chantry nor your Chantry will not be responsible for dismembering or disembowlment by Lady Rowin's familiar for your own stupidity.

To the immediate left you'll see one of Darek Steele's creations, the Unseen Servant - a apparition capable of some limited intellgence which acts as the service staff for the non-mundane areas of the Chantry.....moving on we'll see Lady Rowin's abori...........

"I hate it when those groups comes around...." Gren said between bites of toasted bread.

"Yes, well, it's been happening for the past twenty years dearest one, and I doubt beyond Darek getting a wild hair up his ass, it'll stop anytime soon." Rowin half smiled as she looked at her husband.

Gren was gruff with his hrmph, "This is a Chantry....not a museum. Why does he let those student groups from Horizon pass through...... Deity knows we're no where near as flashy as Horizon."

"I think that's why he lets them come through."

The conversation was settled, as both went back to their breakfast. The other mages would be up soon, if they were not already, and undoubtedly the smells of breakfast would cause them to grow hungry....

As the rest of the Chantry rose, Stark was already up, moving, and wolfing down what he considered breakfast. Of course, what he considered breakfast was far from most. The nutrient rich gruel was an acquired taste, he contended, as he watched the students go by.

"Feels like Mondays back at the Cop." He ruminated. "Oh well. Show me.. Wall street." He said absently, as he closed his eyes and ate, the financial situation of the world flashing through his mind.

There were many rooms in the Chantry, few were in as bad of shape as Jason Ammons' room. Clothing was spread across the floor, the desk, and the dresser. Posters of various bands were plastered up on the walls and the ceiling, and heavy curtains were drawn over the single window of the tiny room.

A large lump on the bed under covers didn't budge as the alarm clock suddenly started blaring screaming music that could probably be heard out in the hallway. The lump shifted slowly, a hand slipped from under the covers, followed by the arm it was attached to as the hand searched desperately for the source of the noise. The hand groped around the clock before closing around it, hitting it and squeezing it a few times before it finally shut off. The arm slid back under the covers and the lump rolled over, once again unmoving except for a slight and steady rise and fall.

Lady Rowin's "familiar" lounged in a pool of morning sunlight, the golden rays soaking into her solid black fur as the panther unconcernedly licked the last traces of her breakfast off her face in the usual feline manner.

The copper-colored eyes, however, had been circumspectly watching the visiting students as they passed by, idly wondering if any of -this- batch would be dumb enough to touch another mage's 'familiar'. It did annoy her a bit that this particular tour guide did not use her use-name of Mandalay, but gave her human name instead. Perhaps Lady Rowin would let her have a talk with him privately about the importance of Secrets.

Last traces of food washed away, the great black panther yawned and rolled over onto her side with a sigh of contentment. The breakfast area always got the best of the morning sunlight, in her opinion. Her ears twitched suddenly as Jason's alarm went off upstairs. A moment later, the ear-splitting (to her) music was shut off.

<Shall I drag him out of bed ... again ... Lady Rowin?> she asked in Kheuar, the language of Cats (and certain gifted Magi of high rank). To the unworthy, it was a low rumble from her chest as she raised her head to look at Rowin, twitching her whiskers and ears. The twitch of her tail was at the gleeful thought of how she could do it this time. Grabbing him by the ankle and pulling him down the stairs? Climbing in bed with him and staring down into his face until what was left of human danger instincts woke him up? Of course, that was if the bed would hold her weight ....

Another alarm clock went off down the hall. This time it was not aweful blaring music. It was Dvorak's New World Symphony, fourth movement.

In the room, a figure opened his eyes and glared somewhat balefully at the CD player that he had set as his alarm. As he was every morning as far back as he could remember, he wanted to make it explode.... and this time he spared it. But only this last time.

He got up, revealing to the world that was not watching his naked form, and shambled across the room like an irritated zombie to the stereo system and flicked it off, then on second thought, he turned it back on. He liked the new world symphony.

He grabbed a pack of cigarettes off the desk and grabbed a cancer stick. He really would have to master life if he wanted to live past 50. He pulled out his lighter and commenced his morning ritual. He sat at his desk and took a long drag from his cigarette. He then googled himself. Not that he found anything useful. But it was all he had to go on. About five minutes of searching through results, Russell spun around in the chair, put out the cigarette and pushed himself over to a bookshelf and pulled a book off the shelf. This one was titled "On Transhumanism" it was useful to know his enemies. He looked through table of contents, and would spend the next thirty minutes reading before he started out for breakfast or was interrupted. Whichever came first.

Gren looked down at the big purring black furred beast, then eyed his wife, "What did she just say?"

Rowin smiled demurely, sipping her cup of tea, "You can understand her just well if you bothered employing the Rote m'love."

Gren snorted, "Yeah...but then you wouldn't have the pleasure of me asking you everytime Row."

Rowin shook her head and laughed softly, "Better go see about getting the sleepy heads up Mandalay. Or I'm sure Rumor will beat you to it..."

Gren looked from his buttered toast, and eyed the gruel that somehow, despite what the Unseen Servants were able to make in the kitchen, Mark always seemed to eat at breakfast.

"That's the most god-aweful looking crud I've seen Mark. Why not have a Dragonfruit? They're really good this morning. Coffee's good to...


"Greetings and felicitations on this more glorious of events," a tiny, high toned voice spoke, accompanied by the faint humm of a antigrav chair.

The little blue SoE slide into the breakfast room, humming to himself as the chair pulled up to the table, only the top of his head being visible.

"A most inauspicious begining to this morning. Elevate!" And within a second, Doctor Zoom was sitting at a proper height. "I say, we seem to be short some bodies this morning. Perhaps I should make use of my 'Pandimensional Alarm Toner' to awake them?"

Gren's eyes widened at the suggestion, not so much as the faint body order of the SoE - a strange cross between burnt meat and fresh magnolias - and coughed up some of his toast, "NO! erm..that is to say Doc...I think we should let them get up on their own. Darek's not about, so we can afford to be a bit lazy today. He even was kind enough to let Rumor stay around here today."

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As Russell smoked his cigarette and read about Trans-humanism, Rumor had taken it upon himself - without his companion about for the day - to make a visit.

As Russell was focused upon his book, the massive cat, nearly as big as a man, slipped from a shadow behind him, and growled deeply, as threateningly as he could...which for a beast of his size, was quiet threateningly indeed - the human-looking eyes fixed on the man like prey.

Russell closed the book when he heard the growl and turned around in his chair

"Niiiice kitty." he said nervously "I would pet you, If I was not deathly afraid of you removing my face... I suppose you want me to go out into the common area then?" he put the book down and started to get up.

"My dear little Adept," Mark knew it wound the elder Traditionalist up. "It's like I've said. Some of us lost the priveledge of a human body a while ago. But yea, grab me a dragonfruit. Might not sustain me, but it'll get the taste out of my mouth.."

Just because the gruel was vital to his functions didn't mean he liked it. "Morning, Doc. Have you ever considered one of those elevated chairs used for small children?"

The teasing was, to him, part of being here. They were enemies, or had been not so long ago. Oh, Mark never met any of them, and never would have started anything with most. But it was how he vented the strangeness of his situation.

Gren muttered something beneath his breath and shook his head ruefully at the Void Engineer. "Great Turing.....I hate it when you do that."

Gren shook his head as he picked up one of the purple and bluestripped fruits the size of a large apple, and tossed it lightly at Mark.

Zoom, on the other hand, shook his head, and was about to give a large dissertation to Stark on just why he could not use one of those elevated child chairs, and why his 'Vocally Activated Hover Conveyance' was a far more preferable choice, when a pair of mostly translucent hands attached to a pair of floating red eyes, set a plate of what looked like stir-fries goats liver and sheep balls before the lil blue alien-man. "Ah, excellent, sustenance has arrived! I must begin the breaking of fast! Pumpkin Juice please Servant."


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Rumor took a step towards Russell as he spoke, putting the book down. The large human eyes seemed to glare at the "kitty" phrase, showing very real anger, before it's maw spread in what could only be called a smirk.

The moor cat leapt into a shadow beneath Russell's desk, and disappeared after.

Natasha, Tasha for short, lifted her tail and trotted down the stairs, every inch a self satisfied grey and black adolescent tabby. Well, maybe not every inch. Arkady trailed after her.

His familiar jumped onto the table and sat, curling her tail around her paws. "Молоко пожалуйста," she said.

"Of course," replied the lanky Russian. His accent was soft, but noticable. "It might be helpful to learn English some time."

"What makes you think I don't already know it?" Tasha replied. Arkady took out a container of low fat milk and grabbed a bowl from the cupboard. He poured a shallow layer of milk into the bowl. Tasha began to lap it up with her tongue.

Mandalay's whiskers and tail both twitched in amusement as Rowin teased Gren. She honestly liked the two elder magi. Dr Zoom, on the other hand, always made her ears lay back no matter how hard she tried not to. It was the smell. Even Stark's metallic body smelled better -- Zoom was something that she wished some cat had just left outside to bury. Rotten flowers, wasted meat, and an underlying hint of -dog- just made her want to drag the misshapen body of the Etherite far outside of town and bury in the town dump.

But she couldn't, and she refused to let it seem like Zoom was the reason she was leaving. She stretched languidly as she rose to her feet, which gave enough time for Arkady and Tasha to appear. As Mandalay walked past the table (away from Dr. Zoom's side), she stretched her head up high enough to give Tasha a polite greeting for the morning, whiskers and ears forward. Arkady was given what was now becoming the norm for whenever Mandalay first saw him -- a jarring head-bump against his nearer leg before she slid by, her full length pressing against him just shy of knocking him sideways.

But her true target was upstairs, as yet unsuspecting. Just to show off, she leapt the stairs, landing far too quietly for something her size. As she turned towards Jason's room, she paused short, her coppery eyes tracking a shadow that wasn't a shadow. Rumor didn't stop, so she moved onto her target.

Getting Jason's door open was not that hard, and she slipped inside like a shadow. <Gah. What filth.> Her body language was distainful as she carefully walked into the room, placing her feet just-so to avoid the piles of clothing, magazines, and who-knew-what Jason had simply left where it fell. Once at the bed her front paw raised, two claws extended, starting to tug the bedcover off the unmoving lump underneath. <Wakey Wakey >

The lump took a few seconds to react before it shifted some and the bedcover began to feel resistance. "F'ck off... 'm sleebin'." The words were muttered almost too quietly for a normal person to hear, for a cat however it was clear to understand. The lump tugged hard and pulled the bedcover partway back to where it was supposed to be.

Charon wrote:"F'ck off... 'm sleebin'." The lump tugged hard and pulled the bedcover partway back to where it was supposed to be.

The way the ears laid back would have warned any cat-lover, even without being able to understand Kheuar. <Too bad. Time to get up.> The paw grabbed higher on the cover, a momentary weight on his body, before Mandalay unsheathed just enough claw to snag the comforter and tug it roughly off Jason. <But keep playing if you want... you probably need a bath.>

Jason almost went with his comforter he'd been holding onto it so tightly when it went flying, which left the young man spun about that he was face to face with Mandalay. He looked shocked for a few moments before he grumbled. "Oh, it's you... One of these days I'm going to turn my door into a wall so you can't get in." Jason rolled away from the cat and lay on his bed for a few more seconds, long enough to get another warning growl before he sighed. "Alright alright I'm up... Go hunt Zoom or something." Jason sat up slowly and looked around his room. Spotting a shirt he picked it up and looked it over once and gave it a quick sniff. Gagging some Jason threw that shirt into a corner and scrounged up another one, testing this one as well. It was satisfactory and Jason put it on before he stumbled to his feet. "I hate mornings."

Deliberately, Mandalay leaned forward, giving the shirt (and Jason) and audible sniff, then made a gagging sound. Fully unnecessary, unless you're a fastidious feline trying to get the point across to a young, dumb 18yr old male. <I really should hold you down like a kitten and bathe you.>

Jason pushed Mandalay back and yawned. "Yes, thank you very much for your opinion." The young man was probably one of the few people in the Chantry who did not get worried when Rumor or Mandalay started getting fussy with them. Part of it was because he was so certain he was invincible, the other part was that he'd grown up with the cats and as such didn't see them as that frightening anymore... usually.

Jason didn't bother with putting shoes on and only brushed his hand through his hair to get it in the usual messy look then stepped out of his room. "Alright, get outta my room."

Russell felt his heart lurch up into his throat as the Moor Cat seemed to leap at him then disappeared into a shadow under his desk

"I will take that as my cue to leave" he said as he put some clothes on. In this case, a collared shirt, knit vest, slacks and a set of nice shoes. He looked like he might at a private psych practice.

He then took his PDA with him, and went out the door to the common room.

<Gladly.>
It was of course another production, as Mandalay once again placed her feet just-so to avoid walking on the trash, clothing, and other items scattered about Jason's floor.

Once she was outside the door, she deliberately looked Jason up and down, lingering a little longer on the lower half of his body, before the coppery eyes looked back up at his face unscrutably. With a slow shake of her head, she turned and started leading the way down to the breakfast nook. <Kittens have more sense.> It was obvious she thought someone who slept in his pants and wore 2day old shirts needed help.

Jason snorted some. "Yeah yeah and you're the paragon of cleanliness Miss I-lick-my-own-ass."

Jason made his way down to the dining room and took a look around at his everyday life. Zoom was already in, and looking as disgusting as ever. Rowin and Gren were practically undressing each other with their eyes, Mark had a bowl full of... whatever it was he always ate. Jason sighed as he finished his trek down the stairs, moving to grab a bowl, some milk, and a box of cereal, hoping that this time it really was a cereal box and not another of Zoom's horrid experiments.

Charon wrote:Jason snorted some. "Yeah yeah and you're the paragon of cleanliness Miss I-lick-my-own-ass."

One ear flicked backwards as she continued walking, a smug look on her feline face. <Take a bath, and I may let you lick me.>

It was truly a pity only Lady Rowin, Rumor, and Tasha understood Kheuar. Then again, with the number of insults and sly comments she normally kept silent, perhaps it was a good thing that they couldn't. Either way, she had once again played her little game with Jason. Although if he didn't shower and wash his clothing today, tomorrow morning she'd yank his comforter off and just start licking him clean.

Someone might wonder why Mandalay was licking her lips at the thought.

As Jason grumpily fetched his breakfast, Mandalay walked over to the table to speak to Tasha. <Anything interesting happen?> she asked politely, ears and whiskers forward, leaning up to touch noses. She was, once again, as upwind of Dr Zoom as she could be while being at the same table.

Russell got down to the breakfast table, noticing Mandalay teasing Jason again.

"Good morning everyone" said Russell, as he yanked a box of great grains and some soy milk out of a cabinet and the fridge respectively

"I trust everyone slept well?"

He poured the cereal and soy milk into a bowl he procured from another cabinet, and started eating.

"God I love this stuff" he muttered.

"I was sleeping well until the resident mouse catcher woke me up." James glanced in Maladay's direction before looking back to his bowl. He poured in some golden grahams and then doused it in milk. "And I don't know how you can drink that soy crap. It's gotta be worse than Stark's gruel."

"You will be surprised how good it is. It is hard to describe, sort of a nutty flavor. Goes really well with granola, and it is better for you than regular milk, uses less land to produce, and is less cruel. Win-win."

"Yep. Land area." Stark grinned knowingly to himself. "Gosh, what a persistant problem, a lack of land to grow things on. Now the real problem with cows? Can't handle much delta-v. Also, very bad at Horizon Transmission." He sucked down more of the gruel. "Ah, that's the ticket. Powercells almost back up to full."

Boxer Jones woke like a flickering light. A couple of false starts followed by full wakefulness. He was later waking up then usual. His neck was stiffer then usual to, but then he usually didn't fall asleep at his unitarian desk facing a mystery.

An Axumite... Idol? Tottem? Statue? Squatted on his desk, staring down at him like a disapproving pagan god of old at a poor and dense student. It stone carved to look like an old man, heavily muscled with wings and claws clutching a globe. The eyes were hooded and seem to burn. The base, leg, arms and forehead had words in an unknown language deeply incised into them.

Axum, the near forgotten African Kingdom. Home to great cities founded when London had been a pre-Roman village. Peer to Rome, it had fought off Armies of supernatural beings from the heart of Africa. Converting from paganism to Christianity before most Europeans had even heard of a certain Jewish Carpenter. Conquered the Horn of Africa, Sudan and down to the present borders of Kenya. Stood like a rock in the face of Islamic invasion where Persia and Byzantine fell and shattered.

The stone thing was old, older then Christianity in Axum, which made it thousands of years old. The language was not Axumite, or related to any African language in his books. He had found it, hidden in the Ethopian Mountains. Buried. For the last 3 nights he had been attempting to use his Dreaming to shake something loose. Nothing but the feel of deep age.

It was magical. It had to be. Some ancient African Pagan Wizard had made this before the first Hermetic wizard had so much has scrawled a circle in the mud. It had resisted every effort of his magical and scientific to pry forth it's secrets.It was also pretty much all he had to show for his adventures.

Venezuela had been an utter waste of time, the temple was real enough, but the wall carvings he had risked so much to see had been recent made fakes barely 20 years old. On top of that he had ended up lost in the jungle choked swamps for over a week, ending up in Colombia of all places. He was luckly his translation work and other ventures brought in money otherwise the Chantry elders might had gotten more upset with his so far fruitless quests.

He sighed and supported his chin on his hand. There had to be something...