TEXT: TM
  
  Proof of Faith
  JIM: Where we going?
  Jim’s in the back of the car, behind a pane of smeary scratched plastic ﬂ agged with worn and torn stickers 
  that say “Driver carries less than $100” and “Passenger’s Bill of Rights.” It’s a wide, blocky car and an ob-
  noxious shade of orange. The back seat is one wide ribbed, rubbery bench with bites taken out of its hide. 
  The ﬂ esh inside is spongy yellow foam. Everything smells like cigarette smoke and mold.
  It used to be a taxi. It used to be Lance’s taxi — and still is, off the books — when Lance was using his old 
  name. His mundane name.
  LANCE: Wouldn’t you like to know. Hell, man, if I could know in advance where 
  I was going to be buried, I might ask, too.
  JIM: If your bosses wanted me dead I’d be dead already.
  LANCE: It’s not all up to them, chief.
  JIM: I think it is. It’s sure not up to you what happens to me.
  LANCE: We just don’t off folks in our back yard, is all.
  Lance is driving. When Lance talks to Jim he looks in the rear-view mirror or just leans his head near his 
  shoulder, as if ricocheting his voice off the ceiling into the back of the car. Lance is thin, sweaty from being 
  out in the sun earlier that day, with a junkie’s haircut and a worn-out Sex Pistols shirt, tattered into stylish-
  ness. He’s sitting on his leather jacket. His deodorant’s worn off and the box of Camels in his pocket has gone 
  soft with sweat. He ﬁ shes it out, craning his neck as he lifts himself up near the roof of the car, and tosses 
  the pack on the dashboard. When he yanks the car back into his lane the pack slides along the dashboard 
  to the passenger side of the car, where Hector catches them without looking.
  
   
  HECTOR: Nobody’s getting killed.
   
  LANCE: We’ll see.
  HECTOR: Just don’t think it’s safe to talk where your people might come and 
  listen in.
  LANCE: Of course, we could do whatever we want out here and just make up 
  a story for our “bosses” later on, if we wanted.
  HECTOR: Besides, the man who will decide what happens with you is where 
  we’re headed. How you act will make him make up his mind to keep you or 
  not. Play along and we’ll have to go to the considerable trouble of keeping you. 
  Somewhere.
  Hector’s sitting shotgun, almost sideways, with his back to his door. When he talks to Jim he looks out of 
  the side of his face at him, or sometimes looks right him, always looking away between sentences. Hector’s 
  head is a leathery orb with a furry black buzz cut, fat eyebrows and squinty little slits for eyes. He’s got the 
  posture of a street thug and the demeanor of a school teacher. When he catches Lance’s cigarettes he pulls 
  pack off the sunny dashboard and stashes them in the open ashtray under the radio.
  JIM:  If you’re gonna kill me, I’d like to use the bathroom ﬁ rst.
  HECTOR: We’ll be there in like an hour. Hold it.
  JIM: Who is this guy who decides? He’s not Consilium if he’s out here, right?
  LANCE: You never fucking give up, do you?
  HECTOR: You’ll meet him when you meet him.
  JIM: What is he, one of your mystagogues? Archivist? Inquisitor?
  Nobody says anything.
  JIM: We caught wind that you had some librarian, some researcher, out in the 
  suburbs. That where we’re going?
  Lance hocks up a jelly of phlegm and looses it out his window.
  JIM: How am I supposed to play along if I don’t know what I’m supposed to 
  do?
  LANCE: By keeping your mouth shut, is how. Dick.
  HECTOR: He asks, you answer. No sweat.
  Jim’s wardrobe has been narrowed down to his jeans, sneakers and a white t-shirt. Jim’s hands are in his 
  lap, bound with a plastic zip-cord. All along the base of the windows and around the door handle are glyphs 
  and magic marks, written with a black Sharpie. When they put him in the car, Jim tried to touch the door 
  handle but couldn’t — the glyphs they wrote on the back of his hands pushed him away, like two negative 
  magnets. When he tried to say even one spell, the words turned to screeching static in his ears.
  Lance pulls his cigarettes out of the ashtray and squeezes the pack, sniffs it.
  
  LANCE: Fuck.
  JIM: Interrogation?
  LANCE: Fucking sucks.
  Lance tosses the pack out his window.
  JIM: Interview? 
  HECTOR: That depends on you. Answer what you’re asked and it’ll all be real 
  polite. Doesn’t have to be ugly.
  LANCE: Unlike your “pylon,” we don’t bust into your shit and spy on you.
  JIM: If I’m gonna be polite, I’d like to use the bathroom ﬁ rst.
  HECTOR: There’s a bathroom there.
  JIM: Yeah, but your fella’s gonna want to get down to business, right? We walk 
  in, he’s gonna be eager to see me.
  HECTOR: You’ll be ﬁ ne.
  Jim leans to look out one window. He has to stretch to keep his hands away from the heavy feeling of 
  the glyphs on the door. They’re driving down a four-lane road with a wide median of dead grass. Beyond, 
  the world is a row of orderly houses with low green lawns. Huge man-shaped towers made of steel gird-
  ers straddle the world with their hands on their hips, holding power lines up off the ground, between the 
  people and the sky.
  A cloud of tiny black birds lifts off one sagging power line and wheels in the air. Doing laps on an invisible 
  groove in the sky.
  
  JIM: That’s not what I see.
  Lance chuckles to himself.
  HECTOR: How’s that, Jim?
  Jim nods with his head.
  JIM: I don’t see this turning out well. Today.
  LANCE: Nice. You play to that 
  stereotype, man.
  HECTOR: What is that, Jim? Fate? 
  Or a tip from your Exarchs?
  Jim shifts back into his seat.
  JIM: You don’t believe.
  LANCE: No shit, Jim.
  HECTOR: Call me a skeptic.
  JIM: I don’t know how, after everything you’ve 
  seen, you can not believe. I mean, I can under-
  stand how you might doubt, ‘cause it’s not always 
  easy understand the word — I mean, damn — but 
  how you can accept the Watchtowers and not 
  the lords, I just don’t get that.
  HECTOR: You may hear them, Jim, but I think you 
  can understand why I might not just take your word on 
  this, you know? The word of a guy who was thinking 
  about killing us? You tell me you’ve got these gods 
  on high who say you’ve got to get us in line?
  LANCE: Fear tactics, man.
  HECTOR: But can you—
  JIM: You say “gods”—
  HECTOR: Jim, for one second, man, please. Can you 
  imagine why it is that I might not want to convert 
  blindly to the religion of a dude who was ﬁ xing to 
  kill my crew?
  JIM: You say “gods.” I didn’t say that. They’re not gods. I mean, that’s awfully gener-
  ous of you, and I’ll agree that they’re godly or godlike, but this isn’t Zeus shit I’m 
  talking about here. That’s human folly. That’s seeing lightning and calling it a god.
  HECTOR: I haven’t seen the lightning, Jim.
  JIM: No. Yes, you have. Ordinaries see the lightning and call it a god. You people 
  see Watchtowers, see the world change at your fucking word, and you call it 
  whatever it is you call it.
  
  HECTOR: I’m not denying the Watch—
  LANCE: Not all of us buy into your Atlantean lords story, Jim—
  JIM: It’s all Exarchs. It’s all the Exarchs. They manning the wheel of the world, 
  man. They’re manning the door between heaven and earth. They’re the wardens 
  of this shitty prison.
  HECTOR: Quote all the Seer spiel you want—
  LANCE: You’re the prisoner here, man.
  JIM: Wait, wait. What’s that, Lance?
  LANCE: You’re the prisoner, here, Jimbo. You’re the one in the fucking car.
  JIM: Capturing me doesn’t set you free. David.
  Lance takes a hand off the wheel, spins around in his seat and slams his ﬁ st on the plastic.
  LANCE: You shut your mouth!
  HECTOR: Drive the car!
  LANCE: You don’t say that! You keep your fucking mouth—
  Hector puts a ﬁ nger in Lance’s face. 
  HECTOR: Lance. Calm it. Keep your eyes on the road, man. Drive the car.
  Lance turns back in his seat. Shifts around on his leather jacket a few times.
  Hector leans near the plastic pane.
  HECTOR: You can that shit, Jim. That’s not playing along. That shit’s gonna get 
  you killed. All right?
  Jim looks out the window. Two seconds go by. He nods.
  HECTOR: All right.
  Lance sticks his hands in the pockets of his leather jacket, under his legs, as best he can, looking for ciga-
  rettes. Lance sighs. With an exaggerated swing of his arms he slaps his hands back on the steering wheel.
  Hector looks at him. Stares at him. Says nothing.
  Lance glances over once, twice, sees Hector eyeballing him, looks back at the road, into the rear-view 
  mirror, back at Hector, back to the road. Hector turns in his seat, faces forward now, and shakes his head. 
  It means “This is stupid.”
  LANCE: I’m out of cigarettes.
  Hector’s looking out the window, shaking his head to himself, in tiny increments. Outside, the steel towers 
  pass by. Outside, their power lines pass overhead.
  LANCE: I need a fucking cigarette, man.
  Hector nods his head for almost a whole minute. It means “I should’ve known.” Up ahead, on Hector’s side 
  of the road, is a sign with a Flying J logo on it. “This Exit,” says the sign.
  JIM: I could really use a bathroom.
  •     •     •
  
  Inside the truck stop, Hector stands by the doors, next to a waist-high box of sunglasses. On his feet, at 
  his post like that, he adopts the complete body language of a stone-cold thug. His stance isn’t looking for 
  trouble — it’s a fair warning to steer clear of this guy. A father moves to stand between his young kids and 
  Hector as they walk out of the store.
  In the parking lot, Lance and Hector argued about how to watch Jim while he sat in the back of the car. 
  They decide Hector will watch Jim while Lance stands in line for cigarettes, then Lance will take Jim to the 
  bathroom. This leaves Jim standing near the door with Lance’s leather coat over his bound wrists.
  Curious, cautious, Jim starts to form the idea of a spell in his mind. Hector doesn’t move, so Jim reﬁ nes the 
  image, coloring it with pigments from his soul: a ﬁ nger pushing buttons on a phone. Hector is statuesque, 
  so Jim gives it a name in the High Speech and suddenly, silently, Jim’s got his magic: the yuppie browsing 
  sports drinks pulls out his fragile black cell phone, ﬂ ips it open and dials. 
  The yuppie’s never called this number, doesn’t know it himself. Once the numbers are in, he just holds the 
  phone in his hand, down at his thigh, arm relaxed. In a minute, he’ll hang up the phone, never remembering 
  he called at all. Someone picks up on the other end, but says nothing.
  Jim can hear the signal in the air. It ripples past him like a weak breeze. It feels like a phone is off the 
  hook in his brain.
  To squeeze out the ﬁ rst transmission, praying Hector or Lance can’t hear it, Jim feels like he’s clenching 
  the hemispheres of his brain like they were buttocks. His thoughts burp out on the cell phone signal to the 
  Seer on the other end of the line.
  “They’re taking me to see one of their mystagogues. I’m not sure how much they know, but he’s going to 
  ask me about the artifact. I can’t ﬁ ght him off forever.”
  The voice on the other end of the phone says things Jim doesn’t want to hear.
  “No, I can,” Jim transmits with his mind. “If that’s what it takes.” Jim exhales, too loud, he thinks. Hector 
  looks at him out of the corner of his eye.
  The voice on the phone says something else.
  “No, north.” Jim thinks his electric thoughts. “We’re north. Get somebody with a police scanner out 
  here.”
  The voice asks a question.
  “Because in case I survive,” Jim thinks.
  HECTOR: Hey.
  Hector’s looking right at Jim now. Lance is next to him.
  HECTOR: Bathroom time, man.
  LANCE: You should be pretty excited by now.
  Jim blinks, like he’s coming to. The signal slips out of his mind like a rope through his hands.
  JIM: Oh, yeah. I love to piss.
  LANCE: Move it.
  
  Jim takes his time crossing the store, with Lance right behind him. One fat trucker in a revealing t-shirt 
  waddles out of the men’s room door as they approach. He smells like cheap hand soap.
  Inside, past the sinks, the row of urinals is punctuated by one lanky farmer-looking trucker in a ﬂ annel 
  shirt and dirty cap. Jim walks right up next to him.
  LANCE: Don’t do that.
  JIM: Sorry.
  Jim moves down two urinals from the trucker, farther from the door. Lance has his leather jacket back 
  now, so Jim’s counting on protocol to keep the trucker’s eyes off his bound wrists. Jim looks ahead, eyes on 
  the tiles.
  JIM: You on a haul?
  LANCE: Don’t talk to him.
  Jim’s not sure if Lance is talking to the trucker or him. The trucker hurries up, zips his ﬂ y, rushes at the sink 
  and slips out of the room. He has to edge past Lance, who’s half-blocking the door.
  Jim opens his mouth.
  LANCE: Keep your mouth shut.
  Jim zips up, ﬂ ushes. As he walks past the bank of urinals he turns his head towards the cologne machine 
  on the wall. Lance follows his gaze over. Jim brushes his hand against the inside of the 
  trucker’s urinal and gets two ﬁ ngertips of 
  warm piss. If Lance sees him do it, he doesn’t 
  say anything.
  Jim heads for the sink, touches one of the 
  magic-marker glyphs on the back of his hand 
  with his other thumb.
  LANCE: Nuh-uh. Let’s go.
  JIM: That’s disgusting.
  LANCE: You’ll live. Let’s go.
  Jim holds the back of his hands up for Lance 
  to see.
  JIM: This stuff’s not going to come 
  off with one wash.
  LANCE: Right now, dick.
  Jim makes a face but heads towards the 
  bathroom door, which Lance is holding open 
  for him.
  LANCE: And don’t touch me.
  •     •     •
  
  As they get back in the car, Jim rubs his middle ﬁ nger against his thumb, sticky with urine. In his head he 
  pictures the farmer-looking trucker inside his rig, watching an ugly orange car pull out of the lot and back 
  onto the highway. In his mind, the trucker starts his rig and follows them. Jim can feel the electric chill of 
  Mana coming off him and drifting back up through the sky to the Exarchs.
  He has to hope it worked.
  HECTOR: You know what I don’t think you appreciate, Jim?
  They’re back on the highway now. Jim’s looking over his shoulder, out the back window. There’s a truck 
  back there, a big red rig, and Jim hopes that’s his guy.
  He straightens himself out in his seat.
  JIM: What’s that?
  HECTOR: You spit on us because we don’t believe in your guys, but you’ve never 
  had to see it that way. I mean, it’s not faith for you, right? To you, these guys 
  — the Exarchs — are like real.
  JIM: They’re real.
  HECTOR: So it’s not faith no more, right? To you it’s like a proven fact.
  JIM: Sure.
  HECTOR: But we don’t have any of that proof. I mean, they’re not talking to us. 
  You know? Why is it that I’m the asshole for not taking this on faith when you’ve 
  never had to take it on faith? It’s not like you’ve done it and I won’t. It’s not the 
  same thing. I’m a fool because I won’t take you at your word?
  LANCE: You who wanted to kill us.
  HECTOR: I mean, it’s not you I’m supposed to have faith in, right? It’s not you I’m 
  supposed to believe in, right?
  LANCE: You’re not an Exarch are you, Jimbo?
  
  Jim looks over his shoulder again. The red rig’s in the left lane, coming closer. Jim leans forward near the 
  plastic divider and looks at Lance’s speedometer: 65 mph.
  Jim leans back.
  JIM: What do you guys want, physical proof?
  LANCE: It’s not us, man.
  HECTOR: That would go a long way, Jim.
  JIM: You pentacles. I swear to God. What do you think your guy’s gonna ask 
  me about? The Dethroned Queen is your proof. The thing he wants? That’s his 
  proof.
  HECTOR: If you believe the story.
  JIM: How can you not? You know your guy does, that’s why you’re hauling me 
  out here, right? Because he wants what we got.
  HECTOR: If it was really hers.
  JIM: No, see, that’s not in doubt. Good money against bad, your guy knows 
  what we got was really the Queen’s. He’s looking for a way to cancel out the 
  evidence, though. To say that she was real but the Exarchs — the Exarchs who 
  banished her and her ﬁ ve treasures here to the Fallen — are not real. Because 
  you’ve all made up your minds already, that the Exarchs aren’t real or aren’t 
  what we’ve been telling you they are, and you’re terriﬁ ed that a hunk of metal 
  is going to show you’re wrong.
  LANCE: Calm down, dude.
  HECTOR: The Dethroned Queen could’ve just been a powerful wizard, right? She 
  could just be another mage from down here.
  JIM: You cut away the parts of the legend that you don’t like—
  HECTOR: Even if she was Supernal, how does that prove everything you say 
  about Exarchs, huh? Are they the only ones working up there?
  LANCE: Oh, dude, don’t start in with that Oracle shit again. Please.
  Jim looks over his shoulder. The red rig is passing them on the left. If he could see him, this would be 
  easier. 
  HECTOR: Which version of your Dethroned Queen story are we even taking 
  about? The one where she’s a homeless medicine woman in India?
  Jim rubs the urine on his index ﬁ nger into his palm. He prays.
  HECTOR: The one where she appears in Ugarit in like 1200 BC?
  Jim hopes. “You’ll be ﬁ ne,” he thinks. “You’ve got the truck. It’s not your life. 
  Just a job.”
  HECTOR: Or the one where she’s living as a whore in Egypt?
  
  Jim pictures the front of the car peeling away in a ﬂ ash of screaming red metal. In his mind wads of metal 
  come off like torn paper. The plastic pane vanishes into the storm of wreckage that eats up Lance and Hector. 
  There’ll be wind in his face. Metal cinders. Streaks of sparks like glowing straw as the chassis grinds against 
  the pavement. Turning his head away from the shrapnel, he’ll see the red rig bouncing into a ditch on the 
  side of the road, smashed but safe. “Do it,” Jim says, pulling a string in the trucker’s mind with his own.
  HECTOR: I mean, we’re a little short on facts here, right? How can you be sure 
  you got the story straight?
  Jim watches the truck start to drift.
  JIM: I know it’s important.
  Jim looks Hector in the eye, through the plastic divider.
  JIM: I know I believe it.
  The pop of panicked hydraulics goes off outside Lance’s window.
  LANCE: Holy fuck!
  Lurching like it’s drunk, the big red rig twists on the road. Curls of orange metal arc into the air and back 
  to earth as the wrecks skid away. Each little piece clangs off the asphalt or cuts through the roadside grass, 
  landing deformed in jagged abstract shapes.
  When the investigators arrive, they’ll play games 
  with the shrapnel, quiz each other on what 
  part of the car it was.
  
  By Brian Campbell, Gary Glass, Wood Ingham, 
  Robin D. Laws and Matthew McFarland
  ™
  
  12
  Credits
  Written by: Brian Campbell, Gary Glass, Wood In-
  gham, Robin D. Laws, Matthew McFarland with Will 
  Hindmarch and Bill Bridges
  World of Darkness created by Mark Rein•Hagen
  Developers: Bill Bridges and Will Hindmarch
  Editor: Scribendi.com
  Art Director: matt milberger
  Layout & Typesetting: CRAIG GRANT
  Interior Art: Peter Berting, Tom Biondolillo, Craig 
  Grant, Vatche Mavlian, Justin Norman, Christopher 
  Sway  
  Cover Art: Jason Chan
  Playtested by: Liam Purcell, Debs Curnock, Rob and 
  Becky Lowe; Troy Duffy, Viktor Haag, Chris Huth, Paul 
  Jackson, Justin Mohareb; Fred Annett, Peter DuBois, 
  Phil Granner, Alan Holmberg, Jack Mahan.
  © 2006 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without 
  the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the pur-
  poses of reviews. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval 
  system or transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, pho-
  tocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of White 
  Wolf Publishing, Inc. Reproduction prohibitions do not apply to the character 
  sheets contained in this book when reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, 
  Vampire, World of Darkness and Mage the Ascension are registered trademarks of 
  White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Vampire the Requiem, Werewolf 
  the Forsaken, Mage the Awakening, Storytelling System and Reign of the Exarchs 
  are trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, 
  names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf Publishing, Inc.
  The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge to the trademark or copyright concerned. White 
  Wolf’s use of the term Mysterium in the Mage the Awakening product line in no way challenges any other use of this term, including but 
  not limited to its use in Laughing Pan Production’s roleplaying game Deliria.
  This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are ﬁ ction and intended for 
  entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content. Reader discretion is advised.
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  PRINTED IN CHINA.
  COMING NEXT FOR MAGE
  The Tome
  of
  Mysteries
  
  13
  TABLE OF CONTENTS
  Table of Contents
  Prologue 
  1
  Introduction 
  14
  Chapter One: The Ring 
  16
  Chapter Two: The Robe 
  38
  Chapter Three: The Scepter 
  64
  Chapter Four: The Crown 
  90
  Chapter Five: The Throne 
  118
  ™
  
  14
  Reign of the Exarchs is a chronicle book presenting ﬁ ve 
  separate stories, each revealing a facet of the power of the 
  Exarchs in the Fallen World. The stories are loosely inter-
  locking, in that information gained in one story will prove 
  useful in the next; while there is no requirement to run one 
  story before any other, playing them in sequence will provide 
  the most satisfaction. The stories do not need to be played 
  immediately after each other; the Storyteller can run other 
  stories of his own in between, before the cabal once again 
  picks up the trail of the Exarchs and follows it into another 
  of the stories presented here.
  Each story deals in some way with a secret power that al-
  legedly comes from the Exarchs, though we never actually 
  meet these Exarchs themselves. Every story deals with the 
  Seers of the Throne, to some extent. Each of the ﬁ ve stories 
  stands alone but also advances a very loose plot, one that 
  involves the successive uncovering of ﬁ ve secret artifacts that 
  convey special magical powers. The powers these artifacts 
  convey are useful in each of the succeeding stories, building 
  upon the previously revealed powers. 
  You can use any of these stories without using them all. Even 
  the climactic ﬁ nal chapter, drawing on the artifacts from each 
  of the four previous tales, can be run without having played 
  (or succeeded) at every component story. Yet you will want 
  to read each of these stories before choosing where to begin, 
  in case you want to introduce a character from one story into 
  another or if you want to foreshadow a future story — just in 
  case. If nothing else, you’ll ﬁ nd that each story provides you 
  with interesting examples of antagonistic (and sometimes 
  sympathetic) Seers of the Throne to include in your chronicle, 
  not to mention intriguing dramatic situations to pit the troupe’s 
  characters against in your own adventures.
  Theme: Control
  In a manner similar to the mystery play of an Awakening, the 
  hands of the Exarchs in the Fallen World are hidden behind 
  veils of metaphor. Anybody could be the Exarchs’ unwitting 
  agent. Just as a Seer of the Throne uses a Profane Urim to 
  distantly control people as puppets, the Exarchs could be doing 
  the same to your best friend, your master or even you. Think 
  of Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Heinlein’s The Puppet Masters, 
  John Carpenter’s They Live and any classic Cold War movies, 
  books or the Gnostic sci-ﬁ  of Philip K. Dick (especially Flow 
  My Tears the Policeman Said and Maze of Death). 
  But how can you tell when and if the Exarchs are at work 
  here and now? The ﬁ rst story presents one answer to that 
  question by providing characters with the power to directly 
  witness the Exarchs’ inﬂ uence. The other stories build on the 
  dilemma caused by this magical awareness of the Exarchs’ 
  hands in mortal affairs.
  William S. Burroughs was obsessed with the idea of Control, a 
  censorious authority so pervasive it was like a virus in the mind 
  (what we now call memes). He often personiﬁ ed this tendency 
  toward unconscious self-censorship and self-limitation as the 
  Introduction
  Everything is determined, the beginning as well as 
  the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is 
  determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Hu-
  man beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance 
  to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an 
  invisible piper.
  — Albert Einstein
  
  15
  INTRODUCTION
  work of outside agents, Orwellian ﬁ gures. This is what the 
  Exarchs represent: the idea of control. This idea of control is 
  how we all unconsciously submit to authority and rules that we 
  don’t necessarily want to accept consciously — how we program 
  ourselves to limit our behavior, thoughts and potential. We shut 
  off entire avenues of thought due to accepted illusions of right 
  and wrong. Language itself can be seen as a control mechanism, 
  controlling what we are allowed to think — without words for 
  certain concepts, can we even conceive of those concepts? Or-
  well exploited this idea with his Newspeak, and contemporary 
  political advisors such as Frank Luntz use carefully crafted words 
  as hot buttons to control political debate.
  Are the Exarchs real? Are they literally real? We don’t answer 
  that question. This book instead addresses the implications 
  of the idea of control as personiﬁ ed by the Exarchs, but 
  leaves open the possibility that the metaphysical archons 
  and jailers of the Universe are projections of the tendency 
  of the human soul to impose limitations on itself. Maybe it’s 
  the higher self’s way of setting tests for the ego on its way 
  to Ascension, setting false gates and gatekeepers the seeker 
  must overcome. Or maybe it’s the Universe itself acting as 
  gatekeeper, ensuring that only those who have internalized 
  self-mastery can overcome external control — the triumph 
  of esoteric mastery over exoteric control. Or maybe there 
  really is a bunch of ancient archmages who can inﬂ uence the 
  Fallen World with a metaphysical dictatorship! 
  The Dethroned Queen
  The Prologue hints one version of the legend about a strange 
  mage of old, a woman who claimed to have been one of the 
  Exarchs but who was thrown by her fellow Exarchs from the 
  Supernal World back into the Fallen World. She claimed that 
  ﬁ ve artifacts Fell with her, including the royal raiment she had 
  worn in the Heavens; she hinted that whoever could ﬁ nd these 
  artifacts could master the practice of Exarchy and ascend to join 
  the Exarchs’ ranks. This mage, called the Dethroned Queen, 
  repudiated her past and her magic. She died from a mundane 
  plague, refusing to use magic to cure herself.
  She had a cult of followers who recorded her scant teach-
  ings. Her legend is told by many Seers of the Throne, but 
  few today truly believe in it. Even if it were true, it’s so old 
  (dating to the beginning of the Common Era), that surely 
  the artifacts have already been claimed. To those Seers who 
  believe, the Queen is a ﬁ gure who can teach the ways to 
  Ascension as an Exarch.
  Her legend is also told among the orders of the Pentacle, 
  and many variants exist in the Athenaeums of the Mysterium. 
  Now and then, some new clue surfaces that causes a mage or 
  a cabal to go searching for one or more of the artifacts, either 
  to claim them or destroy them. To the orders, the Queen is a 
  ﬁ gure who can teach others how to evade the power of the 
  Exarchs, to repudiate their rule.
  The Artifacts of Exarchy
  The Queen referred to the artifacts as a ring, a robe, a 
  scepter, a crown and a throne. Most mages who accept the 
  legend believe that she spoke in metaphor, describing the 
  powers the artifacts conferred, not their actual forms. What 
  forms the artifacts actually do take is unclear (until you read 
  the following stories), although some artifacts seem to be more 
  like grimoires than imbued items — presenting their users 
  with new spells involving the Exarchs, spells that cannot be 
  learned without ﬁ rst activating the artifacts.
  The artifacts are spread far and wide. Each story in this 
  book involves the discovery of one of them. They are the 
  MacGufﬁ ns that tie these stories together. The stories can 
  take place a world apart, and be run in between whole other 
  chronicles. You can think of the chronicle playing out over 
  time similar to the Harry Potter series: In the ﬁ rst story, 
  the mages get the ﬁ rst artifact and learn a new power. Next 
  year, they play out the second story and get a new artifact, 
  learning another new power and new things to do with the 
  power they learned last time. 
  Each artifact acts as a grimoire, providing new spell knowl-
  edge — but at a price. Using these spells gives casters power to 
  see, ward, counter and even control the minions of Exarchy, 
  but using these spells risks Wisdom. The caster is drawn into 
  a world only he can see, and although it is utterly convincing, 
  it might not be real. And yet, these spells can reward wise use, 
  tempting the caster to use them again . . . and again . . . .
  
  16
  
  17
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  Chapter One: 
  The Ring
  “It was here,” says Aidan. “It was in this room.” He’s stepping over 
  a toppled bookcase with his hands out in front of him, like a movie 
  director.
  Sean, by the window, cranes his neck to look between the wooden blinds 
  before saying, “So where did it go?” In the slatted light through the 
  blinds, his military physique looks like it’s been cut into a dozen thick 
  slivers.
  “Don’t know. Maybe they’ve got it with them. Maybe they’ve hidden it 
  somewhere.” Aidan crouches down, leans into the ﬁ replace and squints 
  up the chimney. He keeps his hands off everything. One hand stays on 
  his paunch, trying to hide it.
  “So? We know where they are, right?” Sean turns away from the 
  window, his back to the wall. “Let’s get it.”
  Aidan gets to his feet and peers around the room again. With one foot, 
  he raises a rug off the ﬂ oor, ﬁ nds nothing, kicks the rug away.
  “Aidan. We’re this close to it.”
  Aidan nods. “Yeah. But if they’ve hidden it and we can’t get them to 
  talk, we’re that far away again. It’s not enough to get them. We’ve got 
  to get them in our hands, where we can control them.” Aidan gestures 
  with his hands as if he were shaking a child by the shoulders. “Make 
  them talk.”
  “Okay.”
  “So let them come back here. If they don’t have it, we take one of 
  them instead.”
  “And if they’ve got it on them?” Sean asks.
  Aidan looks right at him. A band of light from the window shines 
  perfectly across his eyes. “Then we’ve ﬁ nally got the Ring. Who cares 
  what happens to them?”
  
  18
  Introduction
  Rather than drench players with an intense introduction 
  to the Exarch myth, “The Ring” gets their feet wet with 
  conspiracy and paranoia about what’s real and imagined. 
  You’re encouraged to massage the storyline as you see ﬁ t to 
  take advantage of conﬂ icts your current chronicle already 
  has in place. Sidebars offer several ideas on how you might 
  accomplish this. 
  The scenario can be separated into four acts. The ﬁ rst act 
  presents characters with a new Artifact brought to their at-
  tention by a strange visitor claiming the Right of Hospitality. 
  The second act leads characters into an elaborate trap designed 
  to besmirch their names and reputations. The third act forces 
  characters to make a choice between sanctum security and 
  political standing. The story ends with retribution, revela-
  tion and (hopefully) redemption as they battle the agents 
  responsible for molesting the characters’ political and physical 
  well-being. By the end of the story, players will have a greater 
  understanding of much more than etiquette, politics and 
  sanctum security; they will understand that what they knew 
  of the universe may be well short of the actual truth. 
  Theme: Throwing a Curve
  The Awakening opens a mage’s eyes to the reality of magic, 
  a revelation that makes the day-to-day grind of a mundane life 
  impossible to pursue. The remainder of the mage’s life is spent 
  redeﬁ ning the truths he once held dear and perhaps the wishful 
  pursuit of Ascension to the Realms Supernal. Player characters face 
  the very same adjustments, either early in a chronicle or later. 
  What “The Ring” aims to accomplish is to force a re-evalu-
  ation of these redeﬁ ned truths. Do characters have all the 
  information at hand to understand how the Fallen World 
  operates? Have elders withheld this information from the 
  characters because the players aren’t ready to grasp it? What 
  if this new knowledge actually leads the characters down a 
  wayward path? Confusion is the operative word for this story, 
  and the more vague and misdirecting you, as Storyteller, are 
  as the story progresses, the richer the outcome will be.
  Mood: Caught in Conspiracy
  The story begins with a mysterious stranger, turns into a 
  political conspiracy and ends with more questions than when 
  the story began. Though the story deals with an external 
  By Her grace She leaves this Ring, 
  So all might find the Truth they seek.
  —First couplet from Gifts of the Dethroned Queen
  “My dear brothers, never forget, when you hear the progress of enlightenment vaunted, 
  that the devil’s best trick is to persuade you that he doesn’t exist!” 
  —Charles Baudelaire, from the short story “Le Joueur généreux” (1864)
  antagonist with which players have no previous experience, 
  they should wonder whether other known antagonists are 
  responsible for putting the characters in the political bind in 
  which they ﬁ nd themselves.
  When dealing with the Exarchs, nothing is as it seems. If 
  you as Storyteller set up your dominos just right, you can create 
  a milieu rife with perceived conﬂ ict and second-guessing. 
  Act 1: Hospitality
  “The Ring” begins with an unexpected visitor before noon, 
  with one or more player characters available to receive him. 
  His clothing is unremarkable, resembling garb worn by au-
  tumnal commuters in the cooler climbs of northern Europe 
  or the American east coast. Gaunt and unkempt, he has 
  obviously fallen upon hard times. And woe to any caught 
  downwind of him. His only possessions are the clothes on 
  his back, two small belt sacks hidden beneath his peacoat 
  and a shoulder pack that looks to have a few books and 
  sundry items in it.
  “My apologies for the intrusion,” he says in a crisp British 
  accent, with a nervous glance over his shoulder. “I am Gawain, 
  second-degree master and former member of the cabal of the 
  Broadening Mind. I invoke the Right of Hospitality for a 
  period of three days so I might recuperate from my wounds 
  and gather my thoughts.”
  Players who respect and uphold the Great Rights (see 
  Sanctum & Sigil, p. 26, to expand on these) should, if re-
  luctantly, grant Gawain entry into their sanctum, but this 
  doesn’t prevent them from invoking a Great Right of their 
  own — the Right of Sanctuary. If the players forget to invoke 
  it, Gawain will offer to follow the Great Right despite the 
  players’ oversight.
  Great Rights 101
  If your players haven’t had an occasion to 
  invoke the Great Rights or have them invoked 
  upon the characters, this is the ideal time to 
  teach the players the importance of the Great 
  Rights in Awakened society. If players choose 
  to reject Gawain’s request, give them a second 
  chance to change their minds. Drill into them the 
  consequences rejecting an invocation could have 
  upon their cabal, especially if someone who is 
  
  19
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  continue the search. Unwilling to give up the quest, Gawain 
  left the Broadening Mind to continue on his own.
  Two years later, Gawain’s search fortuitously concluded. 
  Assisting another cabal in defeating a Seer pylon in Northern 
  Ireland, he aided in the recovery of numerous enchanted items 
  and Artifacts from the pylon’s fallen sanctum. As a reward 
  for his support, the cabal gave Gawain one of the Artifacts, 
  what appeared to be a bell clapper with gems embedded in 
  the clapper’s head. Only after he had departed and researched 
  the item within the privacy of his hotel room did he realize 
  the item’s identity — the Ring of the Dethroned Queen.
  as versed in politics as Gawain appears to be 
  were to relay his experiences to the Consilium. 
  Since Gawain wishes the player characters 
  no ill will, this situation provides an instance of 
  Right invocation prevalent within mage circles. 
  Players who might believe this to be a trick can 
  be assuaged with the knowledge that invoking 
  their own Right — Sanctuary — covers their be-
  hinds and gives them carte blanche permission 
  to kill the transgressor should he be caught act-
  ing in an aggressive manner against the cabal.
  Gawain
  Quote: If you had seen even a tenth of the things I’ve witnessed, 
  you’d be on the run, too.  
  Background: Gawain grew up as Thomas Thatcher, son 
  of a prosperous stockbroker in Manhattan. Despite the silver 
  spoon with which he was born, Thomas maintained a particular 
  disdain for others who used their family’s wealth as an excuse 
  to belittle or ignore those among the lower classes. Though he 
  tried to gain acceptance among them, he found their prejudices 
  against him to be just as pronounced. Bitter, he withdrew from 
  society into the comforts of imagination and study.
  An avid reader, the vast majority of his recreational read-
  ing was fantastical in nature. This predilection served him 
  well when he Awakened by way of astral journey during his 
  sophomore year in college. As he awoke, he perceived the 
  world as he had always wanted to perceive it — a setting 
  abundant in Truth shrouded in mysteries he couldn’t wait to 
  unravel. Adopting the shadow name Gawain — a knight of 
  Arthur’s Round Table who had always been one of Thomas’s 
  favorite literary characters — he dropped out of college and 
  shifted his focus to the arts Arcane.
  Together with a fellow collegiate, Gawain founded the 
  cabal known as the Broadening Mind. Their aim was the 
  simple pursuit of occult knowledge. When the two were 
  indoctrinated into the Mysterium, the cabal narrowed its 
  attentions to lost Artifacts. The mages of the Broadening 
  Mind, with no permanent home to call their own, wandered 
  the forgotten corners of the world and grew accustomed to a 
  nomadic lifestyle. The cabal members, basing their searches 
  on vague references in esoteric publications, had modest suc-
  cess. In all, they recovered seven Atlantean Artifacts, all of 
  them one-of-a-kind relics that established the Broadening 
  Mind as one of the Mysterium’s favorite cabals and earned 
  members individual accolades. 
  Their run of good luck ended when they came upon the 
  legend of the Dethroned Queen and decided to track down 
  each of the ﬁ ve Artifacts mentioned in the myth. For three 
  years, they poured over texts, tracked obscure leads and 
  questioned those who were in position to have learned more 
  about the myth. During the fourth year, the Broadening Mind 
  conducted a vote determining whether the cabal should re-
  sign itself to defeat. Gawain was the only one who voted to 
  
  20
  Tapping the Ring’s power, Gawain uncovered a side of the 
  Fallen World he couldn’t comprehend. Using Mage Sight, he 
  sensed that there was more to his surroundings than he knew 
  had been there. Mages he trusted bore scents and auras that 
  appeared nigh near alien. Unsure what he was experiencing, he 
  tracked down the others of the Broadening Mind to seek their 
  counsel. Confused by Gawain’s accounts, two of the cabal’s four 
  members, Lark and Marcus, used the Artifact as Gawain had. 
  For each, the experience was different yet no less disconcerting. 
  To complicate matters, all three saw different targets — objects, 
  people or locations — afﬂ icted by the strange sight. The two 
  who refrained from using the object suggested giving the Ring 
  to the Mysterium for further study. Gawain and the other two 
  refused, citing instead a need to research the Artifact further. 
  A furious debate ensued, culminating with the dissolution of 
  the Broadening Mind. 
  Lark and Marcus joined Gawain in his search for the remaining 
  four Artifacts, but they weren’t alone. Unbeknownst to Gawain, 
  a survivor of the pylon he helped to destroy (out of town when 
  the attack transpired) had an Arcane link to the clapper and 
  was biding his time for the ideal moment to exact revenge and 
  recover the stolen Artifact. That moment came two months 
  later in Wales. Lark and Marcus succumbed to the attack, but 
  Gawain’s Acanthus luck kept him out of harm’s way. He escaped 
  unscathed, but was crushed by the deaths of his colleagues.
  That was eight months ago. Gawain’s been on the run 
  ever since. He doesn’t know who’s pursuing him, but knows 
  when they’re coming (yes, the Seer found help) with Ring 
  Sight. He has also pieced together how they’re ﬁ nding him. 
  After learning all that he could from the Ring, the time has 
  come to let others carry on his battle.
  Description: Gawain is a tall British national in his early 
  40s, with narrow features and graying, neck-length black 
  hair. As mentioned above, at the opening of this story he 
  is shabbily dressed and visibly wounded. Several cuts and 
  burns mar his gaunt face, and his left pant leg is stiff with a 
  swatch of dried blood.
  When Gawain casts magic, he exudes the scent of a musty 
  library, a most discomﬁ ting sensation to experience while 
  outdoors.
  Storytelling Hints: Despite his appearance, Gawain is a 
  well-mannered gentleman. He is difﬁ cult to rile. Rather than 
  raise his voice when offended, he will instead point out the 
  errant behavior and request that the offense not be repeated. 
  He’d prefer to engage in small talk ﬁ rst before answering 
  pointed questions. Favored topics include literature (sci-ﬁ  
  and fantasy), travel and Atlantean theory.
  He won’t divulge the existence of the Ring to his hosts 
  while staying with them. Instead, he will gauge his hosts’ 
  worthiness and fortitude with questions about the cabal’s past 
  successes. To loosen his hosts’ lips, he’ll regale them with 
  tales of his own exploits while with the Broadening Mind, 
  stories that might remind people of Indiana Jones.
  When he thinks no one is paying attention, he’ll cast Ring 
  Sight to conﬁ rm that his would-be hosts aren’t tainted or 
  his pursuers aren’t close. If caught in the act, he’ll admit to 
  checking for signs of those pursuing him and ask forgiveness 
  for his paranoid ways. 
  Dedicated Magical Tool: A broken silver pocket watch 
  with the numbers represented by dice
  Real Name: Thomas Thatcher
  Path: Acanthus
  Order: Mysterium
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 4, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 4, Com-
  posure 3
  Mental Skills: Academics 5, *Investigation (Magic) 4, 
  *Occult (Artifacts) 4, Science (Archeology) 5
  Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Larceny 2, Stealth 2, *Sur-
  vival 4, Weaponry 2
  Social Skills: Expression 2, Socialize 3, Subterfuge 3
  Merits: Encyclopedic Knowledge, Fast Reﬂ exes 2, High 
  Speech 1, Language: Latin, Language: Russian, Language: 
  French, Status: Mysterium 4
  Willpower: 7
  Wisdom: 6 (Paranoia)
  Virtue: Charity
  Vice: Pride
  Initiative: 6
  Defense: 3
  Speed: 10
  Health: 7
  Gnosis: 4
  
  21
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  Arcana: Fate 4, Time 4, Space 4, Prime 3, Life 2, Death 
  1, Matter 1, Mind 1, Spirit 1
  Rotes: Fate — Interconnections (•), The Sybil’s Sight (•), 
  *Ring Sight (•), Fortune’s Protection (••); Life — Pulse of 
  the Living World (•); Prime — Supernal Vision (•), Magic 
  Shield (••); Space — Omnivision (•), Untouchable (••), 
  **Arcade (••••), Teleportation (••••); Time — Momentary 
  Flux (•), Temporal Eddies (•), Glimpsing the Future (••), 
  Shield of Chronos (••), Acceleration (•••)
  *Ring Sight learned from exposure to the Ring
  **See p. 22.
  Mana/per Turn: 13/4
  Weapons/Attacks:
  Type 
  Damage  
  Size  
  Special 
  Dice Pool
  Brawl 
  (B) 
  – 
  – 
  2
  Knife 
  1(L) 
  1 
  – 
  5
  Armor: 4 (Fortune’s Protection)
  Hosts and Guest
  As a guest of the player characters, Gawain follows the lead 
  of his hosts. He opens his bags to ease whatever concerns 
  they might have regarding his possessions. Among the items 
  on his person is a bell clapper with 10 small gems embed-
  ded along the equator of the clapper head. If asked what 
  the object is, he explains that it’s an Artifact he is willing 
  to share his knowledge of before he departs. The rest of his 
  possessions are comparatively mundane — a copy of Robin 
  Hobb’s Fool’s Errand, a leather-bound journal, assorted pens, 
  toiletries, brushes and magnifying glasses.
  When he receives treatment for his wounds, his healer 
  discovers a parchment writ with old scars and new scars-
  to-be. Gawain’s current injuries include burns, lacerations 
  of varying depths and a bullet wound to the thigh (where 
  his pant leg soaked with blood). It’s apparent that he used 
  a low-level Life spell to stem the bleeding, but there is still 
  much healing to be done. All wounds are mundane in nature 
  and can be easily healed with basic successes.
  The player characters will surely have questions to ask of 
  their new guest, but Gawain will oblige only after his wounds 
  are tended and he’s allowed to settle into his room (requested 
  with gentlemanly aplomb, of course). He begins discussions 
  with small talk, complimenting the cabal members on their 
  hospitality and whatever architectural or interior design 
  merits mention. The more accommodating the characters 
  are during the small talk, the more Gawain will share during 
  questioning.
  • 
  From whence the wounds came: Gawain will admit 
  that he is currently being pursued by agents unknown, but 
  immediately assures his hosts that he has sufﬁ ciently eluded 
  his two pursuers for the time being and believes he easily has 
  two weeks’ reprieve before he need worry about them again. 
  The reason for this is simple, though he doesn’t explain to 
  the characters. He has cast a “Ward” spell with the Space 
  Arcanum upon the Ring with a potency high enough to make 
  it difﬁ cult for his pursuers to locate him or the Artifact. He 
  knows his skill exceeds that of the antagonists’, and, his-
  torically, they’ve needed roughly two weeks to ﬁ nally break 
  through his imparted protection upon the Ring.
  • 
  Who his pursuers are: Gawain acknowledges he’s not 
  positive who they are, only that they assaulted two of his 
  colleagues and him eight months previous. When reminded 
  of Lark and Marcus’ deaths, he pays sincere respect to them 
  and their sacriﬁ ce so that he got away. When pressed to 
  divulge the fallen mages’ identities, he says only that they 
  were fellow members of the Broadening Mind and requests 
  that the characters show respect in letting Lark and Marcus 
  rest in peace.
  “Just Between Us . . . ”
  Gawain isn’t a simpleton. After eight months 
  of running, he’s surmised that his pursuers 
  aren’t chasing him but the Ring he carries. He 
  also understands the nature of the Ring itself, 
  that it displays the Exarchs’ hand within the 
  Fallen World, and that those pursuing him are 
  Seers of the Throne.
  If you, as Storyteller, wish to make this story 
  one of “seek and destroy” — ﬁ nding the ﬁ ve 
  Artifacts of the Dethroned Queen and destroying 
  them before they fall into Seer hands — Gawain 
  can be used as the vehicle to make this happen. 
  Have him take another Mysterium mage aside 
  and share his knowledge about the Ring and 
  the truth about his pursuers. It then falls to the 
  player to convince the others of his cabal to as-
  sist Gawain in the endeavor.
  Keep in mind that Gawain doesn’t know what 
  the ultimate intent of the Artifacts is, only that 
  the Seers want them, so they should likely be 
  destroyed. You can then use the events de-
  scribed in the next four stories to muddle player 
  intentions or cause in-ﬁ ghting within the cabal.
  Why he’s being pursued: Gawain says he 
  isn’t sure, but he suspects his pursuers are 
  mages who might be upset with members of 
  the Broadening Mind. In truth, Gawain knows 
  full well that his pursuers must have an Arcane, 
  sympathetic connection to the Artifact he carries. 
  His background: Gawain admits to being 
  an Acanthus mage of the Mysterium, though 
  it’s been some time since he last dealt with the 
  order. Characters of the Mysterium will im-
  mediately know of the Broadening Mind and 
  the cabal’s accomplishments as soon as they 
  hear the name uttered. They will also realize 
  Gawain’s role within the cabal and corroborate 
  
  22
  his identity. All of this could be done before any 
  questioning occurs, easing the severity of the 
  other characters’ inquiries.
  Other questions will be answered, but Gawain 
  will keep knowledge about the Dethroned Queen 
  and her Artifacts close to his chest.
  Swapping Stories
  During his three-day stay, he will engage members in ca-
  sual conversations about past glories and near brushes with 
  death. Any Mysterium mages in the cabal will be engaged 
  more than the rest, but all are given the opportunity to brag 
  about their scars and trophies. His amiable demeanor and 
  genuine desire to hear their tales of adventure and drama 
  should further ease any tensions or doubts the characters 
  might harbor.
  Gawain is the perfect guest. He makes as little mess as 
  possible, offers to wash his own dishes and takes great pains 
  to stay out of everyone’s way. When he departs, nothing is 
  taken, and his room is left just as it was when he arrived.
  As the time draws near for him to depart, he makes good 
  on his promise to share his knowledge about the Artifact. 
  If the cabal as a whole was a good host, he will leave the 
  Artifact on a table in the foyer (or whatever room in which 
  the cabal regularly gathers) with a note that reads:
  “By Her grace She leaves this Ring,
  So all might ﬁ nd the Truth they seek.”
  —Gawain
  Otherwise, the note and clapper will be left for the most 
  gracious character. Either way, Gawain departs in the early 
  morning, taking care to leave a formal note of thanks to 
  the cabal apologizing for his hasty departure. With that, 
  he is gone.
  Gawain isn’t meant to be followed, but players who attempt 
  to do so must successfully locate his resonance, discern which 
  kind of spell was used, then ascertain which portal he stepped 
  through, not to mention recognize that he used Teleportation 
  as he crossed the door’s threshold. At the very least, players 
  will know ﬁ rsthand that Gawain wasn’t exaggerating his 
  ability to elude his pursuers.
  Left Behind
  Gawain uses his mastery of Space to depart from the region. 
  After ﬁ nding a secluded area in which to cast, he covers 
  his resonant signatures with Prime 2 (“Veiling”) and casts 
  a spontaneous “Arcade” spell that creates multiple portals. 
  He chooses one of them and casts a “Teleportation” rote to 
  yet another destination as he steps through.
  With Gawain’s departure, life continues on as normal for 
  the player characters. There is no requirement to immediately 
  launch into the next act of this scenario. In fact, the scenario 
  works best the longer you postpone its continuance. The 
  primary reason for this lies in the distance placed between 
  Gawain and his pursuers. It will take at least a month for 
  the Seers to regain Gawain’s trail through mundane means. 
  Until then, Storytellers are encouraged to further other plots 
  they have in mind (or those already in progress).
  Characters with Wisdom of 7 or higher will quickly learn 
  the risks involved with using the Ring’s spell. This could 
  very well disincline others from using the Artifact at all. At 
  this point in the story, this is ﬁ ne. There is plenty of time for 
  them to revisit the Artifact later, especially if they know that 
  others are willing to sacriﬁ ce their lives to steal it.
  Handling what characters reveal via research depends 
  on how you want the rest of this story to progress. Provide 
  vague answers or limited results in the event you want the 
  majority of characters to use the Artifact. If you want them 
  to understand how dangerous the Artifact is and its need to 
  be destroyed, reveal more “on the nose” results that point 
  directly to what it is they have in their possession. If you’re 
  undecided or indifferent, leave the chronicle’s direction up 
  to a critical Investigation or Occult success.
  In the event you want players to ﬁ nd the poem in its 
  entirety, here is the poem in full:
  By Her grace She leaves this Ring
  So we might ﬁ nd the Truth we seek.
  She leaves this Robe of mystic night
  So we might dwell beyond Their sight.
  This Scepter drawn She leaves for all
  To brush aside Their distant calls.
  She leaves to us this Crown of souls
  To twist Their thralls toward our own goals.
  By Her grace She leaves this last;
  A Throne whose seat will let us pass.
  —From Gifts of the Dethroned Queen
  Discovery of the poem could come from a computer key-
  word search, an intense scrutiny of the region’s Mysterium 
  vaults or inquiries made out of town through well-connected 
  allies. How much is revealed depends entirely on how vague 
  you wish to be. Burnt parchment might bear portions of the 
  quote along with snippets of the poem in full, or references 
  online might give credit to others who could lead players to 
  the next clue (at a nominal price, naturally). 
  New Spell: Arcade (Space ••••)
  The mage can cast up to three portals (see Mage: The 
  Awakening, p. 238), each to a different destination. As 
  with “Portal,” the more familiar the casting mage is with 
  each location to which he creates a doorway, the easier it is 
  to successfully cast the spell.
  Practice: Weaving
  Action: Extended (target number is based on the degree of sym-
  pathetic connection with the most difﬁ cult location chosen)
  
  23
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  Duration: Transitory (one turn)
  Aspect: Vulgar
  Cost: 1 Mana
  The target number is determined by the caster’s sympathetic 
  connection to the most difﬁ cult destination to connect to.
  Connection 
  Successes
  Intimate 
  3 successes
  Known 
  5 successes
  Acquainted 
  8 successes
  Encountered 
  12 successes
  This spell is an all-or-nothing proposition, with the total 
  number of successes determined by the least-known destina-
  tion. For example, if the caster is acquainted with two of the 
  destinations but has only encountered the third, he must ac-
  crue 12 successes to cast the spell. If he rolls eight successes, 
  and is then halted, the spell doesn’t take effect.
  Each portal of the “Arcade” spell can accommodate one 
  person of Size 5 or less per turn (larger people can spend two 
  turns squeezing through). Each success added to the target 
  number allows the mage to widen all portals so that one 
  additional person can pass through per turn.
  All “Arcade” doorway entrances and exits can be placed 
  anywhere that allows a person of Size 5 or less enough 
  freedom of movement to enter or exit in a single turn. Note 
  that, without applying the “Portal Key” spell described in 
  Mage: The Awakening (p. 240), the caster cannot limit 
  who can use the “Arcade” doorways. Nearby enemies can 
  attempt to step through, too. Additionally, people can be 
  forcibly thrown into any of the doorways as long as a hold is 
  ﬁ rst achieved in a grapple action (see “Unarmed Combat,” 
  p. 157 of the World of Darkness Rulebook), after which 
  the grappler can shove the person through a doorway as an 
  overpower maneuver. 
  Mysterium Rote: Hall of Doors
  Dice Pool: Intelligence + Academics + Space
  Mysterium mages use this rote to muddle their escape or 
  divide any pursuers foolish enough to follow. Well-traveled 
  mages also use this spell when the need for a “divide and 
  conquer” approach is necessary. Mysterium mages use this rote 
  to research time-subject matter, while Adamantine Arrow 
  mages use “Hall of Doors” to set up impromptu ambushes 
  against their foes.
  The Ring of the Dethroned Queen 
  (Artifact •••)
  Durability 6, Size 1, Structure 7
  Mana Capacity: Maximum 11
  The ﬁ rst of ﬁ ve Artifacts left behind by the Dethroned 
  Queen, the Ring’s name doesn’t describe what the Artifact 
  looks like, but rather what the Artifact releases when activated. 
  In the shape of a bell clapper roughly nine inches in length, 
  the Ring’s head is spanned along its equator by 10 evenly 
  spaced, small stones: a diamond, ruby, emerald, sapphire, 
  onyx, amethyst, moonstone, amber, jade and aquamarine. On 
  the head’s bottom is a sigil akin to Atlantean glyphs, but not 
  even decipherable to experts in the High Speech.
  Activation occurs when the user spends one point of Mana 
  (either her own or the Artifact’s) and taps the clapper against 
  a solid surface — either wood, plastic, metal or stone. While 
  bystanders hear the sound they would expect to hear a piece 
  of metal to make when struck against the selected surface, 
  the user hears a bass-rich tone that reverberates deep within 
  the user’s soul.
  Shortly after activating the Ring, the user experiences 
  a sensation that something was cast but is waiting to be 
  processed. This feeling will linger indeﬁ nitely until the user 
  decides to cast Mage Sight. Regardless of which Mage Sight 
  spell she casts, the user will instead see that which correlates 
  to her strongest major Arcanum (Storyteller’s choice in the 
  event the two are equal).
  Death (Grim Sight): In addition to the standard effects 
  listed for this spell in Mage: The Awakening (see p. 134), 
  the mage also notices that certain people have tags upon 
  their bodies, much like the toe tags used in a morgue. This 
  tag could be wrapped around a ﬁ nger, an exposed toe or 
  dangling from an ear. Closer inspection of the tag reveals 
  no writing, only a hint. What’s more, the resolution of the 
  tag varies from one person to the next, ranging from hinted 
  (just noticeable) to quite clear (the lines upon which words 
  are written are only slightly blurred).
  Fate (The Sybil’s Sight): In addition to the standard effects 
  listed for this spell in Mage: The Awakening (see p. 150), 
  the mage also notices that certain people have more distinct 
  threads than others. How the threads manifest varies, ranging 
  from dragged behind to hanging overhead like the strings of a 
  marionette being put into use by an unseen puppeteer.
  Forces (Read Matrices): In addition to the standard effects 
  listed for this spell in Mage: The Awakening (see p. 163), 
  the mage also notices that resonant energy emits a hissing 
  whisper that’s nearly coherent, as if someone were yelling 
  from the other side of a soundproofed door. Again, the ef-
  fect varies from barely audible to distinctly present, a clear 
  indication that unknown forces are currently at work.
  Life (Pulse of the Living World): In addition to the 
  standard effects listed for this spell in Mage: The Awakening 
  (see p. 181), the mage also detects the presence of parasitic 
  infection around the target’s aura. The effects vary from 
  
  24
  slight discoloration to massive parasitic growth all about 
  the target’s person.
  Matter (Dark Matter): In addition to the standard effects 
  listed for this spell in Mage: The 
  Awakening (see p. 194), the 
  mage also picks up a tangible 
  gravitational pull emanating 
  from the target itself. The ef-
  fects range from light tugging 
  to a weirdly powerful pull that 
  can only be broken if the caster 
  deactivates the spell.
  Mind (Third Eye): In ad-
  dition to the standard effects 
  listed for this spell in Mage: 
  The Awakening (see p. 206), 
  the mage also gleans an unseen 
  presence just outside her ﬁ eld 
  of vision. The effect ranges 
  from shadows just beyond view 
  to “knowing” that a strange 
  being lurks over her shoulder 
  and freezes the caster from 
  looking back.
  Prime (Supernal Vision): In 
  addition to the standard effects 
  listed for this spell in Mage: 
  The Awakening (see p. 221), 
  the mage also sees resonance in 
  a color heretofore never experi-
  enced, so foreign, in fact, that 
  the caster can’t even begin to 
  describe it to others. The effect 
  varies from just perceptible to 
  blindingly omnipresent.  
  Space (Spatial Awareness): 
  In addition to the standard 
  effects listed for this spell in 
  Mage: The Awakening (see p. 
  233), the mage also perceives a 
  bizarre warping of space seem-
  ingly centered on the mass of an 
  inﬂ uenced subject. The effect 
  ranges from minor tweaks of 
  distance and shape to major 
  warps that could disorient the 
  most talented of Mastigos.
  Spirit (Second Sight): In addition to the standard effects 
  listed for this spell in Mage: The Awakening (see p. 246), 
  the mage also sees individuals and locations as “echoed.” The 
  effect varies from hazy outlines trailing behind a person as 
  he walks to multiple mirror images tracing after a person as 
  he walks (or along a building as the user walks by it).
  Time (Temporal Eddies): In addition to the standard 
  effects listed for this spell in Mage: The Awakening (see p. 
  258), the mage also discerns a subtext of time in everything. 
  The effect varies from seeing a shadow of a person’s youth 
  to witnessing a fully ﬂ eshed visage of the target as an old 
  man or woman.
  All of these skewed perspec-
  tives are governed by the relative 
  inﬂ uence the Exarchs exert upon 
  the target under investigation. 
  People, objects or locations 
  lightly manipulated by the Ex-
  archs trigger the minor effects 
  listed, while those targets strongly 
  inﬂ uenced by the Exarchs exude 
  major readings.
  Or so it seems. The power at-
  tributed to the Exarchs by the 
  Ring may in fact be some other 
  Supernal power, the magic of the 
  Seers of the Throne being recast 
  in some way, or it might be an 
  elaborate magical hallucination 
  manipulated at the will of the 
  Exarchs. There is no reliable 
  means to verify the assertion of 
  the Exarchs’ power. What a mage 
  sees with the Ring Sight is clear 
  — what it means is not.
  Peering through the fabric of 
  the world to the Supernal stitches 
  underneath is an act of hubris. 
  Mages with Wisdom 7 or higher 
  must make a degeneration roll 
  when this power is used.
  Ring Sight (Chosen 
  Major Arcanum •)
  The mage gains a specialized 
  form of Mage Sight that enables 
  him to see Exarch inﬂ uence upon 
  the people, objects and places of 
  the Fallen World. 
  Practice: Unveiling
  Action: Instant
  Duration: Prolonged (one 
  scene)
  Aspect: Covert
  Cost: 1 Mana
  This spell enables the caster to detect the otherwise hidden 
  resonances altered by Exarch manipulations. How these vi-
  sions are perceived depends upon which Arcanum this spell is 
  driven by. Refer to the descriptions given for each Mage Sight 
  in “The Ring of the Dethroned Queen” section, but ignore 
  the Mage Sight description itself. For example, casters using 
  this spell with Time only see the subtexts of incarnation, not 
  
  25
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  the standard effects for “Temporal Eddies” listed on p. 258 of 
  Mage: The Awakening. 
  The effects discerned by this spell increase the more 
  manipulated the target is by Exarch inﬂ uence. People, 
  objects or locations lightly manipulated trigger minor 
  effects, while targets strongly inﬂ uenced by the Exarchs 
  exude major readings.
  Casting this spell is an act of hubris; mages with Wisdom 7 
  or higher must make a degeneration roll upon casting. This 
  spell cannot be learned without ﬁ rst experiencing its effects 
  via the Ring of the Dethroned Queen.
  Rote: This spell can be learned as a rote only at the 
  Storyteller’s discretion.
  Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Chosen Major Arcanum
  Using the Ring Beyond the Story
  Some player cabals may be more willing to 
  experiment with the Artifact than others. If you 
  are Storytelling such a troupe of players, you 
  have a critical choice to make that could directly 
  inﬂ uence how the players handle this and the 
  other stories of Reign of the Exarchs. 
  One approach is to amp up the paranoia. 
  It’s reasonable to assume some measure of 
  Exarch manipulation enforced upon rank-
  ing ofﬁ cials of the local Consilium given their 
  inﬂ uential positions within Awakened society. 
  Combined with other perceptions received 
  concerning direct threats, players could lose 
  trust in Consilium motives and could very well 
  make moves to unseat one or more ofﬁ cials 
  from their positions.
  Another approach is to have the “Ring Sight” 
  spell show the characters what they want to 
  see. In effect, players externalize their desires 
  of guilt or innocence through the results of their 
  occult investigations with this spell. The woman 
  a mage loves couldn’t possibly be guilty, so she 
  doesn’t register as anomalous by Ring Sight. 
  Conversely, the rival cabal across town can’t 
  be up to any good, so the cabal members and 
  their sanctums come across as less than kosher 
  — despite the lack of mundane evidence to state 
  otherwise. If you choose to enact this approach, 
  keep in mind that the Exarchs wouldn’t repeat-
  edly manipulate inconsequential mages or mun-
  dane targets, so “taint” should be on the lower 
  end of the spectrum. Even the slightest hint of 
  negative inﬂ uences should convince a character 
  of the target’s guilt.
  A third approach is to go the opposite direc-
  tion and have other characters whom players 
  trust appear “tainted.” Be these characters allies 
  or other players in the cabal, the ramiﬁ cations 
  could set into motion internal dynamics that will 
  either galvanize the players as a cabal or shatter 
  alliances altogether. As the most unpredict-
  able of options, this can take your chronicle into 
  directions you never imagined it going.
  Act 2: Frame-Up
  The player characters discover a disturbing trend. The reso-
  nance surrounding their shared sanctum is slowly shifting beyond 
  the cabal’s desired parameters as the citizenry of the neighborhood 
  live in fear. An investigation into the cause reveals a rash of home 
  invasion crimes that range from theft to assault and intimidation. 
  Even those customarily responsible for committing such acts 
  — local gangs and the like — are similarly victimized.
  Characters have a vested interest in solving this problem, 
  especially if they maintain a Hallow or ley line. Unless they 
  manage to capture those responsible, the widespread fear could 
  alter the resonance so severely their cabal’s progress could be 
  set back for months, if not years.
  This frame-up is very intricate. Therefore, you should stretch 
  as much time as need be to realistically explain how the antago-
  nists were able to set all of the frame-up up. Read through the 
  “Antagonists” section for details on each Seer, the rotes at each 
  one’s disposal and how each one prefers to operate, both alone 
  and as part of a team.
  Chasing the Clues
  The amount of information collected depends on what 
  resources and contacts players have to invest into their 
  inquiry. Police contacts can provide characters with stolen 
  goods inventories, witness descriptions of the invader(s), 
  times and dates when the home invasions occurred and 
  contact information for every victim who reported a crime 
  within the last two weeks.
  Items stolen vary depending on the neighborhood affected. If 
  the shared sanctum exists in an industrial zone, capital expen-
  ditures such as computers, printers and lightweight specialty 
  equipment make up the bulk of the inventory list. Residential 
  neighborhoods report appliance thefts such as televisions, 
  microwaves, personal computers and DVD players.
  Boondock Sanctum
  In the event that the players’ cabal’s shared 
  sanctum lies in the middle of nowhere away 
  from the prying eyes of the public, you will need 
  to come up with some creative means of dis-
  rupting the cabal’s sense of security. The discov-
  ery of slaughtered indigenous animals could cer-
  tainly cause a stir, particularly among the local 
  animal populations. Use of dynamite to disrupt 
  waterways or roads will severely hamper travel. 
  Damming rivers and creeks will have a serious 
  
  26
  ecological impact and cause no end of grief for 
  cabals with nature foremost in their minds.
  Consider what natural phenomenon determines 
  the cabal’s preferred resonance and do whatever 
  is necessary to disrupt it short of assaulting the 
  cabal itself. The idea is to make the players look 
  into the situation, not engage them in a battle.
  If your players have no shared sanctum, 
  disrupt activities for two or three players 
  with crimes in their respective neighborhoods 
  and leave it to them to decide upon the next 
  course of action.
  The descriptions of the home invaders are grossly incon-
  sistent. Whereas one witness describes a tall, gangly man 
  of Asian descent, another witness describes a small, portly 
  African American with a scar across her left cheek. No two 
  accounts match. Given the number of reports turned in 
  (whatever value is commensurate with a crime wave based 
  on the region’s population), the likelihood of anything 
  matching up is slim to none.
  The times at which these crimes were perpetrated are also 
  inconsistent. Morning, afternoon or night, the time doesn’t 
  seem to matter. However, there is one correlation: all the 
  addresses lie within an approximate circumference around 
  the characters’ shared sanctum. 
  Similar reports can be garnered through other contacts. 
  Rival gangs accuse one another of hiring thugs — an ironic 
  accusation — to fuck with their operations. Claims adjusters 
  report a rash of reports within a speciﬁ ed radius (coinci-
  dentally around the shared sanctum). Industrial insiders 
  sullenly report manufacturing delays due to stolen or dam-
  aged equipment vital to production. Whoever is perpetrating 
  the crimes is pointedly letting the cabal know that (a) they 
  know where the cabal is and (b) they mean to do the cabal 
  or its members harm.
  A Closer Look
  With multiple sites to investigate further, characters 
  can easily ﬁ nd opportunities at one location or another to 
  get a closer look at a crime scene. What will strike them 
  ﬁ rst is the lack of mundane physical evidence. Security 
  measures such as cameras and motion sensors fail to trig-
  ger or are short-circuited. Industrial sites with dust, dirt or 
  other debris on the ﬂ oor will bear foreign footprints that 
  inexplicably stop before reaching any exits. Doorknobs, 
  windows or other means of entry will likewise be clean of 
  foreign prints. While Sleepers investigating the matter logi-
  cally conclude that the assailants got help from the inside, 
  players can justiﬁ ably surmise that something supernatural 
  could well be afoot.
  Use of Mage Sight conﬁ rms this. Entry and exit occurred 
  with the use of one or more Space spells, and Forces helped 
  deactivate or render useless any and all electronic security 
  measures within the inﬁ ltrated area. These ﬁ ndings are 
  consistent with witness accounts that the intruders — one 
  per crime scene — “came out of nowhere” and proceeded to 
  torture the witnesses with macabre glee. If specialists of Mind 
  have a chance to probe one or more victims, the mages will 
  ﬁ nd lingering effects of Mind spells cast upon the witnesses 
  to amp up their fear (see “Emotional Urging” spell, p. 208 
  in Mage: The Awakening). 
  The same pattern is more or less repeated at other crime 
  scenes — one assailant “comes out of nowhere” doing whatever 
  he or she can to cause the victims great fear and dread. Couple 
  the witnesses’ fear with threats of torture and death, and it’s 
  no wonder the local resonance is adversely affected. 
  Using the Ring
  The bulk of this section covers standard 
  magical results that can be gleaned by visiting 
  the various sites. The investigation advantage 
  goes to players who use the Ring or Ring Sight 
  to obtain additional information. They will im-
  mediately detect a modest amount of “taint” at 
  each location. If a player manages to roll three 
  successes or more on his Ring Sight roll, his 
  character can also discern a faint trail he can 
  follow for a distance before the trail dissipates; 
  an exceptional success leads him right to the 
  ﬁ nal destination outlined in “Framed.”
  All locations the character manages to ﬁ nd on 
  this trail direct the characters toward the same 
  point. Simple extrapolation on a map will reveal 
  the point of convergence, at which time you can 
  skip ahead for the continuation of this scenario.
  Who is responsible for these blatant acts 
  against the players’ cabal? Based on the infor-
  mation collected, there’s no telling how many 
  are involved. The antagonists could be any 
  number, from a group of decently skilled mages 
  to a potent Solitary with a score to settle. Is an-
  other cabal within the Consilium acting against 
  the characters? Perhaps an outside agency is 
  responsible. Whoever the antagonist is, he’s 
  done his homework. This should make the play-
  ers concerned, if not nervous.
  On the Offensive
  Not long after, the cabal receives an unpleasant visit 
  from a Consilium Herald. He (or she) will notice the 
  resonance shift in the neighborhood and will pay a 
  visit to ascertain whether the cabal is implementing the 
  change on its own, or if the effects are out of character 
  control. If a ley line is involved, the Herald would be 
  on much more serious business — to inform the cabal 
  that another cabal wants the resonance shift to be reset 
  
  27
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  to its previous state. This should put signiﬁ cant pressure 
  upon the players to rectify the issue immediately, lest 
  the cabal ﬁ nds itself hauled before the Consilium for 
  judgment and recompense.
  Players have few options available. Unless they use Ring 
  Sight (see p. 24) to garner further details, they must wait 
  until another crime occurs before they can follow up. The 
  antagonists will deliberately leave behind bigger clues as to 
  their whereabouts with each invasion they conduct, and the 
  longer the investigation takes, the more the antagonists will 
  believe that the players haven’t tapped the Ring’s abilities. 
  (Your characters would have found the antagonists earlier 
  otherwise, and the antagonists know this due to their experi-
  ences in trying to catch up to Gawain).
  Should players attempt an ambush, it won’t be wholly 
  successful; there’s no rhyme or reason to the Seers’ targets 
  beyond their proximity to the shared sanctum. The best that 
  characters can hope for is an immediate recognition when a 
  home invasion has just taken place. Contacts with the police 
  can notify the characters where the latest hit location is and 
  how long they have before authorities arrive. If characters are 
  within a block of an invaded location, they could come upon 
  frantic victims who — unbeknownst to the players — were 
  allowed to escape and cause a scene outside that gets the 
  characters’ attention. Any characters who ﬁ nd a way inside 
  are rewarded with a glimpse of one of their foes.
  However the scene plays out, three things must happen: 
  • 
  Characters should see an antagonist making his 
  escape.
  • 
  The Seer of your choice escapes through a “Portal” 
  spell big enough to show the destination on the other side.
  • 
  The Seer does nothing to obscure detection of his 
  magic or nimbus.
  Each event should transpire in such a way that the charac-
  ters have no suspicions anything is amiss. If characters don’t 
  enter the invaded structure, have the Seer come out where 
  the characters can see him, maybe even encourage them to 
  follow him back inside. The deliberately large portal can 
  be passed off as a spell cast out of the Seer’s control. And 
  the haste with which the Seer had to get away explains his 
  failure to mask his mystical mark upon the Fallen World. 
  Done properly, players won’t anticipate the antagonists’ 
  ambush until it’s too late.
  Framed!
  The trail ultimately leads to a building or house on the 
  outskirts of the players’ cabal’s recognized patrol zone; you 
  decide which structure best ﬁ ts into your chronicle. Ideally, 
  the area should be one under contest with a rival cabal or in 
  an unclaimed territory for which there is no responsible party. 
  The intent is to encourage players to think about political 
  ramiﬁ cations in the event something goes wrong (and they 
  will). Do the characters notify the other cabal(s) and seek 
  permission to investigate, or do they attempt to resolve the 
  problem quietly without getting any other cabals involved? 
  The answer depends entirely on the nature of the cabal’s 
  relationship with its neighbors and the general course of 
  your chronicle outside of this story.
  Seeking Help
  Some players’ cabals might opt for the politi-
  cally safe route and notify the other cabal of the 
  situation. Should the relationship between the 
  approached cabal and your players be indiffer-
  ent or amicable, give the players permission to 
  investigate on their own and seek aid only if the 
  situation is too great to handle. This will politi-
  cally charge the stage as the story progresses, as 
  one cabal has a legitimate gripe to bring forward 
  to the Consilium.
  If the neighboring cabal has already been es-
  tablished in your chronicle as a major rival, it’s 
  very doubtful the rival cabal would give blank 
  check permission to your players. One option is 
  to have one or two rival mages accompany the 
  characters as observers to guarantee the situa-
  tion doesn’t get out of hand. Another option is to 
  let the characters go it alone but watch from afar 
  to ensure that player interests don’t stray. The 
  rival cabal’s reaction to events as they unfold 
  could range from grudging support during Con-
  silium inquiries to staunch opposition, whichever 
  works best for your chronicle as a whole.
  An examination of the structure’s surroundings reveals 
  little out of place. Sleeper presence is normal for the time 
  and place. Mundane security measures are as to be expected 
  (cameras in standard positions around industrial complexes 
  and automatic ﬂ oodlights for private residences). A slight 
  complication arises when the characters notice a patrol car 
  making its rounds of the block, but this is easily avoided with 
  a little patience, as the patrol moves on through distant parts 
  of the neighborhood.
  The structure itself looks nondescript, but any use of Mage 
  Sight reveals a deﬁ nite mystical presence about the location, 
  one that points to it being a sanctum or, at the very least, 
  a safe house for the perpetrators the characters are seeking. 
  Ring Sight reveals much more — an overwhelming aura 
  of “taint” the likes of which the characters have not encoun-
  tered. As the target structure is the only one bearing this aura, 
  characters should shed any doubts they might have that the 
  location isn’t the one they’re looking for.
  Using Mage Sight around the building reveals no spells of 
  protection, but three successes or more will uncover a larger 
  spell set up within the building, beyond the characters’ sen-
  sory limits. A glance around the area reveals a small object 
  with an altered resonance resting in the middle of the street. 
  Closer inspection shows the object to be an enchanted penny 
  embedded into the asphalt. 
  
  28
  The penny has two contingent Forces spells imbued in 
  it. The ﬁ rst is a “Sound Mastery” spell that plays back a 
  recorded contextually appropriate sound bite from one of 
  the characters at high volume. The word or phrase should be 
  one that a person would yell as a directive command, such 
  as “Now!”, “Shoot!”, “Fire!” or “Go!” 
  The second spell, “Light Mastery,” activates immediately 
  after the ﬁ rst one completes. The second spell sends a beam 
  of intense visible light from the penny toward a trafﬁ c mirror, 
  which bounces the emanation through a window in the house, 
  which in turn triggers the contingent effect of an imbued 
  item within the house — a “Control Electricity” spell that 
  switches a current to a bare wire. Sparks ﬂ y, igniting the gas 
  build-up within the target structure.
  The blast will most deﬁ nitely bring back the patrol car with 
  sirens blaring. This, coupled with the sudden crowd that spills 
  out as witnesses claiming to have either seen or heard the 
  characters’ involvement in the explosion, should make players 
  realize how big of a pickle they’re now in.
  Keep track of possible or realized breaches against the 
  Lex Magica as the characters struggle through the dilemma. 
  Attempts to subvert witness accounts will be extremely dif-
  ﬁ cult considering the high numbers and immediate police 
  presence on the scene. Most characters will choose to ﬂ ee, 
  perhaps the best option. Any who stay will be taken into 
  custody (protective or otherwise) and held for questioning. 
  How characters conduct themselves will ﬁ gure prominently 
  in their subsequent trial before the Consilium.
  Embedded Penny
  The penny possesses two separate, contingent 
  conditions required to trigger its imbued effects — 
  attempting to physically remove the penny from 
  the asphalt or casting the Prime spell “Analyze 
  Enchanted Item” upon it.
  If the characters surround the penny on all sides, 
  the focused beam of light will strike whoever stands 
  (or sits) between the penny and the targeted reﬂ ec-
  tive surface. Encourage the obstructing character to 
  move by asking if he wants to make a Dexterity + 
  Athletics roll for the character to avoid getting struck 
  by the beam, with a failure resulting in a temporary 
  interference before he gets out of the way and al-
  lows the beam to progress along its path.
  How It Was Done
  The following is outlined so you as Storyteller understand 
  the series of events that led to the characters’ current predica-
  ment. For details on the antagonists of this story, refer to the 
  “Antagonists” section at the end of this chapter.
  When Gawain ﬂ ed via his “Arcade” spell, Aidan’s sympa-
  thetic link to the Ring led him through the right doorway. 
  What he didn’t anticipate was Gawain’s use of “Teleportation” 
  as he stepped through. Knowing the Ring was nowhere to 
  
  29
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  be found, Aidan and Sean were forced to take to the road 
  and hope for the best.
  You can choose the starting point of the Seers’ search based 
  on how much time you want to lapse between Act I and 
  Act II. Given the substantial head start Gawain had on the 
  Seers, they will come across the Ring well after Gawain has 
  given it over to the characters. The Seers, with their auras 
  masked by Prime, spend several weeks carefully watching the 
  characters’ sanctum. Aidan will manage to capture mundane 
  audio recordings of the characters through well-placed devices 
  about the sanctum and vehicles they use, then transfer an 
  applicable one to the embedded penny.
  The use of imbued items (the penny and the sparking 
  wire) is a simple trap that plays into a mage’s ingrained ﬂ aw 
  of wanting to know everything. This ploy, though, doesn’t 
  guarantee success. This is where Sean comes in. After the 
  items are imbued and the physical trap is set, Sean meets 
  people in the area who are the most likely to be present when 
  the explosion goes off. Choosing one, he possesses the body 
  each night until the characters follow the deliberate clues 
  that lead them into the trap. As soon as the explosion occurs, 
  Sean relays what he “saw” and who was responsible.
  Complications to any of these plans could arise during 
  the course of your chronicle. The best way to proceed is to 
  be patient. Wait for the players to make actions that allow 
  the Seers to progress their plots. Once the trap is sprung and 
  the story unfolds, the players will have a greater appreciation 
  for their foes, and will hopefully learn from the experience 
  in future storylines.
  Act 3: A Political Nightmare
  The players should realize the enormity of the political chal-
  lenge before them. Neighbors will be screaming for reparations 
  for the explosion and its aftermath. The Sleeper response will 
  most deﬁ nitely catch the Consilium’s attention, as well as any 
  breaches of mage law that occurred during the characters’ depar-
  ture from the scene. Pressure will be added if one or more cabal 
  members were caught at the scene by Sleeper authorities.
  After several hours pass, a Sentinel will pay the cabal a 
  visit and demand an explanation. When told of the frame-up, 
  he will give the characters 24 hours to accumulate evidence 
  proving their innocence, after which time they are to appear 
  before the Consilium for judgment. If the characters breached 
  the Lex Magica as they left the scene, the Sentinel should lay 
  into them and, depending on the severity of the breach(es), 
  hand down temporary punishments until the Consilium can 
  decide the matter. Punishments could include banning the use 
  of spells or putting certain characters under house arrest.
  Proving Innocence
  The characters can prove their innocence in several ways. 
  The best evidence is the embedded penny. If a character has 
  it (they triggered the contingent effect by picking it up and 
  kept the penny with them), then they need only present it 
  for study, or study it in their sanctum to discern information 
  about the mage who created the penny. Otherwise, they 
  will have to return to the scene of the explosion in order 
  to recover it.
  The other way is to interview witnesses and discern 
  whether they were manipulated, either by money or magic. 
  Players could reasonably assume this was the case based on 
  the number of witnesses who claimed to see something. Odds 
  are slim that the majority of witnesses would remember so 
  much about the incident given the vulgar natures of the 
  spells involved and how Disbelief makes most forget what 
  they witnessed. Occult investigations on these witnesses 
  will reveal evidence of Mind magic upon them. This can be 
  done covertly by one mage as another mage questions the 
  witness, or at a distance while the police are questioning the 
  witnesses (apply penalties accordingly). 
  Any attempt to return to the scene will be risky unless the 
  characters take measures to mask their appearances. Place au-
  thorities on site for a minimum of four hours, with a small patrol 
  keeping vigilant watch afterward. The destroyed structure will 
  have police tape around it, and a team of arson investigators 
  from the ﬁ re department will scour the remains for clues as to 
  the cause. By the next afternoon, characters with police Con-
  tacts can learn that the explosion was a deliberate act of arson 
  resulting from the ignition of leaked gas by a bare wire.
  Characters caught in the act of performing their own 
  investigation will complicate matters more. Police Contacts 
  will clam up due to a strict, self-imposed gag order on the 
  department. The likelihood of being recorded on video also 
  increases due to the heightened security and news coverage 
  on the scene (unless the setting of your chronicle is accus-
  tomed to bombings).
  Consilium Reaction
  How the Consilium reacts depends on the relationship the 
  character cabal currently has with the Consilium. Does the 
  cabal keep out of local politics or is it deeply entrenched? Have 
  characters erred in judgment before and thus left a bad impression 
  upon the Council, or would this be the characters’ ﬁ rst transgres-
  sion of note? Do they have allies who could offer support or give 
  them the beneﬁ t of the doubt when they say they were framed? 
  What about rivals — are they powerful within the Consilium, 
  and how quickly would they like to leave your characters as 
  social carrion?
  Here are suggestions covering each eventuality so you 
  can incorporate your chronicle’s past and future into the 
  ﬂ ow of this story.
  Politically Active Versus Politically Inactive 
  Any transgression of the Lex Magica is a serious offense 
  regardless of the offending cabal’s political leanings or in-
  volvement. The Lex Magica applies in matters of recompense, 
  favors and social punishment.
  For cabals that are too new to a Consilium to be overly 
  involved in Awakened politics, the consequences of this 
  story aren’t terrible. Sure, the punishment will be severe if 
  the cabal is found guilty, but no other cabals or ofﬁ cers of the 
  
  30
  Consilium will ﬁ nd much to take advantage of due to the 
  cabal’s lack of regional inﬂ uence among local mages. This 
  isn’t to say that politically savvy mages can’t take advantage 
  at all, just that their options are signiﬁ cantly reduced.
  Opportunistic cabals looking for support on issues that 
  concern them could blackmail the characters into political 
  servitude. In return for speaking on the characters behalf 
  and putting the other cabal’s political weight behind the 
  characters, an opposing cabal could impress the characters to 
  champion its agendas during political discussions and thus in-
  crease its power within the region. Other cabals might employ 
  similar tactics to garner military support against supernatural 
  entities plaguing their borders or territories — including other 
  mages of the Consilium during a political coup.
  No matter how greatly a new cabal suffers, the suffering can’t 
  compare to the suffering felt by politically minded players’ cabals 
  caught in the same predicament. The more politically powerful 
  the players’ cabal is, the greater the potential fall as a result 
  of this frame-up. Longtime allies could distance themselves to 
  maintain political favor within the region. Characters holding 
  Consilium positions such as Herald, Councilor or even Hierarch 
  could ﬁ nd their positions challenged by those who deem these 
  characters too incompetent to serve. Favors cultivated over time 
  and saved for the right moment could be wasted seeking sup-
  port during this time of manufactured crisis. Even if the cabal is 
  found innocent on all charges of impropriety, the ramiﬁ cations 
  will be felt long after this sordid affair concludes.
  First Transgression Versus Repeat Offender
  Mages expect other willworkers to be as wise as they 
  are, so any transgression — be it the ﬁ rst or the ﬁ fth — is 
  looked upon with great disdain, especially if the transgressors 
  breached the Lex Magica.
  That being said, Consilium ofﬁ cers will give a slight beneﬁ t of 
  doubt to characters who had managed to keep their robes clean 
  prior to this perceived transgression. If they claim they were 
  set up and had no responsibility in the explosion, Councilors 
  will demand proof to support this claim. The expectations will 
  still be high — mages are an arrogant lot — but a nonexistent 
  “rap sheet” in the Consilium libraries will certainly bode better 
  for the characters as this storyline unfolds.
  A players’ cabal with a history of transgressions — small or 
  otherwise — shouldn’t be given the same courtesy. Whereas 
  Heralds or Sentinels might be sent out to help a players’ 
  cabal with a clean record gather proof of the characters’ in-
  nocence, Councilors will demand that a troubled cabal ﬁ nd 
  its own proof, regardless of the risk the characters might face 
  trying to obtain it. Even when they do so, the mages trying 
  the characters will go over the evidence with a ﬁ ne-toothed 
  comb, looking for any reason to discount the claim.
  None of this will help either cabal classiﬁ cation if breaches of 
  the Lex Magica occurred after the explosion. A cabal could go 
  from clean to repeat offender for being so foolish in its reaction to 
  the frame-up, and will be punished accordingly despite conﬁ rmed 
  evidence the cabal had nothing to do with the explosion itself.
  Support from Allies
  There is no greater barometer of friendship than hardship. 
  A players’ cabal caught in this bind can ﬁ nd out quickly who 
  in the Consilium are genuine allies and who were pretenders. 
  If the characters have established a well-grounded relationship 
  with another cabal in the Consilium, that other cabal may 
  
  31
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  be willing to extend a little love to the characters and aid 
  them in their attempt to prove their innocence. Naturally, 
  this aid won’t come without a price, but aid will be there, 
  and any aid is better than none.
  Although this rarely happens, allies might go to the political 
  mat for a players’ cabal if the allies believe the characters are 
  innocent. In effect, the allies place their political future within 
  the region in the characters’ hands. Should the characters 
  come through, the friendship will be galvanized and thus 
  create a strong political force within the region. A players’ 
  cabal with little to no investment in local politics could ﬁ nd 
  itself thrust into the thick of it all and come out smelling 
  better than the cabal did prior to the frame-up.
  Conversely, characters who fail to prove their innocence will 
  bring their allies down. Consilii will treat the allies as if they 
  caused the breach and will punish them for the unwise decision 
  to support a cabal in the wrong. What once were allies should 
  now become bitter enemies who will go to the ends of the earth 
  to exact revenge for this tremendous social downfall.
  The Corruption Within
  Chronicles dealing with a corrupt Consilium 
  could go in another direction and ﬁ nd the char-
  acters guilty, regardless of whatever evidence 
  proves them otherwise. A cabal that stuck by the 
  characters’ back could remain a staunch ally 
  and aid the characters in their push to oust the 
  current regime.
  The Rival Response
  Rivals established during the course of a chronicle will 
  have varied reactions. Some will be ardent opponents who 
  push for severe penalties against the characters and rebut 
  any claims of frame-up no matter what evidence might be 
  presented. Cunning rivals, however, could see an opportunity 
  to rape the characters politically by offering support at an 
  exorbitant price. This could be in the form of an Artifact 
  (not the Ring unless the characters were foolish enough to 
  mention it publicly), serious political favors (assisting the 
  rival in taking down the Hierarch) or raw power on a regular 
  basis (monthly payments of tass).
  The greatest foe the characters should face are those ca-
  bals directly affected by the plotted incident — those cabals 
  that control territory bordering or in which the explosion 
  occurred. Not only is there collateral damage involved, but 
  the effects on the local resonance will be profound. Cabals 
  that rely on a speciﬁ c resonance will demand recompense 
  for the efforts expended recouping from the incident. Even if 
  the player cabal is found innocent, these victims could insist 
  that the characters brought this about because they weren’t 
  wise enough to recognize the ruse beforehand.
  A good way to tweak with your players’ perceptions of a 
  rival is to have that rival support the characters without any 
  request for recompense. The reasoning is simple: the rival 
  wants to be the one to bring down the characters and won’t 
  be satisﬁ ed unless he does so when the troupe’s cabal can’t 
  claim weakness due to an outside agency. Nobody picks on 
  my brother but me, as it were.
  While You Were Out
  The Seers’ next plan of action is to search the sanctum 
  once its members are otherwise occupied. Having set up 
  the ambush, the seers will take positions near the sanctum 
  and conduct a stakeout to determine when the Consilium 
  intends to conduct its inevitable hearing on the incident. 
  The Seers will obscure their supernatural auras with Prime to 
  avoid detection and do what they can to catch conversations 
  among characters and whatever visitors drop by.
  Aidan expects the characters to know they’re being set 
  up by another mage. Therefore, he will not use any spells for 
  eavesdropping. If anything, he will use mundane means to 
  capture what he can. Lip-reading through windows, listening 
  devices planted on the patio and directional listening equip-
  ment are all valid methods that could be employed. Characters 
  suspecting they might be watched could put up protections 
  to either prevent or detect most of these means. Provide 
  penalties as appropriate based on the method employed and 
  its proximity to the investigator at the time of casting.
  Assuming the Ring is left behind when the characters 
  depart for their hearing, the Seers will wait half an hour 
  before invading the shared sanctum. Aidan’s sympathetic 
  link to the Ring will enable him to ﬁ nd it within ﬁ ve minutes 
  of entering, longer if the characters have measures in place 
  that prevent an immediate “smash and grab” of the Artifact 
  in question. Neither character cares about triggering alarms 
  that alert the player cabal of the trespass; Aidan knows that 
  the cabal must ﬁ rst convince the Consilium that the inva-
  sion is real before the cabal members can return. What does 
  matter to them are any spells that cause bodily harm, as well 
  as any retainers employed by the characters to keep watch 
  over the sanctum in the characters’ absence.
  Aidan and Sean would go in partially blind. During their 
  surveillance, they would identify whichever retainers perform 
  regular patrols of the residence. Aidan and Sean would not 
  be aware of any familiars the characters control unless these 
  familiars manifest where the Seers could spot them from the 
  outside. Since neither Seer has a Spirit Arcanum, familiars that 
  act aggressively against the trespassers will have a surprise action 
  on them both, after which the Seers will do what they can to 
  get in and out as quickly as possible. Mortal retainers will be 
  treated harshly, more so if they attempt to deny the trespass-
  ers’ entry or search by violent means. Retainer death is at the 
  Storyteller’s discretion, but should you decide to allow it, this 
  would not be out of character for either Seer antagonist.
  The fewer safety measures used on the sanctum, the easier 
  it will be for the Seers to ﬁ nd the Ring and take it. Characters 
  who are lax on security should learn a difﬁ cult lesson about 
  its importance. The World of Darkness isn’t meant to be a 
  happy universe where people can keep their doors unlocked. 
  These antagonists won’t be the ﬁ rst to attempt to invade the 
  
  32
  characters’ sanctum, so better they learn the importance of 
  security now than the hard way against a much larger and 
  nefarious foe.
  If the security measures employed by characters are better 
  than average, the characters shouldn’t be penalized severely. 
  Aidan and Sean will retreat empty-handed before the situ-
  ation gets too out of control, but they will not give up their 
  quest to secure the Artifact.
  If the characters have alarms in place to notify them when 
  their sanctum is invaded or under attack, wait until a moment 
  you deem appropriate to give this notiﬁ cation to the players. 
  If the characters’ case isn’t going well, you could have a char-
  acter receive word in the middle of a Consilium reprimand. 
  Interrupting the tirade would be political suicide, but, at the 
  same time, the characters are wasting precious time that could 
  be spent returning to the sanctum to protect it.
  It could wind up that players don’t care about their political 
  futures and immediately Portal back to the sanctum. This 
  could set up a lively combat in the middle of the characters’ 
  property, with Aidan telling Sean to hold the others off while 
  he continues the search.
  The Ring on the Move
  If one of the characters brings the Ring with her as they 
  head to the Consilium, Aidan would know. He also knows 
  that his chances of recovering the Ring are much better if the 
  Ring remains with the player cabal. Though his knowledge of 
  Consilium politics isn’t great, he knows that elder mages will 
  put pressure on younger to hand over rare Artifacts. This is a 
  risk Aidan isn’t willing to take.
  Aidan and Sean will accost the characters in transit, attack-
  ing before they arrive at the Consilium. Aidan would know 
  which mage possesses the Ring and will inform Sean of this. 
  The ﬁ rst volley will be against this mage. During subsequent 
  attacks, Sean and Aidan will work in tandem to press the 
  attack until (a) they recover the Ring or (b) Aidan suffers 
  injuries too grievous to ignore (he won’t care if Sean falls, 
  and Sean would sooner die than let down his pylon).
  Aidan and Sean aren’t sloppy. They will take whatever 
  advantages are offered. If two cars are taken, they will make 
  sure the other car can’t turn back immediately (i.e., chang-
  ing a streetlight signal, if the trailing car has the Ring in it, 
  popping a tire). They will also use vulgar magic to accomplish 
  their goal. While they will do what they can to limit Disbelief 
  — waiting for a low trafﬁ c area to mount their attack, for 
  instance — they don’t care about whatever Paradoxes they 
  incur during the process. The prize is within their grasp, and 
  they intend to seize it.
  If the Seers secure the Ring, the characters will have to 
  decide what to do. Do they chase after the Seers while the 
  trail is still hot, or do the characters avoid further punishment 
  from the Consilium and show up to their hearing? If they 
  retain the Ring, they can show up at the hearing with strong 
  evidence that they are indeed being framed by relating the 
  recent attack to the Councilors. While it won’t exonerate 
  the characters of any crimes they committed against the 
  Lex Magica during the escape from the scene, they have 
  ﬁ rm grounds to clear themselves of causing the explosion 
  by supernatural means.
  Using Ring Sight in Battle
  When used to view the Seers’ auras, Ring 
  Sight reveals them to be extremely “tainted,” 
  warped by whatever agency is responsible for 
  causing the taint. If the characters refrained 
  from using Ring Sight prior to this moment, they 
  should now be acutely cognizant of how use-
  ful the Ring’s power can be. Despite the cost 
  the Ring demands for using it, the ends are well 
  worth it, especially if the characters can iden-
  tify their enemies by means no other mage has 
  knowledge of.
  At the same time, the characters should have 
  some measure of confusion with regard to the 
  other “tainted” objects or people they’ve identi-
  ﬁ ed since the Ring has come into their posses-
  sion. What does this recent revelation say about 
  the characters? Are they just as bad as these 
  mages the characters are currently at odds with, 
  or is there more to it? As this story concludes, 
  players should want to know more about the 
  Ring, its power and what exactly its power is 
  able to detect. 
  Act 4: Retribution and Revelation
  When all is said and done, it’s time to evaluate the situ-
  ation. Did the characters keep the Ring, or did the Seers 
  manage to secure it for themselves? 
  Characters Keep the Ring
  At this point, players should realize that the Ring is a 
  signiﬁ cant Artifact to have in one’s possession. If they didn’t 
  investigate it completely before, they have an excellent 
  reason to do so now. They should also be keenly aware that 
  Gawain’s pursuers weren’t following Gawain but the Artifact. 
  If you’re feeling generous as a Storyteller, give the players 
  an Intelligence + Occult roll. A success helps them realize 
  the Ring is the means by which the antagonists were able 
  to locate the characters’ sanctum, as well as track Gawain 
  halfway across the world. As long as the characters have the 
  Ring, they can be tracked down.
  The Seers’ Next Move
  With the situation as dire as it is, the Seers currently ﬁ nd 
  themselves trapped in a corner. Too weak to attack, they 
  can’t mount an effective offensive against their quarry. Yet 
  if they wait, not only will their quarry get stronger, but the 
  characters will also be armed with more knowledge about 
  the Artifact than Aidan cared for them to possess. In addi-
  tion, odds are that the characters will include others in the 
  
  33
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  secret of the Ring, making the Seers’ goal that much harder 
  to accomplish.
  As Storyteller, it’s your job to discern the best course of 
  action. Though this way is underhanded, you can improve 
  odds in the Seers’ favor by coercing players to keep the 
  Ring’s power a cabal secret. If two mages from England are 
  willing to go to such lengthy measures to procure the Ring, 
  what’s to say the other cabals of the local Consilium won’t 
  do the same? Power this great shouldn’t be relinquished. 
  The characters owe it to one another to keep the Ring 
  to themselves lest they lose their edge over everyone else 
  — including the Hierarch.
  Should you choose this angle, you are better off instilling this 
  sense of secrecy as early in the story as possible. Any research 
  performed could lead to this conclusion, as discovery would 
  turn the Awakened world upside-down. Use character Vices 
  against them to ensure they keep the Ring in the house. Lust, 
  Pride and Greed are susceptible to the Ring’s depredations. 
  Working these Vices to your advantage gives you more leeway 
  with the Seers’ next move. They can bide their time for another 
  optimal moment or wait to see how the players respond.
  On the Offensive . . . Again
  One tack players can take is to go on the offensive. Armed 
  with Ring Sight, the characters can attempt to ﬂ ip the tables 
  on their pursuers, hunting them down and bringing the ﬁ ght 
  to their doorstep.
  To accentuate the misinterpretations of what Ring Sight 
  actually does, you can play up the desire angle mentioned 
  earlier in the sidebar titled “Using the Ring Beyond the 
  Story” on p. 25. The more players want to ﬁ nd their “tainted” 
  quarry, the more intense this altered resonance leads them 
  true. Besides bringing your story to a quick resolution, it will 
  also serve to confuse players later when they undertake future 
  stories in the Reign of the Exarchs saga.
  Where do the clues lead? The simple solution would be 
  someplace within the cabal’s patrolling grounds. Wounded 
  and anxious to strike again, the Seers might choose to be 
  the defender in this next battle, mounting a last stand close 
  by and therefore employing different tactics to help them 
  succeed when once they failed. 
  If you decide to have the Seers bide their time, place them 
  beyond the characters’ stomping grounds, even in another 
  cabal’s territory. Aidan would know this to be the wisest, most 
  secure move to take. Fully aware that the characters must 
  obtain permission from both the Consilium and the affected 
  cabal to enter the territory, he would dare the characters to 
  attack. Naturally, the Seers have no way of knowing how 
  the Consilium ruled, and the Seers also don’t know whether 
  the cabal in whose territory they now reside bears animosity 
  against the characters. Still, this option again thrusts players 
  into a political milieu, one they must get accustomed with if 
  their characters intend to thrive in Awakened society.
  Assuming all the political hoops have been jumped through, 
  it’s time to exact revenge. The Seers will do whatever they can 
  to encourage the characters to use vulgar magic. The Seers might 
  even bring the ﬁ ght out in public to better make their escape. 
  
  34
  Unless the players have a cogent plan of attack in place that you 
  ﬁ nd satisfactory or creative, don’t make this easy on them.
  Keep in mind that neither antagonist would be heartbroken 
  if the other died. Which one succumbs ﬁ rst will dictate how the 
  rest of the story progresses. With Aidan’s death, the ability to 
  track the Artifact goes away. Sean must go it alone, tracking the 
  characters instead of the Artifact and relying on interrogation 
  to get the answers he seeks (not a bad proposition considering 
  his mastery of Mind). His tactics would also be comparatively 
  weak. Without knowledge of Consilium traditions, he must 
  resort to simpler traps in order to gain the upper hand.
  With Sean’s death, Aidan is free to pursue as long has 
  he needs to. More patient, knowledgeable and adroit than 
  Sean, Aidan can be that thorn in the characters’ side they 
  can’t quite reach, a potentially recurring enemy that pops 
  up at the most inopportune times. This isn’t to say he can’t 
  be stopped. At some point, he needs to fall, but, of the two, 
  Aidan is the most likely to persevere and annoy.
  Defensive Stance
  Rather than go on the offensive, the players might choose 
  to wait for the antagonists’ next attack. This provides a perfect 
  opportunity to instill paranoia into the story. Unsure where the 
  next attack will come from, have the characters’ use of Ring Sight 
  detect subtle taints everywhere, as if their doubts and insecurities 
  are manifesting through their use of the spell. Eventually, the 
  Seers will attack, but draw the wait out for effect. 
  Knowing that the Seers tracked Gawain via the Ring, the 
  characters might use the Artifact as bait to lure the antagonists 
  into the characters’ own trap. Gauge the effectiveness of the 
  trap and react accordingly. A solid setup should be rewarded 
  with success. Poorly thought-out ruses, however, should be 
  exploited, either with the antagonists not falling for it or, 
  worse yet, the theft of the Artifact from the characters’ pos-
  session. Mage: The Awakening rewards wisdom. It should 
  reﬂ ect in the storyline’s progression if players don’t think 
  their plans all the way through.
  When the combat occurs, follow the suggestions listed 
  under “On the Offensive . . . Again” above.
  Seers Get the Ring
  Once the Ring is in the Seers’ possession, they will hastily 
  leave the region. Regardless of who survives, both will return 
  to Ireland, Sean to prove his loyalty to his pylon and Aidan 
  to recover his Profane Urim. What happens next depends 
  on who lives to return.
  Sean survives — Sean returns with the Ring and turns it over to 
  his elders. The Ring stays with the pylon until such time that the 
  characters track it down and attempt to steal it from the pylon.
  Aidan survives — Aidan will also return to Ireland, but 
  not directly to the pylon. Instead, he visits other pylons with 
  which he has good relationships and spends time reviewing 
  his options. He will also do whatever research he can on the 
  other four Artifacts of the legend to determine whether he 
  still needs the Ring to beneﬁ t, or if the spell is all he needed 
  to learn in order to move on to the next level.
  Both survive—When they arrive at Sean’s pylon victorious, 
  he is heartily congratulated. Things turn sour when Aidan 
  demands that the pylon return his Profane Urim to him per 
  their agreement. The pylon will do so until the Ring is in 
  the group’s possession. At a diplomatic impasse when Aidan 
  refuses to comply, he attempts to leave with the Ring. A 
  battle ensues. Aidan (who anticipated this would happen 
  and made preparations accordingly) kills two of the mages 
  before he is overmatched. The three survivors take the Ring 
  from his body and research it at their leisure.
  If the characters are to recover the Ring, a road trip will 
  be in their future. But they must ﬁ rst ﬁ gure out where it is 
  they need to go to ﬁ nd it. One way the characters can ac-
  complish this is to make a sympathetic connection to the 
  Ring or an assailant, whichever offers the better chance 
  of success. Of course, Aidan’s frustrations in trying to ﬁ nd 
  the Ring will lead him to take the same precautions. His 
  casting of “Ward” is a Potency 3 spell. After including the 
  sympathetic penalties each caster incurs (see p. 114, Mage: 
  The Awakening), penalize an additional –4 dice to break 
  through the “Ward” spell.
  History Lesson
  In case the characters ﬁ nd it difﬁ cult to sympathetically 
  locate the Ring, all is not lost. Gawain left much more than 
  an Artifact at the sanctum. He dropped information about 
  himself that the characters can use as clues to the antagonists’ 
  current whereabouts. Firstly, he is of British descent, a man of 
  reﬁ ned background who no doubt spent a goodly amount of 
  time among the nobility of England and the British Isles. 
  The second major clue came with his declaration of mem-
  bership in the cabal of the Broadening Mind. Characters who 
  are members of the Mysterium immediately recognize both the 
  cabal’s and Gawain’s names and their exploits within the order. 
  Requesting information from the vaults to pinpoint major events 
  in the Broadening Mind’s chronology would be a simple mat-
  ter. Even if no characters belong to this order, they would still 
  know that the name refers to a Mysterium cabal of some repute, 
  especially if any of the characters possess a European background 
  (the Broadening Mind’s common stomping grounds).
  The most important information obtained centers on Ga-
  wain’s cabal-mates in the Broadening Mind. They established a 
  sanctum in Ireland, one that persevered until Lark and Marcus 
  left to join Gawain on his quest for unnamed reasons. 
  Secrets of the Broadening Mind
  Despite the renown the cabal received from 
  others of the Mysterium, few mages were 
  ever aware of the cabal’s primary goal, to see 
  whether the legend of the Dethroned Queen and 
  her Artifacts was true. All Mysterium historians 
  know for certain is that Gawain disbanded him-
  self from the cabal due to an internal disagree-
  ment with his brethren, went Solitary for a while, 
  returned to the Broadening Mind and convinced 
  two of its members to travel with him.
  
  35
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  There are rumors circulating that Gawain pre-
  sented evidence that brought Lark and Marcus to his 
  way of thinking, but it wasn’t enough to convince 
  the entire membership. Only the surviving members 
  of the cabal — Gawain, Illumined and Finneran — re-
  ally know the entire story, but up to this point none 
  have had reason to share it with the public. 
  Using the order grapevine to pinpoint Illumined and 
  Finneran’s current location will take time the further away 
  the characters are from Britain. Even in this age of high-speed 
  Internet and international cell service, there should be a wait 
  time of one week minimum for the characters to receive an 
  answer. Characters who wish to expedite the search will ﬁ nd 
  it faster ﬂ ying across the Atlantic and inquiring in person.
  Waiting for Word
  If the characters wait for word of Illumined and Finneran’s 
  location before departing, the characters will learn that the 
  two joined the Emerald Eye cabal in Glasgow, Scotland. If 
  contacted by distant means (phone or email), they will insist 
  anything having to do with Gawain must be communicated 
  in person. Only then will they speak, and even then they 
  will be reluctant to provide any information about the Ring, 
  Gawain or their fallen comrades.
  Tones change immediately the moment Illumined and 
  Finneran discover that Gawain’s pursuers — Lark and Marcus’ 
  murderers—stole the Ring from the characters and left town. 
  Intrigued with the prospect of exacting revenge, Illumined 
  and Finneran let spill all they know. They reveal the manner 
  by which Gawain came across the Ring (see Gawain’s back-
  ground on p. 19), as well as guesses as to whom the pursuers 
  might be (conﬁ rmed if the characters share information on 
  how the pursuers chased after Gawain by sympathetic con-
  nection to the Artifact).
  From here, the characters can travel to Aidan’s destroyed 
  sanctum or the old sanctum of the Broadening Mind to 
  discern what additional clues they can ﬁ nd. 
  Antagonists
  This story pits player characters against the two men 
  pursuing Gawain since his departure from Ireland. Both are 
  Seers intent on securing an Artifact they believe to be their 
  birthright to procure.
  Aidan
  Quote: I believe you have something of ours, and we’d like 
  it back.
  Background: Aidan always assumed there was a grand 
  conspiracy against him, be it the government, his parents 
  or those he used to call friends. When he Awakened, he 
  knew it.
  When the Seers ﬁ rst approached him, he was suspicious of 
  their intentions. Every good turn they gave him he received 
  with a dubious eye and an expectation of the worst. The 
  worst never came. He grew to trust his pylon and went from 
  being its most unpredictable member to the most ardent 
  supporter.
  When Gawain joined forces to destroy Aidan’s pylon, 
  Aidan was on the Continent doing research on the Dethroned 
  Queen. He returned to ﬁ nd the pylon sanctum destroyed, then 
  read of his partners’ deaths in the paper the next morning. 
  Though the article blamed the tragedy on a busted gas main, 
  Aidan knew better. When he was unable to ﬁ nd the pylon’s 
  Profane Urim or the Ring, he was absolutely positive.
  The ﬁ rst order of business was to recover the stolen Urim. 
  After petitioning for aid from a neighboring pylon, Aidan 
  and the pylon managed to steal the Urim back from the cabal 
  Gawain had helped. Their deaths did little to sate his desire for 
  revenge. Torturing the last survivor revealed Gawain’s name, 
  as well as his ownership of the other Artifact. The assisting 
  pylon demanded to know what the other Artifact was. At 
  ﬁ rst Aidan refused, but when the pylon threatened to keep 
  the Profane Urim for itself, he grudgingly told them. 
  The tale of the Artifact piqued the pylon’s curiosity. The 
  pylon reneged on the deal to return the Urim. Instead, the 
  mages informed Aidan that he would get it back as soon as he 
  retrieved the Ring. What’s more, he would be accompanied 
  by one of the pylon’s members to improve Aidan’s chances 
  of success. With no other options, Aidan agreed.
  Through the Arcane connection Aidan maintains with 
  the Ring, he and his traveling companion tracked down 
  Gawain’s party and ambushed them in a London warehouse. 
  Aidan and Sean killed two, but Gawain escaped with the 
  Artifact. They have pursued him ever since.
  Aidan’s top priority is recovering the Ring, but part of the 
  agreement made with the pylon to which Sean belongs was 
  
  36
  to return the Artifact to them. Aidan has no intention of 
  doing so, even if that means sacriﬁ cing the Profane Urim. 
  He is after a bigger prize, one that will enable him to recover 
  the Urim at his leisure. 
  Description: Aidan is a paunchy man of average height, 
  with thinning red hair beneath a beat-up baseball cap and a 
  pale, freckled complexion. He looks much older due to alcohol 
  abuse in his younger years and a horrible chain-smoking habit 
  he’s still trying to kick. T-shirts and sweatshirts comprise the 
  bulk of his wardrobe, most in dark colors or simple white to 
  blend into pedestrian crowds.
  Aidan’s nimbus is a wash of electrical sparks that crackle 
  about him, followed by a whiff of ozone in the air.
  Storytelling Hints: Aidan is one calculating, pissed-off 
  Irishman. When behind the scenes, he has the ability to 
  focus his anger toward whatever project he sets his mind to. 
  He can process numerous scenarios in his head and come 
  up with cogent provisions for every occasion. When face 
  to face with those who have earned his ire, he must make 
  a great effort to maintain focus on the goal ahead. This 
  doesn’t mean he’ll stick around longer than he should, but 
  if an opportunity presents itself to launch a cheap shot at 
  the characters, he’ll take it.
  Aidan will sacriﬁ ce Sean if doing so means getting a second 
  chance to steal the Artifact or escape with it. Sacriﬁ cing 
  Sean should be done in such a way that the characters 
  don’t recognize the tactic for what it is. For example, Aidan 
  might set Sean up as the trailing mage when the player cabal 
  chases after them, or fake an injury to prompt Sean into 
  protecting him.
  Dedicated Magical Tool: A D-cell battery with an incom-
  prehensible word etched into it meaning “Power”
  Path: Obrimos
  Order: Seers of the Throne
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 4, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Com-
  posure 3
  Mental Skills: Crafts 3, *Investigation (Tracking) 2, 
  *Occult (Resonance) 3, 
  Physical Skills: Brawl 3, Firearms 1, Larceny (Pickpock-
  eting) 3, Stealth 3, Survival 1, Weaponry 1
  Social Skills: *Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 3
  Merits: Artifact (Profane Urim) 7, Fighting Style: Boxing 
  (Body Blow, Duck and Weave) 3, High Speech 1, Language 
  (Latin) 3, Status (Seers of the Throne) 2
  Willpower: 6
  Wisdom: 5
  Virtue: Temperance
  Vice: Wrath
  Initiative: 6
  Defense: 3
  Speed: 10
  Health: 8
  Gnosis: 3
  Arcana: Forces 2, Prime 3, Space 3, Time 2
  Rotes: Forces — Read Matrices (•), *Ring Sight (•), Tune 
  In (•), Unseen Shield (••); Prime — Supernal Vision (•), 
  Counterspell (•), Transform Aura (••), Unseen Spy (••), 
  Imbue Item (•••)
  *Ring Sight learned from exposure to the Ring
  Mana/per Turn: 12/3
  Armor: 2 (“Unseen Shield,” Forces ••)
  Sean
  Quote: Get on the ﬂ oor! NOW!
  Background: As a child, Sean witnessed his older brother’s 
  death as a result of an IRA bombing. The event profoundly 
  changed Sean, callusing his once sensitive demeanor and 
  prompting him to join the military the moment he was 
  old enough to do so. He became a marksman and was soon 
  indoctrinated into Ireland’s Special Forces. While inside, he 
  took an astral journey that eventually led to his Awakening 
  at the Watchtower in Pandemonium. Confused, and with 
  more questions than answers, he left the service and wandered 
  about Dublin in search of meaning and clarity.
  When the Seers of the Throne found him, they recognized 
  a man in need of direction. Taking advantage of his mili-
  tary training, they instructed him in the nuances of magic 
  and how to use it in the Exarchs’ name. Sean took to the 
  instruction quickly and soon became a loyal member of his 
  pylon. He does whatever is asked of him, be it manipulation, 
  intimidation or murder.
  Aidan’s involvement with the pylon led to the current 
  agreement. Sean, not as versed in the Ring’s myth as his 
  elders, is keenly aware of the Ring’s importance, as well as 
  the danger he’ll be put in traveling alone with Aidan. Sean 
  is anxious to face the challenge and endure. If that means 
  killing Aidan to fulﬁ ll his obligation to his pylon, so be it.
  Description: In his early 30s, Sean maintains his ﬁ t physique 
  with strenuous workouts and regular visits to a shooting range. 
  Unlike most of his countrymen, his skin is leathery with constant 
  exposure to the elements, remnants of the harsh Special Forces 
  training he endured. When he speaks, it’s in a soft-spoken, 
  conﬁ dent tone, a tone that leads many who converse with him 
  to innately understand just how dangerous a man he is.
  When casting, Sean’s nimbus causes nearby shadows to stretch 
  unnaturally then immediately recoil back to normal. 
  Storytelling Hints: A gifted Adept of Mind, Sean’s role 
  is one of support. At Aidan’s direction, Sean plants all the 
  misinformation involved in the ambush. He’s also the pri-
  mary home invader, letting his military training take over to 
  intimidate and cajole his hostages. He is the soldier of the 
  team, but one who holds little loyalty toward his commander. 
  If the situation gets grim, Sean will take the initiative and 
  take the Ring for himself.
  Dedicated Magical Tool: A hologram baseball card with an 
  obscure etching in the upper corner that symbolizes thought
  
  37
  CHAPTER ONE: the RING
  Path: Mastigos
  Order: Seers of the Throne
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 2
  Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
  Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 3, Com-
  posure 2
  Mental Skills: *Investigation 3, *Occult (Spells) 2 
  Physical Skills: Brawl 3, Firearms (Riﬂ e) 5, Stealth 
  (Crowds) 3, Survival 2, Weaponry 1
  Social Skills: Intimidation (Veiled Threats) 3, Persuasion 
  1, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 3
  Merits: Barﬂ y 1, Gunslinger 3, High Speech 1, Language 
  (Latin) 1, Occultation 2, Quick Draw 1, Status (Seers of 
  the Throne) 1
  Willpower: 7
  Wisdom: 6
  Virtue: Fortitude
  Vice: Lust
  Initiative: 5
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 11
  Health: 8
  Gnosis: 2
  Arcana: Mind 3, Space 3, Fate 1, Prime 1
  Rotes: Mind — Aura Perception (•), Third Eye (•), First Im-
  pressions (••), Misperception (••); Space — Scrying (••)
  Mana/per Turn: 11/2
  Armor: 3 (“Misperception,” Mind •••)
  
  38
  
  39
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  Chapter Two: 
  The Robe
  The ancient sorceress-queen called the Cold Smile was carried on 
  the backs of her people, hoisted high on a throne lashed together 
  from Atlantean stones.
  The novice mage, Cymbeline Hand, rides in the back of a pick-up 
  truck, rocking back and forth on bales of hay lashed together with 
  twine.
  The Cold Smile, the Archmage Qherephis, bent mortal wills with her 
  twisting words, her whorish eyes, her hips as round as the moon.
  Cymbeline, the simple day-dreamer, softens hearts with her gull-
  shaped smile, her wondering eyes, her shoulders shrugging with 
  happy uncertainty.
  Cymbeline steps into the woods and the wildﬂ owers turn to 
  watch. Qherephis comes nearer now, slinking towards the surface 
  of Cymbeline from inside. Cymbeline, her hands on the straps of her 
  backpack, climbs up the rocks to the top of the rise. Qherephis slips 
  her hands into Cymbeline’s, getting used to her ﬁ ngertips from the 
  inside. Cymbeline lays eyes on the deep reds of the bleeding forest 
  and Qherephis whispers in her ear from inside.
  “It’s time.”
  
  40
  The choice between right and wrong is rarely as clear as we’d 
  like it to be. For the Awakened, this is all the more true. The 
  noblest magician can fall the farthest. A mage can commit 
  the greatest crimes for the noblest esoteric intentions. 
  Doing the right thing is easy. Knowing what the right thing 
  is: there’s the difﬁ culty. 
  In this story, the cabal will be forced to decide the fate of 
  a young mage, for good or ill. Do the cabal members help a 
  friend to fulﬁ ll her destiny? Or do they believe an enemy — a 
  seemingly noble, decent, honest enemy — who tells them 
  that the consequences of aiding their friend could be more 
  terrible than anything the cabal members could imagine?  
  The Pursuit
  Cymbeline Hand, a young mage known to the cabal, has 
  absconded, taking with her an odd pair of artifacts, the Eyes 
  of Salt, which belonged to an important member of the local 
  Consilium (a Provost or Councilor, if not the Hierarch). The 
  troupe’s cabal has been asked to ﬁ nd Cymbeline and retrieve 
  the Eyes. If the characters can bring Cymbeline back, that’s a 
  bonus. Why the troupe’s characters? They know her. She’s a 
  friend. They’re the ones who are likely to care (see below). 
  Ever since she was a child, Cymbeline has been having 
  dreams about strange things: ancient landscapes, Body Or-
  chards, Eyes of Salt, a Heart Full of Flies, the Raiment of a 
  lost Queen. The dreams became stronger when Cymbeline 
  Awakened, not long ago. Compelled by intense curiosity, 
  and the constant feeling that there was some important 
  memory that she couldn’t quite put her ﬁ nger on, Cymbeline 
  wondered what her dreams meant. 
  The skeins of fate draw together, bringing Cymbeline closer 
  to her destiny, seemingly by dumb luck. Apparently by chance, 
  Cymbeline ﬁ nds her way to the characters’ home Consilium. 
  There, again apparently by chance, she discovers that the Eyes 
  of Salt, which she long thought to be no more than symbols 
  in a dream, are real. The dreams become more frequent. She 
  needs the Eyes of Salt. She cannot think of anything else. One 
  night, she wakes up from one of the most vivid dreams she has 
  ever experienced. In a near-hypnagogic state, she steals the 
  Eyes with ease. No alarms, magical or otherwise, ring. No one 
  wakes up. It’s almost as if the Eyes want to be stolen. 
  By the time the owner of the Eyes of Salt discovers that 
  they’re missing, Cymbeline, ﬁ lled with exultation and terror 
  in equal measure, is well on the way to the next place her 
  dreams are leading her to. 
  What no one knows — not even Cymbeline — is that 
  her genes hold the key to the rebirth of someone, something 
  ancient and terrible. 
  Cxaxa Qherephis
  The Raiments of the Dethroned have vanished and re-
  surfaced periodically during the centuries. Some centuries 
  after the Dethroned Queen died, her Robe appeared, in 
  the hands of Cxaxa Qherephis, a vastly powerful mage. 
  Qherephis, called the Cold Smile, the Swarming Heart, the 
  Splintered Sight, ruled over a million Sleeping souls in her 
  day, using the Robe of the Dethroned Queen as the mark of 
  her authority. Qherephis was foremost among the leaders of 
  the Silver Ladder in her time. Her word was law. To hear her 
  was to obey her, and despair. Her beauty was incomparable, 
  her authority unimpeachable, her anger inescapable, her 
  wrath fatal, often on a terrifying scale. 
  Whether she was just a mortal mage or not, Qherephis 
  claimed herself to be a goddess, and apparently believed it, 
  too. Either way, she was quite insane. The war that ended her 
  brief, apocalyptic reign resulted in her disappearance. That’s 
  all that’s come down to the Awakened scholars of today. 
  Her story exists in fragmentary texts, discarded references 
  in obscure works. She’s a footnote in history. 
  At the moment of her ﬁ nal defeat, Qherephis hit upon a 
  plan to escape her own death. She split her soul into three 
  fragments. One fragment she invested in a pair of stone eyes 
  — the Eyes of Salt. She placed the second inside a hollow glass 
  heart, ﬁ lled with a swarm of immortal ﬂ ies. And the third frag-
  ment she diffused within the blood of her youngest, Sleeping 
  daughter. The ancient Robe that symbolized her power became 
  a key to the archmage’s immortality. The Robe was already a 
  potent magical artifact. Although Qherephis could not alter 
  the artifact in any way, it became a symbol of authority — hers, 
  the Exarchs’, the Dethroned Queen’s — and as such carried 
  enough metaphysical weight to take a place in her plan. 
  Without a soul, Cxaxa Qherephis died before her enemies 
  could ﬁ nd her, conﬁ dent that one day her plan could come to 
  fruition. One day she would reincarnate, in a direct female-line 
  descendant who would, just as her ancestor and ancient self, 
  would have an Awakened soul. Led by dreams and visions, 
  this one-third reincarnation of the Cold Smile would seek 
  out the Eyes of Salt and the Heart Full of Flies. 
  Having brought themselves together, the three fragments 
  of the soul seek out the Robe. At the moment Qherephis’ 
  Behold, I shew you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 
  — St. Paul, I Corinthians 15:51
  For here is authority. In this Robe I rule. In this Robe I hold authority; 
  authority unto Death and Beyond. 
  The Dethroned Queen, quoted in the Testament of the Cold Smile (fragment)
  
  41
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  As the story comes to its climax, it’s up to the characters to 
  decide whether to stop Cymbeline — and when. 
  Theme
  The theme is free choice versus destiny. The cabal’s 
  choices will dictate whether Cymbeline Hand lives or dies, 
  and whether Cxaxa Qherephis remains dead, or effects her 
  rebirth. Cymbeline wants to be free to follow her dreams, 
  but if her fate now lies in the hands of the cabal, is she really 
  free? Is she doomed, whatever the result? 
  Meanwhile, a group of Seers of the Throne manipulate 
  the destinies of their idyllic village. But do they really? And 
  even if they do, is that such a bad thing? 
  Mood
  The mood of this story is anticipatory. Just around the cor-
  ner, something is coming — something terrible and wonderful. 
  Cymbeline projects an edgy, twitchy energy as she daily grows 
  closer to the culmination of something that she’s waited her 
  whole life for. The ﬂ esh-trees in the Body Orchard quiver, 
  as if in trepidation of what is to follow. Through dreams, the 
  study of scripture and the interpretation of prophecies given 
  in tongues, the Seers in Witchend know that Cymbeline is 
  the harbinger of something dreadful and must be stopped, 
  if they are to keep control. 
  The pathetic fallacy comes into play: the cabal is con-
  fronted with spectacular dawn skies. The wind rushes at the 
  backs of Cymbeline and her protectors. Clouds loom — an 
  oncoming storm. 
  This breaking-through of the future into the present 
  expresses itself as speaking in tongues. There are some who 
  think that glossolalia is the language of angels, given by the 
  Holy Spirit to edify humanity; others consider glossolalia 
  to be the purest language from which all human language 
  once sprang, an elemental expression of emotion and hu-
  man potentiality. The mouths of the ﬂ esh-trees in the Body 
  Orchard speak in tongues. The messages the Seers in the 
  Witchend Residents’ Committee believe they receive from 
  the Exarchs are given in tongues by one of their Sleeper 
  allies and interpreted by one of the mages. 
  How Powerful?
  This story works best with a cabal of mages 
  who have some experience, but not too much. 
  Mages who have four or ﬁ ve dots in any Ar-
  cana (particularly Spirit and Mind) will, at best, 
  ﬁ nd some of the challenges in this story to be 
  pushovers. At worst, they can completely derail 
  the story. 
  Introducing Cymbeline Hand
  This story works best if your troupe has a reason to want to 
  ﬁ nd Cymbeline. The characters might have heard of the Robe 
  descendant touches the Robe, Qherephis’ memories and 
  personality will assert themselves in this new body. At this 
  stage, aware and in complete control of her future self, 
  Qherephis will tear out her own eyes and heart with her 
  bare hands, replacing them with the Eyes of Salt and the 
  Heart Full of Flies. 
  If someone stops her from doing this, Qherephis will 
  have failed. After a few days, she’ll fade into the brain of 
  her descendant like a vague, inconsequential dream. Her 
  descendant will ﬁ nd herself with a greater share of power, 
  but will have the freedom to create her own destiny. If Cxaxa 
  Qherephis succeeds, the mind and soul of her descendant 
  will be consumed, erased irrevocably in the burst of power 
  that brings about the ancient mage’s rebirth. 
  Cymbeline Hand is Cxaxa Qherephis’ last female-line 
  descendant, and the reincarnation of the ancient archmage. 
  Like a puzzle box, the mystery opens itself inside Cymbeline’s 
  head, and at the moment she touches the Robe, the solution 
  will bring enlightenment — and annihilation. 
  Choices
  Everything that happens from now on depends upon the 
  intervention of the troupe. 
  Cymbeline is even now throwing herself headlong into 
  terrible peril, as she seeks the Heart Full of Flies in a Verge 
  known to some as the Body Orchard. If the cabal doesn’t get 
  there in time, or if the characters choose not to follow her 
  in there, Cymbeline’s journey ends, as, unable to escape, she 
  becomes part of a grove of ﬂ esh for eternity. 
  If the characters rescue Cymbeline, she shows them the Heart 
  Full of Flies and begs them to help her ﬁ nd the last piece of the 
  puzzle, a Robe, which once belonged to a Dethroned Queen. 
  Whether or not the cabal decides to help her or not, Cym-
  beline discovers that the Robe in a place called “Witchend.” 
  Witchend, it turns out, is an idyllic village, apparently the 
  perfect community, and under the control of a small group 
  of Seers of the Throne. The Seers hold the Robe, and the 
  Seers have been warned by their usual indirect means that 
  Cymbeline is coming and that she is terribly dangerous, 
  although they have no idea who or what she really is. 
  Although the Seers aren’t all that powerful, Cymbeline isn’t 
  a match for them on her own. If the cabal doesn’t help her, 
  she’ll be killed or, worse, brainwashed into becoming a faithful 
  servant of the Exarchs without ever seeing the Robe. 
  If the cabal agrees to follow Cymbeline to Witchend and 
  help her to ﬁ nd the Robe, new dilemmas open up for the 
  characters. The Seers, who are pleasant, personable and well-
  intentioned, attempt to convince the cabal that Cymbeline 
  is dangerous and must be stopped.  
  Things are no longer black or white. The people of Witch-
  end are happy. The Seers are reluctant to resort to violence. 
  Cymbeline is clearly obsessed, without knowing exactly what 
  the result of her quest will be. 
  The single most signiﬁ cant choice the cabal has to make is 
  whether to see Cymbeline’s dream through to its completion. 
  
  42
  (and its mention may well be enough to get them interested 
  further), but they won’t know that it’s involved straight away. 
  Why should they care about Cymbeline? 
  You might want to try to introduce Cymbeline as a member 
  of your supporting cast some time before this story begins. 
  The troupe should have cause to like her and to care for her. 
  Maybe she has an opportunity to help them out (perhaps she’s 
  even accompanied them as they’ve uncovered the legacy of 
  the Dethroned Queen).
  She didn’t Awaken all that long ago — maybe one of 
  the characters was present at her Awakening and took her 
  under his wing. Or maybe she’s a relative — a cousin or a 
  kid sister whom one of the characters promised to look out 
  for and look after. 
  Or perhaps she became romantically involved with one 
  of the cabal members. Unable to commit fully and unable 
  to understand why herself, Cymbeline could lead a would-
  be lover along a hard, painful road. Her tragedy would lead 
  to heartbreak, especially if her lover were one of those who 
  helped her ﬁ nd her destiny.  
  Alternatively, you could, of course, substitute a supporting 
  character whom the troupe already cares about, and have that 
  character play Cymbeline’s part in the drama that unfolds. 
  Cymbeline Hand
  Quote: Did you ever feel . . . when you were a kid . . . like you 
  were actually a princess or a ﬁ lm star’s kid or something, and you 
  were mixed up in the hospital when you were a baby, and, like, one 
  day, they’d realize, your real parents would catch on, and they’d 
  come and ﬁ nd you and take you away? No? No. No reason. 
  As a child, Cymbeline Hand was too pretty and too good 
  at sports to be unpopular. But she never really had any close 
  friends. She was always distant. Her teachers noticed it. So 
  did her parents. They’d come over from Ghana shortly before 
  she was born, and were desperate for their little girl to ﬁ t 
  in. The child psychologist said that her disconnection came 
  from feeling as if she was not part of any country, that this 
  was common among the children of immigrants and that she 
  was bright and resilient enough to grow out of it. 
  It was more than that. The psychologist’s interpretation 
  didn’t explain the dreams that Cymbeline had been having, 
  practically since she was born. She’d been told in her sleep 
  that she was destined for something, that she wasn’t who 
  she thought she was, that she was something more. At 18, 
  Cymbeline Awakened. It came as little surprise to her, as if 
  Awakening were the culmination of every moment of her 
  life up until then.  
  But her Awakening was no more than a step along a longer 
  road. There was someone else in the Watchtower with her. 
  Her, but not her. The dreams have become more vivid, more 
  frequent. A mirror that isn’t a mirror. The Eyes of Salt. A Heart 
  Full of Flies. A village. A Body Orchard. A woven mantle, 
  stitched with sigils. A sky heavy with storm clouds. 
  Cymbeline has become obsessed. She needs to follow this 
  through. She needs to ﬁ nd her way. She took to traveling. 
  The dreams govern where she goes. When Cymbeline settled 
  in a Consilium far from home, she did so for a reason. Cu-
  riosity — or some other urging — led her to discover that 
  the Provost’s collection of artifacts included the Eyes of 
  Salt — real, hard, cold and tangible. She found where they 
  were kept and broke in, three nights in a row, spending the 
  whole night staring at them. The fourth night, she took them 
  without even thinking, and ran away. 
  Description: Cymbeline is of average height, and clearly 
  exercises a lot. Her hair is braided in cornrows, accentuat-
  ing her chiseled features and dark, almond-shaped eyes. She 
  wears loose-ﬁ tting, practical clothes. 
  Cymbeline’s nimbus is like a white, cold wind, loaded with 
  ﬂ akes of snow, whirling around her limbs and face.  
  Storytelling Hints: Cymbeline is friendly, bright, sharp 
  and funny. At the same time, she ﬁ nds it hard to connect 
  with others, and, most of all, she’s driven by the dreams that 
  have been with her almost since she was born. She feels she 
  has no choice but to follow through her destiny, although it 
  terriﬁ es her. When on the track of her future, she will not 
  be stopped, unless by force. 
  Although she’s never seen the Heart Full of Flies or the 
  Robe, her heritage — as well as the now-nightly dreams 
  — means that she has an intimate sympathetic connection 
  to each of the Artifacts (see Mage: The Awakening, p. 114). 
  The dreams push her in the general direction, and the simple 
  Space 1 spell “Finder” takes her there. 
  Cymbeline doesn’t know this, but her dreams are actually 
  dependent on her questing for their source. The one feeds 
  the other. If she begins to ﬂ ag, or to lose hope, the dreams 
  
  43
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  — and Cxaxa Qherephis’ ancient inﬂ uence — begin to fade. 
  After a week or two of not trying to dream, Cymbeline ﬁ nds 
  that the dreams become increasingly rare. After a month, 
  Cymbeline no longer cares, and Cxaxa Qherephis’ hope of 
  resurrection is gone forever. Cymbeline loses her dots in the 
  Destiny Merit. She spends the rest of her life feeling as if 
  something’s missing, a vague sense of regret for something 
  she’s never had. 
  Dedicated Magical Tool: A 100-year-old necklace of 
  Ghanaian origin, a family heirloom
  Real Name: Cymbeline Hand
  Path: Mastigos
  Order: Silver Ladder
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Com-
  posure 2
  Mental Skills: Academics (Geography) 1, Investigation 
  2, Medicine 1
  Physical Skills: Athletics (Running) 3, Brawl 1, Drive 1, 
  Stealth 2, Survival (Sleeping Rough) 4
  Social Skills: Empathy 1, *Expression 2, *Persuasion 
  1, Streetwise 2, *Subterfuge 1
  Merits: Destiny (Bane: Apathy) 4, Direction Sense, 
  Fleet of Foot 1, High Speech, Language (Fante) 1, Striking 
  Looks 4
  Willpower: 5
  Wisdom: 7
  Virtue: Fortitude
  Vice: Envy
  Initiative: 5
  Defense: 3
  Speed: 11
  Health: 8
  Gnosis: 2
  Arcana: Mind 3, Space 2, Life 1
  Rotes: Mind — Aura Perception (•), Multi-Tasking (•••); 
  Space — Finder (•), Spatial Awareness (•)
  Mana/Per Turn: 11/2
  Armor: 2 (“Misdirection,” Mind ••)
  Cymbeline as a Player Character
  Another option, which might be fun if your troupe is 
  particularly good at roleplaying, is to allow one of your play-
  ers to play Cymbeline herself. If you try this, make sure you 
  get to talk it through privately with the player beforehand: 
  tell her that Cymbeline’s goal is to follow her dreams, and 
  describe what she’s going to do when she gets all three Arti-
  facts together. You don’t have to tell the player exactly what 
  could happen to Cymbeline after that, but you should let 
  the player know that if she succeeds in following up on her 
  vision, she’s not going to be playable any more. 
  Having Cymbeline as a member of the troupe really just 
  means that you have a deputy Storyteller. If you’re ambi-
  tious, you can play through Cymbeline’s dreams (or you 
  can just pass notes to Cymbeline’s player, telling her what 
  she’s dreaming about at the right time). You could also, as 
  an option, play out the theft of the Eyes of Salt and the 
  ﬁ nding of the Robe.   
  Finally, you could simply substitute one of the players’ 
  characters for Cymbeline. Again, the player has to be will-
  ing to take this on, and be able to play the part. And, of 
  course, if Cymbeline succeeds, that’s the end of Cymbeline, 
  meaning that the player will have to have a new character, 
  with a sizeable and probably well-deserved experience point 
  bonus at character generation.  
  Having one of the cabal go on the run and lead the other 
  members to what could be her own doom could be a powerful 
  and memorable roleplaying experience. 
  Scene One: 
  The Body Orchard
  In this scene, the characters set off to ﬁ nd Cymbeline Hand. 
  Tracking her to a magical place of horriﬁ c signiﬁ cance, they 
  must decide whether to follow her to the end of her road or 
  leave her to her fate.  
  Beginning In Medias Res
  If you’re so inclined, you may want to play through the 
  cabal’s efforts to track down Cymbeline, roleplaying through 
  the meeting when the Hierarch (or one of the Consilium 
  or Provosts) gives the characters their mission. The cabal 
  will have to work out where she is — possibly using any of 
  a variety of spell effects in conjunction with Space 2 to take 
  advantage of sympathetic connections drawn from their 
  relationships with her. Scrying only gets a mage so far — the 
  cabal members will still have to rely on their wits and brains 
  to ﬁ gure out where she is and where she’s heading from clues 
  in her surroundings. 
  An ingenious Storyteller with a talent for spinning 
  things out could even tie other stories into the cabal’s 
  search. As the characters go on the road, always one step 
  behind their missing friend, they could have any number 
  of adventures on the way (even, perhaps, playing through 
  the other stories in this book). If you play the story through 
  this way, this scene begins as the cabal is ﬁ nally about to 
  catch up with her. 
  Alternatively, it’s sometimes better to cut right to the 
  chase, throwing the troupe directly into the action with a 
  brief summary of the situation — the characters have fol-
  lowed Cymbeline this far, and they know she came this way 
  no more than half an hour ago. 
  They’re just inside the edge of a wood, walking in, following 
  clues either magical or mundane (for example, a sympathetic 
  spell, a Time effect, showing that she was here only a few 
  minutes ago, or even just a line of footprints). Suddenly, they 
  realize they’re being watched. 
  
  44
  Location, Location, Location
  The Body Orchard can be as far or as near to the 
  cabal’s hometown as seems appropriate — on the 
  other side of the world, or a few dozen miles away. 
  On the other hand, it’s best not to have the 
  Body Orchard too close. It needs to be at least 
  several hours’ drive away (if not a plane ﬂ ight), 
  so that the cabal has a chance to talk with 
  Cymbeline. The Body Orchard should also be 
  reasonably remote, so that there isn’t any urban 
  center around. You could put the Body Orchard, 
  for example, in the Scottish Highlands, or in a 
  forested area in Colorado or Washington state. 
  Remember that a piece of supernatural real 
  estate as strange as this one shouldn’t reason-
  ably exist without being noticed within the 
  radius of any healthy Consilium’s inﬂ uence. The 
  place should plausibly be an unknown quantity 
  to the cabal. 
   The Body Orchard
  The woodland is beautiful — it’s like spring. Wildﬂ owers 
  of a dozen different kinds carpet the woodland ﬂ oor, catching 
  the dappled sunlight in brief ﬂ ashes of color as it ﬁ lters down 
  through the trees. The air is fresh and fragrant. No birds are 
  visible, but there’s birdsong in the distance. A squirrel, sit-
  ting on the forest ﬂ oor, sees the cabal and, startled, suddenly 
  hurtles up into a tree, out of sight. 
  Within a few steps, the cabal has walked into the Verge. The 
  transition isn’t obvious to begin with, but soon, a vague feeling 
  of unease begins to take hold. The sound of birdsong has stopped, 
  and there is nothing at all to replace it. The blues, yellows and 
  whites of the wildﬂ owers are gradually replaced by ﬂ eshy pinks and 
  bloody reds. The ﬂ owers are still swaying, but there is no wind. 
  The leaves on the trees, a few minutes ago green and vibrant, 
  are now yellowed, and have a strange, thick, rounded look to 
  them. The bark on the trees looks smoother, like rough skin, the 
  furrows in the bark looking a little like open wounds. 
  The colors start looking wrong somehow, artiﬁ cial, like an 
  oversaturated photograph. The further into the woods the 
  cabal goes, the stranger things get. 
  Mage Sight reveals that the entire area is magical — the 
  trees, the ﬂ owers, the ground, the very air — and the Spirit 
  1 spell “Second Sight” gives away that the cabal has crossed 
  the Gauntlet without even realizing it. 
  Characters who make successful Wits + Composure rolls 
  (or other successful Perception rolls, such as Wits + Survival) 
  realize that they’re being watched. A mage who gets more 
  than one success notices one of the following things: 
  • In a knot in the trunk of one of the trees, an eye opens, 
  and watches the cabal. If the eye notices it’s being closed, it 
  closes. Another eye opens somewhere else. The eyes open 
  and close so quickly, it’s quite possible that the ﬁ rst couple 
  of times, a mage might doubt his senses.
  • High up, one of the fruit trees has fruit that look like 
  human hands. A mage who watches them long enough sees 
  them ﬂ exing and twitching. 
  • A crack in the bark of one of the trees is leaking sap 
  that looks and smells like blood and pus.
  • Some of the ﬂ owers have human mouths for blooms: red, 
  wet quivering lips surround white teeth and ﬂ ickering tongues. 
  The mouths look like they’re speaking. A mage who bends over 
  and listens very carefully will hear the ﬂ owers whispering in 
  tongues. Anyone who picks one of the ﬂ owers can do so easily, 
  but causes all of the mouth-ﬂ owers to erupt in a shrill, feminine 
  scream that ﬁ lls the wood, and nearly deafens everyone. Then 
  the ﬂ ower that the mage picked rots away in his hand into a 
  small mass of slimy decayed ﬂ esh, in a matter of seconds. 
  • The arrangement of trunks and branches in a small 
  copse of trees looks, from certain angles, like a collection of 
  headless, legless human torsos, male and female. Branches 
  sprout from joints that look like armpits and bend like human 
  arms, before branching off further and sprouting with bloody 
  leaves. Knots in trees look like nipples, knees, elbows and skin 
  blemishes. Some of the trees have grown together in ways 
  that look unnervingly human. A mage can see, out of the 
  corner of her eye, some of these torso-trees twitch, obscenely. 
  They never move when she’s looking right at them.  
  Don’t inundate the troupe with these things, and don’t 
  feel you have to use them all. Let them interact with each 
  other and let the players make Wits + Composure rolls when 
  they say they’re speciﬁ cally looking. 
  Spirit magic does affect the strange ﬂ eshy plants here 
  — technically, they’re made of ephemera, but aside from their 
  odd behavior, they’re completely harmless, and they behave 
  otherwise as plants behave, albeit plants made of ﬂ esh. 
  Summoning spirits doesn’t work here. There are spirits 
  here, but they’re rooted to the ground. A spell such as, for 
  example, the Spirit 2 spell “Lesser Spirit Summons” doesn’t 
  do anything other than make some of the ﬂ owers all turn 
  toward the mage casting the spell, or make a tree incline its 
  limb-like branches in the mage’s direction. 
  Spin the cabal’s journey through the wood as long as it 
  works to create in the characters a sense of unease and rising 
  disgust, but don’t spend so long that the players get frustrated 
  or, worse, bored. 
  The characters are here to ﬁ nd Cymbeline. All the time 
  they should be following traces left behind. Maybe they 
  ﬁ nd an earring, lying in a patch of (unsettlingly pliant) bare 
  earth. Or perhaps there’s a footprint. Don’t let them forget 
  why they’re here. 
  The Grove 
  At a dramatically appropriate moment, when the cabal 
  has seen enough of the outer circle of the Body Orchard, 
  the characters catch up with Cymbeline.
  
  45
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  The cabal hears another scream — an inhuman, ululating 
  cry of anguish unlike anything they have ever heard before 
  very near. 
  Within a few dozen yards, there’s a clearing, a vaguely 
  circular opening in the middle of a grove of trees. The grove 
  surpasses all of the freakish phenomena the cabal has seen in 
  the Orchard thus far, compounding the freakiness all in one 
  place of horror. The ground is covered with ﬂ eshy leaves that 
  look like freshly sliced slivers of skin. Mouth-ﬂ owers lick their 
  lips and frantically speak in tongues. Blades of grass look like 
  locks of human hair and swish back and forth. And the trees 
  are all composed of remolded human ﬂ esh: the torsos that 
  compose the tree trunks rise and fall, and make the sound of 
  tortured breathing between screams that come from mouths 
  with no faces. The place smells like a butcher’s shop. 
  Cymbeline stands at the far side of the clearing, facing 
  one of the trees. She’s got her back to the cabal, but she’s 
  doing something with one of the trees. In her hand is a Swiss 
  Army knife. If the cabal members make themselves known, 
  she turns, smiles and greets them excitedly. 
  “I’ve found it,” she says. “It’s here. It’s here!”
  If she turns (or if any of the cabal try to get into a position 
  to see what she’s doing), the cabal can see she’s holding a 
  Swiss Army knife, and digging into the ﬂ esh of a female torso 
  that’s part of the tree. She turns and keeps digging under the 
  torso’s left breast, apparently unaware of the thrashing of the 
  tree and the screaming, which gets worse and worse. 
  Cymbeline hasn’t slept for 36 hours. She looks terrible: 
  haggard, dead on her feet. Only the dreams and the visions 
  are keeping her going. Without turning from her grisly work, 
  she’ll try to explain to the cabal what she’s doing. Her hands 
  and forearms are covered with blood. 
  The cabal can interact with her, and she’ll answer questions 
  and try to explain what she’s doing, but she’s so exhausted 
  and preoccupied now, she’s unable to articulate her excite-
  ment. If the characters ask what’s here, she’ll tell them that 
  there’s “the Heart! Heart Full, Full of Flies!” She incoherent. 
  She babbles a few lines about “Eyes,” and about “dreams . . 
  . since I was a kid.”
  She doesn’t have time to answer more than a few questions, 
  however, because within about 15 or 20 seconds, she’s got 
  it. Triumphantly, she draws from the tree’s chest something 
  that’s covered in gore, but which can be recognized as an 
  exquisite, anatomically correct model of a human heart, made 
  of glass. There’s something moving inside it. 
  The screams die down, and stop. And then the trees attack. 
  The trauma of breaking through the Gauntlet sent the 
  ﬂ esh-trees of the Body Orchard into a kind of fugue. The 
  pain Cymbeline inﬂ icted as she ripped out the Heart Full 
  of Flies from a tree-trunk’s breast jerked the trees back to 
  activity. Their only instinct is to ﬁ nd new raw ﬂ esh, which 
  they can mold into more of their own. 
  The Flesh-Trees
  Quote: The sound of glossolalia, from mouths in places where 
  there shouldn’t be mouths
  Background: The ﬁ rst plant in the Body Orchard — a tree 
  — was crafted long ago by the will of something ancient, 
  nameless and awful. Over the millennia, a few unfortunate 
  humans stumbled into the Body Orchard and fell prey to the 
  Orchard’s ﬂ eshly foliage. The trees remade their victims, fus-
  ing and remolding muscle, offal and bone, transforming them 
  into the trees’ own likenesses. Thus the Orchard grew. 
  Description: Each of the ﬂ esh-trees is unique — some bear 
  human hands as fruit, or have mouths where genitals or armpits 
  should be. Some are covered with eyes, or have ﬁ ngers for leaves. 
  Most have trunks made of a human torso, or of two or three 
  fused together, side by side or one on top of the other. 
  
  46
  Storytelling Hints: The trees are all but mindless. Any at-
  tempt to communicate with them (using Spirit magic or Mind 
  magic) only brings the sound of someone speaking in tongues in 
  an urgent, anguished manner. The trees’ ability to inﬂ uence the 
  area is a reﬂ ex action more than anything, which they use when 
  their prey looks as if it’s getting away. The ﬂ esh-trees attempt to 
  grab their victims with their branches before impaling the victims 
  on bloody ﬁ ngers or biting them to death. This follows the same 
  rules for grappling as given in the World of Darkness Rulebook, 
  p. 157; the tree rolls Power + Finesse to make a grappling attack, 
  the same as the tree would with any other attack. 
  Rank: 2
  Attributes: Power 7, Finesse 2, Resistance 3
  Willpower: 4
  Essence: 10 (max 10)
  Initiative: 5
  Defense: 2 (The ﬂ esh-trees can’t actually dodge; 
  instead, they thrash their branches in an attempt to 
  deﬂ ect attacks.)
  Speed: 0 (They’re rooted to the spot.)
  Size: 12
  Corpus: 15
  Inﬂ uences: The Body Orchard 3. The ﬂ esh-trees can warp 
  the geography of the Verge, meaning that people running 
  away from the grove suddenly ﬁ nd themselves running right 
  back into it. One of the trees spends three Essence and rolls 
  Power + Finesse to do this. A mage can resist this effect, 
  and try to run faster than the ﬂ uid land by rolling Stamina 
  + Gnosis.
  Numen: Remolding (dice pool 9): The trees can remake 
  the bodies of unconscious or dead victims into more ﬂ esh-
  trees. The ﬂ esh-tree rolls Power + Finesse to do so and spends 
  two Essence. If the ﬂ esh-tree succeeds, a new ﬂ esh-tree grows 
  alongside (or into) the original tree. Victims who are un-
  conscious rather than dead can reﬂ exively resist 
  with a roll of Stamina + Gnosis. 
  Ban: The ﬂ esh-trees cannot force a 
  person who has left the grove three times 
  to return. On the third time, a potential 
  victim escapes the trees’ clutches; the 
  tree has to let him go. Likewise, 
  if anyone says six key words 
  in the language of the being 
  that created them, the being 
  have to let the potential 
  victim go. 
  Getting Out Alive
  Although deadly, the 
  ﬂ esh-trees are slow, and 
  they cannot reach into 
  a ﬁ ve-foot circle in the 
  center of the Orchard, 
  meaning that the ca-
  bal members could pull 
  Cymbeline back into the 
  middle of the clearing and make their stand 
  without being in too much danger. 
  Alternatively, they could run, and keep on running. Al-
  though the trees have the power to bring their victims right 
  back into the grove, the trees can only bring their victims 
  back twice. The third time, the ﬂ esh-trees have to let their 
  potential victims go. Persistent mages who keep on running 
  will get out alive. 
  Whatever the characters manage to do, they should get out 
  of this alive. If things look truly lethal — say, every one of 
  the mages has failed to get out and is in the clutches of 
  a tree, there’s the shameless deus ex machina option: the 
  personality of Cxaxa Qherephis suddenly, temporarily, 
  possesses Cymbeline. She screams a half-dozen words 
  in a language none of the cabal has heard before in 
  a tone of voice that the characters haven’t heard 
  her use before. 
  Immediately, the trees relent and put the mages down. 
  
  47
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  This will inevitably bring questions, but Cymbeline hon-
  estly doesn’t have a clue what she just said. “It was in one of 
  my dreams,” she says. “It seemed right to say it like that.”
  Taking Cymbeline by Force
  It might happen that the cabal decides that their charac-
  ters aren’t going to take any nonsense; instead, maybe the 
  characters just knock her over the head (or, if they’re more 
  subtle, use magic) and take her back against her will.  
  That isn’t immediately the end of the story. 
  If the cabal decides to sneak up on her as she’s pulling out the 
  Heart Full of Flies, step up the removal of the Heart — have 
  the ﬂ esh-trees attack just as the mages get to Cymbeline. Give 
  them plenty of opportunity to know that they’re being attacked 
  and let them (likely) win initiative. If things look bad (or even 
  if things don’t look all that bad), it might be a good idea to use 
  the option of Cymbeline’s fortuitous incantation to stop things 
  dead, and give the cabal something to think twice about. 
  Having said that, if the characters come up with a great 
  way of bringing Cymbeline back, let them. Cymbeline can 
  always escape when their guard is down, taking both Artifacts 
  (she seems to ﬁ nd them unnaturally easy to steal). She might 
  even leave them a note, saying she’s sorry and promising to 
  come back when she’s done. 
  Although using mind control spells isn’t strictly ethical, 
  some mages might consider this a good idea — if you stop 
  the dreams, you stop her going on the run, right? Wrong. 
  The Mind 4 spell “Telepathic Control” can’t force people to 
  do things against their nature — and these dreams are part 
  of Cymbeline’s nature. She has to follow them. The Mind 5 
  spells “Psychic Domination” and “Psychic Reprogramming” 
  should work, but may not truly have the power to reshape 
  Cymbeline’s soul. That is, the story can’t be ended just by 
  the casting of one fortuitous spell. 
   Doing Something About the Body Orchard
  Some troupes that enjoy researching mystical lore might 
  take a detour and take a little time researching the origin of 
  the Body Orchard. If the characters do, feel free to allow them 
  to ﬁ nd out a few things, although Cymbeline’s quest should 
  take precedence — if they spend too much time trying to ﬁ nd 
  out why this Verge is here before paying attention to the main 
  attraction, Cymbeline’s likely to take off on her own, driven 
  by her increasingly frequent and vivid dreams and visions. 
  There are vague hints about the Body Orchard in some ex-
  isting texts, which describe its dangers, but all mentions of it 
  describe as a place in the Shadow. There is no explanation in 
  the literature as to why the Body Orchard has become a Verge. 
  It could be that the Exarchs wanted it to happen. Through some 
  subtle cosmic inﬂ uence, they might have opened the way for 
  Cymbeline to bring the three fragments of Cxaxa Qherephis’ 
  soul together. Maybe it suits their contradictory esoteric schemes 
  for Qherephis to return as a scourge on the Awakened. 
  On the other hand, the Verge might be another part of 
  Cxaxa Qherephis’ plan. Maybe the Body Orchard was her 
  creation back in the day, and she left it behind as a colossal 
  magical time bomb, ready to cross into the Material Realm 
  when her descendant gained possession of the Eyes. 
  A third option is that it’s simply a coincidence. The Body 
  Orchard became a Verge because it just did, and that’s all 
  there is to it. It’s just a random occurrence that’s fated to 
  happen. Or maybe the Body Orchard’s appearance as a 
  Verge is an effect of some as-yet undiscovered law of magical 
  physics, and the proximity of two-thirds of a soul-in-stasis 
  as powerful and ancient as Cxaxa Qherephis’ causes the 
  Shadow region in which the Body Orchard lies to cross over, 
  becoming a Verge. 
  Either way, if the cabal is powerful enough (that is, pos-
  sessed of sufﬁ cient skill in Spirit magic to close the gap in the 
  Gauntlet, if not actually destroy the Orchard), the characters 
  may want to do something about it, or tell someone who can 
  do something about it. 
  The cabal members may realize that the place is too dan-
  gerous to leave as it is, but if they don’t, it doesn’t have to 
  be a disaster. The place could vanish back into the Shadow. 
  Or, the Body Orchard could prove to be a menace in a 
  future story. 
  Whither Hence
  However the characters escaped the ﬂ esh-trees — skill, 
  luck or deus ex machina — the cabal has been reunited with 
  Cymbeline, who, still clutching the Heart Full of Flies in 
  one bloodied hand, collapses with exhaustion. The cabal 
  is going to have to get her out of the Verge, and then ﬁ nd 
  somewhere to rest up for a while. 
  She’ll wake up in a few hours, and give the cabal a chance 
  to talk to her. What Cymbeline says should come out, bit 
  by bit, in conversation. She doesn’t make a speech. She’ll 
  mainly just re-iterate how she has to ﬁ nd “Witchend,” and 
  that it’s important that the characters let her go there. 
  If they ask her why she ran away, Cymbeline is happy to 
  explain about the dreams, now that they’ve been proven true 
  on two counts. She tells them how she feels on the edge of 
  something wonderful and terrible and scary, and she says she 
  has to follow it through. She has to ﬁ nish this. She doesn’t 
  feel as if she has any choice in the matter. She’s got to ﬁ nd 
  a place called Witchend, and she’s got to ﬁ nd a Robe, which 
  once belonged to a Dethroned Queen. 
  If the members of the troupe have played through any of 
  the other stories in this chronicle, their ears should prick up. 
  They might start asking more questions. 
  Cymbeline knows nothing about the Dethroned Queen 
  that the cabal doesn’t (assuming she knows anything at 
  all, which might be the case if she’s been with the cabal in 
  previous stories).
  She says that she had the Robe once before, in a dream, 
  but that the Robe was never hers. But it has meaning. It’s 
  important. It has weight. She needs to see it, she says, because 
  then she’ll know outside of dreams what her life has been 
  leading up to. She’ll know what her life was for. 
  
  48
  If the cabal members don’t offer outright to help 
  her (even if they’re just doing it because they want 
  the Robe), Cymbeline asks, appealing to whatever 
  relationship the cabal has with her. 
  The characters can do their duty and bring her 
  back, they refuse to help her and let her look for 
  the place alone or they can decide to help her. 
  If they take the hard-ass option, there’s still 
  opportunity for Cymbeline to get away (see 
  “Taking Cymbeline by Force”). 
  If they let her go, they’ll have to 
  accept the consequences of failure 
  if they come back empty-handed. 
  Depending on how understanding 
  the cabal’s leaders are, the characters could 
  end up getting punished or being sent right back 
  out there again and told not to come back unless they’ve 
  got her. 
  On the other hand, there are plenty of ways to get the 
  characters to Witchend independently of Cymbeline. 
  For example, while playing through one of the other stories 
  in this chronicle, the cabal could ﬁ nd a piece of evidence 
  directing the characters toward the current location of 
  the Robe of the Dethroned Queen, which is in Witchend. 
  They run into Cymbeline there, and events unfold as they 
  did before. 
  Or maybe one of the characters could receive a text mes-
  sage or a panicked voicemail from a temporarily escaped 
  Cymbeline, begging for help. 
  The Heart Full of Flies 
  and the Eyes of Salt
  Heart Full of Flies: Durability 4, Size 2, 
  Structure 6 
  Eyes of Salt: Durability 6, Size 1, Structure 7
  These peculiar Artifacts are clearly magical 
  — Mage Sight reveals as much — but beyond 
  that, they’re ciphers. It’s impossible to ﬁ gure out 
  what they actually do. The Prime 2 spell “Ana-
  lyze Enchanted Item” can only reveal that their 
  enchantment is incomplete: there are missing 
  components. If a mage casts the spell while 
  Cymbeline is holding either the Eyes of Salt or 
  the Heart Full of Flies, the spell will reveal that 
  Cymbeline herself is one of the missing compo-
  nents. 
  The Eyes of Salt are a pair of pockmarked and 
  chipped stones, made of what looks like some 
  kind of white igneous rock. Flecks of crystal in 
  the stones’ surface catch the light at certain 
  angles. The Eyes are not quite spherical — rather, 
  they’re about the size and shape of eyeballs.
  The Heart Full of 
  Flies is a perfect model 
  of a human heart, made 
  of what looks like thick 
  glass. Although the Heart Full 
  of Flies is dulled and scratched by 
  age, the ventricles and atria are clearly clouded 
  with what looks like a small swarm of ﬂ ies, still 
  moving. The blood vessels end about an inch 
  away from the heart proper. The valves are 
  closed and sealed with ancient glass. How the 
  ﬂ ies got in there — let alone how they survive 
  — is a mystery. 
  Both the Eyes and the Heart carry a bitterly 
  cold resonance, not just physically, but meta-
  phorically — the kind of cold that comes from 
  discovering something dead. Cymbeline doesn’t 
  feel this. To her, the resonance is exciting, 
  creating a ﬂ uttering in her stomach that wavers 
  between terror and mad love. She keeps the 
  Artifacts in a rucksack, wrapped in her clothes, 
  and won’t let anyone go near them. She instinc-
  tively knows if the Artifacts have been taken 
  away from her. 
  Scene Two: The Village
  Whether the characters have decided to accompany Cym-
  beline, follow her or even rescue her, at some point, it’s time 
  to go to Witchend. The question is, where is it? 
  Cymbeline knows vaguely where the Robe is (somewhere 
  in Witchend), but she can’t ﬁ nd it with magic. It’s hidden 
  from her. She has to ﬁ nd the Robe the old-fashioned way.  
  Witchend is easy enough to ﬁ nd. All it needs is a trip to a 
  library, and half an hour with access to a few atlases of Western 
  countries (the name should give a clue), or with Google. The 
  only community called Witchend is in Berkshire, England.
  Getting there could be difﬁ cult. Buying plane tickets to the 
  United Kingdom from, for example, the United States at short 
  notice requires Resources •••. Ingenious but broke mages who 
  are strapped for cash can come up with any number of ways 
  
  49
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  to get the money, all the way from busking (perhaps using the 
  Mind 2 spell “Emotional Urging” to give people the idea that 
  they want to put $50 or $100 bills in the hat rather than ones 
  or ﬁ ves) through to walking through customs and onto the 
  plane without anyone paying much heed (using the Mind 2 
  spell “Incognito Presence,” albeit with a penalty imposed by 
  paranoid security guards), hallucinations or outright theft. Still 
  more headaches may occur at London’s Heathrow Airport.
  Storytellers with troupes that would rather ignore the spe-
  ciﬁ cs of getting there and get into the action should skip the 
  logistics of travel. It may be simply be enough to explain that 
  cabals with few dots in Resources have little or no spending 
  cash while in the United Kingdom. Such cabals may have 
  to sleep in their rental van or camp on people’s farms — all 
  of which leave you ample opportunities to enrich the story 
  with local encounters of your own design.
  Witchend
  Witchend is a small village with a population of about 
  350 people between Reading and Newbury. The village is 
  in the middle of some beautiful, rolling English countryside. 
  At either end of the place, a sign reads: 
  The village is beautiful. It’s always summer in Witchend, 
  somehow, and the place has the soft-focus glamour of every 
  picture postcard view of Middle England. 
  The houses, behind beautifully trimmed privet hedges and 
  lawns with inch-perfect stripes, have white front doors and 
  leaded windows. The houses are not all the same, but they’re 
  all meticulously maintained. Five-bedroom family homes 
  with sweeping gables stand alongside Tudor cottages with 
  the original wooden shingles, separated by upright wooden 
  fences and geometrically arranged ﬂ ower beds. At the edge 
  of the town, elegantly clad elderly ladies kneel in the front 
  gardens of picture-book bungalows, pruning already perfect 
  rose bushes. Some of the houses have thatched roofs, none 
  of which look in need of renovation. 
  The roads have no potholes. The slabs in the pavements 
  are all in place. None have any cracks. Several houses have 
  classic Jaguars or MGs in their drives — those that don’t 
  have BMWs or Audis. 
  Doorbells all have the same chime. The curtains are ﬂ oral 
  and made by Laura Ashley. Inside the houses, the furnishings 
  are soft and tasteful. Most of the kitchens have Agas. Tea is 
  served in exquisite porcelain cups, poured out of china tea-
  pots. Most houses have large television sets, which are never 
  switched on. The works of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens 
  and Colin Dexter line every bookshelf nestling alongside the 
  Church of England’s Common Worship, a Book of Common 
  Prayer and at least two versions of the Bible. 
  Not one house in the village has a burglar alarm.
  The people are mostly mature — no one is under the age 
  of 30. The men wear tailored suits as they commute to good 
  jobs in London or Reading. At home, they dress in sensible 
  slacks and sweaters. Their wives (no one lives here out of 
  
  50
  wedlock) dress in pretty ﬂ oral dresses or sensible twinsets. 
  Their hair and makeup is sensibly done. A few retired couples 
  live in the bungalows. 
  Some people have dogs and cats — pedigree, of course 
  — but there’s no fouling anywhere on the streets. 
  Everybody’s white. They’re all polite and easy enough to talk 
  to. They’ve all got cut-glass Received Pronunciation English 
  accents. Although they’ll take note of differences, they will 
  never, ever comment, and they certainly won’t stare. It’s quite 
  likely that Cymbeline will be the only black face within 15 
  miles, but even so, the people of Witchend, although they 
  may have their prejudices, will treat her exactly the same as 
  any other stranger they meet: with detached politeness. 
  Songbirds and squirrels make their homes in the oak-lined 
  avenue that runs down the middle of the town into the vil-
  lage square. You can hear their cheerful singing as you head 
  down the middle of the road. They don’t seem to make any 
  mess on the road. The main road is spotlessly clean, as if 
  someone’s only just ﬁ nished cleaning it.
  The village green is big enough for a decent-sized cricket 
  match. On one side, the green is abutted by a prize-winning 
  ﬂ owerbed, a pictorial design commemorating the 500th 
  anniversary of Witchend’s founding. The other side of the 
  green is open to the village square. 
  In the middle of the square, which works as a roundabout, 
  there’s a small, slightly quaint clock tower, which tells exactly 
  the right time, despite being at least 150 years old. 
  Across the square, in the middle of a thatched terrace, 
  there is a country pub, its cheerful, brightly-painted sign 
  proclaiming it as “The Royal Arch” and a “Free House.” 
  Inside, the pub is a picture of congenial, Old World comfort. 
  Groups of mature and elderly men, smoking pipes, prop up 
  the bar or sit around tables. In one corner, a group of ladies 
  meet up for their sewing circle. 
  Next door to the pub is a village shop, selling basic groceries and 
  household sundries, run by a smiling, rosy-cheeked elderly lady. 
  There aren’t any children here, anywhere in the village. Anyone 
  who makes a Perception roll (Wits + Composure, Socialize or 
  even Streetwise) after about a day in the village notices this.  
  No one pays much attention to strangers who come in — it’s 
  simply not done — although, again, people are courteous 
  if approached, and reciprocate polite curiosity as to where 
  the visitors came from and as to what might bring them to 
  quiet little Witchend. 
  Perpendicular to the pub and the green is the village church, 
  St. Peter’s, Witchend. The church notice-board advertises a 
  village fête in two weeks’ time (with “Competition for the 
  Best Cakes, Preserves and a Vegetable Show”). The notice-
  board also advertises a Morning Praise Service at 10 A.M. on 
  Sunday, and Communion and Healing at 6.30 P.M. A third 
  poster carries a device that looks like a stylized dove, ﬂ ying 
  downwards, surrounded by ﬂ ames, and the slogan, “The Spirit 
  is Here!” A fourth advertises an Alpha Course. 
  There is no police station. There is no hotel or bed-and-
  breakfast. 
  The Cricket Match
  Unless the cabal makes a point of arriving at another time, 
  the ﬁ rst time the characters arrive in the village green, it’s 
  Saturday afternoon and there’s a cricket match going on. It’s 
  beautiful weather for it. As the cabal members stand by the 
  village green (having, perhaps, just arrived and gotten out 
  of the car), they hear a thwack, followed by a gentle ripple of 
  applause. A cricket ball rolls quickly off the edge of the village 
  green and stops at their feet. A big, dark-haired man in cricket 
  whites runs up from the pitch and says, “Hullo there. Excuse 
  me, but would you mind awfully if I got our ball back?” 
  This is Reverend Jones, the local vicar. He’s also one of 
  the Witchend Residents’ Committee, the pylon of Seers of 
  the Throne who control this village. 
  Superﬁ cially, he’ll be polite and friendly. Inside, he’ll be 
  terriﬁ ed. He recognizes Cymbeline (and if Cymbeline’s not 
  here, the same goes for the rest of the cabal) as the individual 
  his pylon was warned about in a recent prophecy. Although 
  he takes pains to come across as a nice chap (he even invites 
  the characters to church on Sunday), he tries to get out as 
  much as he can about who they are and why they’re here, 
  before they get suspicious. 
  He’ll also attempt to unobtrusively examine their reso-
  nances. Recognizing that they’re all Awakened will make him 
  even more uncomfortable (any of the cabal can make a Wits 
  + Empathy roll to spot that the vicar is afraid of something). 
  After a minute or two of chit-chat, he’ll smile and apologize 
  — he has to get back to the game. 
  Assuming the cabal doesn’t do anything rash such as attack 
  him or interrogate him in broad daylight, Jones goes back 
  to the game. And as soon as he can, he lets Mr. Evans and 
  Miss Ryden know that the person whom they’ve dreaded 
  for so long is here. 
  Now the ball is rolling, so to speak. What happens next 
  depends on who acts ﬁ rst and what they do. 
  All Under Control
  Witchend is completely under the control of the Exarchs. 
  Throughout the ﬁ ve centuries since the village was founded, 
  the Lords of the Aeon have owned every man, woman and 
  child in the village. Not that there are many children here. 
  Children are more difﬁ cult to control. They ask too many 
  questions, and can see things that adults often can’t. The 
  Witchend Residents’ Committee is as much under the Ex-
  archs’ control as anyone, although the committee members are 
  supposedly the vehicles of the Exarchs’ will in the village. 
  There is no school in Witchend. There are families with 
  children, but, for most of the year, their young ones are 
  boarding at private preparatory or grammar schools, and for 
  most of the school holidays, the children are either on family 
  holidays or sent away to camps or adventure holidays. At 
  any rate, because of Witchend’s lack of children, few families 
  move here, and the village is mostly inhabited by professional 
  couples with no children, or those whose children have grown 
  up and moved away or people who retired. 
  
  51
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  Everything is orderly in this place. There is no crime, and 
  there never has been, hence the lack of a police station. Ev-
  eryone seems to get on, and if neighborly discord crops up, the 
  Seers ﬁ nd out about it, and after a chat with Mr. Evans in his 
  ofﬁ ce in the town hall, everyone seems to get on just ﬁ ne. 
  If the cabal has possession of the Ring, or the characters 
  have learned the magical spell it taught them and are still 
  willing to cast it, they can quite easily see that the entire 
  community is under the control of the Exarchs: every man 
  and woman, every building, every single blade of grass, every 
  songbird and every family cat. The sublime will of the Exarchs 
  makes this place perfect in every way, an idyll where everyone 
  knows his or her place and everyone behaves. 
  The weird thing is that the three Seers who have inherited 
  the mantle of the Witchend Residential Committee don’t do all 
  that much about it. While the entire village bears metaphysical 
  marks of 500 years of Exarch control, there is very little magic 
  here, and the Seers aren’t half as powerful as they appear. The 
  fact is that most of the people here like the place like this. The 
  reason they’re so nice to everybody is because on the whole, 
  they’re nice people. Although the Seers have access to one 
  particularly potent means of thought control (see “The Clarity 
  Room” below), they’re mostly loath to use it. Although Mr. Evans 
  can use his “little chats” to modify behavior, he usually doesn’t 
  need to. Nine times out of 10, his little chats are just that. 
  Once upon a time, the Seers in Witchend may have taken 
  control of this place because they wanted a quiet crucible for 
  growing Sleeper agents, but now, the Witchend Residents’ 
  Committee does what it does because the committee members 
  honestly believe that it’s best for their village. They see what 
  they do as service to the community, and although they may 
  have some friendly disagreements about how best they are 
  to do it, they’re of one mind that it’s best for Witchend if 
  things there remain exactly the same, which is why, when 
  the Exarchs warned them of the coming of a young mage 
  with a terrible destiny, they became so very scared. 
  A Roof Over Your Head
  If the cabal wants to stay here for more than a day, the char-
  acters will have to ﬁ nd somewhere to sleep. They could, if one 
  of them thought to bring the tent, camp out, but since the only 
  piece of common ground in the vicinity is the village green, they 
  will draw a great deal of attention. Likewise, if they sleep in the 
  car (assuming that they’ll ﬁ t), they’ll ﬁ nd that they can’t avoid 
  awkward questions from highly curious locals, and very soon 
  from the cabal of Seers of the Throne who run the town. 
  The characters might have the idea of forcing their way 
  into some of the houses in the town. Some of the people in 
  the village are not currently staying at home — presumably, 
  they’re away on holiday. An Awakened burglar can break in 
  and hide from prying eyes (using Matter magic or Forces magic 
  to break in and manipulate locks and bolts, and Mind magic 
  to look ordinary, for example), or manipulate an unwitting 
  Sleeper couple into letting them stay. 
  The eyes of the Exarchs are here, and if the characters 
  have met Rev. Jones on the village green, the Seers know the 
  characters are here. If they’ve gained possession of the Robe 
  of the Dethroned Queen, or know how to cast the spell it 
  contains, they can stop the Seers from scrying their activities, 
  but the spell won’t stop the Seers ﬁ nding other, less magical 
  ways of ﬁ nding out where the characters are. 
  Witchend Characters
  Common People
  Quote: “Oh! Good morning. Yes, ﬁ ne day, isn’t it?” (pause) 
  “I haven’t seen you around here before. Are you visiting?”
  Background: Mr. Kelly is a professional in his late 30s or 
  early 40s. He commutes to Reading or London every day, 
  and apart from church, spends his weekend kicking back 
  and relaxing. He loves his wife and teenage son (Christian’s 
  boarding in Reading). He accepts that paying his son’s school 
  fees and keeping his wife and home mean that he doesn’t 
  see his family much. He tries not to think about it all that 
  much, and so remains content. 
  Mrs. Kelly is a housewife. She spends her days cleaning 
  their sizeable house, reading, doing cross-stitch or baking 
  cakes for the Women’s Institute. She keeps busy. 
  Mr. and Mrs. Vickers are retired. Their children have grown 
  up and moved away, meaning that the Vickers were able to move 
  to this charming little community and spend their twilight years 
  in comfort. They like it here. They received a warm welcome 
  from the neighbors. They think the Residents’ Committee 
  does a sterling job of keeping this place so beautiful. 
  Description: The residents of Witchend are invariably 
  clean, smart, healthy and well-heeled. Older people are 
  spry and cheerful, professionals are businesslike and try to 
  project a can-do image and housewives are attractively but 
  never provocatively dressed. They’ve all got healthy skin. 
  No one is overweight. 
  Storytelling Hints: Although polite, friendly and cheerful, 
  the people of Witchend don’t communicate a great deal with 
  each other, let alone outsiders. The residents are happy that 
  way. They don’t have much to say, and conversation with 
  people who don’t care, for example, about the ﬂ oral arrange-
  ments outside the village hall or the up-coming village fête 
  dries up pretty quickly. 
  Most go to the church on Sunday, but leave God inside 
  the chapel for the rest of the week. 
  Abilities: 
  Awareness (dice pool 4): The residents genuinely care 
  about the village, and do tend to spot if things go wrong. 
  They will notice weirdly dressed strangers acting oddly and 
  give one of the Witchend Residents’ Committee a call as 
  soon as they can if they get suspicious.  
  The Witchend Residents’ Committee
  The three Seers of the Throne who currently comprise 
  the Witchend Residents’ Committee are left over after the 
  old-age death of Mr. Smith, their guiding light, a couple of 
  
  52
  years ago. Smith was a powerful magician who very rarely 
  used magic, and, of his three remaining pupils, two very 
  much follow that example. 
  All of the members of the Witchend Residents’ Com-
  mittee (the WRC) were born here. All moved away for the 
  sake of education or career, and all came back after their 
  Awakening — or, more accurately, were brought back by 
  the late Mr. Smith. 
  There’s a framed photograph of Mr. Smith in the village 
  hall. The photograph shows a balding, gray-haired man with 
  a round, genial face, a kind smile and a twinkle in his eye. 
  There isn’t a single soul in the village who knew Mr. Smith 
  who doesn’t remember him with a great deal of fondness. 
  No one has a bad word to say about the man. Mr. Evans, Mr. 
  Smith’s heir apparent, is shaping up to be the same sort of 
  ﬁ gure, but Mr. Evans has got a long way to go before he’s got 
  even a fraction of the stature that dear Mr. Smith had. 
  The WRC members are all committed churchgoers, and 
  although all are communicant members of the Church of 
  England, they have, just as their predecessors have for 500 
  years, a slightly idiosyncratic theological viewpoint. The 
  committee members believe that the Exarchs, (to whom 
  the committee members sometimes refer as the Lords of 
  the Aeon) are the benevolent agents of the Most High. 
  It is the Exarchs’ will, the committee members maintain, 
  that humankind remains happy and free to live under the 
  Exarchs’ benevolent rule, ordained by God. The Exarchs 
  are the Children of God, the WRC members believe. The 
  Exarchs came to Earth as the prophets who foretold the 
  coming of Christ. Jesus Christ was not an Exarch, but he 
  died and rose again so that humankind could be reconciled 
  to God through His love, and not through magic, which is 
  the Exarchs’ purpose. Jesus, in their scheme, bought with His 
  death redemption from sin, but “sin,” as the WRC members 
  see it, is the sin of blasphemy, and blasphemy to them is the 
  use of magic to further the purposes of God’s enemies (and 
  the Exarchs’ enemies). 
  The committee members see magic as practiced by the orders 
  of the Pentacle as an evil thing. Rather ironically, the com-
  mittee members see the Atlantean orders’ goal as a road to a 
  demonic magical tyranny. They have a horror of an age when 
  ordinary men and women exist as slaves to magicians, who 
  defy the laws of the Aeon (as ordained by God and executed 
  and administered by the Exarchs).If anyone ever puts it to 
  Mr. Evans, Miss Ryden or Reverend Jones that this is exactly 
  what they’ve created in Witchend, they’ll simply fail to see 
  how it could be the same, and give 20 very good reasons why 
  Witchend is different and morally vastly superior. 
  Most of all, the committee members want people to be 
  happy. And most of the people here are. The committee 
  members want people to freely choose to be happy and live 
  under their guidance. And most of the people here do.  
  Reverend Jones is the vicar of the charismatic Anglican 
  church in the town, and through the services in this church on 
  a Sunday, the Exarchs communicate their will to the Seers. 
  Mr. Evans 
  Quote: No hurry, obviously, but I really do feel that perhaps we 
  can get together for a little chat. Maybe we can sort things out.
  Background: Born in Witchend, but packed off to boarding 
  school practically as soon as he could walk, Martin Evans 
  Awakened at age 16. Religious, upright and decent, Evans 
  found his powers shameful and dirty — tied up with guilty 
  adolescent fantasies and illicit boyhood sins. He avoided 
  using his powers as much as possible. 
  During his time reading Classics at Trinity College, Cam-
  bridge, that Evans accidentally caught the attention of Philby 
  and Burgess, two Seers of the Throne whose roles as lecturers 
  in the university enabled them to pick out the brightest and 
  best of Britain’s Awakened. Philby initiated Evans into his 
  pylon, and explained to him about the Exarchs. Evans found 
  the mythology of the Exarchs easy to synthesize with his own 
  Manichaean brand of Christianity, and was able to exorcize 
  the last remnants of guilt over his magical powers. 
  Beginning what looked like it was going to be a highly suc-
  cessful career in local government, it was a surprise to many 
  of his colleagues when he took a job as an ofﬁ ce administrator 
  in the council chambers of the little village where he grew 
  up, having been called by one Mr. Smith. 
  When Mr. Smith died, Evans succeeded him as the leader 
  of the cabal of Seers who make their home in Witchend. 
  Mr. Smith had been entrusted by the Exarchs with the keeping 
  of the Robe of the Dethroned Queen, and he passed that duty to 
  Mr. Evans. The Robe has been here since the village was founded, 
  and in that time, no one’s come for it. Through the centuries, 
  the keepers have become complacent, safe in the knowledge 
  that there is no reason why anyone would look for anything in 
  Witchend. Recently, Mr. Evans has begun to dream about the 
  Robe. He is convinced it’s going to be the downfall of everything 
  that he holds dear. He hates the Robe, but what can he do? How 
  exactly does one throw out a millennia-old artifact?  
  
  53
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  Description: Mr. Evans is sturdily built without being 
  fat, and is slightly short. Although his short, sandy hair is 
  graying at the temples, Evans’ round, friendly, unlined face 
  gives him the look of a much younger man (he’s actually in 
  his 40s). He often smiles and freely makes jokes, but never 
  at anyone’s expense. He wears glasses, and usually dresses in 
  a blazer and slacks over a polo-necked sweater. His voice is a 
  soothing tenor. He has a ﬁ ne singing voice (and in fact sings 
  in a choir in Reading on Monday evenings). 
  Mr. Evans’ nimbus appears as a little cloud of twinkling 
  stars around him, like the magical dust of a wizard from a 
  children’s storybook.  
  Storytelling Hints: Although Witchend has been ﬁ rmly 
  under the control of the Exarchs for centuries, Evans continu-
  ally feels as if things are slipping away from him. He wants the 
  best for the people here, and he’s convinced that the will of 
  the Exarchs is for the best, but he’s scared that the people will 
  see him as a fraud. He’s desperate to be liked, even by those 
  people he’d count as enemies. In the end, Mr. Evans wants 
  a quiet life and always tries for the easiest possible solution, 
  with the smallest possible amount of conﬂ ict. 
  He’s extremely learned (he knows a large number of rotes) 
  but he’s not nearly as powerful as he could be, and he knows 
  this. Mr. Evans is not a violent man. The Exarchs’ message 
  intimated that the Coming Enemy must die, but Evans is 
  convinced that there has to be another way to save the 
  village, and would rather be defeated than compromise his 
  principles on this. 
  Dedicated Casting Tool: A laminated card that he keeps in his 
  wallet, on which is written, in High Speech, the text of Matthew 
  18: 10: “See that you do not look down on these little ones. For I tell 
  you their angels always see the face of My Father in Heaven.” 
  Real Name: Martin Evans
  Path: Obrimos
  Order: Seers of the Throne
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Com-
  posure 4
  Mental Skills: Academics 4, Crafts (Cooking) 1, *In-
  vestigation 3, Medicine 2, *Occult 3, Politics (Local 
  Government) 4
  Physical Skills: Brawl 1, Drive 2, Survival (Walking) 3
  Social Skills: Empathy 3, Expression 3, Intimidation 3, 
  *Persuasion (Bringing About Reconciliation) 4, Socialize 
  1, Subterfuge (Half-Truths) 1
  Merits: Contacts (County Government) 3, Destiny (Bane: 
  The Robe) 2, High Speech, Iron Stamina 2, Library (Shared 
  with WRC Pylon) 4, Resources 4, Status (Seers of the 
  Throne) 2, Sanctum (Shared with WRC Pylon) 4
  Willpower: 7
  Wisdom: 8
  Virtue: Charity
  Vice: Sloth
  Initiative: 6
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 9
  Health: 8
  Gnosis: 3
  Arcana: Forces 4, Mind 3, Prime 3
  Rotes: Forces — Control Light (••), Transmission (••), Call 
  Lightning (•••), Light Mastery (•••), Turn Projectile (•••); Mind 
  — Third Eye (•), Emotional Urging (••), Sleep of the Just 
  (•••), Universal Language (•••); Prime — Dispel Magic (•), 
  Counterspell Prime (••), Magic Shield (••), Armor of the 
  Soul (•••); Conjunctional — (Forces •, Mind ••) Directory 
  Enquiry (see below)
  Mana/Per Turn: 12/3
  Armor: 4 (“Unseen Shield,” Forces ••)
  Magic Shield: 3 (“Magic Shield,” Prime ••) or 6 (“Magic 
  Shield,” Prime •• + “Armor of the Soul,” Prime •••)
  Directory Enquiry
  (Forces •, Mind ••)
  Sometimes it’s useful to know someone’s 
  telephone number. A mage using this spell can 
  reach his senses into a mobile phone or into the 
  land line of a building (he only needs to be able 
  to see the phone line leading into the building) 
  and divine its number.
  Practice: Knowing
  Action: Instant 
  Duration: Lasting
  Aspect: Covert
  Cost: None
  A mage who has cast this spell can use the 
  Forces 2 spell “Transmission” to call the number 
  he’s just divined without having to pick up a 
  phone himself. 
  Seers of the Throne Rote: Directory Enquiry
  Dice Pool: Wits + Science + Mind
   Telephones are as much a means of control 
  as they are a means of communication. The 
  Seers know that. As long as you have a tele-
  phone, you’re never out of reach, no matter how 
  secure the line. 
  Miss Ryden 
  Quote: Honestly, I don’t want to appear rude, but you and 
  I both know that it would be better for all concerned if you were 
  to just leave the village.
  
  54
  Background: Elizabeth Ryden spent many years working 
  for various charities, even spending some time as a younger 
  woman working as a missionary in Kerala. Coming back to 
  Britain aged 32, she experienced something of a crisis as she 
  began to realize that she was being, as some of her Christian 
  contemporaries had it, “called to singleness.”  
  Beginning to despair of ever ﬁ nding herself a life partner, 
  Elizabeth had something of a nervous breakdown, and was 
  while in a psychiatric hospital in Reading she Awakened. 
  An agent of the Exarchs in the hospital brought her to the 
  attention of Mr. Smith in Witchend, and she’s been working 
  for the Lords of the Aeon ever since. 
  She’s the current chair of the Women’s Institute, and orga-
  nizes fêtes, sewing circles and jumble sales. All this work keeps 
  her busy, and it almost lets her forget how unhappy she is. 
  Description: Miss Ryden in 46 years old. She’s thin. She wears 
  sensible, matronly clothes, ﬂ at shoes and minimal makeup. Her 
  dark hair, which has no hint of gray, is cut in a severe chin-length 
  bob. She looks like she was once very pretty indeed, but her face 
  is now heavily lined, and she hardly ever lightens her expression 
  with any save the tightest and briefest of smiles. 
  Her nimbus appears as a wake of knife-like light that darts 
  to and fro across her body. 
  Storytelling Hints: Miss Ryden speaks in precise, grammati-
  cally correct sentences. She is direct, and, unlike her colleagues, 
  will openly tell the cabal members to leave if it comes to a meet-
  ing, resorting to empty but (hopefully) convincing threats. 
  She is the only one of the Seers of Witchend who is pre-
  pared to compromise her principles and resort to violence. 
  She’s the current chair of the local Women’s Institute, and 
  may use this group of 25 ladies as a weapon, trying to use 
  magic to inﬂ uence them against the cabal. (Maybe, if things 
  get bad enough, impelling them to direct violence — one 
  50-year-old housewife wielding a kitchen knife may not cause 
  a cabal to pause, but 25 could be terribly dangerous.) 
  Elizabeth hates it here. She hasn’t even admitted it to 
  herself, but deep inside, she identiﬁ es Witchend and the Resi-
  dents’ Committee of which she’s a part as a symbol of all the 
  hopes and ideals she had as a girl that came to nothing. 
  If Cxaxa Qherephis’ return comes to fruition, Miss Ryden might 
  ﬁ ght — but she might just as easily snap, falling down and wor-
  shipping the destruction of everything that holds her down. 
  Dedicated Casting Tool: A gold watch she wears on her 
  left wrist 
  Real Name: Elizabeth Ryden
  Path: Mastigos
  Order: Seers of the Throne
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Com-
  posure 3
  Mental Skills: Academics (Psychology, Religion) 3, 
  Computer 3, *Investigation 4, Medicine 1, *Occult 1, 
  Politics 3
  Physical Skills: Drive 1, Larceny 2, Stealth 2
  Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression 2, Intimidation 3, 
  *Persuasion 2, Subterfuge 2
  Merits: Allies (Women’s Institute) 3, High Speech, Library 
  (Shared with WRC Pylon) 4, Occultation 1, Resources 3, 
  Status (Seers of the Throne) 1, Sanctum (Shared with 
  WRC Pylon) 4
  Willpower: 6
  Wisdom: 6 (Paranoia)
  Virtue: Faith
  Vice: Wrath
  Initiative: 5
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 9
  Health: 7
  Gnosis: 2
  Arcana: Mind 3, Prime 2, Space 2
  Rotes: Mind — Aura Perception (•), Third Eye (•), First 
  Impressions (••), Imposter (•••); Prime — Dispel Magic 
  (•), Supernal Vision (•); Space — Finder (•), Conceal 
  Sympathy (••)
  Mana/Per Turn: 11/2
  Armor: 3 (“Misdirection,” Mind ••)
  Magic Shield: 2 (“Counterspell Prime,” Prime ••)
  Reverend Jones 
  Quote: Now come on, old chap. That really isn’t fair. That 
  isn’t cricket.
  Background: An accomplished batsman and a ﬁ ne rugby 
  player, Tristan Jones could have become a professional in 
  
  55
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  either sport, but instead passed them up for another love 
  — the Church. Tristan’s Awakening was a descent into a 
  world of the dead. He Awakened during a church meeting, 
  and to him, Awakening was like a vision of Christ’s descent 
  to Hell and His triumphant Resurrection. Having been ac-
  cepted as an ordinand in Wycliffe College, Reverend Jones 
  was found by a member of the Silver Ladder, who tried to 
  get Jones to join. Horriﬁ ed by the mage’s pagan beliefs, 
  Jones turned the man away. Jones was recruited by a group 
  of Seers with an ecclesiastical bent not long after his ordi-
  nation, and by their machinations was given the parish at 
  St. Peter’s, Witchend.  
  Of the three Seers, Tristan Jones is the only one who is 
  married. His wife, Elaine, doesn’t know anything about the 
  magic. He loves her more dearly than anything else, even 
  his faith. For him, his lovely wife symbolizes everything good 
  about what he does, everything worthwhile. 
  Description: Reverend Jones is a big, dark-haired man of 31, 
  built like the prop-forward he is during the village rugger season. 
  Unlike many prop-forwards, however, Tristan doesn’t have a 
  face like a boxer, instead keeping the same, angular, clean-cut 
  proﬁ le he’s always had, with a square jaw, an aquiline nose and 
  bright blue eyes under a brow that could easily be referred to as 
  “noble.” His dark hair is beginning to thin slightly. He doesn’t 
  wear his dog collar outside of church services. In the summer, he 
  can be seen more often in cricket whites. He’s friendly and open 
  and doesn’t push his faith on others outside church, although 
  he believes that Heaven and Hell are very real. 
  His nimbus appears as a halo of cold ﬁ re around his features, 
  like Moses after having seen the face of God. 
  Storytelling Hints: Tristan Jones’ magic has always had 
  a religious, miraculous feel to it, and to him it’s always been 
  part of his faith, a spiritual gift of God. His God is loving 
  and benevolent, and Jones’ passion is for the people of the 
  village to live at peace with one another. 
  Aside from his faith and wife, Jones’ other love is sport. 
  He often speaks using sporting analogies, and appeals to a 
  sense of fair play if things aren’t going his way, or if someone 
  is “cheating.” To Reverend Jones, using magic is cheating. 
  If anything happened to Elaine, Reverend Jones might 
  snap and forget his principles, but even so, he could never 
  bring himself to kill another child of God, even a sinner 
  who uses magic. 
  Dedicated Casting Tool: A medal of St. Christopher that 
  he keeps in his pocket, attached to a key ring 
  Real Name: Tristan Jones
  Path: Moros
  Order: Seers of the Throne
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3
  Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 2, Com-
  posure 3
  Mental Skills: Academics (Religion) 2, Medicine (First Aid) 
  1, *Occult 1, Politics (Church of England) 1, Science 1
  Physical Skills: Athletics (Rugby, Cricket) 3, Crafts 1, 
  Drive 2, Stealth 1, Survival 1
  Social Skills: Animal Ken (Dogs) 3, Empathy 2, Ex-
  pression (Preaching) 2, Intimidation 1, *Persuasion 2, 
  Socialize 2
  Merits: Allies (Local Sports Teams) 3, Ambidextrous, Fast 
  Reﬂ exes 2, Fresh Start, High Speech, Library (Shared with 
  WRC Pylon) 4, Resources 3, Status (Seers of the Throne) 
  1, Sanctum (Shared with WRC Pylon) 4, Strong Back 
  Willpower: 6
  Wisdom: 8
  Virtue: Temperance
  Vice: Pride
  Initiative: 8
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 11
  Health: 8
  Gnosis: 1
  Arcana: Death 1, Life 2, Matter 2, Prime 1 
  Rotes: Death — Forensic Gaze (•); Life — Healer’s Trance 
  (•), Purify Bodies (••); Matter — Craftsman’s Eye (•), Unseen 
  Aegis (••); Prime — Supernal Vision (•)
  Mana/Per Turn: 10/1
  Armor: 2 (“Unseen Aegis,” Matter 2)
  The Seers’ Defense
  The Seers, who form the Witchend Residents’ Committee, 
  were warned by what they believe to be a cryptic message 
  from their masters, gleaned from prophesies given in tongues 
  at St. Peter’s. 
  The Seers know that the Coming Enemy whom they have 
  to stop is female and Awakened. They know that “her roots 
  
  56
  are far away,” which is actually a reference to the fact that 
  she’s of an ancient bloodline, but which they interpret as 
  a reference to her ethnic origin. They know that she will 
  come for something they have, which they must not allow to 
  be give her, and while no message has ever said what that 
  something is, Mr. Evans has made an informed guess that 
  the object in question is the Robe — what else would an 
  enemy of the Lords of the Aeon want? 
  The Robe lies in the hidden museum. Some time ago, Mr. 
  Evans placed the Robe in a case imbued with a persistent 
  version of the Space 2 spell “Ward,” which is why Cymbeline 
  can’t ﬁ nd the Robe simply by using her sympathetic con-
  nection to it. If it weren’t for the dreams, she’d have never 
  have found it at all. Plus, it’s possible that some aspect of 
  the Robe’s power is hiding it from her.
  As soon as the cricket match ﬁ nishes (and not before 
  — Jones is quite fastidious on this point, which inadvertently 
  gives the cabal time to investigate), Reverend Jones will call 
  Mr. Evans and Miss Ryden. Within another half an hour, the 
  three of them meet up in the council chambers and discuss 
  what they have to do. Three hours after Mr. Jones ﬁ rst notices 
  the cabal in Witchend, the Seers are ready to act. 
  Miss Ryden — regretfully — thinks that the Coming Enemy 
  has to die. Mr. Evans and Reverend Jones are horriﬁ ed by 
  this idea. They’re convinced that the mages can reasoned 
  with, and feel that they have to try this ﬁ rst. 
  Avoidance tactics are the ﬁ rst thing the Seers try. Mr. Evans 
  disapproves of controlling or inﬂ uencing minds using magic, 
  but these are desperate measures, and he allows Miss Ryden 
  to cast the spell “Emotional Urging” on a whole succession 
  of villagers. The effect is that wherever the cabal members 
  go, friendly and curious villagers begin to come up to them 
  and talk, despite having very little to say. 
  The villagers all — politely — ask the same questions. 
  “Who are you?” “So, what brings you to Witchend?” People 
  invite the characters in for tea. People in the pub buy them 
  drinks (enough to get them all drunk) and try clumsily to 
  engage the members of the cabal in conversation. Mr. Evans 
  and Miss Ryden take every opportunity to read the minds 
  of the people who have spoken to the cabal, trying to glean 
  everything they can, and trying to ﬁ nd if the cabal has given 
  anything away. 
  Other people will try to get the cabal members to come 
  to church on Sunday morning, again in a friendly, open 
  kind of way: “Well, we’re off to church right now. Why 
  don’t you join us?” It might well be that the cabal members 
  are interested enough to go on their own. While they’re 
  there, Mr. Evans and Miss Ryden will try to read some of 
  the characters’ minds. 
  The Seers will try to deﬂ ect the cabal from the hidden 
  museum where the Robe is hidden for as long as they pos-
  sibly can without revealing themselves. However, the Seers, 
  although not stupid, are unimaginative. They expect the cabal 
  to play by their rules. Reverend Jones may be worried, but not 
  worried enough to abandon his cricket match. They won’t 
  miss church on Sunday morning. The community means 
  too much to them for that. The community may be under 
  the control of the Exarchs (see below), but the Witchend 
  Residents’ Committee members are only the inheritors of 
  that control. They don’t do much to uphold it. Most of their 
  control is because the people in the village freely want to be 
  there and freely want to tow the line. 
  The Seers could control the people of the village more directly, 
  and could use them as a powerful weapon against the cabal, 
  but the Seers don’t want to. Mr. Evans believes that forcing 
  the people to do something against their will, even for the 
  greater good, would violate everything he stands for. Miss Ryden 
  might ignore him if things start looking grim and could use the 
  people to attack the cabal, but Mr. Evans and Reverend Jones 
  will not put the people into danger under any circumstances. 
  These two are willing to die for the people they supposedly 
  control. Mr. Evans and Reverend Jones see themselves as the 
  villagers’ protectors, and won’t abuse that trust. 
  Mr. Evans’ scruples about mind control don’t extend to 
  the Awakened. He believes that by their very nature they’re 
  the potential enslavers of humanity, and won’t hesitate to try 
  to get the characters into the Clarity Room (see below). He 
  knows its effect won’t be permanent on them, but he hopes 
  that it’ll have enough of an effect to either make them leave 
  town or feel better disposed toward him so that he can have 
  an opening to talk them into leaving town. If he gets his 
  hands on Cymbeline, he’ll try and use the Clarity Room on 
  her again and again. He won’t realize it, but this is actually 
  the most effective way to stop her short of killing her. As 
  time goes on, she’ll forget her quest, and the danger will fade. 
  After enough time in the village, Cymbeline could end up as 
  another one of the Seers, brainwashed by mundane means 
  into happily doing whatever the Exarchs want.  
  Mr. Evans might try to get the cabal into the Clarity Room 
  by calling one of them on their mobile phone (he’s got a rote 
  to ﬁ nd out telephone numbers) and inviting the group for 
  a “little chat.” Then he’ll lead them into the Clarity Room 
  and try desperately to bring them round. 
  If this doesn’t work, the Seers’ efforts become more open 
  and more futile. Miss Ryden is the only one of the Seers 
  who can bring herself to direct violence, and even then, 
  she can’t take the cabal on her own in combat, whether 
  magical or not. 
  In the end, the biggest factor on the side of the Seers is 
  that the whole village appears to be under their control, and 
  this gives them the appearance of looking a whole lot more 
  powerful than they are. Random calls and text messages, a 
  succession of people all asking exactly the same question, 
  one after the other, and a church service with more than 
  100 people all speaking in tongues can be quite creepy and 
  intimidating, if presented right.
  If worst comes to worst, the Seers will confront the cabal 
  directly and attempt to tell how dangerous Cymbeline is and 
  how terrible the consequences will be if she doesn’t leave 
  and give up on her quest. 
  
  57
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  Cymbeline’s Quest
  Cymbeline is desperate enough now that everything she 
  does is directed toward ﬁ nding the Robe. It may be all the 
  cabal can do to stop her from openly asking people in the 
  village if they’ve seen the Artifact. 
  Her ﬁ rst thought will be to investigate the church, and if 
  the cabal members don’t accompany her or talk her out of 
  going there, she’ll go there on her own. 
  If Cymbeline goes anywhere on her own, the Seers get 
  her. They tie her up, lock her in the church cellar and keep 
  her drugged (with prescription painkillers). Then, the fol-
  lowing day, they take her to the Clarity Room (see below) 
  and talk her out of her mission. And they do that every day, 
  combining it with sleep deprivation, drugs and alcohol and 
  other basic thought reform techniques, such that Cymbeline’s 
  quest is brainwashed out of her in a matter of a week. (Or, 
  rather, temporarily suppressed. Mundane coercion can’t 
  recast her soul.)
  Meanwhile, if the cabal starts asking questions, the 
  Seers’ll come out in the open, telling the characters that 
  Cymbeline is all right, and that what the Seers are doing is 
  in her best interests. 
  This may be good enough for the cabal members. The 
  greater likelihood is that they’ll try to rescue her. 
  If Cymbeline is with the characters when they ﬁ nd the 
  Robe in the hidden museum gallery (see below), she becomes 
  highly agitated, and attempts to smash the case, no matter 
  when they see it. If she gets to wear the Robe, even once, 
  the personality of Cxaxa Qherephis begins to assert itself. 
  Thereafter, she tries to ﬁ nd a time when she can be alone 
  with enough time to complete her rebirth. 
  After the church, the museum is Cymbeline’s second 
  choice of places to look. If she goes on her own, she ﬁ nds 
  the hidden door, smashes the glass case and cuts her own 
  eyes and heart out on the spot. See “The Return of Cxaxa 
  Qherephis,” p. 61.
  Witchend, USA
  Storytellers who would rather not send an 
  American cabal across the Atlantic might want 
  instead to situate the Seers’ ideal community 
  in the United States. The paraphernalia of an 
  English village doesn’t ﬁ t an American setting, 
  obviously, so instead imagine Witchend as 
  an afﬂ uent satellite town somewhere in New 
  England. Well-heeled commuters live in size-
  able suburban piles. Picket fences are white. 
  Houses have well-maintained front porches 
  with beautifully maintained ﬂ oral hanging 
  baskets. Flowerbeds are arranged perfectly. 
  Trees are symmetrical, and leaves only fall in 
  a way to look pretty. Lawns are ﬂ at and well 
  trimmed. Rather than a pub, the place has a 
  country club, and the council chambers, the 
  Clarity Room and the museum are all there. 
  The (Pentecostal) church meets in a more 
  modern church building, and has a choir who 
  wear bright blue robes. The Seers are still all 
  white, just like everyone else. Mr. Jones plays 
  softball rather than cricket. Mr. Evans was at 
  Harvard rather than Cambridge. Miss Ryden 
  is in the DAR rather than the WI; furthermore, 
  the American version of Miss Ryden owns a 
  riﬂ e and a handgun, and isn’t afraid to use 
  them (she has one dot in Firearms).
  Imagine the town as being a cross between 
  the suburban worlds presented in the ﬁ lms Blue 
  Velvet, Pleasantville and The Stepford Wives, 
  with a bit of Desperate Housewives thrown 
  in. The people are just as afﬂ uent and just as 
  clean-cut. 
  However Witchend is portrayed, wherever it’s 
  found, Witchend is a stereotype. The village is 
  so artiﬁ cial and so idealized in its normality, it’s 
  ever so slightly creepy. Wherever you ﬁ nd the 
  village, it’s always summer in Witchend.
  Ye Shall Know the Truth, and the 
  Truth Shall Make You Nice
  Twice a day on Sunday, nearly every single person in 
  Witchend cheerfully goes to church. In a country in which 
  only one person in 20 takes part in any religious observance 
  more than once or twice a year, this isn’t so much unusual 
  as downright freakish. 
  The characters may be curious enough to see what the 
  entire village is doing here (if they haven’t been invited by 
  a villager, under Miss Ryden’s inﬂ uence). 
  Troupes unfamiliar with the church scene in the United 
  Kingdom will be surprised to ﬁ nd a morning service at the 
  church to be quite a lively affair. There are pews and an 
  organ, but the vicar will happily explain if asked that this 
  is only because there’s nothing he could do about them 
  — the organ hasn’t been used for years. Instead, there’s a 
  band, composed of a guitarist, a bassist and a drummer, and 
  they sing modern worship choruses. Mr. Jones’ sermons are 
  warm and emotional. While, on the one hand, they promote 
  niceness, decency and honesty, they also betray a rather 
  Manichaean worldview. In Reverend Jones’ world, good and 
  evil are locked in a constant spiritual battle. 
  Mage who hear one of the vicar’s sermons and who make 
  a successful Intelligence + Academics roll notice that he’s 
  saying things that aren’t completely orthodox. For example, 
  he uses the term “Lord of this Age” to describe angels, when 
  the Bible uses the term to describe Satan. 
  If Reverend Jones spots a mage in his congregation (the 
  vicar needs to make a Wits + Composure roll to spot quiet 
  
  58
  visitors as the church is quite dark and crowded), he’ll men-
  tion witchcraft, too. He’ll be relatively gentle about it, and 
  will stress that even someone who indulges in witchcraft can 
  be redeemed, but he’ll not shrink from saying that magic is 
  a terrible, terrible sin. 
  Reverend Jones may be busy, but Mr. Evans and Miss 
  Ryden, however, are sitting in the congregation and 
  looking out for the cabal. These two will attempt to read 
  the minds of at least one of the mages (using the Mind 
  3 spell “Telepathy”) in order to get some sort of idea as 
  to what they want. Neither Evans nor Ryden is particu-
  larly skilled with this procedure, and mages can notice 
  that they’re being contacted telepathically with a roll of 
  Composure + Gnosis. 
  Words from the Spirit
  At the end of the service, the really surprising things hap-
  pen. The vicar institutes a time of open prayer. He invites 
  those who need healing or prayer to come to the front of 
  the church and receive the Spirit. The people who go to the 
  front of the church kneel at the communion rail and the 
  vicar prays for them — then they collapse. 
  Some people begin to cry. Several people in the congrega-
  tion start speaking in tongues. Every so often someone else is 
  “moved by the Spirit” to interpret what the tongue-speakers 
  are saying. 
  Mages using Mage Sight won’t detect any magic here 
  — there isn’t any. These are natural phenomena, which oc-
  cur without magic in churches across the United Kingdom 
  every Sunday. 
  However, mages who choose to use magic granted by the 
  Ring can see that some of the people who speak in tongues, 
  and some of the interpreters, fall momentarily under the 
  sway of some Supernal force (arguably the Exarchs). It can 
  be either, both or neither. 
  The messages are all cryptic things such as — 
  “See, God will do a new thing in the communities around 
  us,” or
  “There’s opposition to work of the Spirit in some of the 
  hearts here, and the Lord says, don’t be afraid, for His love 
  will keep you from falling,” or
  “Satan’s assault is coming, but the Spirit is ready to guard us 
  against the traps of the Enemy. Have faith! Don’t falter!”
  Some of these messages are believed by the Seers to be 
  inspired by the Exarchs. Some messages aren’t. The three 
  Seers, all of whom are present at every church service, can’t 
  tell the difference and so make sure that they take note of 
  them all. Besides, just because some of these prophecies 
  happen to come — indirectly — from the Exarchs doesn’t 
  mean that they’re of any value. 
  It was through comparing, contrasting and cobbling 
  together the interpretations of several of these messages 
  in glossolalia that Mr. Evans, Reverend Jones and Miss 
  Ryden began to realize that something awful was coming 
  to Witchend. 
  The Toronto Blessing
  Between 1994 and 1996, a wave of unusual 
  phenomena swept evangelical churches across 
  the English-speaking world. It was called “the 
  Toronto Blessing,” after the Canadian city in 
  which these things ﬁ rst happened. People col-
  lapsed in ecstasies (being “slain in the spirit”), 
  spoke in tongues, were overcome by ﬁ ts of “holy 
  laughter” and exhibited strange behaviors during 
  church services. Although the extreme manifes-
  tations of this phenomena died out as quickly 
  as they had begun, a whole sector of churches 
  experienced a small revival, and today many 
  churches across Britain still regularly house 
  these phenomena. The “Alpha Course,” a modu-
  lar guide to Christian belief, was developed in 
  one of the largest of these churches; hundreds of 
  British churches now run Alpha. 
  For someone unused to this phenomenon, the 
  experience of being surrounded by people col-
  lapsing in ecstasies or speaking tongues can be 
  quite unsettling. 
  The interesting thing is that, demographically, 
  a disproportionate number of those who attend 
  such churches are afﬂ uent, white, middle-class 
  professionals. The stereotype of the British Chris-
  tian has changed over the last 10 years: once, 
  she was a dour old lady. Now the stereotypical 
  British Christian is an educated, married person, 
  possibly with a young family and certainly with 
  a substantial income. These people are morally 
  upright and socially active, but, more than any-
  thing else, they’re really nice — cheerful, friendly 
  and just the tiniest bit dull. 
  Witchend Village Hall 
  and the Council Chambers
  Witchend Village Hall is a well-maintained Victorian 
  building, not unlike many buildings of its kind, with classical 
  pillars and a small pediment showing the date of its building 
  (1866). The village hall open to the public on Monday to 
  Friday, and on those days, an elderly woman sits at a recep-
  tion desk in the foyer. The receptionist, Mrs. Edwards, has 
  worked here for 30 years. She ﬁ les, answers the phone and 
  makes the tea for Mr. Evans, who keeps an ofﬁ ce here. 
  Inside, there’s a hall with a carpeted ﬂ oor. Along one wall 
  are stacks of chairs, enough to seat 200 people. There’s a stage 
  at one end of the hall. The hall is used by lots of different 
  groups in the life of the village — the Women’s Institute, the 
  amateur dramatics group, the Parish Church Council — and 
  is regularly cleaned. There’s a small but adequate backstage 
  
  59
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  area, which contains a number of props from plays put on 
  by the amateur dramatics society. 
  The building has clean and well-kept cloakrooms. There are a 
  number of rooms on one side of the main hall, which serve as the 
  council chambers. A small boardroom sits next to Mr. Evans’ small 
  but well-appointed ofﬁ ce, and a lounge area, where Mr. Evans 
  takes people for his “little chats.” This is the Clarity Room. 
  You have to walk through the hall to get to the boardroom, 
  walk through the boardroom to get to the ofﬁ ce and go through 
  the ofﬁ ce to get to the Clarity Room. Mr. Evans will proudly 
  talk about each room to newcomers as he leads them through 
  to the Clarity Room, as if giving a tour of his home. 
  The Museum
  There is a door to one side of the foyer (the opposite side 
  from the council chambers). There is a sign on it, saying: 
  WITCHEND MUSEUM
  OPENING HOURS: TUESDAY TO FRIDAY, 
  10 A.M. TO 4 P.M.
  The museum has a number of old objects, in no particular 
  order: a china dinner service from the 18th century, a collec-
  tion of Roman coins, a ﬂ intlock musket and a Parliamentary 
  Helmet from the Civil War, an edition of the Tyndale Bible, 
  some photographs of the village from the 19th century, a 
  painting of Witchend from the turn of the 20th century and 
  some other sundry objects. 
  At one end of the hall, there is a penny-farthing bicycle 
  on a pedestal. Behind the bicycle is a door. No one normally 
  takes any notice of the door, since it was once imbued with an 
  effect similar to the Mind 2 spell “Incognito Presence.” The 
  enchantment isn’t particularly strong, and any mage who gains 
  two successes on a roll of Wits + Gnosis is able to notice that 
  the door behind the penny-farthing bicycle is of importance. 
  The door isn’t locked, but the museum does have a CCTV 
  camera (Wits + Composure or Larceny to notice), which feeds 
  into a screen in Mr. Evans’ ofﬁ ce. Mr. Evans often works at 
  night, and it’s possible that he’s in the ofﬁ ce when the cabal 
  ﬁ nds the hidden door, whether it’s day or night.    
  The Other Gallery
  Behind the hidden door is a second gallery room, which 
  has exhibits of a far more interesting kind. This was Mr. 
  Smith’s collection, and the Seers keep it here as a memo-
  rial to him. 
  Cases claim to hold objects such as the head of John 
  the Baptist (a skull with a thin cover of desiccated skin), a 
  stuffed Rat King (a dozen rats, joined together by their fused 
  and knotted tails), a fragmentary piece of stone from the 
  Lighthouse at Alexandria, an unlabeled idol that looks like 
  a brutish ﬁ sh-headed man with three-lobed eyes, a bottle of 
  something black and ancient (its label says it contains blood 
  
  60
  from the stigmata of St. Francis), a number of black-and-white 
  photographs of crop circle formations from various places in 
  Berkshire, a dried ﬁ sh on a plaque (which apparently fell from 
  the sky as part of a rain of ﬁ sh on the second of September 
  1939) and other wonders. None of them are magical. 
  However, in an unmarked glass case at the far end of the gallery, 
  pinned to a canvas backing is the Robe of the Dethroned Queen. 
  The case has been imbued with the Space 2 spell “Ward,” and is 
  padlocked, but otherwise, there is nothing stopping the cabal from 
  taking the Robe. Its primary means of defense, over the ages, has 
  been the Robe’s innate capability to hide itself from notice.
  The Robe of the Dethroned Queen 
  (Artifact ••••• ••)
  Durability: 5, Size 5, Structure 10
  Mana Capacity: 12
  The Robe of the Dethroned Queen was said 
  to carry the power to conceal power from the 
  Exarchs on high. When an Awakened magician 
  wears the Robe, she is all undetectable by the 
  Exarchs. Even against other terrestrial mages her 
  power becomes difﬁ cult to sense or assess. 
  While wearing the Robe of the Dethroned 
  Queen, Qherephis managed to rule her people 
  with arcane power without ever attracting the 
  attention of agents of the Exarchs. With the Robe 
  simply in their custody, the Seers of Witchend 
  have managed to occult their power for decades, 
  rendering their idyllic little town hidden from wiz-
  ards who would pervert it. The Robe even hid the 
  town from the destructive resonance of hype and 
  excess popularity that sometimes consumes such 
  small towns. Thus the easy-to-miss hamlet be-
  came the hiding place of an ancient artifact simply 
  by not attracting attention to the artifact’s inherent 
  powers of occultation.
  The Robe itself is a long, heavy woven mantle  
  adorned with a few bronze plates and a simple 
  rope tie. It has a complex, almost medieval 
  pattern to it, like a knitted Book of Kells, with At-
  lantean runes in place of Latin letters. It’s length 
  and cut resembles a Greek Orthodox vestment 
  more than any Classical garb typically associ-
  ated with it in myth. Some speculate, however, 
  that the Robe has been gradually changing its 
  style and form over the centuries to better keep 
  itself hidden from the notice of the Exarchs.
  Any mage wearing the Robe enjoys the beneﬁ ts 
  of ﬁ ve dots in an equivalent of the Occultation 
  Merit (even though that Merit normally maxes out 
  at three dots). This Artifact can also be used to cast 
  or learn the Space 3 spell, “Destroy the Threads.”
  In addition, the Robe’s woven words reveal a 
  special variation on the “Complete Invisibility” 
  spell (Forces 5) that hides the caster only from 
  the sight and magic of the Exarchs and their ser-
  vants (witting or not). This is a Forces 4 spell.
  Simply using the Robe’s powers is an act of 
  hubris for mages of Wisdom 6 or higher. (Learn-
  ing a spell from the Robe is an additional act of 
  hubris at the same level of sin.) The Robe deﬁ es 
  the cosmic station of a Fallen World being’s po-
  sition beneath and in sight of the Supernal world 
  — it was never meant to be worn on Earth and 
  used against the Exarchs. 
  Some Pentacle mages posit that the Robe’s pow-
  ers are, in fact, an elaborate ruse on behalf of the 
  Exarchs and their minions. In fact, the Robe merely 
  reveals its wearer to be trying to hide from the 
  Exarchs. Minions play along to take advantage of 
  the wearer’s overconﬁ dence, then follow her back 
  to her people or a more cunning strike. These cau-
  tious Pentacle mages may even be right. Is it worth 
  dabbling with the tools of the Exarchs if there’s 
  any chance that doing so plays into their hands?
  
  61
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  The Clarity Room
  Whenever Mr. Evans wants to meet up with someone for 
  one of his “little chats,” the Seer sits with his guest in the same 
  tastefully decorated room in the village’s council chambers. 
  There are four comfortable chairs and a small table, on 
  which there is a little stack of coasters. There, over a cup of 
  tea brought in by dear Mrs. Edwards, Mr. Evans just talks, 
  never raising his voice, never being anything other than 
  cordial. After half an hour with Mr. Evans, most people feel 
  a lot better. Their problems and complaints never seem quite 
  so serious. Mr. Evans’ answers to their questions make them 
  feel a lot better. Everything seems a whole lot clearer. 
  Mages who get one success on a Wits + Composure roll 
  or a Wits + Crafts roll while in the room notice that there’s 
  something odd about the structure of the room, but they 
  can’t put their ﬁ nger on it. For every success after the ﬁ rst 
  one, tell them about one or two of the following: 
  • Although, by an optical illusion, the walls look straight, 
  they’re actually very slightly curved.
  • None of the angles in the room are right angles. 
  • The window sill isn’t parallel to the ﬂ oor. 
  • The striped turquoise pattern on the wallpaper doesn’t 
  repeat itself — the pattern just looks like it does. Each itera-
  tion of the pattern is in fact entirely unique. 
  • The light ﬁ ttings on the wall don’t all shed exactly the 
  same amount of light. 
  • The brick tiles around the open ﬁ replace look the same at 
  ﬁ rst glance, but actually, they’re all slightly different shapes. 
  They still tessellate perfectly — but they shouldn’t. 
  The weirdest thing about this is that the combination of 
  odd details in this room has the cumulative effect of making 
  anyone sitting there feel comfortable and well-disposed to 
  Mr. Evans, as he sits in the armchair by the ﬁ re. 
  Anyone using Mage Sight sees that the entire room is magical. 
  The room itself is imbued with magi, carrying a cheerful, friendly, 
  twinkly, calming kind of resonance. Both the physical fabric and 
  décor of the room are part of the casting ritual for the spell. 
  The room is a trap. The only clarity the room grants is the 
  clarity that Mr. Evans and his colleagues want their guests 
  to have. The room’s magic makes the Clarity Room an ef-
  fective brainwashing tool. However, Mr. Evans hates using 
  it, and hardly ever activates its powers. He’s likeable and 
  persuasive enough on his own to be able to convince people 
  that it’s better for everyone if they get along. He considers 
  it a matter of personal pride that virtually all of the people 
  in the village are decent and law-abiding of their own free 
  will, and that all he did was talk them round. 
  What Mr. Evans doesn’t know is that Miss Ryden has begun 
  to use the Clarity Room on the villagers behind his back. 
  She’s of the opinion that it’s too useful and practical an item 
  not to use, and she doesn’t share Mr. Evans’ scruples about it 
  being better for people to make up their own minds. 
  She has used the room while Mr. Evans was out of town or 
  out of the council chambers. Mr. Evans is too trusting to even 
  suspect so far, and if he found out about what she’s been doing, 
  his reaction is likely to be disappointment rather than anger. 
  The Clarity Room
  (Imbued Item •••••)
  Mana Capacity: 11
  This room, built into the council chambers 30 
  years ago by Mr. Smith, has the Mind 5 spell 
  “Psychic Reprogramming” built into the angles of 
  the walls, the position of the window, the shade 
  of paint and the shape of the door.
  All Mr. Evans (or either of his colleagues) has 
  to do to activate the room’s spell is to say the 
  words, “So I understand that you have a few 
  problems,” and then to talk about how the Seer 
  would like the recipient of the spell to reform 
  his behavior. The spell costs one of the room’s 
  Mana points, each time the spell is cast. 
  The Return of Cxaxa Qherephis
  At the moment that Cymbeline dons the Robe, Cxaxa 
  Qherephis possesses her. Cymbeline gains the Gnosis and 
  Arcana of the ancient mage; Qherephis, meanwhile, has full 
  access to Cymbeline’s memories. Qherephis knows that if she 
  doesn’t complete her ritual of rebirth within a day, she will fade 
  into Cymbeline’s personality forever. At the ﬁ rst opportunity, 
  Qherephis tries to give her companions the slip. 
  Qherephis doesn’t care about keeping the Robe. Its only 
  purpose to her was as a metaphysical key, the symbol that 
  joins the three shards of her soul. The cabal might suddenly 
  ﬁ nd Cymbeline’s behavior puzzling: she puts the Robe down, 
  or hands it to one of the cabal (“Take it. It’s yours”), smiles 
  and says that they can all go home now. 
  If Mr. Evans was present in his ofﬁ ce when the cabal got 
  into the hidden gallery, he’ll make his way there as quickly 
  as possible, in hopes of somehow stopping the characters. 
  If he gets there after Cymbeline has donned the Robe, 
  Cymbeline is quite capable of casting any number of powerful 
  and vicious magics, quite possibly killing him on the spot. 
  Again, the cabal will probably take heed of this. 
  When the characters have gotten out, Cymbeline/Qhere-
  phis tries to get out of the their sight, because she knows 
  they’ll never let her ﬁ nish her task. She might, for example, 
  sneak off while their backs are turned, or even tell them that 
  she needs to go to the bathroom. 
  If the cabal somehow manages to keep Cymbeline in sight 
  for a whole 24 hours, Qherephis fades. Cymbeline keeps 
  Qherephis’ Arcana, while her Gnosis falls to 3. Cymbeline then 
  spends the rest of her life wondering what she’s missed. 
  If she manages to get out of the sight of her comrades, even for a 
  minute, Cymbeline/Qherephis begins the ﬁ nal rite of rebirth. 
  
  62
  She rips off her shirt and kneels down with the Eyes of Salt 
  and the Heart Full of Flies in front of her. Then she tears her 
  eyes out with her ﬁ ngers, and inserts the Eyes of Salt, which knit 
  instantly with her optic nerves and become her own eyes. Then, 
  letting out a shriek, which can be heard by every soul in the 
  village, she reaches inside her chest and rips out her heart. 
  The cabal members hear the scream — if they run to 
  investigate, they ﬁ nd Cymbeline kneeling on the ground, a 
  gaping rent in her chest, covered from head to toe in her own 
  blood. She holds the Heart Full of Flies in her left hand, and 
  her own still-beating heart in the other. She looks up with her 
  featureless eyes of pockmarked stone and smiles, coldly. 
  Then she inserts the Heart Full of Flies into the gap in her 
  chest. An icy cold wind howls around Cymbeline and the 
  cabal, whether they’re indoors or outside. The rent closes 
  up, and Cxaxa Qherephis is reborn. 
  If the cabal realizes that the Heart Full of Flies is the key to 
  something awful happening, the characters have the chance 
  to grapple the Heart from Cymbeline and smash it. As long 
  as it’s intact, Cymbeline remains alive, however, and will 
  ﬁ ght to get it back. As long as she has it, she needs only one 
  turn to insert it in her chest. 
  The Heart, when smashed, unleashes an enormous swarm 
  of ﬂ ies, the buzzing of their wings like the roar of a jet aircraft. 
  They get everywhere, and make action virtually impossible 
  (–5 to all actions) for about 30 seconds, and then dissipate 
  as quickly as they appeared. When they’re gone, Cymbeline 
  lies dead on the ground, still staring, still smiling. 
  On the other hand, if the characters don’t do this, or hesi-
  tate, and Cxaxa Qherephis is ﬁ nally reborn, she thanks them 
  and gets up. Still half-naked and covered in blood, she walks 
  out into the village, and then travels from house to house, 
  building to building, killing the inhabitants. She only spares 
  those who bow down and worship her — and the cabal. 
  If the characters try to stop her, she uses magic designed to 
  immobilize them, shut them up, control their actions (forc-
  ing them to watch what they’ve been complicit in) or knock 
  them out. She won’t kill them to begin with, since they were 
  the friends of Cymbeline Hand, to whom she owes her new 
  life, and because without them she would never have been 
  reborn. She might even tell them this. 
  If they keep ﬁ ghting, Qherephis gradually gets tired and uses 
  more lethal magics. The cabal (and the Seers, if Qherephis 
  hasn’t got to them ﬁ rst) might be able to bring her down, 
  but there’s a small likelihood of their doing so. 
  After she’s massacred enough villagers to satisfy her sav-
  age joy at being reborn, Qherephis vanishes. If Miss Ryden 
  remains alive, she might bow down and offer herself to 
  Qherephis as her servant. If so, Cxaxa Qherephis takes Miss 
  Ryden with her. 
  Cxaxa Qherephis
  Quote: Bow down. 
  Background: Returned to the world in all her mad, lethal 
  glory, Qherephis ﬁ nds the world changed. Cymbeline’s personal-
  ity is now completely washed away. Although Qherephis knows 
  everything that Cymbeline knows, and remembers everything 
  that Cymbeline remembers, she is not Cymbeline. Cymbeline’s 
  soul is consumed by Qherephis’, and can never be regained. 
  Description: In the body of Cymbeline Hand, Qherephis 
  is covered with her own blood, streaming down her face like 
  tears, a swathe across her naked torso. She strides effortlessly 
  through the paths of Witchend like the bloody queen she is, 
  murdering everyone who does not bow down and worship 
  her. All the time, she smiles, but her smile doesn’t touch 
  those terrible, blank stone eyes. 
  Qherephis’ nimbus is as Cymbeline’s, only more so: a 
  howling snowbound wind that surrounds her, a small blizzard 
  swirling around her limbs. 
  Storytelling Hints: She is the Cold Smile, the Swarming 
  Heart, the Splintered Sight. Qherephis always intended to 
  reawaken. Hers is the authority of an ancient world, and 
  she demands it be recognized. If not, she has the means to 
  force it to happen. 
  If she ﬁ nally escapes, she will attire herself in raiment 
  beﬁ tting a regent of the Ascendant Direction: amassing 
  jewels, robes, tattoos and perfume and a retinue of psychi-
  cally dominated Sleepers, she’ll try to rebuild her dominion 
  on earth again, possibly using the now utterly devoted Miss 
  
  63
  CHAPTER TWO: the ROBE
  Ryden as her agent. However, before then, there’s revenge 
  on those who would kill Qherephis. The servants of the 
  Exarchs and theirs will be her sacriﬁ ce.  
  Qherephis doesn’t need the Robe. To her, it was only a 
  means of rebirth. She knows how to cast its spell, and needs 
  no toys. Besides, she can’t use the Robe again. If she wants to 
  be reborn again, she needs another metaphysical symbol. 
  Qherephis is cold and arrogant. At the same time, she is 
  disappointed and irritated at the fact that her magic is so 
  degraded, and that she is so very much weaker than she was 
  before. It took many more centuries for her plan to be ful-
  ﬁ lled than she thought, and the power kept in Cymbeline’s 
  fragment of her soul was much diluted. Still, there is time to 
  grow again, after her business in Witchend is ﬁ nished. 
  Real Name: Qherephis
  Path: Mastigos
  Order: An ancient iteration of the Silver Ladder 
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 5, Resolve 4
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 4
  Social Attributes: Presence 4, Manipulation 4, Com-
  posure 5
  Mental Skills: Academics (Geography) 1, Investigation 
  2, Medicine 1
  Physical Skills: Athletics (Running) 3, Brawl 1, Drive 1, 
  Stealth 2, Survival (Sleeping Rough) 4
  Social Skills: Empathy 1, *Expression 4, Intimidation 5, 
  *Persuasion 4, Streetwise 2, *Subterfuge 1
  Merits: Direction Sense, Fleet of Foot 1, High Speech, Iron 
  Stamina 2, Language (Fante, and the ancient language 
  of Qherephis’ People) 2, Striking Looks 4, Status (Ancient 
  Silver Ladder) 5
  Willpower: 9
  Wisdom: 2 (Vocalization, 4; Megalomania, 3)
  Virtue: Fortitude
  Vice: Pride
  Initiative: 8
  Defense: 3
  Speed: 11
  Health: 9
  Gnosis: 7
  Arcana: Forces 5, Life 4, Mind 5, Prime 5, Space 5
  Rotes: Mind — Aura Perception (•), Multi-Tasking (•••); 
  Space — Finder (•), Spatial Awareness (•)
  Mana/Per Turn: 20/7
  Armor: 5 (“Misdirection,” Mind ••)
  Magic Shield: 5 (“Counterspell Prime,” Prime ••)
  Afterword
  The characters can choose to leave at any time, and leave 
  Cymbeline to her fate. If so, they’re going to have to live with 
  what happens to her. If Cymbeline ends up in the hands of 
  the Witchend Residents’ Committee, she’ll at least be happy, 
  but she’ll never be free. 
  The cabal can choose to destroy the Heart Full of Flies at 
  any point, with the same effect — a swarm of ﬂ ies covering 
  anything, and the death of something wonderful in Cymbeline 
  Hand, although if she still has her eyes and heart intact, she 
  at least keeps her life. 
  If they destroy the Heart, the cabal members have the corpse 
  of a friend on their hands. If any of the Seers are alive, they 
  beg the cabal to leave. The Seers are not violent people, and 
  their only concern is to keep their village peaceful. They don’t 
  want to see the cabal again. The Seers won’t allow the cabal 
  to leave with the Robe, however, and if the cabal members 
  want it, they will have to ﬁ ght for it with what reserves of 
  magic they have left, likely succeeding. Getting away with 
  the Robe makes enemies of more of the Seers, and word 
  may get around, from one pylon and Ministry to another, 
  gradually making the cabal marked men and women, if they 
  weren’t already. 
  If Cxaxa Qherephis is reborn, the players will have 
  eventually to come to terms with what they’ve been party 
  to. Qherephis leaves, hoping one day to regain the key to 
  immortality. 
  She’s out of this story, but at some point in the future, Cxaxa 
  Qherephis could return. Taking control of Sleeping minds, 
  and gaining agents who would seek out Artifacts that could 
  carry the same metaphysical weight as the Robe.  
  
  64
  
  65
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  Chapter Three:
  The Scepter
  He tries to touch his corpse’s face, but his hand slips into the sweaty 
  skin, through bone to brain. 
  He yanks his hand back, takes a deep meaningless non-breath into 
  the projection of his body — into the idea of his lungs — and lets the 
  breath out. His astral body clings to the low, jagged ceiling of the 
  cave like smoke. Piled on the rocks below him are his friends’ bodies. 
  They lie like dead leaves around the stump of a stone altar, from 
  which juts a narrow, delicate Scepter dressed in jewels.
  He recognizes the altar, the deep glyphs cut into it. He recognizes 
  the Scepter, the way it vibrates like a plucked string. He recognizes 
  the faces of his friends. But he doesn’t have any words for any of it, 
  doesn’t know where he is or who these people really are.
  He’s sure, though, that the body below him is his. He ﬂ oats down to 
  the ﬂ oor of the cave, next to his corpse, and leans in as close as he 
  can. He watches a dwindling sphere of sweat run from the eyebrow, 
  over the eyelid, to the lashes, where the sweat hangs for a long sec-
  ond, and then spends itself into nothing running down the cheek into 
  the ear.
  The body moves.
  It’s a twitch, a ﬂ utter the follows a thin, wet breath. His body is 
  alive. They’re all alive.
  There’s still time. 
  
  66
  Introduction
  “The Scepter” opens in the outwardly tranquil gated com-
  munity of Sutterton Farms. The players take on new roles, as 
  ordinary people leading lives of quiet desperation in and around 
  this exurban enclave. What the players don’t at ﬁ rst realize is that 
  these new personae are transﬁ gured versions of their usual mage 
  characters. In reality, the mages lie unconscious in a German 
  salt cave, arrayed around the Scepter of the Dethroned Queen. 
  The Scepter, activating a complex pre-programmed defense 
  mechanism called the Omnium, has cast them into an Astral 
  Realm within the Temenos. The Scepter has populated this il-
  lusionary environment by drawing on the characters’ memories, 
  yearnings, fears and desires. In this world of buzzing leaf blowers, 
  hissing lawn sprinklers and smooth-riding sports utility vehicles, 
  they enter a new Sleeping life. They face the microscopic crises 
  of mundane existence, forming powerful attachments to their 
  illusionary friends and family at Sutterton Farms. To prevail, the 
  mages must ﬁ rst recognize that their environment is a deceptively 
  mundane nightmare. Having recalled their true identities, they 
  must go on to recover their magical powers. As they do this, they 
  may discover that, like lucid dreamers, they can seize control of 
  the illusion, bending it to their desires. To completely escape the 
  identity-bending trap, they must ﬁ nd the disguised representation 
  of the Scepter, then muster the force of will required to shatter 
  this illusory realm — and the new loved ones who reside within 
  it. Meanwhile, a fatal deadline looms: their bodies lie neglected 
  in the cave, slowly dying of dehydration.
  Theme
  This story extends the overall theme of Control to the 
  characters’ very identities. The Scepter has exercised control 
  over them by recasting their memories and environment. To 
  regain their stolen selfhood, they have to steal that Control 
  from the Scepter. But in so doing, they risk the ultimate act of 
  hubris, slaying illusive loved ones who represent the best parts 
  of themselves — their most deeply held hopes and longings.
  Mood
  Before the players twig to what’s going on, “The Scepter” 
  evokes a mood of upper-middle-class angst and ennui, familiar 
  from such media works as the movies American Beauty, Garden 
  State and The Graduate, as well as the television series Six 
  Feet Under or the ﬁ ction of John Cheever.
  After the characters realize that they’ve been stripped of 
  their true selves, the mood shifts to one of existential horror, 
  in which the boundary between reality and illusion becomes 
  alarmingly blurry. In this head-game phase, the story travels 
  the territory of ﬁ lms such as ExistenZ or The Tenant, or the 
  novels of Philip K. Dick.
  Scene Zero: Prelude 
  “The Scepter” destabilizes the players by throwing them 
  without explanation into the imaginary reality of Sutterton 
  Farms. The investigation that leads them to the Scepter 
  plays out only in ﬂ ashback, occurring when the mages start 
  to recover their memories midway through the story.
  Plant the seeds for this shift one session before you start 
  this story, by inserting a lead to the location of the Scepter. 
  If your players are especially sharp, which necessitates an ad-
  ditional layer of indirection, hide this amid other unrelated 
  plot developments in mid-episode.
  The plot thread can be extremely tenuous: the cabal is made 
  aware of an individual who knows another person who might 
  or might not have stumbled across a passage in a document 
  that may refer to the Scepter, or could be about something 
  else entirely. Where possible, make this ﬁ rst point of contact 
  a character already known and at least semi-trusted by the 
  cabal. The contact should be someone who knows what the 
  cabal is looking for. 
  The mages may be pursuing their quest for the Dethroned 
  Queen’s Artifacts so secretly that none of their contacts are 
  aware of it. In this case, ask all players to make their choice of 
  one of the following rolls: Intelligence + Investigation, Intel-
  ligence + Occult or Wits + Socialize. The player with the best 
  result gets the lead. In the event of a tie, pick the player who’s 
  enjoyed less spotlight time recently. In the ﬁ rst two cases, the 
  character ﬁ nds a reference while trawling through footnotes in 
  his reference library. In the latter instance, the character bumps 
  into a hanger-on at a party who supplies the tenuous lead.
  Then they gave me my staff of office, confirming me as one of them. It bore a curse, they 
  said, awaiting those who dared purloin it from me. It would steal from its would-be thieves, 
  taking their selfhood, and replacing it with a sham. As they said this, they drew back, 
  alarmed by an expression on my face, which they took to be pity for the curse’s victims. 
  “Never fear, my queen,” they said. “There will never be a prettier falsehood.”
  — Chronicle of the Dethroned Queen
  O memory! thou midway world
  ‘Twixt earth and paradise,
  Where things decayed and loved ones lost
  In dreamy shadows rise.
  —Abraham Lincoln
  
  67
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  Before your players leave for the night, make sure you have 
  up-to-date copies of all character sheets.
  Prep Phase
  “The Scepter” requires some preparation time.
  Most importantly, you’ll be re-imagining all of the char-
  acters as mundane inhabitants of a gated community called 
  Sutterton Farms. 
  Locate this housing development as close as you can to 
  the usual center of your chronicle. If gated communities are 
  unknown in your chosen location, ﬁ nd a local equivalent. 
  Any discrete, artiﬁ cially isolated tract of upper-middle-class 
  housing will do.
  Ideally, you’ll be creating characters who are unrecognizable 
  as translations when you ﬁ rst hand them out, but who may, in 
  retrospect, be seen to be versions of the original characters.
  Use basic World of Darkness character sheets to record 
  the translated characters. Retain the characters’ genders and 
  basic physical characteristics such as height and apparent 
  age. Characters may gain weight and/or lose muscle as their 
  heroic qualities are discarded in favor of worn-down normal-
  ity. Outward aspects of appearance such as hair color, dress 
  sense and the presence of body piercings or tattoos should 
  change to match the aggressively maintained normality of 
  an afﬂ uent, conformist community. If your cabal is an ethnic 
  polyglot, but a realistically depicted afﬂ uent enclave near your 
  chronicle’s locale would be mostly lily-white, you may want 
  to alter the backgrounds of certain characters. Srinivas Patel 
  might, for example, morph into Steve Peters. Foreign-born 
  characters become fully acculturated: Russian émigré mage 
  Yelena Bogdanov becomes an American-born character of 
  Russian extraction, who speaks without an accent and gives 
  little thought to her heritage. 
  Recast the characters’ current core concepts in as sharply 
  mundane a fashion as you can. Each character gains a dull, 
  comfortable safety at the expense of individuality and passion. A 
  hard-nosed Adamantine Arrow warrior might become a security 
  guard patrolling the community, his ﬂ abby belly a testament 
  to an alarmingly elevated donut consumption. An intrepid 
  scholar-explorer becomes an instructor at the high school, 
  required to teach a pablum curriculum to bored, oversexed 
  students. A Shaman who once trucked with animal spirits 
  is now a veterinarian at the local animal shelter. The Moros 
  Necromancer is now a blank-eyed undertaker, ﬂ eecing grieving 
  relatives until their credit ratings scream for mercy.
  Avoid the thrilling, ultra-competent character concepts 
  roleplayers gravitate to when asked to create mundane, con-
  temporary protagonists. If a character has a military background, 
  he’s not a former SEAL, but a beleaguered head of a Navy re-
  cruiting ofﬁ ce who suffers from chronic back problems. The FBI 
  proﬁ ler-turned-mage becomes a frazzled housewife who writes 
  unpublishable novels about a feisty female FBI proﬁ ler. Pick 
  security guards over cops and community college instructors 
  over occult investigators. Change celebrity types into waitresses 
  and copy shop clerks dreaming of their big break. 
  Select names that subtly evoke cabal members’ real or 
  shadow names, but be careful not to give the game away. Avoid 
  anagrams; they usually stand out as peculiar, and are easy to 
  spot. Use the same initials but a different pattern of syllables, 
  or the same number of syllables but different sounds.
  Change traits as follows. All Attributes are reduced to a 
  maximum of two dots, with the exception of the character’s 
  highest Attribute, which may be three dots, provided that 
  it is not Resolve or Presence. If two or more Attributes tie 
  for ﬁ rst place, pick the one that best ﬁ ts the new concept, 
  provided that the Attribute is not Resolve or Presence.
  Characters lose all dots in the following Skills: Occult, 
  Larceny, Stealth, Survival, Streetwise. 
  The following skills lower to one dot: Investigation, Medi-
  cine, Politics, Brawl, Firearms, Weaponry. 
  All other skills drop to two dots.
  All Merits other than the following are dropped: Allies, 
  Ambidextrous, Barﬂ y, Common Sense, Fleet of Foot, Lan-
  guage and Resources. Allies are translated into similarly 
  mundane Contacts; a procurer of rare alchemical ingredients 
  is now the manager of a candle boutique. Resources top out at 
  three dots. (Shabby, street-level mages with few possessions 
  may actually gain a dot or two of Resources to ﬁ t into the 
  afﬂ uent setting of Sutterton Farms.) Language is limited to 
  one dot: foreign characters speak their mother tongues and 
  English, while others speak English and the second most 
  common tongue in the area. For most of the United States, 
  that means Spanish.
  Although the Artifact, Enchanted Item and Imbued Item 
  Merits are suppressed, a faint hint of them remains. Translate 
  each article into a mundane equivalent. Until Awakened 
  during the course of the story, the objects function as any 
  other normal object of the pertinent type. Some of these can 
  be marked on the new character sheet. An enchanted sword 
  could become a security guard’s baton, for example. 
  If the revised version of the item is too mundane to ever 
  appear on a character sheet, mention the item in passing 
  early in the game, as unobtrusively as you can. For example, 
  the Robe artifact from the previous story might become a 
  balled-up sweatshirt left behind by an ex-sweetheart, which 
  the character keeps in the glove compartment of his Subaru. To 
  note that on the character sheet would be a huge tip-off that 
  the article’s seeming triviality masks something important. 
  On the other hand, if you slip the sweatshirt in as a bit of 
  description when the character gets into his car, inclusion of 
  the article will seem like a mere snippet of character nuance. 
  Likewise, the magical ring from the ﬁ rst story can become 
  a wedding or class ring here — but should not become the 
  focus of undue attention early in the narrative.
  Just as the Sutterton Farms illusion dulls the characters’ 
  positive qualities, it also softens their more obvious shortcom-
  ings. Only the following Flaws remain: Addiction, Behavior 
  Blind, Coward, Embarrassing Secret, Forgetful, Racist/Sexist, 
  Speech Impediment. An Embarrassing Secret that overtly 
  ties into the mystical continuity of the World of Darkness 
  
  68
  becomes banal. A character who hides the fact that his mother 
  turned into a vampire instead worries that her DUI record 
  might come to light. The only permissible Addictions are to 
  alcohol or prescription pain medication. (This is not to say 
  that more serious addictions are unknown in real-world gated 
  communities. Remember that Sutterton Farms is, at least on 
  the surface, an idealized version of the good life.)
  Vices and Virtues are unchanged, though their expressions 
  are less dramatic in a mundane setting.
  As the use of a basic World of Darkness character sheet 
  suggests, none of the characters’ spells or Arcana is available 
  to them as they begin play in their transformed state. They 
  also lack Mana and Gnosis dots.
  After you’ve completed the World of Darkness character 
  sheets, complete a transitional Mage sheet for each character 
  as well. This sheet contains all of the traits of the World of 
  Darkness sheet, plus the original character’s Gnosis score. 
  As the characters regain their awareness of their true selves, 
  they will gradually add elements of their original characters 
  to this transitional sheet. This sheet remains valid until they 
  exit the Scepter’s Astral Realm, at which point they regain 
  their normal character sheets.
  The Loved Ones
  During the story, you’ll work to develop bonds of affection 
  between the transﬁ gured mage characters and denizens of the 
  Scepter’s illusionary world. These friend and family charac-
  ters are projections of each character’s innermost unrealized 
  desires. To create these characters, you’ll need to determine 
  what these desires are. In many cases, the answers will be 
  obvious to you. Some players will make their motivations 
  abundantly clear and emphasize them to the hilt. Other more 
  circumspect players may give you less of a glimpse into their 
  mages’ inner lives.
  Advance planning can help you discover unplumbed depths 
  in the characters. Create tangential scenes in earlier adven-
  tures to test the characters, forcing the players to articulate 
  what they care about, through their in-game behavior. 
  If this technique fails, or if you have little time left as this story 
  draws near, abandon subtlety. Require a Composure + Gnosis 
  roll from each character whose yearnings remain unspeciﬁ ed. 
  Do this when none of the targets have “Mental Shields” or simi-
  lar spells activated. Smile in the faint, sinister way Storytellers 
  use when player characters are targeted by unseen magic, and 
  ask each player to specify a deeply-held emotional yearning. 
  This applies even to target characters who’ve rolled a huge 
  number of successes. At the time, the players will think this 
  signiﬁ cant, even ominous, but when nothing comes of it, they’ll 
  forget it. Meanwhile, you’ve found the last piece of informa-
  tion you need to complete your preparation for “The Scepter.”
  Once you’ve determined what each character’s yearning is, 
  imagine a person who would, in a contemporary setting of 
  heightened banality, satisfy that desire. A mage who yearns 
  for his long-lost ﬁ rst love can now be married to a perfect, 
  pliant, if somewhat unimaginative, version of her. An embit-
  tered loner might bond with a snot-nosed punk who reminds 
  the character of himself, before he traveled down the path of 
  regrets. A protective earth-mother ﬁ gure might ﬁ nd herself 
  riding herd over a swarming brood of needy foster children. A 
  mage hunting down the mentor who betrayed and tortured him 
  could enjoy a supportive friendship with a fatherly employer 
  down at the Home Depot.
  Keep Reading
  Because much of this story’s action must be tailored to 
  the particularities of your group’s cabal, “The Scepter” is 
  especially open-ended. It provides a general structure but 
  leaves the speciﬁ cs of scenes up to you. Each of the follow-
  ing sequences will require some advance prep, bolstered by 
  adroit improvising. 
  Scene One: Be in the Dream
  When your players have gathered, tell them that you’ll 
  be running a side game for the next few sessions. Hand 
  them their World of Darkness character sheets. Casually 
  misdirect any players who suspect a direct connection to 
  their mage characters. 
  If they immediately see the connections anyway, don’t 
  panic. The story won’t be ruined. The players will simply 
  experience their sense of unease, that something is subtly 
  wrong with reality, sooner than they normally would. Admit 
  nothing; if you play the next sequence straight, they may 
  forget their initial misgivings.
  Motif: Cell Phones
  To affect and monitor the invented reality, the 
  Omnium must place a representation of the Scepter 
  within the invented reality. This poses a risk: if the 
  players ﬁ nd this illusionary image of the real object, 
  they can exercise control over it, effecting their 
  escape. To throw them off the trail, the Scepter has 
  disguised itself as the ultimate signal of invisible 
  power in a modern world, a communications tower.
  Throughout the adventure, as subliminally as 
  you can manage, keep repeating the motif of cell 
  phones and wireless technology. Mention cell 
  phones as often as you can get away with. Each 
  of the characters has one. Their loved ones have 
  them. The people they want to control have them.
  The Scepter has also created a number of red 
  herrings, which you should weave into your descrip-
  tions from the beginning of the story. Handbills for 
  the Reach Experts search engine ﬁ rm should, for 
  example, appear throughout Sutterton Farms. Unlike 
  the cell tower, these can be referred to obviously. 
  Don’t overdo it, though; astute players may smell a 
  rat if you’re providing stronger-than-usual hints.
  
  69
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  Dramas of Control 
  The story opens with a series of low-key personal dramas. 
  Prepare a suitable sequence for each character in advance. 
  These are ordinary conﬂ icts, potentially full of emotion but 
  without the menace or jeopardy we expect from a roleplaying 
  session. In each instance, the focus character is tempted to 
  exercise control over others. If he succumbs, he satisﬁ es his 
  inner Exarch, and increases the Scepter’s hold over him. He 
  also gets a reward of some kind, whether it be money, status 
  or pure satisfaction. 
  As an example, some ﬁ rst scene conﬂ icts might include 
  the following:
  The security cop gets a chance to abuse his authority over 
  a scruffy trespasser.
  The harried teacher is tempted to fudge a kid’s grades in 
  exchange for a promotion.
  The idealistic veterinarian is lured into a lucrative but less 
  idealistic job in the equestrian industry. 
  The housewife with literary ambitions gets the chance to 
  show up a haughty member of her book club.
  The undertaker senses that a grieving but attractive widow 
  would be easy prey for a seduction attempt.
  The real estate agent knows she’ll earn brownie points 
  with the boss if she keeps a tattooed goth couple from buy-
  ing a house here.
  The rebellious teen discovers an opportunity to sabotage 
  the career of his demanding stepfather.
  If you get stuck, look to Vices for inspiration. If the char-
  acter is secretly doing phone sex work from home to pay her 
  crushing mortgage, and her Vice is Gluttony, the scene could 
  involve a tortuous confrontation with the tub of ice cream 
  in the basement freezer. She wants to control her shame by 
  diving headlong into it, punishing herself with high-fat food. 
  Can she resist its siren call?
  Create these scenes in multiple stages, giving the characters 
  several escalating decision points. The ice cream sequence 
  can start with a simple craving, which the character can easily 
  resist. Then she sees a commercial for ice cream on television. 
  A neighbor comes over for chat and hints that a mid-afternoon 
  snack might be nice. After she leaves, the character takes a 
  call from a client she ﬁ nds particularly shameful, triggering 
  another bout of low self-esteem that can be temporarily cured 
  with a heaping dollop of Fudge Ripple. 
  In play, each scene begins with a description of the character, 
  and of the smotheringly bucolic housing development. In each 
  instance, descriptions of place reinforce the theme, reminding 
  us how these communities attempt to shape, deny and control 
  nature. Emphasize Sutterton Farms’ unnaturally green lawns, 
  its batteries of sprinklers, its monster houses’ artiﬁ cial sur-
  faces and its overly elaborate security measures. Point up 
  the conformist urge that Sutterton Farms represents: the 
  houses are all designed according to the same three sets 
  of plans. All the moms drive SUVs, while the dads take 
  mid-priced sports cars to work. Private cops constantly 
  prowl the development’s snaking laneways.
  Where two characters’ concepts would smoothly 
  interlock into one scene, you may ﬁ nd it useful to 
  combine them, especially if you’re running for a 
  larger-than-average group. In general, though, 
  these play as solo sequences. Cut between play-
  ers, playing each scene in small fragments, as 
  you’d see in an ensemble TV drama. Switch 
  focus whenever the scene takes a new direc-
  tion, or the involved player seems stumped or 
  otherwise pauses to think. Vary the order in 
  which you move from player to player, to keep 
  the players engaged and on their toes. 
  Allow players to observe scenes they aren’t 
  involved in. These döppelganger versions 
  don’t have any secrets they need to keep from 
  one another. Even players who are normally 
  restless when the focus is off them are likely 
  to pay rapt attention here, trying to ﬁ gure 
  out just what the heck this weird side game of 
  yours is all about. Proceed blithely on as they 
  voice their confusion. Cognitive dissonance is 
  the root of this story’s horror.
  
  70
  Each scene offers the focus character a choice between 
  selﬂ essness and Control. Play the devil’s advocate with 
  insidious gusto. Emphasize the beneﬁ ts the character will 
  gain if he succumbs. Enumerate the pressures a controlling 
  gesture will relieve. 
  All characters start the game with two-thirds of their 
  Willpower already spent — making Vice indulgences all 
  the more tempting. 
  Challenge yourself to eke maximum drama and excitement 
  from the most minimal of story elements. Imagine the afore-
  mentioned scene of the phone sex worker and the tantalizing ice 
  cream. How many steps can you break it into? What descriptive 
  details would help you hype it to epic proportions?
  When the decision resolves, the scene concludes. Leave the 
  deﬁ ning decision to the player; do not require rolls to resist.
  Characters who succumb to Control’s temptation in these 
  opening scenes gain one dot in a secret trait called Control. 
  There is no limit to the number of Control dots a character 
  can accumulate.
  Food, Drink and Sleep
  Throughout these early scenes, slip in as many 
  offhand references to the ex-mages eating and 
  drinking as you can manage without tipping your 
  hand. This provides an important clue to their 
  true condition. Oblique references work best. 
  You might describe a character clearing out a 
  half-dozen extra-large fast-food drink cups from 
  the back seat of her SUV, noticing that her fridge 
  is empty yet again, or gasping at the size of the 
  monthly grocery bill. Set as many scenes as you 
  can in restaurants or coffee shops, or in front of 
  soda machines and water fountains.
  Other inhabitants of Sutterton Farms do not 
  consume as much food and drink as the protag-
  onists do. The other inhabitants don’t comment 
  on the seemingly insatiable hunger and thirst of 
  the transformed members of the cabal, either.
  Orchestrated Cuts
  During the early sequences of this story, you can maintain 
  pacing and emphasize the characters’ loss of control and identity 
  through orchestrated cuts between scenes. Standard roleplay-
  ing practice gives the players control over pacing and scene 
  changes. They decide where to go and when. Scenes typically 
  end only when the players run out of actions to take.
  Here you should feel free to shift time and location as 
  needed to advance your scenes. Do you need an ex-mage 
  to leave his house so he can bump into his wish-fulﬁ llment 
  character? Just go ahead and announce it: 
  “An hour later, you go down to the supermarket to pick up 
  some ﬁ sh sticks. You’re pushing your cart down the aisle when 
  you see Wendy, the cute new employee at the copy shop.”
  As the example suggests, take the power to make minor deci-
  sions for the characters to maneuver them into the situations 
  you need. If that means you’re ﬁ lling in behavioral details such 
  as a taste for ﬁ sh sticks, so be it. These are assigned characters 
  and an experimental-seeming story: your players will be more 
  inclined to accept this violation of the usual power arrange-
  ment between Storyteller and player. However, once scenes 
  begin, cede all decision-making back to the player.
  Midway through the story, when the characters true identi-
  ties’ reassert themselves, drop this technique, returning to 
  the standard conventions that allow players to decide where 
  they go and when.
  Soothing Company
  After the characters conclude their ﬂ irtations with control 
  addiction, they then encounter the supporting characters who 
  represent their deepest yearnings. Because you’re inter-cutting 
  the ﬁ rst set of scenes, they may not all wrap up at the same time 
  —especially if some players succumb quickly and others hold 
  out until you run out of new ways to tempt them. Thus the wish 
  fulﬁ llment sequences may start earlier for some characters than 
  others. If a player ﬁ nished her ﬁ rst scene quickly, try to break up 
  the wish fulﬁ llment sequence into smaller parts, to create the 
  feeling that she’s getting her share of spotlight time. Alternately, 
  you could improvise a way, perhaps using the orchestrated cut 
  method (see sidebar), to give her character a walk-on role in 
  the control addiction sequence of another player.
  In each of the following scenes, the focus character is given an 
  opportunity for momentary but signiﬁ cant happiness, as brought 
  about by the wish fulﬁ llment character. To achieve these good 
  feelings, he must take an active step to overcome the source of 
  his own greatest discontent. However, happiness has its price: 
  it sets up the story’s ultimate conﬂ ict, in which the mages must 
  destroy the friends and loved ones they’ve bonded with.
  Build each scene as follows. Review the wish fulﬁ llment 
  character you’ve created for the mage in question. Ask what 
  it is in the mage’s real life that prevents her from achieving 
  her deepest yearning. When possible, locate this obstacle in 
  the mage’s own personality. Create a representation of this 
  psychodrama as a conﬂ ict in Sutterton Farms. As with the 
  previous scene, break it down into a series of sub-scenes that 
  develop, heighten and ﬁ nally resolve the conﬂ ict.
  For example, a mage may be in love with her stepbrother, 
  but be too ashamed to act on her quasi-incestuous feelings. 
  Here, her Sutterton Farms persona meets a wish fulﬁ llment 
  character who looks and sounds just like the stepbrother. 
  Here, too, she must overcome a sense of taboo to win her 
  love, but in Sutterton Farms the gravity of the obstacle is 
  diminished. Here he’s only a coworker at the daycare center, 
  which has a policy against staff fraternization. The scene 
  plays out the moment of conﬂ ict in which she must decide 
  between obeying the rules at her job or gaining happiness by 
  initiating a relationship, consequences be damned. 
  This sequence might break down as follows. In a set-up 
  scene, a conﬁ dant at work tells the wish fulﬁ llment char-
  acter that the object of her affections seems interested in 
  
  71
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  her, too. Then the conﬁ dant warns that the boss is on the 
  warpath over the company’s sexual harassment policy, and 
  may ﬁ re the character if she’s caught dating a colleague. In 
  scene two, the ex-mage bumps into her potential soul mate 
  outside of work and feels torn by a powerful, inexplicable 
  longing — as if she’s known him all her life. This scene gives 
  her the choice of approaching him, risking a minor breach 
  of the rules she lives by, or suppressing her feelings for him. 
  Subsequent scenes depend on her decision. If she chooses 
  desire, she must successfully hide her growing relationship 
  from her boss. If she chooses the rules, she ﬁ nds herself in a 
  series of situations in which her desire is again tweaked, until 
  she does something to drive him away once and for all.
  In addition to the following consequences, each time a 
  character overcomes a challenge to bond more fully with 
  a designated loved one, he gains one dot in a secret trait 
  called Wish Fulﬁ llment, kept track of by you. There is no 
  limit to the number of Wish Fulﬁ llment dots a character 
  can accumulate.
  Create crib notes for each of these sequences using the 
  following format:
  Wish fulﬁ llment character:
  What character represents to mage’s true self:
  Obstacle to happiness:
  Set-Up Scene:
  Conﬂ ict Scene:
  Consequences of embracing wish fulﬁ llment character:
  Consequences of rejecting wish fulﬁ llment character:
  Example 1:
  The short-form version of the above example would look 
  like this:
  Wish fulﬁ llment character: Brad Stover, coworker at 
  daycare center
  What character represents to mage’s true self: Her 
  stepbrother
  Obstacle to happiness: Need to obey the rules
  Set-Up Scene: Conﬁ dant says, “he likes you, but boss will 
  ﬁ re you if you go for it”
  Conﬂ ict Scene: Run into each other at the Laundromat
  Consequences of embracing wish fulﬁ llment character: 
  Having to hide rules transgression from the boss
  Consequences of rejecting wish fulﬁ llment character: 
  Continued heartache
  Example 2:
  Wish fulﬁ llment character: Ada Muncie, his mother
  What character represents to mage’s true self: Liberation 
  from his sense of abandonment by his real mother
  Obstacle to happiness: Ada is sick
  Set-Up Scene: Discover that Ada has been concealing 
  symptoms
  Conﬂ ict Scene: Convince her to seek treatment 
  Consequences of embracing wish fulﬁ llment character: 
  Must sacriﬁ ce other goals to be with her as she recovers
  Consequences of rejecting wish fulﬁ llment character: 
  Worsening isolation and alienation
  Example 3:
  Wish fulﬁ llment character: Jeff Blundeen, delinquent in 
  training
  What character represents to mage’s true self: His own 
  painful adolescence
  Obstacle to happiness: Jeff has learned to keep everyone at 
  a distance and isn’t looking for a mentor
  Set-Up Scene: Find Jeff committing act of vandalism
  Conﬂ ict Scene: Catch him planning a serious crime
  Consequences of embracing wish fulﬁ llment character: 
  Taking responsibility for a troubled kid
  Consequences of rejecting wish fulﬁ llment character: Jeff 
  is sent off to juvie
  Example 4:
  Wish fulﬁ llment character: Andrea Gold, head of Resi-
  dents’ Association
  What character represents to mage’s true self: Desire 
  for prestige and power
  Obstacle to happiness: If character can successfully 
  befriend Andrea, the character will become Andrea’s hand-
  picked successor to prestigious title
  Set-Up Scene: Vies for Andrea’s favor with ambitious 
  rival
  Conﬂ ict Scene: Andrea lets her guard down, seeking a 
  shoulder to cry on over her disintegrating marriage
  Consequences of embracing wish fulﬁ llment character: 
  Gains authority, but also responsibility for an increasingly 
  unstable Andrea
  Consequences of rejecting wish fulﬁ llment character: 
  Her rival is elected, embarks on a campaign of petty harass-
  ment against her
  Awarding Experience
  The characters’ false personae do not visibly 
  earn or spend experience points. Though not 
  at ﬁ rst apparent, their underlying mages’ true 
  selves still earn experience points. Secretly as-
  sign experience points at the end of any session 
  prior to the discovery that the World of Darkness 
  characters are disguised versions of the cabal. 
  In lieu of the points for the Learning Curve and 
  Heroism categories, assess up to three experi-
  ence points for roleplaying, where one point is 
  acceptable, two points is strong and three points 
  exceptional.
  As soon as the characters recover their memo-
  ries, award experience as usual. However, no 
  experience points may be spent until the charac-
  ters return to the Material Realm.
  
  72
  Perceiving the Dream
  Once you’ve established each character’s control-related 
  temptations and the relationships to friends and loved ones, 
  each of these story threads continues until the troupe begins 
  to suspect that there’s something strange about Sutterton 
  Farms, and that their characters may not be who the players 
  think they are.
  Because you’re using World of Darkness rules and character 
  sheets, the players will be waiting for the supernatural elements 
  of the story to manifest themselves. They’ll accept a little bit of 
  mundane drama as a setup for the horrors you have undoubtedly 
  planned for them. The players may not be sure if they’re waiting 
  on a vampire infestation, a werewolf attack or something else, 
  but they’ll be expecting something nasty. This out-of-character 
  expectation fuels the growing unease your players should feel 
  as the story continues. The weird thing about Sutterton Farms is 
  that there’s nothing weird going on at all. 
  Instead, you’ll continue to build on the ideas established 
  in the opening scenes. The characters encounter new forms 
  of their control temptations. Whenever they succumb, they 
  gain a new dot in the secret Control trait.
  The consequences of the characters’ interactions with 
  their loved ones also continue. If the characters fail to bond 
  with their loved ones, give the characters new opportunities, 
  or introduce new wish fulﬁ llment characters tailored to the 
  ex-mages’ current behavior. If they get closer to their loved 
  ones, create threats to their loved ones that intensify the 
  relationships even further. Every time these relationships 
  deepen, assign an additional dot to the characters’ secret 
  Wish Fulﬁ llment trait.
  Find ways to interweave the various developing plotlines, 
  as you’d see on a serious TV soap such as The Sopranos or 
  Six Feet Under. If one character’s mother is in the hospital, 
  another’s friend might be admitted, too. Bring loved ones 
  into conﬂ ict with other ex-mages. The delinquent protégé 
  of character A might throw a rock through the window of 
  character B. Use these intersecting plotlines to create con-
  nections between protagonists.
  As you extend the mundane drama of Sutterton Farms, 
  vary the mood between desperation and satisfaction. The 
  Omnium’s trap is compelling because it seems real. If it were 
  entirely hellish, the captives’ minds would rebel against it. 
  The same would hold true if it were too obviously perfect.
  Eventually, the players will start looking for the missing 
  mystery. The latent weirdness of Sutterton Farms can be 
  detected in any of the following ways:
  Absence of Occult References
  Players who suspect their characters are in a horror tale may 
  seek out references to the occult. The Scepter’s illusionary 
  reality has one major ﬂ aw. In the Scepter’s effort to prevent the 
  mages from recovering their magic, the Scepter has stripped 
  its imaginary world of all supernatural reference points. There 
  are no occult bookstores in any of the nearby towns. The mass 
  market booksellers don’t have occult sections. Magazine racks 
  are empty of all New Age, paranormal and Fortean titles. No 
  amount of channel-ﬂ ipping yields a documentary on witchcraft, 
  ESP or UFOs. Newspapers don’t have astrology features. Even 
  ﬁ ctional depictions of magicians are missing from this world: 
  no Harry Potter, no Bewitched, no Lord of the Rings.
  Internet searches reveal a similar absence of occult infor-
  mation. Supernatural terms yield zero results on any search 
  engine. The characters ﬁ nd themselves unable to recall URLs 
  of paranormal sites. A handful of images of book and DVD 
  covers can be found, but ﬁ les and texts are unavailable, even 
  on ﬁ le-sharing networks.  
  If asked, the inhabitants of Sutterton Farms have heard of 
  the occult, at least through its pop culture manifestations. They 
  don’t think, however, that there’s anything particularly odd 
  about the fact that none of the cable stations carry Charmed, 
  or that the video stores carry no fantasy titles. Also, they can-
  not be made to see that this is peculiar or alarming, under any 
  circumstances. Instead, they react to continued queries with 
  blithe disinterest, dismissing the subject as trivial. Characters 
  who continue to press it are regarded as mildly eccentric or 
  completely delusional, depending on their vehemence.   
  This is a major tip-off to the manufactured nature of the 
  characters’ reality, but the players lack an in-game reason for 
  pursuing it. When a player asks to look for information on the 
  occult, ask her to justify it. If the explanation is unconvinc-
  ing, forbid the character from pursuing this line of inquiry, 
  on the grounds that the player is bringing in out-of-character 
  knowledge. Clever players will then seek ways to logically 
  introduce the occult into the story, so that they’ll then be 
  able to justify the search. 
  Once a player has cobbled together a halfway-credible 
  explanation for an occult search, whether this occurs on 
  the ﬁ rst attempt or later, require her to roll Wits + Resolve, 
  with her Control trait as a penalty. This roll represents an 
  attempt on the part of the mage’s unconscious to reassert 
  itself and begin reassembling its buried identity. 
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: The character not only decides against 
  looking for occult materials, but concludes that their absence 
  is absolutely normal. No such materials have ever existed; to 
  look for them is a sign of mental illness. Require the player 
  to follow this directive to the best of his ability.
  Failure: Inform the player that the character has decided 
  to look for those things, but only later, after taking care of a 
  more urgent matter. Then supply a trivial reason, appropri-
  ate to that character, for the procrastination. For example, 
  the security guard may be distracted by the need to ﬁ le his 
  daily reports. Whenever the player asks again to look for 
  occult materials, the character instead goes off on another 
  absurd tangent. 
  Success: The character may now actively search out oc-
  cult materials.
  Exceptional Success: Per success, but the character also real-
  izes that outside inﬂ uence of unknown origin tried to prevent 
  him from even being curious about the occult.
  
  73
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  Note that all results, including extraordinary failure, tell 
  the players that something strange is happening. However, 
  unless they score a success, their characters don’t know it. This 
  split between player and character awareness is intentional, 
  in accordance with the unease this story is meant to evoke. 
  The split parallels the split between the mages’ real identities 
  and the false personae created by the Scepter.
  Hunger and Thirst
   Sutterton Farms is a death trap, keeping the mages’ souls oc-
  cupied while their bodies lie without food or water in a German 
  salt cave. Fortunately, the Scepter is unable to completely sever 
  the link between mind and soul. On a subconscious level, the 
  mages remain dimly aware of the slow physical deterioration of 
  their bodies. Their trapped astral forms respond to this buried 
  knowledge by drinking huge quantities of illusionary water and 
  gorging themselves on food that provides no nourishment. The 
  challenge for the characters is to become aware of this uncon-
  scious behavior and recognize its strangeness. If a player asks to 
  examine his character’s own behavior for peculiarities, allow a 
  Wits + Investigation roll. 
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: The character suffers a backlash effect 
  as the illusion attempts to reinforce itself against her efforts 
  to see through it. Roll Composure + Resolve; on a failure, the 
  character becomes neurotically attached to the idea of her 
  own normality, and that of the world around her. She suffers 
  a one-die penalty on all subsequent attempts to see through 
  the illusion of Sutterton Farms. When faced with irrefutable 
  proof of the illusion, she becomes agitated and suffers a one-die 
  penalty on all actions for the duration of the scene. 
  Failure: The character notices nothing peculiar about 
  her behavior.
  Success: The character realizes that she’s been consuming 
  huge quantities of food and drink, without ever satisfying 
  her hunger and thirst. 
  Exceptional Success: Per success, plus the character real-
  izes that all of the other ex-mages she’s been in contact with 
  have been exhibiting the same behavior. 
  Ideally, per the sidebar on p. 70, you have already been salting 
  your narration of early scenes with subliminal references to 
  food and drink, laying the groundwork for this revelation.
  The Ticking Clock
  As the mages’ transmuted astral forms wan-
  der about in Sutterton Farms, their bodies are 
  slowly dying of exposure and dehydration in a 
  chilly salt mine. (Malnutrition is taking a toll on 
  their bodies, too, but death by total starvation 
  takes anywhere from eight to 12 weeks. Thirst 
  will kill them long before then.)
  Every 24 hours, make secret Strength + Stam-
  ina rolls for each character to see if the charac-
  ter suffers damage from exposure. As soon as 
  characters fail a roll, they begin to take one point 
  of lethal damage per day. After that ﬁ rst failure, 
  the damage is automatic; no further rolls against 
  exposure occur.
  After four days have passed, the characters are 
  at risk of death by dehydration. Make a Stamina 
  roll every 24 hours, until the character fails. After 
  the failure, the character takes one point of lethal 
  damage per day, in addition to any damage from 
  exposure. As with exposure damage, this accrues 
  automatically after a single failure.
  If a character’s real body dies, his astral self 
  suffers an immediate, fatal collapse. The illusion 
  makes this seem like a heart attack, stroke or 
  other realistic cause of sudden death. With the 
  body dead, the soul cannot be revived. Particu-
  larly creative improvised spells might summon 
  the victim’s ghost.
  Dreamless Sleep
  Souls in the Astral Realm need no sleep. The characters 
  in Sutterton Farms sleep only to the extent necessary to 
  preserve the illusion of real life. However, if the characters 
  closely examine their sleep habits, they’ll notice some curi-
  ous anomalies. Any player asking about her character’s sleep 
  habits earns a Wits + Investigation roll.
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: Same as given above, for dramatic 
  failure at the “Hunger and Thirst” roll.
  Failure: Character notices nothing out of the ordinary 
  about her sleep habits.
  Success: The character realizes that she never seems to 
  dream. This isn’t normal sleep, in which one forgets almost 
  all of the details but retains a vague recollection of having 
  dreamt. There are no dreams, period. Oddly enough, she notes 
  none of the expected ill effects, such as anxiety or exhaustion, 
  associated with dreamless nights.
  Exceptional Success: The character is inspired to compare 
  sleep patterns with her loved ones and acquaintances. If she 
  follows through with other cabal members, she ﬁ nds that, 
  over the past few days, they all tend to fall asleep and wake 
  up at the same time.
  In fact, no one is sleeping at all; astral projections don’t 
  slumber. The illusion works to put its victims to bed at the 
  same time, then fast-forwards to the next morning in the 
  space of an instant. 
  Outside sources prove of little help in further investigating 
  this anomaly. The illusion attempts to realistically stall any 
  attempts to consult sleep experts. The characters will be forced 
  to make appointments many months in advance. Ofﬁ ces are 
  closed when they call, or they’ll be shunted to voicemail. 
  Characters can see their general practitioners but get no useful 
  insight from them. Books on the subject have been checked 
  
  74
  out of libraries and are out of stock at local bookstores. The 
  books can be ordered online but never arrive.
  No Wider World
  To maintain a complex illusion requires a great deal of 
  magical power. Even the Omnium cannot create an illusion 
  of unlimited scope. Similar to the setting of a video game, 
  the world outside Sutterton Farms only stretches so far. 
  The Omnium can ﬁ ll in additional details when necessity 
  demands, but only for brief periods. 
  This world consists of the gated community of Sutterton 
  Farms and a series of pretty, tree-lined roads 
  leading to a zone of exurban sprawl. 
  The zone’s bland and repetitive 
  architecture includes shopping 
  malls, plazas, schools, public in-
  stitutions and ofﬁ ce structures. If 
  the characters are not employed 
  in Sutterton Farms, they work in 
  this sprawl zone. Various sectors of 
  the sprawl bear dull, geographically un-
  tethered names such as Bellevue, Mill 
  Creek, Rockwood and Almondbrook. 
  (If you want, substitute the names of 
  the real bedroom communities outside 
  the city where your chronicle is set.)
  Characters who don’t work in the Sutterton Farms 
  enclave itself are employed nearby, in the sprawl. The 
  sprawl meets all of their everyday needs, from food to 
  services to shopping to entertainment. They need never 
  go outside the zone.
  If they do try to leave the sprawl — for example, to head 
  for a nearby big city — the illusion resists them. Its modus 
  operandi recalls one of those dreams in which you’re trying 
  to get somewhere but ﬁ nd a never-ending series of obstacles 
  frustrating your progress. Would-be escapees suffer engine 
  breakdowns, wrong turns, detours and road closures. Their 
  cell phones ring, informing them of crises big and small 
  requiring their attention back at Sutterton Farms. 
  Outside communication with the nonexistent wider world 
  is possible. It’s much easier for the illusion to generate a voice 
  on the other end of a phone line in Detroit than to create a 
  credible version of the Motor City for the characters to visit. 
  Images on television and the Internet are likewise fairly easy 
  for the Scepter to create. It’s only when the characters try to 
  physically leave the sprawl that the world steers them back 
  to their cozy, conformist homes.
  The illusion attempts to maintain itself with maximum 
  verisimilitude. The Scepter picks the least improbable 
  manner available to maneuver the characters toward home. 
  Stalling tactics only work in a pinch. When possible, the 
  illusion attempts to satisfy the underlying desire motivat-
  ing the characters to leave the illusion’s conﬁ nes. If they’re 
  heading to a big city to score some drugs, they ﬁ nd a local 
  supplier. If they want to talk to an academic, they discover 
  that an expert in the ﬁ eld is giving a lecture tomorrow night 
  at the local library.
  Even so, the players, depending on what their characters try 
  to do, may eventually see the gears and cogs moving, and realize 
  that their environment is arranging itself to keep them within 
  a small area. Though this insight is better left to player-level 
  deduction, you could allow a round of Wits + Investigation 
  rolls if the story has ground inextricably to a halt.
  Reawakening
  Your troupe may ﬁ nd an alternate way of discovering that 
  they’re living in an illusion, as plausible as any supplied here. 
  Allow the players to pursue this route, improvising appropri-
  ate challenges to their ultimate success.
  Whenever a player/character voices the possibility that 
  the characters are trapped in an unreal world, or that their 
  identities have been taken from them, he gets a chance 
  to glimpse the real situation. Secretly roll Wits + Gnosis, 
  where Wits is the current trait for the false persona and 
  Gnosis is the base character’s true number of dots.
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: The character resists all attempts to 
  see beyond the illusion. She cannot try this roll again, no 
  matter how many times her player voices the possibility 
  that Sutterton Farms is unreal. The character is incapable 
  of deﬁ nitely stating that the world is unreal (which would 
  otherwise unleash a full revelation; see below.) When 
  another character attempts to reawaken her (see below), 
  she refuses to accept the truth of his revelation. She gains 
  a three-dice bonus on her contested action to resist the 
  reawakening.
  Failure: Nothing happens.
  Success: The character shudders uneasily, as if someone 
  has just walked over her grave.
  Exceptional Success: The character experiences a 
  split-second vision of her real self lying sprawled out 
  in a dimly-lit cavern, face-ﬁ rst on a natural stone ﬂ oor 
  encrusted with salt crystals.
  The ﬁ rst time a player or character makes a deﬁ nite 
  statement that the world around the group is unreal, 
  or that he and others have had their identities 
  stolen, he experiences a shattering vision that 
  reveals the truth. No roll is required to experience 
  this initial vision:
  You are ﬂ oating near the ceiling of a small, dark cavern. It 
  smells of salt and urine. You look down and see a group of a 
  bodies sprawled on the ﬂ oor. They are arranged around a gilded, 
  altar-like construction, from which a jeweled Scepter juts. You 
  recognize one of the bodies as your own. 
  Interpolate your own narration here, describing the mages.
  The bodies are breathing shallowly but appear comatose. They 
  seem dehydrated and emaciated, and have voided their bladders. 
  You realize that these are the real selves of your friends and you. 
  You are not really in Sutterton Farms. You are in a cave some-
  where, and you are dying helplessly.
  
  75
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  Now hand the transitional character sheet to the player 
  experiencing the revelation. (As you’ll recall, this is the same 
  as the World of Darkness sheet for his false persona, except 
  with a Gnosis score added.)
  The other characters cannot experience this vision 
  simply by repeating the visionary’s statement. He must 
  reawaken them by persuading them of the truth of his 
  vision. How difﬁ cult this is depends on the extent of 
  their investment in the imaginary world. Reawakenings 
  play out as extended contests. The visionary makes an 
  Intelligence + Persuasion + Gnosis roll, contested by 
  the subject’s Resolve + Composure + Control + Wish 
  Fulﬁ llment.
  If the persuading mage prevails, the subject is awak-
  ened, experiencing the same vision. Resisting characters 
  who win their contests attach themselves even more 
  ﬁ rmly to the illusion. If their Wish Fulﬁ llment trait is 
  greater or equal to their Control trait, they laugh off 
  the revelation as a crazy joke, and are incapable of 
  taking it seriously. If their Control trait exceeds their 
  Wish Fulﬁ llment, they react with fear and vehemence, 
  viewing the visionary as dangerously mad. Instruct 
  affected players to play these responses to the best of 
  their abilities.
  Additional reawakenings may be attempted after a 
  failed attempt. However, each new attempt must in 
  some way change the circumstances of the encounter. 
  A new character can make the attempt; characters 
  awakened by another mage can then go on to at-
  tempt reawakenings of their own. If a change in 
  personnel fails, the mages may have to under-
  take more radical measures to break down 
  a subject’s false identity. As they regain 
  their spells and use them to reshape their 
  astral environment, they can attempt 
  reawakenings with displays of obvious, 
  vulgar power. They might improvise 
  magic to suppress a subject’s Control 
  dots. (The Mind Arcana would be 
  especially appropriate to this task.)
  More extreme methods of personal-
  ity breakdown may prove effective. If 
  the players get stuck for ideas, invite 
  them to make Intelligence + Intimida-
  tion rolls; on a success, provide them 
  with the following suggestions: 
  Reawakened mages may choose to 
  subject illusion-addled colleagues to depro-
  gramming techniques, isolating them in an 
  interrogation-style setting and attempting to 
  break down their false personalities. Doses of 
  hallucinogenic drugs might also do the trick. 
  Torture is an even faster method to achieve per-
  sonality breakdown. Assign a bonus of one to three dice 
  for credibly invasive methods. Even when performed 
  for the subject’s own good, such harsh treatments con-
  stitute acts of Hubris. 
  Every time characters successfully resist reawaken-
  ing, their attachment to their false identities grows 
  stronger: they gain another dot in Control. Successive 
  failed attempts therefore increase the difﬁ culty of the 
  procedure.
  Prolonged deprogramming efforts are noticed and 
  actively resisted by the Scepter’s astral world. Nosy 
  neighbors happen by to free restrained subjects. The cops 
  may interrupt the cabal’s LSD buy in a strip mall parking 
  lot. The community’s security detail takes a dim view of 
  screams emanating from ongoing torture sessions.
  Missing Time
  The mages regain their Gnosis scores when they learn 
  to see Sutterton Farms as a false reality. To regain their 
  Arcana and the spells that ﬂ ow from them, they’ll have 
  to remember who they really are. They can do this by 
  ﬁ guring out how they got into the salt cave.
  The characters’ lost memories come back in stages, 
  working backwards in time from their imprisonment 
  
  76
  in the Scepter’s hiding place to the point at which 
  they ﬁ rst began to search for the Artifact. When they 
  uncover this last set of memories, their entire identi-
  ties come back, too. Then they can begin the process 
  of regaining access to their Arcana.
  Whenever the characters begin to access their lost memo-
  ries, the Omnium resists. As with any extended reawakening 
  attempts, inhabitants of the world work to distract and 
  frustrate the characters as they jog their memories. The 
  Omnium can even marshal its creation’s inanimate objects 
  to its cause. The illusion could cause a car to crash into the 
  house where the group is meditating, or send in a team of 
  ﬁ reﬁ ghters in response to a false alarm. 
  When the recollections stop ﬂ owing, the efﬁ cacy of the 
  method used to recover them ends. The cabal members must 
  then ﬁ nd a new method, which in turn works until the world 
  interrupts them again. 
  While the players ﬁ rst mull possible methods of memory 
  recovery, allow all participants an Intelligence + Medicine + 
  Gnosis roll. If the roll is successful, the character realizes that 
  freshness of mind is an advantage, and that each character 
  should attempt memory recovery in turn. 
  The ﬁ rst time a given character delves for lost recollections, 
  he gains a one-die bonus. On the second try, the attempt 
  is unmodiﬁ ed. On each attempt after the third, he suffers a 
  cumulative one-die penalty. For this reason, it is better for all 
  of the characters to attempt memory recovery in turn.
  Speciﬁ c methods of memory recovery include the following:
  Meditation: The character achieves a state of inner calm and 
  quietly focuses on her desire for additional memories. Success 
  on a Resolve + Gnosis roll yields one memory snippet. 
  Sense Memory: The subject stimulates memory by evoking 
  a sensation from the original vision of the salt cave. This 
  can involve exposure to cold, or to the smell of salt or urine. 
  Success required: Stamina + Gnosis.
  Muscle Memory: The subject arranges himself in the 
  exact position he saw in the salt-cave vision, triggering a 
  memory. Success 
  required: Dexter-
  ity + Gnosis.
  Hypnosis: A facilitating character places the subject in a 
  hypnotic trance. The hypnotist must score an Intelligence 
  + Medicine success.
  Sensory Deprivation: The subject cuts himself off from all 
  sensory input for several hours. Success required: Stamina 
  + Gnosis.
  Drugs: The subject stimulates his memory with a halluci-
  nogenic drug. Note that the illusionary realm may waste the 
  characters’ precious time by confronting them with a series of 
  obstacles if they go out hunting for a suitable mind-altering 
  substance. Success required: Stamina + Gnosis.
  Limits of Illusion
  You might ask yourself why, as the mages 
  challenge the astral reality of their surroundings, 
  the Scepter’s illusion plays fair with them at all. 
  Why does it give them even a chance of ﬁ nding 
  hallucinogenic drugs? Why doesn’t the illusion 
  attack them with a phalanx of riot police or 
  thugs summoned from the ether? 
  The answer is that, similar to the creator of 
  a work of ﬁ ction, the illusion must pay heed to 
  its audience’s willing suspension of disbelief. 
  The world of Sutterton Farms is drawn from the 
  characters’ own memories. If anything too bizarre 
  or dreamlike happens, they’ll see through the 
  illusion immediately, possibly spontaneously 
  recovering their memories and control over their 
  Arcana. The more plastic reality seems, the easier 
  it becomes for them to realize that they, too, can 
  manipulate their illusionary environment. Only in 
  a few minor areas — the absence of occult materi-
  als — is it worth the risk to depart signiﬁ cantly 
  from mundane reality as the magicians know it. 
  
  77
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  Séance: The magicians can use the trappings of spiritualism, 
  even a homemade Ouija board, to contact their subconscious 
  minds. Success required: Intelligence + Gnosis.
  Trauma: The character submits to a beating violent enough 
  to cast him into a state of altered consciousness. Success 
  required: Gnosis with a bonus of X, where X is the number 
  of points of bashing damage endured in the attempt.
  Shock: The subject places herself in a situation of 
  physical danger so acute as to trigger an adrenaline 
  rush — not the minor thrill of a bungee jump, 
  but a soul-wrenching confrontation with likely 
  death. She might electrocute herself, endure a car 
  accident or allow her colleagues to drown and then 
  revive her. Success required: Stamina + Gnosis.
  If the players run out of ideas, characters can 
  roll Intelligence + Science. Each success suggests a 
  method they haven’t thought of. 
  Allow any credible-seeming methods not on the 
  above list.
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: The character internalizes the Scepter’s 
  fear of exposure and develops an anxiety reaction to all future 
  attempts to recover memories, which now face a two-dice 
  penalty. This is in addition to any other penalties accrued, 
  including those from previous dramatic failures.
  Failure: No memory is recovered.
  Success: The character recovers the next memory during 
  the sequence of ﬂ ashbacks listed below.
  Exceptional Success: The character recovers the next 
  two available ﬂ ashback sequences.
  Flashback Sequences
  These sequences are presented in précis form so you can ﬂ esh 
  them out with details appropriate to your group. Alter any strate-
  gies your players be unlikely to employ. Have them overcome 
  the described obstacles using their favorite tactics and spells. 
  At the same time, keep the details fuzzy in the early ﬂ ashback 
  sequences. Even if your players suspect the upcoming revelation, 
  try to preserve the mystery and suspense for as long as you can. 
  This description assumes a default chronicle of world-spanning 
  metaphysical intrigue. You may need to change the description 
  substantially if your chronicle does not ﬁ t this model.
  Sequence One: The mages bash open an old wooden door 
  and enter the salt cavern. They advance slowly on a golden 
  Scepter contained in a glass vitrine. One of the group care-
  fully checks the area for possible booby traps. Another raises 
  a hammer to smash the case. Then everyone in the room 
  suffers a painful convulsion. The characters see themselves 
  falling to the ﬂ oor. Everything goes black.
  Sequence Two: The characters, in black paramilitary gear, 
  burst out of an elevator, to confront a group of startled 
  security guards. The characters, using their standard modus 
  operandi for an invasive operation, quickly overcome the 
  guards. They pull out a map, check it with a ﬂ ashlight and 
  head to an old wooden door.
  Sequence Three: The characters cut their way through a 
  chain-link fence. It’s night. Behind the fence is a lonely, 
  decrepit-looking industrial or military installation. It seems 
  abandoned. It’s cold and damp. The surrounding area is 
  forested. The signage on the fence is in German. (For those 
  who read the language, it translates as: Private Property, 
  Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted.)
  Sequence Four: The group emerges, scratched and shaken, 
  from a wrecked van. They check on the driver’s condition. 
  He’s a thin, bald man in a black turtleneck sweater and 
  worn jeans. He’s also very dead, his neck broken, his face 
  bloodied. Beside him is a metal briefcase. After a short de-
  bate, one of the group takes the briefcase and moves toward 
  a chain-link fence. 
  Sequence Four: The group sits in the back of a van, driven 
  by a thin bald man with an unappealingly lumpy head. He 
  chain-smokes French cigarettes and sings old Soviet propa-
  ganda songs. The van drives down a muddy road through a 
  temperate forest. Suddenly, there is an explosion under the 
  tires. The van ﬂ ies up into the air.
  Sequence Five: The group gets out of a cab and waits in 
  front of an abandoned inn. The signs are all in German. A 
  van drives up. The bald man gets out. The group gives him 
  the metal briefcase. He opens it; it contains a heavily tat-
  tooed human hand. The man examines the hand, nods and 
  ushers the group into the van.
  Sequence Six: The group enters a cluttered antique shop. 
  A sour-faced, obese, older woman looks at them through a 
  strange spyglass. Eventually, she nods and invites them into an 
  even more cluttered back room. She hands them the briefcase 
  and a map to a deserted road in the northern German state 
  of Schleswig-Holstein, near the Danish coast.
  
  78
  Sequence Seven: The group moves through the streets of 
  what seems to be a German city. They evade a troupe of 
  suspicious-looking street performers, who are looking at the 
  characters too intently. Lost, they wander around until they 
  ﬁ nd an antiques shop, and stride purposefully in.
  Sequence Eight: The group’s contact tells them that he’s 
  got a lead for them on the Scepter they’re looking for. All 
  they have to do is meet with an ally in the northern Ger-
  man city of Kiel. The contact takes a picture of each of 
  them with a Polaroid camera, then writes their names on 
  the cardboard borders. “I’m not sure what this means, but 
  there’s apparently a risk you’ll lose yourselves. So here’s a 
  reminder of who you are.” The character experiencing the 
  ﬂ ashback sees his or her image and name. Suddenly his or 
  her true identity, and the identities of the rest of the group, 
  come ﬂ ooding back.
  Assembling the Answers
  From this set of memories, the willworkers should be able to 
  work out what has happened to them. They must understand 
  the nature of their trap in order to escape it.
  The players may ﬁ gure out that the Scepter has trapped 
  them in an Astral Realm in the Temenos on their own. 
  Failing that, they can ﬁ gure it out an Intelligence + Gnosis 
  roll. A little later, when the mages have awakened their 
  Arcana, they can use them to gather suggestive clues or, 
  in some cases, divine the truth outright. When the mages 
  recover their dots in Occult, they can make Intelligence + 
  Occult rolls.
  Reawakening Arcana
  Once the characters remember that they used to be 
  mages, expect their ﬁ rst item of business to be the recovery 
  of their powers.
  To recover full or partial use of an Arcanum, characters must 
  engage in a symbolic ritual invoking the Arcanum’s symbolism. 
  Any appropriately dramatic and interesting ritual provides some 
  chance of success. Characters may participate in a group ritual to 
  recover use of the same Arcanum. A ritual loses its boundary-break-
  ing emotional potency after its ﬁ rst use; after that, a new ritual 
  must be devised to recover additional dots in the same Arcanum. 
  Rituals might center on activities such as the following:
  Death: Characters might exhume a grave, have themselves 
  buried alive or kill an (apparently) living creature
  Fate: Play Russian roulette, engage in a high-stakes poker game, 
  attempt a Houdini-style escape from a water-ﬁ lled cofﬁ n
  Forces: Set one’s own house on ﬁ re, base jump from a tall 
  building, lash oneself to a tree during a lightning storm
  Life: Rescue a wounded animal from a busy highway, engage 
  in potentially procreative sex, protect a tree from the axe
  Matter: Ingest a variety of inert substances, get bludgeoned by 
  clubs made of various materials, drive a car into a brick wall
  Mind: Employ mental concentration to ignore the pain 
  while holding one’s hand smoldering over a candle, spend 
  hours in sensory isolation, devour a human brain
  Prime: Defend the rituals of one’s colleagues against at-
  tack by interlopers, disturb the rituals of one’s colleagues, 
  reconstruct a magical text from memory
  Spirit: Dance ecstatically (wearing a mask resembling a spirit 
  encountered in previous chapters), fast until a hallucination 
  of an animal totem is triggered, go on hallucinogenic trip 
  and attempt to interact with archetypal ﬁ gures
  Space: Complete a dangerous obstacle course, run a de-
  bilitating marathon, shoot a difﬁ cult target
  Time: Attempt to perform a difﬁ cult task within a strict 
  time limit, expose oneself to the elements while staked to 
  a sundial
  The base roll for any of these attempts should be based on 
  an Attribute and Skill combination relevant to the activity 
  performed + Gnosis. When no obvious roll presents itself, use 
  Resolve + Composure + Gnosis. In either case, the ritualist’s 
  dots in Control are used as a penalty.
  The more emotionally potent the activity, the greater the 
  chance of success. The following bonuses apply to the roll 
  concluding any ritual:
  •Involves physical risk to the mage’s astral persona: +1 
  to +3 dice, depending on severity of risk and possible harm, 
  where +1 risks a few points of bashing damage and +3 brings 
  a signiﬁ cant chance of death
  •Includes deﬁ nite self-inﬂ icted harm: +1 per two points of 
  bashing damage, +2 per two points of lethal damage
  •Involves physical risk to a loved one: +1 to +3 
  •Is emotionally fraught, risking humiliation, loss of control, 
  rejection or other strong negative emotions: +1 to +2 
  •Is an act of Hubris requiring a Wisdom roll: +4
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: Characters who have already recovered a 
  dot or more in the Arcanum in question now lose one dot. 
  Failure: No result.
  Success: Character regains one dot in the desired Arcanum.
  Exceptional Success: Character regains all lost dots in 
  the desired Arcanum.
  Most players will quickly start experimenting in an at-
  tempt to regain their powers. After a few failed attempts to 
  work spells, they’ll likely come to the ritual idea on their 
  own. If they remain stumped, allow a round of Intelligence 
  + Wits + Gnosis rolls to provide the crucial inspiration. Do 
  likewise if no one guesses that upping the stakes of a ritual 
  increases its efﬁ cacy.
  Reawakening Traits
  Other traits return in tandem with recovered Arcana dots. 
  For each character, make a note of the total number of Arcana 
  dots to be recovered, and make note of thresholds for the 
  one-third and two-thirds mark. When characters recover 
  one-third of their Arcana dots, their Power and Resistance 
  Attributes return to normal. When characters recover two-
  thirds of their Arcana dots, they regain their Resistance 
  Attributes and Social Skills. When they fully recover their 
  
  79
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  Arcana dots, they regain their Mental and Physical Skills, as 
  well as their lost Flaws and any Merits that might logically 
  apply to the exurban world of Sutterton Farms.
  Skin Deep
  At this point, the real characters’ appearances return to 
  normal. Flabby security guards transform into buff Special 
  Forces types. Frustrated housewives regain their status as al-
  luring sirens. Forbidden ethnicities resurface. These changes 
  reﬂ ect the full recovery of the imprisoned cabal members’ 
  self-images.
  Physical possessions, on the other hand, do not return. The ex-
  Navy SEAL still lacks his full arsenal. Magical tools, enchanted 
  items and other props of the sorcerer’s trade are still edited out 
  by the Sutterton Farms environment. (They can be recovered 
  with further effort, though; see “Seizing the Dream,” below.)
  Residents of Sutterton Farms generally take no notice 
  of the characters’ changed appearances. They’ll still re-
  late to them as the pudgy rent-a-cops, soccer moms and 
  bedraggled salary workers they used to be. Perhaps more 
  disturbingly, the physical environment continues to reassert 
  these discarded, frumpy identities. When characters look 
  in mirrors, they see their fake selves staring dully back at 
  them. The same is true when the character is photographed 
  or videotaped.
  Mages unprepared for this effect may suffer an identity 
  backslide when they ﬁ rst encounter it; see below. 
  The Farms Strike Back
  The Scepter monitors the characters’ activities and quickly 
  recognizes when they’re working to regain their Arcana. It 
  responds with a series of interruptions and obstructions.
  As much as it can, it conﬁ nes the nature of these obstacles to 
  the quotidian reality the Scepter has already established. 
  First, it attempts to continue the storylines the characters 
  involved themselves in while mired in their false selves. It 
  plays on their emotions, either negative or positive. If a mage 
  established a relationship of power and control over a Sutterton 
  Farms denizen, the Scepter’s programming contrives a situation 
  in which the character must choose between recovering his 
  magic or allowing his control to slip. If the willworker-turned-
  enclave security guard was making it his business to hassle a 
  gang of young delinquents, the ne’er-do-wells now zoom by 
  him, breaking the speed limit on their way to commit an act 
  of vandalism. A mage who’s spent her time in Sutterton Farms 
  obsessing over her ﬁ rm’s paperwork gets an urgent call from 
  a harried underling, telling her that the company’s back-up 
  hard drives have undergone a critical failure.
  Characters must make Resolve + Composure – Control rolls 
  when refusing these opportunities to satisfy their control addic-
  tions. On a failure, they become distracted, suffering a one-die 
  penalty on any rolls made during that scene to recover lost Ar-
  cana. On a dramatic failure, the penalty is three dice. Naturally, 
  characters are free to postpone their identity recovery efforts to 
  go off and deal with these threats to their sense of dominance. 
  The Omnium 
  Although this text periodically refers to the Scepter 
  doing this or that, it is not sentient. Rather, its shad-
  owy makers programmed it with a complex series 
  of self-defense mechanisms, called an Omnium, 
  to prevent the Scepter from falling into non-Exarch 
  hands. The Omnium merely runs a series of pre-
  determined responses to the cabal’s actions. Think 
  of the Omnium as an pre-technological computer 
  program, powered by spells instead of a mother-
  board, hard drive and operating system. Many of 
  the Scepter’s speciﬁ c choices are plucked from the 
  characters’ own minds. When it senses that its pris-
  oners are acting against it, the program searches the 
  mages’ minds to ﬁ nd the most effective and credible 
  action the environment could take against them.
  Once the Scepter is ﬁ nally grasped and used, 
  the Omnium goes dormant. It reactivates only 
  when all of the magicians who have ever used 
  it die. Once more, it uses its automated defenses 
  to trap any willworkers who approach it, unless 
  they’re already willing servitors of the Exarchs.
  The Omnium is sophisticated, but its program-
  ming can’t foresee every eventuality. Flaws in the 
  scheme, which may allow the characters to defeat 
  the Omnium, can be chalked up to failures of fore-
  sight on the part of the Omnium’s original creators.
  A user of the wand who experienced the events 
  of this story can later cobble together the above 
  theory on a successful Intelligence + Occult roll. 
  When appeals to control addiction fail or prove difﬁ cult 
  to contrive, loved ones contact the characters, reporting 
  increasingly desperate crises. These scenes are also tailored 
  to the loved ones in question and the inner conﬂ icts they 
  represent. A character who established a nurturing relation-
  ship with a troubled daughter receives a phone call from her, 
  announcing that she’s swallowed an entire bottle of sleeping 
  pills. A character desperate for the respect of artistic peers gets 
  a surprise, last-minute invite to join the area’s top painters 
  at an impromptu gallery reception, and so on.
  Scenes with loved ones are be calculated, whenever pos-
  sible, to provoke identity backslides (see below).
  To turn down a plea for help from a loved one requires a 
  supreme act of will, as represented by a Resolve + Composure 
  + Wish Fulﬁ llment roll. Even if the characters suspect intel-
  lectually that these are not real people, the characters ﬁ nd 
  this fact difﬁ cult to accept emotionally.
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: Characters immediately obey their 
  loved ones’ requests. When and if the characters return to 
  their Arcana-recovery rituals, they remain distracted by their 
  
  80
  loved ones’ suffering. Characters take a two-dice penalty on 
  all rolls to recover lost Arcana.
  Failure: Characters immediately obey their loved 
  ones’ requests.
  Success: Characters successfully repress the impulse to help 
  their loved ones, and may continue what they’re doing. 
  Exceptional Success: Characters ignore the request, success-
  fully hardening their hearts against future entreaties. Similar 
  requests in future scenes are resisted with a two-dice bonus.
  Both control addiction and loved ones scenes should 
  continue to thread through this section of the story. Draw-
  ing on the willworkers’ knowledge of soap operas and other 
  serial narrative forms, the Omnium improvises its dramatic 
  developments to unfold out of one another, as the resolution 
  to one crisis brings about a new situation, which then leads 
  into a fresh crisis. The Scepter does its best to run out the 
  clock, confounding the mages with compelling distractions, 
  so that they’ll be unable to regain their powers — or worse, 
  begin to consciously manipulate their astral environment 
  — before their bodies back in the Material Realm die.
  When the Omnium is unable to create credible interper-
  sonal scenes, it resorts to other obstacles that would otherwise 
  arise from the cabal’s weird ritual activities as the characters 
  attempt to restore their Arcana:
  Sutterton Farms security guards show up to beam ﬂ ashlights 
  in their faces and ask contemptuous questions when the 
  characters trespass, disturb the peace, break noise regulations, 
  endanger themselves or otherwise ﬂ out the development’s 
  strictly conformist rules of social conduct. Refusals to obey 
  development security result in calls to the police, who show 
  up in force, sirens wailing, SWAT teams at the ready.
  Rituals may be interrupted long before they reach the point 
  of legal intervention. Friendly neighbors stroll up to shoot the 
  breeze. Pesky kids attempt to tag along. Cell phones ring at 
  concentration-shattering moments. Physical props necessary 
  to the ritual fail in undramatic but frustrating ways: guns jam, 
  shovels break, tanks of gas turn out to be empty.
  To a person, Sutterton Farms residents react with extreme 
  distress to claims that their world is unreal or that the characters 
  are sorcerers from another plane of existence. Such claims cause 
  exquisite and obvious pain to a character’s loved ones.
  The Omnium energetically contrives to have at least one 
  of its prisoners committed to psychiatric evaluation, either 
  after apprehension by law enforcement or at the behest of 
  a worried loved one. An earnest psychiatrist listens with 
  worried brow to the character’s attempts to explain his 
  bizarre behavior. Characters unwise enough to mention 
  that this world is an illusion, that their identities are unreal 
  or (worst of all) that they’re really magicians from another 
  plane of reality are considered delusional, and signed over 
  for permanent institutionalization. Even more dangerously, 
  characters may be persuaded that their memories of being 
  willworkers questing for a legendary Scepter are delusional. 
  The agent of persuasion is a white-coated font of genuine 
  concern named Dr. Alan Driver.
  Dr. Alan Driver
  Quote: You’re clearly very intelligent, but a high IQ is no 
  protection against mental illness.
  Worried illusionary mental health professional Dr. Alan 
  Driver approaches his patients with a weary sense of concern 
  and an indomitable determination to see the mentally ill get the 
  very best treatment contemporary pharmacology permits.
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 4, Resolve 4
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 5, Manipulation 3, Com-
  posure 4
  Mental Skills: Academics 4, Computer 2, Investigation 
  2, Medicine 4, Science 3
  Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Drive 2
  Social Skills: Empathy 4, Persuasion 4, Socialize 3
  Willpower: 8
  Pit Driver’s Presence + Medicine versus the character’s 
  Resolve + Composure – Wish Fulﬁ llment. If a character 
  with psychiatric experience attempts to use it in the inter-
  view, his own knowledge of delusional disorders forces him 
  to acknowledge that his behavior perfectly ﬁ ts a diagnosis 
  of schizophrenia. His dots in Medicine are applied to the 
  shrink’s roll as the character becomes an accomplice to his 
  own permanent assignment to the mental ward.
  If he wins the contest, the character suffers an identity 
  backslide (see below.) Apply the difference between his 
  successes and the resisting character’s successes as a penalty 
  to the mage’s roll against Identity Backslide.
  Identity Backslides
   As the mages readjust to their true selves, the willworkers’ 
  original identities may seem unfamiliar, even arbitrary. In 
  moments of weakness, some may prefer their false personae 
  to their real identities. During these moments of drifting ego 
  identiﬁ cation, they run the risk of reverting, momentarily or 
  permanently, to their old identities. Ego shifts may be pro-
  voked by images of their old selves (especially if glimpsed in 
  a mirror or seen in a photograph taken after their recovery; 
  see above), by crises of conscience or by encounters with 
  loved ones. Any incident that makes the dulled existence of 
  Sutterton Farms seem more appealing than continued life as 
  a mage may, at your discretion, trigger an episode. Characters 
  must always roll to check for identity backslides when their 
  players unfavorably compare a real identity’s circumstances 
  to that of the mundane incarnation.
  To avoid an identity backslide, roll Resolve + Composure 
  + Gnosis. Apply Wish Fulﬁ llment as a penalty. Further penal-
  ties apply if the character: 
  • has been surprised by the revelation that his reﬂ ection/
  photographic image has not updated to his true form: –1
  • has recently committed an act of Hubris: –2
  • has yet to work magic since identity recovery: –1
  • seems more likeable or sympathetic in false identity than 
  in real one (as determined by Storyteller): –2
  
  81
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: Character reverts entirely to his false 
  form, returning to the conﬁ guration on the World of Darkness 
  character sheet handed out at the beginning of the story. 
  Character again loses all memory of his real self.
  Failure: Per dramatic failure, but the effect lasts only until 
  end of scene. 
  Success: No effect.
  Exceptional Success: Character is heretofore immune 
  from further identity backslides.
  Characters may, through an act of will, deliberately revert 
  to their false identities. A Resolve + Gnosis + Wish Fulﬁ ll-
  ment + Control roll is required.
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: Character returns to her false form 
  permanently, again forgetting her real self. Traits return to 
  the conﬁ guration given on the World of Darkness character 
  sheet handed out at the beginning of the story.
  Failure: Character fails to transform.
  Success: Character transforms back to false form, and can 
  return to real self on a Resolve + Composure + Gnosis roll 
  that exceeds the number of successes scored during the roll 
  to revert to false form. One such roll is permitted per scene. 
  Character retains all memories of her true self.
  Exceptional Success: Until she escapes from Sutterton 
  Farm, character gains permanent ability to shift from one 
  form to the other.
  Using Arcana in Sutterton Farms
  Willworkers face the following alterations to their magical 
  capabilities while using their Arcana in the Scepter’s Astral 
  Realm. Most alterations are limitations, but a few work in the 
  willworkers’ favor. These would not, for the most part, apply if 
  the mages’ souls were freely traveling through the Temenos.
  Death: There are no ghosts or genuinely dead people here 
  — just illusions. Even the personae of the magicians are il-
  lusionary. Their real bodies are dying back in the Material 
  Realm. There is still energy, however, so most effects based 
  on the decay or entropy of abstract forces still apply.
  Fate: No changes.
  Forces: Though unreal, the Forces here are meant to re-
  semble those of the Material Realm. The magician can still 
  target them, but at a two-dice penalty.
  Life: Life spells may be used on the mage’s false personae. 
  Other inhabitants of Sutterton Farms are illusions, not living 
  beings or the souls thereof. However, because the inhabitants 
  resemble living beings, the characters maintain a mystic 
  correspondence to them, and can still be affected, albeit at 
  two-dice penalty to all spell rolls.
  Matter: There is no real Matter here, but the Matter mage 
  is still able to manipulate its illusionary equivalents, but with 
  a two-dice penalty.
  Mind: After the willworker realizes that the people here are 
  complex illusions, their minds become easier to dominate. 
  Most Mind effects targeting them enjoy a two-dice bonus.
  Prime: The apparently living inhabitants of this astral real-
  ity are in fact complex illusions. Any Life spell that targets 
  a living person in the Material Realm can be wielded as a 
  Prime spell in regard to Sutterton Farm residents, animals 
  and plants. If one of these illusions apparently dies, any 
  Death spell that would target their equivalents in the Mate-
  rial Realm can be used as a Prime spell here. If the wielder 
  of an equivalent Prime spell is already a practitioner of Life 
  or Death (depending on the spell being used), the spell is 
  cast at a bonus of 2.
  Spirit: Although spirits can be found in astral space, the 
  Scepter has kept them out of Sutterton Farms. There is no 
  Twilight here. Any effect dependent on either spirits or Twilight 
  remains impossible even when this Arcanum is awakened.
  Space: Space may not be used to escape from the Temenos. 
  Objects cannot be moved from the Material Realm to the 
  astral plane. Objects, souls or entities could presumably be 
  imported from elsewhere in the Astral Realm, but at a penalty 
  of two to four dice on spell rolls. 
  Time: Attempts to glimpse the past of Sutterton Farms 
  yield only a misty blankness.
  Solving the Mystery with Magic
  Characters may not have completely ﬁ gured out where 
  they are as their Arcana return to them. Even if they know 
  the basic outlines of their dilemma, they’ll likely attempt to 
  gain further information through the use of their powers. The 
  following is a non-exclusive list of ways in which spells can 
  be used to penetrate the mystery of Sutterton Farms.
  Death: All attempts to locate or contact ghosts fail. This 
  is an area with absolutely no ghosts, and no Twilight. Death 
  magic worked on apparently slain Sutterton Farms residents 
  has no effect, because they never really lived in the ﬁ rst place. 
  Attempts to sever or manipulate their souls fail; the inhabitants 
  don’t have souls. All of these facts are very strange, suggesting 
  that the characters are somewhere other than Earth. 
  Fate: The “Interconnections” spell reveals that all residents 
  of Sutterton Farms are connected to all members of the cabal. 
  Only those residents who are already known to have obvious 
  relationships to one another display interconnections under 
  the spell. This points to the fact that all of these people have 
  been dredged from the memories of the protagonists.
  However, if the willworkers then do something to cause 
  residents to claim a pre-existing relationship, an intercon-
  nection then appears. For example, a character performs 
  “Interconnections” on a resident, and ﬁ nds only connections 
  to members of the cabal. She then asks the resident what 
  his hobbies are. The illusion creates an answer that it didn’t 
  have before. “Poker,” the resident replies. The character 
  then asks who the guy’s poker buddies are. He names three 
  other residents. If an “Interconnections” spell were then 
  performed on him, these connections would now show 
  up. This strongly suggests that the environment is a sort of 
  Potemkin world, developing its details only as needed, in 
  response to their probing.
  
  82
  Life: “Sense Life” reveals only the presence of the willworkers, 
  and even then as dim sparks of life force inside unliving shells. 
  When “Sense Life” is cast on other residents in plain sight, they 
  light up as neither alive nor undead. They’re not spirits, or ghosts. 
  They simply fail to register.
  Note that this realization can be disastrous to the will-
  worker’s use of the Life Arcanum. If he believes the residents, 
  creatures and plants of Sutterton Farms to be alive, the world 
  will react in kind, reshaping itself as if he successfully used his 
  magic to affect them. Once he knows they’re not alive, the 
  world responds to his altered expectations, and Life becomes 
  essentially useless within its false conﬁ nes. 
  Mind: Sutterton Farms characters register to mind-reading 
  spells as if they have full consciousness. Their minds can be read 
  and manipulated, and their auras examined. However, the ability 
  of the illusion to realistically detail the thoughts and feelings of 
  its inhabitants is somewhat limited. Whenever a spell, such as 
  “Sense Consciousness,” allows the worker direct contact with a 
  resident’s mind, roll seven dice. These reﬂ ect the illusion’s ability 
  to generate a realistic false consciousness. If the successes on 
  this roll are less than the successes scored by the mage working 
  the spell, the mage senses that the intelligences he’s contacting 
  are complex simulations of real human minds.
  After this revelation, the worker gains power over these 
  less-than-complete consciousnesses. He gains a two-dice 
  bonus on all later spells involving contact with the minds 
  of Sutterton Farms inhabitants.
  Prime: Using the “Discern” spell reveals the entire environ-
  ment as an insubstantial, swirling, foggy space without horizon 
  or reference points. Occasionally, surreal, dream-like images 
  ﬂ oat by. These are always manifestations of Jungian archetypes, 
  often in iconic pop culture forms. On one attempt, the mage 
  might see Marilyn Monroe standing over a steam grate ﬁ ghting 
  to keep her skirt in place, as in her famous scene from The 
  Seven-Year Itch. On a subsequent attempt, the serial killer 
  Ed Gein, representing the Shadow archetype, could amble 
  brieﬂ y into view, clad in a suit of human skin.
  Give characters seeing their second archetype an Intel-
  ligence + Gnosis roll, even if they aren’t asking questions. If 
  successful, they realize that they’re looking through an illu-
  sion at the Temenos, and that Sutterton Farms is a complex 
  illusionary realm within it. 
  Spirit: Per the Death Arcanum, there are no spirits, and no 
  sign of a Gauntlet, anywhere in Sutterton Farms.
  Space: Using the “Correspondence” spell reveals that all of 
  the inhabitants of Sutterton Farms who have interacted with 
  any of the characters are emotionally bound to them. Their 
  loved ones are more bound to them than other inhabitants. 
  None of the residents are bound to each other, even those 
  who should be, logically, such as close relatives. (The spell can 
  also reveal unusually strong bonds the characters feel for their 
  imaginary loved ones.)
  Once the characters begin to suspect that they’re in an 
  unreal world, “Scrying” can be used to see the characters’ 
  unconscious forms arrayed around the Scepter back in the 
  Material Realm. The connection used is that of their souls to 
  their bodies. If the characters haven’t ﬁ gured it out already, 
  an Intelligence + Gnosis success tells the rest of the story.
  “Apportation” can be used within Sutterton Farms, but mov-
  ing physical objects to the Astral Realm is not possible. 
  A thaumaturgy attempt with Intelligence + Space (requires 
  at least three dots) can determine the locations of the charac-
  ter’s bodies (in a German salt cave) or souls (in the Temenos). 
  Listen carefully to the player’s wording of the desired result. 
  Unless otherwise speciﬁ ed, the working returns the result for 
  their bodies. Formulations such as “I want to know where our 
  souls are” or “I want to know where Sutterton Farms really is” 
  reveal that the characters are in the Temenos.
  Time: “Postcognition” spells focusing on periods prior to 
  the beginning of this story yield only a misty blankness. This 
  provides a strong clue to the realm’s essential unreality.
  Recovering Items and Artifacts
  Representations of the characters’ items and artifacts all appear 
  somewhere in Sutterton Farms, disguised as ordinary objects. To 
  regain their use, characters must locate them and, through an 
  act of concentration, restore them to their true forms.
  The Omnium has disguised the items but has been unable 
  to completely sever the connections between the willworkers 
  and their precious accoutrements. A character may not be 
  wearing the astral version of a magic ring (including the Ring 
  of the Exarchs), but it’s still be hidden in a place in some way 
  connected to her. The hiding place often bears an emotional 
  resonance to the character’s false persona. For an embittered 
  divorced dad, a magic ring might be disguised as his discarded 
  wedding ring, buried at the bottom of his sock drawer. For the 
  frustrated housewife, a magic ring could be lodged in the pipes 
  beneath her kitchen sink, as if lost while washing dishes. The 
  idealistic veterinarian might discover that the ring is disguised 
  as the ﬂ ea collar around her cat’s neck.
  Magic staves could be represented as pool cues, yardsticks, 
  ﬁ shing rods, riﬂ es or brooms. Grimoires become mass market 
  paperbacks. Swords translate into any number of drab household 
  utensils. Amulets and talismans turn into cheap bits of costume 
  jewelry. The Robe of the Exarchs could be any bit of anonymous 
  cloth, from a balled-up sweater to a dusty curtain.
  Ways to ﬁ nd the items include (but are not restricted to) 
  the following:
  Deductive reasoning: Specify a contained search area; if 
  the object is present, roll Intelligence + Investigation to 
  ﬁ nd the item.
  Intuition: As above, but use Intelligence + Wits.
  Prime spells: Items in disguise light up like Times Square 
  when viewed with “Supernal Vision.” 
  Other iterations of Mage Sight, properly justiﬁ ed, also 
  reveal hidden items. This is especially appropriate if their 
  Arcana relate to the nature of the item. A ring that spits ﬁ re 
  could be found with “Read Matrices” (Forces); an amulet 
  that lets you talk to plants would be visible under “Pulse of 
  the Living World” (Life).
  
  83
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  Space spells: “Correspondence” can reveal the items to which 
  the character is tightly bound. Any inexplicably nondescript items 
  revealed by the spell are surely enchanted items in disguise.
  Time spells: Clever use of “Momentary Flux” or “Augury” 
  points to the right item.
  Once an item is found, it must then be awakened. Its owner 
  (or in the case of shared items, one of its frequent users) rolls 
  Resolve + Gnosis + a relevant Arcanum. Prime is always a 
  relevant Arcanum. Other Arcana are relevant if they could be 
  used to create effects similar to those generated by the item.
  Roll Results
  Dramatic Failure: The item crumbles into dust, explodes into 
  ﬂ ame or is destroyed in some other demoralizing fashion. The 
  item’s powers can never be accessed in Sutterton Farms. (The 
  real object is not obliterated, just its illusionary representation. 
  The real object will be waiting, safe and sound, when its owner 
  returns to the Material Realm.)
  Failure: The item remains in mundane form, its super-
  natural abilities inaccessible. The item cannot be awakened 
  during the current scene. Future attempts to awaken the item 
  must use a different Arcanum.
  Success: The item’s outward appearance changes, so that 
  it now resembles its Material Realm equivalent. The item’s 
  powers are now fully accessible. 
  Exceptional Success: Per success, but the illusionary 
  representation of the item is even more effective than the 
  genuine article, taking on the user’s hopes for its potential. 
  The object adds an additional two-dice bonus to any action 
  undertaken using the object.
  Note that certain powers, even if awakened, may prove of lim-
  ited use in Sutterton Farms. Use the ways in which Arcana are 
  altered here (p. 81) as a baseline for such determinations.
  Using the Robe and Ring
  Possession of the Ring, once found and re-
  awakened, gives the wearer the equivalent of 
  permanent “Supernal Vision” within Sutterton 
  Farms. Among other things, this allows the user 
  to ﬁ nd other disguised items (see p. 82) and to 
  home in on the cell tower (p. 68.)
  The Robe grants the wearer an equipment bonus 
  of three when resisting the setting’s later, more 
  outlandish attacks, as described under “Reality 
  Is Obsolete,” p. 84.
  Seizing the Dream
  The mages, by experimenting with their restored 
  powers, can discover that they face fewer limits in 
  Sutterton Farms than they do in the real world. As an 
  Astral Realm, whose only Sleepers are ﬁ gments drawn 
  from the cabal’s collective memories, Sutterton Farms 
  is not subject to Paradox. Because the details of the 
  environment were plucked by the Scepter from the 
  mages’ minds, the characters can use their Arcana to 
  alter those ground rules. The magnitude of the changes 
  is bounded only by the protagonists’ imaginations, and 
  willingness to disturb the imaginary loved ones they’ve 
  grown attached to during their brief time here.
  Using their Arcana, reawakened mages can manipu-
  late or alter any aspect of the Sutterton Farms reality, 
  including its people, creatures, objects and even natural 
  laws. The characters can achieve effects that, in the 
  Material Realm, could be achieved only by much more 
  accomplished willworkers.
  If the players are well into the story and have yet to 
  experiment with direct manipulation of the illusion, 
  allow a round of Wits + Occult + Gnosis rolls. The 
  character with the highest number of successes then 
  intuits that it might be possible.
  This process resembles a stripped-down version of 
  Thaumaturgy. The player clearly states the desired 
  result and is then permitted a roll. Players specify the 
  Arcana they’re using for the attempt. If they’re inven-
  tive, they may be permitted to power a single effect 
  with multiple Arcana. Unlike Thaumaturgy in a real 
  environment, here in their illusionary prison they’re 
  allowed to attempt any result, however outlandish 
  or potentially earth-shaking it may be, regardless of 
  their rating in the relevant Arcanum. Their chances 
  of success are often better than improvised magic in 
  the Material Realm: the roll is composed of a Mental 
  Attribute, usually Resolve + Skill + Arcana.  
  These attempts at seizing control of the illusion 
  are contested by the Omnium. No matter how big or 
  outlandish the attempted effect, the strength of the 
  Omnium’s opposition is determined only by the illusion’s 
  reserves of astral energy. Each Resistance attempt de-
  pletes the Omnium’s reserves, which are recharged by 
  periods of inactivity.
  The number of dice rolled to contest the willworker 
  depends on the number of previous attempts at real-
  ity manipulation undertaken by any mage during the 
  current scene:
  # of Previous Attempts 
  # of dice
  0 
  10
  1 
  8
  2 
  6
  3 
  4
  4 
  2
  Given the Omnium’s ﬁ nite resources, it does its best to distract 
  and delay the characters, allowing the illusion time to recharge its 
  energy supply. Using loved ones, control objects and any other part 
  of the Sutterton Farms environment that ﬁ ts the bill, the Omnium 
  tries to force a shift to a new scene. (Scenes are a game abstrac-
  tion; the Omnium is no more aware of them than the characters.)
  Every proposed magical effect that is then abandoned by the 
  willworker because of changes to the environment grants a 
  
  84
  two-dice bonus to the Omnium’s roll. The Omnium tries to 
  generate reasons for mages to abandon their plans, increasing 
  its own power at their expense.
  For example: Mr. Ossington has been committed to Dr. 
  Driver’s mental institution and now wants to escape from his 
  straight jacket and padded room. His Arcana are Death 3, Mind 
  2 and Matter 1. “I want to use Matter to dissolve that big metal 
  door into a pile of iron ﬁ lings,” declares Mr. Ossington’s player, 
  Chris. In the Material Realm, Mr. Ossington would need at least 
  three dots in Matter to accomplish a similar effect, but that’s not 
  an issue here. Consulting a similar spell, the four-dot “Annihilate 
  Matter,” you decide that this manipulation of astral space requires 
  a Resolve + Occult or Science + Matter roll. This is the ﬁ rst at-
  tempt at dream seizing this scene, and so the attempt is contested 
  by a 10-dice roll on your part. Chris, rolling seven dice, scores 
  three successes. You counter with only two successes. The door 
  dissolves, as requested.
  It occurs to Chris that he’ll soon face opposition in the form 
  of orderlies and nurses. “Next,” says Chris, “I want to use 
  Death to kill everyone in this hospital.” This would be an 
  outrageous effect in the Material Realm, but entirely within 
  a reawakened willworker’s powers in Sutterton Farms. This 
  time he’d be opposed by only eight dice. The environment alters 
  itself to delay him.
  “Before you do that,” you say, “the cell phone by your feet 
  is ringing.”
  “Cell phone? What’s a cell phone doing there?”
  “Good question, but it’s there. Do you answer?”
  “No,” says Chris. “Yes, yes, I answer.”
  On the other end of the line is Ossington’s loved one, the lonely 
  young boy he got to know as the nephew of his false Sutterton 
  Farms persona. The kid reveals that he’s inside the hospital, 
  coming to spring him.
  “Do you still want to spring him?”
  Mr. Ossington hesitates. He knows the kid isn’t real, but still 
  feels too much affection for him to annihilate him along with 
  everyone else in the building.
  Burly orderlies burst into Ossington’s cell to restrain him.
  “I use Death to kill all mental health professionals and support 
  staff in the building,” Chris amends. You determine that this 
  requires a Strength + Intimidation + Death roll. Rolling seven 
  dice, Chris gets three successes. This is his second attempt, 
  so normally the environment would roll eight dice to counter. 
  However, he’s abandoned one proposed action in response to a 
  change initiated by the environment, giving it a +2 bonus. Rolling 
  10 dice, you get only one success. The orderlies drop dead all 
  around Ossington’s feet.
  “I use Matter to open a hole in the roof, complete with conve-
  niently-placed rope ladder,” says Chris.
  Temporarily stumped for an interruption, you can only allow the 
  attempt. This time it will be countered with a piddling six dice.
  The following results cannot be achieved by dream-seizing:
  The Scepter can’t be located.
  The characters can’t use it to return to their souls to their 
  bodies, or to otherwise escape Sutterton Farms. They can alter 
  the nature of their prison, but they can’t get outside it.
  Reality Is Obsolete
  The Scepter’s programming goes into overdrive when 
  the characters make this discovery. Under the assumption 
  that they’re just one step away from ﬁ nding the symbolic 
  representation of the Scepter, it steps up the frequency and 
  intensity of its attempts to distract them. Now that the es-
  sential plasticity of its astral world is revealed, the Omnium 
  need no longer hold back. It can now launch blatantly il-
  logical counterattacks against its rebellious prisoners. Even 
  so, it prefers to rely on emotional assaults, on the grounds 
  that these are more effectively distracting than displays of 
  illusionary virtuosity. However, characters who’ve proven 
  completely immune to control temptations and the well-
  being of their imaginary loved ones are targeted by weirder 
  delaying tactics.
  Keep in mind that the Omnium seeks to delay the characters 
  and prevent them from ﬁ nding its illusionary representa-
  tion. The Omnium is not programmed to kill their astral 
  forms outright. Their deaths occur in the Material Realm, 
  not here. 
  Sutterton Farms is drawn from the characters’ collective 
  conception of mundane reality. Generating events that are 
  credible within this frame of reference costs the Omnium 
  nothing. Such events never fail to materialize. To deviate 
  from its baseline reality introduces a risk of failure. That risk 
  depends on the degree to which the event challenges the 
  target mage’s sense of disbelief.
  When the Scepter generates an event that breaks with 
  the internal logic of its creation, the Omnium engages 
  in a contested action against the most directly involved 
  willworker.
  The Storyteller rolls 14 to six dice on its behalf, depending 
  on the level of improbability.
  An Improbable event seems unlikely but does not overtly 
  disturb the reality of the setting. The event might be an 
  inexplicable coincidence, such as bumping into loved ones 
  when they have no logical reason to be where they are. Mildly 
  out-of-character behavior on the part of Sutterton Farms 
  residents also counts as slightly improbable. Acknowledging 
  that the mages really are from another plane of existence 
  or conceding that Sutterton Farms is an illusion count as 
  improbable events. Roll 14 dice. 
  A Weird event that invokes the equivalent of a covert spell 
  effect. For a Sutterton Farms character to speak directly for 
  the Scepter counts as a weird occurrence. Roll 12 dice.
  An Impossible event invokes the equivalent of a vulgar 
  spell effect. Roll eight dice.
  A Surreal event is a large-scale disruption of the ﬁ ctional 
  reality: the sky bursts into ﬁ re, the characters drop into a pit of 
  swirling pixels, alien robots ﬁ re laser beams. Roll six dice.
  The most directly affected Willworker defends with Compo-
  sure + a relevant Skill + Gnosis or Prime roll. For events that 
  defy the laws of physics, use Science. Counter blatantly magical 
  effects with Occult. For other absurd or unlikely manifestations, 
  such as the sudden appearance of dinosaurs or storm troopers, 
  
  85
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  use Investigation. Out-of-character actions of loved ones and 
  other illusionary individuals call for the Empathy Skill.
  If the Scepter succeeds, the desired event plays out. The 
  mages must come to terms with the odd behavior of a loved 
  one, the sudden lightning strike, the UFO landing or whatever 
  other development the Scepter has added to its world. The de-
  velopment has become part of the framework of this imaginary 
  reality. Subsequent attempts by the Scepter’s programming 
  to repeat or develop this same event count as improbable at 
  worst. If the event were merely improbable to begin with, it 
  is now normal and requires no further rolls to repeat. 
  If the Scepter fails, the character responds to the event with 
  disbelief. For a brief, ﬂ ashing instant, any willworker who 
  is witness to the attempted reality shift catches a glimpse of 
  it. The characters may see that an illusionary character was 
  about to say something, but then swallowed her words. An 
  aborted covert magic effect directed at one of them might 
  provoke a momentary shudder. The mages might see a ﬂ ash 
  of a spacecraft in the sky or a pulsing warp in visual perspec-
  tive. The Omnium declines to repeat failed events. Instead, 
  it ﬁ nds fresh ways to confound its prisoners.
  After a failure, the Omnium must wait for its targets to 
  complete the action the Omnium was attempting to interrupt 
  before summoning up another reality-bending effect.
  Example: Mr. Brock is convinced that the Scepter’s representa-
  tion is locked away in the vaults of the local historical society. He’s 
  wrong, but the Omnium wants him to continue wasting his time 
  on this fruitless avenue of inquiry, and chooses to reinforce his 
  determination by resisting his efforts. The Omnium intends for a 
  motocross rider to mow Mr. Brock down, appearing at the opposite 
  end of the corridor as Mr. Brock strides toward the vault. This is a 
  Weird event; although it’s highly unlikely that a motorcyclist could 
  get inside the historical society building and try to run down the ﬁ rst 
  person he sees, there’s nothing supernatural about it. Accordingly, 
  you roll 12 dice to see if the event really happens.
  You decide that Investigation is the most appropriate Skill to ad-
  dress the preposterous appearance of a killer motocross rider. Viktor, 
  Mr. Brock’s player, rolls Composure (three dice) + Investigation 
  (two dice) + Gnosis (one die), for a total of six dice.
  Viktor scores three successes. Unfortunately for Mr. Brock, 
  you get six.
  As unbelievable as the cyclist seems, he is now bearing down on 
  Mr. Brock. Mr. Brock runs screaming down the corridor, frantically 
  hoping to ﬁ nd an open door to duck through.
  Health and Injury
  Elsewhere in the astral plane, travelers are 
  vulnerable to soul death. Here, even though 
  Willpower substitutes for Health, the Omnium 
  can’t kill them outright. By denying the Omnium 
  this capability, the Omnium’s mysterious cre-
  ators shaved several years off its creation time.
  Characters who would normally fall uncon-
  scious due to incapacitation instead remain im-
  mobile but awake. They suffer excruciating pain. 
  All physical action is impossible. Mental and 
  social actions can be attempted, but at a crip-
  pling –5 penalty. Health points can be restored 
  through medical treatment or spells, as those 
  points would be in the real world.
  This serves the Scepter’s delaying purpose: the 
  other characters attempt to alleviate the victim’s 
  agony, instead of pursuing their escapes.
  Illusionary characters can be killed. They use 
  their Health scores, not their Willpower, to deter-
  mine damage, Wound levels and incapacitation.
  Finding the Scepter
  By now the characters probably know that their bodies will 
  soon die if their souls don’t escape Sutterton Farms and return 
  to the Material Realm. The best use of the mages’ environment-
  altering capabilities is therefore a search for the Scepter itself.
  The players may intuit this when they realize that represen-
  tations of their other magical equipment, including possibly 
  the Robe and Ring, show up in the Sutterton Farms world. If 
  the players seem stumped for a course of action, allow a round 
  of Intelligence + Occult + Gnosis rolls to ﬁ gure it out.
  The Scepter manifests as a cell phone tower in the carefully 
  manicured woods behind the Sutterton Farms administra-
  tive ofﬁ ces. 
  The characters can locate the tower in the following ways. 
  (As always, alternate paths to this goal, if credibly explained 
  and well played, should also yield success.)
  Fate: Divination methods, established or improvised, could 
  lead the mages toward the tower’s location. “Interconnec-
  tions” reveals an incredibly thick web of connections, ﬁ lling 
  the air like the haze of a forest ﬁ re. This result reﬂ ects the fact 
  that the Scepter is controlling the destinies of all the residents 
  in Sutterton Farms. Repeated uses of the spell could narrow 
  down the search, as the clot of interconnections grows even 
  thicker as one approaches the cell phone tower.
  Forces: Casting a “Nightsight” spell shows that Sutterton Farms 
  is buzzing with an incredibly high trafﬁ c of signals on its cell 
  phone spectrum. An Intelligence + Science success made on the 
  heels of this discovery further reveals that the frequency actually 
  carries much higher trafﬁ c than is scientiﬁ cally possible. 
  Mind: A “Sense Consciousness” spell, when aimed at the 
  general environment, detects a complex set of psychic signals 
  that are not quite a disembodied consciousness, but in many 
  ways mimics one. Together, the signals possess more process-
  ing and perceptual power than the average human mind or 
  spirit. The signals grow even stronger as one approaches the 
  cell tower. This is the Omnium at work.
  (By comparing notes, mages working “Nightsight” and 
  “Sense Consciousness” in tandem can agree that these 
  psychic signals are being broadcast on an altered version of 
  the wireless spectrum.)
  
  86
  As with many of the red herrings, the Scepter reinforces 
  the credibility of the ﬂ agpole by vigorously defending it 
  when the mages draw too close. Security patrols cruise by to 
  check up on snoopers. During the day, vigilant young moth-
  ers, anxious to keep potential pedophiles away from their 
  children, confront anyone exhibiting strange behavior on a 
  playground. At night, bored teens taunt and hassle anybody 
  creeping around on their turf.
  Reach Experts: All around the neighborhood, in store windows 
  and on telephone poles, are handbills for an Internet company 
  called Reach Experts. They advertise themselves as a search 
  maximization service; for a fee, they’ll see to it that your site 
  appears high up in the results of prominent search engines. 
  Characters drop the name of the company in casual conversa-
  tion. Maybe a loved one or control object considers using the 
  company’s service. When the characters get frustrated or express 
  despair over their situation, a tattered handbill lands at their 
  feet. Anagram fans may spot this as a rearrangement of the 
  words “Exarch Scepter.” Allow an Intelligence + Investigation 
  roll, if needed, to decipher this misleading clue.
  The Reach Experts is a one-man operation run by a man 
  named Jeff Carson. 
  Jeff Carson
  Quote: Frankly I don’t think I have to answer that question 
  from the likes of you.
  Carson is a nondescript man who dresses in conservative 
  work attire at all times, and wears a pair of old-fashioned 
  horn rim glasses. The Scepter has conceived him as an anti-
  social recluse who tantalizes the prisoners’ suspicions with 
  his paranoid behavior. He’ll conclude that the mages are IRS 
  agents, and will his best to stonewall the most innocent of 
  queries. He protects his modest home business with security 
  measures beﬁ tting a mob hangout. Have fun stretching out 
  the complications if the characters attempt to investigate him 
  or inﬁ ltrate his home. Bumper stickers and window decals 
  identify him as a gun aﬁ cionado. Despite his belligerent at-
  titude, he’s too frightened to use his guns in a ﬁ ght, though 
  he’ll nervously brandish a hunting riﬂ e when pressed.
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 4
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Com-
  posure 4
  Mental Skills: Academics 2, Computer 4, Crafts (Elec-
  tronic Devices) 4, Science 2
  Physical Skills: Brawl 2, Drive 2, Firearms 4, Survival 2
  Social Skills: Intimidation 2
  Willpower: 8
  The Golden Golf Club: When the mages ﬁ nd themselves 
  at a loss for a next step, they note a story on the front page 
  of the weekly community paper, The Sutterton Sojourner. In 
  its feature photo, Stan Burkis, president of the nearby Bay 
  Ridge Country Club, accepts the Golden Golf Club Award 
  in recognition of his 30th anniversary as a club member. 
  The accompanying article waxes rhapsodic over the history 
  of the club. Golf legend Bobby Jones played with it when 
  Prime: Using a “Supernal Vision” spell ﬁ nds that the en-
  tire place is thickly resonant with the emotional concept of 
  Control. Characters who gave in to their control temptations 
  radiate it. Everyone’s loved ones give it off. The Ring and 
  Robe give off Control vibes to such a degree that the mage 
  must make a Stamina + Occult + Prime – Control roll to 
  keep the spell active while scrutinizing them with it. (This 
  may be how the group locates these disguised items. The aura 
  of Control grows steadily stronger as one gets close to the 
  cell tower. This resonance is dangerously intoxicating. Any 
  willworker viewing the cell phone tower through “Supernal 
  Vision,” or any other sensory spell, for more than a scene 
  may be negatively inﬂ uenced by it.) Characters failing a 
  Composure + Prime – Control success roll are emotionally 
  compelled to break off their search. Instead, they seek out 
  the object of their control fantasies, or a suitable substitute. 
  They then attempt to engage in a controlling act. Another 
  mage can snap affected characters out of a control binge 
  with Manipulation + Persuasion – Control or use of an ap-
  propriate Mind spell.
  Space: After the discovery that cell phone signals, Control 
  resonance and/or sympathetic connections are incredibly 
  thick here, and seem to thicken at certain points, Space 2 
  “Thaumaturgy” could be used to efﬁ ciently home in on the 
  spot of maximum signal density.
  Time: Auguries, divinations and other future-reading 
  spells can be used to narrow down inquiries opened up by 
  other spell results.
  Note that every attempt made by the mages to ﬁ nd the 
  tower is staunchly opposed by the Scepter’s programming, 
  either subtly or dramatically.
  Red Herrings
  To protect the Omnium’s disguise, the Omnium has salted 
  the environment with other objects — even a person — to 
  serve as decoys. Emphasize them if the players seem to be 
  headed toward the cell phone tower with anticlimactic 
  alacrity. If the story has already been packed with incident 
  and seems headed for a proper conclusion, omit or downplay 
  them.
  The Flagpole: In the playground by the Sutterton Farms 
  community center stands a huge ﬂ agpole, in gleaming gold. 
  Residents can explain that it was recently spray-painted as 
  a part of a local tradition. Upon graduation, students of the 
  local high school always paint the pole. Each year they paint 
  it a different color. This year happens to be gold.
  Further, the Sutterton Farms Folk Dance Society, which 
  meets every Thursday night at the community center, has 
  postered the area with announcements for their upcoming 
  maypole dance. They’ll be using the ﬂ agpole for this purpose. 
  Players remotely steeped in folklore won’t need Intelligence 
  + Occult rolls to spot this as a magically signiﬁ cant ritual, 
  in which the pole represents life, power and fertility. The 
  willworkers might conclude that this is the Scepter, and 
  waste time accordingly.
  
  87
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  he visited the course in 1933. Shortly thereafter, the golf 
  club was then turned into a trophy, which has been passed 
  down from one distinguished club member to another over 
  the decades.
  The club, which resides in a glass case at the country 
  club, is not especially well secured. However, area police 
  are quick to respond to complaints made by the wealthy 
  and inﬂ uential men who make Bay Ridge the center of their 
  social universe.
  Player-generated false leads. The Scepter encourages mages to 
  follow false leads they come up with on their own. When a char-
  acter investigates a dead end, the Sutterton Farms environment 
  generates promising indications that the character is on the trail 
  of the real Scepter. It can invest innocent objects with powerful 
  Control resonance, or surround them with the same wireless 
  spectrum radiation the Scepter emits from its cell tower. 
  Shattering the Dream
  After identifying the cell tower as a stand-in for the Scep-
  ter, the cabal must exercise control over the tower, seizing 
  it in the false Sutterton Farms reality. As they embark on 
  this attempt, their imaginary loved ones appear to make it 
  abundantly clear that the characters are about to destroy 
  Sutterton Farms — and their loved ones along with it.
  To seize magical control over the Scepter, the mages 
  must surround the tower and override the Scepter’s control 
  of the illusion. (Alternately, they might devise a means to 
  exert control from a distance, via the Space Arcanum.) The 
  group must rack up a total of X successes, where X equals the 
  number of cabal members present times three. They may do 
  this over any number of turns. Each member of the cabal 
  must contribute at least one success.
  The easiest way to do this is through the 
  Seize the Dream Ability (p. 83), which the 
  mages have presumably discovered by this 
  point. 
  If the players haven’t ﬁ gured this 
  out on their own, allow a round of 
  Wits + Occult + Gnosis rolls as they 
  prepare to deal with the tower. The character with the 
  highest number of successes (or more than one character in 
  the case of a tied ﬁ rst-place result) hits upon this solution 
  in an inspired “Eureka!” moment.
  The cabal is free to attempt any plausible alternate solution 
  that allows all characters to contribute at least one success 
  each to the total of X successes.
  If all of the mages break away from their extended ritual 
  to perform another action, all successes so far accrued are 
  ignored. When they resume the ritual, they must start again 
  at 0 successes and work their way back up to X. 
  The Scepter confronts the cabal with three waves of op-
  position, in hopes of forcing an interruption or, better yet, 
  the permanent abandonment of their attempts to escape.
  The ﬁ rst wave is one of brute physical force. This begins 
  as soon as the mages begin their ritual. A huge battalion of 
  security guards, SWAT ofﬁ cers and armed vigilante neighbors 
  shows up to demand the characters’ surrender. Foolish char-
  acters confront the attackers physically using the Combat 
  rules. Cleverer mages instead use a Seizing the Dream effect 
  to kill, imprison, vanish or otherwise dispose of the attackers 
  in one fell swoop. 
  In the event of a combat, use traits for police ofﬁ cers, SWAT 
  members and gang members, respectively, to represent this 
  mix of opponents. The Scepter can send as many of these at 
  the cabal as the Scepter requires. Short of a Seize the Dream 
  effect, the characters’ best hope if a combat breaks out is 
  to ﬂ ee the scene. The Scepter then establishes a perimeter 
  of SWAT ofﬁ cers to protect the cell tower. These can be 
  banished by a later Seize the Dream roll, when the players 
  think to call on this Ability.
  The second wave is one of temptation. This begins when 
  the mages have accumulated one-third of the necessary suc-
  cesses. Figures representing the characters’ control temptations 
  appear in an improbable mass demonstration, taunting the 
  characters. The control temptation ﬁ gures’ mockery takes 
  a common theme: if the mages leave Sutterton Farms, the 
  ﬁ gures jeer, the business between the characters and the ﬁ gures 
  is left forever unﬁ nished. The people the characters tried to 
  exercise control over will be free. The ﬁ gures will have won, 
  
  88
  and the willworkers will have lost. These ﬁ gures are glad to 
  see the mages go, and urge them to continue. Naturally, this 
  is an exercise in reverse psychology on the Scepter’s part.
  Examples might include the following:
  •The punk kid a character kept hassling in his false 
  identity as a security guard throws garbage at the character, 
  shouting, “Good riddance, scumbag! I’ll have the run of the 
  place now!”
  •The vulnerable coworker a character heartlessly seduced 
  tearfully screams, “Go ahead, get lost! This is the only way I 
  can ever be happy, if you get out of my life forever!”
  •The haughty head of the local book club turns up her 
  nose at the character who was once a difﬁ dent would-be 
  author. “Yes, you’d better run! We all read your manuscript, 
  and we all thought it was trash!”
  The third and ﬁ nal wave of resistance is one of sincere 
  emotional pleading. This wave starts when the willworkers 
  have racked up two-thirds of the successes they need. The 
  characters’ loved ones appear to beg for their lives. Examples 
  might include the following:
  •“If you seize the Scepter, this whole world will be 
  destroyed!”
  •“All of us will be destroyed along with it!”
  •“Don’t you love us?”
  •“You felt for me, I know you did!”
  At this point, the Sutterton Farms environment begins to 
  waver and buckle. Its outlines grow less distinct. Edges blur 
  and distort. With each new set of successes, the loved ones 
  suffer as if physically struck. They begin to melt. Flesh drips 
  from their faces. They writhe in agony. Make the players 
  feel the loved ones’ distress and horror. The willworkers are 
  slowly murdering their loved ones.
  If the mages don’t relent, the loved ones undertake one last 
  desperate stratagem. They break character, telling the mages 
  what they really represent, for example, the following:
  “Don’t you get it? This is the Temenos! The collective 
  unconscious!”
  “We represent parts of you!”
  “Your hopes, your aspirations!”
  “If you kill us, you’re killing parts of your own souls 
  — forever!”
  If the willworkers persist and gain their X successes, this is 
  exactly what happens. They see Sutterton Farms warp and 
  shudder. Their illusionary loved ones die horribly in front of 
  their eyes. One loved one turns inside out. Another explodes in 
  a shower of blood. Another fades into nothingness, with a last 
  chilling, plaintive whimper: “I still love you, you know.”
  And then the mages struggle to consciousness in the salt 
  cave. They may now haul their starved, dehydrated bodies 
  into painful, trembling motion. They can stumble to their 
  packs, for their supplies of food and water. They can take the 
  Scepter of the Exarchs from its display case, claiming their 
  richly-deserved prize.
  As soon as they pause for much-needed rest, the enormity 
  of their act strikes them. The people they loved might not 
  have been real, but the people sure seemed like it. Their 
  suffering appeared monstrous, and genuine.
  All of the characters must make Humanity rolls, as they 
  struggle with the act of virtual mass murder they had to 
  commit, in order to make their escape.
  Preserving Sutterton Farms
  Resourceful players may ﬁ nd a way to split the difference, 
  getting out of Sutterton Farms without killing their newly 
  acquired loved ones. For example, the characters might be 
  able to cobble together a work of Thaumaturgy. Give players 
  asking for alternatives an Intelligence + Occult + Gnosis 
  roll. On a success, the characters determine that, if they 
  don’t use the Scepter, they might be able to reprogram its 
  complex defense mechanisms, so that the Omnium remains 
  in operation, restoring the illusion a split-second after the 
  characters escape from it. 
  Prime is the Arcanum best suited to the manipulation of 
  illusions, but depending on how the players justify it, any 
  number of conﬁ gurations might be possible. Since the op-
  eration involves split-second timing, they might argue that 
  Time applies. The willworkers might lend bits of their own 
  spirits to the enterprise, justifying the use of Spirit.
  Whatever form this Thaumaturgic intervention takes, it 
  must be worked just before the last successes in the Seize 
  the Dream ritual are scored. As they attempt it, the loved 
  ones continue to press the characters, begging them to give 
  up the entire attempt. “It’s safer just to stay here,” the loved 
  ones argue.
  This is a difﬁ cult feat to pull off. Any Thaumaturgy at-
  tempt (or other rote or spell that seems to apply) faces a 
  three-dice penalty.
  If successful, the players escape, as above. Using an impro-
  vised combination of Space and Prime, they can peer into 
  Sutterton Farms, seeing that life goes on as it did before, 
  in all of its mundane, slightly alienated splendor. Their 
  loved ones miss the characters. Their loved ones look at 
  photographs of the mages’ false selves, watch them on old 
  videotapes and generally pine away. But at least the loved 
  ones are still alive, and the willworkers have sidestepped a 
  cold-blooded act of Hubris. 
  Some characters might even want to revisit Sutterton 
  Farms from time to time, now that the illusion is no longer 
  a prison. Again, an improvised combination of Space and 
  Prime could allow this. Sutterton Farms might serve as a ﬁ ne 
  hiding place to escape from one’s enemies, or an emotional 
  retreat from the pressures of willworking.
  Even under cabal control, Sutterton Farms may retain 
  some dangers. Mages who come to prefer their imaginary 
  personae may have to make Resolve + Composure + Wish 
  Fulﬁ llment rolls to ever leave voluntarily.
  Sutterton Farms is destroyed if anyone uses it for its pri-
  mary purpose, learning its “Counter Exarch” spell. To keep 
  Sutterton Farms alive, the group must keep it in a safe place 
  
  89
  CHAPTER THREE: the SCEPTER
  and guard it well. A follow-up storyline might revolve around 
  their attempts to keep another zealous anti-Exarch cabal from 
  taking Sutterton Farms, and the characters’ bottled exurban 
  dreamland, away from them.
  Afterword
  Full recuperation from dehydration and malnutrition takes 
  a while. Unless the characters receive supernatural healing, 
  they remain in a physically and mentally weakened condition 
  for several days after they recover the Scepter. They suffer a 
  –3 penalty on all actions on the ﬁ rst day, –2 on the second 
  day and –1 on the last.
  Once they’re up to it, presumably back on their home turf, the 
  characters can attune to the Scepter and learn its unique spell.
  Psychic Repercussions
  Characters who let their loved ones die suffer permanent 
  negative repercussions. The characters were killing archetypal 
  representations of their own aspirations, plucked from the 
  Temenos by the Scepter’s magic. Though altered in form, 
  these were real fragments of the willworkers’ souls, which 
  the willworkers have now slain.
  In each case, determine what dreams, desires or personality 
  traits the loved one represented. The character henceforth 
  suffers general bad luck surrounding these issues. Any rolls 
  to attain similar desires suffer a three-dice penalty.
  If a loved one represented a character’s desire for acceptance, 
  the penalty accrues in all situations in which she’s trying to 
  ﬁ t in with a group or win the trust and approval of others.
  If the loved one symbolized the character’s nurturing im-
  pulse, the penalties apply to a wide variety of caring situations, 
  from looking after houseplants to casting healing spells.
  If a loved one brought out the character’s long-buried 
  love of risk and adventure, penalties apply to all attempts to 
  maintain Resolve and Composure in the face of adversity.
  These effects can’t be countered by “Counter Exarch.” 
  Although Exarch magic created the circumstances that led 
  to the deaths of the imaginary loved ones, the direct cause 
  was a choice made by the characters. 
  This distinction was crucial to the Omnium’s creators. If 
  their prize artifact was to be claimed and controlled, its mak-
  ers saw to it that its liberators would likely suffer permanent 
  spiritual damage.
  The Scepter of the 
  Dethroned Queen (Artifact ••••• ••)
  Durability 4, Size 2, Structure 6
  Mana Capacity: maximum 13
  The powers of the Scepter are considerable 
  — but only a handful of those can be harnessed 
  by characters. In the hands of earthly mages, 
  the Scepter cannot be used to create phantom 
  worlds. Willworkers in the Fallen World must 
  accept the more limited power to suppress or 
  shatter the power of the Exarchs.
  First, the Scepter is capable of blocking the power 
  of a Profane Urim (Mage: The Awakening, p. 309), 
  either at the source or at the subject. By spend-
  ing one Mana and activating this Artifact, a mage 
  bearing the Scepter can create a region impenetrable 
  by the powers of a Profane Urim. The dice pool to 
  activate the Scepter is equal to the wielder’s Gno-
  sis +4. Each success on this roll extends the radius 
  of the Scepter’s interference by 5 yards. A Profane 
  Urim cannot see into this area and subjects within 
  the area unaffected by the magic of a Profane Urim 
  until they leave the area. Once this power has been 
  activated, no Mana can be spent within this zone. 
  The Duration of the zone is Prolonged.
  The Scepter also enables a mage to perform 
  uncommonly versatile Counterspells. Regard-
  less of what Arcana a mage knows, as long as 
  she holds the Scepter she can cast Counterspell 
  against a Seer of the Throne or other willing 
  servant of the Exarchs. If she has no dots in 
  the appropriate Arcanum, she rolls her Gnosis 
  alone. The Scepter merely makes it possible for 
  her to Counterspell by keying in on the Supernal 
  magic of the spell, rather than its Arcanum.
  The Scepter can be used as a source for Coun-
  terspell rotes in any Arcana, though once it has 
  been used by a mage to learn a rote, that mage 
  cannot learn another rote from the Scepter. The 
  Scepter’s interfering magic willfully disguises and 
  ciphers itself against that willworker in the future.
  Finally, the Scepter can be used to cast the 
  equivalent of a “Supernal Dispellation” spell 
  (Mage: The Awakening, p. 229). 
  Using the artifact or learning one of its rotes is 
  an act of hubris, requiring a degeneration check 
  for any mage of Wisdom 5 or lower.
  A mage bearing the Scepter gains a +2 bonus 
  when using any of its powers against a minion or 
  follower of the Exarchs. (This includes the work 
  of dupes who serve the Exarchs unknowingly.)
  Counterspell Rote: Counter the Supernal
  Dice Pool: Composure + Occult + Arcanum
  The fear of many Pentacle mages will be that 
  the anti-magic powers of the Scepter are, in fact, 
  dulling the Mana and magic of the Fallen World. 
  Is it just a tool for Supernal jailors?
  
  90
  
  91
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  Chapter Four: 
  The Crown
  Atal inherited the restaurant from his father, who opened it before 
  the neighborhood was even called Little India. Atal crouches down and 
  picks up the head of Ganesha at his feet. His father brought the statue 
  with him from India. Shards of its body lie scattered all around Atal’s 
  feet, mingled with broken glass and splintered wood.
  Atal looks up at the grafﬁ ti on the walls of the dining room. Gib-
  berish. His superstitious brother insisted upon seeing to it that Atal 
  leave the neighborhood for a time, but Atal won’t give up the restau-
  rant to vandals. His brother needs new-fangled mysticism to deal with 
  troubles such as these, but Atal rolls up his sleeves as their father 
  did and gets back to work.
  Atal stands up and walks to the sprayed marks over the wall mural 
  of New Delhi and puts his hand to it.
  He doesn’t hear the pieces of Ganesha’s body being crunched under the 
  reptilian foot behind him.
  “Ah, papa,” he says to the restaurant.
  A black tongue knifes toward him in the dark, ﬂ icking against the 
  head of Ganesha in his hand.
  “Did you have to deal with this?” Atal sets the head of Ganesha down 
  on the shelf.
  A long, black head leans out of the shadows behind him into the jagged 
  patch of light falling through the broken windows. A yellow eye, slashed 
  with a black slitted pupil, gleams in the sun.
  Atal bends down to stand a chair back on its legs and freezes, his 
  face level with a ﬂ at reptilian mouth. He opens his mouth to scream, 
  but the sound is swallowed down a slick pink throat.
  
  92
  The Awakened wield tremendous power, and operate in 
  a society very much outside that of the Fallen World. Their 
  enemies are likewise unconstrained by the mundane, and that 
  means that being a mage is inherently dangerous. Subtlety is 
  a tool of survival, and so the Awakened must learn to conceal 
  their plots and motives behind functionaries, cast spells with 
  roundabout effects and use cat’s-paws whenever possible. 
  When the Exarchs enter the equation, this lesson becomes 
  even more important. If the agents of the Exarchs lurk in the 
  Fallen World, calling attention to oneself is asking for violence 
  or domination. But, at the same time, the agents of these in-
  scrutable beings don’t occupy some untouchable place on the 
  Awakened “food chain” — they must stay on guard as much 
  as any mage. Compounding this is the fact that the agents of 
  the Exarchs and those who would ﬁ ght them don’t have any 
  real proof that the Exarchs even exist. All the Exarchs’ agents 
  and those against them have is their own experiences, and so 
  their battles are, in large part, fought on faith. 
  With so much uncertainty, a mage can’t really be sure of 
  much, no matter what side he ﬁ ghts on. This story plays upon 
  that uncertainty, and examines how labyrinthine Awakened 
  matters can become. 
  Theme and Mood
  Although the thematic elements discussed in the Introduc-
  tion apply to this story, it also has its own themes. 
  The theme of “The Crown” is the search for truth. The 
  Awakened, for all their knowledge and perception, typically 
  ﬁ nd more questions than answers. So it is with this story. 
  As the characters dig deeper into the events surrounding 
  the Artifacts of the Dethroned Queen, they discover a vast 
  web of inﬂ uence and magic in the area, all leading back to 
  a mage named Anurati Sahley. This should lead them to 
  wonder how many other such webs exist in mage society, and 
  whether they themselves are already entrapped in one. Can 
  they ever ﬁ nd an “end” to this trail of magic and questions? 
  Will doing so involve ascending to the Supernal, if such a 
  thing is even possible?
  The mood of this story is uncertainty. The cabal can’t ever 
  be sure that the Exarchs exist, and that the Artifacts that the 
  characters have found so far (or that they ﬁ nd at the end of 
  this story) have any effect other than instilling perception 
  of a phenomenon that doesn’t exist in any objective sense. 
  They, just as Anurati and her ilk, can take the existence of 
  the Exarchs on faith and read their inﬂ uence into everything, 
  but this is a terrifying attitude with which to live. That it’s 
  terrifying, though, doesn’t necessarily make it false. 
  The structure of this story is somewhat different than the 
  others in this book. “The Crown” is presented according to 
  the layers of events and opposition that the characters face, 
  rather than by presented a linear path of cause and effect. 
  That allows the Storyteller to begin this story at any point, to 
  mix these “layers” in with characters and events from other 
  portions of this book or of the Storyteller’s own design and 
  to use the plot points in this chapter either as the main focus 
  of the story or as side plots to another. This last approach 
  is very much in theme with “The Crown.” If, during the 
  course of meeting with a rogue mage who has split from the 
  Consilium (but still has information the characters need) 
  the cabal discovers the grafﬁ ti tags of Scene One, the char-
  acters know about them even if they don’t feel immediately 
  compelled to investigate. When the same markings show up 
  outside their sanctums later, they have a frame of reference 
  (and a possible point of contact in the rogue mage). 
  The scenes in this chapter therefore present trigger events 
  and hooks, rumors that the characters might hear from mages 
  or Sleepers and avenues of investigation and methods of 
  dealing with the adversary of that scene. Ultimately, though, 
  each scene leads to another, and every defeated opponent 
  seems to have a master.
  Never-Ending Stories
  Beware of sending a message of futility to the 
  players. In a story such as this, in which every 
  victory seems to send the characters on to anoth-
  er battle (literal or ﬁ gurative), the story can seem 
  interminable. If you try to power directly through 
  this chapter, it can start to feel more like a video 
  “roleplaying” game than a Storytelling game. 
  Here are some ways to avoid that problem:
  • Break Up the Action: Don’t jump di-
  rectly from one scene to the next. Take in-game 
  “downtime,” and ask the players to detail what 
  their characters are doing during that time. If 
  they wish to investigate the matters of the scene 
  further, ﬁ ne, but if not, let the characters live 
  their lives. You can also run side stories in-be-
  tween the scenes of this chapter, weave them 
  into events from the other chapters of this book 
  and generally emphasize that nothing in “The 
  Crown” happens in a vacuum. 
  • Let the Victories Count: Make sure that the 
  players feel they have accomplished something 
  when they complete one of the scenes of this 
  chapter. Don’t immediately present the players 
  with the next layer of intrigue. Let them come to 
  grips with what they have accomplished, heal 
  Our life is an apprenticeship to the truth, that around every circle another can be drawn; 
  that there is no end in nature, but every end is a beginning; that there is always another dawn 
  risen on mid-noon, and under every deep a lower deep opens.
  — Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Circles”
  
  93
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  their wounds and catch their breaths. Then pull 
  back the next curtain. 
  • Make Sure They Know the Theme: Start-
  ing out this story by reading aloud the Emerson 
  quote at the beginning of this chapter goes a 
  long way toward setting the mood. If the play-
  ers know that “The Crown” involves cat’s-paws, 
  layers of intrigue and hidden agendas, they can 
  be mentally prepared for an involved story.
  Setting
  This story can take place anywhere, and this chapter doesn’t 
  contain setting-speciﬁ c descriptions or elements (that is, the 
  setting might contain a university, but not mention MIT 
  or St. Andrew’s). It is assumed that the local mages have 
  formed a Consilium, but not necessarily that the characters 
  are involved to any great degree. (Or, likewise, that they 
  are ciphers. This story works just as well if the characters 
  are members of the Consilium.)
  When running this story as part of the larger Reign of 
  the Exarchs chronicle, consider what effects the ﬁ rst three 
  stories have had on the Awakened landscape.
  The Ongoing Chronicle
  Just as all of the chapters in this book, “The Crown” can 
  be run independently or as part of the larger chronicle. If 
  you are running these stories in sequence, the characters 
  already have access to the Ring, the Robe and the Scepter. 
  This means that they can detect the touch of the Exarchs 
  on many of the agents in this chapter, since they are all 
  working indirectly for Anurati (who is, in turn, a servant of 
  these otherworldly powers). 
  Important Storyteller Characters
  While a complete “Dramatis Personae” sec-
  tion can be found at the end of this chapter, the 
  Storyteller might beneﬁ t from having a basic 
  rundown of the important ﬁ gures in “The Crown” 
  before reading the story:
  • Anurati Sahley: A Mastigos mage in 
  service to the Exarchs (though not a Seer of the 
  Throne). She wears the Crown of the Dethroned 
  Queen and operates through various cat’s-paws, 
  rarely showing her face or even leaving her 
  home.
  • The Ascendants: Three Silver Ladder mages 
  who believe that they are destined to take over 
  the order and recreate it in their own image. 
  They are actually heavily inﬂ uenced by Anurati, 
  but wield considerable power on their own. 
  • Epimetheus: A Thyrsus mage interested in 
  spirits and cryptids. He summons the Hungry 
  Dragon into the Fallen World and sets it on the 
  cabal (at the Ascendants’ behest).
  • Sasuha Usum, the Hungry Dragon: A 
  Materialized spirit of hunger sent to kill the 
  characters.
  • Remainder: The “wild card” in this story, 
  Remainder is an Acanthus who lives in fear of 
  the Exarchs. His role in the story is entirely at 
  the Storyteller’s option. (See below for more on 
  using Remainder.) 
  Using these items is an act of Hubris, of course, and so 
  players probably won’t want to rely heavily on them. They 
  can be extremely useful here, though. The Ring can detect 
  any of the important characters in this chapter as servants 
  of the Exarchs, the Robe can shield the character wearing 
  it from Anurati’s sympathetic magic or from any of the op-
  ponents’ baleful spells and the Scepter, of course, can spell 
  victory over even such powerful foes as the Ascendants. 
  But the prize — the Crown — allows the wearer to control 
  servants of the Exarchs, and if the characters are using the 
  Artifacts of the Dethroned Queen, does that make them 
  viable targets for this item’s power? Maybe a character using 
  one of the Artifacts suffers an hour of “lost time” within a 
  day of doing so. She might not even notice at ﬁ rst, and has 
  no memory of what she’s doing, but gradually the characters 
  might catch on. (Of course, the character wearing the Robe 
  would be immune — until she takes it off.) 
  If the characters do not have access to the items, either 
  because you are playing through “The Crown” out of sequence 
  or because the cabal has destroyed the items as they’ve 
  encountered them, don’t worry. This only means that the 
  cabal is in the dark about the Exarchs’ role in this story, but 
  that’s not immediately a problem. (Not having access to 
  the items also changes Remainder’s role in the story, since 
  he is now the only means the characters have of identifying 
  Exarch-touched people and places.) When the characters 
  reach the end of the story and confront Anurati, they can 
  learn that even she answers to a higher power — and, in-
  deed, she serves as though she has no choice in the matter. 
  From that point, they can discover the Crown and what it 
  represents, and perhaps move on to the ﬁ nal story in Reign 
  of the Exarchs. 
  Remainder
  The rogue Acanthus called Remainder can serve a number 
  of roles in “The Crown,” at the discretion of the Storyteller. 
  Remainder is meant as a kind of combination stalking horse 
  and will-o’-the-wisp. If the Storyteller needs a way to indicate 
  to the characters that the Exarchs are involved in this story, 
  Remainder can provide that information (ﬁ ltered through his 
  own delusions, of course). If the players already have the Ar-
  tifacts and are having too easy of a time of the story, however, 
  Remainder can be a red herring, leading the characters away 
  from their true goals or into a dangerous situation. Remember, 
  
  94
  though, that just because the players are moving quickly through 
  a story doesn’t mean that they aren’t having fun or that the game 
  is “too easy” — be aware of your troupe’s preferred pace. 
  Remainder is introduced in the ﬁ rst scene, and subsequent 
  scenes have suggestions on how best to make use of him. If you 
  don’t feel the story requires his presence, simply ignore him. 
  Scene One: 
  Mark of the Exarchs
  In this scene, the characters’ sanctums, and various other 
  places in the area, are marked with grafﬁ ti and targeted by 
  petty vandalism. The grafﬁ ti, though, includes small glyphs 
  meant to allow Anurati to scry the areas easily. 
  Rumors for Scene One
  The characters might hear the following 
  rumors prior to or during this scene, if they ask 
  around within the Awakened community. 
  • “I hear there’s a new cabal in town, but its 
  members are actively shunning the Consilium. 
  Something about heresy within one of the or-
  ders, but I don’t know which one.”
  • “Scrying spells haven’t worked well for me 
  lately. Any trouble with yours?”
  • “I caught a cab the other day, and the cabbie 
  followed me after he dropped me off. It wasn’t until 
  he almost got T-boned by a truck that I lost him.”
  This part of the story can begin gradually, with the char-
  acters receiving word from other cabals in the area that they 
  have been having trouble with vandals. The damage has been 
  slight thus far — some broken windows, smashed mailboxes 
  and the like — but it has been accompanied by grafﬁ ti as 
  well. If the cabal has already experienced Chapter One of 
  this book, the cabal might immediately look into the matter 
  using the Ring and attempt to ﬁ nd the Exarchs’ inﬂ uence, but 
  the mages mention that they don’t detect anything magical 
  or supernatural about the vandalism. 
  You can also begin this story by having the characters be the 
  immediate targets of the vandals. This is especially appropriate 
  if the characters have left their sanctum for a time (perhaps 
  one of the previous stories in this chronicle took place in a city 
  other than their hometown), and they discover the damage 
  when they return. If the characters have Consilium Status, they 
  might hear about the problem at a caucus, but if they are fairly 
  cut off from Awakened society, they might not hear about the 
  problem until, and unless, they go searching for other mages. 
  Vandalism
  Below is a list of possible acts of vandalism that might catch 
  the characters’ attention. The important thing is that the 
  vandalism takes place in areas that are important to mages (not 
  necessarily the players’ cabal — how heavily the characters 
  are targeted depends on how many mages are in the area and 
  how low a proﬁ le the troupe’s characters keep). 
  • Trees in a yard are scarred with axes or saws
  • Mailboxes smashed with bats or blown up with small 
  explosives
  • Lawns scarred with tire tracks or destroyed with defoliant
  • Car windows smashed or tires punctured
  • Roman candles and other small ﬁ reworks aimed at house 
  (this might start a ﬁ re if you want the players to see these acts 
  as true threats, but that’s not Anurati’s intent)
  • Storefront windows at businesses employing, owned or 
  frequented by mages smashed
  All of these acts are accompanied by grafﬁ ti, but these 
  markings do not all resemble gang “tagging.” A character 
  can realize this if the player makes a successful Intelligence 
  + Streetwise roll. If this roll succeeds, the character real-
  izes that while some of the grafﬁ ti conforms to inner-city 
  patterns, some of it just looks like random squiggles, while 
  some resembles Arabic lettering (but doesn’t actually spell 
  anything). A roll of Intelligence + Academics for an analy-
  sis of the handwriting indicates that at least three different 
  people were responsible for the grafﬁ ti. 
  The Glyphs 
  The destruction and the visible grafﬁ ti are meant to 
  mask the glyphs, of course. The glyphs are inscribed with 
  special ink. It is invisible to normal vision, but shines under 
  ultraviolet light or “black light.” The glyphs are painted in 
  unobtrusive places. For instance, if the vandals destroy a 
  mailbox, the glyph might be painted on the side of the post 
  facing the house. 
  Unlike the Atlantean runes described on p. 119 of Mage: 
  The Awakening, these glyphs do not increase the duration of 
  Anurati’s magic. Instead, they allow a sympathetic connection 
  between the glyphs and a room in a small motel. The vandals 
  meet there (under Anurati’s inﬂ uence, of course) and mix the 
  paint and receive their instructions. Anurati then uses the 
  connection between the room and herself, and then the room 
  and the glyphs, to spy on the marked areas. (This would result, 
  in game terms, in a fairly heavy penalty to the Space magic, 
  but Anurati is powerful and patient enough to overcome it 
  and is more concerned with not being discovered.) 
  The characters can detect the glyphs if the characters are 
  clever. Below are four potential ways in which they could see 
  the glyphs, and the players will probably think of others.
  • Forces: A Forces 1 spell allows the character to see 
  into the ultraviolet spectrum and thus see the ink as though 
  under a black light.
  • Matter: The Matter spell 1 “Detect Substance” allows 
  a character to locate the chemicals used in such ink, though 
  detecting “paint” is sufﬁ cient to sense its presence (though 
  this doesn’t allow the character to read the marks, just to 
  know they’re there).
  
  95
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  • Fate: The Fate 1 spell “Interconnections” can detect a 
  sympathetic connection between the glyphs and something 
  or someone a good distance away, but the player needs to 
  build up at least ﬁ ve successes (since the connection between 
  the room and the glyphs is Intimate). The character cannot 
  get any hint about Anurati in this manner. 
  • The Ring: The best method for ﬁ nding the glyphs, of 
  course, is to use the Ring found in Chapter One to search 
  for the Exarchs’ inﬂ uence. The glyphs become visible to 
  a character using this spell, but remember that activating 
  the Ring is an act of Hubris for characters with Wisdom 7 
  or more. 
  Once the characters can see the glyphs, a successful Intel-
  ligence + Academics roll reveals that they were apparently 
  all written by the same person, and the handwriting is dif-
  ferent from any of the other grafﬁ ti. (This is because Anurati 
  mentally dominates one of the vandals during the inscription 
  of the glyphs, so the handwriting is hers.) A successful In-
  telligence + Occult roll (only if the character has the High 
  Speech Merit) reveals that the glyphs are not the typical 
  Atlantean glyphs used to extend spells. The function, how-
  ever, of the glyphs is beyond the character unless the player 
  rolls an exceptional success. If this happens, the character 
  guesses that the glyphs might be used as “bookmarks,” points 
  of reference for sympathetic spells. (The players might come 
  to this conclusion on their own, of course.) 
  The Vandals
  Anurati has mentally dominated three people into doing 
  her dirty work. They are all loners and able to move around 
  the city unnoticed. They are the following:
  • Ahmed Hussein: Ahmed is a cab driver. He provides 
  transportation for the vandals. His cab, however, is spot-
  less, as he cleans all traces of the group’s gear out after every 
  incident.
  • Monica Bledsoe: Monica is a part-time student at 
  the local university. (If any characters are in some way 
  connected to the school, they might share a class or have 
  her as a student.) She is not ambitious, but has a knack for 
  chemistry. (She makes the explosives and other chemicals 
  that the group uses.)
  • John Gendrin: John is a homeless man who spends much 
  of his time begging outside the university. He is skeletal and 
  obviously mentally ill, and in fact is suffering from AIDS. 
  Anurati chose him because she felt (correctly) that no one 
  would miss him if he suddenly disappeared during the course 
  of the actions.
  The vandals meet once a week (the nights vary) at the 
  motel described below. They receive their orders via telepathy 
  from Anurati, and load up Ahmed’s cab with the materials 
  they need. They seldom speak during their operations, and 
  take no joy in the activities. They do not carry weapons of 
  any kind (see “Confronting the Vandals,” below).
  Tracking this trio down is difﬁ cult. During their normal 
  lives, they retain no memory of their activities. None of them 
  has family or much of a social life, and they all live alone. You 
  can have the characters encounter one of these vandals by 
  coincidence (maybe catching a ride in Ahmed’s cab, being 
  asked for change by John or running into Monica on campus), 
  but this approach might seem a little too convenient. On 
  the other hand, in a story about uncertainty and the unseen 
  Exarchs, the characters might read such a “coincidence” as 
  anything but random. If the characters do encounter the van-
  dals during their “off time” and interview them (which requires 
  gaining their conﬁ dence, not an easy endeavor in itself), the 
  characters discover that the vandals lose time every so often, 
  sometimes entire evenings. This might actually be a way to 
  ﬁ nd the vandals. If one of the characters is a psychologist or 
  otherwise works with troubled individuals, Monica or Ahmed 
  might well seek help for these large chunks of lost time.
  If the characters are actively searching for the vandals, 
  though, they have a few options.
  • Next Target: They could try to ﬁ gure out the vandals’ 
  next target. Spells such as “Augury” (Time 2) or “Shifting 
  
  96
  the Odds” (Fate 2) can aid in this endeavor. If the characters 
  wish to try to ﬁ gure this out without using magic, an extended 
  Intelligence + Investigation roll (10 successes needed, each 
  roll represents one hour of analysis) is necessary. The Dream 
  Merit might also shed some light on the situation. The Sto-
  ryteller needs to decide what the next target is going to be 
  and when and how the vandals intend to hit it. 
  • Tracking the Vandals: The characters can follow sym-
  pathetic threads from the vandalism sites to the vandals, but 
  the threads are weak at best (because the vandals aren’t aware 
  of their actions during this time). If the characters track these 
  threads back using Fate 1 “Interconnections” to ﬁ nd threads 
  between the vandalism sites and the vandals, this spells suffers 
  a –2 modiﬁ er, but only two successes are needed. From there, 
  the characters can use Space 2 “Scrying” to ﬁ nd the vandals, 
  but they are only at the Acquainted level of sympathy and the 
  effort therefore suffers –8 penalty. If the scrying character also 
  uses the Ring’s spell, however, the penalty falls to –4. 
  • Other Mages: The characters might have acquaintances 
  within the Consilium, know mages from the area as Mentors 
  or Contacts or be favored enough within their orders to wield 
  some inﬂ uence. It is possible that another mage might be able 
  to use magic or Merits that the characters themselves lack in 
  order to ﬁ nd the next target or the vandals. Don’t offer up 
  such help unless the players seek it out — the story should be 
  about them, not about the Storyteller characters who swoop 
  in to solve the problems. If the characters decide that they 
  require assistance, though, then they’re taking an intelligent 
  approach to the problem. A note, though: the Consilium is 
  compromised, as Epimetheus and the Ascendants are under 
  Anurati’s inﬂ uence. Contacting the Consilium, then, might 
  result in Anurati discovering what the characters are up to. 
  What effect this has is up to the Storyteller; maybe the events 
  of Scene Two begin before this one is fully resolved, or maybe 
  the vandals arm themselves in preparation for a showdown. 
  • Remainder: This young, haunted mage can lead the 
  characters right to the vandals. If they ﬁ nd Remainder lurk-
  ing around a vandalism site, and if they can convince him 
  that they don’t represent his mysterious enemies, he might 
  use his “Sense Them” rote to ﬁ nd the vandals for them. You 
  can also add Remainder in when the characters ﬁ nd one of 
  the vandals; Remainder can be lurking around the pawn, 
  waiting for a chance to investigate further. Remember that 
  Remainder is meant to be mysterious and unpredictable, so 
  even if he’s helpful now he might not be later. 
  Confronting the Vandals
  When the characters ﬁ nd the vandals, the characters might 
  be expecting a gun battle or a serious ﬁ ght. The vandals, 
  however, aren’t armed (unless Anurati ordered them to 
  arm themselves as mentioned above) and don’t attempt to 
  injure the characters. Instead, they try to call attention to 
  themselves. They scream for help and try to goad the char-
  acters into attacking (or even shooting) them. The vandals 
  always act later in the initiative queue than the characters, 
  and reach into coats and pockets as though pulling out 
  weapons. Of course, the Matter 1 spell “Detect Substance” 
  can conﬁ rm whether the vandal is actually packing a gun, 
  but the mages might not think to use the spell. Don’t forget 
  to call for degeneration rolls if the characters seriously injure 
  or kill a vandal impulsively, especially with magic. 
  Where this confrontation takes place is up to you (and 
  dependant on the characters’ actions, of course). The van-
  dals shouldn’t put up much of a ﬁ ght insofar as injuring the 
  characters is concerned, but the vandals do try to get the 
  characters detained and/or arrested (which gives Anurati 
  plenty of time to scry into the area and study the characters). 
  Of course, a number of spells, including Fate 1 “Interconnec-
  tions,” Mind 1 “Third Eye” and Prime 1 “Supernal Vision,” 
  as well as the magic of the Ring, can tell the characters that 
  these vandals are under mental domination. Dispelling this 
  magic requires beating Anurati’s “Telepathic Control” spell. 
  This spell has a Potency of 5, meaning the characters need 
  to achieve at least this many successes on whatever method 
  of countermagic they choose. The Scepter, of course, can 
  disrupt the magic more easily (but don’t forget that using 
  the Scepter causes a degeneration roll). The vandals have no 
  memory of their actions once the spell ends, but they each 
  have a key to the same room at a cheap motel. 
  The Hotel Room
  The room, according to the front desk, is booked to someone 
  named John Smith, and has been for some time. The staff is 
  actually quite vexed if the characters bring this room to the 
  staff’s attention — they have no record of payment, simply 
  a longstanding record of occupancy. If the characters check 
  out the room, they ﬁ nd the special paint used to make the 
  glyphs as well as chemicals and other supplies. 
  As they stand in the room, Anurati is using her magic 
  to erase the sympathetic threads leading back to her. This 
  only takes her a few seconds, and the characters only notice 
  if they use appropriate spells within two turns of entering 
  the room. In any case, there isn’t much they can do about it 
  — the threads disappear, leaving the characters only with 
  questions. 
  Scene Two: 
  The Hungry Dragon
  In this scene, the characters must contend with a raven-
  ous creature from the Shadow, summoned by a pawn of a 
  pawn of Anurati. 
  The characters haven’t delved deeply into Anurati’s busi-
  ness, but they’ve gotten her attention. Her metaphorical web 
  begins to tremble, and she contacts the Ascendants to deal 
  with the problem. The Ascendants, of course, occupy delicate 
  positions in the Silver Ladder, and so manipulate Epimetheus 
  to do their dirty work. The young Thyrsus attends a caucus 
  of mages in the area (to which the characters might well be 
  invited; see sidebar) and afterwards spends time speaking 
  with Melchior of the Ascendants.
  
  97
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  Rumors for Scene Two
  The characters might hear the ﬁ rst two rumors 
  at or before the caucus, while the second two 
  are more appropriate small windows of time 
  after the caucus but before Sasuha Usum comes 
  calling.
  • “That fellow over there — I forget his name, 
  it’s Greek — looks like he’s seen a ghost.”
  • “Be careful talking to that German guy (Mel-
  chior). He can talk rings around you. Nice guy, 
  just slick as hell.”
  • “Something slipped into our world last night. 
  I don’t know what it was, but it was powerful. 
  Well, it might have been summoned by some-
  one powerful, I suppose.”
  • “I have a friend in Animal Control, and she’s 
  gotten three separate calls about alligators 
  today. She hasn’t found so much as a footprint, 
  though.”
  Melchior is not a Mastigos, but is an Adept of the Mind Arca-
  num and is extremely manipulative in his own right. He convinces 
  Epimetheus that the characters need to silenced, informing him 
  that they represent a dire threat to the Consilium. Epimetheus, 
  if he stopped to think about it, could probably come up with 
  some good evidence as to why this isn’t the case, but forethought 
  has never been his strong point. He returns to his sanctum and 
  calls for Sasuha Usum, feeds it a few rats so that it can stay in 
  the physical world and sets it hunting. He casts “Control Spirit” 
  on the spirit, weaving a complex spell that instructs the spirit 
  as follows: “Hunt down (the troupe’s characters) and kill them 
  without being seen by Sleepers or harming anyone but your 
  targets.” In game terms, this spell is an extended casting that 
  requires nine successes (ﬁ ve for the complex command and four 
  for duration — normally “Control Spirit” only lasts a scene, and 
  Epimetheus wants the spirit to have at least two days). If you 
  wish to determine how long it takes him to complete this spell, 
  roll his Gnosis + Spirit (ﬁ ve dice) as many times as necessary to 
  build up nine successes. Remember that each roll requires three 
  hours of casting, so it could conceivably take him more than a 
  day to complete it. (He can remain awake and alert using Life 
  magic, but crashes afterwards.) 
  The Caucus
  The caucus can take place as soon after the 
  ﬁ rst scene as you require. Remember that taking 
  some downtime between scenes is beneﬁ cial to 
  the tone of the story (especially since this scene 
  moves quickly into the next one), and Anurati is 
  patient about instructing the Ascendants, since 
  she doesn’t want to tip her hand. 
  Space precludes a detailed description of the 
  caucus, but it’s actually a better idea to let you 
  determine the particulars anyway. If you present 
  a caucus grounded in the events of your exist-
  ing chronicle (or introducing elements that you 
  plan to ﬂ esh out later), the story gains a depth it 
  wouldn’t have if every single scene related back 
  to the main action. Therefore, the caucus can 
  concern the recent spate of vandalism and the 
  characters’ ﬁ ndings (should they wish to share 
  them) or can be held for reasons completely 
  unrelated to these events. The characters don’t 
  necessarily have to attend, but if they do, they 
  have the chance to meet Epimetheus and even 
  some or all of the Ascendants. Just make sure 
  that you mix in a few other Storyteller characters 
  so that the players don’t automatically assume 
  that the Ascendants are behind the players’ 
  problems by process of elimination. 
  This scene will probably be the shortest in the story, and 
  merely consists of the spirit hunting down the characters 
  and attempting to kill and eat them. 
  The Hunt
  The Hungry Dragon is slightly more intelligent than an 
  animal, but doesn’t reason as a human being does. The Hungry 
  Dragon knows that killing a lone opponent is easier than taking 
  on a group, though, and so tries to stalk the characters when 
  they are separated. It doesn’t make use of distraction tactics 
  or anything so advanced, but does try to silence the character 
  (by biting her throat) so as to avoid backup arriving. Sasuha 
  Usum can communicate with a mage using the Spirit 1 spell 
  “Spirit Tongue,” and nothing in the Hungry Dragon’s orders 
  disallows it from conversing with its prey. Sasuha Usum has no 
  particular loyalty to Epimetheus and will tell the characters 
  who summoned it (though it doesn’t know why). 
  If the spirit is wounded badly (down to its last four Health 
  boxes), it ﬂ ees a ﬁ ght and tries to ambush its prey. Sasuha 
  Usum cannot rest or take time to heal, though, as it is still 
  under Epimetheus’ command. If Sasuha Usum runs out of 
  Health, the spirit dies and decays into a blue-red sludge before 
  evaporating entirely, leaving behind the half-digested remains 
  of the rats and any characters the spirit might have eaten. 
  The characters can simply avoid the spirit. If they hide 
  among Sleepers, it cannot attack them, since doing so would 
  conﬂ ict with Epimetheus’ orders. If two days pass and at least 
  one of the characters is still alive, the spirit is freed from the 
  Thyrsus’ control and can do as the spirit pleases. What it does 
  is up to the Storyteller. It might simply fade back into the 
  Shadow, or the spirit might remain in the physical world and 
  start hunting and eating Sleepers. If Sasuha Usum sustained 
  heavy injury, the spirit might decide to continue hunting the 
  characters, but now has no compunctions about falling back 
  to heal and attacking them in view of Sleepers.
  
  98
  Before running this scene, consider how you wish to handle 
  character death. Even with an Armor spell, a mage might 
  fall dead after only a few bites from this creature. If you don’t 
  wish to deal with a death in the cabal for whatever reason, 
  make sure the characters have an out — maybe an Ally or 
  Mentor who could show up unexpectedly, or simply a Sleeper 
  wandering by at the right moment to drive off the Hungry 
  Dragon. If you wish to truly engage a deus ex machina, Re-
  mainder can show up and distract the creature long enough 
  for the character to escape. Better to let the characters escape 
  on their own ingenuity, 
  though. 
  Since the Hungry Dragon is an indirect pawn of the Ex-
  archs, it can be detected by the Ring (or by Remainder). The 
  Robe can hide a character from the spirit, and the Scepter 
  can erode the spell controlling Sasuha Usum (though that 
  doesn’t banish it, of course). The “Control Spirit” spell can 
  also be disrupted by normal countermagic, subject to the 
  rules on p. 122 of Mage: The Awakening. 
  Storytelling the Fight
  This scene should be played for raw horror. Fighting a 
  bloodthirsty animal is terrifying enough. Fighting a creature 
  that has the capacity to reason, even in a primitive sense, and 
  is bound magically to hunt down and eat particular people is 
  downright horriﬁ c. The Hungry Dragon sees living creatures 
  as food, nothing more, and is able to engender this feeling of 
  primal hunger in others using its Inﬂ uence. While the monster 
  bites into one of the characters, the other might actually start 
  to feel rumblings in their stomachs, their mouths watering 
  at the sight of fresh meat and blood. 
  The Hungry Dragon hunts like a snake, slithering after 
  its prey and attacking in a quick burst. Feel free to spend 
  Willpower on the spirit’s attack rolls — it isn’t likely to kill 
  a character in one blow, and a solid hit should convince the 
  players that this monster isn’t playing around. If the cabal is 
  martial in nature, the characters might stand and ﬁ ght, but 
  if not, they might consider ﬂ eeing and trying to ﬁ gure out 
  how to ﬁ ght the spirit. If they do, give them a little time to 
  rest, and then let Sasuha Usum attack from nowhere. 
  Aftermath
  Once the spirit is destroyed, banished or set free, the 
  characters need to consider who sent it. The simplest way to 
  ﬁ gure this out is simply to ask the creature. The “Intercon-
  nections” spell doesn’t work, as the creature doesn’t seem to 
  have any sympathetic connections at all (Anurati’s doing, 
  of course). It does register to the Ring’s power, of course, but 
  this by itself doesn’t help the characters track Epimetheus. 
  If the characters met and conversed with him at the caucus 
  or have had dealings with him before these events, they 
  might simply consider him a potential culprit if they know 
  his fascination with reptiles or cryptids (although motive 
  probably eludes them). More methods of learning about and 
  ﬁ nding Epimetheus are presented in the next scene.
  Scene Three: The Summoner
  In this scene, the characters search out and confront 
  Epimetheus, the Thyrsus mage who summoned the Hungry 
  Dragon. In so doing, the characters can learn who pulls 
  Epimetheus’ strings, and thus who they have to thank for 
  Sasuha Usum’s attack.
  Epimetheus can sense the Hungry Dragon’s presence in the 
  Fallen World, and knows if the creature has been destroyed 
  or when the spell he cast upon it has elapsed or been broken. 
  If the spirit dies or if the characters break the control spell, 
  Epimetheus begins preparations for their retribution, since 
  
  99
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  he ﬁ gures they can probably track the spirit back to him. (He 
  does not know that Anurati removed the threads connecting 
  him to the spirit.) If the creature leaves the physical world of 
  its own volition (perhaps after the two-day duration of the 
  “Control Spirit” spell has elapsed), he is still cautious, but 
  doesn’t take any of the steps described on p. 100.
  Rumors for Scene Three
  The characters might hear some of these 
  rumors during the course of their search for 
  Epimetheus. Some of these rumors are more 
  appropriate from mages, while others can come 
  from Sleepers.
  • “A neighborhood near here had a terrible 
  problem with snakes a few summers back. Peo-
  ple were ﬁ nding them in their kitchen cupboards 
  and everything.”
  • “I read in the paper that a guy was arrested 
  a few months back for carrying a riﬂ e loaded 
  with powerful tranquilizers. Turns out he had a 
  permit, though, so he wasn’t actually arraigned 
  or anything. Still, it was weird — not like there’s 
  any bears around here.”
  • “Last time the Consilium found someone 
  guilty of summoning dangerous creatures into 
  the area, they banished him from the city for a 
  full year. They had a Trickster named Balthasar 
  enforce the binding, I think.”
  • “Anybody else having trouble with Space 
  magic lately? Seems like threads between things 
  are just unraveling. I talked to a Warlock friend 
  of mine and he muttered something about ‘war 
  in the Abode of Demons,’ but I think he was 
  drunk at the time.”
  Finding Epimetheus
  As mentioned previously, the easiest way to ﬁ nd Epi-
  metheus is to ask Sasuha Usum who summoned it. The 
  spirit can describe Epimetheus (though it doesn’t know the 
  mage’s name, shadow or otherwise) and his Hallow. If the 
  characters (understandably) don’t think to ask the raven-
  ous beast intent on killing them for information, they have 
  some other options.
  • Consilium: Epimetheus is a member of the local Consilium 
  and of the Free Council. Individuals in either organization can 
  tell the characters that he is fascinated by otherworldly beings 
  and reptiles in particular, but unless the characters take care to 
  conceal their motives in asking the question (or begin some 
  kind of ofﬁ cial inquiry through the Consilium, whoever they 
  talk to will warn Epimetheus that he is a wanted man. This 
  gives him time to prepare as described below. 
  The ease of obtaining information from either the Con-
  silium or the Free Council depends on the characters’ standing 
  within those organizations. Order or Consilium Status should 
  play a role. The Free Council naturally wishes to protect its 
  own (although if a character outranks Epimetheus in this 
  order, she can expect better compliance than an outsider). 
  The Silver Ladder in the area is slightly compromised by the 
  Ascendants, meaning that a character asking for help from a 
  member of this order might suffer a slight penalty to Social 
  rolls representing requests for information. The other three 
  orders, however, don’t have any particular bias for or against 
  Epimetheus, and, therefore, their cooperation all comes down 
  to how the characters represent themselves. 
  • Ask Spirits: If any of the characters are capable of rousing 
  and questioning spirits, the characters might discover that the area 
  around Epimetheus’ sanctum has a history of spiritual turbulence. 
  Anurati, because she has no skill in the Spirit Arcanum, can do 
  nothing to disguise this, and so the characters can look for areas 
  where the Gauntlet is thin. This, of course, might lead them into 
  unrelated scenarios involving unknown Hallows, genius loci or 
  even werewolves, depending on how long the Storyteller wishes 
  to wait before beginning the next scene in “The Crown.” Hav-
  ing the characters meet up with an ally or occasional contact 
  of Epimetheus who has no involvement with the Awakened 
  community but sees the characters as enemies of his friend would 
  actually be very much in the theme of the story.
  • Mundane Investigation: Of course, the characters might 
  decide to pursue more accessible means of identifying Epi-
  metheus. If they heard the rumor about an Animal Control 
  worker receiving calls about alligators, they might follow up 
  on that lead after dealing with Sasuha Usum. If they do so 
  (going to appropriate lengths to meet the woman and discover 
  where the calls came from), they can trace back the Hungry 
  Dragon’s movements from wherever it attacked them to the 
  neighborhood in which Epimetheus lives. Once in the right 
  area, they can track down his Hallow using magic, look for 
  spiritual turbulence as mentioned above or ask around. If 
  they question locals about the calls, someone eventually 
  mentions “Mr. Cade, the snake-guy.”
  Another method would be to track sales of exotic reptiles 
  coming into the area. This would require talking with customs 
  ofﬁ cials or exotic pet dealers, and of course mean some legwork 
  from the characters, but the name “Delano Cade” comes up on 
  these lists fairly often. Another option is to scan local online 
  newsgroups dedicated to reptiles and owning them as pets, or 
  to cryptid sightings. Epimetheus is a member of several such 
  groups, and a skilled hacker might be able to track Epimetheus 
  through his online presence. Other names crop up, as well, 
  and the characters need to be careful that they don’t anger or 
  frighten anyone along the way, lest someone call the police 
  or word get back to Epimetheus himself. 
  Systems
  Below are some possible rolls that players might make dur-
  ing these investigations. Magic, of course, can add bonuses or 
  provide information that makes these methods irrelevant.
  
  100
  Action 
  Dice Pool
  Obtaining  
  Manipulation or Presence + 
  information  
  Persuasion + Status (Order or 
  from mages  
  Consilium as appropriate)
  Obtaining  
  Manipulation or Presence + 
  information   
  Persuasion or Intimidation 
  from Sleepers
  Online searches 
  Intelligence + Computer
  Searching for  
  Intelligence + Occult (active 
  spiritual turbulence  
  Mage Sight required;  
   
   
  see pp. 277–279 of  
   
   
  Mage: The Awakening)
  Confronting Epimetheus
  The best course of action is to ﬁ nd Epimetheus before he 
  knows that the characters are still alive and looking for him. 
  The instant he discovers that his spirit servant failed and that 
  the cabal is still around, he assumes that the characters will 
  track him down and starts to take preparations for that even-
  tuality. His actions and how long they take him are described 
  below. The “Time Elapsed” entry refers to the amount of time 
  after he learns that the characters are looking for him. 
  Time Elapsed 
  Epimetheus’ Action
  10 minutes 
  Calls Melchior and explains that the 
  creature has failed. Melchior instructs 
  Epimetheus to make the summoning 
  look unintentional and threatens to kill 
  Epimetheus if the trail ever leads back to 
  the Ascendants.
  20 minutes 
  Fortiﬁ es sanctum, locking every door and 
  ﬁ lling darts for his tranquilizer gun.
  One hour 
  Begins performing an oblation at his Hal-
  low. 
  Two hours 
  The oblation complete, Epimetheus now 
  has 10 points of Mana handy. He casts 
  “Greater Summons” to call upon nearby 
  spirits and commands them to act as sen-
  tries. 
  Five hours 
  Locks himself into his sanctum to wait.
  One day 
  Contacts a member of the Free Council and 
  rambles about “enemies of the Awakened.” 
  If one of the characters is a member of this 
  order, she might receive a call for information 
  from this person. If the characters question 
  a member of the Free Council, that member 
  might refer them to Epimetheus or take pains 
  to keep them away from him, depending on 
  how the characters conduct the interview. 
  36 hours 
  Casts “Control Spirit” and sends an ephem-
  eral spy to look in on the characters. This 
  spirit might inadvertently lead the cabal 
  back to Epimetheus, of course, but his 
  curiosity and fear overwhelms his already 
  shaky common sense. 
  The characters might interrupt this string of events at any 
  time. After the ﬁ rst 36 hours, Epimetheus starts to calm down 
  a bit, but his sanctum remains tightly locked, and he keeps 
  his pistol on him at all times. His tranquilizer riﬂ e is never 
  far away (though he doesn’t carry it in public). Needless to 
  say, he keeps the “Ephemeral Shield” spell active as well.
  This scene presents information about Epimetheus’ sanc-
  tum, Hallow and equipment as well as his tactics so that 
  the Storyteller can be adequately prepared for any course of 
  action the players might take. 
  Epimetheus’ Sanctum
  Epimetheus lives in a small house in a middle-class area. He is 
  well-known in the neighborhood as the “snake guy,” and enjoys 
  taking his reptilian pets outside during warmer months to enthrall 
  and disgust the local children. He’s thought of as eccentric, but 
  harmless and pleasant, and so a bunch of obviously armed and 
  angry-looking people will certainly induce the locals to call the 
  police. The characters need to be circumspect, making sure they 
  look as if they belong and aren’t there to cause any trouble. If 
  you feel that they might attract attention to themselves, roll ﬁ ve 
  dice for a general Awareness check for the neighbors (modiﬁ ed 
  by traits such as Striking Looks, Occultation and by any bonuses 
  or penalties you feel appropriate). If this roll succeeds, someone 
  nearby calls the police. They arrive roughly ﬁ ve minutes later. 
  If, by that time, the characters have not either left or convinced 
  Epimetheus to talk with them without hostility, they have to deal 
  with the cops (which might be as simple as a Mind Arcanum 
  spell or as involved as a shoot-out, depending on the characters’ 
  actions and your desires for the story). 
  The house is locked up tight, and all of the locks are spiri-
  tually awakened. This imposes a –2 penalty on all attempts 
  to pick them, and the Security rating of the Sanctum (2) 
  imposes a further –2 modiﬁ er. Magical attempts to open these 
  locks only suffer the penalty from the spirits, however, while 
  mundane attempts suffer the full –4. 
  Epimetheus’ Hallow is located in the basement, and it is 
  powerful enough that the players can sense it from outside 
  the house if they have Mage Sight active (Wits + Compo-
  sure to do so, +1 die if the Mage Sight is through Prime). 
  The Hallow’s resonance is best described as “serpentine.” 
  Mages drawing Mana from it feel a smooth, scaly skin slide 
  across their hands and faces, and their sibilants grow more 
  pronounced for a short while after. 
  Epimetheus himself is hiding the basement (if he knows 
  the characters are around, and the spirit sentries he summons 
  inform him if mages enter a 20-yard radius around his house), 
  and is armed with a handgun and a tranquilizer gun. The 
  tranquilizer darts require a Stamina roll against a Toxicity 
  rating of 5 to avoid being knocked unconscious. One such 
  roll must be made every turn for three turns after a successful 
  shot with the tranquilizer gun. The Life spell “Cleanse the 
  Body” alleviates the effects of this poison. 
  Epimetheus, remember, isn’t a merciless killer. He is under 
  the impression that the characters are out to kill him (which 
  
  101
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  might even be true) and that they represent a threat to the 
  Consilium at large. He has also been threatened with death 
  by the Ascendants should the characters ever trace the 
  Hungry Dragon back to these elder mages. He is, however, 
  a fairly moral and honest mage, and has no desire to ﬁ ght 
  to the death. He only uses his handgun if he has used up his 
  tranquilizer darts, and warns the characters that 
  he is armed. He is too 
  ﬂ ustered to cast any complex spells, though he uses simple 
  ones such as “Coaxing the Spirits” to best advantage. 
  The best course of action for the cabal might be to try 
  to talk Epimetheus down. He knows that he is hot-headed 
  and impulsive, and if the characters suggest to him that he 
  is perhaps reacting without know all of the facts, he admits 
  that possibility. He still doesn’t trust the characters, though, 
  and wants to take the case before the Consilium before 
  admitting to anything. 
  What the characters do at this point is up to them. If they 
  go in guns blazing and kill Epimetheus, apart from potentially 
  losing Wisdom, they have lost a good source of information 
  about the Ascendants and effectively put themselves back 
  at square one in their investigations. In addition, of course, 
  the characters have killed a man, which has pragmatic as 
  well as ethical consequences — they must now dispose of a 
  body, and if shots were ﬁ red, the police might already be en 
  route. Also, Epimetheus was a member of the Consilium and 
  the Free Council and in good standing with both organiza-
  tions, and both of them are capable of sending investigators 
  to the house to try and determine what happened to the 
  young Thyrsus. The characters might be able to wriggle out 
  of all of these snares, but it’s probably better if they resort to 
  conversation over bloodshed.
  Talking Epimetheus down requires a Social roll. Exactly 
  what Attributes and Skills are involved depends on the char-
  acters’ approach, but Epimetheus’ Composure (3) should be 
  applied as a negative modiﬁ er. Remember that you can apply 
  Epimetheus’ Destiny dice at appropriate places, but that his 
  bane “shed skin,” can come into play if the characters reveal 
  the truth about their interest in him (casting off doubt and 
  dishonesty as a snake sheds its skin). 
  If the characters talk with Epimetheus but refuse to involve 
  the Consilium, he sticks to his story about the snake sum-
  moning being an accident. The characters can pry the truth 
  out of him by reading his mind, threatening or torturing him, 
  but be mindful of possible degeneration. See the next section 
  for his arguments and for what he really knows.
  Before the Consilium
  Since it is assumed that “The Crown” takes place in what-
  ever locale you have chosen for your chronicle, the personnel 
  and particulars of the Consilium aren’t detailed here. Instead, 
  we focus on Epimetheus’ story and how the characters can 
  verify or disprove it, what measures the Ascendants take to 
  keep their secrets and possibilities for how the interview (or 
  trial, should it come to that) might progress. 
  Rules of the House
  Initially, an ofﬁ cer of the Consilium hears the case. This 
  might be the Provost of the Council, or (if the players’ cabal 
  isn’t native to the area or hasn’t been there long), the Herald. 
  The matter is fairly serious, though — Epimetheus, by his own 
  admission, summoned a dangerous creature from the Shadow 
  that attacked and tried to eat a cabal. Further wrinkles to this 
  
  102
  case might include the Hungry Dragon actually succeeded in 
  killing on of the characters, the creature was freed from its 
  controlling spell and killed or was seen by a Sleeper, the cabal 
  realized the creature was under direct control or Epimetheus 
  wounded or killed one of the characters during the course of 
  resisting questioning. Depending on how the characters present 
  their case, Epimetheus might be imprisoned until the hearing 
  is concluded. On the other hand, if he were cooperative but 
  the characters stepped on some toes looking for him, they 
  might be brieﬂ y placed under house arrest. 
  In any event, once some details come to light, the Consilium 
  decides this is a serious enough case that the Council needs 
  to hear it. This means that the Hierarch and the Sentinel, as 
  well as the actual Council, convene to listen to Epimetheus 
  and the characters plead their cases. Note that the characters 
  might not actually have a grievance with Epimetheus. They 
  might believe his claims that the Dragon slipped into the 
  Fallen World accidentally or they might have killed the 
  creature without difﬁ culty and not bear him a grudge. Their 
  attitude will make a difference when it comes time for mages 
  to start giving testimony. 
  When running this portion of the story, consider who 
  might be present at the hearing. Is the testimony open to 
  any mage who wishes to attend, or only those with a certain 
  amount of Status within the Consilium? If the latter, might an 
  exception be made for characters with a great deal of stature 
  within their orders? This would allow the Ascendants (who 
  are important in the Silver Ladder, but almost unknown 
  to the Consilium) to attend. Epimetheus won’t blow their 
  cover, but is noticeably nervous when they arrive. If any 
  member of the Ascendants attends the proceedings, have 
  the players roll Intelligence + Subterfuge. Success means 
  that the character notices Epimetheus’ consternation, while 
  an exceptional success means that the character relates 
  Epimetheus’ consternation to the Ascendants’ presence. 
  (The player might make this logical leap without beneﬁ t of 
  dice, of course.) 
  Epimetheus’ Lies
  Epimetheus’ story is as follows:
  I was experimenting with gateways into the spirit world. I’ve 
  done this sort of thing before, and I’ve always been able to control 
  the things I’ve called up. This creature was different, though. It 
  was dangerous, vicious. It clawed me up something ﬁ erce, and it 
  was all I could do to repel it. It smashed open my tank of feeder 
  rats and ate a bunch of them, and then slithered out a window 
  and disappeared.
  Some logical questions and points of clariﬁ cation that the 
  characters might think to ask, or that the Consilium can ask 
  if you wish, follow:
  • “You said you were injured, but you seem ﬁ ne.” 
  Epimetheus responds (somewhat testily) that he healed 
  himself magically.
  • “Why did the creature hunt down mages instead of 
  Sleepers?” Epimetheus claims he doesn’t know, but specu-
  lates that the creature needed the ﬂ esh of the Awakened to 
  survive in the Fallen World. Other mages present who are 
  knowledgeable about cryptids can afﬁ rm that such creatures 
  are often thaumivores (see p. 338 of Mage: The Awakening) 
  and thus might not gain sustenance from eating Sleepers. 
  • “Why didn’t you pursue it?” He claims that he tried, 
  but that something was blocking his ability to hunt it down. 
  Other mages in the Consilium nod, as they have experienced 
  difﬁ culty using Space magic of late (due to Anurati’s meddling 
  and powerful magic). Of course, Epimetheus doesn’t know the 
  Space Arcanum anyway, but that’s not common knowledge. 
  If asked this question, Epimetheus unconsciously glances at 
  the Ascendants, if they are present. The characters can notice 
  this if a player succeeds on a Wits + Subterfuge roll. 
  • “Why didn’t you contact the Consilium or your or-
  der for help?” Epimetheus says that he was frightened and 
  ashamed, since he’s known for not thinking ahead. If anyone 
  died, he is almost tearful at this point. 
  • [Any question that catches him in a lie.] The characters 
  might point out that the spirit was under a spell controlling it, 
  that the creature attacked them speciﬁ cally or that it told them 
  it was summoned (if the mages talked to it). If Epimetheus 
  is caught in a lie, he glances about helplessly, and stares ﬁ rst 
  at the Ascendants (same roll applies to notice this, but add 
  two dice to the roll) and then at any representatives from his 
  order. He doesn’t answer the question, however, and refuses 
  to say any more, standing on his prior statements. 
  Ascendants’ Manipulations
  Whether by intuitive cross-examination or his own tongue, 
  Epimetheus is probably found to be guilty of violations of the 
  Lex Magica and in need of punishment. Indeed, he doesn’t 
  argue that point. The Consilium might have an established 
  protocol for sentencing this sort of crime, and of course 
  certain mitigating factors (whether the characters speak in 
  favor of Epimetheus, whether anyone actually died and so 
  forth) are taken into account. 
  The Consilium should discuss the matter behind closed 
  doors, but it’s possible that one of the characters is on the 
  Consilium. If so, or if the characters ﬁ nd a way to eavesdrop, 
  the character discovers that the Consilium isn’t feeling for-
  giving. Even if no one was killed, and even if the Consilium 
  members believe Epimetheus is telling the truth about calling 
  the Hungry Dragon up by accident, the mage has proven 
  himself to be a danger to the Awakened. 
  During the sentencing discussion, the Ascendants enter 
  the room. The characters might see the Ascendants as they 
  brush by on their way in. They introduce themselves (if the 
  characters are present and do not know them) and state that 
  they believe that Epimetheus should be banished from the 
  Consilium and from the area. 
  At this point, the Council decides to open the subject of 
  punishment up to the Consilium at large. The characters, 
  therefore, can take part in the debates. Again, the logistics 
  of this scene depend very much on what you have decided 
  
  103
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  about the Consilium. The debate might be very structured, 
  with each side arguing a set number of minutes, or it might 
  take the form of a shouting match. The important viewpoints 
  to know are those of the Ascendants and of the accused.
  • Epimetheus: Confused, angry and betrayed, Epimetheus 
  is one word away from spilling the beans about his conversa-
  tion with Melchior. Epimetheus is terriﬁ ed of the older cabal, 
  though, and so holds his tongue even until sentencing is passed 
  — if the sentence is one he can live with, he’d rather do so 
  than risk death. The characters might be able to gain his 
  conﬁ dence if they promise to protect him. If they make any 
  accusation against the Ascendants and it looks to Epimetheus 
  that the truth is coming out anyway, he’ll speak up.
  • The Ascendants: Knowing that the situation is touchy 
  and not able to simply strike Epimetheus dead (at present), 
  the Ascendants decide to remove the focus from him and 
  turn the whole mess political. They speak out against the Free 
  Council, claiming that this “pseudo-order” and its “techno-
  magic” is responsible for the ﬁ asco. After all, the Atlantean 
  orders have well-deﬁ ned protective measures for dealing with 
  spirits, which the Free Council apparently feels are beneath 
  them. Melchior, of course, acts as point man for this argument, 
  and if the characters don’t shut him down quickly, he soon 
  has the entire Consilium in a rousing debate over the merits 
  of the Free Council as an order and the viability of its styles 
  of magic. During the chaos, Balthasar intends to cause a few 
  lucky turns of fate and get Epimetheus outside, at which point 
  Casper can strike him dead with his command of Forces. 
  Truth Revealed
  How well the Ascendants’ plan works is up to you, or 
  rather, up to the players. If they give up and go home or 
  become distracted by the debate about the Free Council, 
  they might miss seeing Epimetheus led outside and felled 
  by a lightning bolt. Pay attention to the players and what 
  their characters are doing — a character who keeps watch 
  on Epimetheus during all of this will notice him leave the 
  room. A character keeping a watch with Mage Sight might 
  notice Fate spells being woven around Epimetheus and might 
  even be able to counter them. (You’ll need to decide how 
  potent these spells are.) 
  If the Ascendants’ plan is interrupted at any time dur-
  ing the proceedings (before Epimetheus is killed, that is), 
  Epimetheus breaks down and claims that Melchior put him 
  up to summoning the creature and instructing it to kill the 
  characters. Epimetheus begs for protection from the Moros 
  mage and his powerful cabal. The Ascendants, for their part, 
  laugh at these accusations, saying that Epimetheus was simply 
  caught in his own lies and is trying to shift the blame to his 
  betters. Melchior uses this as further “evidence” that the Free 
  Council is weak and unﬁ t for Awakened society. 
  If Epimetheus is killed, the Consilium quickly realizes the 
  murder was done by magic, and the members spread out to 
  ﬁ nd the mages responsible. The Ascendants agree to help, 
  and immediately try to take leadership roles in order to lead 
  other mages off their scent. Meanwhile, Anurati starts dis-
  integrating the sympathetic threads around the Ascendants, 
  masking their connections to Epimetheus. The characters 
  might notice this, if they think to check, and should be struck 
  by the similarity between this occurrence and the one in the 
  hotel room in Scene One. 
  Another possible wrinkle here is Remainder. He can 
  conﬁ rm, if the characters need conﬁ rmation, that the Ascen-
  dants and Epimetheus both are pawns of “them” (that is, the 
  Exarchs). The characters might discover this for themselves, 
  of course, and make good use of the Ring, Robe and Scepter 
  during this scene. The Ascendants don’t press the issue if 
  their plan to kill Epimetheus fails, though, relying on their 
  station, their raw power and the lack of evidence to shield 
  them from prosecution. Remainder, however, insists that 
  the characters “do something about those old guys — those 
  guys belong to Them.”
  Scene Four: 
  The Magi Ascendant
  In this scene, the characters research and eventually con-
  front the Ascendants. The characters need to use methods 
  other than brute force, and they can’t expect the Consilium’s 
  help in this matter, but other options are available.
  Once the characters meet with and best the Ascendants (in 
  some way), the characters can actually learn about the spider 
  at the center of this web of inﬂ uence, Anurati Sahley.
  Rumors for Scene Four
  The characters might hear these rumors as 
  they search for information about the Ascen-
  dants, or the characters might ﬁ nd that no one is 
  willing to talk to them at all (see below).
  • “The Silver Ladder’s going through some kind 
  of changing of the guard around here. A couple 
  of their people just got sent to other cities.”
  • “You know that Melchior guy got deported 
  from Germany, right? Not by the government, 
  though. By some scary-ass mages over there.”
  • “You know what I say. Steer clear of any 
  mage whom you can’t call by his real name.”
  Motives
  This scene is the ﬁ rst one in this story that asks the players to 
  be proactive. If they decide, however, that their problems end 
  with Epimetheus (especially if they kill him rather than taking 
  him before the Consilium), they might not ever track down the 
  Ascendants. What should the Storyteller do in this instance?
  What not to do, if you can help it, is rush things. Don’t push 
  the players into chasing down these powerful mages, and don’t 
  dangle obvious hints in front of the players. The Ascendants 
  
  104
  aren’t obvious. They are subtle, inﬂ uential and patient. If the 
  characters make enemies of the Ascendants, the characters won’t 
  see ﬁ re and brimstone raining down. Instead, they are likely to 
  be snubbed by Silver Ladder mages in the area. Any characters 
  who actually belong to the Silver Ladder ﬁ nd that they lose easy 
  access to rote and other order resources. Any Mentors, Allies or 
  Contacts must choose between their loyalty to the character and 
  to the order at large — a loyal supporting character might share 
  the stigma of the cabal. Also, the characters begin to acquire 
  unsavory reputations. If they pay attention to gossip among the 
  local Awakened, the characters ﬁ nd that rumors circulate that 
  they might allies of the Seers of the Throne. If this persists, the 
  characters might ﬁ nd members of the Guardians of the Veil 
  watching them (and any members of the cabal who belong to 
  this order are brought in for intense questioning). Slowly but 
  surely, the local Consilium rejects the characters.
  This, of course, is in line with the Ascendants’ plans. The 
  Hungry Dragon, they realize now, was a mistake — too obvi-
  ous and too grandiose, plus it relied upon a fundamentally 
  unreliable mage. Anurati still wants the characters dead, and 
  the Ascendants might have personal grudges against them, 
  depending on the events of Scene Three. The plan now is 
  to starve the characters out, depriving them of friends and 
  support, and then kill them off one at a time. The Ascendants 
  are quite capable of doing so, too, unless the characters stand 
  up for themselves, digging deeper into the unknown. 
  If you are weaving the events of Reign of the Exarchs into 
  a larger chronicle, this would be a good time to break from the 
  events of “The Crown” and run a short story or two using an-
  tagonists apparently unconnected to the mages of this chapter. 
  The characters might be involved in a car accident and discover 
  their brakes were magically weakened — only to recognize that 
  nimbus later when they see Melchior. Simple bad luck might 
  ruin a character’s bid for advancement within his order — and 
  Balthasar of the Ascendants is a Master of Fate. The Ascendants 
  never leave incontrovertible proof of their malevolent acts, 
  but the characters should be able to ﬁ gure out who has it in for 
  them. If nothing else, the three Artifacts they already have in 
  their possession or a cryptic visit from Remainder should point 
  the characters in the right direction.
  Knowing the Enemy
  Background information about the Ascendants can be found 
  in the “Dramatis Personae” section. Their degree of involvement 
  with the mages of the local Consilium is up to the Storyteller, 
  but should be consistent with the Ascendants’ personalities. It is 
  important that the Ascendants’ reach permeates the local Con-
  silium, and probably extends to other Consilii as well through 
  the Ascendants’ inﬂ uence in the Silver Ladder. As Storyteller, 
  you need to decide how this inﬂ uence manifests with regard to 
  this chronicle, but as the Ascendants turn their attention to 
  the cabal, their inﬂ uences should begin to intersect. 
  Below are several ways in which the Ascendants can in-
  teract with mage and Sleeper society, and how the players’ 
  cabal could exploit them.
  • Apprentices: Melchior is the most personable of the 
  Ascendants, and thus the most likely to take an apprentice. 
  This apprentice would most likely be another Necromancer, 
  but this isn’t necessary as long as the mage belongs to the 
  Silver Ladder. If the characters could convince the apprentice 
  of the true nature of Melchior and his cohorts, the characters 
  might be able to use her to get close enough to the Ascen-
  dants to challenge them. Of course, turning the apprentice 
  might not be necessary if the characters are powerful enough 
  to impersonate her (using such spells as Mind 3 “Imposter” 
  or Life 3 “Two Faces”). 
  • Appeals to Good Nature: Balthasar and Melchior are 
  old and set in their ways, and thoroughly convinced of their 
  own superiority. Casper, on the other hand, isn’t quite as ego-
  maniacal as his cabal-mates and could conceivably respond 
  to reason. If the characters ﬁ nd a way to connect with him 
  (possibly through his church, his family or even through 
  mutual sports fandom), they might be able to convince 
  him that the Ascendants are committing crimes against the 
  Awakened. Using the Robe to free Casper from the Exarchs’ 
  snares might help this process. 
  • Destiny: Balthasar, like Anurati, is a ﬁ rm believer that 
  one cannot change the course of Fate. He subscribes to a 
  strict doctrine of predestination — even attempts to read 
  and magically alter Fate are perfectly in line with what 
  Fate had in store from the beginning. This rather nihilistic 
  view wears on him, however, and makes him susceptible to 
  depression. If the characters can engage him in a discussion 
  on the matter, they might be able to talk him into giving 
  something up about Anurati or about the Ascendants’ plans. 
  This requires convincing him that the characters are destined 
  to confront her, of course, which is no easy feat considering 
  that Balthasar is a Master of Fate. Again, the Artifacts can 
  help, either by hiding someone from his magic (the Robe) or 
  countering his ability to see the strands of Fate (the Scepter). 
  The other notion to consider is that the characters actually 
  are destined to confront Anurati. 
  • The Duel Arcane: While the Ascendants have a 
  somewhat perverted understanding of their order and what 
  its goals should be, they do understand many of the basic 
  traditions of Atlantean magic. The Duel Arcane is one of 
  these traditions, and the Ascendants feel bound to accept 
  challenges of this sort. If a character wishes to challenge 
  one of the Ascendants to the Duel Arcane, the character 
  can name the terms, including disclosure of the Ascendants’ 
  motives (and to whom they answer; hopefully the characters 
  have learned that no one is exempt from being a patsy). Of 
  course, actually besting one of the Ascendants at the Duel 
  Arcane isn’t going to be easy. 
  Casper is probably the safest choice, as he is the least ac-
  complished of the three in terms of raw power. He chooses 
  Forces as his sword (four dots), calling down lightning to 
  strike his foe, and Prime as his shield (three dots), surround-
  ing himself with an impenetrable halo of red/yellow light. 
  He has Gnosis 3. If beaten, he concedes without taking the 
  Duel into the realm of physical injury.
  
  105
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  Melchior won’t accept the Duel if it’s made in private, but 
  if challenged in view of other mages, he accepts. He chooses 
  Matter (ﬁ ve dots) as his sword, trapping his foe between im-
  mense gears and cogs. For his shield, he chooses Mind (four 
  dots), making his enemy unable to concentrate through loud 
  noise and distracting thoughts. He has Gnosis 4. He won’t 
  pummel a beaten foe, but if stripped of Willpower, Melchior 
  forces himself to ﬁ ght on for at least two more turns.
  Balthasar is undoubtedly the most dangerous of the three 
  in the Duel. Fate is his sword (ﬁ ve dots), and it is invisible. 
  The character simply feels the weight of destiny crushing her 
  soul and choking the life from her body. Balthasar uses the 
  Time Arcanum as his shield (also ﬁ ve dots) — the opponent 
  simply sees her attacks pass him by as he slowly steps aside. 
  He has Gnosis 5 and ﬁ ghts to the death. 
  Of course, it is possible to cheat at the Duel Arcane. The 
  Ascendants, for various reasons, don’t, but if the characters 
  choose to do so, they must ﬁ nd a way to avoid detection. 
  The Robe would be ideal for this, and a character using the 
  Robe in the Duel Arcane can apply the Robe’s beneﬁ t to 
  the contest. The Scepter can likewise be used to deter the 
  Ascendants’ attacks. Cheating in the Duel Arcane might be 
  cause for degeneration roll, but given that the characters 
  are probably aware of how dishonorable the Ascendants are, 
  such a roll should only be applied to extremely moral mages 
  (Wisdom 8 or higher). 
  • Stealth and Guile: Of course, the characters might sim-
  ply decide to break into the Ascendants’ sanctum and poke 
  around for clues as to their true agendas and masters. In theory, 
  this is a good plan — the Ascendants leave their sanctum 
  often and they all maintain their own private residences. 
  Unfortunately, similar to many mages, the Ascendants are 
  protective of their sanctum (which also houses an extensive 
  library and a Hallow), and it is well-secured, both in terms of 
  mundane security and magical protections. Casper has bound 
  Forces spells into many of the locks, and so picking them 
  without ﬁ rst unweaving these spells can be fatal. Likewise, 
  Balthasar routinely checks the future of the building and sets 
  up triggered spells to trap, maim or kill intruders, so unless 
  the characters make use of spells such as “Shield of Chronos,” 
  they can expect deadly magic to await them. 
  Once again, though, the Ring, Robe and Scepter can protect 
  the characters — if they are willing to risk degeneration to 
  use them. These Artifacts can help ﬁ nd the sanctum, bypass 
  the protective spells and shut down any magical alarms that 
  might be triggered. If the characters do not have access to 
  these Artifacts, they would be well-advised to consider an-
  other avenue of approach. 
  The Prize
  Whatever method the characters use, they should wind up 
  ﬁ nding a scroll and its translation in the Ascendants’ library. 
  The characters might discover this scroll while inﬁ ltrating 
  the Ascendants’ sanctum, after a successful Duel Arcane or 
  by turning an apprentice or Casper to the characters’ cause. 
  However they come by this scroll, the information on it can 
  lead them to Anurati. 
  This scroll presents 
  a bastardized account 
  of the legend of the 
  Dethroned Queen 
  in which the Queen 
  remains in the Fallen 
  World to aid the 
  Silver Ladder in As-
  cending once again. 
  The story describes 
  a Crown that al-
  lows control over 
  “those touched by 
  the Three Masters,” 
  and goes into great 
  detail about the history 
  of the Silver Ladder 
  and how the future 
  
  106
  requires three leaders from that order to take the reins of the 
  Awakened and raise them up. The margins of the scroll depict 
  drawings of the Queen, who, the characters will soon discover, 
  bears an uncanny resemblance to Anurati Sahley.
  Analysis of the Scroll
  The characters probably subject the scroll to both magical 
  and academic scrutiny. The information they can gain from 
  both approaches is as follows:
  • Academic Study: Researching the Awakened history 
  and legendry presented on the scroll requires an extended 
  Intelligence + Academics roll. If the researching character 
  has the Order Status Merit (Silver Ladder), the player may 
  add the Status rating to this dice pool. Each roll requires 
  one hour of research time, and 10 successes are necessary. 
  Once the player reaches 10 successes, the character learns 
  that the history in the scroll is largely accurate except where 
  the Dethroned Queen is concerned. She does not enter 
  into the history of the Silver Ladder in any other source 
  the characters can ﬁ nd (whether they can ﬁ nd other refer-
  ences to her is up to the Storyteller). Likewise, the “Three 
  Masters” don’t correspond to any titles given to the Oracles, 
  and the context of the story seems to more closely identify 
  these “Three Masters” with the Exarchs. 
  The characters can also research the writing and lettering 
  style of the scroll. This requires an Intelligence + Academics 
  roll. Success indicates that the character discovers that the 
  scroll is written in Hindi; judging from the wear and tear and 
  the lettering, the scroll is well over 500 years old. (This is not, 
  in fact, the case — Anurati wrote the scroll and compelled 
  Melchior to artiﬁ cially age it using the Death Arcanum.) 
  Digging into Hindu legend and myth (which requires an 
  extended Intelligence + Occult roll, each roll requires one 
  hour, ﬁ ve successes needed) shows that the “Three Masters” 
  in the scroll are described similarly to the Trimurti, the Hindu 
  triad of the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. 
  Once the characters have uncovered all of the above in-
  formation, have the appropriate players roll Intelligence + 
  Academics, Politics or Expression. If this roll succeeds, the 
  character realizes that the scroll reads as though it was written 
  speciﬁ cally for the Ascendants. The “new leaders” described in 
  the scroll match the Ascendants’ descriptions, both physically 
  and magically, closely enough to feed into the Ascendants’ 
  delusions of grandeur without being too obvious.
  • Magical Scrutiny: The scroll registers to the Ring’s 
  spell or to Remainder’s “Sense Them” rote, naturally. An-
  urati destroyed sympathetic threads connecting the scroll 
  to her long ago, so the characters can’t simply use magic to 
  trace the scroll back to her, but the Scepter can erode her 
  “Destroy the Threads” spell. Other options exist, of course; 
  the Scepter just provides a quick (and potentially costly) 
  way of ﬁ nding her.
  Scrutinizing the scroll can be performed with any Ar-
  canum. The scroll has three qualities (see p. 279 of Mage: 
  The Awakening). The most prevalent is pride, bestowed 
  by long association with the egotistical Ascendants. The 
  second, nearly as prominent, is doubt. This scroll throws 
  everything the reader knows into question, whether he is 
  willing to believe the scroll or not. The ﬁ nal quality, very 
  subtle (–2 to scrutiny attempts) is helplessness, a remnant of 
  Anurati’s nimbus. In addition to scrutinizing these qualities, 
  if the characters analyze the scroll with the Death Arcanum, 
  they can uncover the scroll’s artiﬁ cial aging. Whether they 
  recognize Melchior’s magical resonance depends on whether 
  they have seen Melchior uncloak his nimbus. (If he were 
  involved in the Duel Arcane, of course, they automatically 
  recognize it.) 
  If the characters successfully scrutinize the scroll, they 
  have a magical thumbprint for Anurati Sahley. Tracking 
  her with only this to go on is difﬁ cult, if not impossible, 
  but this thumbprint combined with everything else they 
  have seen gives them enough information to ﬁ nally put the 
  puzzle together. 
  Scene Five: 
  The Center of the Web
  In this scene, the characters track down Anurati Sahley 
  and discover the face behind their trials and tribulations 
  in this story. In the process, they can recover the Crown of 
  the Dethroned Queen, but they also learn that the Exarchs’ 
  inﬂ uence extends well beyond the local area and independent 
  agents such as Anurati. 
  Finding Anurati
  The characters have a good lead in the scroll obtained 
  from the Ascendants, but by itself the scroll doesn’t provide 
  a direct line to Anurati. The characters need to perform 
  further research, magical or mundane (or both) before they 
  can ﬁ nd her. If the methods listed below seem overly difﬁ cult 
  or harsh, keep in mind that Anurati has honed her magic 
  for years with the express goal of avoiding detection. She is 
  subtle, patient and paranoid, and the fact that the characters 
  know she exists at all is a minor victory. 
  Keep in mind, too, that Anurati has a high Destiny Merit 
  rating, but her bane is the Crown. As the characters are 
  searching for her after reading the legend of the Crown 
  (and might even have the Crown as a direct goal if they 
  have the other three Artifacts), they can trigger this bane. 
  You can apply her “bane dice” as positive modiﬁ ers to their 
  attempts to ﬁ nd her, or as negative modiﬁ ers to her attempts 
  to stay hidden.
  Talking to Other Mages
  The characters might wish to bring in other mages on 
  this problem. If the characters involve the Consilium, their 
  reception depends upon the events of the story so far, on how 
  the Consilium normally operates and on the degree to which 
  the Consilium has been compromised by Anurati and her 
  
  107
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  agents. The cabal might try to report its ﬁ ndings and discover 
  that key members of the Consilium are now unconsciously 
  working at cross purposes. Alternately, the characters might 
  ﬁ nd that even with the Consilium’s help, they can’t simply 
  track down Anurati and subdue her. Let the other mages 
  in the city (including Contacts, Allies, Mentors and even 
  Retainers of the characters) help to whatever degree you 
  feel would be appropriate while still allowing the troupe’s 
  characters to be the stars of the show. 
  Mages whom the characters already know to have fallen 
  under her inﬂ uence, of course, represent the most obvious 
  choice for ﬁ nding hints. Unfortunately, those mages aren’t 
  necessarily predisposed (or in any condition) to help. Epi-
  metheus, if he is still alive, might be more than willing to 
  side with the characters or he might hate and distrust them, 
  but in either case he has never seen Anurati. If the characters 
  gain his trust, however (whether through genuine emotion 
  or magical manipulation), he can tell them that he always 
  received his orders from Melchior, but that Balthasar exerts 
  the true inﬂ uence among the Ascendants. Indeed, Epimetheus 
  has seen Balthasar actually contradict Melchior, stating that a 
  particular course of action “isn’t what she wants.” Epimetheus 
  notes that Balthasar often refers to Fate as “she” or “the 
  Lady,” but if the characters show him the scroll, he suggests 
  that the term might have another meaning.
  If the characters have somehow won the trust of one of 
  the Ascendants (probably Casper, though if they can show 
  Melchior that he was manipulated into aging the scroll he 
  becomes willing to help them), the Ascendant can conﬁ rm 
  that Balthasar makes policy for the cabal based on his Arcane 
  understanding of Fate. He often enters deep trances and 
  emerges with plans and strategies based on projected futures 
  and probabilities. This isn’t uncommon for an Acanthus, of 
  course, but Balthasar often speaks with a slight Indian accent 
  for a few hours after such trances. 
  Getting useful information from Balthasar involves con-
  vincing him that a mage is behind the scroll. Whether this 
  is remotely possible depends on the characters’ relationships 
  with the Ascendants so far. (If any of the characters belong 
  to the Silver Ladder, they stand a much better chance.) This 
  is probably a matter best left to pure roleplaying rather than 
  dice, but you can certainly have a player make a Social roll 
  (Manipulation + Persuasion, Presence + Empathy or whatever 
  other combination feels appropriate based on the character’s 
  tactics). If the characters can convince Balthasar that the 
  scroll was created for the express purpose of manipulating 
  Melchior, Casper and him, he becomes ﬁ rst enraged and then 
  morose. Even in this despondent state, however, he can tell 
  the characters that when he enters trances he receives visits 
  from “Lady Fate.” He describes her (see Anurati’s description) 
  and describes the feeling of helplessness that accompanies 
  her. The characters should recognize this feeling as one of 
  the qualities on the scroll. Balthasar does not know where 
  this woman might be, but a physical description brings the 
  characters that much closer to her. 
  The Indian Community
  If this story takes place in a city with a large Indian 
  population, the characters might search that area for mages 
  unknown to the Consilium or ask around about mages with 
  shadow names from Indian mythology. Whether this tactic 
  succeeds depends on what you as Storyteller have decided 
  about the other mages in the city, but if mages of Indian 
  heritage exist in the area, it is possible that they have heard 
  of the sect to which Anurati once belonged and even that 
  they heard of her before she wiped those mages’ memories 
  clean of her. Indeed, if you wish to allow the characters to 
  discover one of these mages (either in their area or after 
  taking a trip — perhaps even to India, if you feel like run-
  ning a short side story), the Scepter might undo the memory 
  spells that Anurati used. If this case, the mage can remember 
  Anurati’s name, description and capabilities, and can tell the 
  characters about the Crown. 
  Using the Artifacts
  When the characters are searching for Anurati, the Ring, 
  Robe and Scepter have various uses. Notably, the Scepter 
  can be used to ward off the spells she has cast to rob others of 
  their memories of her (but does nothing to counter her Oc-
  cultation Merit, which is potent enough by itself). The Ring, 
  in turn, can be used to ﬁ nd people whom she has touched 
  — by combining this spell with Mage Sight from another 
  Arcanum, the character can look for people touched by the 
  Exarchs and bearing Anurati’s magical signature. 
  Another possibility involves using the Robe. It suppos-
  edly angers the Exarchs and causes them to send minions 
  after the wearer, so the characters, if they know this legend, 
  might use it to “bait” Anurati. This is a dangerous gamble, 
  of course, because Anurati might not be the one who takes 
  the bait. Still, if the characters are losing ground, the Robe 
  might lure Anurati back into action. 
  Magical Scrutiny
  If the characters discovered all three of the qualities on the 
  scroll, they know Anurati’s nimbus, although they probably 
  don’t recognize it as such yet. The characters can use the 
  method described above to ﬁ nd people, objects and even places 
  that bear her touch and that bear the mark of the Exarchs. 
  This might require retracing their steps a bit, perhaps even 
  tracking down the vandals from Scene One and subjecting 
  them to intense magical scrutiny. If the characters do this, 
  however, they might be able to uncover a kind of sympathetic 
  thread (using the Ring or Remainder’s spell) and track the 
  thread back to Anurati’s sanctum. 
  The glyphs that she used to spy on the Awakened of the 
  area provide another possibility, of course. Anurati, just as 
  any mage, can only have so many active spells at once, and 
  she can’t monitor them all. The characters might be able 
  to ﬁ nd a glyph that bears an active connection to her, if 
  they look hard enough (perhaps an extended Intelligence 
  + Investigation roll). 
  
  108
  Dream and Other Mystical Visions
  Anurati is powerful and her inﬂ uence pervasive, but she 
  can’t control everything. The Dream Merit can lead the 
  cabal to her, provided that the character using the Merit 
  can correctly interpret what he sees. The nature of the vi-
  sion should reﬂ ect where Anurati is — unique architectural 
  features, nearby landmarks and so forth. Don’t worry about 
  presenting her as a manipulator, since the players are well 
  aware of that already. Concentrate the hints in the vision 
  on facts the characters can use.
  The characters might search for ghosts or spirits that know 
  something about Anurati or have seen her. Most ghosts 
  don’t know any more about mages than Sleepers do, but 
  if the characters can ﬁ nd a ghost compelled into a deadly 
  situation by Anurati’s magic, that unfortunate shade might 
  know who was responsible (and indeed, bringing Anurati to 
  justice might help the ghost pass on). 
  Using “Augury,” “Postcognition” or other Time spells to 
  see Anurati is difﬁ cult at best, since doing so requires ﬁ nd-
  ing someplace she has actually been. The information the 
  characters can discover through other means, though, might 
  lead them to such a place. A spirit or ghost that knows some-
  thing about Anurati (even a tiny amount of information will 
  sufﬁ ce) might be able to direct the characters to one of her 
  former homes. Although she has destroyed the sympathetic 
  threads connecting her to the hotel room, she has no facil-
  ity with Time, and so the characters might be able to ﬁ nd a 
  moment when she actually visited that room. 
  Confronting Anurati
  Once the characters ﬁ nally get a bead on Anurati and 
  are able to track her to her sanctum, their problems have 
  just begun. This section discusses the magical and mundane 
  protections that Anurati has placed upon her home and gives 
  several possibilities for her style of confrontation. 
  The physical details of the house (what part of town the 
  house is in, what it looks like, the nearest neighbors) are 
  not provided, as these details will vary based on where this 
  story is set. However, the following are some possibilities 
  and their ramiﬁ cations:
  • Apartment: Anurati doesn’t like large numbers of people, 
  so if she lives in an apartment building, it’s probably a small 
  one with only a few tenants. She might have thoroughly 
  subjugated the people dwelling there, conditioning them to 
  her magic enough that she can possess or use the Crown to 
  direct any of them easily. This means that if the characters 
  interact with a tenant, that tenant might suddenly lash out 
  and attack the mage. Anyone in the building could theoreti-
  cally “be” Anurati.
  • Neighborhood: If she lives in a small neighborhood, 
  Anurati might actually be known to the locals. She probably 
  doesn’t attend religious services or block parties or the like, 
  but the people living nearby might know “that lady who lives 
  alone and never comes outside.” Whether these people are 
  willing to help the characters, though, is another matter. 
  Anurati is powerful enough to set up standing magical effects 
  that cause xenophobia, meaning that the characters (and any 
  other strangers) are downright unwelcome. The cabal might 
  even suffer from spells that make the characters feel lost or 
  keep bringing them back to the same intersection (leading 
  out of the area, of course). 
  • Rural: Finally, Anurati might choose to live out of 
  town, miles from any neighbor. This carries a decreased 
  risk of Paradox, and so here she’ll use vulgar spells to best 
  advantage. She doesn’t have human servants to call on, but 
  any local wildlife obeys her whim.
  The Sanctum and Hallow
  Anurati only uses a single room as her sanctum, the hub 
  of her existence. She has the Sanctum Merit at ﬁ ve dots, 
  but only a single dot is allocated to Size. That means that 
  within her sanctum, she receives a +4 to Initiative and that 
  the characters suffer a –4 modiﬁ er to break in. In addition, 
  she has set up a ban involving Prime and Mind. This prevents 
  mages with active spells from entering her home (not just her 
  sanctum). The characters must either drop their spells before 
  entering or dispel the ban (the Potency of which is 5). 
  No matter the structure of her home, her sanctum consists 
  of a single room barely big enough to hold ﬁ ve people. The 
  sanctum is sparsely furnished, containing only a wooden chair 
  carved with representations of the Trimurti. The sanctum 
  is located in the highest room of the house (or perhaps on a 
  hill, if you decide Anurati lives in the country), and holds 
  her Hallow. The Hallow’s resonance is cold, biting like winter 
  wind, and stepping into the area sends a chill up the characters’ 
  spines. Drawing Mana from her Hallow can chap a mage’s 
  lips or cause her to start shivering uncontrollably. 
  Anurati’s Nimbus
  Several references have been made to An-
  urati’s nimbus, but it is described here for easy 
  reference. Anurati’s nimbus is best described as 
  “helplessness.” When her nimbus is apparent, 
  onlookers feel as though they are being swept 
  along by a powerful current or tied down by 
  unseen threads. When she uses powerful magic, 
  the feeling becomes so intense that sensation 
  decreases, as though onlookers’ limbs move 
  through wills not their own.
  Strategy
  How does Anurati ﬁ ght the characters? Remember that 
  she believes that she has no free will, and that everything she 
  does is at the behest of the Trimurti (that is, the Exarchs). 
  As such, she might stand and ﬁ ght even if she knows she will 
  lose, simply because she has no say in the matter. Chillingly, 
  even in the face of death or murder she doesn’t exhibit fear, 
  just a profound resignation. 
  
  109
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  The following are a few examples of the attitudes she 
  might take toward the confrontation and the methods by 
  which she might ﬁ ght:
  • Bloodthirsty: Anurati believes the characters have 
  glimpsed too much of the Trimurti’s plans and must die 
  for their blasphemy. She makes use of spells such as 
  Prime 2 “Unseen Spy,” Mind 2 “Incognito Pres-
  ence” (and possibly even Mind 3 “Imposter”) to 
  hide from the characters, Fate 3 “Lucky Coin” 
  or “Superlative Luck” to make her knife strike 
  more surely and of course Mind 3 “Psychic 
  Assault” to simply pummel the characters 
  into submission. She doesn’t attack them 
  all at once, but tries to use the Mind Ar-
  canum to separate them. She attacks with 
  her kukri knife, and takes called shots at 
  the characters’ throats. (See p. 165 of 
  the World of Darkness Rulebook; this 
  attack imposes a –4 to her roll, but any 
  damage inﬂ icted is aggravated rather 
  than lethal.) 
  • Harbinger of the Exarchs: Anurati 
  believes that she is meant to convert 
  these intrepid people to the Exarchs’ 
  service. To that end, she makes herself 
  known to the characters, but imposes 
  hideous visions of Pandemonium upon 
  them. This is a Mind 5 spell that works 
  similarly to the Mind 4 spell “Hallucina-
  tion” (see p. 215 of Mage: The Awakening), 
  but the spell affects two senses plus one for 
  each success on the casting roll. Implausible 
  actions on the part of the hallucinations do 
  not give the targets a reﬂ exive roll to end the 
  affect. Anurati adds Target factors to the spell 
  to affect all characters present. The visions 
  are meant to break down the characters’ 
  wills and make them helpless before the 
  might of the Exarchs. In this vision, 
  the characters are tormented 
  in the Realm of Pande-
  monium (as Anurati 
  remembers it) and 
  come face-to-face 
  with their sins and 
  fears. Mastigos char-
  acters might gain a 
  positive modiﬁ er to 
  resist this spell, but 
  you might also forego 
  the Resistance roll 
  entirely and assume 
  that Anurati success-
  fully casts the spell, so 
  as to give the characters 
  the opportunity to con-
  front the Exarchs, even in this metaphorical sense. 
  Another possibility here is that Anurati attempts to take 
  control of the characters by using the Crown. After all, if 
  they are interfering with the Exarchs’ business and using the 
  other Artifacts, the characters must be under the Exarchs’ 
  inﬂ uence to some degree. The systems for the Crown can 
  be found in the Introduction. 
  • Unseen Manipulator: Anurati wishes to kill the 
  characters, but doesn’t want to sully her own hands. 
  She uses pawns, whether Storyteller characters or 
  the cabal, to attack and hopefully slay the mages. 
  Spells such as Mind 5 “Psychic Dominion” and 
  Mind 5 “Possession” are useful here, and she 
  can use them sympathetically within her home 
  (though she probably doesn’t have more than 
  a Known connection to the characters). 
  • Better Part of Valor: It is always possible, 
  of course, that Anurati gives up everything 
  and ﬂ ees, using the Space Arcanum to trans-
  port herself away or the Mind Arcanum to 
  force someone into helping her. She is well 
  equipped for this kind of thing, and her 
  Occultation Merit makes her hard to track. 
  Think carefully before employing this strat-
  egy — what kind of ending would it make for 
  the story if she escaped? Would the players 
  be satisﬁ ed by this turn of events, or would 
  it feel cheap? In any event, the characters 
  should at least obtain the Crown.
  Dealing with Anurati
  The characters can end this confrontation in 
  a number of ways. The most likely, of course, is 
  that Anurati dies. For all her power, she is mortal 
  and probably outnumbered. The characters might 
  be able to capture her alive, though (possibly 
  by drugging her — Epimetheus 
  would be happy to supply 
  them with tranquilizers). 
  What they do from there 
  is up to them. Taking her 
  before the Consilium to 
  stand trial is possible, but 
  extremely risky. How can 
  the Consilium control such 
  a manipulative and power-
  ful mage? And what should 
  they do with her? The As-
  cendants, if they have been 
  made aware of her true role 
  in their lives, argue for her 
  immediate execution, but 
  if they have not discovered 
  how she has duped them, they 
  probably work to free her. 
  
  110
  Another possibility, of course, is that Remainder appears 
  before the Consilium and tells what he knows about Them 
  and how Anurati ﬁ gures in. Somewhere in his paranoid ram-
  blings lie clues to the truths of the Exarchs, perhaps, if the 
  characters can corroborate what he says with what Anurati 
  knows. Is this possible? Is it worth the effort?
  The Crown (Artifact ••••• •••)
  Durability 4, Size 2, Structure 6
  Mana Capacity: 
  The Crown is a silk scarf worn over the 
  head. The outside is an ash-gray color, but 
  the inside depicts the Trimurti and the De-
  throned Queen. Anurati usually wears the 
  Crown, to keep it in her control, or hides it in 
  her sanctum.
  As contingent powers, the Crown can be 
  used to cast the Mind 4 spell. “Telepathic 
  Control.” and the Mind 5 spell, “Possession.” In 
  addition, the wearer can use the Crown to cast 
  a limited version of the Mind 5 spell, “Psychic 
  Domination.” This variation on the spell can 
  only be used on subjects who have previously 
  either served the Seers or the Exarchs will-
  ingly or who have been subject to potent spells 
  (Mind 4+) by Seers or other followers of the 
  Exarchs. That is, the Crown’s “Psychic Domina-
  tion” can make use of psychic trails blazed by 
  the minions of the Exarchs, but it cannot create 
  its own subjects.
  Finally, the Crown can be used to usurp 
  connections between characters who serve 
  the Exarchs. While making Persuasion, So-
  cialize, Subterfuge or Intimidate rolls against 
  characters with Social Merits that tie them to 
  the Seers of the Throne or other followers of 
  the Exarchs, the wearer of the Crown gains 
  bonus dice equal to the highest-rated Social 
  Merit that ties the target to the hierarchy of the 
  Exarchs. For example, a Pentacle mage wear-
  ing the Crown would gain a +3 bonus to an 
  Intimidate dice pool made against a Storyteller 
  character who was a three-dot Ally or Retainer 
  of a Seer of the Throne.
  The use of the Crown’s powers (includ-
  ing learning spells from it) is an act of hubris 
  demanding a degeneration roll for any mage of 
  Wisdom 4 or higher. 
  Pentacle mages who have studied the myths 
  of the Dethroned Queen question whether there 
  is really any difference between a willworker 
  who uses the powers of the Crown and a Seer 
  in service of the Exarchs. Is making use of the 
  Seers’ cold chains of control over its minions 
  truly any less immoral than clamping on those 
  Supernal shackles in the ﬁ rst place? Can’t the 
  Crown just be seen as a means of making any 
  wearer into a slaver, just like the Exarchs and 
  their cronies?
  Dramatis Personae
  Below are the important characters that the cabal meet 
  during this story. The characters likely to enter into com-
  bat with the players’ cabal have full game traits, while 
  the Ascendants do not. (The Storyteller can simply as-
  sume that they are considerably more powerful than the 
  characters, enough so that direct violence isn’t an option 
  for dealing with the Ascendants.) Likewise, the mundane 
  pawns encountered during the ﬁ rst part of this story don’t 
  merit traits; if need be, use the various characters described 
  in the World of Darkness Rulebook. The characters are 
  presented in the order in which they are encountered in 
  the scenario as written. 
  Sasuha Usum, the Hungry Dragon
  This creature is a spirit summoned from an unknown 
  part of the Shadow and bound into the Fallen World by 
  the magic of Epimetheus. Normally, such creatures cannot 
  remain Materialized for very long without a constant source 
  of Essence, but this particular spirit’s ban allows the spirit to 
  interact with ﬂ eshy beings for extended periods of time. 
  Sasuha Usum is a spirit of hunger rather than a snake- or 
  lizard-spirit. This spirit simply takes a reptilian form. The 
  traits below reﬂ ect the spirit’s Materialized body, but its spirit 
  traits are listed in the sidebar.
  Description: The Hungry Serpent measures nearly 20 feet 
  in length. The spirit resembles a Komodo dragon in shape 
  and mass, but is capable of absorbing its legs into its body 
  and slithering along like a snake. The spirit’s back is a deep 
  indigo, while its underbelly fades to an ivory color with a 
  faint blue sheen. Its eyes glitter like sapphires, and it regards 
  everything it sees as possible food. It has long, black claws, 
  which it can use as weapons or as climbing tools.
  Storytelling Hints: This beast has been called to the Fallen 
  World to hunt down the mages who interfered with Anurati 
  Sahley’s (and thus the Exarchs’) plans. Sasuha Usum is under 
  magical prohibition by Epimetheus to avoid eating people 
  other than the mages, but struggles against this domination. 
  If this mages don’t destroy or banish this beast quickly, it 
  abandons its hunt for them and starts feasting on Sleepers. 
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 2 
  Physical Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 4, Stamina 4 
  Social Attributes: Presence 1, Manipulation 1, Com-
  posure 2
  Mental Skills: None
  
  111
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  Physical Skills: Athletics 3, Brawl 4, Stealth (Hiding in 
  Shadows) 4, Survival (Hunting) 3
  Social Skills: Intimidation 4
  Merits: Fast Reﬂ exes 2
  Willpower: 4
  Health: 10
  Initiative: 8 (with Fast Reﬂ exes)
  Defense: 4
  Speed: 15/17 (species factor 6 when running, 8 when 
  slithering)
  Size: 6
  Weapons/Attacks: 
  Type 
  Damage 
  Dice Pool
  Bite 
  2 (L) 
  10
  Claw 
  3(L) 
  11
  Numina: Harrow, Materialize, Material Vision, Wilds 
  Sense
  Sasuha Usum
  Below are the Hungry Dragon’s spirit traits, 
  just in case they become relevant.
  Rank: 3
  Attributes: Power 7, Finesse 6, Resistance 7
  Willpower: 14
  Essence: 15 (max 20)
  Initiative: 13
  Defense: 7
  Speed: 21
  Size: 6
  Corpus: 13
  Inﬂ uence: Hunger 3
  Numina: Harrow, Materialize, Material Vision, Wilds 
  Sense
  Ban: If the Hungry Dragon Materializes and 
  eats the ﬂ esh of an earthly being, the spirit cannot 
  willingly enter Twilight again until the Hungry 
  Dragon has digested this ﬂ esh. If the Hungry 
  Dragon continues to eat ﬂ esh during this time 
  (which, of course, is hard for this spirit to avoid, 
  being a spirit of hunger), the duration of its earthly 
  stay lengthens accordingly. While this might seem 
  more advantage than ban, the creature is vulner-
  able to physical attack during this time, and many 
  of its traits are slightly reduced (note the differenc-
  es between its Materialized and spiritual form). If 
  its earthly body dies, the spirit is destroyed. 
  Epimetheus 
  Quote: Hmm. Didn’t think of that.
  Background: Delano Cade grew up fascinated by animals, 
  reptiles in particular. He was expressing the desire to be a 
  herpetologist before he reached middle school, and by the time 
  he entered high school he had a small room in his basement 
  ﬁ lled with various specimens of snakes, lizards and turtles he’d 
  found or rescued in the woods behind his house. 
  Unfortunately, he received some rude awakenings while 
  pursuing his secondary education. He learned that herpetolo-
  gists — scientists studying reptiles — needed a much more 
  
  112
  solid base in the physical sciences than his aptitudes seemed 
  to grant him. He also discovered that research was boring. 
  Delano wanted to be working with the animals, preferably in 
  their natural habitats, but his guidance counselors informed 
  him that there was no future in it. So he dutifully went to 
  college, majored in business and went about his life. 
  One night, while driving home from his job as a nameless 
  ofﬁ ce functionary, he saw what looked like an immense serpent 
  slither off the road into an alleyway. Without thinking, he 
  parked his car along the side of the street and followed the 
  serpent. The snake led him on a harrowing chase through 
  the city, which he realized had taken on the form of rocky 
  foothills, steaming jungles and dense forests. When he ﬁ nally 
  caught the snake, it was coiled at the top of a rock formation. 
  He climbed after the creature, only to realize he was star-
  ing down a creature that could easily swallow him. Delano 
  fought off the creature and carved his name into the rock, 
  and came to his senses standing near his car (which was in 
  the process of being towed). 
  Now a Thyrsus mage, Delano took the name “Epimetheus” 
  after the Greek Titan who fashioned all of the animals of the 
  world, but lavished gifts upon them without sparing a thought 
  to humanity. (His name means “afterthought.”) Although 
  tempted by the Mysterium, Delano found his calling in the 
  Free Council, seeing the potential of humanity to ﬁ nd and 
  catalog the magical creatures of the world. 
  Description: Epimetheus, now in his early 30s, wears a 
  light beard and keeps his hair cut short. He has a tattoo of 
  the serpent from his Awakening across his chest and back, 
  but when he wears a normal shirt, only the ﬂ icking tongue 
  is visible above the neckline. 
  Storytelling Hints: Epimetheus is curious and impatient, 
  which isn’t an especially wise combination (as he is quick to 
  admit). He tends to act ﬁ rst and consider later, and therefore 
  has inadvertently allowed creatures into the material world 
  from the Shadow in the past. The local Consilium granted 
  him some status in part because his order doesn’t have 
  much of a presence in the area, but mostly because they feel 
  Epimetheus should have some supervision. To his credit, 
  Epimetheus is well aware of his shortcomings, not that this 
  self-awareness seems to help.
  Dedicated Magical Tool: A wooden wand with a fork at 
  the end (used for catching small snakes)
  Real Name: Delano Cade
  Path: Thyrsus
  Order: Free Council
  Legacy: None
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 3, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3
  Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 2, Com-
  posure 3
  Mental Skills: Academics 2, Computer 1, Crafts 2, In-
  vestigation 2, Occult (Cryptozoology) 2
  Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Drive 2, Firearms 2, Stealth 
  2, Survival (Tracking) 2, Weaponry 1
  Social Skills: Animal Ken (Reptiles) 3, Empathy 1
  Merits: Destiny (Shed Skin) 2, Hallow 4, High Speech, 
  Occultation 1, Resources 1, Sanctum 4, Status (Consilium 
  1, Order 2)
  Willpower: 6
  Wisdom: 7
  Virtue: Charity
  Vice: Pride
  Initiative: 5
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 9
  Health: 8
  Gnosis: 2
  Arcana: Life 2, Prime 1, Spirit 3
  Rotes: Life — Analyze Life (•); Prime — Dispel Magic (•), 
  Supernal Vision (•); Spirit — Spirit Road (•••)
  Mana/per turn: 11/2
  Weapons/Attacks: 
  Type 
  Dam. 
  Range  Clip Special 
  Dice Pool
  Riﬂ e 
  N/A 
  200/ 
  1 
  Tranquilizer  4  
   
   
  400/ 
   
  Darts  
    
   
   
  800 
   
  (see p. 100)
  Pistol 
  2 
  20/ 
  6 
  N/A 
  6  
   
   
  40/80
  Armor: 3 (“Ephemeral Shield,” Spirit ••)
  
  113
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  The Ascendants
  The Silver Ladder mages calling themselves the Ascen-
  dants came together due to Anurati’s inﬂ uence. They fed 
  into each other’s egomania, each seeing omens in the others 
  that “proved” that the three of them were meant to Ascend 
  the Ladder, to direct the order as a whole and eventually to 
  lead the Awakened. The Ascendants are vain and arrogant, 
  but also powerful and extremely patient. 
  The three mages take their name from the descriptions 
  Bede the Venerable gave for the three wise men who vis-
  ited the baby Jesus. The Ascendants are rarely seen in the 
  local Consilium, but everyone involved in the Consilium 
  has heard of them (though not of their desires to usurp 
  their order). 
  Melchior
  Quote: The best companies, factories, even nations — they 
  are not run by committee. 
  Background: Born Wilhelm Goetz, Melchior was a 
  “king,” of sorts. The owner of a large German manufacturing 
  company, he was responsible for great strides in metallurgy 
  and efﬁ ciency in factories. His Awakening came when he 
  was alone in his ofﬁ ce one night, looking over his payroll. 
  A former employee, one Melchior had ﬁ red in a round of 
  cutbacks, snuck in and stabbed Melchior in the stomach. As 
  he lay dying, his soul ventured to Stygia, and there, he said, 
  he learned “the true value of gold.” 
  He survived the encounter, but his assailant was never 
  captured or punished (so far as the law knows). While still 
  healing in the hospital, Wilhelm was approached by a member 
  of the Silver Ladder, and invited to join the Vox Draconis. 
  Wilhelm remained in Germany for a time, but found that the 
  world of the Awakened held his imagination and attention 
  now. He sold his business and left his country, immersing 
  himself in his new life.
  Description: Melchior is a stout man in his early 60s. 
  He has a bushy white beard, though his hair still retains a 
  few streaks of color. He has worked long and hard to lose 
  his thick German accent, but it still comes through when 
  he is agitated. 
  Storytelling Hints: Melchior likes to joke that he might 
  be the Ascendant who looks most like a wizard, but he 
  is a machinist and scientist ﬁ rst. He is a Master of Mat-
  ter, but has relatively little expertise in the Arcanum of 
  Death — he recognizes its importance, but often says that 
  he’ll learn all he needs to of death by and by. Melchior is, 
  uncharacteristically of his Path, the most lighthearted and 
  prone to humor of the Ascendants, but his humor has a 
  morbid streak. He is quick to praise German engineering, 
  especially in the automotive ﬁ eld, and considers bringing 
  up the actions of his country during the Second World War 
  to be highly crass. 
  Path: Moros
  Order: Silver Ladder
  Abilities: 
  Mechanics (dice pool 8) — Melchior might be getting on 
  in years, but he has a savant-like understanding of machines, 
  enhanced, of course, by his magic. 
  Diplomacy (dice pool 7) — Not as hot-headed as Casper or as 
  dour as Balthasar, Melchior is the voice of the Ascendants. 
  Casper
  Quote: It’s important to remember your place. I’ve been 
  reminded of mine forcibly in the past, and I’ll have no problem 
  reminding you of yours.
  Background: Barely 30 years old, Rick Lowery is a true 
  product of elite society. He didn’t have a job until he was 
  out of college, and even then the job was just a post in his 
  father’s corporation. Rick had been bred for a life of unearned 
  privilege, and had never been offered much option on the 
  matter. His Awakening showed him the Aether, a realm 
  where vice, indulgence and avarice were less than nothing 
  and all that mattered was character and fortitude. Rick was 
  found sorely lacking, and when he reappeared on Earth, he 
  resolved to give everything up and earn his power. 
  Unfortunately, he had coasted through life for so long that 
  he had little idea how to study, research and even learn. The 
  Free Council, initially interested in his money and idealism, 
  cooled when the order realized how much training he would 
  require. The Guardians of the Veil assessed his high-society 
  connections but discovered that he was thought of as a buf-
  foon, if he was thought of at all. The Silver Ladder, however, 
  
  114
  found someone willing to take him on, ﬁ rst teaching him 
  basic cognition and learning skills and then the secrets of 
  the Awakened. While Casper is by no means a Master mage, 
  his understanding of Forces is impressive, and he shows great 
  promise in learning rotes. 
  His mentor, unfortunately, met with an unfortunate ac-
  cident about a year back, and Casper met up with two other 
  Ladder mages at the funeral. They agreed to teach the young 
  man, and to introduce him to other important mages (but 
  never to hold his hand — Casper insisted on making his 
  own way).
  Description: Casper is tall and athletic. He has ruddy 
  skin, a smooth, young face and a shock of bright red hair. He 
  seldom speaks, and listens raptly to anyone talking to him. 
  The intensity of his gaze is off-putting to some. He favors 
  tan or brown suits and wears a silver ring with an opal stone, 
  his dedicated tool for the Forces Arcanum.
  Storytelling Hints: Easily the weakest of the Ascendants in 
  terms of magical power (though he is still an Adept of Forces 
  and a Disciple of Prime), Casper knows a surprising number 
  of rotes and is an expert on the history of the Silver Ladder. 
  He has a good memory for names and faces (a by-product of 
  his long years observing high society drama), and though he 
  wishes to make his way in the world on his strengths rather 
  than others’ weaknesses, Balthasar and Melchior are rapidly 
  convincing him that the two notions often intersect. Casper 
  is somewhat naïve, but is quite loyal to his cabal.
  Path: Obrimos
  Order: Silver Ladder
  Abilities: 
  Politics (dice pool 7) — Casper can quickly size up who is 
  in charge of an organization, who the movers-and-shakers are 
  and whether the group is on the way up or on the way out.
  Sports (dice pool 6) — Rick Lowery was never exactly 
  an athlete, but he kept in shape, and since his Awakening 
  has taken physical ﬁ tness much more seriously. 
  Balthasar
  Quote: When the thread snaps, son, we’ll all take a tumble.
  Background: Martin King Todd was born in Mississippi, 
  the son of civil rights activists. His life was fraught with 
  tragedy from the very beginning. His mother died in a house 
  ﬁ re when he was eight years old, and his father was sent to 
  prison for chasing down and beating the arsonist who set 
  the ﬁ re. Martin went to live with his cousins in the country, 
  far from the noise and the chaos of the movement. (His 
  extended family wasn’t interested in “all that stuff about 
  buses and drinking fountains,” and they shushed him when 
  he brought it up.) 
  Martin didn’t attend college, but learned several different trades 
  from his relatives. He was just as capable at sewing and stitching 
  as he was at farming and gardening, and his nimble hands always 
  had work to do. One night, the day before his 21st birthday, he 
  was standing outside his barn having a cigarette when he saw 
  three tiny creatures sneaking out into the ﬁ elds. They looked too 
  small to be human, but he saw that they carrying torches, and 
  knew that they intended to burn his home. He followed them 
  all night, never getting closer but never falling behind, until the 
  sunlight struck them and turned them to stone. He arranged the 
  stones into a pattern, one that resembled a Crown, and then 
  started the long walk back to his farm, Awakened. 
  He left the farm shortly thereafter and let fate guide his 
  wanderings. His travels showed him the gruesome side of 
  both the World of Darkness and his home country. The 
  racism his parents had battled was still very much alive, 
  and when he saw it, he always felt a sickening chill down 
  his spine, as though such hatred was counter to Fate’s plans 
  in some way. He stopped through several different cities, 
  and during one of these stays he joined the Silver Ladder, 
  reasoning that as a member of the Vox Draconis he could 
  help the Awakened stay on fate’s course. He wandered 
  until he discovered Melchior. The two became fast friends, 
  and they came to the conclusion that their order needed 
  some fundamental changes. Martin, now called Balthasar, 
  decided that he had ﬁ nally found his destiny, and stayed 
  with Melchior to form the Ascendants. 
  Description: Balthasar is tall and lean, with deep brown 
  eyes and dark skin. Now in his 40s, his knees are slightly 
  arthritic and his voice is gravelly from years of smoking, but 
  his hands are as nimble as ever. He makes his own clothes 
  and rolls his own cigarettes, saying that he likes to be as 
  involved as possible in his own life (despite this, though, 
  he isn’t much of a cook). 
  
  115
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  Storytelling Hints: Balthasar is dour, stern and critical of 
  everything. Similar to his younger cohort Casper, Balthasar is 
  very interested in making sure everything and everyone are 
  kept in their proper places, but while Casper feels this is part 
  of a Divine order, Balthasar reckons it has more to do with 
  fate. He sees the world hanging in a delicate balance, and 
  believes that this balance can be upset by any of a number 
  of improper actions. If the balance falls, the world descends 
  farther into chaos. On particularly pessimistic days, Balthasar 
  laments that the balance has already fallen and that nothing 
  matters, but Melchior is usually able to cheer up his friend. 
  Balthasar’s magic is subtle, but extremely potent. He is a 
  Master of Fate and Time (though he specializes in the divina-
  tory aspects of the Time Arcanum, rather than manipulating 
  and dilating it) and has some knowledge of the Death and 
  Life Arcana as well.
  Path: Acanthus
  Order: Silver Ladder
  Abilities: 
  Sewing (dice pool 8) — While he doesn’t weave the fabric, 
  Balthasar can take a few yards of cloth and make a shirt in 
  just over an hour (less if he uses magic).
  Firearms (dice pool 6) — His eyes aren’t what they used to 
  be, but back on the farm, when the family wanted wild rabbit 
  for dinner they’d always tell Balthasar to go hunting. 
  Anurati Sahley
  Quote: There is nothing to say. 
  Background: Born in India to a native woman and an 
  American traveler, Anurati Sahley never knew her father. 
  He was shot dead on the streets of Madras while on a trip, 
  and the young girl never discovered why. Her mother, until 
  then a vibrant and loving woman, withdrew from the world 
  following her husband’s death and imparted a grim fatalism to 
  Anurati. This attitude became very much a part of her iden-
  tity; she was not sullen or depressed, but simply acquiescent. 
  She viewed misfortune, death and entropy as the natural 
  state of things, and as she watched her village degrade over 
  time, it seemed that she was right. When a hurricane tore 
  her town to pieces, killing everyone she had ever known, 
  including her mother, she stood stoically as the storm raged 
  around her. In the eye of the hurricane, she found an iron 
  tower, with steps and handholds already present. Dutifully, 
  she climbed, and found her name already etched into the 
  metal at the top. Anurati was a servant of a greater power, 
  and she had no choice but to accept it.
  Anurati eventually found membership in a small sect of 
  mages in northern India who had long since broken with 
  Atlantean tradition. They believed that the Trimurti, the 
  triad of the Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva, looked 
  down from the Supernal Realms and occasionally chose 
  mortals to do the gods’ bidding in the Fallen World. These 
  mages were the keepers of a sacred artifact — a Crown that 
  allowed complete control of those mortals selected by the 
  Trimurti. These mages were aware of the myth of Atlantis 
  and accepted it to a degree (the Churning of the Ocean of 
  Hindu myth dovetailed nicely with the destruction of the 
  Celestial Ladder in some respects), and viewed the Trimurti 
  in the same roles that Atlantean mages viewed the Exarchs. 
  These mages, however, venerated these celestial beings rather 
  than (or in addition to) fearing them.
  They taught Anurati to control her magic, and she found 
  that she was adept at passing unnoticed, manipulating the 
  minds of others so that they did not see her. All the while, 
  though, she felt that something was watching her, something 
  that her teachers could never understand. When the time 
  was right, she left, taking the Crown with her, and the Indian 
  mages retained no memory of her. 
  She came to America and brieﬂ y considered taking up with 
  one of the ﬁ ve orders, but then decided she had no need of 
  them. Likewise, she never bothered to seek out the Seers of 
  the Throne. She answered only to the Trimurti.
  Over time, Anurati came to believe that the world was 
  ultimately doomed. She believed that Shiva the Destroyer 
  would emerge from Pandemonium to destroy the Fallen 
  World, and that all matters of true importance took place in 
  the Supernal. That the Trimurti guided her, then, gave her a 
  supreme sense of importance, but her fatalistic attitude toward 
  the rest of the world made her dangerous and eventually cost 
  her Wisdom and sanity. She now waits in the center of her 
  web of intrigue, rarely leaving her sanctum, controlling her 
  pawns with the Crown of the Dethroned Queen. 
  
  116
  Description: Anurati is a sullen Indian woman in her late 40s. 
  She is slightly overweight and keeps her black hair cut short, 
  and dresses in faded saris. She never makes eye contact with 
  people, and usually speaks in a surprisingly audible whisper. 
  Storytelling Hints: Anurati believes with all her heart that 
  she is doing the will of the Trimurti, and, more importantly, 
  that she is unable to do anything else. Mortals are expendable, 
  useful tools but nothing more. Mages, however, have a role 
  to play in the Trimurti’s plans, and Anurati tries to see to it 
  that mages act appropriately. She is contemptuous of mages 
  who belong to the ﬁ ve orders, but has discovered that they 
  can usually be manipulated given time and patience. She 
  has never taken a shadow name, believing that the one she 
  found etched into the iron tower (her birth name) is the 
  only one the Trimurti wishes her to use.
  Dedicated Magical Tool: A kukri knife 
  Real Name: Anurati Sahley
  Path: Mastigos
  Order: None
  Legacy: None
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 1, Manipulation 5, Com-
  posure 3
  Mental Skills: Academics (Hindu) 3, Crafts 2, Investiga-
  tion 2, Occult 4, Politics 1
  Physical Skills: Firearms 1, Stealth (Hiding in Plain Sight) 
  4, Weaponry (Kukri) 3
  Social Skills: Intimidation (Creepy) 2, Persuasion 1, 
  Streetwise 3, Subterfuge 4
  Merits: Destiny (Bane: The Crown) 4, Fast Reﬂ exes 2, 
  Hallow 2, Occultation 5, Sanctum 5
  Willpower: 6
  Wisdom: 3
  Virtue: Faith
  Vice: Pride
  Initiative: 8 (with Fast Reﬂ exes)
  Defense: 3
  Speed: 10
  Health: 7
  Gnosis: 4
  Arcana: Fate 3, Forces 1, Mind 5, Prime 2, Space 3
  Rotes: Fate — Interconnections (•), Occlude Destiny (•••); 
  Mind — Third Eye (•), Incognito Presence (••), Mental 
  Shield (••), Misperceptions (••), Voice From Afar (••), 
  Universal Language (•••), Breach the Vault of Memory 
  (••••), Telepathic Control (••••); Prime — Transform Aura 
  (••), Unseen Spy (••); Space — Spatial Map (•), Scrying 
  (••), Ward (••), Destroy Threads (•••)
  Mana/per turn: 13/4
  Weapons/Attacks: 
  Type 
  Damage 
  Size 
  Special 
  Dice Pool
  Kukri 
  1L 
  1 
  N/A 
  7
  Armor: 5 (“Misperceptions,” Mind ••)
  Magic Shield: 2 (Prime ••)
  Remainder
  Quote: They’re everywhere. They’re inside us. It’s our own 
  fault for letting them in.
  Background: Remainder likes to say that he Awakened 
  before he was born, but he’s probably exaggerating. It is true, 
  though, that he’s only 16 and that he uses magic as though 
  he’s been a mage for a long time. He has never belonged to 
  an order, and he doesn’t have any interest in joining one. 
  He stays on the run, forever looking over his shoulder for 
  Them.
  What They are, he says, is too terrible to name. Remain-
  der says that as a child, he could see Them in churches, 
  schools, ofﬁ ces and other such halls of power, but also in 
  unlikely places such as packs of stray dogs, street gangs and 
  even marching bands. Organization, structure and leader-
  ship were Their hiding places and faith was Their food and 
  drink. Remainder always managed to stay one step ahead, 
  but he admits to doing some awful things in order to keep 
  his freedom. (Exactly what, he won’t say, but when asked 
  about his past, his right eye twitches uncontrollably and he 
  compulsively wipes his hands on his shirt.) 
  Remainder refuses to let any other mage cast a spell on him, 
  protective or otherwise. Although he is young, he has honed 
  his magical prowess to a ﬁ ne point, specializing in protecting 
  himself and escaping from pursuers (real or imagined). No 
  one who has met him, however, has ever seen any trace of 
  Them, which Remainder says only makes sense. “If you see 
  Them,” he mutters, “it’s because you’re about to join them 
  or about to die.”
  Description: Remainder is a skinny 16-year-old boy. He 
  has brown hair down to his shoulders and, despite living on 
  the road, stays quite clean. He wears tattered jeans, faded 
  T-shirts and a denim jacket with an impossible number of 
  pockets.
  Storytelling Hints: Remainder is fanatical about keeping his 
  mundane identity a secret. His shadow name, he says, is “Re-
  mainder” because he is the last surviving member of his family 
  — They killed all of his relatives. Being so young, he has almost 
  no paper trail and so is much harder to track through normal 
  means than adult mages, and he goes to great lengths to avoid 
  standing out. He distrusts other mages, but at the same time he 
  wants to make sure that They don’t get Their hooks into the 
  Awakened. (Remainder doesn’t trust the orders or Consilii as 
  a whole, but he sometimes works with individual cabals.) 
  Dedicated Magical Tool: A pocket knife with a silver 
  casing (stolen from a pawn shop; the engraving reads “To 
  Mike, We Are So Proud”) 
  Real Name: William Vane
  Path: Acanthus
  Order: None
  Legacy: None
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 4, Resolve 3
  
  117
  CHAPTER FOUR: the CROWN
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 1
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Com-
  posure 3
  Mental Skills: Academics 1, Computer 2, Crafts (Whit-
  tling) 2, Occult 2
  Physical Skills: Athletics (Sprinting) 2, Brawl 1, Firearms 
  1, Larceny 3, Stealth 3, Survival (City) 1, Weaponry 1
  Social Skills: Persuasion 1, Streetwise 3
  Merits: Destiny (Bane: Badges) 1, Fast Reﬂ exes 2, Fleet 
  of Foot 2, Fresh Start
  Willpower: 5
  Wisdom: 6
  Virtue: Hope
  Vice: Greed
  Initiative: 8 (with Fast Reﬂ exes)
  Defense: 3
  Speed: 12 (with Fleet of Foot)
  Health: 6
  Gnosis: 3
  Arcana: Fate 2, Mind 2, Prime 2, Time 2
  Rotes: Fate — Sense “Them” (see sidebar) (•)
  Mana/per turn: 12/3
  Weapons/Attacks: 
  Type 
  Damage 
  Size 
  Special 
  Dice Pool
  Knife 
  1L 
  1 
  N/A 
  4
  Armor: 2 (“Temporal Dodge,” Time ••)
  Magic Shield: 2 (Prime ••)
  Sense Them
  Remainder’s one and only rote, which he cre-
  ated himself using the Fate Arcana through long 
  hours of intense work and obsession, allows him 
  to sense the machinations of the beings he refers 
  to simply as “Them.” This spell allows him to 
  see pawns and works of the Exarchs, exactly as 
  described for the Ring (see p. 23). 
  Using this rote requires a roll of Wits + Streetwise 
  + Fate. Casting the spell is an act of Hubris just as 
  using the Ring is, but since Remainder’s Wisdom is 
  below 7, he does not risk degeneration for it. 
  
  118
  
  119
  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  Chapter Five: 
  The Throne
  Gods work within the Fallen World we see,
  Our sharper eyes can see behind their lies.
  Soulless slaves protect them ceaselessly.
  The virtuous oppose them in disguise.
  Though higher powers enslave a world asleep,
  We shatter chains that fallen gods have wrought.
  Awakening lost souls trapped in the deep
  We reign despite the misery they’ve brought.
  Arise to Heaven! We have eyes to see
  Beyond the threshold of eternity.
  
  120
  This story, “The Throne,” begins when all four Artifacts 
  from the previous adventures — the regalia of the Dethroned 
  Queen — have been discovered. The story that follows in-
  troduces the ﬁ fth and ﬁ nal Artifact, one that is more closely 
  guarded than any of the others. The characters’ cabal has 
  dealt with many adversaries — including acolytes, cultists 
  and slaves of the Exarchs — but the characters’ ﬁ nal adver-
  saries are Seers of the Throne. In fact, they’re more than 
  just a single pylon or cabal of mages. They’re part of a Seer 
  Ministry, an alliance of pylons that oversees the coastline 
  of a continent. 
  The mastermind who rules this vast conspiracy is rever-
  ently addressed as a Minister of Mind, but only on the rare 
  occasions when a subservient Seer dares enter the Minister’s 
  domain. Hidden within an elaborate labyrinth of modern se-
  curity, he watches over a power base that spans several cities. 
  Insouciantly, he watches the world as he sits upon the very 
  Throne of the Dethroned Queen. Perhaps it’s only a matter 
  of time before he’s dethroned as well. Events have been set 
  in motion, and if someone else cannot usurp his power and 
  take his place upon the Throne, he will do everything he 
  can to seize the revealed Artifacts so that he can become 
  powerful enough to assault the Heavens. 
  His chances of success depend on how well the characters 
  have hunted down the remaining regalia. Although his 
  sanctum lies at the heart of the action, the characters are 
  the center of the story.
  Destiny and Eternity
  Forces are conspiring to draw the ﬁ rst four relics together 
  — not merely by design, but by Destiny itself. The Dethroned 
  Queen aspires to do more than ascend to the Heavens. As 
  a visionary, she wanted to blaze a trail that others could 
  follow. Armed with magical weapons and defenses against 
  the Exarchs, she plotted to rage against the Heavens, op-
  posing the inﬂ uence of ancient mages in the Fallen World. 
  Before she passed on to a higher state of being, however, she 
  took steps to ensure that others would take up the weapons 
  she set aside — and join her in her crusade. She fervently 
  believes that the Exarchs are real, and she’s ready to go to 
  war against the gods.
  Similar to many other mages, this Atlantean Queen held to 
  the belief that this world was only the ﬁ rst step of a soul’s larger 
  journey. According to her philosophy, anyone who followed 
  her example would “Ascend” and stand upon the threshold 
  of eternity. The “Ascended mage” would then face a choice: 
  she could either use this higher state of being to direct the 
  affairs of lesser mages or she could eventually merge with the 
  inﬁ nite, communing with a cosmos far beyond the world we 
  know. Not everyone shares her belief, however. Even within 
  her own court, dispute over the fate of Ascended mages led 
  to a bitter argument — a debate that lives on today.
  The Dethroned Queen did more than oversee the creation 
  of her regalia. Using Atlantean magics, she ensured that her 
  vision would live beyond her death. As many dying priests 
  during the last days of Atlantis did, she summoned an Ananke 
  — a spirit of destiny — to ensure others would follow her 
  path. Even after the events of the last four chapters, it is only 
  a matter of time before one mage possesses all ﬁ ve Artifacts. 
  The cabal members of your chronicle should do everything 
  they can to make sure they inﬂ uence that outcome, making 
  sure they the regalia ends up in the right hands — even if 
  that means using the Artifacts’ power for the sake of their 
  own cabal.
  Ultimately, the events of this book cannot conclude until 
  all of the Artifacts are present in the same place. Individu-
  ally, they are weapons and defenses against the Exarchs, but 
  collectively, the Artifacts are more than the sum of their 
  parts. With all ﬁ ve Artifacts — the complete set of regalia 
  — a wise or ambitious mage can recreate the ﬁ nal ritual of 
  the Dethroned Queen. It is an elaborate High Ritual, an 
  ultimate act of Hubris, an act considered by many to be a 
  path to the loftiest of goals. A lost soul who could gather the 
  Artifacts together would be prepared for Ascension, ready 
  to rise to the Heavens. The story below, as told by you and 
  your troupe, determines who that lucky mage is, and what 
  happens when then aspirant succeeds — or fails.
  Theme
  In any Mage adventure, power can corrupt the unwary. Al-
  though one recurring theme in this game is “power corrupts,” 
  there’s more to its meaning than that venerable saying. The 
  heroes of this chronicle have overcome supernatural forces to 
  hunt down the Artifacts, but along the way, the characters 
  have been tempted with opportunities to actually use the 
  objects. Because of this, the characters have risked becom-
  ing the very evils they would seek to oppose or destroy. The 
  theme is really this, then: anyone who opposes monsters may 
  eventually become monstrous. Fear of the Exarchs motivates 
  many rivals who seek the Artifacts, but any who would 
  use their power runs the risk of becoming as corrupt as the 
  legendary Exarchs.
  Courage, the highest gift, that scorns to bend, To mean devices for a sordid 
  end.  Courage, an independent spark from Heaven’s bright throne, By which the soul 
  stands raised, triumphant high, alone. Great in itself, not praises of the crowd, Above 
  all vice, it stoops not to be proud. Courage, the mighty attribute of powers above, By 
  which those great in war, are great in love. The spring of all brave acts is seated here, 
  As falsehoods draw their sordid birth from fear.  
  — George Farquhar
  
  121
  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  Throughout this story, the characters have had to deal 
  with a great deal of ambiguity regarding the unseen masters 
  of the Cosmos. Each story in this book has been written to 
  accommodate two disparate points of view. In some chronicles 
  based on this book, it is entirely possible that the Exarchs 
  are mythical, and that there are no ultimate forces dominat-
  ing reality as we know it. In other interpretations, cosmic 
  forces beyond our ken use lesser creatures and thralls in their 
  unending conﬂ icts — for them, the world as a chessboard for 
  their master strategies. For the sake of the story, you, as the 
  Storyteller, must decide which is correct in your chronicle.
  Whether the Exarchs are real or not, by the time someone 
  gathers the regalia together and prepares the “ritual of As-
  cension,” that brave soul is ready to rise to the Heavens. If 
  the stories of the Exarchs really are myths and legends, the 
  possessor of the Queen’s regalia may become powerful enough 
  to watch over reality, or at least understand the forces that 
  ultimately guide it. That aspirant would become a god (or 
  at least a prophet), making the myths true. If Oracles and 
  Exarchs are real, on the other hand, that lost soul may face 
  the challenge of encountering them ﬁ rsthand.
  All magic carries risk. If this ritualist has risen to power 
  through treacherous and devious tactics, he can become as 
  corrupt, as inhuman, as soulless as the very forces he would 
  seek to oppose or destroy. Power certainly does corrupt, and 
  in this ﬁ nal chapter, does so on a scale that would torment 
  the gods — if they even exist.
  Mood
  Two moods should resonate throughout this ﬁ nal chapter. 
  The ﬁ rst is menace. The Throne of the Exarchs is hidden 
  within a Seer Minister’s sanctum. Getting to the heart of it 
  is the hardest part of this adventure. Considering the path 
  the characters have blazed through Creation, their list of 
  enemies is no doubt extensive. Yet the characters’ ultimate 
  adversary wields considerably more power — perhaps even 
  enough to destroy these other rivals to the Throne. 
  If the characters haven’t seized or can’t guard the ﬁ rst four 
  relics, the Ministry can hunt down and destroy the forces 
  that have the Artifact — which makes the Ministry more 
  menacing each time it exerts this power. The characters can-
  not hide from the Ministry’s minions forever, and this very 
  sense of menace should compel the characters to act.
  Lest their courage falter, another force is working to resolve 
  these events. The ﬁ nal chapter is inﬂ uenced by destiny, act-
  ing in accordance with the legend of the Dethroned Queen. 
  During the adventure’s penultimate events, an Ananke 
  — a spirit of destiny detailed in the Mage: The Awakening 
  — sets events in motion that will ensure the fulﬁ llment of the 
  Queen’s wishes. Even master mages describe the workings of 
  the goddess Ananke and her avatars with a sense of grandeur, 
  hinting at forces that are beyond even the powers of mages to 
  master. If the characters haven’t seized the ﬁ rst four Artifacts, 
  and they aren’t ready for this adventure, the Ananke could 
  conceivably guide the cabal to recover the Artifacts. Once 
  the ﬁ rst four have been discovered, she could even aid them 
  when they make the ﬁ nal assault on the Minister’s sanctum. 
  With this device, you can balance the difﬁ culty of the story 
  for the abilities of your characters.
  These two forces — the menacing Ministry and the 
  Ananke’s destiny — collide before the story is over. The cabal 
  is caught in the middle. Within the sanctum, the Ministry 
  is conditioning and directing its minions, aiding one leader 
  in his ascent to even greater power. Outside the sanctum, 
  the Ananke works to recreate the events needed to gather 
  the Dethroned Queen’s regalia. The story that results could 
  serve as the end of a dramatic chronicle — or the birth of 
  a new one. There is no one ofﬁ cial “canonical” outcome 
  dictated by this book. Your players’ decisions and actions tip 
  the balance of this conﬂ ict, for better or worse.
  A Chronicle of Ascension
  Any of the previous four adventures can be played inde-
  pendently — the reward for doing so is a powerful Artifact 
  that can defend a cabal against the Exarchs (or at the very 
  least, forces believed to be the Exarchs). Anyone ambi-
  tious enough to run all four stories can simply run them in 
  sequence, bolting for the ﬁ nal adventure as the characters 
  rack up experience. An alternative is running these stories 
  in the background of a much more elaborate chronicle. The 
  events of the last four chapters may resolve in a very direct 
  fashion, or they may unfold over many months of intrigue, 
  investigation and conﬂ ict.
  Either approach is perfectly valid, of course. You might 
  choose to rush through all four stories in quick succession, 
  as the players’ cabal sequesters the regalia of the Dethroned 
  Queen in secure locations. If you’re willing to invest the 
  time, you could instead play out conﬂ icts in the story to the 
  fullest, as rival factions from previous chapters return to seize 
  unguarded relics, former allies steal Artifacts in carefully timed 
  acts of betrayal and the elders of the characters’ Consilium 
  debate the morality of the characters’ actions. 
  Unlike the last four chapters, this adventure is dependent 
  on the previous four. It cannot begin until the characters 
  have at least discovered all of the regalia, but you can lay 
  the foundation for this story during the events of previous 
  chapters. By the time this part of the chronicle concludes, 
  destiny — as the Ananke deﬁ nes it — ensures that someone 
  will perform the Queen’s High Ritual.
  If the cabal members are ambitious, they can seize all ﬁ ve 
  Artifacts and perform the ritual themselves — but the risk is 
  great enough that they may want to wait until their Gnosis 
  and Wisdom are up to the task. If the cabal members are 
  industrious, they may instead ﬁ nd a more powerful mage to 
  perform the ritual, assisting in the resolution of the ritual 
  and the fulﬁ llment of destiny.
  Keep in mind that there is a third option: their adversary 
  may ﬁ nd a way to gather all ﬁ ve Artifacts together and perform 
  the ritual himself. This is not an option to be taken lightly. 
  The Minister should not merely succeed through convenient 
  plot devices. As part of the menacing mood, the Minister 
  
  122
  should succeed when the characters have failed or had lapses 
  in judgment. If they do not work to defend the Artifacts, 
  the Minister should exploit their oversight. If they use all 
  four of their Artifacts to assault the Minister’s stronghold, 
  they should realize the risk in using them. The story is much 
  easier to resolve if the characters use the regalia to assault 
  this pawn of the Exarchs — especially since he prefers that 
  they bring the regalia to him.
  This last option, in which the Minister is scheming to 
  perform the ﬁ nal ritual — becomes somewhat more feasible 
  if the characters have failed in any of the previous stories. If 
  you run the type of story in which different factions ﬁ ght over 
  these treasures, you should still work toward a resolution in 
  which all ﬁ ve Artifacts are in the same place. The Ministry 
  is powerful enough that it could crush a minor cabal that’s 
  taken an Artifact away from the characters. If you run with 
  this contingency, the characters should be able to discover 
  that the Minister has recovered their lost Artifact.
  With any option you take, the Ministry is here to compel 
  the characters to act. If they do not actively work to assemble 
  the fragments of the puzzle, the story can be altered so that 
  they’re racing against time to stop the Minister from solving 
  the puzzle ﬁ rst. Much of this adventure describes conﬂ icts 
  and resources around and inside the sanctum, but how you 
  use them is ultimately up to you.
  Prelude: 
  On the Street Where You Live
  In the ﬁ rst scene of this adventure, a lone thrall learns 
  enough about the characters to conﬁ rm that they have at least 
  one of the Artifacts. Once alerted to the truth, the Ministry 
  that controls him sends other thralls into the surrounding 
  neighborhood. Just as several of the other adversaries in this 
  book, the Minister covets the regalia of the Dethroned Queen, 
  and he works to seize all the Artifacts for his own ends.
  No matter where the characters have hidden, the minions 
  of the Ministry can eventually ﬁ nd the cabal. After the cabal 
  has found the ﬁ rst four Artifacts, you’ll need to decide when 
  you’re ready to introduce this ﬁ nal adversary. The entry of 
  the Ministry’s minions into the story should be subtle, since 
  their actions do not directly threaten the characters (at 
  least, not at ﬁ rst). Instead, the Minister’s minions begin by 
  inﬁ ltrating the neighborhood around the characters — one 
  thrall at a time.
  By the time you’re ready for the ﬁ nal chapter, the char-
  acters have probably decided where they’re keeping the 
  Artifacts they’ve recovered. An obvious location would be 
  their sanctum, but it’s just as possible that they’ve found a 
  more powerful ally they can trust to guard the items, such 
  as a mentor, a sympathetic ally on the Consilium or soldiers 
  from the Adamantine Arrow trained in protecting such 
  treasures. Brave or mistrustful characters could decide to 
  always keep the Artifacts on hand, in case they’re needed. 
  Once the Minister learns the locations of the Artifacts, he 
  sends thralls to observe allies guarding the regalia — and 
  uses the same tactics against the characters, since their fate 
  is tied to their use of the Artifacts.
  Simple events can inspire paranoia, if they’re timed cor-
  rectly. Before you lead into Scene One, spend a little time 
  detailing the characters’ mundane surroundings. A very direct 
  way would be the same kind of Prelude technique gamers 
  should be used to by now: ask each player a question about 
  the neighborhood surrounding the characters’ sanctum or 
  where the Artifacts are kept. Where do they buy their gro-
  ceries? Does anyone go to a video store? Do they have social 
  contact with people who are oblivious to the supernatural? 
  The characters can’t spend all their time hiding inside the 
  sanctum, so where do they go when they’re outside it? If 
  you have more time, you can actually seed bystanders and 
  innocents who frequent these places during the course of the 
  previous adventure. The more time you take to sow this sense 
  of security, the more you’ll reap in Scene One.
  Next, choose a seemingly innocent Sleeper in the nearby 
  neighborhood, someone struggling who appears somewhat 
  virtuous. This could be a friendly neighbor who’s willing to 
  engage a mage in casual conversation, despite the strange 
  events that take place around her. Perhaps it’s a ﬁ gure in a 
  minor position of authority, such as a policeman who makes 
  a patrol down the nearest street from time to time. It may 
  even be a sympathetic soul who’s been part of the chronicle 
  for a while, such as the bartender at the bar where one of the 
  character drinks or a young kid who looks up to the suspiciously 
  heroic cabal. This works even better if you choose someone 
  your characters (and players) like and trust. We’ll call this 
  tool of your story “the Innocent.” Choose carefully, since that 
  thrall features prominently in Scene One. Once you’ve found 
  this pawn of the Exarchs, you’re ready to begin.
  Scene One: Feint and Invitation 
  The adventure begins with a bit of misdirection. A trusted 
  associate from the local Consilium approaches the characters 
  about a spirit at work in their neighborhood. The problem 
  seems almost trivial compared to the events of the last few 
  adventures: an animal-spirit has stolen an enchanted dagger 
  from the home of a would-be witch. The woman is a Sleeper 
  who ﬁ rmly believes that she can practice magic, but she’s 
  as oblivious to the true sorcery mages practice as any other 
  ordinary person. This kind of minor task is certainly beneath 
  the powers of a Master mage, so anyone with a minor amount 
  of political insight (or even a successful Wits + Politics roll) 
  should see this as an easy way to gain favor.
  Any experienced group of mages should be ready for this 
  sort of dilemma. After examining the area where the item 
  was stolen, Time magic can observe when the theft happened, 
  Spirit magic can track the mischievous ephemera’s footprints, 
  Fate magic can predict where it might have gone and so on. 
  Any contact with evidence can lead to an extended Wits + 
  Occult roll to observe the spirit’s resonance and track it. (Each 
  roll requires 10 minutes, and 10 successes are required, but 
  concluding these rolls isn’t crucial to the story.) If the mages 
  
  123
  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  are familiar with the events of Gloria Mundi, they should have 
  this routine down by now, since that adventure involved 
  tracking down seven Vice-spirits from a ritual gone awry. For 
  a supernatural investigation, this is routine practice.
  The particulars of the investigation are peripheral to this 
  adventure — any animal-spirit will do, since it seized the 
  “magic item” out of curiosity. By running this scene, you’re 
  reminding the characters of the tactics they use to track down 
  their enemies. And there’s something more important here: 
  someone is spying on the mages throughout this investiga-
  tion. That someone is the Innocent — an unwitting pawn 
  of a more powerful adversary. He has an ordinary job, but 
  no skills for being stealthy or discreet. Any set of stats from 
  Mage: The Awakening should do.
  At ﬁ rst, any sightings of this Innocent appear to be co-
  incidence, but he has an uncanny ability to appear when 
  he might witness a suspicious event or act of magic. If the 
  characters confront the witness, his demeanor should be 
  different from what they’re used to seeing. As established in 
  the prelude, he’s normally friendly, but now he seems differ-
  ent. He seems to lack his usual energy, and his emotions are 
  subdued. Despite this, he seems motivated, even fearful, in 
  the face of the unknown. Even a Sleeper investigator of the 
  supernatural would suspect that something is amiss. A Wits 
  + Empathy roll conﬁ rms that this bystander “doesn’t seem 
  like himself.” A Wits + Subterfuge roll reveals that some of 
  his mannerisms are slightly . . . different, almost as though 
  he’s behaving as a stranger.
  Again, the cabal’s tactics for dealing with such events 
  should be routine by now. Mage Sight reveals mental 
  domination, as though someone is using Mind and Space to 
  manipulate the puppet from afar. From there, the characters 
  can track the mage who’s controlling the Innocent much as 
  they would track the animal-spirit. The rotes used to compel 
  the Innocent aren’t terribly subtle; in fact, the controller 
  has done nothing to hide his presence. Presumably, this 
  is because he lacks skill, but in actuality, it’s because this 
  invitation is a trap.
  By studying the subject more closely to gain a feeling for 
  the magic’s resonance, even a novice mage should be able to 
  deduce that the Innocent’s controller is a wealthy individual 
  well schooled in Mind magic. An extended use of Wits + 
  Occult can track down the controller, leading to the location 
  detailed in Scene Two. This otherwise routine investigation 
  should take on a more sinister aspect if one of the charac-
  ters uses the Ring from Chapter One. This puppet is being 
  controlled by an agent of the Exarchs (or if you prefer, the 
  agency this Artifact is designed to measure). 
  The Innocent is oblivious to any higher or sinister pow-
  ers controlling him. He claims that he’s just curious about 
  what his neighbors are doing, and it’s entirely by accident 
  that he keeps running into them. More direct confrontation 
  of this puppet reveals that it isn’t just his mind that’s been 
  affected — his life has also gone through a few changes. A 
  casual observation roll (most likely Wits + Composure) tips 
  off an investigator that the puppet has a valuable item he 
  didn’t before, such as a new watch, a PDA, an MP3 player 
  or a piece of jewelry.
  Even more aggressive investigation could reveal that the 
  puppet has a large sum of money in his wallet, or that the 
  car he was driving a week ago has been repaired, detailed 
  and improved with a better sound system and interior. A 
  Sleeper observer would deduce that the person has just 
  come into some money, or perhaps a new job. A mage, on 
  the other hand, can tell that every one of these new items 
  is “ﬂ avored” by the same resonance. Through a little Fate 
  magic, the puppet’s lifestyle has improved — but at the cost 
  of his emotion, his vibrancy and a little bit of his identity. 
  He’s been sold out to unseen masters.
  The Innocent witness persists in watching the characters 
  from afar, even if the characters insist that he should stop. 
  Nothing short of a restraining order or violence (perhaps 
  the type that would affect Morality or Wisdom) can dis-
  suade this thrall from following them. Even then, direct 
  confrontation only stalls this puppet until Scene Two. While 
  the characters watch this puppet dance at the behest of his 
  masters, you should already be familiar with the mastermind 
  pulling the strings.
  The Ministry of Mammon
  The Ministry that has dispatched this thrall — and oth-
  ers similar to him later in the story — has a well-known 
  hunger for material wealth. While the highest echelons of 
  the order deal with more spiritual concerns, the minions 
  who serve it are distracted by material desires. Ministries 
  exist for each of the major Arcana, and this one excels at 
  manipulating and preying upon lesser creatures by using 
  Mind magic. To the outside world, the fronts that hide 
  their sanctums are part of a tangled network of successful 
  businesses. Secretly, Mind magic augments their ability to 
  exploit, accumulate and suborn. Within their own ranks, 
  and among the greater conspiracies of Seers, this Ministry 
  is known as Mammon. 
  The Ministry of Mammon has recruited many powerful 
  Mind mages, but also includes several mages well versed in 
  the Space Arcanum. Throughout the events of the previous 
  chapters, we can assume these insightful mages have been 
  doing their own research into the legend of the Dethroned 
  Queen. In theory, the more they learn about the Queen’s 
  regalia, the greater their sympathy is to those unique Artifacts 
  — and the greater the chance that they can scry the location 
  of each one with the Space Arcanum. 
  If the characters have been less than discreet in their 
  pursuit of the ﬁ rst four Artifacts, Mammon might have 
  already learned of their activities, which means its minions 
  may decide to scry the location of the characters instead. A 
  magical investigator could then track down the Artifacts 
  by watching your players’ cabal. Even if a mage using Space 
  has a slim chance of ﬁ nding a unique Artifact (such as when 
  he’s reduced to a single chance die on his casting roll), he 
  can continue to rework the same rituals until he learns the 
  locations of the regalia. 
  
  124
  As usual, you should give the characters a chance to notice 
  when they’re being observed with Space magic, particularly 
  when they’re using rotes such as “Third Eye.” Whether you 
  want to roll dice or just assume that this surveillance suc-
  ceeds, you should give the cabal members a chance to notice 
  that they’re being watched. If they manage to complete their 
  busy work tracking down the spirit and enchanted dagger, 
  you may want to throw in a complication from a previous 
  adventure, but, eventually, you should tip them off to this 
  violation of their privacy. The Mammon mages scrying the 
  characters can afford to take the risk of discovery, since the 
  Ministry’s goal is to lure the characters — and the Artifacts 
  they possess — to the Minister’s sanctum.
  Scene Two: A Little B & E
  If the Artifacts are being kept somewhere away from 
  the cabal’s sanctum, a similar encounter occurs near each 
  location where an Artifact is kept. Innocents become 
  watchdogs. The characters shouldn’t know that these other 
  locations are being harassed unless they contact a mage 
  near each of the Artifacts. For instance, a cabal that has 
  asked some mages of the Adamantine Arrow to guard the 
  Crown of the Exarchs might decide to check in with their 
  associates — only to ﬁ nd that someone nondescript (such 
  as the guy who delivers Chinese food to them or the mail 
  carrier who drops off their deliveries) has been snooping 
  around where they work. Mammon’s minions controlling 
  these puppets have taken a few precautions against being 
  traced, such as casting obfuscative spells and relying on 
  subtle mages (such as those with the Occultation Merit). 
  However, Mammon’s minions don’t use those same precau-
  tions when spying on the characters. The minions don’t 
  want to draw in all of the characters’ allies — just the 
  characters themselves.
  The next step is to send those thralls inside the watched 
  location, including wherever the characters are staying. Each 
  thrall is being observed from afar, so a thrall who can actually 
  get inside a room with an Artifact or the home of a mage is at 
  least familiar with that location. That increases the degree of 
  sympathy. The thrall might even try to steal a personal item, 
  such as some hair from a shower drain, a favorite article of 
  clothing or a piece of jewelry. With this minor violation, the 
  Seers’ sympathy to their targets increases. These thralls aren’t 
  terribly good at breaking and entering, but they don’t have to 
  be. Mages experienced in Space magic working for the Ministry 
  are trying to ascertain the location of people and places related 
  to the Queen’s regalia. Confronting these thralls should have 
  the same complications as confronting the ﬁ rst Innocent.
  The thralls stalking the characters are the easiest to track, 
  creating a trail that leads to the Minister’s sanctum in Scene 
  Three. If no one takes this bait, the next step is for thralls 
  to actually try to take any Artifact they can ﬁ nd. These In-
  nocents are expendable, so a minor mage controlling one has 
  no qualms about letting his puppet get hurt — or even killed 
  — trying to lay his hands on an item. Conversely, anyone 
  who hurts or kills an Innocent may need to make a Wisdom 
  or Morality check, depending on the circumstances. A moral 
  mage should feel outrage that innocents are being exploited, 
  but even a ruthless mage should feel the need for revenge.
  Thralls don’t need to wander into a sanctum like zombies, 
  of course. Since thralls look like ordinary people, they invent 
  ordinary excuses for why they are at these locations: delivering 
  mail, checking a cable connection, selling items door-to-door, 
  selling candy bars and magazines for fundraisers and so on. 
  Unless a mage is caught inside someone’s home, mundane 
  authorities should ﬁ nd most of these stories perfectly plau-
  sible. This type of harassment can go on for a while during 
  Scene Two, but becomes more dangerous in Scene Three if 
  the characters haven’t yet caught the puppet masters.
  Rex Mundi
  Should you need to stray a bit from this story, it would help 
  to know a little more about this adversary. To the outside 
  world, Mammon appears as a conglomerate of businesses. 
  They’ve got an edge in ﬁ nancial dealings. People make stupid 
  decisions with money all the time, but Mind magic helps 
  “push” them a little into making these mistakes. Brokering 
  a deal or negotiating a contract, after all, is easier if you can 
  use a little “Emotional Urging” or “Domination” to seal the 
  deal. Some investigators believe the Ministry’s minions use a 
  little bit of Fate magic as well to play the stock market. (“Will 
  this stock go up or down today? Should I buy or sell?”) Wise 
  mages counter that such widespread abuses of magic have 
  dire consequences, ﬁ nancial and otherwise. The stock market 
  is already unpredictable, and magic makes it more chaotic 
  — but who cares when you’re making a ridiculous proﬁ t?
  Seer pylons that work as part of Mammon have a wide array 
  of outside interests and individual goals, but Seers who use 
  the Ministry’s methods tend to have access to a respectable 
  amount of money. They’re professionals — dressing well, 
  living well and receiving the beneﬁ ts of wealth. All of their 
  crusades, power struggles and investigations are well funded 
  — after all, that’s one of the reasons the Seer who founded 
  the ﬁ rst Mammon pylon has risen to the rank of Minister so 
  quickly. This same theme of materialism is pervasive through 
  many of the Ministry’s rotes. While the higher echelon of the 
  order is concerned with spiritual matters — such how and 
  when to Ascend to the Heavens — the bottom line keeps 
  lesser Seers and thralls grounded.
  Similar to most Seer pylons, Mammon mages use thralls and 
  slaves, but most of these tools fall into one of two categories. 
  Disposable thralls are cast aside after they’ve been soaked 
  dry of their ﬁ nancial resources, largely through extravagant 
  loans, foreclosures, repossessions — or if they fail to be useful, 
  insurance money and wills. Chosen thralls are the sell-outs 
  of society, doing just about anything for their secret masters 
  while gaining proﬁ ts along the way. Just as the slaves they 
  exploit, most Mammon mages have Greed as a Vice, but a 
  few suffer from Pride instead. Fewer still suffer from Sloth, 
  content to let slaves do their work for them.
  A business that’s part of Mammon’s network can be as 
  small as a local store or as extensive as a corporation. Some 
  
  125
  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  businesses are united through ﬁ nancial ties, acting overtly 
  as subsidiaries and holding companies, but others are allied 
  in the same methods one would suspect in a secret society. 
  A few investigators claim that the pylon is actually a large 
  pyramid scheme, passing up a percentage of proﬁ ts to the 
  higher ranking mages in the society. The Minister of Mam-
  mon always has a share of the proﬁ ts.
  While the wisdom of that business plan is questionable, 
  one of the Ministry’s ultimate goals is raising the Minister to 
  the Heavens. The most loyal minions of Mammon believe 
  that once that happens, the Fallen World will be enslaved by 
  greed and distracted by materialism — but Mammon’s Min-
  ister will become one of the rex mundi: a king of the world. 
  The greedy are manipulated by the promise of a select few 
  having vast wealth while the majority of humanity toils for 
  meaningless rewards, but this is just a lie to prop up those in 
  power. Lesser Mammon mages merely have wealth, but the 
  Masters of their society dream of Ascending to the Heavens, 
  where they will watch over rich and poor alike.
  Scene Three: One World Center
  For all these inner workings and machinations, the 
  sanctum of Mammon’s Minister appears mundane, sur-
  rounded by glass and steel. His sanctum a ﬁ ve-story building 
  in a downtown area, surrounded by a “campus” with carefully 
  manicured grass. One World Center has some slick marketing 
  to advertise the ofﬁ ces the building developer has for sale, 
  priding itself on its eclectic selection of proﬁ table businesses, 
  global awareness, cultural diversity and a few more of this 
  week’s buzzwords. Such claims are no more deceptive than the 
  usual blather of corporate marketing. The building developer 
  rents ofﬁ ce space to some rather bland and proﬁ table tenants 
  — but there are a few sections of the building that have a 
  higher standard of security than the others. 
   “One World” is also the name of the sanctum hidden in the 
  heart of the building, and is a model example of Mammon’s 
  sanctums. Just as the Fallen World itself, One World’s sur-
  roundings appear mundane, ordinary and even somewhat 
  sterile, but behind the facade, powerful mages secretly work 
  their magic. This Mammon sanctum is proﬁ table enough 
  that they’ve built similar “corporate business parks” in other 
  cities. For a Ministry, Mammon is relatively small, but the 
  Ministry’s businesses are proﬁ table and proliﬁ c, like chain 
  stores forged from one end of a continent to another.
  The sanctum does more than attract proﬁ table businesses 
  to the area surrounding the Ministry’s sanctum. Through 
  Mind magic, the mages slowly suborn the businesses, buying 
  controlling shares of them piece by piece until the time for 
  an aggressive takeover — as foretold through Fate magic — is 
  at hand. The pyramidal building detailed below is only about 
  ﬁ ve stories high, gleaming like a ziggurat in the heart of a 
  larger city. This extensive front has been built to conceal 
  a very small and heavily guarded location: the inner 
  sanctum of Mammon’s Minister. He directs the mages 
  in his employ, but all of the schemes that follow lead 
  to him. He is the eye at the top of the pyramid, and 
  sitting upon the Throne of the Atlantean Queen, 
  he dreams of seeing all.
  Climbing the Corporate Ladder
  The more the characters realize they are being 
  shadowed, investigated and even confronted 
  by thralls from the same location, the more 
  tempted the characters will be to investigate the 
  source of these disturbances. A wise cabal will 
  at least try to penetrate the outer layers of the 
  sanctum that controls these thralls, gathering 
  information on who is there and (perhaps more 
  importantly) using “Mage Sense” to identify 
  the resonance of the magic involved. 
  Identifying the methods used by Seers of the 
  Throne shouldn’t be especially hard. Figuring 
  out what the Minister of Mammon is doing 
  in the heart of the sanctum takes a bit more 
  work — but the process is easier if the cabal is 
  using the Artifacts of the Dethroned Queen. 
  After we take a brief tour of the building, we’ll 
  detail some methods for inﬁ ltrating it. At some 
  point, the cabal should realize how extensive and 
  
  126
  powerful the pylon controlling this sanctum really is. That’s 
  the point when you should move to Scene Four, when the 
  mages receive help from an unexpected — but not entirely 
  unfamiliar — ally.
  The players might expect resistance from the pylon as 
  soon as their characters enter the grounds, but the exterior 
  security is only slightly better than what one would expect 
  from a well-run and proﬁ table ofﬁ ce building. While some 
  investigators will want to bolt straight for a penthouse — or 
  the apex of the pyramid — right away, this is further misdi-
  rection. The sanctum itself actually takes up all of the third 
  ﬂ oor. Technically, the Seer’s sanctum includes the surveil-
  lance room on the ground ﬂ oor and the elevator. Figuring 
  this out requires some investigation of the building, but a 
  few spells and thralls around the periphery makes even a 
  routine investigation slightly more difﬁ cult.
  The Security Cabal
  Most of the guards who patrol the outermost areas of the 
  building — such as the campus grounds, the lobby and the 
  areas around elevators — are ordinary Sleepers. One World’s 
  hiring requirements are tougher than most security outﬁ ts, 
  so the Abilities (and statistics) of the average guard are only 
  slightly higher than the average security guard. They’re 
  loyal, they receive a comfortable (if slightly generous) sal-
  ary and they count as Sleeper witnesses whenever magic is 
  performed near them. Despite this, a few of them have . . . 
  hidden talents.
  One World’s Director of Security secretly describes these 
  special few employees as “soulless.” Through repeated training 
  sessions (and a few unobtrusive Mind rituals), the security 
  slaves have been made unusually susceptible to mental 
  domination and manipulation, but only from the “manag-
  ers” who have trained them. In other words, they’re highly 
  skilled meat puppets for the higher-ups in the sanctum’s 
  security cabal. 
  For most of their time on the clock, security slaves faith-
  fully do their jobs, keeping the building secure and an eye 
  out for anything suspicious. From time to time — such as 
  when a guard reports suspicious activity — one of the Seers 
  in the cabal takes over this soulless thrall. Space and Mind 
  rotes developed by the Seers of the Throne make such feats 
  possible. Profane Urims owned by a select few Seers enhance 
  these powers.
  One World’s security cabal includes mages proﬁ cient in 
  Space who can take over these thralls at any time. For minor 
  disturbances, the mages will see through the eyes of their 
  watchful guards, “jumping” from the point of view of one to 
  another, if need be. For major disturbances, the security cabal 
  can actually cast magic through these thralls, manipulating 
  them like armed and dangerous toy soldiers. 
  When a security guard isn’t possessed by one of these 
  mages, he (or she) has a personality, distinctive mannerisms 
  and emotions. When possessed, they appear to be all busi-
  ness — moving with the soulless efﬁ ciency of a ruthlessly 
  trained warrior — and even casual observation (such as 
  Wits + Empathy) reveals the puppet to be devoid of emo-
  tion. Rotes such as “Emotional Urging” have no effect on 
  a possessed guard, for instance, and Mage Sight reveals the 
  guards as manipulated from afar. 
  For the sake of rules, consider each mage in the security 
  cabal to have a sympathetic connection to a soulless security 
  guard. The Director of Security is a 39-year-old woman who 
  has supervised many training sessions. She has an Intimate-
  quality connection with all of the guards, which means she 
  can “jump into” any one of them, cast magic from her meat 
  shield and jump back out. Rumors persist that she’s abused 
  her authority to do more than just “train” these athletic 
  young men and women in private sessions in her ofﬁ ce, but 
  none of her employees have memories of these events. The 
  sanctum’s Human Resources department does not care.
  Each mage in the security cabal does his or her duty for the 
  sake of the Minister, and, by extension, by the higher powers 
  the mage perceives as Exarchs. That means that anyone using 
  the Ring of the Exarchs can see the instant a security guard 
  is possessed. With a bit of work, the character can identify 
  which security guards are routinely used as thralls. If the char-
  acters feel outclassed, they can use the Crown of the Exarchs 
  to seize control of a puppet — but it’s a risky proposition, 
  since doing so places the mage one step toward becoming as 
  exploitative as the Seers the characters oppose.
  Vigilance 
  One of Mammon’s staunchest rivals is the Panopticon, a 
  Ministry that has developed an impressive arsenal of rotes 
  based around sympathetic magic and surveillance. Through 
  Astral projection and Space magic, its loyal Seers strive for a 
  world where they can be everywhere and see everything — a 
  fanaticism that has lead many other ministries to be paranoid 
  about setting up wards against scrying and sympathetic magic. 
  One World Center is no exception.
  Anyone attempting to scry the inside of the lobby faces 
  relatively little resistance from wards. It’s unlikely that the 
  mage is more than passingly familiar with the place, but 
  Space Arcanum rolls to look in here require at least three 
  successes (since the wards have Potency of 3). The sanctum 
  itself has probably no better than a Described-quality sym-
  pathetic connection (–10 penalty) for someone who hasn’t 
  physically walked inside, and even wards against scrying 
  require at least 10 successes for anyone to look inside. Cast-
  ing rolls have an additional penalty equal to the level of 
  the sanctum, as detailed below. Wards against teleportation 
  are even stronger, permanently set so the caster requires 20 
  successes. Consider the Minister’s sanctum to be warded 
  well enough that no one beneath the rank of archmage can 
  teleport or scry inside.
  Each scene the mages are inside the building, there’s a 
  chance they’ll be watched. In any part of the building where 
  intruders don’t need to make rolls for Skills such as Stealth, 
  Subterfuge or Larceny, make a surveillance roll to see if they’ve 
  been detected. Outside the sanctum, this should probably be 
  a Wits + Composure roll for a security guard watching the 
  
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  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  area through a camera. Inside the sanctum, mages keep to a 
  schedule of random scrying as an extra line of defense. They’re 
  Intimately familiar with their work environment, so if no 
  other action is involved, give one of the mages in the ofﬁ ce 
  a Gnosis + Space roll to see if he can detect the intruders.
  The room where surveillance is conducted and the third 
  ﬂ oor are all part of the sanctum, so any Security dots that 
  apply to the sanctum also apply to those areas. 
  The Robe can be used to counteract the sanctum’s magi-
  cal surveillance. Once activated, the Robe’s user cannot be 
  seen by the Seer’s Space effects for one full scene. Just as 
  the other Artifacts, the Robe offers a quick-and-dirty way 
  up through the ziggurat, but such ambition carries a price 
  through failed Wisdom rolls. Hopefully, your characters are 
  more virtuous and less prone to temptation than the Seers 
  of the Throne.
  Using the Regalia
  Some areas of the sanctum speciﬁ cally mention ways the 
  regalia can be used to circumvent the pylon’s defenses. Your 
  players will no doubt imagine and want to experiment with 
  other ways of using the Artifacts. You may want to treat these 
  similar to improvised effects. In general, activating one of the 
  Artifacts requires a Gnosis roll, and the effect that results is 
  either instantaneous or lasts for one scene.
  The Ring reveals the inﬂ uence of the Exarchs in the Fallen 
  World. That means anyone who is controlled by this pylon is 
  revealed by the Artifact. Identifying someone is who especially 
  susceptible to the Seers’ manipulation may take a little more 
  work. The Ring can also enhance a mage’s ability to spot Seer 
  wards or identify surveillance the Seers are using.
  The Robe hides the wearer from the Exarchs. That means 
  anyone who is trying to hide from or evade scrying or surveil-
  lance magic (using Space) or wards (using Fate) can avoid 
  them for one scene. Note that this Artifact is far more effec-
  tive once a mage ﬁ nds these magical defenses, particularly 
  with the Ring.
  The Scepter counters the inﬂ uence of the Exarchs. This 
  grants a limited ability to work countermagic against the 
  Seer’s spells and enhances the mage’s countermagic in other 
  Arcanum as well.
  The Crown manipulates those controlled by the Exarchs. 
  That means many of the characters inside the building are 
  susceptible to its considerable powers and may become 
  precious resources when seized from the Seers who control 
  them. Doing so arguably makes the mage no better than her 
  enemies, however.
  Exterior Defenses
  Once the characters set foot on the grounds of Mammon’s 
  corporate campus, they must devise a discreet strategy for 
  working their way inside. As they pass through each area 
  of the building — such as the lobby, elevator, ﬁ rst ﬂ oor 
  and so on — each scene should probably involve at least 
  one contested roll involving Stealth, Subterfuge, Larceny 
  or evading magical surveillance. No matter how good 
  they might be at stealth and deceit, they’re just delaying 
  when they’ll be questioned by security guards or observed 
  through surveillance, magical or otherwise. Expect a few 
  game sessions in which the characters attempt to inﬁ ltrate 
  further and learn more. They’ll probably need to over-
  come encounters, locations and defenses such as the ones 
  detailed below. 
  Note that these are merely outer defenses; internal se-
  curity is more difﬁ cult to circumvent, even with magic. 
  For all intents and purposes, the mages need to overcome 
  
  128
  these defenses before they can actually reach the outer walls 
  of the Minister’s sanctum.
  The Grounds: The campus surrounding the building features 
  lots of stark concrete, a few strips of well-manicured grass, some 
  trees and shrubs to give the illusion of a natural space and a secure 
  parking lot. The area is surrounded by a low wall. Any cars that 
  come in or out of the lock must pass by a checkpoint. Describe 
  the entrance to a typical paid parking lot: there’s a booth with 
  a security stooge inside, who has the power to raise and lower a 
  simple barrier to the lot. He only does this after a guest presents 
  identiﬁ cation (and probably cash to pay for outrageous parking 
  fees). A few video cameras scan the area, and the resolution is 
  good enough to pick up license plate numbers.
  Anyone who has business in the complex pays a little 
  more than humans really should at a tollbooth, and visitors 
  should keep the receipts they get after they drive inside. 
  Two guards trade off working in the booth each shift; the 
  one who isn’t busy raising and lowering the parking lot 
  barricade saunters around the building every few minutes. 
  Anyone who doesn’t want to pay to park can walk across 
  the campus, but it’s an open area easily seen from the guard 
  posts within. They’ve got a fairly clear line of sight lead-
  ing out to about 200 feet from the outer wall. A narrow 
  strip of concrete stretches across the parking lot, ﬂ anked 
  by manicured shrubs and grass. The short walk down this 
  path leads to a revolving door — and the ordinary security 
  camera watching it.
  Anyone who strolls into the lobby without using magic has 
  his face recorded by a camera, and anyone who actually parks 
  here ﬁ rst (if he’s, say, pretending to have business here) has 
  his license number recorded on the same digital recording. 
  These aren’t magical cameras, so they’re vulnerable to Forces 
  rotes, invisibility spells and so on. Avoiding cameras and 
  casual detection should be easy for a mage, but the parking 
  lot and lobby also have wards on them to detect when magic 
  is used. Think of this as an ongoing “Supernal Vision” spell 
  (Prime 1) with a minimal Potency of 1. Thanks to a little 
  conjunctional use of Fate and Space, anyone who “trips” this 
  magical alarm alerts one of the mages in the security cabal. 
  The cabal responds by watching the visitor — or intruder 
  — more closely.
  The Lobby: Two security guards sit behind a desk in the front 
  lobby. Two or three more are within running distance, either 
  patrolling the ground ﬂ oor or standing watchfully outside. 
  Once again, cameras scan the area. At any given time, two 
  guards watch all the footage from the parking lot and lobby 
  from a small room on the ﬁ rst ﬂ oor. That room has a feed to 
  the security cabal on the third ﬂ oor.
  Since the era of videotape is receding into the past, and 
  computer memory is relatively cheap, the digital footage is 
  backed up onto a secure server, on which images of visitors 
  are stored for up to a year. Most of the tenants are aware of 
  this, and they’re willing to accept this level of scrutiny for 
  the sake of security. The complex had decent security before 
  September 11th (back in 2001). In the years that followed, 
  any initiative to add additional, or even excessive, security 
  has been welcomed by the tenants.
  A directory in the lobby lists all the tenants. Save for the 
  third ﬂ oor, all of the companies here are dull, proﬁ table and 
  ordinary. The middle of the building allegedly houses four 
  businesses, all of which are fronts. (Their details are in a later 
  scene.) Their proﬁ table business is conducted in buildings 
  off-site. Anyone working in the sanctum has enough paper-
  work, email and cell phone chatter to keep up the illusion of 
  professionalism. The employees of these four departments are 
  all on payrolls, and they can justify their activities.
  Basically, each of these four businesses is paying rent for a 
  large area used by Seer pylons and the Minister himself. The 
  entire third ﬂ oor is sealed off from the rest of the building, 
  serving as a common area for the sanctum. All the paperwork 
  for these businesses is a front for what happens behind the 
  scenes. Anyone who claims to have an appointment with 
  one of these four businesses without actually being a Seer 
  from this Ministry is therefore lying, and automatically 
  suspicious. Fortunately, any mage who lies like this should 
  be able to tell fairly easily (Wits + Subterfuge) that the lie 
  is met with skepticism.
  The well-kept lobby features an expensive array of polished 
  tiles, waxed surfaces and lots of marble. Tasteful artwork can 
  be found in various niches, alternating between abstract art 
  featuring blue and gold and, strangely enough, several seascapes. 
  A chi-chi establishment in the lobby called the Atlantis Cafe 
  sells expensive liquid caffeine. Baristas with chiseled features 
  sell everything from single short half-caff ristresso macchiatos 
  to quad venti mint mocha frappachinos. They do not, how-
  ever, sell drip coffee. Several of the Seers who stop here in the 
  morning perform their morning coffee ritual with the same 
  reverence they use for meditation and oblations.
  Local Authorities: Keep in mind that the building surround-
  ing the sanctum functions as an ordinary business complex. 
  People walk through such places in the real world every day. 
  This means that when anyone acts particularly suspicious 
  or dangerous, some minor nuisances can be resolved simply 
  by calling the police. The Seers in this sanctum don’t need 
  to hide behind the Lex Magica. Instead, if some would-be 
  Neo walks through the front door with a shotgun and starts 
  waving it around, or if anyone crazy enough to babble about 
  magic breaks into the building in the middle of the night, 
  the guards at the front desk call 911. You’ll ﬁ nd statistics 
  for the average police ofﬁ cer in Mage: The Awakening, so 
  don’t be afraid to use them.
  Electronic Locks: Secure areas on the perimeter are kept 
  that way through sturdy doors and electronic locks. Shorting 
  out a lock with Forces 2 is child’s play, but this leaves behind 
  magical “ﬁ ngerprints” that the security cabal can examine. 
  Once the security cabal ﬁ nds out about a lock that seems to 
  have coincidentally malfunctioned, the guards try to ﬁ gure 
  out the resonance of the mage who cast broke the spell. 
  Critically important locks also get a daily casting of security 
  wards (layers of “Mage Sight” and other sensory spells) so 
  
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  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  that the security cabal can be alerted to any clumsy attempt 
  to circumvent the ward.
  The Elevator and Staircase: Both the staircase and eleva-
  tor are watched through video cameras. Random spots are 
  laced with security wards. The elevator stops by the second, 
  fourth and ﬁ fth ﬂ oor, but the button for the third ﬂ oor is 
  broken. There’s a keycard slot right below the panel of but-
  tons by which the building’s most important tenants can 
  gain access to this part of the building. That lock and the 
  elevator are both considered part of the sanctum, so the 
  sanctum’s dots in Security subtract dice from any attempt 
  to circumvent it. 
  Ventilation Shafts: Any smart-ass who’s seen Die Hard 
  might ask about crawlspaces and vents, so be prepared. 
  Outside of action ﬁ lms, there’s no reason why those 
  tunnels would need to be big enough for a person to 
  crawl through, and even a child couldn’t ﬁ t inside one 
  of them. If anyone wants to send a familiar or spirit 
  through one of these tunnels, the spirit will encounter 
  a series of metal grills (if it aren’t stopped by the ﬁ rst 
  one) that let air pass through, but stop anything bigger 
  than dust particles. If you want to run a session based on 
  ventilation shafts, you should know they lead to each 
  of the four businesses on the third ﬂ oor, but not to the 
  Minister’s sanctum. Thanks to Life magic, his refuge is 
  magically and hermetically sealed.
  The Delivery Entrance: Most of the building accepts 
  deliveries and messengers who have an appointment and 
  valid identiﬁ cation. This does not apply to the third ﬂ oor. 
  Anyone who fabricates a reason for visiting this ﬂ oor can 
  leave her parcels or letters at the front desk. Someone from 
  the security cabal then examines the materials before tak-
  ing them into the sanctum. Insisting that a delivery must be 
  made in person automatically raises suspicion, unless Mind 
  magic is used to press the point. At the very least, it should 
  get someone with sufﬁ cient credentials into the elevator 
  — but fooling the mages who watch that elevator takes a 
  bit more work.
  The Computer Network: Four of the ﬂ oors in this build-
  ing are part of the same computer network. Hacking it is a 
  waste of time, since those businesses are merely a source of 
  income for the Seers. The sanctum does have computers in 
  a few areas of the building, but the network does not have 
  any access to the outside world. There’s no Wi-Fi, no Web 
  browsers and no server full of internal email. The computer 
  network is largely for show. The front of the building is 
  in the modern world, but the sanctum is archaic in many 
  ways, some of which we’ll soon see. Anyone who manages 
  to connect to this network is therefore using magic, and is 
  therefore suspicious.
  Questioning Tenants: Anyone who does not work on the 
  third ﬂ oor is oblivious to what happens there. The other 
  tenants and their employees know the names of the busi-
  nesses that pay rent there, and have rough ideas of what 
  those businesses are supposed to do, but other employees 
  have no reason to go there or even interact with the people 
  who “work” there in any meaningful way. 
  Seers who enter the building do so in modern business 
  clothes. They carry all the trappings of the modern world 
  — including cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players and so on — but 
  they “extinguish” them when they enter the elevator, and 
  they leave them with the security cabal when they enter the 
  third ﬂ oor. When a Seer has a sufﬁ cient command of magic, 
  technology becomes superﬂ uous.
  Three Floors
  Floors above the lobby that are not part of the sanctum 
  are perfectly mundane — for the most part. Occasion-
  ally, a Seer in the sanctum chooses an upwardly mobile 
  professional working on another ﬂ oor to use as a thrall or 
  plaything. Such relations may take the form of interofﬁ ce 
  romance, “career management” (thanks to Mind rotes) or 
  even victimization that leeches life (and therefore Mana) 
  from the dominated slave. 
  Successful business people tend to have disposable wealth, 
  connections, minor inﬂ uence and property, so they’re very 
  tempting as slaves for the Seers of the Throne. “Mage Sight” 
  can reveal a handful of broken victims who work in this 
  building, most of whom not only serve as diversions for the 
  Seers, but also as digressions from the story as well. If you’re 
  ambitious, you could actually develop an entire investiga-
  tion around one of these cast-offs that would also lead to the 
  sanctum, but the story of the Dethroned Queen continues 
  on the third ﬂ oor. Investigating elsewhere takes up time and 
  increases the chance of raising suspicion.
  In a major city, you can walk up to the business directory 
  of any ofﬁ ce building downtown, and you’ll have plenty of 
  ideas to steal for these mundane businesses. Whether you 
  want to include lawyers, land developers, real estate agen-
  cies, advertising agencies, stockbrokers or what have you is 
  cosmetic — run with a business you know well. 
  The sanctum’s upper echelons have dabbled a little bit in 
  stock from these companies, so they’re actually a little more 
  proﬁ table than they should be, thanks to the occasional 
  magical “nudge” in the right direction. Psychic dominance 
  over the occasional plaything also gives access to lists of 
  business clients — enough to not only allow the Ministry to 
  search for potential (and disposable) thralls, but also enough 
  information to increase the amount of sympathy with the 
  Space rotes that control them.
  Complications: Aggressive Meddling
  If the ﬁ rst four Artifacts are outside the One World 
  sanctum, more encounters can occur outside it. Outside 
  the sanctum, the Ministry of Mammon continues to search 
  for the Queen’s regalia. The characters will encounter this 
  “aggressive meddling” if they continue to hide the regalia 
  outside the Minister’s sanctum. If the Artifacts are elsewhere, 
  the characters will only know of this activity if they ask (or 
  investigate) the individuals who are guarding them. Charac-
  
  130
  ters who are brave enough to bring all the regalia with them 
  won’t encounter the complications that follow.
  The Ministry has pylons in several cities, so their thralls 
  have had time to inﬁ ltrate societies far and wide. Ordinary, 
  everyday people are easy to mislead for a day or two, but 
  enslaving them for a lifetime is questionable. Thoroughly 
  dominated thralls are “groomed for success,” recruited in a 
  devil’s deal that trades the patronage of unseen masters for 
  up-and-coming businessmen’s immortal souls. 
  Similar to other Ministries, the Ministry of Mammon 
  has as thralls a few specialists for tasks requiring particular 
  skills. Ordinary Sleeper investigators (such as the kind you 
  might generate with the World of Darkness Rulebook) are 
  sometimes suborned when they trip over the plans of this 
  hidden conspiracy. These rare few are well suited to times 
  such as the end of Scene Three.
  Again, the Seers use the same tactics against the characters 
  that the Seers use against locations where the Artifacts are 
  kept — whether those Artifacts are held by allies, rivals, 
  enemies or even adversaries from previous chapters. If the 
  Artifacts aren’t with the characters, Sleeper investigators 
  begin to act against anyone guarding the remaining Artifacts. 
  Some of these “investigator thralls” possess talents such as 
  Unseen Sight and the Medium Merit for sensing magic in the 
  world, and they’ve been paid and convinced that these unseen 
  enemies will be weakened if the ancient Artifacts they hold are 
  taken from them. Finding out about hidden gods controlling 
  the world we know motivates many of these investigators, as 
  they hold on to the illusion of independence.
  If these items aren’t with the characters, this gives you a 
  rationale to explain how they’re been seized. Any incidental 
  characters the cabal contacts can alert them of this devel-
  opment — and as the chronicle proceeds, this resistance 
  grows stronger.
  Note that the characters might have a way to rush 
  back to the Artifacts and retrieve them in an emergency. 
  If a guard at the characters’ sanctum alerts them to a 
  break-in, for instance, a mage with the Space Arcanum 
  could teleport back to a familiar location and ﬁ ght off 
  the intruders. This could extend the story quite a bit, 
  but characters who have to repeatedly leap between the 
  Minister’s sanctum and their own should eventually realize 
  the Artifacts are safer with them — as they bring them to 
  the Minister’s sanctum. If the Minister cannot seize the 
  remaining regalia in this act, another faction in the story 
  can do so in Scene Four.
  Dreaming of Destiny
  Whenever dramatically appropriate during the story — or 
  perhaps merely when a visionary mage is sleeping — one of 
  the mages in your characters’ cabal should become more aware 
  of the Dethroned Queen’s fate. To instill some foreshadowing 
  for the last half of the story, decide which mage or mages 
  are most likely to have such revelations. The mage with the 
  highest Dream or Destiny rating is an excellent choice; failing 
  that, an Acanthus would be a naturally choice, or any mage 
  with more than two dots of Fate.
  Once you begin to use this type of foreshadowing, you don’t 
  need to actually describe these visions as detailed narratives. 
  The ﬁ rst visions should just be images. For the sake of the 
  story, they can show glimpses of the court of the Dethroned 
  Queen. Even a quick vision of an Atlantean court can be 
  powerful, since Atlantean society is not widely known or 
  understood, even by the experts of the Mysterium.
  The Atlantean surroundings of the Queen’s court look similar, 
  in some ways, to ancient Greece. Her court shouldn’t be taken 
  as representative of all of Atlantean society, however, since she 
  rebelled in many ways that more obedient mages shunned after 
  legendary Fall of Atlantis. Only a few details are important, 
  since this should only be a quick glimpse into her world. 
  The buildings where she held her audiences were temples, 
  erected from marble, chalcedony and obsidian. Her in-
  nermost sanctum was decorated in shades of marble white, 
  ocean blue and light gold (very much like the colors that 
  dominate Mage: The Awakening). She held her audiences 
  in a round, dome-covered chamber, where light danced 
  on the walls as though refracted through ocean waters. In 
  its center, the Queen sat upon the Throne of the Exarchs 
  — at least, until she performed the ritual that took her 
  from this world.
  The courtiers who surrounded her were divided into a few 
  distinct roles. All of them were obviously identiﬁ able by the 
  clothes they wore. Most of her attendants dressed in ﬂ owing 
  robes. Her guards wore metal breastplates and helms, armed 
  with spears and tridents. Her priests wore cloaks, and, in some 
  cases, hats called pshents to denote their status.
  Within her court, two courtiers vied for her attentions. 
  One was a mage, a tall, thin visionary woman with red hair, 
  aquiline features and graceful movements. The other was 
  a priest, a dark-haired, athletic man with a strong jaw and 
  fearful countenance. In visions, they often argue, although 
  their conversations are largely unintelligible, containing 
  fragments of what is now known as High Speech. 
  According to legend, many of their arguments were philo-
  sophical debates concerning the purpose of power. Aldones, 
  the woman who acted as the Queen’s mage advisor, believed 
  that a sorcerer should strive for the Heavens so that he could 
  eventually commune with forces beyond it, gaining perfect 
  knowledge of the cosmos. In dream-like visions, Fate mages 
  sometimes hear her speeches on this subject — and some-
  times, they understand them.
  The Queen’s high priest, a stern man named Neotalba, 
  believed that such power was meant to be used on the Fallen 
  World beneath the Heavens. A virtuous soul could then en-
  sure that the world of humans would conform to the ethical 
  beliefs of the Ascended mage. Mages well-versed in Atlantean 
  legend — such as Mysterium researchers who specialize in 
  such lore, owning a Library with Atlantis as its Specialty 
  or possessing a high Occult skill Specializing in Mage Lore 
  — should be able to research these legends.
  
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  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  Visions from this court 
  should become more detailed if you want 
  to increase this foreshadowing, showing confrontations 
  in the same inscrutable language. You could even include a 
  few scenes from the short story at the start of this book, if you 
  feel it would be suitably dramatic. Such revelations should 
  make the events that follow somewhat more menacing. 
  The Minister has gathered fragments of Atlantean 
  architecture in the innermost hallways and rooms of the 
  sanctum, creating spaces that look vaguely similar to areas 
  of the Queen’s court. The Ananke introduced in the next 
  scene bears a striking resemblance to the mage who aided 
  the Dethroned Queen. As the Ananke works her inﬂ uence 
  in the world, the mages then notice that some of the people 
  around them have traits and mannerisms similar to the 
  lackeys and attendants who served her as courtiers. By the 
  end of the adventure, the characters should recognize that 
  the high priest who challenged Neotalba’s ideas also looks 
  familiar. He bears a striking resemblance to the Minister 
  of Mammon hidden in the heart of the sanctum. After the 
  Ananke appears, Destiny repeats itself.
  Scene Four: The Ananke Awakens
  Within the Minister’s sanctum, two destinies collide. The 
  characters stand in the center of the conﬂ ict, armed with weapons 
  that can tip the balance of this conﬂ ict one way or the other. 
  Sometime after the characters have found the fourth Ar-
  tifact — when Scene Four begins — an Ananke manifests 
  before them. It exists to resolve a destined event: all ﬁ ve 
  of the regalia must be gathered within the same place, so 
  that a “lost soul” can cast the High Ritual that allowed the 
  Dethroned Queen to Ascend to the Heavens. 
  At ﬁ rst, the Ananke does not actually care who performs 
  the ritual. The characters seem like the best choice to her, 
  particularly if they possess four of the relics, but if they seem 
  weak, she does not care if the Minister performs the ritual 
  instead. The Queen wanted to empower someone strong 
  enough to (as she thought of it) challenge the power of the 
  Exarchs. Any mage who can gather all ﬁ ve of the regalia 
  from such disparate places as the ones in this book is worthy 
  of the task. 
  You’ll need to decide when you want to start Scene Four 
  and have her approach the characters. It could be after they 
  actually get to the third ﬂ oor of the building, or it could be 
  after they’ve investigated the building, but failed to actually 
  get inside the sanctum on the third ﬂ oor. It deﬁ nitely should 
  occur after someone has had some of the revelations from 
  the end of Scene Three, since someone should recognize her 
  similarity to the Queen’s mage advisor, Aldones.
  She can then relay that the Throne of the Exarchs is 
  inside the sanctum, and that someone is destined to rule 
  from that throne wearing the full regalia of the Dethroned 
  Queen. The Ananke should never say that the characters are 
  destined to do this, since (as we’ve noted before) they may 
  choose someone more powerful than themselves with this 
  privilege — or she may decide that the characters are too 
  weak and help the Minister instead. She truly has allegiance 
  to no one, save for Destiny itself.
  The Ananke resembles the Queen’s most trusted mage 
  advisor, Aldones. The Ananke does not answer to that name, 
  however — she refers to herself simply as Ananke. Mages 
  who have seen the face of Aldones in dreams and revelations 
  can conﬁ rm that the Ananke’s clothing matches that worn 
  in the court of the Queen.
  
  132
  Setting aside a player’s possibility knowledge of Mage: 
  The Awakening, a mage should have a chance of ﬁ guring 
  out that the name refers to a Greek goddess of destiny; 
  this requires a Wits or Intelligence roll coupled with Aca-
  demics or Occult. Any Library of spirit lore or mage lore 
  should contain more information. More precisely, some 
  loremasters and Master mages would argue that this very 
  powerful spirit is an avatar, aspect or “face” of the goddess, 
  reﬂ ecting her true power. Any mage examining her with 
  Fate and “Mage Sight” can conﬁ rm that she is a Fate spirit, 
  and that she can inﬂ uence (or even rewrite) reality to fulﬁ ll 
  her chosen task.
  If the characters have found some clever way of keep-
  ing the Artifacts safe and distant from the Minister’s 
  sanctum — such as keeping someone powerful or one of 
  their characters nearby — the Ananke now sets events 
  in motion to gather the remaining regalia together. She 
  is capable of using Fate to make absolutely certain that 
  the Artifacts arrive one by one. It is inevitable that they 
  should be brought to the sanctum, one way or another. 
  If the Minister or characters don’t have the Artifacts, 
  her courtiers will. Whether they were brought by the 
  characters themselves, stolen from weak guardians by the 
  Seers’ thralls or gathered by the equivalent of Fate spells 
  by the Ananke is something to consider carefully in the 
  events that follow.
  Introducing the Ananke Earlier
  If you’re planning out an extensive Mage 
  chronicle, you might want to consider shifting 
  some events involving the Ananke to previous 
  stories. You can foreshadow her appearance 
  (and that of the Queen’s courtiers) earlier in 
  the campaign by teasing your players with 
  visions earlier. If you do, you could even de-
  cide to have the Ananke appear and help the 
  characters gather Artifacts earlier in one of the 
  previous adventures. 
  This plot device (almost literally deus ex 
  machina) should only be used if your players 
  are having trouble gathering all four Artifacts. 
  As we’ll soon see, the Ananke can use her In-
  ﬂ uence to recruit otherwise ordinary people into 
  the intrigues of the Dethroned Queen’s court. 
  Doing this once or twice can catch your players 
  off guard (at the very least) and possibly scare 
  the hell out of them. By the time their charac-
  ters are approaching the Minister’s sanctum, 
  they should then be prepared for the conﬂ ict 
  that results. Once the ﬁ rst four Artifacts are 
  found, this story is pretty much self-contained, 
  but with a little work, it could easily make your 
  chronicle more epic.
  The Gathering Storm
  If the characters don’t have all ﬁ ve Artifacts, the Ananke 
  can seize her own equivalent of “thralls” to gather the 
  Artifacts within the sanctum. As described in Mage: 
  The Awakening, she can rework reality and fate around 
  her to realize her destiny. One effect of this inﬂ uence (or 
  as a spirit, Inﬂ uence) is changing ordinary people into 
  characters from her drama — a re-enactment of the court 
  of the Dethroned Queen. The Ananke does not have a 
  limitless ability to do this (since each change costs her 
  Essence), but she has the power at her command should 
  it be necessary.
  Any mage who witnessed the visions and revelations 
  from previous scenes may recognize someone who has been 
  touched by this “destiny.” Once-ordinary people — the sort 
  who would live and work in a mundane business complex 
  — take on the mien and manner of this long-lost time. When 
  chosen by the Ananke, they can take the role of common-
  ers, guards, priests, advisors and so forth. Although they still 
  speak in their native languages, they forget all memories of 
  their modern lives, becoming familiar with the intricacies 
  of a long-lost Atlantean court. 
  Granted, this was a court that was in exile, and so in 
  many ways the court deviated from the height of Atlantean 
  civilization, so you should feel free to use some dramatic 
  license here. Note that you should use this device sparingly, 
  slowly adding one or two converts each scene as you proceed 
  through the rest of the story. 
  For inspiration for ways of handling this, consider some 
  of the stories based on Robert W. Chamber’s The King in 
  Yellow. In some of them, ordinary people lose their identi-
  ties and sanity as they recreate the events of an allegedly 
  ﬁ ctional reality. As an alternative, rewrite reality around 
  these converts such as the minor characters of a typical Philip 
  K. Dick story, for example, Ubik. In many PKD stories, sup-
  porting characters (and even the narrator) may realize that 
  their lives were lies, reinterpreting everything to ﬁ t a new 
  psychosis or delusion.
  These converts regard most of the cabal as mage advisors to 
  the Queen. The converts do not understand why the advisors 
  are not present with their monarch, but the converts suspect 
  that one of the machinations of Neotalba — her scheming 
  priest — has given him access to the Queen’s throne. None 
  of them are conscious of the words “Minister of Mammon”; 
  instead, they believe that Neotalba now sits on the throne. 
  Isolated in the Queen’s court, they are only vaguely aware of 
  the Fall of Atlantis. They consider the Fall a recent event, 
  but the change is not drastic enough to give them further 
  details of this legendary time.
  Converts are immediately aware of two very important 
  delusions. First, they believe that the Queen has mysteriously 
  disappeared. All of these converts become visibly nervous 
  when asked about the Queen’s identity, status or location. 
  Phrases such as “she has lost her throne,” or “she has lost 
  her power” or “she has gone away” can recur. They believe 
  
  133
  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  the time will come when they are called to her side, when 
  her power is fully restored. 
  They also believe that one of the mages in your characters’ 
  cabal is actually a consort of the Queen. The servants are 
  willing to sacriﬁ ce themselves so that her consort can reclaim 
  the Throne in her place. (Note that the gender of the consort 
  is not important — she had both male and female lovers 
  during her lifetime.) If you go this route, phrases such as “I 
  will die for my Queen and her love” or “your high priest sits 
  upon your throne, your highness,” should recur. 
  Either way, converts instinctively know that the throne 
  room is on the third ﬂ oor of the building. They also weep as 
  they mourn the fact that Neotalba, the High Priest, has cast 
  them out from the court. All of this is in their imagination, 
  a recreation of events from thousands of years ago (some of 
  which are depicted in the short story at the start of this book). 
  All of them also act as living anachronisms, reinterpreting 
  the devices and habits of the modern world to ﬁ t their illu-
  sions about the court of the Dethroned Queen.
  These “courtiers” will readily perform minor and harmless 
  tasks on behalf of the cabal. If asked to do anything danger-
  ous, they will lose courage — unless they are commanded by 
  a mage using the Crown of the Exarchs. The converts react 
  to it as though it were the crown of the Queen herself. If 
  this Artifact is activated, the convert then becomes a willing 
  slave, exhibiting the same obedience one would see in a thrall 
  commanded by a Seer. The mage then faces the temptation 
  of exploiting this power, becoming as the legendary Exarchs 
  who allegedly Ascended to the Heavens.
  If any of these converts remain with the characters until 
  they reach the Minister’s Demesne in Scene Six, they au-
  tomatically exhibit fanatic loyalty for the story. (“I will die 
  for you, as I would die for my Queen.”) These displays oc-
  cur even if no one is using the Crown. Destiny must run its 
  course, as the events of the Dethroned Queen’s Ascension 
  are recreated.
  The Last of the Regalia: If for some reason there’s still an 
  Artifact that isn’t possessed by the characters or a Seer within 
  the Ministry, the Ananke can disappear long enough to 
  exploit her Inﬂ uence. Destiny should now circumvent any 
  defenses used to protect the remaining regalia. 
  The Ananke can suborn servants within the sanctum, 
  trusted associates and so forth, changing them into courtiers 
  of the Dethroned Queen. Such converts can then proceed to 
  take the Artifacts to One World Center — where the Artifacts 
  will be handed over to the Seers, since the characters are 
  not actively using the items. One way or another, the drama 
  resolves within the Labyrinth. Hopefully, you won’t have to 
  resort to such brute force tactics. In an ideal telling of this 
  story, the mages bring the Artifacts themselves.
  Scene Five: Within the Labyrinth
  Once the characters are aware of the Throne’s existence, 
  they are faced with the challenge of recovering it. Doing so 
  requires heroism and ingenuity, but presumably, any cabal that 
  has survived the struggles leading to the ﬁ rst four Artifacts 
  should be strong enough to seize the ﬁ fth.
  A handful of methods of entering the sanctum are fairly 
  obvious, although your players may devise more ingenious 
  methods, possibly involving improvisational magic. The 
  keycard lock on the elevator can be cracked, but only if 
  the inﬁ ltrator can overcome the sanctum’s Security rating. 
  Teleporting within the sanctum (with Space) is theoretically 
  possible, but the sanctum has all the wards and counterspells 
  against apportation and teleportation an experienced mage 
  would expect. Ventilation shafts run throughout the build-
  ing, but they have barriers preventing easy entry. And ﬁ nally, 
  it is possible to enter by traversing the spiritual landscape, 
  but this entails spiritual hazards even more dangerous than 
  the sanctum itself.
  The Simpliﬁ ed Sanctum
  If you’re just using Mage: The Awakening, the third ﬂ oor 
  of One World Center counts as a sanctum with three dots 
  in Security and three dots in Size. If you’re using additional 
  rules from Sanctum & Sigil, you’ll ﬁ nd the full stats for this 
  area in the “Expanded Sanctum” sidebar. For the simpliﬁ ed 
  rules, you’ll just need to keep in mind that any die roll that 
  involves breaching security has a three-dot penalty.
  Four pylons take care of business here: the security cabal that 
  watches the grounds, a management cabal that coordinates 
  the actions of allied Seer sanctums, a recruitment cabal that 
  directs the actions of disposable thralls and the masters of 
  the sanctum. This last group oversees the ﬁ rst three groups 
  and reports directly to the Minister, who is kept in isolation. 
  Informally (and with a certain degree of sarcasm), they refer 
  to each other as Operations, Middle Management, Human 
  Resources and the Board of Directors. 
  Scaling the Story
  The pylon depicted here has only risen to power within 
  the last ﬁ ve years. The pylon is small, by global standards, 
  particularly for the headquarters of a Ministry. If you’ve run a 
  chronicle in which an ambitious cabal of mages has overcome 
  the last four chapters in fairly rapid succession, they should 
  be able to ﬁ nd their way to the heart of the building without 
  major difﬁ culty, particularly if they’re reckless enough to 
  sacriﬁ ce some of their Morality to do so. 
  With a little bit of work, the statistics in this section can 
  be increased to present a more formidable challenge to more 
  experienced mages. After all, it’s possible that you may want 
  to run the stories in this book as part of a more elaborate 
  chronicle; for example, you might alternate the search for 
  the Queen’s regalia as an overarcing plot with several smaller 
  limited adventures with lesser adversaries. If you’re willing to 
  place “Ascension to the Heavens” (such as it is, and at any 
  price) as a long-term goal in your chronicle, you may decide 
  that it’s the sort of goal best reserved for Master mages with 
  a Gnosis of 5, 6 or higher. 
  The Minister of Mammon depicted here has Gnosis 4, 
  but if your cabal has mages with a higher Gnosis — such 
  
  134
  as those powerful enough to forge Legacies — you should 
  begin by increasing his Gnosis as well. If you’ve kept an 
  approximate tally of the experience points you’ve awarded, 
  you should know whether the mages you accommodate are 
  experienced as deﬁ ned in the character creation rules in 
  Mage: The Awakening. The Minister should at least be 
  equivalent, unless you want the resolution of the story to 
  be relatively easy.
  In the same manner, it’s fairly easy to increase the difﬁ culty 
  of the simpliﬁ ed sanctum. For mages with Gnosis 4, increase 
  the Security to 4; increase it to 5 for mages with Gnosis 5. 
  Consider adding 15 points to the ordinary adversaries in 
  Scene Three, and then add 30 points to the adversaries in 
  Scene Five. If you’re using Sanctum & Sigil, there are plenty 
  of rules in that book for making a sanctum more dangerous 
  by spending experience points. Add the same number of 
  experience points you would add for an experienced mage 
  to increase the difﬁ culty of the sanctum. 
  The playtest of the adventure used the statistics presented 
  here, but if you’ve run a chronicle in which players can handle 
  (and earn over time) such powerful mages, increasing statistics 
  is left as an exercise for a clever Storyteller.
  Look Around
  As soon as the elevator doors to the sanctum open, anyone 
  who has had visions of the Queen’s court should notice a few 
  familiar similarities. The walls of the third ﬂ oor are shades 
  of blue and white, augmented by reproductions of classical 
  Greek and Roman art, seascapes and even borderline occult 
  artwork in some security areas. 
  This classical theme has been tainted by the modern world. 
  Mammon’s Seers also have a healthy supply of motivational 
  posters with slogans for concepts such as Teamwork, Ambi-
  tion, Loyalty and so forth. The Seers’ slaves are conditioned 
  to believe in such things.
  Many corridors include pillars as white as the ones in a 
  Classical Greek temple. Plaster and marble cornices and 
  statuary add a touch of Atlantean grandeur to the interior, 
  as though this area were somewhere between a sterile ofﬁ ce 
  park of the 21st century and an archaeological recreation 
  of a Greek or Atlantean temple — which, as we’ll soon see, 
  is strangely appropriate.
  Entering the Third Floor
  Third Floor, Seer Sanctum: The elevator is normally used 
  as the entrance to the sanctum. The third button of the 
  control panel does not work unless a mage uses a keycard (a 
  minor Artifact, actually) to access a lock under the panel. 
  The room is small enough to hold about eight people and 
  1,500 pounds. Circumventing the lock is possible with 
  Forces 2, but the casting roll for that spell has a three-dice 
  Security penalty. 
  Without magic, circumventing the lock requires skill with 
  electronic lockpicking (Intelligence + Larceny), but not 
  without proper electronic tools. Unless someone has nulliﬁ ed 
  security cameras and scrying spells in this tiny room, setting 
  up such equipment looks suspicious, to say the least. None 
  of the regalia can circumvent the lock, although the Robe 
  could conceal a lone intruder.
  When the lock is activated — or circumvented — an 
  alarm alerts both the security team in the surveillance room 
  and the security cabal. Even in a more traditional mage 
  sanctum, it’s hardly surprising for a lone mage to walk up to 
  the front door entrance and welcome someone inside. If the 
  people inside the elevator are unfamiliar or not visible, that 
  welcoming committee should be slightly larger, preferably 
  with weapons.
  “I Suggest You Take the Stairs”: The door to the stairwell, by 
  the way, does not normally open. It’s welded shut. Security 
  rotes lace the area around it, so the security cabal is usually 
  alerted if any investigators, inﬁ ltrators or strike team is clever 
  enough to take the stairs. 
  Sealing off the exit to the stairs is a ﬁ re code violation, 
  but, strangely enough, most investigators who have arrived 
  to check it out have entirely forgotten about this little 
  breach of the law (thanks to a few Mind 2 spells). One of 
  the Seers inside knows a rote that can change to an actual 
  door (with Matter 2), which he can cast without penalties 
  from the sanctum’s Security rating. In the case of an actual 
  emergency, he can actually open an exit — but in most cases, 
  such crises can be averted by a sanctum with more than 15 
  Seers of the Throne.
  The Seer Cabals
  Depending on where the characters enter the building, 
  they’ll encounter one of the four cabals in the sanctum. 
  Operations (the “security cabal”) is the most confronta-
  tional team. Within each of the areas of this sanctum, the 
  Scepter can be used to counter the Seers’ magic, while the 
  Throne can command a Seer for one scene (most likely, 
  long enough to resolve one problem); either use requires a 
  Wisdom check. Without the regalia, getting to the heart 
  of the sanctum in the center of the third ﬂ oor requires a bit 
  more ingenuity.
  The third ﬂ oor has a hallway that circles its perimeter. A 
  circular area inside that has been divided into four sections, 
  each with its own fake “company.” HR works within a temp 
  agency called Mind & Muscle. Operations masquerades as 
  a security ﬁ rm called Aegis. Middle Management pretends 
  to be a real estate ﬁ rm called Higher Ground. The Board of 
  Directors have formed a false front for an investment bank-
  ing company called Myrmydon. All four businesses surround 
  and protect an inner sanctum, where the Minister is sealed 
  off from the outside world. Each one has its own methods 
  for protecting their superior.
  Human Resources coordinates the activities of soulless 
  thralls outside the sanctum, as well as a few slaves within 
  it. Dull jobs such as typing, data entry and janitorial work 
  don’t require Seer puppets; instead, these slaves of the Seers 
  have been thoroughly and psychically forced into submission. 
  
  135
  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  The department lackeys are absolute obedient, but also lack 
  initiative beyond doing their jobs and getting paid. A Human 
  Resources manager typically has a Gnosis of 3, excelling at 
  learning ways to get the most from people with minimized 
  expense and effort.
  Right past the elevator’s security checkpoint, there’s a set 
  of ofﬁ ces for the temp agency. Sleepers desperately in need 
  of work sign up for contract and temporary work in other, 
  off-site branches of the company, and presumably, all their 
  paperwork is “processed” here. Beyond the front reception 
  area, this part of the building includes a maze of cubicle walls, 
  providing cover if events escalate to violence. 
  If intruders are detected in this part of the building, HR 
  sends a few thralls to take care of the problem, delaying the 
  unwanted guests until someone can notify Management. 
  Three mages work on this team, and all of them are proﬁ cient 
  in Mind magic. When directly confronted, they respond using 
  “Misperception” (Mind 2) and “Psychic Assault” (Mind 3). 
  “Emotional Urging” can motivate a slave into attacking an 
  intruder, but further Urging can send the same slave back 
  against its master.
  A swift assault or ambush can take out HR quickly enough 
  for an intruder to ﬁ nd the center of the building. Without 
  stealth or secrecy, the intruders will have to deal with the 
  security team shortly thereafter.
  Middle Management is in communication with pylons in 
  distant cities, reporting their progress to the Directors and 
  Minister. To be honest, Middle Management’s most sincere 
  motivation in life is taking credit for what these agencies 
  do, so that they can one day become powerful enough to rise 
  to a position on the Board of Directors. A Middle Manager 
  has a Gnosis of 3, along with useful communication skills for 
  micro-managing from afar, shifting blame onto others and 
  surviving the worst catastrophes in the sanctum. The ofﬁ ces 
  for their front, Higher Ground, are in one of the corners 
  furthest from the elevator.
  If the characters enter this part of the building, the Manag-
  ers will not (and probably cannot) coordinate their efforts to 
  defend the sanctum. Instead, confronting one of them sends 
  the others scurrying to the Board of Directors or security 
  while the intruders are delayed. Each Manager places his or 
  her own survival and promotion above that of others. Each 
  one has a cell phone, PDA and handgun (in his desk), all 
  of which are mundane enough to shut down when hit with 
  the proper rotes. 
  After casting a “Misperception” spell (Mind 2), a lone 
  Manager uses formidable psychic attacks. A showdown in 
  a hallway should give someone enough time to summon 
  security. Sneaking through this part of the building merely 
  requires some clever uses of Stealth.
  Board of Directors: The mages in the fourth ofﬁ ce, an 
  investment banking ﬁ rm, do not act hastily. They trust 
  management and security to deal with intruders. If some-
  one is detected, the Board of Directors will be notiﬁ ed, and 
  they will take the time to come up with a plan. Each one 
  has his own ofﬁ ce with a sturdy wooden door. In the case of 
  emergency, a Director retreats to the corporate equivalent 
  of his ivory tower, and he immediately begins making plans 
  to save his own ass.
  Each Director has authority to contact the Minister, but 
  not until the Director can give a decent report on who the 
  intruders are. Disturbing the boss with speculation or wrong 
  information is the sort of recklessness that must be punished. 
  Each Director has a Gnosis of 3, along with strategies for 
  sacriﬁ cing lesser employees for the good of the company 
  (that is, the sanctum), as long as the Directors can survive 
  long enough to rebuild.
  Each Director can fortify himself in a spacious ofﬁ ce. From 
  there, he will use Space to act outside that fortress. (Each 
  one is Intimately familiar with the interior of the building.) 
  Each Director has a favorite slave or two working on the third 
  ﬂ oor, ready to act his factotum, representative or puppet in 
  the hallways. These slaves act as spies, watching intruders 
  as the Directors cast rotes. In this way, they evaluate their 
  rivals and sense the resonance of their magic. The only way to 
  really stop a Director is to trace this magic back to his ofﬁ ce, 
  break inside and silence him. Each Director has a portfolio 
  of spells for attacking and defending intruders through the 
  puppet; statistics are detailed at the end of this chapter.
  The Path Within
  All of these employees do not suffer Security penalties 
  for casting spells, but intruders do. That means mundane, 
  non-magical tactics are best for confronting Seers. If the 
  intruders were organized enough to attack all at once, they 
  would be outnumbered, but, as with many corporations, the 
  left hand doesn’t really understand what the right hand is 
  doing. The intruders may need to deal with a series of thralls, 
  mage security guards, managerial puppets and Middle Man-
  agers one at a time unless the intruders can stealthily and 
  swiftly ﬁ nd the heart of the sanctum. Each business has an 
  entry to the Minister’s inner sanctum, but opening the entry 
  requires a contested Gnosis roll (opposed by the Minister), 
  and intruders suffer a Security penalty. If the Minister does 
  not want to oppose an intruder, someone in the cabal just 
  needs to succeed at an unopposed Gnosis roll.
  Once a cabal ﬁ nds this sanctum sanctorum, the protected 
  innermost chamber, the Seers leave this interior undisturbed. 
  If they have met an impressive amount of force, a hit to 
  company morale causes their tactics to unravel even further. 
  Some disgruntled employees insist on taking valuables from 
  their desks and moving toward one of the exits. Others lock 
  themselves away with thralls, exacting their urges out one 
  last time before they ﬂ ee. Tempers ﬂ air, people shout at each 
  other, sympathetic thralls cry and grudges in the ofﬁ ce may 
  erupt into violence. Perhaps the Seers should have been 
  more thorough in their hiring process.
  Security
  Mages who insist on using violence or failing at stealth must 
  deal with the security cabal. Employ a number of security 
  
  136
  mages equal to the number of mages in your characters’ cabal. 
  The security guards here have a Gnosis of 2, but you may 
  decide to give each one a Gnosis one less than the average 
  Gnosis of a mage in your cabal. Each security guard uses a 
  cosmetic variation on the “Unseen Shield” (Forces 2) rote 
  (Stamina + Occult).
  The Seer security team uses Forces rotes to attack. Each 
  security guard also has a Taser and a handgun. Security doesn’t 
  start ﬁ ring shots until the characters are reckless enough to 
  go on a killing spree in a corporate ofﬁ ce. The sound of gun-
  shots should be shortly followed by someone on the second 
  or fourth ﬂ oor calling the police. The Seers have nothing to 
  hide (except for the contents of the sealed, secret chamber in 
  the center of the sanctum), so they’d welcome armed ofﬁ cers 
  showing up to arrest armed and dangerous intruders.
  Making an Appointment with the Minister
  The center of the third ﬂ oor is sealed. Each of the four 
  fronts has a door leading in, and it has been magically 
  locked from the inside. Life spells keep the mage inside this 
  area alive. Casting such a spell is difﬁ cult with a Security 
  penalty to the roll. Again, the Ring does not suffer from 
  this penalty, so if the Ring is here, using it is the fastest 
  way to get inside. 
  Rotes for tracking the entrance to the center of 
  the Labyrinth typically take a scene to cast, which 
  probably means one mage is busy casting while the 
  others are dealing with the latest wave of security 
  or Management. Once the door is found, opening 
  it requires a straight Gnosis roll, obviously with the 
  Security penalty. If the Minister does not want that 
  door open, he can oppose that roll with a Gnosis 
  roll of his own (without the penalty). Any one of 
  the Artifacts can be used for this purpose without a 
  Security penalty.
  Complications: The Courtiers
  Ruthless or inventive mages may want to use 
  converted courtiers to aid the mages’ entry. As 
  soon as a courtier enters the third ﬂ oor, he acts 
  as though he’s in the corridors surrounding the 
  Queen’s chambers thousands of years ago. Any Seer 
  who’s here is obviously allied with Neotalba, the 
  High Priest. Courtiers consider the word “cultist” 
  appropriate for describing Neotalba’s allies. People 
  from the modern world babbling about Atlantean 
  cultists sacriﬁ ced for the Dethroned Queen would 
  normally seem troubling. However, Sleepers unaf-
  fected by the Ananke actively ignore such converts 
  — unless the Sleepers absolutely have to recognize 
  the converts. 
  Converted courtiers can help the mages work their 
  way to the Queen’s throne room. In fact, any one 
  of the courtiers knows where the door is, as long 
  as he is directly asked. Asking a courtier to go in 
  harm’s way, however, or actually risking one’s life 
  in a violent assault, is a far less attractive idea. Directing a 
  courtier to ﬁ ght or die requires a use of the Crown of the 
  Exarchs. At that point, a courtier becomes almost suicidal in 
  his defense of the mages. If any one of them dies as a result, 
  add an additional Morality or Wisdom check to the mage 
  who commanded the courtier.
  Scene Six: The Sanctum’s Heart
  In the center of the sanctum, the Lie of the modern world 
  has been cast aside. Guarded as carefully as the Throne, a 
  fragment of the Minister’s soul has been ritually bound to 
  this location. As any scholar of mage lore knows, binding a 
  fragment of a sorcerer’s soul to the heart of a sanctum cre-
  ates a Demesne. 
  Isolation from the outside world has slowly driven this 
  Minister to the brink of insanity — an unfortunate afﬂ iction 
  that plagues weaker Seers who rise to power too quickly. The 
  Minister’s soul stone has been bound to a crown he wears 
  as he sits upon the throne. When he is holding audience, 
  he also wears his Urim: the cloth garment he wears when 
  commanding his thralls. The Throne has augmented his 
  command of Space, giving him glimpses of realms outside 
  
  137
  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  the world we know — higher realms that he regards as the 
  Heavens of legend.
  The Minister of Mammon has used his vast wealth to 
  recreate a priceless archaeological treasure in the heart 
  of a modern corporate building. This round room is sur-
  rounded by a series of marble columns around its periphery. 
  The roof is domed, arching overhead like the ceiling of 
  a temple or cathedral. Archaeological artifacts surround 
  the central area, creating the ethos of a Classical Greek 
  temple. To the trained eye, one might see inﬂ uence from 
  the lost and mythical civilization of Atlantis. The ﬂ oor 
  consists of marble tiles worn smooth, save for a raised dais 
  in the center of the room. The center of the chamber 
  holds its most valuable artifact: the Throne of the Ex-
  archs. (For another interpretation of an ancient temple 
  in a modern ofﬁ ce building, check out the Korean horror 
  ﬁ lm Double Vision.)
  Upon entering the room, the characters see the Minister 
  of Mind — a tall man standing before the Throne. His voice 
  is deﬁ ant, alternating between modern English and a few 
  emphatic phrases that sound like High Speech. He addresses 
  a transparent apparition that looks like a woman standing 
  in front of him, with her back to the characters. Raven hair 
  cascades down her back, as she stands nude, save for a short 
  skirt that hangs off her curvaceous hips. The characters cannot 
  hear her replies, but they can hear her laughter as she fades 
  away — leaving the Minister face-to-face with whomever 
  has entered the room.
  The Directors are the only other mages who dare enter this 
  room, and never without a good reason. Converted courtiers 
  can enter if escorted by the characters, but the courtiers 
  kneel and prostrate themselves as soon as they see the ap-
  parition. Anyone who has had revelations and insights into 
  the Queen’s court recognizes this room as a reconstruction 
  — and the apparition as the form of the Dethroned Queen. 
  An expert in Seer lore would know that she is an avatar ad-
  dressing him from the Heavens, speaking in a voice only he 
  — as a chosen servant — can hear or understand.
  This innermost sanctum has a Security one higher than 
  the rating of the surrounding sanctum. The Minister 
  suffers no penalties for casting magic, but anyone else 
  using magic in here does. As many Ministers do, he has 
  established this innermost sanctum as a Demesne: he can 
  cast vulgar magic in here without risking Paradox. The 
  soul stone is set in his crown, which is a crude mockery 
  compared to the Crown of the Exarchs. (If he actually 
  has the Crown, he has set his soul stone in it, placing it 
  just above his forehead.) 
  Courtiers have no magic, of course, so they are oblivious 
  to Security penalties once inside. While here, they are ab-
  solutely obedient to whoever is wearing the Crown of the 
  Exarchs, even if the item has not been activated. Although 
  the mages have penalties to dice rolls, they do not receive 
  penalties when using the regalia of the Dethroned Queen: 
  they belong here as much as the Throne.
  The Minister has a Gnosis of 5, and he is quite skilled 
  in magical violence. His Wisdom has fallen so far that he 
  has no qualms about using it to harm others. A persuasive 
  cabal could convince him to face a single champion in a 
  Duel Arcane, but if the cabal attacks him outright, he will 
  ﬁ ght without any restraint or hesitation. Violence is one 
  obvious way to resolve this scene; overpowering him with 
  the Artifact is another. There are less ruthless methods, of 
  course, ones that do not force Wisdom or Morality checks, 
  but these require more work.
  If violence ensues and the Minister has the upper hand, 
  the Ananke appears in the room to stop the altercation. 
  The Minister recoils, reacting as though he has seen 
  her in his visions. He addresses her as Aldones, just as 
  she addresses him as Neotalba. You can then proceed to 
  have them debate whether the Throne should be used to 
  seize power over the Fallen World or Ascend to realms 
  beyond it, as described at the beginning of the chapter. 
  This should serve to give the characters a brief respite as 
  they make a plan.
  The Minister does have a signiﬁ cant weakness: he is a 
  pawn of the Exarchs, and thus all of the regalia can be used 
  against him. He cannot detect a mage wearing the Robe. 
  The Minister’s spells can be countered by a mage with the 
  Scepter. A mage with the Ring can learn more about the 
  Minister’s Arcana, and with sufﬁ cient insight, his most 
  common spells. And, ﬁ nally, the Crown can force him to 
  submit to its wearer — or as part of the delusion shared 
  by the converted courtiers, the consort to the Dethroned 
  Queen. The Artifacts are potent weapons, since they do 
  not suffer from the sanctum’s Security penalties. Defeating 
  him should require a balance of the mages’ own skills and 
  careful use of the regalia.
  Without the regalia, the characters might lose to the 
  Minister — but in the next scene, that may prove to be a 
  hollow, disappointing, Pyrrhic victory.
  Complications: Lost Regalia
  It’s possible that the cabal stormed into the Demesne 
  without bringing all ﬁ ve Artifacts, just as it’s possible 
  that the characters failed to get all ﬁ ve before entering 
  the building. If the Minister has had an opportunity to 
  track down and retrieve a “lost Artifact” from a previous 
  adventure, assume that he has it here now. In fact, you can 
  assume that he will use it without regret or fear of losing 
  Wisdom. For example, if the cabal never got the Crown of 
  the Exarchs, he has it here now (with his soul stone forged 
  to part of it) and any courtiers present now slavishly obey 
  his every whim. 
  If the mages left the Artifacts elsewhere for safe keeping, 
  we’ve established that the Minister has also had plenty of 
  opportunities to take them back. You may decide that the 
  cabal did such an excellent job of protecting or guarding 
  the Artifacts that the Minister’s minions have failed; in this 
  case, the Ananke sends for the remaining Artifacts, and with 
  destiny on her side, she has her way. At some point during 
  
  138
  the confrontation with the Minister, one or more courtiers 
  arrive in the room bearing the regalia.
  If the Minister has any of the regalia, he tries to commu-
  nicate with the cabal instead assaulting the characters right 
  away. He thanks them for bringing the Queen’s regalia to 
  the temple, so that destiny can be fulﬁ lled. He then demands 
  that they present the regalia to him, so he can fulﬁ ll the 
  Ananke’s prophecy and Ascend to the Heavens. Should 
  your characters (for whatever reason) decide to give him 
  the regalia — or even more surprising, aid him in the ritual 
  — you can use the rules from the next scene, allowing the 
  Minister to make the ﬁ nal casting roll for the Throne of 
  the Exarchs. Otherwise, the triumphant characters have all 
  the tools they need, along with the Ananke’s guidance, to 
  claim their destiny.
  Scene Seven: The High Ritual
  The characters now stand before the Throne. Moving it 
  would require some fairly potent magic, so the characters may 
  very well prefer to use the Artifacts once the other Artifacts 
  have been brought to it. Once the triumphant heroes have 
  seized control of the sanctum, the corporate bureaucracy 
  that surrounds it begins to unravel. In fact, the survivors 
  who don’t ﬂ ee the building are transformed to recreate the 
  court of the Queen. 
  Once loyal and soulless guardians of the Minister are no 
  longer puppets controlled by powerful Seers; instead, the 
  guardians become courtiers from the age of the Dethroned 
  Queen. The characters have considerable power if they 
  choose to remain in this sanctum — and they must face the 
  temptation of using it.
  The Ananke then offers them the Queen’s High Ritual, the 
  culmination of the Ananke’s research into the Exarchs. With 
  the High Ritual, a “lost soul” can Ascend to the Heavens. 
  Neotalba and Aldones had their own beliefs about what will 
  follow, but the only way to fulﬁ ll destiny is for someone to 
  ﬁ nd out. If the characters refuse, events take a darker turn; 
  otherwise, the ritual is detailed below.
  The ﬁ nal ritual requires all ﬁ ve Artifacts. Each Artifact, 
  in addition to its power useable against the Exarchs and 
  their minions, has one spell that serves as a component in 
  this High Ritual. Performing the ritual requires one acti-
  vation roll for each Artifact, in sequence. Each roll must 
  succeed in order for the greater High Ritual to succeed; if 
  any one of the ﬁ ve rolls fails, the whole ritual fails. Anyone 
  who wants to try again must then restart the process from 
  the beginning. The entire ritual works as an extended 
  roll: successes add up from each activation roll, and if the 
  ritualist has accumulated 10 successes by the ﬁ nal roll, the 
  ritual succeeds. 
  A powerful mage can perform the ritual alone, but, as an 
  easier alternative, a cabal of mages can perform this ritual 
  collectively. In a cabal of ﬁ ve mages, each one could perform 
  one “step” of the ritual, adding his successes to the total. 
  In this variant approach, only the ﬁ nal caster — in this 
  case, the one sitting on the Throne — gains the beneﬁ ts 
  of the spell.
  As soon as all ﬁ ve Artifacts are in the same room and a 
  mage can use them without interruption, the Ananke appears 
  to guide that ritualist through these ﬁ ve spells. She explains 
  that she was present when the Dethroned Queen ﬁ rst per-
  formed this ritual, and it was destiny that the regalia of the 
  Dethroned Queen would be performed again. The Ananke 
  says again that the Queen wanted to ensure that other “lost 
  souls” could follow in her path. This announcement makes 
  any courtiers present visibly nervous, and may even warn 
  the mages against attempting such folly. If the mages reject 
  this opportunity, jump down to “Rejecting the Heavens” in 
  the next section.
  Each Artifact used in this ritual has a Gnosis of 5, so the 
  caster can roll ﬁ ve dice (unless she has a Gnosis above 5). 
  The mage casting that portion of the ritual can add one of 
  her Arcana, depending on the Artifact she is using. If the 
  mage using that Artifact has no dots in the spell, she can 
  still roll Gnosis, but she doesn’t get to roll additional dice 
  for Arcana. There’s no way of knowing which Arcanum 
  relates to which Artifact until the time comes to cast the 
  spell, although a cabal that has failed the casting once will 
  know after the ﬁ rst casting.
  Here are the Arcana that can be added to each of the ﬁ ve 
  spells that compose the ritual.
  • The mage using the Ring can add Spirit to his casting 
  roll, since the Ring senses the inﬂ uence of extra-dimensional 
  forces at work.
  • The mage using the Scepter can add Prime to his casting 
  roll, since the Scepter uses countermagic as part of its powers 
  against the power of the Exarchs.
  • The mage using the Robe can add Fate to his casting 
  roll, since the Robe obscures the workings of the destined 
  from the eyes of Sleepers.
  • The mage using the Crown can add Mind to his casting 
  roll, since the Crown overpowers the weak-willed with the 
  demands of its wearer.
  • The mage using (and sitting on) the Throne can add 
  Space to his casting roll, since the Throne allows its user to 
  see remotely throughout the Fallen World and dimly into 
  a higher realm.
  When the Minister dreamed of performing this ritual, 
  he knew he could do so without risk of Paradox, since this 
  chamber is his Demesne. The ﬁ rst four spells are coincidental. 
  The ﬁ nal spell is vulgar: it challenges the very limitations 
  of the Fallen World. The Throne subtracts one die from 
  the Paradox roll that results. If the mage using the Throne 
  (that is, sitting on it as he casts the ﬁ nal spell) has performed 
  previous steps in the ritual using the regalia, each regalia he 
  has used subtracts an additional die of Paradox. This means a 
  lone mage who can perform all ﬁ ve steps on his own does not 
  need to roll for Paradox on the ﬁ nal roll. A mage who had 
  others in his cabal perform the ﬁ rst four steps, on the other 
  hand, must deal with four dots of Paradox on the ﬁ nal roll.
  
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  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  This makes it possible for a paragon of magic to perform 
  the ritual alone, or a cabal of mages can share the risk. If 
  one mage is casting all ﬁ ve spells alone, he would have to 
  have Spirit, Prime, Fate, Mind and Space to add Arcana 
  dice to each of the ﬁ ve spells. The ideal candidate for this 
  spell would be a mage with a Gnosis over 5 who knows all 
  these Arcana. Such a paragon would not suffer Paradox on 
  the ﬁ nal roll. Conceivably, the characters might know a 
  Master mage (such as an ally on the Consilium) who has 
  a chance of succeeding, but this path is not an easy one. 
  Note that as soon as the characters involve Master mages 
  in this intrigue, politics could make the resolution of this 
  story more difﬁ cult.
  A mage might be ambitious enough to move the Throne, 
  but removing it from this chamber is not easy. Even if the 
  Minister has been defeated, the sanctum’s Security rating 
  affects any spell directed against the Throne; this is followed 
  by subtracting ﬁ ve dice from that casting for the Artifact’s 
  Gnosis. That means anyone with less than nine dice on a 
  spell affecting the Throne must roll a chance die. In addition, 
  even someone who has spoken to the Ananke and researched 
  the Throne of the Exarchs is only vaguely acquainted with 
  it, so Space spells directed at the Throne have formidable 
  sympathy penalties as well.
  Rejecting the Heavens
  Once the Ananke has offered to lead this ritual, the charac-
  ters might decide that they are not ready or unworthy of the 
  ritual. They may decide to walk away, for instance, realizing 
  that the price of this path to “Ascension” is not worth it. 
  If your story diverts along this path, the events that follow 
  take a darker turn. As stated elsewhere, the Ananke is a 
  force of destiny, fated to resolve her given prophecy — one 
  way or another. 
  The Ananke herself can offer to perform the ritual and 
  resolve the prophecy. This might not be a bad idea, since it 
  means that she will stop seizing innocent people from the 
  world of Sleepers and turning them against Arcane forces. 
  She can only perform the ﬁ nal roll for the Throne, however 
  — other mages must activate the ﬁ rst four Artifacts. 
  If the cabal rejects the opportunity to perform or assist 
  with the ritual, and the Minister has been defeated, the 
  Ananke is no longer on the characters’ side. She im-
  mediately seeks out someone else to take the role of the 
  Dethroned Queen. The moment she makes this decision, 
  any converts and courtiers present also shift their allegiance 
  away from the cabal. 
  The most likely candidate to Ascend then becomes one of 
  the mages from the Board of Directors — courtiers rush to 
  his ofﬁ ce to act as his humble and fanatically loyal servants. 
  The Ananke is not invulnerable, however. She is a spirit, 
  and after she’s used much of her Essence to create converts, 
  the resolution of the story becomes a race to stop her. If the 
  characters have chosen a Master mage or Consilium mage 
  to help them, he could conceivably betray them to follow 
  this path to Heaven.
  The Words of Ananke
  For each stage of the ritual, the Ananke recites 
  a line of prophecy, and the caster repeats it 
  while casting one of the ﬁ ve stages of the spell. 
  Each line of the prophecy takes one turn to recite, 
  and each spell involves two lines of poetry. This 
  means the High Ritual takes 10 rounds to cast, 
  two for each stage of the spell (in case anyone is 
  prepared to interrupt it). The original Atlantean 
  version has been lost, but the Ananke has recre-
  ated it in the form of iambic pentameter. 
  The Ring: 
  Gods work within the Fallen World we see,
  Our sharper eyes can see behind their lies.
  The Robe: 
  Soulless slaves protect them ceaselessly.
  The virtuous oppose them in disguise.
  The Scepter: 
  Though higher powers enslave a world asleep,
  We shatter chains that fallen gods have 
  wrought.
  The Crown: 
  Awakening lost souls trapped in the deep
  We reign despite the misery they’ve brought.
  The Throne: 
  Arise to Heaven! We have eyes to see
  Beyond the threshold of eternity.
  Accepting the Heavens
  Characters who decide to proceed with the ritual are at-
  tended by any courtiers present, but they fearfully caution 
  the mages against proceeding. The courtiers, loyal to their 
  Queen, believe that this is the very sort of recklessness that 
  took her away from them. They fervently believe that she 
  was Dethroned because she challenged powers far beyond 
  her. With insights bestowed by destiny, they’re actually 
  correct.
  Should the ritual succeed, the “lost soul” sitting on the 
  Throne does Ascend to the Heavens — but only in spirit. 
  It is the “lost soul” that is transported — but the ritualist’s 
  body and mind remain in the Fallen World. This means 
  that a mage who successfully performs the ritual becomes a 
  conduit for messages from the Heavens — but the price is 
  severe: he loses the ability to perform magic. He has been 
  “dethroned,” losing his birthright of magic. 
  If this lost soul is the Ananke, she is freed of her debt to 
  destiny. She becomes an ordinary woman, and all of the 
  courtiers are freed of their debt as well. They slowly ﬁ le out 
  of the building, walking back to their previous lives and 
  forgetting all that transpired. 
  
  140
  If the Minister succeeds at the ritual, he no longer has 
  power as a Seer, instead becoming one of the most useful 
  pawns the Seers of the Throne could have. The gods (as he 
  sees them) still speak through him. The same condition 
  applies to the Board of Directors. The transformed 
  individual will be guarded within a Seer sanctum 
  for life, unless the characters want to risk their 
  Morality by killing him outright. If he lives, he 
  serves the Board of Directors elsewhere.
  If a powerful mage allied with the characters 
  succeeds, he is no longer a powerful mage. The 
  cabal should protect him as the characters lead 
  him from the building — but from that moment 
  on, he receives visions and portents from the 
  Heavens. This may give insights into what 
  Seers are doing, foretell calamities and so forth. 
  If it’s any consolation, the ritualist is also as-
  sured a place in the Heavens when he dies. 
  Once the body and mind has been destroyed, 
  the soul remains unfettered at the moment of 
  his death, sitting at the left hand of a god. This 
  could make for an interesting plot twist later 
  in a chronicle. Conceivably, when the Throne 
  returns to this world, the “lost soul” will appear 
  as the Queen did early in the story, manifesting as 
  a transparent apparition before the Throne.
  Once the ritual is complete, a Consilium’s collective 
  inﬂ uence could eventually move the Throne from this 
  building, but this would take time. The mages are sealed 
  from the outside world within the sanctum, since magic is 
  required to enter through the elevator. 
  The Throne still functions as an Artifact, by the way. After 
  activating it with a Gnosis roll, a mage using the Throne 
  cannot only use a “Multispatial Perception” (Space 3) rote 
  (Wits + Investigation + Space), but gains an extra ﬁ ve dice 
  to the roll for using the Throne. A mage who already has 
  Space can attempt to use the Throne to see into the Heavens, 
  gaining visions of the future as a Seer would see them. All ﬁ ve 
  Artifacts remain powerful, which means other mages could 
  try to seize them — but those are complications best left for 
  future adventures, should you decide to continue the story.
  Conclusion
  The Ananke’s destiny has been resolved, for better or worse, 
  and a lost soul now serves as a conduit between Heaven and 
  Earth. Such an individual can become a powerful agent of 
  prophecy, speaking words that guide legions — but the price 
  is the mage’s Awakened soul. Whether these revelations are 
  insights into cosmic forces or whispers from higher powers, 
  anyone who can channel these forces is a valuable ally, both for 
  the Seers of the Throne and the mages who oppose them.
  As for the Dethroned Queen, she perished when her 
  ritual was ﬁ nished. In death, she attained Ascension, 
  choosing to guide others to follow her. She then faced the 
  choice of directing events in the world below or Ascend-
  ing to communion with the cosmos in the world above. 
  Out of pride, she summoned the Ananke to lead others 
  along her path before casting the ﬁ nal High Ritual — but 
  her path to Heaven exacted a terribly price. Those who 
  follow her path must be tested, both for their Wisdom 
  and their knowledge of magic. The few who can survive 
  such a path can follow it to its conclusion. Heaven waits 
  for the virtuous. 
  Antagonists
  Security Mage
  Path: Obrimos
  Order: Seers of the Throne
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 4
  Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 2, Com-
  posure 2
  Mental Skills: Computer 2, Investigation 2
  Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 3, Firearms 3, Larceny 
  1, Stealth 2
  
  141
  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  Social Skills: Intimidation 2, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 3
  Merits: Danger Sense 2, Fighting Style: Boxing 3, 
  Sanctum 1
  Willpower: 6
  Wisdom: 7
  Virtue: Fortitude
  Vice: Greed
  Initiative: 5
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 11
  Health: 7
  Gnosis: 2
  Arcana: Forces 2, Prime 2, Space 2
  Rotes: Forces — Nightsight (•), Unseen Shield (•); Prime 
  — Supernal Vision (•), Counterspell Prime (••); Space 
  — Correspondence (•), Finder (•), Apportation (••), Scrying 
  (••), Ward (••)
  Mana/per turn: 11/2
  Armor: 2 (“Unseen Shield,” Forces ••)
  Investigator Inﬁ ltrator
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 3, Resolve 3 
  Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 3, Charisma 2, Composure 3
  Mental Skills: Computer 1, Investigation 3, Occult 3
  Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Firearms or Weap-
  onry 2, Larceny 2, Stealth 3
  Social Skills: Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 2
  Merits: Brawling Dodge 1, Meditative Mind 1, Resources 
  2, Unseen Sight 
  Willpower: 6
  Morality: 7
  Health: 7
  Initiative: 6
  Defense: 3
  Speed: 11
  Converted Courtier
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 3, Charisma 3, Composure 2
  Mental Skills: Craft 2, Investigation 2, Politics 3
  Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Stealth 1, Weaponry 2
  Social Skills: Animal Ken 1, Empathy 3, Expression 1, 
  Intimidation 2, Persuasion 3, Socialize 3, Streetwise 1, 
  Subterfuge 3
  Merits: Danger Sense 2, Direction Sense 1, Unseen 
  Sense 3, Weaponry Dodge 1
  Willpower: 5
  Morality: 7
  Health: 7
  Initiative: 4
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 9
  Avatar of Ananke
  Rank: 3
  Attributes: Power 6, Finesse 5, Resistance 
  5
  Willpower: 11
  Essence: 20 (max 20)
  Initiative: 11
  Defense: 5
  Speed: 16
  Size: 5
  Corpus: 10
  Inﬂ uences: Obedience 5
  Corporate Drone
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Re-
  solve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, 
  Stamina 2
  
  142
  Social Attributes: Presence 3, Charisma 3, Composure 2
  Mental Skills: Computer 2, Investigation 2, Politics 3
  Physical Skills: Athletics 1, Drive 1, Firearms 1, Stealth 1
  Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression 2, Intimidation 3, 
  Socialize 2, Subterfuge 3
  Merits: Language 1, Contacts 3, Resources 3
  Willpower: 5
  Morality: 7
  Health: 7
  Initiative: 4
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 9
  Human Resources Seer
  Path: Thyrsus
  Order: Seers of the Throne
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Com-
  posure 4
  Mental Skills: Computer 2, Investigation 2, Politics 3
  Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 1, Stealth 1
  Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression 1, Intimidation 1, 
  Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Subterfuge 4
  Merits: Contacts 3, Resources 3, Sanctum 1
  Willpower: 7
  Wisdom: 7
  Virtue: Charity
  Vice: Greed
  Initiative: 6
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 9
  Health: 7
  Gnosis: Gnosis 3
  Arcana: Life 3, Mind 2, Spirit 1
  Rotes: Life — Sense Life (•), Organic Resilience (••), Self-
  Healing (••), Healing Heart (•••); Mind — Emotional Urging 
  (••), First Impressions (••), Voice from Afar (••), Psychic 
  Assault (•••); Spirit — Exorcist Eye (•)
  Mana/per turn: 12/3
  Armor: 2 (“Organic Resilience,” Life ••)
  Middle Manager
  Path: Moros
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Com-
  posure 4
  Mental Skills: Computer 2, Investigation 2, Politics 3
  Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 1, Stealth 1
  Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression 1, Intimidation 1, 
  Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Subterfuge 4 
  Merits: Contacts 3, Resources 3, Sanctum 1
  Willpower: 7
  Wisdom: 7
  Virtue: Envy
  Vice: Greed
  Initiative: 6
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 9
  Health: 7
  Gnosis: 3
  Arcana: Death 1, Matter 3, Mind 2
  Rotes: Matter — Unseen Aegis (••), Alter Integrity (•••), 
  Repair Object (•••); Mind — Emotional Urging (••), Voice 
  from Afar (••)
  Mana/per turn: 12/3
  Armor: 3 (“Unseen Aegis,” Matter •••)
  Company Director
  Path: Mastigos
  Order: Seers of the Throne
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 4
  Physical Attributes: Strength 2, Dexterity 2, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 2, Manipulation 3, Com-
  posure 3
  Mental Skills: Computer 2, Investigation 2, Politics 3
  Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 1, Stealth 1
  Social Skills: Empathy 1, Expression 1, Intimidation 1, 
  Persuasion 2, Socialize 2, Subterfuge 4 
  Merits: Contacts 2, Resources 4, Sanctum 1
  Willpower: 7
  Wisdom: 7
  Virtue: Prudence
  Vice: Greed
  Initiative: 5
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 9
  Health: 7
  Gnosis: 3
  Arcana: Fate 2, Mind 3, Space 2
  Rotes: Fate — Interconnections (•), Reading the Outmost 
  Eddies (•), Exceptional Luck (••), Evil Eye (••), Perfect Mo-
  ment (••); Mind — Emotional Urging (••), Voice from Afar 
  (••), Psychic Assault (•••), Telepathy (•••); Space — Ap-
  portation (••), Scrying (••)
  Mana/per turn: 12/3
  Armor: 2 (“Fortune’s Protection,” Fate ••)
  The Minister of Mammon
  Path: Mastigos
  Order: Seers of the Throne
  
  143
  CHAPTER FIVE: the THRONE
  Mental Attributes: Intelligence 2, Wits 2, Resolve 3
  Physical Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2
  Social Attributes: Presence 3, Manipulation 3, Com-
  posure 4
  Mental Skills: Academics 3, Computer 2, Crafts 1, In-
  vestigation 3, Occult 4, Politics 4, Science 1
  Physical Skills: Athletics 2, Brawl 2, Drive 2, Larceny 
  2, Stealth 1, Weaponry 3
  Social Skills: Empathy 2, Expression 3, Intimidation 4, 
  Persuasion 4, Socialize 3, Subterfuge 4
  Willpower: 7
  Wisdom: 4
  Virtue: Faith
  Vice: Greed
  Initiative: 7
  Defense: 2
  Speed: 11
  Health: 7
  Gnosis: 4
  Arcana: Fate 2, Mind 3, Space 4
  Rotes: Fate — Interconnections (•), Quantum Flux (•), The 
  Perfect Moment (••); Mind — Sense Consciousness (•), 
  Third Eye (•), Emotional Urging (••), Mental Shield (••), 
  Misperception (••), Voice from Afar (••), Psychic Assault 
  (•••), Telepathy (•••); Space — Omnivision (•), (••) Appor-
  tation (••), Scrying (••), Untouchable (••), Ward (••), Ban 
  (•••), Ranged Blow (•••), Co-Location (••••)
  Mana/per turn: 13/4
  Armor: 4 (“Untouchable,” Space ••)
  
  144
  
  ISBN 1-58846-428-8  WW40306  $26.99 US
  www.worldofdarkness.com
  This book includes:
  • A complete Storytelling chronicle 
  for Mage: The Awakening
  •  Five complete and compelling 
  playable stories, each centered 
  on an ancient mystic artifact and 
  building to an epic conclusion
  • New 
  spells, 
  spirits, 
  artifacts, 
  characters and legends make this 
  chronicle an exciting example of 
  the game in action
  PRINTED IN CHINA
  The Exarchs are real. 
  The Exarchs are real. 
  The Dethroned Queen, 
  The Dethroned Queen, 
  cast out of the Heavens by wiser gods than she, 
  cast out of the Heavens by wiser gods than she, 
  proves they’re real. You can doubt her existence, 
  proves they’re real. You can doubt her existence, 
  but doing so only proves your ignorance.
  but doing so only proves your ignorance.
       
       
  The Dethroned Queen was real.      
  The Dethroned Queen was real.      
  Soon you’ll see.
  Soon you’ll see.
                       Soon you’ll get it.
                       Soon you’ll get it.
  Then you’ll believe.
  Then you’ll believe.
  — Jonah Reed, 
  — Jonah Reed, 
  Seer of the Throne, 
  Seer of the Throne, 
  prior to his execution
  prior to his execution
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Storyteller [multi]/Mage - The Awakening/Reign of the Exarchs.pdf