%% date:: [[2024-06-16]] %% # [[007_20240616 The Prism of Disruption]] ![[007_20240616.svg]] ## Session Summary > [!tldr] [[007_20240616 The Prism of Disruption]] > We found out that there was a Candela Obscura symbol on a gravestone in the exact geometric centre of the Aberdeen Cemetery, which we later found to contain the metal casket bearing the body of Ordo the Magnificent. Our independent research in Briar Green told us that Ordo was an entertainer turned powerful politician who used magick to get ahead. Then he mysteriously disappeared. When we asked her to investigate, Lightkeeper Jezebel confirmed Candela's involvement: Candela Obscura was called in to "deal with him", and they did-- but it's not clear how. > > We built a Prism of Disruption, a sort of Bleed prism that scatters the Lens Effect present in the cemetery to dissipate the magick emanating from Ordo's body. Eric built one based on some of the same principles as astrolabes. He then deployed it while the crows watched us, and the magick suddenly dissipated. The crows lost interest just in time, we had Candela pick up the body, and Jezebel was very pleased with us. ^summary %% ## Video [Video]() %% --- ## Recap ![[ttrpgs/The Great Dark/006_20240609 How to speak to crows#^summary]] --- ## Log Ash and Calliope helped Tarrin look at the headstones. We now have a list of names on the headstones. The dates are 400-500 years ago. Different times, years of deaths. Some families but not all related-- we don't really find a common thread among them. At the exact geometric centre of the graveyard, there's a headstone with a symbol in the corner. It's one of the symbols that [[ttrpgs/The Great Dark/Candela Obscura|Candela Obscura]] uses as a symbol that they're there. We're a little suspicious of the fact that Candela Obscura assigned us this mission but didn't tell us about the obvious Candela Obscura involvement here. If [[Lightkeeper Jezebel Moore]] doesn't come back with something useful, we maybe shouldn't trust that. We go to [[Briar Green]] to go to a library. The time period we're looking in is the Halen Renaissance. ^1ef2c1 - Eric looks for references to [[Ordo the Magnificent]] and only finds one book. It just has a page or two on Ordo-- it doesn't even mention him specifically. It just talks about an entertainer turned political figure who had his own militia, like Stormtroopers. But they were called [[Crows]]. People thought he'd take over, but he just kind of disappeared. - I successfully flirt with a [[Young Male Librarian in Briar Green|young male librarian]] who finds a stack of books about politics in the time of Ordo. I'm looking for someone who might have been threatened by Ordo. But there is none. There were only relatively weak, ineffective politians. Whatever took care of Ordo was not the established political powers. It wasn't a military solution either. I pocket the number of the librarian. None of the books mention Ordo's name, but they do mention odd goings-on. It's absolutely magick but that's not explicitly said. Ordo had the support of the crowd somehow. - Eric looks up what the graveyard was before it was a graveyard. But [[The Steam]] was just a sleepy neighbourhood that doesn't seem very significant. At night, we go to [[Candela Obscura HQ|our headquarters]]. - Small library - Well-protected fissure to [[The Fourth Pharos]]. - This is where other circles congregate, but they're all under [[Lightkeeper Jezebel Moore|Jezebel]]. - Jezebel wants a meal with us. She's not a good cook. - She found information in the Fourth Pharos about [[Ordo the Magnificent]]. Candela Obscura was involved. Ordo was a magician but that meant something a little different. He entertained people through tricks. He was particularly good at it-- he had stage shows that were exciting and thrilling, with effects that couldn't be explained. Everyone knew his name and had a good opinion of him. He took that goodwill and fame and turned that into a movement: not political at first, and not authoritarian at first, but it eventually went that way. He had thugs with him that became frightening to other people. Some people dismissed him as just a performer, but the political figures were alarmed enough. They sent assassins after him, but even the best failed. They asked Candela Obscura to take care of the problem for them. Candela Obscura did, and took care of it, but the records end there. How they took care of Ordo is not something they wanted the world to remember. It might not even really be Ordo's soul that's at stake here. It could be some other being that is using his soul-- but it doesn't really matter. - We need to trap whatever this thing is, and that's the problem: this is more like [[The Lens Effect|a Lens effect]] that can make something manifest. The cemetery is the key. Disturbing the cemetery is what caused these things to happen. Politically, we can't stop that from happening. - I ask what [[Astrolabe]]s are and if we can get our hands on them. She says they're used to maintain both openings and barriers. - Eric uses his ability *Occult Researcher*. He learns that there are two ways to go about this: - Break up the focus of the lens: find his body and remove it. - Break up the lens effect: Make something sort of like my idea with the astrolabe, but instead, it just imprisons. You can make it so that it doesn't focus - it disrupts. We want to make a [[Prism of Disruption|Bleed prism]]: something that scatters the effect of the lens. We go back to the cemetery. There are workers there, moving bodies! The name on the truck is [[Jileria’s Construction Services]]. - I intimidate them by using Eric's name and telling them to dig up the middle one with the Candela Obscura symbol. There's nothing there though. The crows are watching us all-- the workers and us. Tarrin examines the behaviour of the birds to try to find their nest. They're behaving quite unnaturally for crows. They're not congregating over any area in particular. Instead, they're avoiding a particular area of the cemetery. They're excavating from the south to north. They're avoiding the northeastern corner. They start cawing as Tarrin gets closer to a headstone. It just says `Ben Smith`, but when she gets to it, the birds really start to circle over her. Eric sets up the prism with everyone's help, and it works! The birds suddenly lose interest and the magic dissipates. We make the workers dig the grave up. There's a metal casket there-- pretty unusual. There are markings on it, markings of Candela Obscura. This was a casket that was specifically designed to contain bleed and magical effects. This is why there was so little bleed in the cemetery, because this was containing it. This is why the lens effect was needed to do what happened here. We call Candela Obscura to collect the casket. The people who come to collect it are noticeably gobsmacked at this 400-year-old piece of Candela history. The prism no longer has anything to work against after the body is gone. We go back and write our report. Jezebel is VERY happy with us and a little too eager to take the win. She tells [[Cardinal Leon Nerus|the Cardinal]] before the night passes. %% # Text Elements # Drawing ```json {"type":"excalidraw","version":2,"source":"https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin/releases/tag/2.0.25","elements":[],"appState":{"theme":"dark","gridSize":null,"viewBackgroundColor":"#ffffff"}} ``` %%