12:22 <Quaker> Badawi comes in after her thing with Rolf and sits down across from Haldane. “What did you want to ask me?” She is still wearing her scarf, because the room is not much warmer than the street outside. She keeps her sunglasses and mask on because she feels more normal with them on than she does with them off, in most presences. 12:26 <banana> Richard: "Cold in here, isn't it? The Wires in the Walls don't seem to provide much insulation." If anything it's the reverse. 12:26 <Quaker> “You wanted to ask me if it was cold in here?” 12:28 <banana> He wanted to ask if Badawi was comfortable! One more attempt before giving in... "Well, no. Not specifically. But if it is, perhaps we could prevail upon Mr. Goreman to mind the shop and cross the road to that cafe with umbrella heaters." 12:32 <Quaker> Badawi shrugs. “I’m fine. We can move if you want to.” 12:34 <banana> Haldane smiles vaguely. "Good to hear, good to hear. Right. As you know, I'm filling out our database of capabilities and connections.. supplementing the Human Office material I was able to retrieve with the field team's expertise." 12:35 <banana> "Broadly speaking, I'd like to ask you about magic users and magic potions." 12:37 <Quaker> She imagines this will be a bit like pulling teeth, for both of them. “Okay. I’ll try to tell you what I know. Unless it’s…you know. Proprietary.” 12:41 <banana> Richard: "That's an interesting concept already. Who might regard themselves as a proprietor of this information?" 12:43 <Quaker> Badawi: “Myself. Or if it’s information that I think would unnecessarily implicate organizations I have an interest in.” 12:47 <banana> "I suppose we'll just have to burn that bridge once we've crossed it. So! How much contact have you had with the local wizards? Are they all dragon-magic types, like the 'Wolf Mourners'?" 12:47 <Quaker> “What do you mean by dragon-magic?” 12:50 <banana> Richard: "The way the department used to classify magic spells, we had them in a few categories. There's dragon magic, the practitioners of which claim to have learned from dragons; blood magic, as used by vampires and werewolves and ghosts; fire-magic, practiced by created life, possibly angels and possibly for some reason mummies..." 12:50 <banana> "Confusingly, certain vampires can also use something like the angelic fire or holy powers. These things proliferate in the community, get stolen and repurposed and so on." 12:51 <banana> "Mr. Hughes could tell you more, as the main reason for these categories is to determine the means of defense against them!" 12:52 <banana> Richard: "Well. Mr. Hughes' equipment vendors could tell you more." 12:52 <Quaker> Badawi sits up. “You…who exactly told you that they learned magic from dragons? That might be a bit of a mistranslation.” 12:54 <banana> Richard: "I learned it from a Powerpoint. Training materials. The history of the Office is somewhat murky, but if it's important I'll look into what it would take to get that information." 12:55 <Quaker> Badawi: “No, I just mean that I don’t think that whoever your Office talked to understood that the mages were using symbolic language. They’re not initiated by dragons or anything like that. I don’t think dragons are real. I don’t think their magic comes from them, either. “ 12:56 <banana> "Hopefully so. If dragons are real, our employer will probably find one for us to fight." 12:58 <banana> Richard: "The dragon-cults or mage-cults of which I'm at one remove aware are the 'Diamond', the 'Pyramid' and the 'Councils'. Does that categorisation apply to your contacts at all? If not.. may I solicit an alternative?" The lies were exciting enough. He's eager for truths. 13:01 <Quaker> Badawi: “I’ve only met one sub-faction of what seems to be a very loose coalition. The mages - they call themselves that - are split into two general sides. There’s the Diamond orders, which don’t really…it’s more like there’s five little clubs making up one side. The Diamond orders plus the Free Council. They seem pretty fragmented, really.” 13:02 <Quaker> “They’re unfriendly with what you called the Pyramid, but what the Diamond orders call the Seers of the Throne. Don’t really know anything about them except the Wolf-Mourners apparently have one as a member.” 13:03 <Quaker> “And one named Janissary is supposed to be a high-ranking member of theirs around here. Only heard the name, though.” 13:05 <Quaker> “Anyway, the Diamond orders are: the Adamintine Arrow, the Silver Ladder, the Guardians of the Veil, and the Mysterium. The Free Council is allied with them, but I gather they’re a bit frosty as well. They each have their own specializations and reputations. I’ve only met the Mysterium around here. I believe one of the ones we met out in the field was an Arrow.” 13:08 <banana> Richard types rapidly. "Yes yes, this matches up.. some bits are new, or possibly local. Who specifically have you met? And how did you meet them?" 13:13 <Quaker> Badawi: “My regular contacts are a big fellow named Vivi and a little fellow named Octocat, both light-to-middleweights in the local Mysterium. Meeting someone like me is a bit below the higher-ups, I think. All the orders share a little congress, but I don’t really know who’s in charge. I know the names Tuchanka, Mister Brown, and Miss Maud.” 13:14 <banana> Haldane: "Swedish?" 13:14 <Quaker> “What?” 13:16 <banana> "Ah! Nevermind. There used to be a tearoom..." 13:17 <banana> "All this organisation implies a lot of wizardry going on, but we haven't come across them much yet. Not like the obtrusive vampires. Did the Mysterium teach you the potion-making?" 13:19 <Quaker> Badawi: “No. That was a different thing. I don’t think they use potions. At least not the ones I use.” 13:20 <banana> Richard raises an eyebrow and opens a new file. 13:20 <Quaker> “I think the five orders being fully represented is an ideal. Local circumstances everywhere are different. London probably has a fully-fleshed out scene. I don’t know about Manchester.” 13:23 <banana> The new file remains empty for now. "With their combined powers, perhaps they can afford City rents. Are your potions from... somewhere else?" 13:24 <Quaker> Badawi: “They are. From humans like you and me.” 13:25 <banana> "Is 'magic' even accurate?" 13:27 <Quaker> Badawi: “Sure. A different sort of magic than the mages use, but still beyond what ordinary people can do.” 13:31 <banana> Richard nods. "That raises all sorts of questions. How many of them d'you want me to ask?" 13:32 <Quaker> Badawi: “Just ask, and I’ll answer what I feel like answering.” 13:32 <banana> "We're putting together this information to help hunt monsters. A collective archive of relevant techniques and explanations, so.. you're the one best placed to judge whether it fits." 13:33 <banana> "What is the nature of this magic? Why can your concotions do more than a medical drug?" 13:41 <Quaker> Badawi waits a beat, then pulls off her sunglasses and leans forward. “What do you know about…Atlantis?” 13:41 <banana> The thin dark-haired man says, "I would love to know about Atlantis." 13:46 <Quaker> She pulls out a battered Altoids tin. Inside, there are a dozen brown gel capsules, each the size of a fingertip and dully murky. “See?” She pops one in her mouth and swallows. 13:46 <banana> "Looks home-formulated..." 13:47 <Quaker> “If you took one of those without a special form of training and study, you’d fall very ill or even die.” 13:47 <Quaker> “Unless you weren’t human. Haha.” 13:48 <banana> Richard: "We must make very sure that the team includes no sweet-toothed kleptomaniacs." 13:51 <Quaker> “Well. It all starts with a mystic order that traces its beginnings back to Atlantis. Before the Flood. The great minds of that lost society placed all their wisdom in an ivory casket and launched it into the waves before the sea consumed them.” 13:52 <Crion> The door clanks open as Aster walks in with a coffee. He listens and watches the conversation unfolding, nods, and heads to his workspace. 13:52 <banana> Oh, what a shame. This sounds like a really good story, but it isn't true, is it? 13:52 <banana> Richard's going to write it down anyway, but he won't link any of this into the wiki and risk misleading people. 13:53 <Crion> But the conversation is interesting enough that this time, his laptop is positioned to face him towards them, not away. 13:53 <Quaker> “You’ve heard of Hermes Trismegistus? And Pletho Pappus? The sages of Egypt, who found the ivory casket washed up before the library of Alexandria?” 13:53 <banana> "Pappus is entirely new to me." 13:54 <Quaker> “Fitting, because he was a Secret Master.” 13:56 <banana> Richard: "Amazing how so many of these things turn out to have a grain of truth. That's why no budget level for the Human Office could ever be enough, you know, and they more or less gave up." 13:56 <banana> "The secret in this case... alchemy?" 13:56 <Crion> Alchemy. Aster manages not to snort. 13:56 <Crion> After all, why not? 13:57 <Quaker> “These great figures founded a secret order of knowledge, committed to the Enlightenment of mankind and the uplift of the human soul through alchemical transformation. Every great figure in history has been a member, from Aristotle to Cagliostro to Saddam Hussein.” 13:57 <Crion> It's just as much fringe science as the Process, surely; just from a different century. 13:57 <Crion> He blinks at that last name, though. 13:58 <banana> "Hence the WMDs. Makes a lot of sense, actually." 14:01 <Quaker> Badawi winks and gestures her head at Aster. “But I’m not sure how much I want to divulge in the presence of a Perfect Stranger. But we can work our way up to discussing more of the lost secrets of Atlantis. Things like the Jimmerson spiral and the Telluric currents.” 14:01 <Crion> Aster: "Oh, don't mind me. I'm consumed by less esoteric issues." 14:01 <Crion> "Vampires who vote Labour." 14:02 <Quaker> “I think you’re just describing thirty percent of the UK.” 14:02 <banana> Richard sighs.. theatrically. "We'll come back to it, then. As and when." 14:03 <Crion> Aster: "Possibly so." 14:04 <banana> Haldane logs out and stands up to stretch a bit. The mages could bear a lot more investigating. Perhaps it'll come up on some of these jobs. 14:04 <banana> "If they're voting at all, the General Register isn't doing a very good job." 14:08 <Crion> Aster: "Presumably they have people for that. I've filed a report. One of these people, the one with less status, actually, 'offered' to enslave Goreman and I with the dread power of the blood." 14:08 <Crion> Witheringly: "We declined." 14:08 <tom> From across the workspace: "What?" 14:08 <banana> "Oh dear." 14:08 <banana> Do we have a policy on that? 14:08 <Crion> Aster does. It's not to. 14:09 <tom> "Somebody say my name?" Bob's walking over, wrapping duct-tape around a cylindrical object in his hand. 14:09 <Crion> To Bob: "Recall when Barrigan prefaced us taking a drink out of his wrist with--what is that." 14:10 <tom> "Oh hey Badawi didn't see you there- what, this? Just a stunner." He takes his free hand, mimes throwing something. "Poof." 14:11 <Crion> Aster leans back. "Surely you've made enough money to purchase a large, sufficiently isolated, sufficiently open space to build aftermarket flashbangs." 14:11 <tom> "Yeah, yeah, okay, I'll take 'em out to Blackley's land. God knows the old guy doesn't ask about where I'm getting my shotguns." 14:12 <tom> "Oh yeah that guy totally asked us if we just wanted to drink his blood." 14:12 <banana> :-[ "As long as we avoid 'P'- avoid explosions." 14:12 <banana> "Some of the machinery and flesh in here is delicate." 14:13 <tom> "I wouldn't mind drinking Letitia's blood, I guess. Is that less weird or more?" 14:14 <Crion> Aster: "I don't pass judgment on weird. It's foolish and weak." 14:15 <Crion> Aster: "If they send a woman vampire at you are you even going to be able to pull the trigger on that Rube Goldberg shotgun of yours?" 14:15 <tom> "Yeah that sounds about right." Bob bundles up the little duct-taped cylinders into a bag and gives the rest a lazy salute on his way out the door. "You guys seen Willie? She's been scarce recently." 14:15 <tom> "Buddy," 14:15 <tom> "My shotgun doesn't have a trigger." 14:15 <Crion> Aster: "That's not an adequate response." 14:15 <Crion> "Wait what the fuck does that even mean?" 14:16 <tom> Bob reaches his hands into his coat, pulling out two ugly looking pipes. He slides the pipes into each other, twists. Click. 14:17 <Crion> Aster looks at this with roughly the same kindness as if Bob had produced roadkill. 14:17 <tom> "The firing pin is a nail. You just.. you just slide the barrel back onto it with a shell in it." 14:17 <Crion> Aster: "No, I'm familiar with how pipe guns work." 14:17 <Crion> "Tell me you don't carry that thing loaded." 14:18 <tom> "Anyway don't you fret," Bob coughs, taking the gun apart and showing Aster the empty barrel. 14:18 <tom> "The jokes all go out the window once we go weapons-free." 14:18 <Crion> Aster: "No I know it's not loaded now, you just dry-fired it without checking the chamber." 14:19 <tom> "I do not carry it with one in the chamber, no." 14:19 <Crion> He raises his hands. "I don't want to know. I don't want to know." 14:20 <Crion> As to Bob's other observation: "Wellesley's time is her own." 14:21 <Quaker> Badawi: “Why? Are you obsessed with her?” 14:22 <tom> He's standing in the doorway, turning to respond to Aster when she hits him with that: "NN-no." 14:22 <Crion> Aster: "Badawai, Rolf, and I are old enough to be her parents; you're in a committed relationship. I am not particularly shocked she isn't seeking social solace at this particular work place." 14:23 <tom> Bob unfolds the card from his pocket and hands it to Aster. 14:23 <Crion> Aster: "What am I supposed to do with this?" 14:24 <tom> https://i.imgur.com/r9nmbE0.jpg 14:25 <Crion> Aster: "You know, you're going to be able to check off 'Goths' soon." 14:26 <tom> He chuckles, folds the card back up: "I feel like goblins are on the way too." 14:26 <tom> He steps out the door and onto the street. "You take care man," and he's gone. 14:26 <Crion> Aster shakes his head. 14:28 <Crion> Aster: "The vampires of the city's central organization want us to drive off some teens. So I suppose non-lethal explosives might help." 14:32 <banana> "Those things are a menace," Richard notes. "The only thing I've got on them is that they're susceptible to high-pitched noises, but you might also be able to repel them with honest work?" 14:32 <Crion> Aster: "Hmm? Teens or vampires?" 14:33 <banana> A sensible chuckle. 14:35 <Crion> To Haldane: "What's your history with vampires, then, Richard?" 14:38 <banana> Well, it is a workday. Richard takes a seat at one of the computers again, then swivels to face Aster. "Textual. I've always lived up here, where the Office doesn't really have an office, so I haven't knowingly encountered the things. Supposedly, they're numerous.. one of the most organised nocturnal conspiracies in England." 14:39 <banana> "Numerous is relative, here. You don't expect more than one blood-drinker in ten thousand, sometimes as rare as one in a hundred thousand." 14:39 <Crion> Aster: "Not just in England." 14:40 <Crion> "America is lousy with them. Philadelphia, at least." 14:42 <Crion> "And probably the entire federal government." 14:42 <Crion> He shakes his head. "One vampire, you can't trust. Five vampires, the same. Maybe not even a dozen. But twenty? That's enough for a hierarchy." 14:42 <banana> Haldane: "Well, I won't say I'm happy to hear it." He is happy to write it down, though. "Here, they do and try and wipe out the species, but it's.. unsuccessful. There are historical ties. The H.O. has centuries of records of thwarted activity." 14:44 <Crion> "They're social creatures. Maybe even moreso than mortal humans. Human history has a long tradition of hermitage. Not so much with vampires. They can't eat crops; they don't live off the land, unless they're running down...I don't know. Elk." 14:45 <banana> "And elk wouldn't be quite so agreeable about their fate." 14:45 <Crion> "But. You get a bunch of them in the same social circle, you get them focusing inward, you get them, I don't know. Scheming. Plotting. Doing vampire things. Suddenly you're not looking at an apex predator with rabies from hell, but, example given, a faintly ridiculous man who likes to give speeches about who is and isn't his peer." 14:45 <banana> Richard: "Perhaps keeping them that way, relatively harmless, is a management strategy?" 14:46 <Crion> Aster: "I don't know that we have the body of literature to prove it either way -- and any body of literature we do have of sufficient size is, of course, susceptible to influence by vampires -- but my hypothesis is that equilibrium is at the heart of their relationship with mortal society." 14:47 <Crion> He shrugs. "Of course, like with human beings, there's always the random psychopaths." 14:48 <banana> Richard: "We do have the one set of records. At times government has sought permanent solutions to the vampire problem, but there's always a lobby against it. Presbyterians, Freemasons, the House of Lords, the Admiralty, the East India Company or sometimes the British Museum..." 14:49 <Crion> Aster: "There's no such thing as a permanent solution to the vampire problem in a specific territory or region, I suspect. You remove the vampires and it's like empty space in the ocean. The water rushes in." 14:50 <banana> "If the territory exists, we'll have to navigate it. Shall I digitise what you've got on the corkboard about the local Court?" 14:50 <Crion> Aster: "Yes, please. I'll add to it." 14:50 <Crion> "Who is 'we?'" 14:53 <banana> Richard: "Not to put too fine a point on it... you." 14:54 <banana> "The five of you, that is - the field team of this organisation. However, I can help. Research, analysis, storage, finance and all the other functions of administration." 14:54 <Crion> He blinks. "Well then. Where did we get the records?" 14:55 <Crion> "The one set." 14:56 <banana> Of course, Aaron hadn't arrived during the earlier conversation. "I have a volume of material proprietary to the Human Office. Not high-clearance stuff, but still the kind you aren't to walk away with. That's the basis of this database, and I'm relying on everyone else's expertise to fill it out with local updates!" 14:57 <Crion> "Now that is interesting." 14:57 <Crion> "I'll peruse that when I get the chance." 14:57 <Crion> "Is this one of our man Jack's procurements?" 14:57 <Crion> There's a slight faux-jaunty air to 'our man Jack' where he seems to think he's doing a Britishism. 14:58 <banana> Apologetically: "In this case, the treason is mine. But you aren't a Crown subject, so I'm sure it's a lesser offence to read the stuff." 14:59 <Crion> Aster smiles tightly. "Almost certainly not. There are security agreements." 15:01 <banana> "All the better."