Head to Paris to check in with the Consilium and see whats is going on with these reported rogue Guardians. We invite the ladies to join us. Figure they could use a distraction and shopping in Paris should accomplish that. Plus I get to show of my new flashier teleport I have been working on. Since we are moving about the world demonstrating our powers we should also arrive in style. Now when we arrive we coalesce slowly encased in supernal flames. Black as black can be for Danno, blood red for Taranis, a sickly green for Red, Hector gets the silverish white of moonlight. My flame is silver with streaks of topaz. After we arrive and get the ladies on their way we head to the base of the Eiffel tower. Hidden underneath are catacombs and the location of the Consilium chambers.
We make our way through the catacombs. It would be very easy for anyone to get lost down here but to the eyes of the awakened the way is marked clearly. We eventually approach the chamber doors guarded by two mages, We tell them we are here to speak to the council. They say it's already in session. We explain we are here to help with the very same thing they are discussing in there and after a few moments the guard realize who we are. One goes in and comes back fairly quickly and we are escorted in. The Hierarch was expecting us. The chambers were very empty, other than the council only a few mages were present and there was an even an Uratha amongst them.
The Hierarch introduced himself as D'Artagnan and we had him explain what was going on exactly. After things started falling apart the Guardians decided they would be better off on their own and broke from the Consilium. The Guardians then began kidnapping supernaturals, not just mages. Claimed they were in violation of some law. The Consilium had various skirmishes with the guardians when they could and did manage to capture one who had some papers. All they could figure out from the papers was some kind of research project was going on. Looking over the papers ourselves and we knew exactly what was going on. This was a piece of the research notes from Finland. The research facility where the Atlantean Genophage was born. It was becoming apparent that th Guardian were trying to build the mana sucking dog like creature we encountered. This was the last thing we needed right now. We got as much information as they had on the Guardians. The French Secret Police in Paris were run by the Guardians so we decided that is where we would start.
We took various scouting positions around the Secret Police HQ. We were hoping we could snatch one of the higher ranked members and get the information we needed from him. There wasn't much traffic into or put of the HQ so I reached out and started plucking the strands of destiny surrounding the building. Hopefully the tapestry would respond and push our target to us. It wasn't long before the insect showed up in our web. The right hand man of the Guardian leader sat down at our table. He informed us that the leader was expecting us. They knew we were coming and were hoping we would help them in their little experiment. We were getting ready to force this guy to tell us where the missing supernaturals were but he said he was here to bring us to them. So we followed expecting a trap. He brought us into the HQ building and through some hidden doors and down a winding staircase into some catacombs. As we moved down the stairwell I could feel the warping of space and knew we were traveling much further away then it seemed. Eventually we were led out into a research chamber much like what we saw in Finland. There were mages working at stations and they all stopped and stared at us. Lined up against the walls were cages and they were filled with the missing supernaturals. A few of the cages contained the missing Uratha including their Alpha. I don't know why but I suddenly felt this strong urge to free them. I wasn't happy with any of the supernaturals being imprisoned but I really felt strongly about the Uratha. I fight the urge and we are led into the back where we are introduced to Balanas the Grand Inquisitor of the Guardians.
Only after talking with Balanas for a few minutes you could tell he was a bit touched. He had no issues with kidnapping supernaturals and using them to experiment with building the mana dogs. He said he had built three already and they were hidden in the room now. This time he used powers from all supernaturals not just mages. He felt he needed to do this as they could help defeat Donovan. Balanas was expecting us to join with him but we weren't having any of that. I was starting to feel a bit antsy about the caged Uratha and the tension was getting thick in the room. I finally had enough and ordered him to release the prisoners. He laughed at me as it became apparent my horsemen power wasn't working against him. He began twisting into some twisted shape. He bellows out about the Dark One granting him powers to resist the horsemen and he attacks. With that the three mana dogs appear. I can't fight this urge any longer and I run back into the main room to see about releasing the Uratha. The others bound into action. From what glimpses I caught of the fight the mana dogs were much like the one we fought in Finland. They would reach out with that nasty tentacle and drain your power and use it to heal. These were upgraded though and I could see they were draining much more than just mana this time. The cages weren't locked by each had its own low grade ward keeping them in. I had to each cage and try to teleport them out with enough power to override the ward. Luckily they were not strong. I asked the Alpha to aid my friends and he said he would try but they had kept him drained of any essence. I knew I could pull essence from a locus and give it to another spirit type but there wasn't a locus around. The I realized since distance is an illusion I should be able to draw from a remote locus. So i reached out to the locus in Mexico where we had first encountered Ezukumnda. It was still there and I could feel the essence start to flow from in through space into my hands. I redirected that flow into the Alpha and he was surprised but pleased. After I released the other Uratha we all went to join the fight. A couple of the mana dogs were down but I could sense they had did their damage and drained a lot of my companions resources. Hector didn't look so good. Balanas was still mostly unhurt. He had some crazy shield of fate that was absorbing a lot of the initial damage but Taranis was able to use Ragnarök to smash through it. I decided to catch up with the fight and I pulled down to try my remote locus trick but with multiple targets. I was able to channel essence into all of the Uratha including Hector and at the same time I tried to collide Balana's particles but he was ready for that. He sort of deflected my spell with his sword and redirected it toward me. It was weird feeling the effects of my own spell like that and it hurt a lot. With the pain from calling down I was barely able to stay conscious. I managed to stay on my feet and the others continued their onslaught and he soon fell.
I had the Uratha release the others and asked if they could lead them back to the Consilium. The rest of us stayed and started cleaning up. We retrieved all of the research data and destroyed anything else. As we were cleaning up we found that one of the growth vats wasn't empty. There was on of the mana dogs still growing in it. Part of me wanted to just destroy it but another part felt it could be useful. Our major concern was whether they were bred to be bad or was it just the way they were used. The classic nurture vs nature debate. I looked into the weave of time to try to find an answer. The impression I got back was that it could be helpful if nurtured correctly. We decided that was good enough. Luckily the vats were self contained and designed to be mobile. I opened a portal back to Ahava and Hector brought th mana puppy and the empty vats through. We finished cleaning up the mess. Taranis had found that the mana dogs were powered by some bluish orb and took them to Ahava for study. We hoped we could figure out to use them to help power the nexus. After we retrieved everything we wanted, Taranis and Red cleansed the place behind us making it completely sterile and we headed back to the Consilium.
We informed the Hierarch of what happened and how Balanas was a pawn of Donovan. We left the matter of cleaning up the now scattered and leaderless Guardians to the Consilium. We gave him the now standard directive of waiting for our call to war. I then asked him if he could recommended a good restaurant. I figured we were in Paris with the girls already here we might as well have a nice dinner. Hector convinced Yanna she should come have dinner and I teleported her to us much to her surprise. And we headed out to dinner.
Cygin
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It's odd sitting here having dinner in Paris. Looking out at all the people in the streets going about their day to day business like nothing ever happened. The sleeper propensity to being able to ignore things around them is fascinating now. When I first awakened I hated the sleepers and their disbelief. I wanted to grab a hold of them and shake them while telling them to open their damn eyes. But now I'm kinda glad they have this ability. Here on the other side of the world far away from the shadow of the floating Chicago all is normal. The fact that the sun hasn't been seen in days doesn't seem to effect the sleepers one bit. Just been really overcast I suppose. This disbelief enables them to keep a sense of normality and right now I think we all could use some of that. Especially for the horsemen and their loved ones. Being able to let the girls go shopping and then having a fine dining meal. It takes all of our minds off the feeling of impending doom. As I look around the table as the bottles of wine empty I don't see heroes or warriors. We aren't the savers of the world. We are just a bunch of good friends sharing food and drink. Enjoying the moment without a care in the world. Tomorrow the sleepers will wake to darkness and go about their day. Tomorrow we will wake and try to push back that darkness. Just another normal day.
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