Armidale Mage Plot Tracker

Mage is a complex game and the plots that can occur are no exception. Not every event that happens in Armidale is world shattering, but everything has a story behind it. A mage's time is precious, but those who take the time to learn the truth of the universe always find subtle advantages over their less-adventurous peers.

This is a list of plots, encounters and other stories being investigated by the players of the Armidale Domain.

As these plots get more complex, they may require their own wiki page for more details/supplemental materials. While this page is primarily maintained by the storyteller, anyone can update it, and there are xp or prestige awards for those that do.

Main events

Ongoing domain plot - Armidale cats

That's No Statue! - September 2014

• A Carter Spirit convinced the Mages to investigate the Meeting Place.
• The Spirit was confused that the Hypnos statue had disappeared.
• In scrying the past, the mages of Armidale observed the temple ruins being built.... As ruins.
• There's no true history at the Meeting Place. Only the Present.
• Certain members of the concillium were attacked by a Stone Wurm statue possessed by a spirit. The Cowboy and the marksman The Envoy held the line for as long as they could. But it's force was too powerful and eventually the Mages were forced to flee using imbued stones that cast an improvised version of the Teleport rote.

A Cold Winter - September 2014

• Agent Winters, GotV, came to the concillium to note down shadow names, resonances, and nimbuses. She will compare these with her notes on July's incident and submit her report to the Order for judgement on those responsible.
• Agent Winters returns with the councils verdict. Bringing certain members out of the concillium out the wards so that 'Master Archer' could apply a Geas not to cast vulgar magic in public.

A Dark Mirror - August 2014

• The Astral Mirror/Abyssal portal/former manifestation of the Crossroads reappeared as an ectoplasmic construct (a 'ghost' mirror)

Active

"Ok, look, there's all these strange things going on. I'm just going to note down a few things that we should probably look into. I don't catch everything that happens, so you'll need to update this yourselves." -Seeker7 1980-2013

Pulling yourself together - August 2014

• Michael, The Forge's son, came to the concillium to ask for help. Using the Frozen Tapestry, he had managed to get close to the golden portal in the centre of the labyrinth, but needed help to get there.
• The concillium obliged, and the group walked the treacherous pathways of the labyrinth.
• Highlights include a rain of eyeballs, which stuck to exposed skin, and appeared to become part of those afflicted.
• A 'giant spider' Tulpa attacked, using it's signature 'Link' ability on El Loco Diablo, who shot himself in the head in an attempt to destroy the spider. This extreme strategy was largely successful, but the mage in question was left with total amnesia.
• The final destination of the trip was a 'golden airport' full of Carters from other dimensions, who tasked the concillium with destroying the abyssal anomalies that contain Carter's other selves.
• The fox spirit possessing Michael had a plan to get here all along, and merged with it's counterparts from other universes. It promised to visit The Forge.

The Nothing - August 2014

• A new construction had started close to the Meeting Place.
• A rumbling sound was heard, and now the construction site has fallen into the ground.

Assault on Twilight - July 2014

• Conflict erupted between Armidale and Brisbane Concilli when it emerged that Brisbane Guardian Cuffs assaulted a mage she believed to be The Cowboy, while in the Concillium Library. The spell was a Psychic Assault with lethal intent
• The Mage involved, James, arranged for his cabal to fire a bullet at Cuffs' knees while the visiting Brisbane mages and resident Armidale mages collaborated on an investigation
• Conflict erupted between the visitors and the Cabal, Testament of Twilight, with other Armidale Mages split over the two sides. Many vulgar spells were cast in public
• A hostage situation quickly emerged, with the Brisbane mages threatening to kill one of the perpetrators of the shooting
• The Testament of Twilight mages came up with a cunning plan, disguising the revenant of Dreamgun as The Cowboy, and using him in the exchange
• The Brisbane mages reacted violently when the betrayal was apparent, but only the revenant was destroyed

It's a trap! - June 2014

• Dreamgun was kidnapped by the Seers while tracking the resonance of the Spider
• Some Mages explored a curious mystical convergence on a hill outside the city
• A string of 'coincidences' lead all the Mages to an abandoned music shop in the Mall, Armidale, in a similar time frame
• An extremely elaborate trap of nested contingent spells resulted in targeted explosion ripping apart Dreamgun, and only the intervention of the Acanthus Khronos stopped a bloody massacre
• The Forge stepped down as Hierarch, and Lazarus succeeded him as acting-Hierarch, his first missive being to find anything on the Spider

The Temple - June 2014

• The Meeting Place, outside of Armidale has three statues visible of ancient god figures
• This historic site is currently home to more than 30 'Temple' cats, each with unnatural intelligence, language skills and focus
• The History of the area has been damaged, as though an explosion erased the past
• A concealed hole in the centre of the area is simultaneously used as an entrance to a shrine to the Sunken God and as a site for human sacrifice - the temple cats recently claimed a 'van full of church' vanished down the hole.
• A construction site next to the Meeting Place mysteriously collpased in August 2014.

The Spider - June 2014

• A Seer under the alias 'The Spider' sent mobile prime Tulpa illusions after Michael in an attempt to take it back
• These Tulpa have taken the form of a giant spider or mannequin-like man. Both appear to be comprised of dark-smoked glass.
• The spider-tulpa manifested an extemely disturbing 'voodoo doll' effect, where any structural damage to the illusion was also inflicted on whoever it cursed with the effect.
• There are at least 20 humanoid tulpa, which were ready to attack The Forge's house, but left when Michael escaped with the tapestry.
• The Spider is capable of a never-seen-before level of planning, bordering on extreme obsession
• In June 2014, the Spider captured a member of the concillium and used him as bait to kill the others. He very nearly succeeded.

The Labyrinth - The Spider and the Fox - May 2014

• The Forge determined that his son, possessed by a fox spirit but apparently in full control of his faculties, was in serious trouble, seemingly running though an underground car park pursued by a giant spirit-spider when scryed
• The concillium were slow to ask, discussing other disturbing issues in Armidale, when something in reality 'changed' nearby. The extradimensional space where the concillium grounds lie had been shifted to...an underground car park
• Somehow, the proximity of the Frozen Tapestry artefact held by The Forge's Son, Michael, had shifted one of the concillium's extradimensional exits to a labyrinth of twisted space. The labyrinth manifests as different unconnected urban 'scenes' from Australian cities. Paths are not always obvious, but stepping off them is supremely dangerous
• This labyrinth appears to be a combination of the twisted halls beneath the now-defunct Daedalus Biotechnology and the Crossways abyssal manifestation that was believed to be banished until now
• The concillium mages destroyed the spider, learning that it was an advanced illusion of mana, a 'Tulpa' used by the Seers of the Throne
• The Forge rescued his son with help from the Cowboy, as well as rescuing other concillium members who went a little too far into the labyrinth

The Frozen Tapestry - The Manifested Destiny of Armidale - May 2014

• This Atlantean artefact was first discovered under Daedalus Biotechnology as the Age of Reason cabal crumbled, it was torn into pieces but reknitted by The Forge and given to his son, Michael, for safekeeping.
• Although the secrets of the tapestry have yet to be revealed, it's pattern, which somehow corresponds to the fate of Armidale, shows a series of dark inky dots staining it, with one golden dot near the centre.
• Michael continues to reach to the gold dot in the centre of the labyrinth. The Spider continues to persue him using Tulpa.

Scarlet's Web - May 2014

• Not to be confused with 'The Spider', Scarlet's Web is a nightclub in town that caters for supernatural business deals, claiming to have a reliable network of contracts with mercenaries for any job.
• The Mastigos business manager is called 'Dreamweaver' and seems to accept the dreams/nightmares of mages as payment for services rendered by him.

Web of Normality - April 2014

• A fate Mage is manipulating the events in Armidale to cover up all weird and supernatural events
• A potentially severe fire on Donald Hill was stopped when a freak snow storm blew in and dampened the storm, with the rural fire storm arriving on the scene in moments to control it
• Spidery resonance accompanies these manipulations, but the caster has not been identified
• Why are there so many powerful fate manipulators in Armidale?

Trouble on Donald Hill - April 2014

• The hill where the dangerous parasitic fungus Necrocheese was found was covered in bleached-white flora.
• The Concillium conflicted with a group of Greener Pastures members who were investigating the same phenomenon.
• Greener pastures wielded spirit fetishes at the Concillium mages, but both sides backed off before serious conflict arose.
• Greener Pastures also told the Mages they'd cleanse the hilltop,and true to their word, a bright flash of light eradicated the hilltop on both sides of the gauntlet, 'renewing' a localised portion of the world.

Jonesing it - April 2014

• The Cowboy and his famililar had their bodies/minds switched by some manifestation of Eris, god of Discord.
• Seemingly with the Cowboy's blessing, his familiar Jonesy, used his powers to cause probability to unravel as the mages investigated Donald Hill.
• He was tried by the concillium for the trouble he caused, and the was remanded into the Cowboy's care under house arrest for two months.
• Efforts to return the Cowboy to his human body are underway.
• The Cowboy has vanished, and only a select few know the truth.

Greener Pastures - April 2014

• A cult of farmers and agricultural workers named 'greener pastures' appear to be self-immolating themselves.
• They use the same robes at the figure who erased the warehouse.
• A member of the organisation that burned himself to death walked out of the morgue, pausing to wash himself at the sink and steal a lab coat.

Update April 2014

• The concillium found a gathering of the senior members on Donald Hill, also investigating the strange fungus
• They have a 'spirit nuke' ritual. It takes hours to enact but it annihilates EVERYTHING in the ritual area.

Update May 2014

• The group employ spirit fetishes to accomplish select magical effects, including healing and combat applications
• The Cowboy discovered that Greener Pastures make use of Scarlet's Web to accomplish some of their goals.

A Pocket Full of Doubt - updated March 2014

• The Forge's son has is being ridden by a powerful fox spirit of at least rank 3.
• The Forge, Lazarus and Mort are making plans to exorcise it.
• The Forge gave his son the 'Frozen Tapestry' which represents the fate of Armidale.

Purging Fire - Feb 2014

• The warehouse/abyssal anomaly where Jereld was apprehended was consumed by a bright light
• Only slightly radioactive ash remained from the entire facility, though radiation levels were barely above normal, they produced a tiny amount of visible light, making the ashes glitter.
• Strange 'nuclear' elemental spirits were in the Shadow at the site, though they decreased in power every day until they disappeared entirely.
• Carter's Familiar, whose real name is Samuel Horatio Harrison' and an unidentified individual in orange robes.
• The robed individual spent three hours before the immolation inscribing the walls with strange symbols while Samuel attempted to engage him in idle chatter.

Last Stop: This Town (December Downtime plot scene info)

• Mort and The Forge tracked down and apprehended what they believe to be Jereld. Mort severed his soul for the concillium to pass judgement.
• Jereld was using a chemistry set on a inky-black syrupy substance, believed to be 'Black Honey' from the past eating bees in the mine.
• Mort and The Forge found themselves trapped in an abyssal sub realm similar to the Crossroads manifestation. The only sympathy they could find was to Carter and the strange subway station where she vanished.
• Mort and The Forge emerge from their oddessy unscathed, with a strange tale to tell...

Radioactivity

• Carter asks the concillium to look into the METZ nuclear reactor. She claimed 'this is the only universe where it exists'
• The Metz nuclear drains man's from mages who venture into the district physically.
• The reactor core blocks magical sight but the control rooms all seem normal.
• The Shadow represents the reactor as a star, and draws essence from spirits foolish or desperate enough to get too close.

The Parliament of Ravens

• The Mages of the concillium now use the verge regularly to cross the gauntlet without use of vulgar magic. As long as they have a good story pre-prepared the parliament will let them pass without incident.
• There is a duck in the parliament. The ravens think this is absolutely fine.

University Spirit

• The at Lazarus's request, The Forge's familliar pays the university court four essence for them to provide a list of spirits that Carter has annoyed.

• The spiritual reflection of UNE is a university of information spirits. Each minor spirit looks like a humanoid in graduation robes, running from building to building with a 'diploma' of information.
• Boolamimbah house is the centre of power, where a 'professor' spirit gives out diplomas to its courtiers, who run off.
• Mort intends to do a service for the professor - 'perform original research' in order to get information off the spirit on the region - which contains the Age of Reason lab.
• In March 2014, the spirit court was chaotic and having trouble communicating, presumably a result of Orientation Week.

The Age of Reason

• The Age of Reason HQ has been destroyed.

Infinite Recursion Error

• Mages who knew Seeker7 have been messaged from a strange pseudo-robotic entity.
• Give it information that is not in it's database and it will answer any query you have in return, assuming it relates to the physical world.
• IRE is/are part of the University court.
• IRE (or something like it) is branching into radio.

An established concillium

• The concillium had another major victory in killing the 'Master Vampire'.
• At least until the consequences are apparent.
• The Forge made good judgements a showed a dedication to the path of Wisdom with regard to spell-use.
• The Age of Reason problem is an issue still in progress
• Jereld was formally removed from the concillium. He poses a significant threat.

The Lady Bast

• Some sort of incarnation of the Egyptian goddess Bast resides in the dreams of Armidale.
• Entropy is one of her favourite dream-consorts, he doesn't get much restful sleep.
• She did however, protect him from the hydra dreams that had blighted Armidale.
• Norse Gods Odin and Loki visited Bast this month bringing gifts.

Cats in hats?

• A cat wearing a cat-sized mailman's hat was seen using the secret entrance to the concillium in June 2013, delivering a poorly-written, vaguely-threatening, poem to the concillium.
• Local cats are unnaturally intelligent. There is no change to their biology or spirit, only their minds. Their 'potential' has been unlocked, and there is rumour of psychic powers and feline conspiracies.
• FriskyWhiskers1974?
• Lazarus was the subject of this poem, and has been threatened with a duel/magical war by Carter over actions in their shared neighborhood.

The Anomaly

• A mirrored hole in reality. Leads to a place outside of time, space, not connected to anything magically.
• Walking inside it makes you gain the attention of what can only be described as 'Abyssal reality-eating bees'.
• There are multiple anomalies in the rubble of the collapsed mine, and they are growing...

Inactive

The Murder of Seeker7

• The Age of Reason tacitly confirmed they were the cause.
• The Hierarch was shot in the head twice to confirm his death, just as Seeker7 had figured out something important about the Age of reason.
• The assassin was a robotic entity with a magically-powered railgun. It walked into a dumpster and fell apart.
• Attributed to the AoR. No action is being taken against them.

Wyrd Things shipment

• A shipment of strange occult items arrived in the concillium, with supplies having been ordered by deceased concillium members.
• The address of the shop is in the CBD of Armidale.
• Many of the items in the shop had or have a significant role to play in the fate of the local area.
• Owned by a Mr Low-Key, a mortal with a 'mysterious fate energy' about him.

Resolved

The Frozen Tapestry - In Tatters - March 2014

• Causality briefly broke in Armidale as the weave of fate unravelled. Chains of random events took place, seemingly unrelated to each other.
• Much like a city-wide Storm of Crows spell, no sleepers witnessed anything they couldn't justify away.
• The front of Daedalus Biotechnology exploded in a massive fireball.
• Under the ruins of the Daedalus Biotechnology was a labyrinth of twisted space and dangerous clockwork creations.
• The head of the Age of Reason, Charles Montgomery, was glimpsed putting shards of a torn tapestry into the break room microwave and running.
• The Forge reclaimed the torn, lukewarm tapestry shards and repaired them, stopping the chaotic storm of events plaguing Armidale. The knitting needles The Forge used were infused with a powerful destiny as a result.
• The location of the Tapestry, apparently a representation of the fate of Armidale, is now hidden.

The End of an Era - March 2014

• The Icy Mechanics resonance has started to fade, and the weave of fate has been released.
• The Concillium journeyed to the Temenos to try and figure out what happened.
• They found a sarcophagus full of mercury, with an unidentified 'corpse' inside. Using death magic, they questioned the entity
• The 'Era of Providence', the fate manipulation device used by the Age of Reason, had contained some eldrich creature whose astral 'body' they had discovered.
• It named itself only by its titles, "The Clockwork Fabricator, the Icy Manipulator, The Destroyer of cities, and the Era of Providence"
• The entity revealed that the only way to stop the ultimate destruction of Armidale was to 'stop the phoenix from rising'

The centre cannot hold - Febuary 2014

• The concillium have reclaimed the ruined secret library floors. Repairs are complete.

Icy Mechanics resonance

• It was everywhere until the Era of Providence was destroyed.
• It was on the Abyssal Mirror, it was in the mine full of zombies, it's was over the Age of Reason lab.
• All mages in the AoR seem to have the 'Icy Mechanics' resonance, somehow.
• It has been linked to the death of the previous concillium at every turn.

Mr Krip and Arran have found the astral reflection of the Age of Reason and the source of the resonance.

• The source of the resonance, a fate-manipulation entity called the Era of Providence, has been destroyed.

Crazy Train - December 2013

• Carter invited the concillium to her 'home/territory'
• Her house was unwarded and full of soil. There was a tunnel spiralling into the ground
• At the bottom of the tunnel was an impossible place - a tube station seemingly from an alternate history. There were drink cups, newspapers, vending machines and chocolate wrappers suggesting that Australia had been taken over by Japan and influenced by Nazi Germany. The taint of the Abyss was ever present. Everything seemed to have 'passed through the Abyss' and was not 'of the Abyss' decided the mages.
• The mages talked amongst themselves, proposing alternate histores, the fluid nature of reality if there were alternate reality versions of themselves. There were little answers to be found...
• As they approached the platform, Carter spoke to them seemingly over the intercom, telling them they were right in the musings and that she had a train to catch.
• The strange blue-white lights all turned off as a dark train approached the platform. It departed, probably with Carter, for an unknown destination

Theatre of Horrors - December 2013

• Another 'godly' manifestation occured at the Theatre and the cinema once again. This manifestation had clear parallels to the 'Bast' incident six months ago, but no god/goddess was seen and no one fell asleep. Instead, the whole of Armidale suffered the effects of mild illness and paralysing horror.
• The concillium investigated the cinema and the Theatre of Dusk and Dawn (mid approval pending before I update this more)
• The mages determined that the theatre, run by 'Odin', are all supernatural with unknown powers,
• Odin thought it would be 'hilarious in a bad way' if the mages were to enter their 'soul-shredding hedge maze'
• The mages DID manage to learn that the METZ was represented as a star in this strange hedge-reality, just like the Shadow. The mages then left peaceably.
• These supernaturals share the same sort of 'strange energy' as the shopkeeper in Wyrd Things.

A Season of Illusion - December 2013

• A Japanese shrine has been seen on the outskirts of Armidale
• Casper, The Forge's familiar, brought in a fox spirit bound in a piece of paper written in hand-drawn kanji.
• History repeats itself?
• Fox spirits are manifesting at children with large bushy moustaches. They are actively playing tricks on the concillium.
• The Forge was invited to a strange wedding of Fox spirits in the Shadow by his familliar. He and his son received a magical parasol as a gift.
• The fox spirits have departed Armidale. Again.

Carter - December 2013

• Carter is mentally unstable after her imprisonment inside the mirror and watching the other concillium members descend into the abyssal maze before disappearing.
• Carter is a blood relative of the shapechanger that entered the astral mirror and of The Cowboy. They all share the same physical malady - looking undernourished.
• Carter has her own spirit court of shadow spirits, which she administrates from her own house in Invergowrie.
• Carter declared she had an issue with the mage Lazarus, because he was killing stray cats in their shared neighbourhood. Lazarus has agreed to stop this behaviour and the matter is considered settled for the time being.
• Carter somehow used a spirit court to infiltrate the Vampire court and obtain information that leads to the concillium killing Prince Harald.

Mr Krip is providing ongoing psychological counselling to Carter and attempting to diffuse the situation.

• Carter departed this world in December 2013 via an impossible train in a 'subway' in Armidale and has not been seen since.

A troubled concillium - December 2013

• The Carter issue was creating dissent in the concillium.
• At least two groups had their own plan to deal with Carter, independently of the others.
• Carter's activities stopped and she disappeared.

Wolves at the Door - November 2013

• The local werewolves have located the concillium and are holding them to task over Carter's exploitation of spirits.
• The mages have a week to resolve the situation.
• Carter was last seen in her house, but has put up warded bans to prevent access.
• The same werewolves are dealing with the vampires as well, perhaps over the same issue?

The Master Vampire - October 2013

• Carter storms into the Concillium demanding action over the 'flying saucer' incident: https://sites.google.com/site/armidalewod/news/flyingsaucermutilatesbikiesinarmidale
• After being frustrated over the inaction, Carter storms out to do it herself. Determined to follow her, the concillium muster themselves and track her to PLC (the all girls school and residence of the Harald Gille)
• Carter is wracked by indecision over what to do, but makes up her mind when the concillium arrive - to kill the Master Vampire in an attempt to free it's slaves that caused these atrocities.
• Harald's thread of fate is removed from the tapestry as Mort and Carter bring him Final Death.

A REAL Concillium - October 2013

• The concillium was visited by a retinue from Brisbane and Toowoomba.
• A communication breakdown almost caused half of mages, exploring the abandoned mine shaft, to be killed in a gas explosion organised by the other half.
• The destruction of the primary infection source of Necrocheese in an abandoned mine shaft is the concillium's first major victory.
• With the major positions filled and significant representation at a national gathering, Armidale concillium is known, if not respected, as an independent entity.

'Necrocheese' Zombie Mold - September 2013

• Lethal infection that kills its victims and animates their bodies as shambling corpses.
• Controlling fungus can be directly attacked using life magic while the corpse can be destroyed physically by any number of means.
• Confined to an abandoned goldmine shaft North of Armidale.
• Found on magically animated trolleys that attacked the shops of Armidale in July 2013. These trolleys were clearly 'sick'. They were disposed of with fire. Icy Mechanics resonance was NOT found on the trolleys, unlike the infected zombies in the mine.
• The abandoned mineshaft was assaulted by a combined force of local and visiting mages. The front line force delved deeply into the tunnels but were forced to seek another path to the epicentre of the infectious material when stage 3 infected corpses used the blast numina against them. They retreated and took a spirit road into the Shadow, where they discovered several things...
• The shadow of the mine contains an enormous serpentine spirit that sleeps coiled around a locus.
• A large 'heart like' mass of infected fibre lay at the bottom of the mine, with hundreds of zombies.
• With the mine collapsed the source of infection has been cut off.

The Dream Army - September 2013

• Residents of the city of Armidale had been blighted by dreams of dragons and hyrdas, spitting poison and filth that would leave the dreamer drained when they woke up.
• Dream army consisting of a hundreds of Cossacks, dozens of Vikings and Mafia enforcers, and a handful of lions, rampaged through the dreams of Armidale residents, killing every single serpent and hydra and nightmare before departing for ...Brisbane?
• The Mages has no explanation for these events (though fate suggests a link to the theatre of Dusk and Dawn).

Return of the Old Gods - The King In Yellow - August 2013

• The incarnation of Bast manifested in the Theatre of Dawn and Dusk as they finished a special showing of The King In Yellow.
• At the same time, a creature of abject horror manifested in Armidale Belgrave Cinema. Only Lazarus knows what happened, everyone else fled in fear and were unable to recall what they saw.
• Bast appeared to draw every waking human being into the Temenos, where many of them fell under how power and started worshiping her. The worship quickly turned into an orgy. Several elderly and frail theatre goers died of exhaustion as a result.
• Entropy, a new mage in town, seduced/was seduced by Bast during the orgy. Nothing bad can come of this.
• 'Cultists' in robes with a rising sun were outside the theatre, leading the...festivities.
• Several Mages encountered Odin Duskbringer in the shared dream. He was identified as another supernatural, but he suggested it was in their best interests that they do not share information with each other or follow him into his own dream. He did suggest they could find their way out of the dream by finding their own Oneiroi, however.

Night of the Living Trollies - Regional event June 2013
All the trollies in Armidale became alive and raided shops, particularly food shops, and carried the goods off into the night. The trollies themselves originated from some other plain of existence (OOC: the Hedge), and had the fates living beings 'sewn' onto them. These trollies made bleating noises like sheep, and seemed to feel pain. A small number of the trollies were 'wrong', and covered in grey spores. See Zombie Mold below.

Astral/Abyssal Mirror This was a pathway to an Abyssal labyrinth that snaked through Armidale. It was full of strange things - endless deserts, cinemas with giant tentacles, elevators to the sky, otherworldly tube maps. The Armidale mages walked the abyssal path backwards to destroy it, and now the mirror is a physical portal to the local astral space. It seems to react to the thoughts of whoever is touching it. The Mirror is in the possession of Mr Krip who has created a basic ward to stop anybody on either side from noticing the portal.

The Vault The old concillium vault was guarded by a spirit bound by Carter. The new concillium raided the vault and took everything that was there. The empty vault now remains below the library. Entry to the vault also requires knowledge of the secret passage into the concillium.