Thursday, October 4th, 2018

The Cabal is all spread out – Graham’s working a wedding, Levi is on his way back from driving for charges, and Liz is idling around the block rather than trying to lie to whoever comes from Manningvoy and Charcleau. That leaves poor Aster alone in her shop to do the handoff – and she’s still feeling the hangover from the Scholar’s Cradle, and can barely stand up.

Soon enough, a limousine pulls up, and the chauffeur steps out to open the door for Charles Manningvoy. He asks Aster for the details about the Book of Ma’at, and she tells him the truth – it’s a very old self-help book, something that’s doubtlessly valuable to collectors but not anything that would sell for more than the breach of insurance the firm would pay to get hold of it. He’s satisfied with that answer, and gives Aster a generous check for her services before taking back the book.

On his way out, he compliments Aster on her small business and asks how well she knows “Beth” (his name for Liz) – evidently Antoine told him about the phone call. Upon responding that they’re just acquaintances, he makes a pointed comment that she should try to “mentor” Beth into making her shelter into a “proper business” (as if she didn’t already have over a million Facebook followers), and try to be a counterbalancing influence to “that mother of hers”. What a jerk!

Still, even that sour aftertaste doesn’t change the fact that phase one of the plan went off without a hitch. Now’s the harder one. Levi arrives, Aster tells Liz it’s time, and they all drive off in Sonny – Levi driving, Liz riding shotgun (with her belt hatchet but not her big axe), and Aster in the back, half asleep.

They arrive on Bristlecone Lane and see Seth waiting for them, still with his scimitar and looking suspicious as all hell. No one else is out on their lawns right now – and seeing as they probably recognize him from The Ragnablöck Party, you can’t blame them. Seth’s not really on board with their plan to meet in the car – he picked this spot for a reason – but Liz convinces him that they need to be reasonably incognito while talking about this. He’s willing to comply with that, especially since Liz didn’t bring “that abomination”.

They quickly give him the details – there’s a genuine Book of Ma’at, Manningvoy and Charcleau have it, and it will soon be in the custody of Billy Worthinham. At first, when Liz mentions that Billy sought out the book because he’s having constant visions of shadows, Seth is outraged – Ma’at is a deep philosophy, and it seems awfully reductive to want to study it for such a specific end. But Levi manages to smooth things over by pointing out that the point of self-improvement is always to solve problems in your life, and that it’s working as intended.

Not only does this quell Seth’s rage a bit, but it gives them an “in” to start talking about Ma’at with Seth. Despite his taciturn demeanor, he reaches near-Aster levels of excitement when he can talk about Ma’at. It doesn’t take much work to keep him going and get information out of him. He approaches things in fits and starts, going off on one tangent after another, assuming they are already fluent in the basics of Ma’at. They do their best to keep up and keep the rhythm of the questions up, hoping to milk his cooperation for as long as it lasts. All together, from many fractured pieces, the information they end up with is something like this:

The “shadow stealing" that Spot can do was originally the province of priests of Ma’at, and is more properly called “shadowbinding”. It’s a power they obtained by calling their shadows from the Duat to steal. They would punish those who were too uncooperative and individualistic by “awakening” their shadows – that is, calling them from the Duat to serve. Then, later, any emotional outbursts from the target (say, in rebellion) could be punished by shadowbinding, which deadens the emotions of the afflicted, removes their shadows, and gives “power” to the priest. He doesn’t elaborate on what this power is, but it was enough that the priest apparently got greedy, and began taking shadows wantonly for their own gain, without sufficiently exercising discretion. (His uncharacteristic passion when he discusses this goes a long way to explain his disgust at Spot, who is pretty far removed from discretion on account of he is a dog). It was in response to this that people began calling their shadows to fight – apparently, shadows like Asters can defend themselves from being stolen. He doesn’t mention anything about Avatars specifically, but given that his descriptions of shadowbinding all seem to imply it’s nonlethal, it does seem as though being an Avatar makes you lethally susceptible, regardless of whether your shadow has been called.

Another method of defense is connected to the Ma’at of Leg-of-Fire, as the Cabal had assumed. When someone can truly follow its teachings, they can deaden their emotions, removing that weak point that lets their shadows get attacked. This ties into what Seth calls the “paradox of Ma’at” – Ma’at is a value system you must devote your life to, but to follow Leg-of-Fire is to refrain from believing anything too strongly – including Ma’at. Seth doesn’t really have an “answer” for this one, but it seems to be something he’s thought about a lot.

And the million dollar question – how to undo it? Well, there’s killing the shadowbinder, Seth’s preferred option. Seth hasn’t heard of any sure-fire ways to bring a shadow “back in to the Duat” – apparently, stories are inconsistent whether it’s possible. Aster asks whether it’s possible for one shadowbinder to steal another shadowbinders shadow to remove their powerl. Seth is genuinely taken aback by this – he hadn’t even considered it, and admits that he sees no reason why it wouldn’t work.

Milestone achieved: Learned the history and details of shadowbinding, as well as the true significance of the Ma’at of Leg-of-Fire. +23% to the objective.

OBJECTIVE COMPLETE! The cabal has learned what it takes to be safe from Spot. At present, only Liz is vulnerable, and only then if she has an emotional outburst. Aster’s shadow has been called from the Duat, but since it was called to fight, it can defend itself.

At last they manage to exhaust Seth’s patience, and he asks for a meeting with Billy, to judge whether or not he’s a worthy recipient of the book. Liz texts Billy to meet at her place. She also tells Graham, who’s finishing up his wedding relatively quickly and is hoping to meet them there. Levi’s car arrives first, although they see Billy walking just a block away – along with Brock Limpwell, who’s following him while tugging at his arm and seeming to plead with him about something. It’s strange, but Liz’s attention is consumed by something more pressing – Anthony is in the front yard holding Spot in a bear hug, and her window is broken. Abandoning any pretense of welcoming Billy and Brock, she dashes over to Anthony to hear the story. Levi gets Seth to leave his scimitar in the car, again citing the need to be inconspicuous, and the two of them wait outside to take over greeting duty, even though they don’t know Brock OR Billy. (Aster just sits in the car, too exhausted to stand.)

At least the broken window wasn’t someone vandalizing the shelter – apparently, Spot saw a squirrel and just stone cold busted through the window. Liz didn’t think he had window-busting strength, but any lingering doubt goes away a second later when Spot leaps out of Anthony’s arms, excited by the new arrivals. (That’s also out of character for Spot, who Liz knew as a very shy dog.) Liz tries to grab him but she doesn’t properly adjust for how strong Spot seems to be now. He jumps straight at Seth (less of an attack and more of a excited bounce) – and Liz’s heart freezes as Seth draws a long knife from his coat. For one terrifying moment it looks as though he has a clean stab through Spot’s skull, but he fumbles the execution and the knife falls to the ground instead. As Spot dutifully sniffs the newcomers, Seth once again murmurs “Hail, Leg-of-Fire, I have not eaten my heart.”

Liz manages to get control of Spot and herds him inside. Meanwhile, Seth is already grilling Billy on his reasons for wanting to study Ma’at. Brock seems to know a lot about shadows called from the Du’at, and explains that Billy wants to be able to restrain his own shadow. Is there a human shadowbinder after Billy? They’re sort of vague on that point, seeming to say no, but it’s nonetheless very important Billy keep his emotions under control. (Brock also encourages him to go back to drinking and let him handle the negotiation. Aster notes alcohol down as a potential shadow control mechanism.)

This idea of controlling your emotions to do right by Leg-of-Fire even if there’s no immediate threat of shadowbinding seems to sit well with Seth, who says that he won’t hinder the handoff and will give Billy a week to study the book before he takes it back himself for safekeeping. He also intimates to Liz that she has that long to do the proper thing and put down Spot; and if she doesn’t, he will. Threats made, he retrieves his scimitar from the car and just walks off. Where is he going, anyway?

Graham manages to get in in time to see the altercation with Spot and Seth’s ultimatums, but needs a lot of filling in from the cabal to get the story. Anthony listens in as well, even though he’s still repulsed by the cabal digging into the mysteries of shadowbinding. Once they’re all on the same page, they have to decide – what’s next? Graham wants to figure out the answer behind his blackouts, and is beyond annoyed that no one brought it up to Seth. Liz wants some way to take away Spot’s shadowbinding powers before Seth’s deadline, so Seth won’t try to kill him. Anthony wants to focus on returning Adam’s shadow if anything. Aster is a little giddy with the idea of being a shadowbinder, not just finding one. Levi is unsure, knowing only that everything he’s learned about shadows so far doesn’t square with his own experience, and wanting to know what the difference is.

Still, they have an idea of what Spot is capable of, and their lives aren’t immediately at risk. They go their separate ways, deciding to take tomorrow to recuperate separately and figure out what the next move is.

Objective: Under consideration

Experience checks:

Shelter Owner (Liz): 65% → 70%

Baker Street Irregular (Aster): 45% → 47%