Fragile Glass
Fragile Glass
System for
 Mage the Awakening
Erica Mahoney
Credits
 Author: Erica Mahoney
 Developer: Erica Mahoney
 Editor: Morgan Mahoney
Special Thanks
 Contributions: Morgan Mahoney
 Artwork: Storyteller's Vault Resources or
 otherwise created using public domain
 images
                                               For additional information on White Wolf and the Chronicles of Darkness, please visit:
                                             ww.white-wolf.com, and www.storytellersvault.com.
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Table of Contents
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                    4
                         FragILe
                          GLaSS
Introduction                                                       In Fragile Glass, the player characters are newly
                                                             Awakened mages tasked with investigating their own
   Awakenings are meant to be celebrated, according to       Awakenings. The Guardians of the Veil have already
most Awakened society; when a Sleeper sees past the Lie      determined that those involved in this Mass Awakening
and can comprehend the Supernal Truths, the Pentacle         were all investigated earlier in their lives for having some
seeks to welcome them with open arms. It might seem          run-in with the supernatural, giving the characters
strange, then, to someone from another Consilium             common ground to start with.
looking in that the local Awakened are anxiously                  The group will soon learn that they share more in
tracking the Awakenings within their territory, almost as    common than just their brief histories with the
if hoping to stop them.                                      supernatural. Before they Awakened, all of the player
   Within the past two months, nine Sleepers Awakened,       characters were being courted by the same woman: this
all within days of each other. Since then, the Guardians     woman went by similar but different names - E, Eve,
of the Veil have been able to determine that the newly       Evie, Eva - and had been a persistent presence in the
Awakened shared only one thing in common: before             player characters’ lives for a few weeks before their
their Awakening, they all encountered something              Awakening. Tracing their footsteps through the past
supernatural in origin, and were made to forget about it     several weeks, the group will learn of the most important
by some force or another. It isn’t unheard of for an         thing they all have in common: a visit to an antique shop
Awakened mage to be a Mystery unto themselves, but it        days before their Awakening.
is rare.                                                        As they search for the woman with many names in an
   This is the story of those Mysterious mages.              attempt to get answers from her, they discover that this
                                                             woman is a Seer of the Throne, which should come as a
                                                             surprise, seeing as how the Exarchs that the Seers
                                                             worship wish for Sleepers to remain subject to the Lie so
What’s Inside                                                that their positions in the Supernal Realms aren’t
     This adventure is broken down into three main           threatened. The Woman tells the group that the antique
sections:                                                    shop wasn’t the key - it was a porcelain doll in the
  In this Introduction, storytellers will be provided with   window of the shop. As characters attempt to make their
the background of the story to be told, complete write-      way to the antique shop, they are attacked by followers of
ups of the Storyteller characters, and notes on how to       other Exarchs that have begun catching on to this plan.
include this adventure within an ongoing chronicle or            The group will eventually make their way back to the
run it as a one-shot.                                        antique shop to study the doll in the window,
  The Scenes of the adventure is where the heart of the      investigating the Mystery until its purpose becomes clear
story lies. Not all scenes have immediate preceding or       to them. The player characters, who at this point know a
follow-up scenes; these scenes can be completed in any       little about the Exarchs just from talking to The Woman,
order, and the story won’t be affected negatively because    discover the true purpose for their Awakening: to ascend
of it. A scene flow chart has been provided to help          to the Supernal Realms and usurp the thrones from the
storytellers plan to tell this story.                        Exarchs.
       The Character Records at the end of the
adventure are a quick-reference resource for                 A Chapter in Your Chronicle
storytellers to use. These can be used in place of or
                                                                This adventure could easily be used as a stand alone
in addition to the full character write-ups, so long as
                                                             one-shot, but the events in this adventure could just as
the storyteller is familiar with the characters in
                                                             easily be used as the start of a chronicle, or woven
question.
                                                             throughout an ongoing chronicle. As this adventure was
                                                             designed with the fictional location of Silver Springs in
Treatment                                                                                                             6
mind, several of the characters and plot points have already     most of its enemies had been killed or had remained in
been set up and seeded before the events in this adventure       hiding. Evelynn’s lover went, as there was nothing that
begin. This could be used to leverage the players’               either of them could do, and Evelynn soon learned that
attachment to the events and characters involved in the          she could feel another human emotion: rage. She
story. If you plan to use this adventure in another city, and    vowed to spend whatever time she had left in the Fallen
you don't already have the relevant statistics figured out,      World working to dismantle the Exarchs, one by one,
feel free to use those provided here and replace whoever         until there was no one left to create and destroy
you need to with the stat blocks provided.                       Ochemata on a whim.
                                                                   Now, Evelynn spends her days among the Seers of the
Background and Set-Up                                            Throne. Publicly, she claims to be a follower of The
                                                                 Eye, and those who know enough about her - which is
  Before this adventure begins, a few important things have      to say, very little - know her to follow the tenets and
already occurred in Silver Springs, or whatever city the         beliefs of The Eye perfectly. Privately, however, she
mages call home. Mage characters know of these events,           follows none of them - especially not her former
and don’t have to roll in order to discover the information.     Exarch. She isn’t sure how much time she has left, or
Ideally, storytellers find a way to give this information in     why the Exarch that created her doesn’t simply cancel
game, as interrupting the narrative can make the scenes less     the spell animating her. She suspects that none of the
effective.                                                       Exarchs, including the one that created her, expect her
   • The characters aren’t the first to Awaken en masse.         plan to work; Exarchs often ignore those things they
       There have been two previous groups of nine               find beneath them.
       Sleepers; more than half from each group failed the         Evelynn placed the doll in the antique store as both a
       Awakening, and haven’t shown signs of a second. The       plan and a rebellion. She’s intelligent enough to know
       player characters are part of the only group where all    that any plan to replace the Exarchs is going to draw
       nine Sleepers successfully Awakened.                      their attention. On one hand, she hopes that she’ll
   • The Consilium has determined that there is a break          infuriate her former Exarch enough that the Exarch
       of time between when one group of Sleepers is part of     will send her lover after Evelynn. On the other hand,
       a mass Awakening and when another is. As far as the       she hopes that by eliminating the other Exarchs and
       Consilium has been able to deduce, nine is an             creating space for her creator to move into a Greater
       important number when it comes to dealing with the        position, that she’ll earn the Exarch’s forgiveness, and
       mass Awakenings - they just aren’t sure why.              perhaps even her former lover as a reward.
 7
                                                             • ·Dropping the Opacity to 0 allows any Fate mage
                                                               who did so to sense when thoseaffected by the
   This is cast as a Hung Spell, beginning when its            forged Destinies are around, similar to how they
   previous targets have failed their Destiny (see             might experience Peripheral Mage Sight. If they
   below) and stopping once all nine are Awakened.             attempt to discern the mage’s Destiny, they find
                                                               that there’s nothing hiding the true nature of it
• Once the person the doll has drawn to them lays eyes         from them any longer.
  on the doll, they are affected by Imperial magic
  that inflicts them withthe Obsession to
  ‘Discover the Truth’, and rabidly pursue any             In Your Chronicle
  and all stimuli likely to trigger an Awakening.             If you aren’t using this adventure as a one-shot or as
• These newly Awakened mages share one important           the beginning of a chronicle you plan to continue, here
  Destiny in common: Replace the Exarchs. Attempts         are some ways that you can work this adventure
  to determine if the new mages have a Destiny are         seamlessly into your ongoing chronicle.
  abnormally difficult, and even those who succeed           • ·The player characters aren’t newly Awakened at
  find nothing extravagant or telling. The mages have             all, but are part of the local Consilium
  had their destinies granted and hidden by powers                investigating the mass Awakenings. They’ve been
  similar to Forge Destiny and Fabricate Fortune.                 tasked with investigating the Mystery of the
 • The doll is most certainly the source of the                   Awakenings by their Orders, which have been
  phenomena, though it has the potential toinfluence              given the task by the Hierarch herself.
  people all over the city to come walk by its window.       • ·A contact of the player characters’ has never
  Its Hung Spell will keep repeating the cycle                    shown any signs of being close to an Awakening
  indefinitely, unless the magic in the doll can                  before, but spontaneously succeeded in doing so
  somehow be neutralized.                                         just days after a shopping trip downtown with a
• The creator of the artifact is significantly stronger           group of friends. This makes the contact a target
  than almost anyone who will study this Mystery.                 of scrutiny from the Consilium, which is likely less
  Only the oldest of archmages, if they exist at all,             than ideal for the player characters who have this
  might even come close to the strength of the                    person as a contact.
  phenomena’s origin.                                        • Evelynn might have made an appearance
• Using Prime Sight to assess this Mystery reveals                somewhere in the city before, where the player
  something akin to a Supernal force,only alien and               characters might have had a chance to encounter
  twisted. Using Fate Sight will give the player a sense          her. She frequents places where people aren’t in
  of how grand the forged Destinies are, even if they             their right minds, such as bars, dance clubs, and
  can’t immediately see what those Destinies are.                 college parties. They may even have joined her on
                                                                  one of her shopping trips to the antique store.
                                                                                                               8
The Set-Up                                                             Ladder. They believe that Awakening is the right
                                                                       of every human, and want desperately to get
   In this section, you’ll find information on how to get              their hands on whatever the catalyst is in order
this adventure set up, including information on those                  to expose it to as many people as possible in a
interested in the Mystery and why they might be so keen                controlled environment. They realize that the
on investigating it.                                                   other Orders might destroy or hide the catalyst
                                                                       away, and the Ladder wants to get their hands
The Patron                                                             on it first, if only to keep that from happening.
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Lailoni Wengert, Hierarch’s Provost                               Storytelling Hints: No one in the Consilium, including
                                                               Oliver, knows why the Hierarch chose such a young mage
  Shadow Name: Break                                           to act as her proxy. The truth is that Margaret only took
  Virtue: Attentive. Lailoni is quiet and perceptive, and      interest in Oliver because of the unexpected attraction she
pays attention to almost everything and anything around        felt, but soon realized that being able to mold and shape
her. Whenever someone needs to be sure of the details,         such a new face in society would suit her well. She does
they come to Lailoni.                                          what she can to make sure that he’s often in a position
   Vice: Secretive. Those around her tend to trust her less    where he can influence his newer peers, hoping that her
than her counterpart, as she seems less forthcoming with       influence will spread without her having to directly involve
the things she knows than Oliver does.                         herself in its progress. The challenge, of course, is that
   Description: Lailoni has a rather exotic look to her,       while the Ecstatic is more than willing to engage with other
though she has no idea where in her family line it might       people, he has no experience with it, and isn’t very good at
have come from. Her black hair and almond-shaped eyes          socializing with his peers yet. Rumor has it that Margaret
often lead people to believe that she’s of Asian descent,      has an ongoing arrangement with a Mastigos that enhances
even though she isn’t. As someone still relatively young,      Oliver’s social skills before he attends an important
she’s conscious about the clothes she wears and the            meeting.
image she creates for herself. She’s usually wearing the
latest trends, and seems to be the first one to know when
and where they’ll be sold.
   Storytelling Hints: Lailoni has the tendency to come
off childish to those who don’t know her well, due to her
lack of concern regarding the future. When asked about
the outcome of a situation, she’s known to smile, shrug,
and tell the inquirer that only Time will tell. In reality,
Lailoni spends a significant portion of her morning -
every morning - divining the future for herself, her closest
companions, and the Consilium’s most pressing matters.
   Those who pay close enough attention to when she
offers her answers realize that she only plays coy when
the outcome someone is seeking isn’t favorable. Lailoni
doesn’t like people to worry, and tries her hardest to only
confirm good news; she hopes that by doing so, the
morale and faith of the Consilium as a whole will grow
stronger.
                                                                                                                       10
Evelynn, a Woman of Many Names
     A character sheet has not been included for Evelynn
in the Character Records section of this book; her full
powers and capabilities is beyond the scope of this book,
but treat her as a mage who treats all ten Arcana as
ruling, and can always use all ten Arcana in Mage Sight
without cost. She will always win a clash-of-wills with
lesser beings, and her spells cannot be countered or
dispelled.
      Shadow Name: Masquerade
     Virtue: Empathetic. Evelynn has spent long enough
 among mortal beings to relate to and emulate their
 emotions. She believes this is what makes her different
 from not only the Exarchs, but the Ochemata they send
 after her.
    Vice: Impulsive. Evelynn is passionate and heated, and
 more often than not can be provoked into rash actions.
    Description: Evelynn is a fairly young-looking woman,
 no older than her mid-twenties. Her hair is long, blonde,
 and often braided along one side of her head. Evelynn
 has clear blue eyes, the color of which resembles the first
 clear sky following a thunderstorm. She would almost
 blend in, if it weren’t for something almost ethereal
 about her subtle beauty.
    Storytelling Hints: Evelynn isn’t a callous woman, but
 she is a resolved one. The player characters will likely
 approach her at some point in the story, and while she’ll
 never outrightly lie to them, she’ll keep as much
 information from them as possible while also telling
 them enough to satisfy their curiosity. She goes by many
 different versions of her name, which has more to do
 with wanting to remain an individual and less to do with
 trying to confuse anyone or make anyone lose her trail.
    Evelynn is specifically looking for nine new Awakened,
 and not ten - or eleven, if one believes the rumors of The
 Gate’s existence. She believes that anyone that might
 find out about her plan might wave it off as another Seer
 trying to earn favor with their Exarch - in this case, The
 Eye. Evelynn even hopes that The Eye, silently satisfied       all nine of them Awakened has something to do
 with Eve’s plan, will offer aid when and where                 with the success of her plan, and she’s willing to let
 appropriate.                                                   the player characters not only find her, but find the
    Evelynn doesn’t want the doll moved from the antique
                                                                window doll that started them on this adventure.
 shop, but now that all nine replacements are Awakened,
 she isn’t as set on keeping the doll where it is, either.
 She’ll even go so far as to help the characters retrieve the
 doll, as long as they promise to return the doll to her        The Previous Masses
 instead of taking it to the Consilium. The doll is, after         The player characters are part of the third mass
 all, formed in the likeness of her former lover.               Awakening that Silver Springs has encountered in
         Most importantly, Evelynn wants to be found by         the past year. Of those previously affected by the
 this group of Awakened. She wants them to learn about          catalyst that is the window doll, only half of them
 the doll and their destinies, because they’ll never be able    managed to succeed in their Awakening to become
 to pursue them, otherwise. She believes that the fact that     part of mage society. Player characters might have
 11
contact with any of these characters, depending on their        Peter resents being babied by Tamara, since he’s seven
Order or Path. If the group encounters any of these           years older than her, but he’s grateful to have someone to
characters, they all have the same story: they met a woman    look to when he fears he’s about to make a mistake. The
named Evelynn (or one of her variants), went shopping in      Obrimos spends his days working with the Free Council,
the historic part of the city, and then Awakened shortly      coding games and apps he hopes will spark something
after.                                                        within Sleepers that brings them closer to enlightenment.
Peter Overright
                                                                                                                       12
no one has fabricated enough evidence to have her dismissed.       job stopped being challenging; he knew how to fix
  The truth is that Margaret is fiercely loyal to and protective   the problems and work out the bugs, but it would
of the Consilium. She feels, rightfully so, that she clawed her    only ever lead his team to create the same sort of
way through Hell to get her life back, and she isn’t about to      technology that several other companies had already
let anyone - internal or otherwise - ruin that for her.
                                                                   taken the lead on.
Anything that could cause conflict within the mages’ society
is carefully scrutinized, and only allowed to be if she decides
                                                                      Tristan wanted to engineer something that would
that the risk for her people is outweighed by the reward.          turn the human body into digital data and upload it
She’ll never outrightly refuse a deal with someone offering        directly into a virtual reality game. His peers told him
help, but she will be extremely skeptical about why they’re        that it was both impossible and unethical, and the
offering the help in the first place.                              more he talked about it, the more concerned they
 Path: Mastigos                                                    became. When Human Resources finally came to
 Order: Adamantine Arrow                                           fire Tristan, they found his office locked, but could
 Virtue: Judicious                                                 hear him working inside on a computer, trying to
 Vice: Addictive                                                   turn vitality into information. When they finally
 Attributes: Intelligence 3, Wits 2, Resolve 4,                    broke through the door, they found no one inside,
 Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2, Presence 2,                   and nothing on the computer except for a crudely
 Manipulation 3, Composure 3                                       designed puzzle game congratulating the player on
 Skills: Crafts (Leatherwork) 2, Investigation 5, Occult           their victory.
 3, Politics (Lex Magica) 3, Firearms (Aimed Spells) 2,               Tristan left the company that night in the midst of
 Weaponry 2, Empathy 2, Persuasion 3, Intimidation                 his Awakening. Prime guided him through the
 2                                                                 facility, showing him where the surveillance cameras
 Wisdom: 6                                                         could potentially catch him and warning him away
 Gnosis: 6                                                         from any sort of motion detector. When he arrived
 Max Mana: 20                                                      home, he did so with the fuzziest memories of having
 Arcana: Mind 5, Space 4, Time 2, Fate 1                           climbed up, up, up, just to write his name and slide
 Praxes: Mental Scan, First Impressions, Emotional                 back down.
 Urging, Divination, Serendipity, The Outward and                     Description: Tristan is an attractive young man no
 Inward Eye, Scrying, Ban                                          older than 25. His smile is slightly lopsided, which
 Rotes: Goetic Summons, Gain Skill, Mind Flay                      most people find more charming than offputting,
 Dedicated Tool: A palm-sized shard of a two-way                   and he carries himself with a sense of casual
 mirror                                                            confidence that makes him seem approachable. He
 Merits: High Speech, Status (Consilium) 5, Status                 keeps his hair longer than most men his age, but
 (Adamantine Arrow) 4, Fast Spells, Shadow Name 3                  instead of coming off as sloppy, he strikes people as
 Health: 7                                                         someone with more important things to worry about.
 Willpower: 7                                                         Storytelling Hints: Tristan doesn’t believe in the
 Size: 5                                                           word ‘impossible’, and almost always takes on a
 Speed: 9                                                          problem if it’s described as being such. His loyalty
 Defense: 2                                                        lies more within the capability of proving someone
 Initiative: 6                                                     incorrect than it does with the Consilium as a whole,
                                                                   but it’s an attitude that’s accepted among the other
Consilium Councilors                                               Awakened, if only because it gets things done.
                                                                       Tristan isn’t interested in establishing personal
                                                                   relationships outside of the work he does with and
Tristan Macintosh                                                  for the Consilium. He hasn’t yet grown out of his
Obrimos Councilor                                                  need for things to be logical and rational, even with
                                                                   the presence of magic in his life. In fact, knowing
   Shadow Name: Wildfire                                           magic exists makes things more logical to him,
  Background: Tristan was employed by one of the                   because how could certain things be if not for magic?
biggest technological companies in Silver Springs, a job           As there’s nothing he can do with magic to genuinely
he found both fulfilling and challenging. The problems             ensure the success of a relationship, he avoids
they brought to him were easy enough to solve,                     creating any altogether.
something that made him a candidate for the team                      Path: Obrimos
developing virtual reality platforms and engines. His                 Order: Mysterium
 93
                                  The ProvoStS
                  MENTAL: •               PHYSICAL: --             SOCIAL: •• MAGIC: •
                                                   Overview        reason they Awakened. She urges the party to retrace their
   In this scene, the player characters will meet the              steps in the days before their Awakening and find out what
Hierarch’s two Provosts, and learn that they’ve been tasked        else they have in common with each other. Hunter will offer
with investigating their own Awakenings.                           the use of a Consilium safe house for the group while
                                                                   they’re investigating the Mystery. The Fast Talking merit
                                                                   would come in handy here.
                                                  Description
   The conference room is light and airy; three of the four        Scan For Surface Information
walls are covered, floor-to-ceiling, in an ivy-like plant. The       Using spells such as Mental Scan or Telepathy might help
remaining wall is decorative glass, broken only where the          the player characters gain extra insight into the Mystery that
door to and from the conference room breaks the glass              they find themselves investigating. Break believes that the
bricks. A large maple table takes up most of the space, with       catalyst is something that the characters encountered more
five upholstered chairs on either side and three on either         recently, closer to their Awakening. Hunter believes that the
end. A handful of chairs are taken up by you and the               characters must have something more in common with each
others called here; sitting together at one end of the table       other than just their similar experiences.
are the Hierarch’s two Provosts, Break and Hunter.
                                                                                                                 Consequences
                                          Storytelling Goals         The player characters are now able to move to a more
  In this scene, it is the Storyteller’s goal to set the players   comfortable and secure location to continue investigating
on their path of investigating the Mystery that is their           what their pasts have in common.
Awakening - more specifically, the catalyst behind it. Both
Break and Hunter have the same knowledge, and so either
can address or be addressed by the party for answers. The
Provosts give the player characters a starting point, which is
the fact that they all encountered something supernatural
earlier in their lives, and for some reason or another have
forgotten it. They also tell the group that former
investigators have tried looking into the past of the newly
Awakened, and have found that something is keeping
them from seeing the month before any of them went
through their Awakening. This is because Evelynn didn’t
want to be found until all nine replacements had been
Awakened. Now that they have, she hopes the
replacements will find her so that she can help them
achieve their goals.
                                           Character Goals
  The player characters should leave this scene feeling as if
they’ve learned everything they need to know in order to
get started investigating this Mystery. What information
the Provosts have is admittedly little, but it is the
characters’ if they want it.
                                                      Actions
Ask The Right Question
   A Presence + Persuasion roll will soften the Provosts up
enough to give them their own personal theories, if the
group thinks that their theories will be of any help. Break
recognizes the importance of their past brushes with the
supernatural, but thinks that something more recent is the
                                                                                                                           14
                        GettIng to KnoW You
                    MENTAL: •• PHYSICAL: --                     SOCIAL: •• MAGIC: •
                                                 Overview       magic on them - Passive Mage Sight is a bitch when
     In this scene, player character settle into their          you’re trying to work subtly in a group of mages.
temporary lodging, and begin discussing the similarities
their history has with those of the other player characters.
They discover not only a location in common, but a person,                                                  Actions
as well.                                                        To Be or Not To Be?
                                                Description       Forthcoming, that is - all of the characters are
   The main area of the temporary safe house is eclectic,       going to be trying to learn as much about the
and is as bright and airy as the conference room in             others as possible, all while, presumably, trying to
which the group met the provosts. The walls are a crisp         protect their own secrets as much as possible. Player
white, but green plants in brightly colored pots                characters are free to offer up whatever
decorate the room with color. A teal, L-shaped couch            information they want in an attempt to keep
separates the living room from the entry way, and across        anyone from digging too deep, but that isn’t going
from it hangs a bench swing, large and sturdy enough for        to stop anyone from trying to determine whether
two people at a time.                                           they’re getting the whole version of the truth (a
                                        Storytelling Goals      Wits + Empathy vs. the liar’s Manipulation +
                                                                Subterfuge).
    The main goal of this scene is for the players to
discover what it is that they share in common: Evelynn,
and the antique shop she took them all to or past. Place          Of course, player characters are mages, and have
an object near the group that reminds one of the player         a wide array of tools at their disposal when it comes
characters about the trip they took to the antique shop; this   to trying to determine what someone might be
is likely to get the group talking about the trips they all     keeping from them. Be warned, though, that
took, and who they took them with.                              anyone using magic on anyone else without their
                                                                permission is not likely to be trusted by the rest of
                                         Character Goals        the group.                              Consequences
   The player character should be working on getting to            Once the group has figured out that they all
know one another in whatever way works for them.                share both Evelynn and the antique shop in
Hopefully, they have the other characters’ permission           common, they’ll likely decide to either try finding
before using                                                    Evelynn in order to confront her, or to go to the
                                                                antique shop to investigate on their own.
 15
                                 ALL About Eve
                 MENTAL: ••• PHYSICAL: --                       SOCIAL: • MAGIC: ••
                                                Overview       Unlocking the Computer
  In this scene, the player characters will have to come up       Assuming that the characters don’t have a mage among
with a way to track Evelynn down. The woman isn’t              them that can make machines act according to their
answering anyone’s phone calls, so the player characters       functions, then they can attempt to guess Evelynn’s
will have to get creative.                                     password in order to search her computer (Wits +
                                                               Computer). They’ll find confirmation of her hotel
                                               Description     reservation in Evelynn’s email.
   If the player characters are still operating from the
safe house, then the description of the area doesn’t
change. If the group is trying to track Evelynn from a
public place - say, the antique shop, then that description
should be used here instead.
                                                                            What about the other Exarchs?
 If the player characters have gone to Evelynn’s apartment:
                                                                        Evelynn can easily keep herself hidden
   The apartment is unlocked, and upon entering it,                     from anyone who hasn’t ascended into
the silence that greets you indicates that the                          archmastery - which is a large majority of
apartment is empty. Evelyn’s apartment is tasteful and                  the Awakened population. If the Exarchs
modern, with white walls and sharp furniture in shades of               wanted to find Evelynn, they likely
gray and black. There are bookshelves built into the                    could. They are likely certain, however,
walls of the living room, though there are more                         that her plan is doomed to fail, and
knickknacks on the shelves than there are books. The                    have likely chosen not to expend
room is ( either) too hot or too cold ( depending on the                resources stopping the plan before it fails
time of year), indicating that Evelynn hasn’t been in the               on its own. That, or her plan is quite
apartment in at least a day or too.                                     possibly beneath their notice entirely.
                                       Storytelling Goals
The storyteller’s goal for this scene is to provide the players
with the evidence of Evelynn’s whereabouts. This can be                                                      Consequences
done through Evelynn’s computer, which is password
protected, or through the use of magic, using what they              The player characters are now able to move to a
find in the apartment for material sympathy.                    more comfortable and secure location to continue
                                                                investigating what their pasts have in common.
                                        Character Goals
The player characters need to find where Evelynn is, if they
hope to talk to her. She’s staying in a hotel nearby, which
the group can find on her computer or through Space or
Fate magic.
                                                  Actions
Investigative Magic
   With access to things like Evelynn’s hair or toothbrush,
the players characters might try to use material sympathy to
find Evelynn, despite the warnings from the Provosts that
such things have been known to fail before. Evelynn wants
this group of Awakened to find her, however, and will
always choose to let herself be tracked through magic, now
that all nine replacements have Awakened.
                                                                                                                    16
                     A RendeZvouS WIth Eve
                       MENTAL: • PHYSICAL: --                    SOCIAL: ••• MAGIC: •
                                                 Overview                                         Character Goals
   After the characters find where Evelynn is staying, they        The player characters should be able to convince
can track her to the hotel nearby. Evelynn can be found in
                                                                Evelynn to tell them what she knows, or find the
the lounge just inside of the door, making it easier on the
                                                                information out another way. This could prove
player characters to find her.
                                                                risky, though, if Evelynn discovers that the group is
                                                                using magic on her and not among or on each other.
                                                Description
   The hotel lounge is decorated with dark, rich colors;
the floors and bar are both made of a dark redwood, and
the room is accented with cream-colored chairs, hanging                                                     Actions
crystal lights, and glass shelving. Music plays softly          Build Me Up, Buttercup
through speakers hidden in the ceiling, and conversations         Above all, Evelynn is a heartbroken woman who
float into one another, mixing and mingling as the player       feels scorned by the very being that made her. She
characters enter the space.                                     isn’t evil, and she isn’t particularly interested in
                                                                stopping the characters from moving the doll, so
   Evelynn is hardly recognizable, dressed to the nines         long as she gets it back. The group can persuade
to match the atmosphere of the lounge, but there she sits at    Evelynn to help them get the doll back and
a table, alone except for the glass in her hand.                understand what it does (Manipulation +
                                                                Subterfuge if they don’t intend to give her the doll
                                         Storyteller Goals      back, Presence + Persuasion if they do), in which
                                                                case Evelynn will give them a summarized
    Evelynn doesn’t want the doll to be lost to the             version of what they might learn while scrutinizing
Consilium, and is willing to tell the group what they           the Mystery.
want to know about it, except for how to destroy it. At this
point, Evelynn isn’t sure it can be destroyed. She is willing
to take the doll away from the public eye once the
                                                                                                       Consequences
characters are done studying it, though.                           Once the group has figured out that they all
                                                                share both Evelynn and the antique shop in
                                                                common, they’ll likely decide to either try finding
                                                                Evelynn in order to confront her, or to go to the
                                                                antique shop to investigate on their own.
 17
                                    InterFerenCe
                   MENTAL: •           PHYSICAL: • SOCIAL: • MAGIC: •••
                                                Overview                                                           Actions
  The other Exarchs have begun to catch on to what              Fight!
Evelynn has planned for them, and send their followers              There are several different ways that the player
                                                                characters could choose to approach this encounter. They
                                               Description      could try to fight like normal people do - with their fists -
                                                                using normal combat rules. They could use Mind or
      The two men standing before you are                       Life magic to incapacitate their enemies, or use Forces to
completely unfamiliar, but they look at you with such           make themselves invisible and get away until they can get
hatred that it’s hard to believe you’ve never met them          someone in the Consilium to help deal with the cultists
before. Their hands are already moving to form mudras,          on their behalf (at least one member of the group needs
their lips parting to intone in High Speech, and they           to have one dot or higher of the Status merit for their
approach from the shadows of a nearby alley so                  Order in order for the Consilium to agree to this request).
seamlessly you almost don’t see them. Everything around
you is silent and calm.
 Until it isn’t.
                                                                                                             Consequences
                                                                    After the characters defeat the cultists sent to deter
   Your peripheral mage sight alerts you to the fact            them, they can proceed to investigate the window doll
that someone around you is using magic, and the                 at the antique shop.
confused looks on your group’s face makes you realize
that it isn’t one of you casting magic. The others tense, and
prepare to fight or flee.
                                       Storytelling Goals
  The cultists are willing to fight to their death to keep
the player characters from interfering further with the
window doll. They are, after all, tasked with keeping the
group away from the antique shop through whatever
means necessary.
                                        Character Goals
   The player characters need to defeat the two cultists
that have come to keep them away from the window doll.
Most characters will have a problem killing the other
mages, even if their lives do quite literally depend on it,
and can try to incapacitate the cultists using other
means, such as Mind or Life magic to rob someone of
their consciousness or functionality.
                                                                                                                       18
                        GoLden Era AntIQueS
                     MENTAL: • PHYSICAL: --                     SOCIAL: • MAGIC: •••
                                                 Overview                                                 Actions
  This is where the window doll is being housed. Now            Scrutinize
that the group is at the antique shop, they can study the         Now that the characters have found the
window doll in order to reveal its Mystery.                     doll responsible for triggering their Awakening,
                                                Description     they’re going to want to Scrutinize the Mystery
                                                                using the rules found in Mage: the Awakening
  Housed within what was most likely once a townhome,           and Signs of Sorcery. The information to be
the store is recognizable by only two things: the large,        revealed can be found above in the Background
golden letters spelling out ‘ANTIQUES’ above the door,          section of this book.
and an old Victorian porcelain doll sitting on a stool in
the bay window facing the street. The doll seems to stare at                                         Consequences
anyone that passes by, and when you come face-to-face              After the Mystery is solved and the doll has
with it, an eerie sense of familiarity sends a shiver down      been scrutinized to its full extent, the player
your spine.                                                     characters must decide what they want to do
                                                                with the doll. Destroying it could have unforeseen
 According to Evelynn, this is the place.
                                                                and unintended consequences, but so could turning
 This is the doll.                                              the doll over to the Consilium, if the players
                                                                decide to ignore how attached Evelynn is to the
                                        Storytelling Goals      doll.
    The main goal of this scene is for the players to
discover what it is that they share in common: Evelynn,
and the antique shop she took them all to or past. Place
an object near the group that reminds one of the player
characters about the trip they took to the antique shop; this
is likely to get the group talking about the trips they all
took, and who they took them with.
                                         Character Goals
    The player characters have found the catalyst for
their Awakenings, and now must not only decipher its
Mystery, but decide what to do with the doll once their
curiosity                    is                    satisfied.
    If Evelynn told the group about the doll, then they
already know what it is they're looking for. If
Evelynn wasn't specific, or the group didn't stop to talk to
her before going to Golden Era Antiques, then they'll
have to use Prime or Fate Active Mage Sight in order to
find the doll.
 19
Aftermath
  Once the group has solved the Mystery of the window
doll, they’ll need to decide what to do with it and the
information they learned while studying it.
  If the group gives Evelynn the doll, she’ll invite them
to join the Seers of the Throne and live up to their true
potential. She’ll offer to train them and help them
prepare to ascend to their thrones, when the time comes.
Whether the players decide to defect to the Seers is up to
them, but doing so will change the story that follows,
assuming that you as the storyteller intend to continue it.
  If the group gives the doll to the Consilium, Evelynn
will do everything in her power to send the Seers of the
Throne after the Pentacle until she gets the dolls back.
She will make it her personal goal to force a surrender
from the player characters, who Evelynn feels betrayed
her after learning how much the doll meant to her.
  If the group tells the Consilium what they’ve learned
about their destinies, the Hierarch and the Interfector
will suggest that the player characters pretend to join the
Seers of the Throne in order to learn more about the
Exarchs, their plans, and to hopefully help dismantle
them from the inside. The Consilium will even offer the
doll to the group so that they can trade it to Evelynn to
get within her good graces, so long as the player
characters haven’t already burned the bridge that tied
them to Evelynn. If the players decide to follow this plan,
then their story can be continued in the next storytelling
adventure system, Banishing Hope.
  If the group decides to destroy the doll, nothing
immediate happens, but nothing changes, either. Their
destinies still remain the same, and they still find
themselves targets of cultists whose Exarchs aren’t keen
on being replaced. They will, however, return to the
antique shop to find that a new doll has taken the place
of the old one, resembling Evelynn herself this time
instead of Evelynn’s lover.
                                                              20
"We’ve been doing our best to figure out why so
many Sleepers are Awakening, but I think we’re
starting to run out of time. People start asking
questions when their best friend suddenly takes off
into the woods, screaming about the Truth and
the Lie. The Mastigos have had an easy enough
time tracking witnesses down and making sure
they haven’t drawn any unfortunate conclusions,
but it’s only a matter of time until someone slips
through.