Keble College

One of Oxford's larger colleges, Keble College sits on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to the south by Museum Road, and to the west by Blackhall Road. The college was established in 1870 and remains distinctive for its neo-gothic red-brick buildings. The buildings are also notable for breaking from Oxford tradition by arranging rooms along corridors rather than around staircases, such that the scouts can supervise the comings and goings of visitors.

Obfuscating herself across campus, Raziel looks around with the paranoia of prey moving across an open field. With each of these ventures outside her flat she takes her un-life into her hands, and the pervasiveness of the fear it brings is something that will likely stay with her for decades to come. If she survives to see them. Relief blossoms in her still chest as the sharp angles and dark shades of Keble College come into view. Reviewing the information sent by Eve, she makes her way to Professor Kirsten McFarlane's office, knocking on the door. "Professor McFarlane? I would greatly appreciate just a moment of your time, if you are able to spare it." She does not drop her Obfuscation till she is in the office and the door is closed behind her.

"Good evening, Rae. Would you mind explaining why you're sneaking into my office for an unplanned meeting?" MacFarlane remarks without looking up from her work as the younger vampire enters the room.

Rae does her best to keep from ceding to the discomfort of an unannounced visit to a professor who is, in all likelihood, at least Eve's age. Keeping her back straight and her tone even, she focuses on the task at hand. "Yes, Professor. I've been sent by Eve to seek your assistance in a matter that she has told me you are well-versed in. I am in search of a deeper understanding of magic, particularly the magics that Kindred are capable of. This would include the creation or existence of such things as magical items and artifacts." She pauses as her vision is drawn to the office door slightly cracking open, where she sees the dark, feline form of Ereshkigal push her way into the room. Moving to quickly close it, she retakes her spot before her elder. "If you would see fit to indulge me, Professor."

"I very much doubt that Eve told you to come by unannounced," MacFarlane observes drily, still not deigning to pull her eyes away from her work. A fluffy, grey persian stalks out from behind the professor's desk and sniffs at Ereshkigal. "Especially for such a general question. Send me an email. I'm busy tonight."

The professor's blunt dismissal leaves Rae mildly surprised and disappointed, having hoped that Eve's name would have been enough to garner a bit of good will. Looking down to see Kirsten's cat interacting with Eresh, Rae decides to take a risk.  "Professor, there is an urgency to this question and it was not my wish to downplay that. The events of the last week or so, including the appearance of these cats that follow every Kindred at Oxford, point to something grand and terrible taking place right beneath our feet. I have reason to believe that a  Methuselah prowls these grounds, amongst other horrors. I would like to protect myself and those I care for."

For the first time since Rae entered her office, MacFarlane looks up when the cats and a methuselah are mentioned. "Okay, you have my attention. Speak. What do you know?"

"I do not know what you would see now, but I looked into the soul of my cat on the night that she arrived. I saw the individual leading her, whom I assume led all of the other cats to their respective Kindred. This entity matched the description of what humanity would come to know as the goddess Sekhmet. Upon questioning by a member of my group capable of speaking with animals, a cat said that the Kindred they followed had been 'given' to them." Rae almost changes the subject, curious about the fate of the Master of All Souls, but decides against it till she she has a better grasp on the general understandings throughout Oxford. "There have also been other disturbing events. Can you tell me anything about what others have learned?"  

"So, nothing new," MacFarlane replies with a sigh. "Naturally, the Concord has other members capable of animalism and auspex, but what is this talk of methuselah and 'other horrors'?"

Nearly derailed by Kirsten's blase reaction, Rae chooses a new focus. "A huge, eldritch creature was summoned in the catacombs by a group of mages. I saw it nearly eat an Elder. A magical book was then found in a mimic that tried to gnaw my leg off. The Mabinogion. I'm told that it contains spells and incantations of the variety that could summon forth such abominations."  Deciding to show her hand, Rae continues. "And there, in the catacombs. Before the eldritch creature even arrived. My group saw the Master of All Souls bring the other masters to the Final Death during a frenzy. We found all the masters in coffins, stakes through their chests. My sire and I roused Lady Amissa, at which point she turned on the others. She closes her eyes, bringing her hand up to anxiously rub her temple. "I do not know who is aware of this information. But no one is my group has spoken of it to anyone. As far as I know." Looking back to the professor, she recalls the latter part of Kirsten's question. "And after seeing Sekhmet, I imagined that only a Methuselah would have enough strength to command a legion of cats in perpetuity on what seems like a whim."

"Imagination is a dangerous thing," MacFarlane muses distantly, "it breeds assumptions. Who exactly is your 'group' comprised of? This is a very strange tale indeed. The Mabinogion as I know it is a compilation of ancient Welsh myths, not an eldritch grimoire." The professor stands and paces over to her office window to look out over the quad. "Still, this would explain what happened to the Oxford clan heads, if not how they got there." She turns to look back over her shoulder at Rae. "Mages? You're certain of this?"

"I am not at liberty to disclose the members of the group that witnessed the events of that night. I can correspond with them to see if they would be willing to identify themselves. However, I can assure you that the text we discovered was filled with magic and musing on the preternatural world, mentioning a world that aligned with descriptions of the Fae realm of Arcadia. It also focused on the Arcanas of Space and Time, thought I'm sure that means more to you than it does to me." Rae pauses as Kirsten looks her over. This was dangerous information, and it would be folly to allow herself to relax simply because Kirsten and herself belong to the same covenant. They were mages. I am certain of it. Before they were even spotted, there were barriers along our path that had been created by neither Kindred nor Fae, I know enough of magic to recognize the work of mages." She takes two tentative steps forward. "Can you help me, Professor McFarlane?"

MacFarlanne gives Rae a dirty look. "You're not a journalist protecting a source, Raziel. You are a member of this covenant. I would have thought that Eve would have raised you better than to withhold information, but clearly she's been all too absent from your requiem. The book. Do you still have it?"

Rae shrinks away from McFarlane's anger, accidentally giving rise to a reaction from the Beast as she flinches. Her mind and soul flood the space, scouring it for a source of danger or intrigue. As she looks to McFarlane, she watches the eyes of the professor begin to burn an iridescent white grey, alerting her to Kirsten's use of some aspect of Auspex.  Gathering herself, Rae does her best to speak calmly and obscure her emotions. " Quite right. As a member of this covenant, I use the information we gather to protect and enlighten others. And as my elder, I thought that you would understand the danger of certain information, necessitating the presence of our Dead Man Switch Protocols. Particularly the information that I have just shared with you."  Taking two steps back, she reaches down and scoops up Ereshkigal, cradling her in one hand while petting her with the other. "I would never presume to understand your Requiem, and I ask you not to speculate upon mine. Assumptions and all that. Anyway, the book remains in my possession, yes."     

"Do not cite our protocols to me," MacFarlane scoffs when Rae mentions the dead man's switch. "I was there when they were written. Your friends' identities have no special status here. If it's my help that you want, then bring me the book and we can about getting to the bottom of this."

Taken aback once more, Rae can think of little to say beyond simple acquiescence. Slowly, she nods her head. "Yes, Professor. I will return tomorrow evening with the book. Thank you for your patience." With as dignified a retreat as she can manage, Rae slips from Kirsten's office and returns home. Once home, she shoots a quick text to Eve. "Hope that you're having a nice evening, dear. Professor McFarlane all but told me to bugger off till I mentioned the Mabinogion. She will only help me if I bring it to her tomorrow evening, which I've agreed to. Perhaps it is safest in Concord hands, though I'll be taking pictures of the latter half of the book for our young mage to look at on another occasion. Thank you for the lead <3." She then sets to taking pictures of as much of the text as she can with her phone. Once satisfied, she consigns herself to rest and research for the remainder of the evening.

After her encounter with Gabriel, Rae feels as though she's been swept into the current of some great river of disorder, unable to get a grasp on anything for long enough to get it under control or even understand it. So distressed is she that she makes her way to Keble and up to the professor's office with barely an upward glance.  With the Mabinogion in her bag, she knocks on the door of Kirsten McFarlane for the second time in as many nights. Lotus trots up behind her and, for the first time, she takes a comfort in the consistent presence of the strange creature.

"Come!" Rae can hear MacFarlane call to her from the far side in response to the knock. She enters to a scene not dissimilar to what she saw the last time that she was here: Kirsten working behind her desk. However, the difference in the professor's reaction to her guest's arrival is like night and day. "Good evening, Raziel," MacFarlane welcomes Rae friendly, rising to greet her as she enters the office. "Let's see what you have for me, hm?"

Though reassuring, Rae cannot hide a surprised smile as the professor warmly welcomes her into the office. "Good evening, Professor."  Reaching into her bag, she produces the Mabinogion and holds it out to McFarlane. "Yes, here it is. I'm unsure of the language of the main text, but I'm told that the notes in the margins are High Atlantean."

"We will struggle to make anything of the latter," MacFarlane admits, flipping through the pages after taking the tome from Rae. "However, the main text is in old Welsh... I will need some time to go through it."

"I'll be leaving the book with you, then. And I can confer with my mage colleague on what he made of the notes." Rae shifts her weight, looking to change the subject. "So it's authentic?"

"I suppose that we'll find out," MacFarlane remarks, turning the old book over in her hands. "It certainly could be, but that raises more questions than it answers."

"With little beyond an amateur's understanding of magic, I don't think I'd be able to grasp the consequences of those questions. But I'd be very interested in trying."  Standing up straight, she gets to her point. "Could you assist me, Professor?"

Kirsten sighs and clasps the book on her lap. "I did promise my help in return, didn't I? What exactly do you need?"

Rae relaxes a bit, glad to be making headway in at least one of the fires going on in her un-life. "A deeper understanding of the nature of magic. How it is harnessed and utilized, and how to protect one's self from it physically, mentally, and spiritually." 

"Is that all ?" MacFarlane laughs. "Would you like the recipe for the philosopher's stone, or the technique for transmuting lead into gold, while we're at it? Raziel, these are very broad questions that others have spent multiple lifetimes exploring. I could send you on your way with an extensive reading list, but something tells me that that isn't what you came for. What do you need ?"

Rae grins half-heartedly, throw off rhythm by the uncertainty of whether or not the professor is joking about the philosopher's stone and how quickly she saw through Rae's formality and attempt to seem casual. Her smile fades into a darker expression, pursing her lips and taking a deep breath. "Protection. I need protection from the magics of Kindred and supernatural forces."

"That's a start ," MacFarlane admits, setting the Mabinigion down on her desk. "What kind of protection? Who are you afraid of and why? You do understand that, as a member of this covenant, you have certain rights and privileges? If you're in danger, then you can seek protection. Why haven't you brought this to Eve?"

Rae searches the catacombs of her mind for a plausible lie, anything other than the life that she took and whose territory she took it in. Seconds pass, and nothing comes to her, only the fear of her final death and the horror of fratricide. Slowly making her way to a chair placed before Kirsten's desk, she drops herself into it and leans forward with her elbows on her knees. Exhaustion sits in her eyes as she decides to give up her attempt to hold this charade together.  "Eve recommended that I come to you for aid with this particular issue. I'd been trying to avoid telling you because it may very well assure my end. The murder of that student that nearly broke the Masquerade was an accident on my part. After escaping the eldritch creature I mentioned to you, I failed to attempt control of wassail as a nearby elder frenzied as well. He nearly ate me, and my friends limped me to a party on Brasenose, where I fed upon someone who went cold almost as soon as I had my teeth in him. I panicked. I covered my tracks like a teenager with a nudie mag. And it's just been one disaster after another." Rae stops, looking down to where lotus sitting at her feet. "I wouldn't harbor any ill will if you handed me over to Brasenose. They're an ally of ours, after all, and it would distinctly sour relations if it got out that I wasn't immediately turned over to them."  She looks back up to Kirsten, ready to accept whatever what her fate has in store. "I'm searching for protection from their magics. They may be trying to track me or discern my identity through  Crúac . I've researched the methods and function of the blood magic, but haven't found any method of defending myself in this circumstance."

Kirsten falls into her own chair, watching Rae as though a thousand little cogs are turning in her own mind as she processes this information. "I can help you, Raziel. Eve was right about that much. However, it will be no small effort and, in exchange, I will require your own service to me as recompense for the risk that I take in keeping your secret."

Rae stares in mild disbelief. "I...I understand, Professor. Thank you. I cannot properly express how grateful I am to you for helping me. You will have my services upon request."

"We will carry out a ritual of our own," MacFarlane explains, "but the components required for it can be difficult to obtain. Walk with me." Kirsten rises and heads for the door, her Persian swishing its silver tail side to side as it walks along besides her.

Rae wordlessly rises and follows Professor McFarlane, quickly reaching down and petting Lotus as he begins to trail behind her before standing straight and continuing on. 

Professor MacFarlane leads Rae out of her office. shoes clacking along several corridors within Keble College, until they arrive at a gate to the catacombs, which the professor unlocks. "Cruac rituals draw their power from blood," Kirsten explains to Rae as they walk, "and to mask you we will require blood of our own: innocent blood. Ideally virginal."

Rae follows closely behind Kirsten, and her mind begins flitting through questions the moment that the professor states what they will require. "Are we to entreat the same forces that Cruac itself does to accomplish this? Would you have any suggestions about where we can start looking for this virginal blood?"

"What you describe would involve learning Cruac," MacFarlane points out,  "a deeply personal experience that takes a significant toll on a vampire's humanity and cannot be rushed. Not to mention how jealously the Circle of the Crone guard their secrets. No, this is merely a ritual that aims to ward away Cruac's gaze." She stops again outside a locked collection of shelves amidst the stacks of the subterranean library and reaches for her keys to open the wrought iron gate. "As for the blood: it's first week. Oxford is awash with teenagers who, for the past two plus years, have done little else but study and prepare in the hope of being offered a place here. You shouldn't have any significant difficulty identifying a suitable candidate."

Again, Rae silently assents to what she's been told. "Yes, I understand. Should this candidate be brought to the ritual site, or do me merely need their blood? " She pauses, reflecting on the intense and sometimes volatile nature of Cruac rituals she'd read of. "And will the innocent survive the ritual?"  

"A little will suffice, but more would be better," MacFarlane explains, stepping inside the locked collection and pulling a book from the shelves. "How important is to you that the ritual succeed?"

"Right. Better to bring the entire cow, then." Looking around the stacks of ancient books, Rae relaxes enough to wonder just how much lost or forbidden knowledge is stored away in just one of these rows of ink and paper. "Is there anything else to do on my part for the time being?"

"Cruac is rooted in the ancient power of the natural world," MacFarlane adds, passing Rae the grimoire that she has been leafing through. The parchment pages contain an illustration of a man atop the crenellations of a stone tower. "You should seek out a ritual site where you will be as far removed from its dominion as possible."

Rae takes in the grimoire and its unique illustration, looking for patterns that may align with something akin to an arcane mapping system. "I understand. Will this grimoire assist me in the triangulation of a proper location for the ritual?"

"Generally speaking, it simply means a man-made environment, as far from the natural world as possible," Kirsten explains. "However, I could lend you a pendulum if you could use some guidance."

"Yes, please. As you've said, I need this ritual to be successful." Closing the grimoire, she pulls out her phone to check the time. "When will we carry out this ritual, Professor? I believe that I could find a suitable subject at this hour and bring them to a designated location." 

MacFarlane pulls another book from a nearby shelf and flips through it to check something. "Sunday would be best, in terms of celestial alignment."

Had Rae a living heart, it would've skipped a beat. "...if that is when it would be best. Each day is a greater risk of my discovery, would you recommend any practices to safeguard my identity until then? I've been concealing my nature in public and warded my home against detection."

Kirsten shoots Rae a confused frown. "I thought that you were unable to ward yourself. Isn't that why we are here?"

"Apologies, that was vague. A mage associate of mine was able to ward my home for a short time, but any efforts to counteract Cruac itself or ward my physical form were beyond his ken, unfortunately." 

"I see," Kirsten replies tersely. "Well, then I suggest you keep to your warded home unless absolutely necessary. You took a great risk coming out at all."

With the paranoia that had hounded Rae's waking hours now fully endorsed by her senior, a strange occurrence takes place in her mind. The usual panic collapses in on itself, coming to take the form of inspiration that would make full use of all at her disposal.  "Yes, Professor. I shall confine myself to my living space until Sunday evening. I will use the pendulum to procure a site for our ritual and communicate it to you by Friday, at the latest. Thank you again for your magnanimous aid." 

"I have thralls for when I need my arse kissed, Andrews," MacFarlane remarks dryly in response to Rae's exaggerated display of gratitude. "Stop trying so hard; you'll sprain something. Now, follow me to the reliquary." Down more winding catacombs and through another locked gate is a chamber containing numerous occult objects. MacFarlane takes out a small key and unlocks a small draw in a bureau, before producing a clear crystal pendulum on a thin metal chain and holding it out towards Rae. "It will swing towards order."

Rae outright chuckles at Kirsten's candor before following her to the reliquary and accepting the pendulum. "Thank you. To be quite honest, I'm surprised to hear that you have thralls. I didn't think that our kind typically went in for that sort of adoration, humans fawning over you and so on. Though I have been made to see the utility of it in recent times."