"The cult, as it was before the spread of Christianity, was a two pronged instrument. Few were its temples, yet at the same time many were its services. Pluto is first the God of Wealth, and there were indeed many who sought him out in this aspect, but he is also the benevolent ruler of the underworld, the one to whom we must commend the souls of the deceased, and it was the role of our Cult to send the deceased to the afterlife, and the prayers of the living with them. Sometimes when the high priests deemed it appropriate, we would beseech Father Pluto to allow one of the deceased speak with the living, though to be honest oftentimes we also merely allowed the living to think they had spoken with the dead, to bring them comfort and closure and not disturb the sleep of the dead. Many within the cult saw the Christians as blasphemers, to suggest that a man had power over death. I alone decided to see if I could replicate his magic."
"You tried to replicate the resurrection of Jesus Christ?" Cecelia asks. "And this was the result? You seem to have achieved success only in spirit and not in body. But how does that differ from other ghosts?"
"My consciousness endures, in whole, not in part."
"Is that not true for any other ghost?" Cecelia asks. "I've heard of some fairly sophisticated ghosts who seem to have retained much of their past lives. Is something of the spirit inevitably lost through death?"
"For those who remain earthbound it is so, for those who were conjured up from the land of the dead, at least in my time, they did generally retain their faculties, at least for a time. After several centuries that too would fade, some believed as they were preparing to be reborn into a new vessel."
"Yes, cognizant ghosts appear frequently in the ancient tales. This rite too, actually: Homer's Odyssey makes mention that blood, given to ghosts and departed souls, will return their wits to them. Had never put much stock in the idea, but here we are..."
Frederika pulled a wax tablet from her satchel and scrawled down some thoughts: "Worth investigating? The Order experiences enough awkward hauntings that a way to reason with them might have value."
Guiverna listens to the ghost's tale as politely as she can (although she practically sprains her eyes trying not to roll them). Her ears perk up momentarily at the mention of "Pluto, god of wealth," but then she remembers how grateful she is to Renenet).
Finally, she steps forward and clears her throat. "Pardon me, ancient and learned spirit. I have no intent to disparage your work, and I realize that you have been working on this...project for more years than I can imagine. But have you considered that the reason your research has not proven more fruitful than it has is because it is based upon a faulty premise?"
(I'm assuming that, as Guiverna doesn't have Second Sight,the only spirit she can see is Mr Spooky. It's been a busy week, so I've not had time to go back and reread everything.)
The irony is notable. Were you aware that Christianity has become the dominant religion across Europe in the years since your demise? And we would also call it blasphemy to suggest that a man has power over death; or that Jesus was merely "a man". It was not magic that allowed him to defeat death.
Arachné nods.
Spooky is right on this. For a ghost to remain this coherent, autonomous and cognisant is quite exceptionnal, although he could be more limited that either he, or we, thinks. I know a thing or two about ghosts* and they can be quite obstinate and dedicated.
Fleur, this is your home, and it is far enough from Andorra that I don't care about security risks. You should decide what to do with him, even if it is just handing him to us.
- Living ghost being at best a mystery, it stands to reason she never met any and, at best, heard tales and rumors instead of "sure, maga XXX is now a conscious ghost"
"Oh, I have given up on my original experiment. There is no point trying to achieve immortality when one is already dead. Instead I have been considering how I could give a ghost bound to me more ability to interact with the world of the living. I believe if we were to give me blood on this night from someone, or something, still alive, and also have a statue of clay made with their blood mixed in, Then if they should die within a year, I might be able to cause them to manifest within the clay statue and animate it. If we are going to try this with animals we should go in steps, first make sure I can bind an animal spirit, but that can be discussed later, what do you say to the truce?"
Fleur has been standing listening and finally nods her head "You will be provided with a few ounces of blood every sunrise and sunset, in return you will help to protect my home and answer honesty any questions I or my guests put to you. I will have a scribe in once a week who can write as you dictate, and you may undertake correspondences in this way. However, to seal the deal you must reveal what you have been reluctant so far to give- what is your name?"
"Camillus Aurelius"
5xp
fortune:
Asilano: 2 pts
quite possibly a cat: 4 pts
Cannonball: 5 pts
Trogdor: 3 pts
Peregrine_Bjornaer: 1 pt
The Fixer: 2 pts
and if someone would be elected to assign fortune points to me...
... also anyone who participated in this adventure can establish a correspondence with Camillus Aurelius on a variety of topics, though with him not being Hermetic it cannot be any of the arts.
Magic Theory would also out of the question, no? Magic Lore should be game though, I'd figure - and if it is, Frederika could correspond with Camillus on that.
Magic theory would not be out of the question, despite the difference in traditions there are elements which could be discussed for which his perspective could provide insight. Parma Magica obviously would be.
I'll waive the XP this season, in favour of my book-reading.
I'll correspond for Magic Theory then!
Also, I want to write this season: gotta prove Frederika can write before I get stuck doing a million tons of drudge work that is entirely beneath me... 
That means I have to waive the 5xp too, doesn't it?
No, you can take the adventure experience and still write.
Oh! Nice. I'll have to try and do a lot of these adventure / writing sojourns then!
All this talk of ghosts makes me think magic Lore would be a good use of the adventure experience for Gunnvara, then spend fall teaching Lisbeth how to speak Latin. That make sense? At least the magic lore bit?
IMO, yes.
A little later, the Spider, to Fleur
Be careful. He realized he couldn't beat us, but I'm not convinced of his good intentions. His talk about binding animal spirits to statues, it's interesting, but it could also give him power over them. Likewise with any dead covenfolk. Just saying.
I didn't see that anyone else did this. But it seems to me that silveroak participated at least as much as Cannonball and should probably get 5 Fortune as well.
I was thinking of establishing a correspondence on Philosophiae with him. Chatting with him about deep matters of philosophy and how they might have been seen differently back a few centuries.
As for xp, I was wondering if Organization Lore: Cult of Pluto would be permissible.
I think it would be appropriate.