Driving through the early morning smog of london was no picnic of course. They arrived at Fulrooney Manor and collected the materials that Praeger had set aside for her, and after a few uncomfortable minutes with her asshole mentor, she was summarily dismissed.

Pelting back to london at top speed, they arrived at the appointed time at Charing Cross Station. Cordelia was to find the first member of her new cabal there.According to the letter that she had been given, Cordelia was to start an associate cabal that was to center itself in the west end of london and maintain surveilance on the various supernatural factions in the ascencion war and clear away deleterious supernatural activity in their area. When this was done, they would become a full associate cabal of the most powerful tradition chantry in the world.

Doisetep.

By all accounts, it was a serious opportunity. it also stood to be a serious obstacle course that Cordelia would be forced to run...And her mentor wasn't going to be any help.

She was ruminating about these things on the platform and lightly scanning the crowd for prime signatures when she noticed a gentleman and his young apprentice attempting to unload an extemely heavy steamer trunk from the train. Curiousity piqued, She gave them a look-over with prime and was surprised to discover that both of them read as mages. Prodding Thomas into action, they made their way over and introduced themselves offering Thomas's strong back to handle the trunk.

Jules Maxwell Orvis had come to london to get under cover. He and his young apprentice Mr Deveraux had come to the city with naught much more than the clothes on their backs and the tools in the trunk. Seperated from the Egalite by order of their captain, Mr Orvis had fled here in order to hide his young ward and himself from discovery by the captain of the Jormungandr. Both of them were unaffiliated with either the Technocracy or the Traditions and so they were a bit unsure as to what the future would hold. Imagine their discomfiture with meeting a very severe woman and her hulking associate who had in a matter of minutes decided to take them with her and brooked no arguement....Then Jules remembered himself and checked her aura. This allayed some of his suspicions but certainly not all of them.

The next stop on the agenda was the property that had been acquired for them by the Order. 143 Bermondsey street turned out to be a spectacularly ugly 3-storey edifice with broken windows, chains on the doors, and a reek of wet mold and pigeon shit that cut through the stench of the Thames. Cordelia decided wisely to forego an exploratory of this building until the next day. Taking her passengers in tow, she brought them to her house,fed them and billeted them until she could talk privately with Mr Orvis.

Jules had come to two possbile conclusions about his erstwhile benefactress. (1) That she was entirely serious that he was to join a cabal that would become part of Doisetep or (2) That she was stark barking mad. In any event, he had at least privately agreed to go with her the next morning to take a look at the place and see if there was anything to it.

Sending Thomas ahead in the morning to air the place out,the household sat down to a largeish breakfast. After procuring some oil lanterns, they set out for the west end. A bit of looking around caused them to discover a number of interesting facts about the structure namely:

• It was theatre.(horribly dilapidated but still probably fixable)
• It had an aura of some type
• the architecture was impressive as was the acoustics
• the fly system was an impressive mechanical marvel which further inspection revealed was made by craftmason hands.
• The entire theatre was probably made by craftmasons
• It had a squatter (which was quickly dispatched by Thomas with his lead pipe.)
• It had a its own spacious scene shop which still contained remnants of workings past.
• It had a steam powered clockwork elevator which was unbelievably noisy.
• The lower level of the theater was flooded and filled with rats.(Which Maxwell found out the hard way.)
• They found a trunk in the props storage with craftmason symbols on it which Maxwell wrestled into the elevator and back upstairs.

Deciding they'd had enough exploring for one day, The group decided to repair to Mrs. Nyles house to have a bath,Tea, and a bit of relaxation before attempting to crack the mystery of the trunk. Armed with nothing more than their own intuitions and a small book of known craftmason cyphers. they managed to crack the puzzle lock on the first try. (props for my mad phat playaz!)

In the trunk they discovered a craftmasonic seal,a few ceremonial aprons, a stack of books and a small box containing a greenish gem. Puzzling through the books they discovered that they were in fact diaries of the builders of the Bermondsey street theatre.Detailing their betrayal at the hands of their fellows in the Technocracy and their subsequent going to ground.

These revelations were spurred on by the arrival of Jack Anniston. Jack was the best friend of Cordelia's late husband and still remained a friend of the family. Allthough as he admitted his history of technocratic methodology was somewhat spotty, he was at least able to identify the greenish gem as a lesser Viasilicos, a primitive form of crystal radio used by the technocracy in it's early days. Greater scrutiny of the diaries revealed schematics and floorplans of the theatre itself. Not only that, but piecing together things they already knew, it appeared that if a node were installed on the premises it probably wouldn't be locatable from the outside.

Is the Bermondsey street theater an unprecendented opportunity or an attractive form of mass suicide? Only time will tell.