First problem – getting Merlin Huntington to the Luna ritual.
This can probably be accomplished pretty easily – all we need to do is have the PCs get the fortune that was sent to the OL. Now, Harry Bryant / the OL has a neural jack, and the fortune was undoubtedly sent to Harry Bryant’s email address but addressed to "The OL" or "Occultum Lapidum". Either way, Max/Ned knows the nature of the OL, and it should be a pretty good minor shocker if he learns it got a fortune. The fortune will contain, pretty undeniably, the message that Huntington is going to stop the OL from doing something bad at the ritual. The party, provided they figure it out, will want Huntington at the ritual, and if they have a fortune, will probably be able to convince the Caretaker it’s a good idea (since the Caretaker knows what the fortunes are). It should be easy enough to connect to Bryant’s neural jack, since the OL doesn’t know about Brice’s capabilities, and is most likely leaving the jack wide open, hoping for more fortunes (though with hella firewalls, which won’t hinder Brice). If Brice’s intrusion is detected, the connection will be shut, but that doesn’t matter.
The prophecy the OL receives: "The exiled child of magic’s resting place will prevent dissolution on the date of the new moon"
'’Curtis: Did Mercury (Ned’s shard of the OL) receive the prophecy as well? If not, we could just chalk it up to the fact that Bryant has 2/3rds of it, so it went to those. More interestingly, it could have gone to all three shards separately, and Ned’s shard of the OL simply has not said anything to him about it. Maybe the Mercury shard cannot communicate telepathically with Ned until he consciously establishes a rapport with it (like Max did with Sulphur).’’
A little research (or a lot of research – I’m thinking DC 35 or so) will reveal that seven members of the Arcane Order have left the island where magic was once sealed; the four founding members of Pandora’s Box, Merlin’s parents, and Merlin himself. All of the others were adults when exiled, but Merlin was a child. Also, the other six are dead. I’ll point out that this will probably both cement Merlin’s reputation as a good guy (since the Arcane Order were good guys in Pax, and Merlin will claim he was exiled for "believing the Arcane Order should use their wisdom and magic to help mediate conflicts and end senseless bloodshed, while the elders of the Order believed they should not interfere with the world", which also conveniently fits in with his story about Lupus/Canis) and as a bad guy (since the good guys usually ended up being bad guys in Pax – too good to be true syndrome). This research may or may not be necessary, as here’s how I’m thinking it could go down:
Harry Bryant, after getting this message, spends some time studying up and researching, figures out it’s Huntington that the prophecy refers to, tracks him down, and spends some time observing him and formulating a plan of attack. This is why the attack hasn’t already happened. Of course, the OL is overconfident about its own abilities, doesn’t realize how badass Huntington is (since he doesn’t flaunt his power), and has made the mistake of believing Merlin’s public image. Merlin, conversely, won’t be expecting the OL’s attack, and this will screw up some of his masterminded plans, though not terribly. Bryant will get in through the mystic port on Lupus, assume a disguise, and basically start taking hostages and demanding that Huntington come show himself, since Huntington has an image of caring a lot about the citizens of Lupus. Huntington will show, to keep up the pretense, and realize to some extent what Bryant is and how badass he is. Huntington will try to eliminate the threat, and Bryant will end up exploding in grey goo, killing hundreds or thousands of Lupan civilians. Huntington will escape and evade for a while.
This incident will appear prominently on the news, and the parties will realize "Grey goo? Bryant is attacking Lupus? WTF?" Worst case scenario is that this solidifies their motive to destroy the guy soon, rather than at the ritual. If they decide to attack right away, we’re set – they’ll either connect the dots as described above and contact Huntington, or contact Huntington because he’s a Lupus contact (at which point Huntington will tell them of the attempt on his life and offer to help), or if they’re morons, Huntington will contact the Saturday group asking for help in dealing with Bryant (since he knows Max did something similar, and doesn’t realize Max is dead). I’m thinking Huntington is easily powerful enough to avoid Bryant, but not powerful enough (or just not confident in his ability) to take Bryant down alone. Still, he needs to take Bryant down rather than just avoiding hiim, because Bryant is screwing up his plans on Lupus. Regardless, if they decide to attack right away, Huntington will be there, and it will go as planned with the thing with Zee and the stuff and the Jorge.
Incidentally, Khan (and Merlin) will turn the grey goo incident to his own advantage… shit, is the Canis/Lupus war resolved at this point? ‘‘Curtis: Yes, by July 17th the Volokhovs have been ousted.’’ Well, he can pull the terrorist card (more political commentary), claiming that Canis extremists were responsible for it, and use it to gain broader powers. If the war isn’t resolved, then it was Canis’s fault, and they were using weapons (grey goo) banned by the Dresden Accord. Either way, Khan can demand the UNF step in with aid (if that’s what you decide to go with), which may act as a hook for the Wednesday group when they finally catch up to the date. "Unless you grant me more executive powers, terrorists will continue to target our mystic port, attempting to cut us off from the world, and innocent civilians will continue to die!" Or something.
Once again, if Huntington helps in the battle against Bryant, he’ll leverage himself into getting invited to the Luna ritual by showing that he’s powerful (in retrieving the crown from Coyote/Zee), implying that he’d really like to come, and, only if appropriate, invoking the fortune the OL received (assuming he and the party know about it). Now, I’m thinking that if Bryant gets destroyed, the OL and the crown will both survive, possibly as a single entity ("It appears that the OL was destroyed along with Bryant, Nate!). Remember, the OL needs to make it to the ritual in order to regain its third part. If the party decides not to try to take Bryant out until the day of the ritual, then the OL will probably lay low until the ritual. Either way, Huntington and the OL will both be present at the ritual, and some shit can go down. This part – the ritual – still needs better planning.
Merlin Huntington’s character and motivations need to be fleshed out. I’ve got some ideas – his parents were tossed out into the world, possibly even not really exiled, but sent out to interfere with the world. Maybe Merlin has a huge vendetta against the surviving members of the Arcane Order, and, since death is too good for them, is seeking a way to do something worse – seal them away into the astral plane forever. Also, as the OL whispers to him later, he may develop the motivation to dissolve everything into grey goo.
'’Curtis: Supposedly, the seven exiles from the Arcane Order (the "Seven") were the ones responsible for World War III, and were stopped by Speed Demon and his elite force. So I’m thinking that eight members actually left the island, counting Huntington. I like the idea of Lin having left as a child, and we have to exercise some caution here, so that everyone doesn’t immediately assume Huntington was one of the Seven responsible for WW3. Also, this links Huntington with Wednesday, since Strife (Laura Morningbird) is Speed Demon’s daughter, and Huntington is the son of two of the Seven.’’
'’Huntington learned from his parents that they are utterly superior to "normal" humans, and were born to rule. Huntington believes it would be a crime not to exploit his talents and advance himself by any means possible. He believes the Arcane Order are despicable for wasting their talents sitting on that island.’’
Grogggg.