Fiona is the first to arrive at the meeting point, wearing one of her nicer, more flattering (if not revealing) dresses. Noticeably, her shield grog is not with her.
Once everyone who is going to go has arrived, she briefly explains how to cross over the boundary in to Magic, and demonstrate, being the first one to go through.
Once she's on the other side, she quickly steps aside and looks around, giving the Blacksmith a passionate kiss hello if he's there.
((No fooling, this was the name I gave to the TT version of this saga.))
Tranquillina arrives next, carrying (in addition to her usual pouch) a satchel containing a dozen palm-sized stones. Her outfit consists of hardy, snugly-fitting clothes that will not catch on branches nor hamper her movements; her brownish-red hair seems shorter than usual. [color=magenta]"Good morning, Fiona," she says in Gaelic, pleasantly but not effusively. She is still disappointed that no Arcane Connection to Marcus could be located, as she was hoping to learn something about his present situation that morning at sunrise; moreover, she is simply a bit apprehensive about her first voyage to the Magic Realm.
[color=magenta]"Before we start," Tranquillina murmurs reluctantly to the other magi who will be going, [color=magenta]"if you would please inform me: are any of you carrying vis with you?"
A mere two minutes before the group departs, Phelippe arrives as well, reporting to Tranquillina. The maga had summoned him the evening before, after the current plan was formed. "Salve, Phelippe," she greets him in Latin - a sure sign, in his mind, that pleasantries would soon be set aside, or otherwise she would have struggled along in her novice French for a few sentences. "How are your sisters - are they enjoying the new dresses I arranged for them? Yes, Susane's work is extremely flattering, I agree."
"You remember, I'm sure, the conversation we had last month, where I promised to ensure your family would be more content here, and told you that you would be given greater responsibility also? Well, an example of that responsibility is come. You will serve as my shield on a voyage that begins tomorrow morning. I believe we will be gone a week or two, but it is not clear. And, we will be traveling in a realm where the supernatural is commonplace - far more so than among us at this covenant, for example. Can I count on you to keep a level head and protect me against the unpredictable?"
((Right now we don't have any character sheet for Phelippe - only a brief character sketch. If someone would like to stat him up and play him, that'd be great. I'm willing to do it, but the more players the merrier!))
Calmly, Isen replies No. And this is an error, you are right. I never took this habit, but maybe I should.
He'll go right after tranquillina, and, once arrived at the blacksmith's cottage, look around him
Well, despite what you told me, fiona, this feels strange. I'll admit I expected something a little more strange.
And this is that famous blacksmith. He'll make a slight bow. Pleased to meet you.
((This is a combat oriented story, or at least has a high probability of combat. Grogs are strongly advised.))
((Fiona's intentionally not taking Jehanne because she has no intention of going further than the Blacksmith's bedroom. If anything pops up, she plans on doing a Kirk roll through the regio boundary back to Mons Electi.))
((If someone could fill me in on what the Blacksmith and his home look like - I'm new here 
))
Once the greetings are out of the way, Tranquillina will prepare herself as best she can for danger. This means:
She moves away from the others to cast these spells, if possible (because of the vis allergy thing). ((Do these Sun-duration spells all last like forever in here?))
Isen is too reclusive to have acquired a dedicated shield grog, although he'd like Brionne to come with him. And, say, Bernard.
Like Tranquillina, he'll put his defensive enchantments up, although he'll wait until introductions are made and all. Priorities, priorities.
((The Blacksmith and his house made their first appearance in the This Is the Land of Giants thread, which took place in the Summer of 1222, immediately after the death of Apollodorus.
The Blacksmith stands roughly ten and a half feet tall, broad of build, and absolutely gorgeous! For some reason, I picture him as having dark/black hair, but that might just be me filling in the spaces, I dunno.
His house, itself, seems to be whatever it needs to be at the time...either that, or it came into being when Fiona first crossed over and he hasn't bothered to change it since. It suffered some fire damage between Land of Giants and Don't Forget the Blacksmith of Brandywine, which are, so far, the only two threads that the Blacksmith and his house have been in.))
Not enough time has passed for the damage to have been repaired by the time everyone returns...
((Got it. A giant Patrick Swayze with Fabio hair.))
Tranquillina [strike]could[/strike] will bring a second grog too, say Jehanne (especially if Fiona isn't sticking around).
Anyone coming besides Tranquillina and Isen? In a search and rescue operation, T will be good at "search", perhaps less useful at "rescue"....
Jacques comes into the room with his bow and other gear. He is a little out of breath as if he ran here.
Is it alright if I come along?(pant pant)
[color=blue]"Certainly," Fiona says with a smile. [color=blue]"The more, the merrier."
((I'd like to play through someone actually getting in touch with Marcus's familiar.))
All right, I guess Tranquillina is the "search" after all 
Marcus's familiar is a fire drake - what is its name? And we expect it to be on the covenant grounds somewhere?
Tranquillina decides to implement two plans at once. First, she tells Phelippe and Jehanne to start circulating among the shepherds, asking them if they have seen the drake today, and looking for signs of its recent presence (charred ground, half-eaten sheep, [strike]damsels in distress[/strike]). "If you find information that will help me locate it, stand in the open and light a torch. When I signal you back, you can tell me what you have learned - I will be able to hear you from afar. Oh, but I will need these...." She magically plucks hairs from their heads and summons them to her hand, where she tucks them away in a kerchief (luckily Jehanne is black-haired and Phelippe is fair, she nods to herself).
((This is a very Tranquillina thing to do: she could easily pluck the hairs by hand, but the magical way of doing things is always the first to occur to her. I don't know exactly what level spell this is, but hell, she can spont a level 21 ReCo spell even without the die roll :mrgreen: ))
Meanwhile, she will go out herself to the pastures, or a hillside overlooking the majority of the covenant grounds. She will cast Eyes of the Eagle upon herself, then (just to be safe - this is a drake we're dealing with!) Wizard's Sidestep as well. She will pick up a stone from the ground and keep it in her palm, in case she needs to teleport to that spot in a hurry. Finally she will cast Lifting the Dangling Puppet on herself, ascending up to a height of fifty paces or so, and start scanning the fields herself, looking for the drake or signs of its passing.
Mons Electi pulls sheep from a very wide area...
But luckily, Tranquillina doesn't even need to get very far, as when she begins leavings, she spies something moving on Pierre de la Wivre. (Fixer, feel free to correct my French 
)
Well then ... off we go to the Stone of the -
huh. What do you know! Makes sense, doesn't it 
I notice that [strike]Leap of Homecoming[/strike] Seven-League Stride requires a Finesse roll for every jump. Does Wizard's Leap? Its description (HoH:S page 36) doesn't mention a Finesse roll, although the spells are extremely similar.
Reason I'm asking: if no Finesse rolls required (or if failure wouldn't matter anyway), then Tranquillina will Wizard's Leap her way to the Pierre, fifty paces at a time or so.
But if she's going to break an ankle in the first ten jumps, then instead she'll wolf up (Shape of the Woodland Prowler) and lope over there. In this case, she will cast Stories of the Beast on herself so that she can talk from wolf form if need be. And yes, she will be quite cognizant of her lack of knowledge about whether drakes consider wolves to be snacks or not.... 
((The only spell that requires a finesse roll, as per the description of the spell is Seven-League Stride. I'm inclined to think this is related to places where you can barely make it out in the distance and you try and jump there, but I don't know. Wizard's Leap you're close enough to be able to get a sense of what's where and where you can safely Leap. That's just my general sense of things based on the description of the spells.))
The Pierre de la Wivre is not far from the commonly used south gate, a Wizard's Leap or two should put her in range, easily. As she leaps close enough, she hears a roar from the dog sized dragon atop the Wivre. "Where is my amicus? You people have a disturbing habit of losing him. And I've heard rumors that the giant maga is back, without him." ((I'm handwaving that Marcus, as a protected guest of Mons Electi secured a token for his familiar. No one knows what he calls his familiar, by the way. Alternatively, I just up the might sufficient to overcome the Aegis. 
))
((oops, yeah, I meant Seven League. Ok, fair enough))
Tranquillina addresses the drake at a distance of about twenty paces. (Actually she knows exactly how far she is away, down to a fraction of an inch, but maybe that's unimportant right now....) "Aye, Fiona has returned, and Marcus was not with her. He separated from the rest to save them from attack; but unfortunately we do not know where he is now. Indeed, that is exactly why I have come to you: I intend to find Marcus, and I believe you can help me greatly."
"My name is Tranquillina Bonisagi; no doubt you have seen me around the covenant since autumn began," she smiles wryly. "What may I call you?"
((yeah man: if I were visiting a covenant and I had a familiar, I'd damn well ask for a token for it too....))
"Marcus is not subtle. I am called Ignitio." he belches a bit of fre, as if to prove a point. "If he isn't in a cave, I'm going with you." He says it as its fair accompli. "I'm tired of you people losing him. He went with Apollodorus to that island of vampires, and suddenly he's taken into cave by the vampires. And now this. Marcus is too nice for his own good," which doesn't sound like a description of any Tytalus Tranquillina has met.