1221: One Thread Fits All

"Stubby wands fail to impress me. Are we opening negotiations or are you going to wave your wand about?"

"I'm afraid we'd need privacy for it to impress you, dear." He quirks an enigmatic smile. "It's a shame you've chosen to live in your pater's shadow. At Voluntas, we could provide you with a laboratory you are capable of utilizing, and we also have an expert crafter of longevity rituals, who could preserve what beauty you still have left. No matter though, it will be more interesting this way. I've always wanted to study the psychological effects time exerts on vanity."

"Really? I had no idea you were so prudish." she responds to his sad offer.
"Seeing you is a reminder that some gifts come with too high a price. "

"It is not prudish to protect a woman's honour. How would your friends think of you if they knew how loudly you can scream?" He picks up one of the larger crows and scritches it behind the neck. "I really must be going. Cygna, Attravere, Grandmother."

Cygna digs through her pack for food, making a concerted effort not to look at his junk. It's not that she's not seen it before...and fantasized about it in her younger, more decadent days. But she's sworn a vow of chastity, and there's no sense in letting herself see temptation if she could help it. And if she only has enough food for one, then her vows (she thinks) require her to offer what she has to him, even if it means that she goes hungry for a while. Whatever she finds, she will offer him without protest.

Cygna looks at Sophronia with a surprised expression.

"Please, I took care if the screaming issue almost as soon as I arrived. How could one expect any less of me?" Those who can look past her beauty and see the way she carries herself knows that she doesn't put a lot of store in her looks, at least not as much as almost everyone likes to discuss. The lilt of sarcasm is evident for those looking for it. "Goodbye, child."

Cygna narrows her eyes as she regards Sophronia. [color=red]"Why do I feel like I'm missing something. 'Grandmother'? I thought you were Tremere. And around my age."

"Corvus, don't hate me because I'm beautiful, baby," the sarcasm from her lips is almost visible, and should be entirely apparent to everyone present.
"Oh, you don't. I forget. You hate me because I'm probably going to earn that which you have worked for and will likely never attain. Perhaps I'll begin studying an apt representation of vainglorious ambition coupled with lack of ability. Can I come visit you sometime, soon? I'll bring you some corn, and you can squawk about yourself as much as you like. I'll even listen and take notes!"

Cygna facepalms, quietly, and shakes her head.

Nearly back at the stone cottage when Sophronia makes her tirade, Corvus turns and quirks a brow, and calls out a response. "One does not hate the inconveniences of life for the misfortune of its placement. A rock in a shoe, a piece of dung on a trail- they are removed and forgotten; never hated." With that he closes the door, leaving the murder of crows wheeling about over your heads.


Will anyone make anymore preparations before tomorrow morning, or can we move on?

I can't think of anything off-hand.

Me, either. Is the vis source inside the house?

I think the vis source is the well. The stone house is set up next to, or barely downstream, from the well.

Well is alone and by itself, the stone cottage is just nearby.

Whispering to her sodales, "Can we ward the entrance area against Corpus and keep them inside? My Arts are probably insufficient to the task." Rego 10+3 +Corpus 5 + Int 2 gets her to 20. Then there's die rolls/aura and dividing. Maybe 3rd magnitude is reasonable with an average die roll, and an aura of 6 (if I'm understanding that there's an aura here, correctly, and Attravere's mention of the previous encounter might include this information?).

The aura is 6 from sunrise to sundown only while the well is filled with blood. The rest of the year, it's Magic 2.

Also: MR.

[color=red]"It would take a miracle for me to be able to ward the cottage," Cygna says as she looks at the cottage.

[color=red]"Although...why don't we simply block the exits? Trap them inside?"

((What are the soil conditions, nearby trees? Arya, you had suggested that we might be without benefit of Parma, and if we are without the benefit, wouldn't they be as well? For a couple of minutes we'd only have to deal with those of higher Corpus form scores, at the very least.))
"I fear one, for me as well, I'm merely thinking out loud. Any circle ward could be quickly destroyed by the murder of crows, regardless."
((Is there some reason we can't be closer to the well than the cottage? A matter of shelter, perhaps?))

It's spring, so the soil is soft and spongy.

They would be without their Parmae for two minutes after the sun rises, but remember that Corvus is the only member of Voluntas lacking a familiar. MR from familiars aside, Desiderius is known to be a master necromancer whose longevity rituals are renowned throughout the Order (something Corvus just reminded you all of); Phessalia's a sadistic Perdo monkey and it's a reasonable assumption she's got a pretty solid Corpus as well.

You can place your camp wherever you please.