1222.1c A Matter of Degree

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: In the Ruins of Bibracte
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((I'm not finding it :frowning: I reread this thread,the Race for the Pennant thread, the last like 8 pages of Table Talk and the last four, five, six pages of the 1222 OOC threads, and the only thing I find is what I quoted above, where Viscaria stumbles across him, realizes that he kinda got stiffed for services rendered, magicks up the cottage, and invites him to join them the next morning. Which, while I can kinda see where that could be read as "they worked something out offscreen," I'd rather have it done (either ic or ooc) instead of handwaved.

He has had a couple of hard years (first his cottage getting flooded out, then the harsh winter) so if they can upsell the benefits of community and not having to go it alone in hard times, that might work. Plus, he's pushing 30, and while he has no interest in marrying and settling down, he might be willing to take an apprentice or someone under his wing to pass along his skills to. ))

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((I saw it, it's done. Whether what I saw is a fiction, or not, it's still done. Wilhelm is here, bright eyed and bushy tailed.))

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((So, now that that's been, if not settled, at least tabled, I think we've crossed through the boundary into the regio, which, iirc, involves just walking across, for this one.))

Once Wilhelm enters the boundary, he takes a couple of steps and comes to a dead stop, looking around him in wide-eyed wonder. He had been expecting something much like the mundane side, but just a little different. But this? This is like nothing he had ever imagined before. The air is cleaner, crisper, the ground is groundier, the sky is sky-er, and the trees are tree-er.

And yet...something about the trees strikes him as vaguely familiar.

Once the shock wears off, he looks at the others. "Unglaublich!" he says. "Is everything like there here?" he asks in French(2).

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((Technically, getting into the regio is walking around a fixed point three times in one direction, and then to get back it's walking around that same point in the other direction. I thought about this being the origination of the Hokey Pokey for a while, and making people do the dance and say the words. I mean Ring around the Rosey is derived from the same middle ages, right? Had this been a tabletop, oh yeah, people would be doing the Hokey Pokey to get back and forth.))

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Viscaria beams at Wilhelm, heartily approving his willingness to show surprise (such a rare treat for a wizard to see!). However, she doesn't have the faintest clue what he's saying. She nods affably and gestures for him to follow her up the path to the peak, where Wen and her family have already assembled.

(proceed to this moment: 1222.1c A Matter of Degree)

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Wilhelm looks intently at the map, then at the area around them, back and forth a couple of times.

[color=green]"Do we search, or do we explore?" he asks in French.

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Repeating this, it appears getting up to the potential Tribunal location is problematic.

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Language barriers abound, but given how rehearsed the interaction between Viscaria, Vin, and Thera seemed to have been, Wilhelm would get the sense that his choices are:

  1. Point to Vin, and vote for exploring, starting with finding a path down to the river
  2. Point to Thera, thereby voting for a systematic search from the very beginning
  3. suggest another choice by walking up to the map and making gestures while Viscaria watches

Yes, I caught that -- hence the suggestion that we head down to the river/stream, which struck me as the next most noticeable landmark described so far. Keep in mind that we're talking about a season's worth of exploration, which is a good 12 weeks. This is also why I've described Daffyd and Catrin has being part of a supply line -- this exploration is being treated more like a convoy/expedition to Asia, rather than a mountain climbing trip by a small party.

Unless you meant to imply there was some other way to get to the sister mountain besides climbing down one mountain and then up the next?

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I've already moved everyone down. Now you're ready to cross he stream (it's not high, and not an obstacle) and find some method of getting to the top. The path up is literally a footstep wide.

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We'll construct a bridge from Thera's spidersilk and local vegetation. We'll spend a bit of time on this as it's the first test of Viscaria & Thera's plans to use spidersilk for bridge construction (Craft:Spidersilk roll?).

While Thera does this, Viscaria will use ceremonially spont'd InTe spells and Burrowfingers* to shape an easier path. Vin stands guard while she does this, and the rest are encouraged to explore up- and down-stream.

Viscaria will also cast a few spont'd ReTe Craft spells at the part of the mountain nearest the stream and bridge, first carving stone blocks which leave a safe space to camp in (or, she thinks, retreat to), and then to fortify the bridge.

The Golden Chord between Viscaria and Thera make this a fairly safe, though magic-intensive plan of attack. I suspect that the mundane companions may get bored with the long ceremonial InTe, and may forge ahead. Perhaps one of them will find a cave network or something that will shorten the trip.

  • = Spells:
    In 14 + Te 15(+3) +Aura 5 + Sta 0+ AL 1+ Philo 4 = 42+die /2 = 21+ (die/2)

Miner's Keen Eye (Lvl 20, MRB 153) or similar should be able to tell what the mountain is made out of around the path, so that Viscaria can make a sound bridge/path wide enough for us to travel up safely. It would also help us locate a source of stone that we could quarry later.

Burrowfingers Pe 5 + Te 15(+3) +Aura 5 + Sta 0 = 28 + die
PeTe20 Touch, Mom, Part,
Default is 6 foot high x 10 feet wide x 45 feet long. Instead, do about 5ft wide for 90ft long.

ReTe Craft spells will be Lvl 10, Re 5 + Te 15(+3) +Aura 5 + Sta 0 = 28 + die /2.
Int 3 + Finesse (Re) 2= 5 + die

Since Viscaria can use Burrowfingers to create secure alcoves to do all this in, I'm assuming these don't count as stressful situations, but I don't recall if the sponts require a roll regardless of circumstance. How many die rolls do you want?

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The spontaneous spells cast with fatigue are always stressful, and the golden cord won't help, because it can't prevent the last botch die, only spell mastery can.

Judicious use of Burrowfingers might be useful, but it will require finesse rolls which can fail given Viscaria's finesse score, even if not stressed. Remember, Viscaria's Achilles Heal here is Finesse, along with any craft spell she works.
Building a stone bridge probably has an ease factor on Per + Finesse of 12+.

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Burrowfingers should have much smaller target numbers than Rego Craft spells, though. I'm also still trying to get a sense of scale for this project, and the targets numbers involved in everything. It is also entirely possible that the InTe spells (or PC exploration) will reveal a cavern system like on our home mountain that we can use to get up more quickly. Or it may reveal the quarry-source we need, or some other information that will divert us from this heavy handed, botch-risky process

How many InTe/Miner's Keen Eye spont rolls do you want?
How many Finesse rolls for Burrowfingers?
Just to get to the next milestone?

Theraphosa's Craft:Spidersilk roll:
Dex 3 + Craft 4 + structures specialty 1 + die 8 = 16

Finesse 12 or more, even though the bridge will already be built? We're basically talking about coating the bridge in a thick coat of mud. Hrm...it'd be easier for me to try casting "Rock to Viscid Clay" on the fly and spread it on with my hands...

invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3543144/
ReTe Craft: 1d10.open(10);1d10.open(10)+2 → [[10, 6]] = (16). Non-botch zero, successful
Finesse: 1d10.open(10);1d10.open(10)+2 → [1,2] = (3) - Rolls up on 1*
ReTe: 1d10.open(10);1d10.open(10)+2 → [4] = (4) (Unneeded, spell was cast the first time successfully)
Finesse: 1d10.open(10);1d10.open(10)+2 → [5,2] = (7) (Unneeded, spell was cast the first time successfully)

* Rolls up...another 1 * die 7 * 2 * 2 + 2= Finesse 30

(Hrm....maybe this is the moment where she really "gets" the difference between Creo rituals and Rego Craft spells, like unto the first moment one truly listens to a symphony.)

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True the ease factor is lower, but it's not without risk. I'm mainly checking for a botch here, so let's say 10 rolls to get to the spot where it's easiest to do the tribunal field.

I'm not sure what you're doing with The Miner's Keen Eye. It searches for specific minerals, doesn't give one the sense of how dangerous the rock face is. It looks like the closest Base to figure that out is Base 15: Sense all the mundane properties of a compositi object. +1 Touch +1 for part, and that's a 25th level spell, a bit outside Viscaria's range to spont as a 'sure' thing. 14+18+5=37/2=18. It's doable, but again, risky. Every one you pull off could reduce a finesse roll needed above.

Yeah, you're building a stonebridge over a stream/river, in a moment, from the materials present.
Without the spidersilk as a template, yo'd be worse off. Ease factor starts at 9: daily work of skilled artisans + 6 to do what a mundane artisan can do in a season (This might be generous or onerous, tough call to make, how long did it take to build a stone bridge back in the day? It's not very big, though.), and then -3 for Theraposa's assistance:9+6-3=12.

When she's working the magic for crafting the bridge, she hears the sound of her mother singing her a lullaby, like might have done when Visciara was a baby.

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This hasn't moved in over a week. As said in table talk, I'm closing 1222 threads down. I'll write something descriptive about what was discovered when I return after 6/20.
There's sufficient time for Viscaria to study something and get experience from this thread.

I'm calling it 5xp for everyone here.

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Sorry about that folks, the time I had allotted between heavy work loads got eaten up by the Death Flu. I had a temperature of 101.8 at one point.

Viscaria's Spring season was previously noted as being spent exploring the regio. If you're giving her an additional 5xp, she'll throw that into Finesse or Athletics (order of preference).

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Oo, that sucks. I'm glad you're feeling better, though.

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Wilhelm will put all of his in Area Lore: Regio Side.