Viscaria, lingering by the door, reminds Alexei that she, too, is from Phoenix. "The guardsmen patrolling the wall may be mundane or apparitional, but likely to speak Latin either way. Regardless, the easiest thing to do is ask the grapevine growing on the wall if it would be so kind as to announce your presence and then direct you to the nearest gate. You probably shouldn't...."
Viscaria pauses, then smiles a delicious smile. She walks across the room and begins examining something on a shelf, to ensure that Alexei cannot see Abigail's face as V speaks on. "Or rather, if you get bored while waiting for the gatesman to arrive, you could always ask the grapevine to give you a status update. They spend quite a bit of energy keeping tabs on the local events."
She tries very hard not to grin. Com 2 + Guile 2 + die roll 7 = 11
(no need to be hard-and-fast about the guile/folk ken stuff, I just wanted to give a general impression of how good she is at keeping a straight face).
Alexei quirks an eyebrow, but wizards and their covenants all had their own...character. Alexei bows before them both. "Thank you, this will be most useful. I'll leave in the morning." he says as he holds up the Arcane Connection. "Is there anything you'd like me to say or bring on your behalf?"
((Go ahead and give Alexei any message or token you might want him to pass on, I'll be moving on to the actual meet n' greet))
WIth the Arcane Connection, Alexei will gather some vis, his Rego vis, in case he needs to pay for the assistance. He also dresses in his finery and gets his talisman. In the morning after his breakfast he teleports outside the walls of Phoenix and begins to look for guards or...a talking grapevine.
"No, just the letters I already gave you." Abigail reminds him. "Ask for my father or Ettiene, although he probably won't appreciate being awakened. Roudha might be a better one to ask for, and she's the best one to recieve your gift anyway." The lilt in her voice suggests that she's not talking about The Gift, but an actual gift.
Alexei pauses. "Well I was going to bring vis as payment for the favor...but now you're mentioning a gift, and thank you by the way for mentioning it, that could have been embarassing. What kind of gift might be appropriate do you think? Is there something that he would like or expect?"
"Father and I haven't discussed this enough, but I do know that it is important for a visiting Magus to bring some sort of gift for his Hermetic hosts. It's a polite thing to do. It doesn't have to be ostentatious or even valuable, but something that shows you've given it some thought. Father is an extremely educated man, a teacher, he has begun an earnest study of Corpus, he's a linguist."
In light of what she said, Alexei felt rather silly and it showed on his face. "Oh. Silly me, of course a gift. I'm sorry I was over thinking this. But those are great suggestions. Corpus and a linguist? Perhaps I could lend a book, that might be the appropriate gift." he looks at the apprentice's master. "You're the princeps now, correct? Would I have to go to you for the lending of a book?"
((Not sure if jebrick is paying attention this this thread, if you want him to respond you need to let him know.))
"If you lend a book, it's not a gift."
"Korvin is right. Lending something is not a gift. A good quill is always a nice gift. I, of course, always give something personally made out of silver or stone. But we have no end of craftsmen here. Surely one of them will have something suitable.
"How come no one ever brings me gifts? Tria stops by unannounced all the time, and she never brings me a gift. And all those Flambeau on the way to the vote-for-a-new-guy-thing, they didn't bring us gifts either! Come to think of it, nobody ever brought me a gift at Phoenix either. On the other hand, the only Hermetic visitors we had all secretly hated us...."
((not trying to derail this with a discussion i won't be able to post much in over the next couple of days, but I would think given the value of books as has been discussed, that lending a book would be an excellent gift. We're all drooling over the offer to cstudy/copy books at Durenmar, no one said "That's BS, they should give us a book!"))
Alexei is shaking his head. "Dammit, I'm leaving tomorrow, there's no way I can give him one of our books without getting approval, and I'd be disinclined to do it anyway. And hand crafting something?" Alexei looks like he's getting more frustrated by the moment. "Thank you for the advice, I'll have to think of something. And I will of course deliver the notes." he pauses to think. "I'll see what those craftsmen might have to offer, hopefully they might have something on hand..."
((I can't go to the craftsmen link provided for some reason. But Alexei will see what they have to offer. Some things he's looking for:
High quality writing materials, not just a quil, but vellum, ink, a quil, stylus
Lab equipment; since he's studying corpus, dissection and medical tools perhaps, but any other glass or precious metal tools and equipment
If it comes down to it, Alexei has some of his own Corpus vis he'd offer. It'd be the 'uncle gives cash birthday gift' but we're in a bit of a rush here.))
((I'm unclear on what you're looking to take, exactly, if you're asking me to decide what you're going to take that's about like asking me to decide which gift Ra'am would most appreciate. It's a bit of a stretch... So, come up with what you want to offer, and explain to me why you can reasonably expect something like that to be at the covenant or accessible to Alexei. While lending a book might be considered a "gift" from your point of view, consider how it would look to ask that it be returned by a certain date and time. One shouldn't lend books with the intent of getting them back. It's one reason why I've bought 5 copies of Starship Troopers over the course of my life. Yes, they are valuable within the paradigm, but the idea that you give something with a time limit suggest it is less than a gift and more of a promise/service. Also consider that he does have [to your knowledge] an apprentice and that does have a tendency to keep him busy above and beyond his standard research.))
((I can check the link on the PC I'm on, but don't have much time at the moment. I'll go through later on and see if I can grab something specific. I saw we had wine makers, glass blowers and other fine craftsmen. Once I go through those I'll maybe make a specific request of what might be available))
((OK, headed to the link for Craftsmen, and Alexei heads directly to the Toolsmith and Glass Blower, he's unconcerned about the hour, but he'll bring pounds of his own silver, he's looking for tools for a Corpus focused lab, so surgical tools and it's always good to have fine laboratory glassware. So I don't have to undo anything I write, I'll pause here, I might be presuming too much, but he'll head for the homes/shoppes that have the proper hanging shingles that I'm looking for))
Here's what I want: I want Alexei to think and research what he's going to give as a gift and decide. If you're going to get something from someone within the Covenant, you don't need to pay them or buy the item. Ostensibly the covenant pays them. Finally, I get the sense that you're searching for me to pre-approve what you're going to give by throwing out a list of items and then asking me to select the one that will "win." What I want is for you to decide and figure out what to give. It is possible you may need to involve other players in the discussion to figure out what a good gift could be. Abigail isn't giving you good answers because she's a precocious teenager, and you're not her father or Master, and she doesn't have any personal investment in any sort of relationship with Mufarjj or even the covenant, yet.
Alexei will go to the fine tool smith. He wants a Chirurgeon's kit of excellent quality. Scalpels, forceps, clamps, specimen jars, tools that are used to extract/detect humours. Fine glassware is always a must, so jars, flasks, tubes. The goal here, mechanics-wise, is that with these tools one could possibly qualify for the spotless/superior tools for their lab, or possibly get the Corpus specialty, maybe both. I wish I had greater knowledge of the specific items that might have existed back then, but plenty of those tools are likely custom jobs in the first place.
So don't pre-approve, but let me know if this is available or not. Whether or not it will actually raise the lab depends on the lab already of course and the magus's skill. If the magus doesn't care for the gift, oh well, I'll have to figure out something after that. It's not enough equipment to make a lab, but might be enough equipment to specialize a lab. If he can get this stuff he'll be on his way. Transporting it all might be a problem, so he'd likely bring a few small things that he can teleport with, then have a list notarized by Korvin indicating the rest will be shipped to him with Alexei paying for the shipping by Redcaps. If that's OK.))
((Well...if Alexei gives a gift and it's not well received, he'd likely be embarassed, but move on; it's not the first time he's embarassed himself. From there he'd go into 'let's make a deal'. His purpose after all is to save a friend's life, his own embarassment and even another's is secondary when it comes down to it. He's using what little info he has on what this magus is supposed to be studying and figuring, 'hey this might make a decent gift'. He has like a day or so to try and come up with a gift for a total stranger before asking for a favor. This favor might be a lot or a little to ask of this person, Alexei really would have no idea, that's up to the NPC's prerogative. The other magus might think it's a heck of a deal he's getting or be insulted. Either way Alexei will deal with it.
From Alexei's perspective, if a strange Magus came out of nowhere, offered a gift of some value (Alexei would like military finery and/or weapons for example) and then the stranger said 'I have an urgent favor to ask, it may save someone's life', I doubt Alexei would throw him out or something. So if this magus responds negatively, Alexei would be confused "What, are you serious?" would likely be his response, but then as he still needs the man's help he'll find out what he wants in return and/or try to convince him. So Alexei is thinking about the gift, but with his general optimism, thinks the gift will go over fine. He's not likely thinking at all about it not being accepted, but if not..."Oh well, let's get down to business then...I have urgent need of help and will gladly compensate you for your time and effort." So in other words...Alexei and I am perfectly fine with the gift I've come up with and will deal with it if it flops.))