PeCo, Target:Part will work on just about any Body.
Thomas considers this for a long moment. "Ah, it begins to become more opaque to me. You believe that someone has left, and so, in a sense, their cottage is up for grabs. Yet, my concern is that someone has already moved into this Mac Ossian Witch's Hut, and what's more, I'm worried that this witch is me.
"Now, you have seen for yourselves that food here is plentiful, but this is only because of the hard work of I and my sodales (well, truthfully, just them -- I have avoided hard work all my life --hey!). Do you intend to raid our foodstocks over the winter, or do you wish to join us in raiding others for theirs, and join in our feasts as brothers?"
((Premonitions roll autosucceed: Imagining what his new bride will have to say about that sort of agreement))
"If we have to," the larger one says. The smaller one thumps him in the arm, then grabs him and pulls him a few steps away. They whisper to each other for a minute, occasionally looking back at Thomas.
"You wait here<" the smaller one calls out. "We're gonna go talk to Sloane, see what he says about your deal."
The two trot over to the main pack of giants. After a few minutes, the larger of the two returns, accompanied by one who's even bigger and uglier than him.
"Davy tells me you have a deal for us," the larger one says. "He says you and the other wizards want to raid with us, and feast with us. Is this true?"
"Well, some people say that you're either With Us, or Against Us, and I want to know if you think that has to be true in this case." says Thomas, hedging his bet.
"Of course," he adds cautiously. "As wizards, we prefer to only raid other wizards. More sporting, is the rather vapid logic applied there, I believe."
"If'n you're not with us," the larger one (Sloane?) says, "then I guess we'd have no problem taking your things if we needed them...except fer yer lot being witches and all."
He scratches his head vigorously as he speaks, then pauses to look at something stuck under his fingernail, and cleans the nail with his teeth.
"Of course, if'n you are with us, that makes it easier for us, and you, to take what we need from the others. And since Angus don't have his witch anymore..." He grins, showing off all his crooked teeth.
"Is Angus on Our Team?" asks Thomas, quite pleased to have discovered he's surrounded by allies, and not Giant Man-Eating Cannibals.
It occurs to Thomas that Giant Cannibals would eat other Giants, and not wizards. He opens his mouth to discuss this point, and then wisely decides to save the discussion for someone more likely to see the nuances of it.
Sloane gives Thomas an "are you a total idiot?" look. "O'course not!" he says. "If we were on the same team, would I be happy he lost his bloody witch? Angus is mac Ossian. We are mac Fingal. And there's a few other clans around, too, but they don't count for nothin'."
Thomas seems stumped by this. He feels like there is something important that he should know that he has neither previously scryed, seen in a vision, or had a Premonition about. He's not entirely sure that information beyond those three categories even exist, but this definitely has that "you're about to screw up royally for not knowing all the facts" smell about it.
"Well, our team only raids other wizards. No fun otherwise. I think that covers everything I needed to check just now. Did you have anything?"
(I'm waiting for Amul here, as Trimalchio's limited grasp of gaelic means he can't follow the conversation, and no non-violent solution springs to mind at the moment).
Basically, when Trimalchio was taking three turns to analyze the giants. The alarm has rung back at the covenant, per his orders. But nothing between that point and here has happened.))
Talia and Paolo will respond to the alarm. Paolo is what he is at saga start and has not advanced at all. Do we have a framework for advancing grogs year over year?
Wealthy characters get 20 xp per year, plus Adventure. Poor characters get 10 xp per year, plus Adventure. Everyone else who doesn't do Seasonal Advancement gets 15 xp per year plus Adventure.
Alright, I basically directed Paolo as Talia, to learn Scots Gaelic, that's his job, learn stuff she doesn't want to have to learn. He now has an Ability score of 4, and can hold a decent conversation and also translate for the maga and magus present.
So Talia and Paolo come to check out what's going on... Talia wonders how things could work... She's probably wearing a real cloak, with invisible clothing, underneath.
((Plus, you get 2 xp in Exposure to Gaelic in every season you don't take exposure from something else.))
The giants are in one of the pastures, apparently setting up camp. They're pitching tents and have a couple of cooking fires going. There are a handful of giants (men) arguing, but they're too far away for Talia and Saul to make out what they're saying...or even what language they're speaking.
Paolo is like short... ~4'5 (Small Frame), which is useful when climbing the rigging...
"Hail, Giants." Does Paolo know anything about this land, is it widely considered to belong to either the local laird or Insula Canaria? An Area Lore: Insula Canaria (history) total of 12 or 13, (13 if the specialty applies).
((I looked to see if there'd be anything different between when Thomas came and when Talia did, and realized that there really wasn't, so I mostly copied what was said before, just 'cause.))
((Is that what she calls it? ))
((Insula Canaria technically sits on lands belonging to Nevin Mac-an-Toisich (a known cannibal), but to the best of Paolo's knowledge, Mac-an-Toisich hasn't tried to exert any influence over the covenant. In fact, about a year ago, he sought the magi's aid in a murder that happened in these woods.))
Two of the three giants turn to look at Paolo (the third was already more or less facing his direction). "Hey, look...a snack!" one says.
The other backhands him in the chest. "Hey, fartass, we're not supposed to piss them off, remember? I think eating one of them would piss them off."
"Never heard of a joke, jerk?" the first one shoots back before looking down at Paolo. "Whadaya want?"
Talia is staying close to Paolo. Just watching everything that's going on, paying attention to as much as possible. For the heck of it...an Awareness check of 8.
She's looking as witchy as she can. Whether that's flinging a bit of spontaneous fire from her finger tips CS of (13+3+14+2+Aura)/5/2 =3) or doing something else. She's ill-suited to combat, but maybe looking the part might help. A guile check of 8.
Assuming there is opportunity for Paolo to translate what's going on to Talia... she'll tell him to say...
"My maga Talia is inquiring as to the reason for your presence and attempting to setup a camp in these lands." ((That's actually as much as I'm going to do as Talia, and will hand over Paolo to darkwing so he can handle the interaction. Talia is going to be a wallflower here.))
))
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