Tranquillina sees him start to scratch out a message, "Bitter Taste of..." but then her concentration fails.
When the Ear for Distant Voices kicks in Tranquillina can hear a voice whispering. "Better spell. There are 8 fire giants that have me locked away. The "regular" giant chief has a device that can bring you to the volcano. When you arrive, be prepared for battle. I will attempt to mount a diversion, contact me again right before your arrive to coordinate. My magic is completely ineffective against them, though. I can escape my present circumstance, but we need the device you'll use to get here to get back."
Tranquillina gasps at the unexpected information, and her concentration on the second spell lapses. She sits there, pausing in thought (probably annoyingly long), putting the pieces of the puzzle together as best she can. Whistling appreciatively, she murmurs, "That Marcus is a clever lad."
Finally acknowledging the others, Tranquillina explains. "Marcus has put himself under the effect of an old Quaesitorial spell, Bitter Taste of Betrayal, which my House helped them invent to aid in their investigations. Perhaps he will have me Marched for this particular betrayal later," she quips, "but for the moment, he was able to detect my spells and, knowing we were listening, give us valuable intelligence."
"It seems Marcus has gotten himself imprisoned in a volcano, guarded by eight fire giants. There is a device of some sort that can transport us to his place of capture, and out again; but the device is in the hands of another band of giants ... um, he called them 'regular' giants, so non-fiery I suppose. The proposed plan is to acquire this transportation device, then bespell Marcus again in warning so that he can mount a diversion as we enter, ready for a fight. I take it his Ignem prowess is of no use against his captors."
Tranquillina ponders for a moment. "I believe I can communicate a short message to him. What ought we say, other than that we understand?"
Isen is glad to know marcus is okay, and grateful for the information.
That's pretty good news. Ask him if he knows where this device can be found, or where can we find info on it. Just knowing it exists is useless to us. Also, any information on our ennemies might be good. Their number and strengths, for exemple.
...
I realize you've got no way to communicate with him. Can you spont a simple Creo Imaginem spell at this range, or do you need me to do it? Working together, I can ask questions, and you can get the answers.
Tranquillina sniffs haughtily (and much more loudly than she would in non-giant form). "I do not need anyone else to communicate with Marcus, as I believe I already said," she huffs at Isen. "But if you would prefer to spont a simple spell of your own, by all means, be my guest." She motions peremptorily towards the drake, maintaining eye contact with the blond magus.
((Don't worry Fixer, you're all good - Tranq's just a little delicate sometimes :mrgreen: ))
You would do well to speak kindly to those who offer their help, lest you turn friends into ennemies.
Now, if you're fine tiring yourself and risking twilight to cast 2 simple spells*, as you say by all means, please, do. I wouldn't dream of depriving you of this please.
I'm figuring, a CrIm base 1 at AC range, conc/diameter to create words (complexity? Dunno, don't have the books, but that's at least 1+4+1= lvl 10), plus rigth afterwards sponting again Ear for Distant Voices, since she can't just wait 2 minutes to rest between posing questions and getting answers.
Tranquillina grumbles at Isen's plan, but even an eighteen-foot-tall pouting maga can't change the fact that it makes the most sense. She touches Ignitio's tail and casts again The Ear for Distant Voices*, now ready to concentrate as best she can to maintain the spell during the "conversation". "I will repeat his words aloud immediately only if you need the answer to decide what question to next ask ... this way the spell will last as long as possible." ((Stress die is a 2; doing the same calculation yields a Penetration total of 27.))
She knows this spell formulaically. Pretty nifty, eh? Isen's point is still valid: two magi, one Dur: Conc spell each.
And how is Isen asking the question? And does his spell penetrate? He's basically creating the effect at Marcus, and it requires penetration. I'm doing this this time, I don't want to have to do it in the future.
CrIm Base 1, Create an "image" that affects a single sense (hearing). We will not do complexity
R:Arc, D:Conc, T:Ind, that's a total of 4+1=5; 5+5 (Base 1)=10
Isen's Casting Score is
(Cr 19 + Im 2 + Sta 1 + aura 12)/2=17 He has a total of 22 (43/2=21.5 which rounds to 22)
22-10+( Penetration 2 +Specialty 1)x (1+ AC 4 + name 1)= 12 + 3 * 6 = 30
The spell penetrates.
It's with the giant chief who lives in the hall where Jurgen and Captivius were being held.
"It's a long, silver chain."
((Already answered, twice.))
"Here with me? At least five. There, i couldn't tell you."
"Not that I know of."
Yeah, we'd look stupid if passing right next to it...
[/quote]
She can barely maintain concentration on one spell at the same time
But Tranquillina was giving mixed messages, sorry about that.
She faithfully relays Marcus's answers to the others present. Tranquillina's magical eavesdropping hears the quiet disembodied words Isen's spell creates at Marcus, and also Marcus's murmured replies; to her slight embarrassment, she finds herself whispering his words as well.
Falko (who was there last time) has Latin 3, so he's probably good enough to describe it. If I remember correctly:
"The approach, it is long, but there's cover of forest - most of the way, but then close to the end - palisades rise, and some sentries keep watch - and trust me, those giants don't label us 'friend'."
Falko is rather proud of keeping the whole description in dactylic metre; others might swear there started to be a hint of a melody by the end.
((Fiona turned and went back inside with the Blacksmith when the group started to leave...and she probably hasn't noticed that they never made it out of the garden. Soo....she's not there ))))
Thank you for your help.
Thinking out loud
Approaching under the forest cover is good. It leaves us at least the element of surprise. Now, there are 2 options. Stage a diversion so as to easily enter the camp, or use yet more stealth. I would favor the second option, of course. This should be possible, using a combination of Imaginem Magics and mundane stealth. We can maybe even allow to pierce the palissade at a chosen point, which should ease things even more.
To tranquillina
What do you think of it? have you some spells suitable for this? I'm thinking that we could take some prop, and use Creo Imaginem magics to give it the look and feel of that medaillon once we find it. That way, we won't alter the giants, nor will we have them coming after us for it. That is, of course, assuming we manage to steal it without being detected.
Now, fiona, where is that girl? We go of on a rescue mission, and first thing she does is dissapear on us?
He was so focused on the search for informations that he didn't even notice fiona wandering of
Happy that this dangerous mage is not only on her side but asking her to weigh in on potential plans, Tranquillina ponders her capabilities. "Being this size negates many of my spells ... but I believe I could still render myself invisible, for example. And yes, I could create an illusion of the silver chain to leave in place of the real thing, if it came to that - I am sure you could as well."
She thinks a little bit more. "If we did want to incorporate stealth all the way through the plan - perhaps in concert with a diversion, as you say - it might be better if I returned myself to normal size. That way I could use my spells of instant transportation, for example. Of course, it would greatly increase my danger, were a giant to actually assail me."
((If I didn't write this before, Tranquillina definitely picks up an Arcane connection to outside the Blacksmith's house - a Magic rock or some such.))
I'm quite tempted to be stealthy all the way. Yet, this might be difficult to do. I don't know the place. If it ain't possible, it might be better for us to look at giants, but with different appearances.
For exemple, if I cast on myself the illusion of an old giantess, they might search me if I am spotted, but not her.
So we could, for exemple, do most of the travel as giantess, come back to our normal size near the camp, which will make us harder to spot, infiltrate it under the cover of the night and invisibility, steal the chain, and replace it by an illusion. Using translocation to enter and escape the camp being, as you notice, a good idea.
(Isen will do the same, although he sure hopes he won't have to abandon the grogs)
"Is the installation we seek to infiltrate a simple residence, or a war camp?" Tranquillina poses. "If the latter, the giants would probably search anyone, even a friendly-looking giantess."
[size=90]"In fact, if she were too friendly looking, they might search her all the more eagerly," Falko mutters to Jehanne, who laughs far more loudly than appropriate. Falko shrinks back under Tranquillina's glare, although Jehanne seems oblivious.[/size]
"I wish I could transport the entire group at once," the maga laments; "then we could sneak one person in for an Arcane Connection, and return suddenly in force. But I fear I am not strong enough, even if we were all normal-sized."
((Looking at his character sheet, I think Isen could ceremonially spont a spell that teleported a normal-sized group 50 paces to an Arcane Connection location. But without the ceremony, it would be a long shot - so how would we get out?))
"Perhaps we need to make the main choice: stealth, or force, to get to the chain we need? If by force, then the forest itself will probably provide enough cover on the way." Tranquillina knows which option she is more suited for ... but having several enlarged soldiers around puts the other option within the realm of possibility, at least.
Oh, I didn't intend us to enter the camp openly. More sneakily, under the cover of night and magic. The Giant look is for travel.
Have no regrets. When infiltrating the camp, the less we are, the better, if we are to be sneaky.
In fact... I think sending a grog in might do the trick. With any luck, we can bind his image and voice to an item we'll keep, thus allowing us to see and hear him while he'll be invisible and inaudible to the giants. And if we take an AC to him, we can come to his rescue if need be.
I'm in the mind that open, direct confrontation should be avoided if possible, unless you is sure to win. And even then. All kind of things can happen in a battle, and you can never be sure to get out of it alive, or that your ennemy doesn't have some hidden trick. My master... He's more the backstabbing kind, yet I can't fault his effectiveness.
We don't know how many giants there are at this camp, nor their strenghts, nor if they can muster reinforcments or alert people we would not want knowing we're here. So I say we try stealth, and resort on force if it fails.
))))