Right around Christmas, Aodhan receives a letter from his pater ((did we ever come up with a name for him? I'm assuming that he's in Loch Leglean, or is he in another Tribunal?))
Aodhan, the letter reads, I will be there soon to check on your progress on your project for the Verditius Competition.
((I have an idea for a name. Tintavius. I'd like his Pater to have faerie blood and that kind of sounds like the silly type name for one of their kind, and he is from Loch Leglean))
Aodhan had been working on the finishing touches of his lab and not paying much attention to what he was doing when he received the letter, opening it without thinking. His jaw drops and he lets go of the letter as if it burned him once he sees who it's from.
"Oh that bastard! He tricked me into reading his letter!" Aodhan snarls and then picks up the letter with a pair of tongs and lays it on the table of his lab. He regards it from several different angles, using his Arts to see if there is lingering magic on it, but knows full well that a trapped letter would be far more subtle than that. From there he leaves the letter for now and pulls out the book on Verditian cult lore, tears off a small corner of a page, and wraps the book tight in cloth and then puts it in an oiled leather pouch. From there he wakes up his ass-eared assistant and they go out to dig a hole somewhere on covenant ground ((Aodhan blindfolds himself at his laboratory)) and has the assistant lead them away in a meandering direction, where he'll bury the book a few feet down ((might need to use magic if the ground is frozen)). He'll then try to erase the memory of the location from his assistant's mind. Aodhan will know the place he buried it, but not how to get there. Aodhan will then bury the corner piece of the book under a floor stone in his Sanctum.
In Spring, rather than do actual important labwork, he'll spend the season investigating the letter for enchantments. I'll have his lab total for this in just a bit as well as what else he intends to do.
((His InVi lab total should be 25. Arranging his lab should have given him enough exposure xp to raise his Magic Theory to 5. i can't roll a die here if you'd like to please.))
He'll also see if he can speak with one of the elder magi at the Covenant for a little conference during Winter.
Aodhan doesn't find any traces of lingering magic on the letter.
((I take it it doesn't matter which one, he'll just speak with whichever one he finds first? In which case, the Cube of Destiny says it's Doineann, the weather-witch ex Misc.))
Aodhan finds her in her laboratory, a stone-ringed open air circle abutting her cottage; there is a balcony on the cottage wall over the laboratory.
As Aodhan approaches the laboratory, he notices that despite the fact that it's been lightly snowing most of the day, there's no snow within her laboratory.
When she sees him approach the stone circle on the ground, she holds up her hand and walks over to speak with him at the edge.
"Can I help you, Aodhan?"
Aodhan approaches with courtesy, taking his hat off. "Beg pardon...uh...Doineann" ((yeah it didn't matter who, he likely forgot their names already and had to ask covenfolk about them)).
"Are ye familiar with the...Magus Tintavius?" he practically has to expel the name from his mouth as if it's stuck. "He's my Pater and he's a right cantankerous bastard I can tell ye that. Well he shall be coming to visit me soon, he wishes to check on my rpogress he said. But I know him well, he's been dogging my steps and poisoning my works and reputation since I left his sanctum. I...well I mainly wanted to warn ye as one of the elders here at this covenant. There shouldn't be blood, and if there is, not much of it, truly I am no match for him. But I may be taking precautions for his visit and I hope ye don't see them as strange. But one thing I wish to warn you...do not take any gifts from him. Atually it is best not to take anything from him. He is a disciple of Himinis the Mad, possibly the strongest on the British Isles. He and his ilk specialize in making cursed items and magical traps, they are wondrous seeming, but have a terrible after effect. A magus with a strong Parma might be ok, but perhaps the covenfolk not so much." While he speaks he twists the shapeless hat into a crumpled mass and then untwists it again.
Doineann looks at Aodhan with surprise (and a touch of shock) on her face. "You're Tintavius's filius? But you seemed so...normal. Well, for a Verditius, that is. And he's coming here?
"Did he say when he would be here?"
After he answers, she continues. "Well, I trust that you'll show him the honor due your pater...and do your best to contain the damage."
Aodhan blushes even further.
"Aye Tintavius is my pater, and I thank ye for the compliment. I 've tried hard to seem normal, it is not easy considering who raised me. He's a fae blooded wizard, said his Da came from the faeries that knock on the walls in the tin mines on these isles. But aye, I will do what I can to keep him contained. I just wanted to warn ye and others. I think he shan't try much, I believe he has long term plans of mischief, but ye never can tell. Anyway, my lab is near complete and I'll be set to work soon. If ye have any desires on an item or project let me know."
He returns his hat to his head and goes back o his lab to finish.
((He has just a bit left to do before he has the lab done as outlined in the gates of Janus. From there he'll investigate the letter in Spring.))
A couple of months pass relatively quietly. February is chilly but relatively dry. What little snow falls on the paths and the pier is quickly cleared away by The Destroyer of Snow and Ice.
On a blustery Saturday afternoon in mid-February, Aodhan is startled by the sound of a sharp rapping of metal on wood at his cottage door.
"You in there, boy?" the voice of his pater bellows.
((Even though the initial results of his spontaneous magic with the letter yielded nothing he spends a season investigating the letter anyway, Tintavius will at least get him to waste some time))
Aodhan picks his way through the slightly rearranged lab, he had added several large pieces of iron in and around the sanctum and lab...though it probably wouldn't have an effect, before putting on an overcoat and opening the door.
"Pater...you came, just as your letter said." he says at the door, not really showing him in yet nor actually saying hello.
After several tense moments Aodhan finally relents. "Please, come in Pater." he steps aside and gestures into his cottage. "So, you've come to see my progress for the Contest? Well to be truthful I haven't had as much time to work on it, I've only recently been able to get my lab in somewhat working condition. The Aura here is completely inadequate, but..." he sweeps some tools and papers off of a chair at a table and gestures for his pater to sit down while he heads to the hearth to take a kettle off and start preparing some tea. "As you often said, extra work can make up for poor materials." He prepares two cups and sits down at the table with his former master.
Tintavius accepts Aodhan's invitation and enters the cottage wordlessly. As he looks around, the disdain is obvious on his face.
He sits down and watches Aodhan scuttle about, accepting the tea. He takes a sip before setting it down on the table
"And I've also said that no amount of work can make up for lack of planning. You do have plans, I take it?"
Aodhan scowls, he imagined that vulgar children had conversations like this with their parents over such trivial things as marriage. It was a conversation they'd had before, but when he was an apprentice he didn't have the courage to say how he really felt.
"Well Tintavius...let's say I have plans...to plan. There is a lot that needs to be done for this covenant. My membership depends on that, also I need to make improvements on my lab and some of the pieces within it. You remember my Vulcan's Anvil? There is still room in it for more enchantments that I wish to add. The contest...the plans for it are not my first priority. And even then...I'm just not as certain how much it will help me." he sighs, knowing that it will likely upset him. "But I will when I have the time take a look so I can make a serious entrance...or not at all."
Tintavius scowls as he moves around the room, poking at things, picking them up and examining them, either oblivious to the fact that his filius may have boobie-trapped some of the items or confident that anything Aodhan had done wouldn't be powerful enough to affect him.
"You don't see how entering the Contest, placing well will help you, boy? You don't see the benefits of being acknowledged as your lessers' superior? I'm disappointed in you. I thought you'd have a better sense of self-worth than that."
He turns and looks at Aodhan for what feels for an eternity before he finally goes to hop into a chair and settle himself comfortably.
"So...tell me what you have planned that's more important than the Verdi Competition?"
Aodhan seems to be sitting on a pin or something the way he fidgets as his master continually touches everything. He finally relaxes when he's sitting, but flinches again at the question.
"It's not that I don't see the advantages, it's just that I'm concerned a weak entrance will hurt more than help. I'll barely have the time to make something and I'll not present an item and excuses for the judges' consideration..."
Aodhan pauses as a sudden inspiration hits him. It was when Tintavius had bruskly picked up a shard of hardened clay from one of several tablets on his desk and allowed it to fall and shatter on the ground. He had a lot of debris at the moment in his sanctum, though gathered in neat piles he hadn't had the chance to dispose of yet. Aodhan's problem was that his medium was iron and gold, or gems that resisted fracturing. Weak, brittle materials had always been a pain for him, hence the debris. If only they had the resistance and malleability of gold or iron...a smile came across his lips as he started to formulate an idea.
It only occurred to him that several moments had passed while he stared into vacant space. Briefly shaking his head he turned to his Pater. "...But, as I am of course viewed as your project, in many ways, I can see how you'd want me to show something that I've learned." he stands up, getting more animated. He walks over to the small pile of shards.
"These are broken from molds I used on items I cast from tin. I have plenty more where they came from, these others were from cups I tired making." he points to the shards. "They both will likely fill a foundation as we add to the Covenant. Glassware, using it as intended, means a lot of broken glassware aye? Most of it comes from Italy, or imported at the least. And creating it ourselves would cost much vis as we'd do it over and over again. What if...what if I were to give an item the property to change the consistency of these materials? Make them like molten iron or gold? The pieces could be reformed again into one piece, then molded as one works on an anvil into whatever shape one desires? When the magic ends, it returns to its material strength and other qualities but retains the shape it was molded into? Glass sculptures! Savings from re-using these worthless shards! Why...even a mundane craftsman could be put to work once the transformation starts. Give a heap of broken shards to a journeyman smith, turn them into a mass of malleable iron and have him go to work!"
Aodhan's eyes gleam at the prospect. The item would be simple, but could have quite a lot of applications, limited mainly by the creativity of the user. That would be the selling point, a new tool for the magical craftsman's kit. With it would need demonstrations of it in use and how it could enhance items and also save on materials. It wouldn't walk and talk, but many of the Verditius he knew would love the means to pinch more value from their materials as well as assign simpler tasks to their ungifted assistants. The practicality of it might be exactly what makes it a good entrance.
((Wow, it's Friday all ready? I didn't intend to let this sit for almost a week...one, two days tops. Sorry.))
Tintavius watches Aodhan speak, with a painfully familiar bored expression on his face, as though it were an effort to pay attention to what his filius was saying.
He says nothing for a couple of minutes as he continues to look at Aodhan.
He finally nods. "It's a start," he says. "It has potential. It sounds a little Jerbiton-y," he continues with a dismissive wave of his hand, "but it's your project."
"So, how are you settling into your new home, lad?"
Aodhan mostly ignores his Pater's familiar criticism, his mood always improved when he had an idea. "Yes...the practicality will appeal to those in similar states as myself; vis and penny shy. And with skillful application of it they'll see the great craftsmanship that can be accomplished as well..."
He sits down by his desk and reaches for a stylus. "Settling in? Oh...quite well for my part. Plenty of prospects and commissions as the Covenant is rebuilt." it's Aodhan's turn to look critically at his Pater. "You're known by some here. And not necessarily for wondrous creations."
Tintavius beams. "So, my acclaim has spread even here. Tell me...do they speak my name in hushed tones or awestruck admiration?"
Aodhan frowns. "I suppose it's the same either way to ye isn't it? Let's say you're more infamous than famous Pater."
Tintavius chuckles with amusement. "Good enough."
He then gets to his feet. "Show me where I'll be staying for a couple of days. I need to rest up from my journey before I head out on the road again."
Aodhan stands up. "Well ye shall stay here in my bed, I've had it made ready for ye just as ye like it. Plenty of lumps and knots. I'll stay in my lab while ye visit. But we often take meals together, I'd like ye to join us...if ye can be civil towards my covenmates."
((Tintavius likes to have lumps of ore in his bedding, so Aodhan has saved some tin ore and scraps for his bed.))