Paolo goes above decks and resumes his watch, but to do so, he has to close the door a ways and shimmy through, which isn't all that tough for him.
"Captain... There is one task aboard ship you have not yet undertaken. If you'd like, I could tie you up again... She speaks in Latin for a moment and conjures a coil of what appears to be sturdy vine. "Or we could have a bit of role reversal, if you'd like." She grins lasciviously.
(( Tearlach is oddly resistant to the idea, and his player isn't quite sure why. Give me a bit to have a heart-to-heart chat with him, please? I'll post when I'm done. 
))
((Ohh...that could be interesting, too! And I actually kind of hoped for/expected a no.
Curse of Venus
))
(( I thought Curse of Venus was more towards romantic relationships, not casual liaisons. Want to let me know in more detail why you hoped for a 'no'? Were you thinking about Talia as the pursuer and Tearlach as the pursued, or the other way around?))
((It has two forms. The character falls for the wrong kind of person, and you attract the kind of person you do not wish to attract. It is perhaps, the one way he can hold some measure of power of Talia, and still hold her respect.))
"That is a very tempting offer, commodore. Very tempting indeed." Tearlach's eyes narrow a bit. "Especially the second part." His own proclivities run heavily in that direction -- he can't quite keep his voice from dropping into a husky, dominating growl on the last sentence.
"But... I can't help but feel it'd be a bad idea. It'd change the relationship between us, and not for the better." He's lived with Curse of Venus for a while -- that's experience talking, his relationships always go haywire. "And the effects on the crew..." Tearlach frowns unhappily. "Look, I've served with a lot of different captains. Been a captain myself for quite a while, tried all sorts of ways to run a ship. And what I've found works best is if the captain stands somewhat apart. Captain's not anyone's friend. Captain don't play favorites. Captain's not like the rest of us. Captain's shit don't stink." He shrugs. "I got feet of clay just like they do, but they ain't supposed to ever see that. And if I take ye up on yer offer, it'd undermine what I'm doing." It would undermine the image he's trying to project, but he can't phrase it that eloquently.
"I hope that don't offend ye, commodore. Perhaps later... once we've gotten used to each other, once the crew's shaken down. But not now. I'm sorry."
(( Jeez. First Stultus, now Tearlach... my characters seem bound and determined to not get any. 
Although to be fair, Stultus' reasons are very different. ))
"I would appreciate honest and candor than dissembling. While it wasn't a question, all I needed was a simple yes or no. Or a yes followed by a yes or a no. Consider yourself lucky that you have a bit more to offer me than the rest of the crew does. Dismissed."
For the remainder of the cruise, she doesn't bother wearing clothes, and further, oils her skin so there is a pleasant sheen on her at all times. CrAq Base 2:create a natural liquid, R: Per, D:Sun, T:Ind for a total level of 4. Her CT is 16 +2 +2=20/5=4.
Tearlach mentally calls himself three different kinds of idiot, turns on his heel, and makes his exit. As the voyage goes on, and Talia wanders starkers about the deck, the thought recurs frequently, and the number of different kinds of idiot he calls himself grows steadily larger.
((She told you she was a tougher bitch.))
Tintavius frequently asks if she wants any help spreading the oil, and spends a lot of time in his bunk.
"It is self spreading, like your ass. Thank you, but no." ((No good can come from this, I'm sure.))
((That she did. Of course, Tearlach is a fairly tough bastard in his own way, too. Irresistible force, immovable object, incoming paradox.))
((This could like Moonlighting, although I never really watched it, but am aware or am told that it fell apart when Bruce Willis's character and Cybil Shephard's character got together. Or it could be like Castle, where, even over the course of this past year, I think the way that they are keeping the relationship between Castle and Beckett going is pretty clever, and I'm always interested to see which one one-up's the other. Now that Caskett has been consummated, I'm fine with it, before I was up in the air and nervous about a consummated relationship being executed well, because it's very hard to do.))
(( Yeah, Castle did it really well -- I've seen a lot of shows that stumbled when a relationship got consummated because the sexual tension wasn't there anymore. In most cases the writers try to fix it by breaking the characters up and f*** up the entire show as a result. Caskett avoided that trap rather neatly.))
So, I'm assuming we arrive back to Inverness. Can Talia cast the spell that changes the shape of her ship relatively close to Inverness, but outside of a Divine aura? Her InVi is a total of 9 without the aura (9/5=1.8, rounds up to 2, right?), so she could determine that there is no aura or if her CT is high enough, other auras. Would she know if her spell fizzled, or would she just get the sense of no aura?
((Yeah, there's not a problem getting back home. Anyone want to do anything else in this thread before we officially wrap it up?))
I just need to actually cast the spell... I mean a botch could be fun!
As close to the River Ness as they can get, Talia prepares her ritual for changing the shape of the ship to have a flatter bottom. "Captain, I'll be relieving you until we make passage to the loch, and the spell has expired. After that, we'll continue on to the covenant. Once I'm docked, you can take the rigging, sails and anchor and equip the other ship in the sheltered cove my men have beached her."
She'll then prepare for the Ceremonial casting to lift the ship a few feet higher, to avoid running aground.
The level is 25, as discussed elsewhere, and also for the Hull of Unbreakable Iron need to have a size +3 component. Base 3: R:Touch, D:Sun, T:Ind Size+3 is a total level of 25. Talia's Casting Score in 1224 is Rego 6 + Herbam 10 +Sta 2 + Artes Liberales 2 + Focus 6 +20 Vis (using 10 pawns of Herbam, as before) =46.
And the die roll is... a 1, (Woot!) followed by a 7. For a total of 60/2=30.
I'll update Talia's Herbam vis accordingly.
She'll comment to no one in particular, "I don't know why more magi don't use vis to power their spells. It makes it so much easier."
She'll direct the crew to make their way upriver, and will use any of her formulaics as necessary to complete the journey. Wonder if Aodhan will comment on her "wasting" of vis...
Aodhan: 8 xp, 1 Confidence Point
Tearlach: 3 xp.
Talia: 8 xp, 1 Confidence Point
Leadership 2xp
OoH Lore 1xp
A Spell of Fair Wind Mastery, 5xp; Still Casting chosen.
5 XP in Verditian Cult Lore
3 XP in Magic Theory