[color=brown]Not without magical assistance. the enchanted rein I use, the horse I am leading is wearing it. If I were to take it off while it is burdened, he might freak out. Do you have a skilled animal handler? Perhaps we could transfer the rein.
My primary concern is the state of my men. But if you suggest splitting up, we can send the injured on to the covenant and we can investigate. Not much to salvage. The glassware is broken, but I'd like to recover my trunk of junk. And catch the bastards who did this...
Jacques thinks for a bit then speaks to the crow and it flies off to the north. Then he shouts commands in french to mount up.
I think it is still best to travel as a group even though our return to Mons Electi will take longer. I would not put it past Rotgiers to pick off a smaller group.
I only just now realized the switch from JL to Jebric 
anyway...[color=brown]That much of a rat bastard, eh? I doubt he'd openly violate his oath, but he might try something stupid against mundanes unescorted. I almost want to trap him so I have a good excuse to kick his ass. Let us head to Mons Electi. I can check on the wreckage myself later. And if I am lucky, I'll get into a fight.
The Code in this Tribunal would allow such an attack as it did not deprive us of our magic. Were we able to prove that your wagon was attacked by a mage and have proof then we would have something as they effected your magic by destroying your lab supplies. My men are irregulars. They fight dismounted and better in cover. Without magical help, they would not stand up to a straight fight with Rotgiers men.
Pecess will look ahead for us to make sure there is no ambush.
((I gave JL a suggestion and was told to run with it. Give him more time to [strike]torture[/strike]make up stories for the others .))
There is no sign of danger, and Allen's positively giddy, with the weight of imminent death having been lifted from his shoulders.
Two choices with the wagon, go back to it with evereyone and recover as much as possible or leave it and hope for the best. My general sense is that nothing valuable is left (undamaged).
I'm guessing that we would go back to it as a group and find that there is nothing of value to recover then head back to Mons Electi. Korvin can set the broken arm and put him in the Bed of Rapid Convolesence
[color=brown]No, leave it. All that is left of useful value are things that can be easilly replaced. I will head back to see if I can recover my extra shield and hatchet and rope and bullshit later. Get Pedro some medical attention. I set the break with a spell, but if you have better means available then please, my graditude sir. That man's hammer arm is worth a kingdom!
Pedro grunts in Spanish. Hrn... I ain't no princess puto. I hammer my right. Broke the left. Just tie a shield it. Had worse before.
Roberto smiles. 
[color=brown]And he's my friend. I would fight to the death at the side of any of my men, and avenge them if they fell before me. But those two, (points at Pedro & Carlos) [color=brown] if they meet foul play at the hands of another magus, I'll fckuing murder the wizard. Code or no Code. A Wizard War will just give him warning.
On to Mons Electi. I'll come back out latter tonight.
So, are we at the end of the thread or do you guys wanna do more with it? I am fine either way. We can move on to the next one, or I can play games with these jerks I met along the way. I would like to see what junk I can recover, and hopefully grab some evidence of what happened to the wheels.
((Going back to the wagon...a short council meeting?))
Excellent then. After we get to the covenant and have supper, Roberto will head out at night. He will ask if any wish to acompant him.
I will lay out details later, giving Jebric and others a chance to respond.
Roberto takes a light supper as he discusses his plan with Jaques.
[color=brown]I will head out after dark, taking two men with me. Mr. Giddy here (Allen) needs to learn to enjoy danger. I also want to get more feild experience with him and Alberto. If the trunk is still there, I will empty it out and load it on my horse. one of the others can lead it while I follow close behind using Wizard's Leap. Mostly what I want to grab is the broken pieces off the axel that seem bespelled to have broken. Perhaps some vetigial traces of magic and a sigil can be discerned by one more skilled than I. And if you would like to help, I have a plan. Follow me out a little ways, then have your men fan out around a wide perimiter. On our return trip, as I follow behind stelthfully. It is my hope to draw out any bandits and trap them in a snare. Each of my guys will share my Parma, and carry a pawn of my vis.
Do you want a perimeter around the wagon or perhaps on the way back to Mons Electi? I know several good places for an ambush.
[color=brown]Your help and knowledge are greatly appreciated. I was thinking of a wide circle around the men as they return from the wagon. I will act as rear guard. Securing ambush points is a great idea. The two men are to seem as if they are alone. Bait for the trap. Your guys, they are escorting from a distance. On the return trip, the circle gradually closes until they get back to the point where we originally fanned out. Then we just go home.
And actually, I hope to not run into trouble. But I expect it, prepare for it, and intend to end it. If nothing happens, it is good exercise and is the start of our familiarizing ourselves with each other. My soldiers can learn much from yours and likewise they in return.
Similar styles. I've been infantry since I was ten years old. All of us are veterans. In Spanish, the term is Almogavar. Gurella warfare is our specialty, often pitted against callvary. Most of us fought at Las Navas. Allen is my local boy. He saw some serious $h!+ in some of the local wars between the French and English. Mr. Giddy he may be, but he has lived while immersed in danger from all sides, and seems to have a good sense of martial situations. That's why I want him in the decoy group. He is cautious and won't screw around, and can signal when there is danger present as soon as he senses it. A code, such as a boisterous loud laugh at a pretended joke. I will be ever close at hand and can leap into the fray in an instant.
A note on how Roberto pans to utilize Wizard's Leap. He will have an AC to each guy and will remain out of sight but within the range of being able to hear them. Roberto has the spell mastered at a score of 3. Even if you hit me with every *Form as a Casting Requisite my CT is at least 13. Stalwart castin insures I will not loose Fatigue, and Mastery prevents botching. I can doo this all day . Other Mastery abilities are Fast Cast and Precision. I can react the moment I hear a shout and land with grace.
*I myself do not enforce Casting Requisites for your cloting and personal posessions, presuming your stuff is "carried" with you. Otherwise it leads to embarassing situations such as a maga stripping naked to cast Leap of Homcoming. I apply requisites if you are carrying an extra burden, such as a sack or box.
Oh, and the decoy pair are each carrying a pawn of my vis so that they count as mystical resources (or couriers thereof).
((I am not using casting requisites in this saga for any of the ReCo transport spells: it's a High Fantasy kind of saga, and isn't appropriate. Over in Via Experimenta, we are using casting requisites for Leaps. Wizard's Leap is such a low level that almost everyone can cast it successfully, despite requisites, on average. 
Stalwart mastery just makes it so, so if you'd rather have a different mastery option, that's fine. Requisites might apply if you're carrying something ridiculously large, such as another person, and it's an SG call [don't abuse it and I don't have to make the call! ].))
Ultimately, arrival back at the wagon is straightforward and easy, no ambushes are triggered. When they arrive they can clearly see that the wagon has been torched. Chests with the broken lab equipment are carefully stacked away from the remains of the torched wagon, and are conspicuous in their appearance, somehow. Any other items considered necessary for a magus to work magic are also there, next to the chests, whether they are broken or not.
I investigate. Is the junk-trung still there? Am I to presume the larger gear is gone. The lab item trunks, were they opened? The burnt wreckage, any salvagable evidence? Metal pieced of the axel? Or is is melted from intense heat such as if the fire were the result of an Ignem spell? Traces of magic in the ash?
I spont InIg5 Tales of the Ashes. With a base CT of +18 and spending a fatigue, I am successful unless I botch. I know what the object originally was. I want to know how and when it was burned. If I can discern it was an Ignem spell, I gather evidence (a charred piece of wood that was obviously struck by a PoF).
This was obviously perpetrated by someone operating according to the Hermetic bandit laws. I wanna find out if a magus was directly involved, and if so, who. I plan to prosecute or persecute the bastard. He broke my lab equipment. And broke the arm of my blacksmith who crafts items for me to enchant, a man who has been like an older brother to me for nearly half my life.
Follow up comment: Stalwartis also good for absorbing the penalties for varying Words & Gestures. In combat, holding sword & shield, would incurr a -5 No Gestures penalty. There is also a myriad of other penalties to consider in a variety of situations.
Follow up Question: How good of a blacksmith is Pedro anyway? I don't have C&G. What bonuses can he achieve when forging or reforging a sword?
Roberto doesn't botch Tales of the Ashes. However, this spell isn't very useful, as it just lets you see what was burned and when it was burned. Of course, Roberto knows that what was burned, the wagon and any contents on it. And the timing is within the last few hours. The ashes don't seem to bear any trace of a sigil, due to anything that can be observed from the ash (to know more requires InVi, probably well beyond Roberto's Arts).
It appears that all of the chests had been opened, and anything deemed to be of Hermetic utility was stacked neatly in one spot. In fact, upon closer examination there is a circle of stones placed around the trunks. Looking around for bits of metal, the tires of all the wheels are gone, the only bits of metal remaining are those used in the construction of the wagon itself.
But how was it burned? Not hard evidence, I know. But was it doused in oil and torched? Blast marks? Kindling?
Anyways, we load up and head back, using the plan I detailed earlier. Though this prooves little, it tells me much.
((For some reason, when I first read Tales of the Ashes I completely missed the how part of the spell, which didn't make sense, and I probably should have gone with my gut, rather than what I thought I read... ))
The wagon was lit on fire with a torch, a bit of oil was used to help it get a nice burn going.
Less flamboyant than I would have done
Now for step two, Al & Al go on ahead of me leading my horse. I follow close behind with Wizard's Leap. I do so without using words, so my CT is +7 (17 minus 10). With Stalwart Mastery, no danger of fatigue loss.
We do this all the way back home.
Did they take the junk trunk?
I'm not sure of the significance of the junk trunk, can you clear it up?