You do not find any vis.
Why is this exposure experience and not practice (Travel) experience giving area lore?
Also how hard was the action? I had a fairly good check... and Anastasia is kind of skilled (well, not with area lore, but Per+AL+ML, yes). Just to put things in perspective, there are two magi out of five in the covenant that couldn't have achieved a better check with the -3 penalty (assuming a simple die). Does she realize partway in the season that she needs a local guide to even have a chance of succeeding? Did she find any sites that she believes should be looked at in another season for a seasonal yield?
It is exposure experience because she is doing work looking for the vis instead of just exploring, the same way you get exposure instead of practice if you try and make something and fail. The task of finding vis can be very difficult because depending on the circumstance you may be looking for something that does not exist (to be clear, there is with this method always a chance that some pocket of vis has randomly occurred anywhere you check). The -3 penalty is because another person performed the exact same search last winter, who also found nothing. You are always allowed to try and find something, you are not guaranteed there is something there to find.
Ah crap. I completely missed Schwartz had picked that same season last year.
I'm looking to discuss this spell which is inspired by Thoughts within Babble (AM5 p.149) but using a more powerful guideline.
InMe 35
The Gift of Vé
R: Per, D: Diam, T: Hearing
This spell is named after Odin's brother, Vé, who gave the first human couple countenance, speech, hearing and sight. While this spell is active, the caster may communicate as well as the first humans could, and will understand the language of any being within earshot, as well as be able to address them in their native language, whatever it may be. The caster will also understand slang, dialects and understand what low level speakers intended to convey, on top of what they actually said. A perception stress roll may be appropriate in difficult situations, such as if several conversations in different languages are going on at once.
Base 15, +1 Diam, +3 Hearing
This seems to blend 2 related level 15 guidelines that are similar bur still distinct- read surface thoughts (understand what they intended to convey) and speak with any human (address them in their native language). In principle a spell should only be able to have one effect, but these are close enough together that I think it makes sense if you add one magnitude.
I think I'd like to avoid going up an extra magnitude at this point. So I'll drop the nuanced understanding that is in thoughts within babble. How's this version?
InMe 35
The Gift of Vé
R: Per, D: Diam, T: Hearing
This spell is named after Odin's brother, Vé, who gave the first human couple countenance, speech, hearing and sight. While this spell is active, the caster may communicate as well as the first humans could, before languages evolved. As a result, he may speak fluently with any human within earshot. This spell does not convey the ability to read and write.
Base 15, +1 Diam, +3 Hearing
That works
Anastasia has been updated to Winter 1230.
Updated to Spring 1231.