Eve begins what she hopes in the last day's journey to Héviz. Leaving Veszprém early, she makes sure to take the small road that will run to the ferry on the northern end of Lake Balaton. When she arrives at the docks there is just one boat there that could handle her baggage. The crew seems to be busy putting some smaller items on and preparing to leave. Eve and her servant rush up to the boat calling and the crew halts. A man that must be the captain comes down. What do you want?! ( in Slavic)
Eve prods her servant, Juno, in the ribs, and gestures to the man. Juno startled will hold up a several coins, and say Boat! Us, Boat! in slavic as well, before handing the man the coins.
OOC; I made an actual servant grog. She has a slavic of 1!
Juno say Need big boat. I pay big money. She pulls out more coins. Then she says in Latin, Anyone know Latin? vaguely in the direction of the cloaked man. She finishes by repeating Big money in Slavic angling the coins so he can see.
Jane whispers from one of the boxes (Latin) We're going to end up broke. Again. How do we manage that every time we go on a trip?
Eve shoots back You spend all of it!
That stuff is important. I still don't see why we just can't press some peasants into carrying this stuff.
Peasants can't fly!
At the words of Latin the man on the bow turns and glances back. After a short while, Eve can feel something ping off her parma.
The captain continues to refuse although it is weaker and he looks back to the man in the bow.
The man in the cloak speaks. He sounds like he is used to giving commands and being obeyed. Sodalis. You are delaying my trip with your prattle. I have business to attend to in Keszthely at the far end of the lake and I do not feel like wasting time.
Eve responds before Juno can, I also need to cross the lake as well. The other boats here can't handle all of the Eve motions to her baggage "sundries. I have half a lab packed up in here! We're going in the same direction. If you could delay just a little we could share the ride and trade news to pass the time.
Should have realized he was a magus. He's definitely creepy enough. Unlike my crazy little maga. Juno whispers to Eve, smiling at the last bit and ruffling Eve's hair.
He looks at Eve a bit then gestures to the captain with a hand with an apparently thick leather gauntlet. You may take the fare Captain. Get their things on quickly.
The captain takes the money that Juno had in her hand and signals to his crew which begin to load the boat.
He walks down to the gangplank to await Eve. when she comes on he bows slightly. I am Valerian of Guernicus.
Eve curtsies, a bit awkward with her staff, but still Thank you my Sodalis. Without this I would have been late to the meeting of all the magi for the new Oppidum. Sorry about the delay. I suppose you don't have any spells to speed the boat then?
I think Oppidum is the technical name. Something about not being able to make new covenants, or covenants having different rights... Its supposed to explore some hot springs and other magic sites, and do research on the Fae. I suppose they wanted a Verdi to help enchant their items for them. Or perhaps an earth maga or someone to write reports. Anyway it seems like a comparatively quite place to work on my various projects. So what's happening in Keszthely? Assuming its not secret Tribunal business of course.
I'm a hunter of enemies of the Order. I am meeting my...friend at Keszthely. Then we will start hunting again. His words fade to a whisper Very dangerous...
He gazes south again then turns back to Eve. Who are the magi at your...what was it? Oppidum?
Eve lowers her voice "Enemies of the Order? Not some sort of infiltrators or rogue magi I hope. But someone from the outside, like the Sahirs? Not infernalists I hope..."
Eve pauses for a couple awkward seconds.
"We should probably talk about something happier, magi at the Oppidum! Laterala is the Tremere, which means she'll probably be running the place. Not sure who else will be there."
Enemies of the Order come in all shapes and sizes. The worst are the traitors and those that support their lies. They must be cut out. Like a diseased sheep in a flock.
Laterala? Hmm. I've never heard of her. There is a pause as he thinks. Do not let her run over you. The Tremere want to push their way on others rather than accept the Code. They use tricks to play with the Code and avoid judgement.
Yeah, the whole bloc voting thing. Makes it easy for them to avoid judgment for any crimes here. Still, there is corruption other places and Wizard's Wars too. There will be some problem to deal with anywhere. I'm hoping here it will be less so. If everyone just stopped in-fighting, stopped trying to get ahead by climbing over other people, the whole Order could get a lot farther. Be a lot better for everyone.
There is little that the Quaesitors can do in this Tribunal as they are servants of the Code. It was the same with the Diedne and their methods. That did not end well for them.
The last was said as if to himself.
And what of you Eve of Verdtius? What do you hope to do in this Tribunal?
I don't think another Schism would benefit anyone. In this tribunal I hope to be able to get work done, help build up my vis reserves and study. Maybe I'll learn something useful from the various research projects that should be going on here. Nothing epic, but still...
My skill at writing, my Verdi mysteries for enchanting can build up the Order. Helping to understand what we are sent to research. A little independent research project while I'm at it. You don't need to do something epic to serve the greater good. Production, research, building the Order up, building the world up adds to the greater good. If everyone just leaves the world a little bit better, puts out a little more than they consume, the future will always be brighter. If you make your way by adding to the world instead of stealing from others, you're aiding the greater good. Eve get's preachier, like she is giving a speech as that goes on. Then her voice goes back to normal.
Though that's really a side thing. The goal of my studies... sorry for being cryptic, need to keep incomplete research a secret, will leave me with quite a nice boon, and I'll be able to spread it through the rest of the Order. Think of it like a big research project. A big improvement to Hermetic Magic for everyone.