Calpurnia sighs. "I believe that is the best one available. One of us, possibly me, can make it a priority to learn a more powerful version for next year." Calpurnia opens the purse she had, and pulls out four metal rings. They are nothing more than unadorned metal wire. She offers them to Thyra.
"Can we begin? This should be sufficient."
@Trogdor, you are correct about the need for appropriate lore to have enough knowledge for your characters to attempt a roll and to come to any conclusion.
I wasn't sure if Magic Lore or Faerie Lore was appropriate, Hugin and Munin being creatures of the Magic or Faerie Realms (depending on who you ask).
(Bartholomeus has some Magic Lore, though no Faerie Lore. Int 5 + Magic Lore 2 + specialty in creatures 1 + die roll 8 = 16.)
Contemplating upon the ravens, Bartholomeus can say that these ravens did seem to be epitomes of their species. However, that can be true of Faeries or Magical creatures. It is also true that ravens are often familiars to magi, but sadly, without a more direct examination, he can't confirm if these were faerie or magical creatures, but he can be sure that they were supernatural creatures, at the least.
With that, the magi have pretty much gleaned all of what they can from what has transpired with the ravens. I need to know if the magi setup the Aegis immediate after the ravens have flown off or if they take some time. I need to know the parameters of the Aegis, and a description of the bounded area. It makes no difference to me if the boundary is already in place, or if the troupe wants to spend some period of time to create the Aegis boundary, it merely informs me of how I need to shape the next bit of the story.
(OOC: Those who recently weighted in seemed to be in favour of casting the Aegis right away. The area covered would be such to fit the palissade shown in the most recent map here, with a boundary drawn up for this if necessary.)
We have a boundary as Thyra moved rocks/stone to forming it. We were then checking to make sure no critters were in there.
Thyra will cast it once we are ready.
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It would appear that Thyra is waiting for someone to check the grounds and give her the all clear while she prepares herself to cast the Aegis ritual. After a few minutes of preparation, she looks at the magi and putative covenfolk raising an eye at them, as if asking them, "What are you waiting for, be about the searching already?" (OOC: There's been plenty of opportunity for jebrick to roll, and it hasn't happened, yet. So I'm reading this as a demurral on Thyra's part, that she needs to be convinced that the boundary area is clear. No one has yet taken any actions [made rolls with applicable abilities or spells] to search the area. So, someone can convince her that it's clear, with opposed rolls of appropriate communication or presence abilities, the grounds can actually be searched in her presence, someone could fake searching the grounds and sell the idea that it's all clear to her. Faking the search of the grounds will take as much time as an actual search of the grounds, so there is little benefit, except a role-play one for an under-handed type, but it will need to be sold with an opposed guile-intrigue roll. Note, I'll take all of these factors into account in determining botch dice, when the spell casting roll is made.)
I can't roll while at work 
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Someone, not me, can roll on your behalf, if you'd like or you can do it in the evening (was expecting that yesterday evening, so I thought the lack of a roll was mainly an RP thing).
Just to clarify, what is there to search? Based on your description, we have a manor house. (New? Abandoned? In poor repair?) Are there any existing outbuildings? I'm assuming the rest is pretty much open ground, with perhaps some scrub. Is that accurate?
Based on my understanding, the following spell should be possible:
Sense the Presence of People
InCo 20
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Structure
This spell allows the caster to instantly detect whether there are any people present in a structure, and if so, where.
(Base 4, +1 Touch, +3 Structure)
This is based on the guideline "sense very general information about a body" (i.e., its presence and its location). Clearly, if any hiding people had magic resistance, it would have to penetrate.
Galan intends to cast this spell on the manor house. (And possible elsewhere if there are other buildings.) Please let me know if it's not a valid spell.
Assuming it is a valid spell, here's my roll:
CT = [stress die + 8 (In) + 22 (Co) + 1 (Sta) + 3 (talisman) + 5 (Aura)]/2 = [stress die + 39]/2
CT = (Spontaneous spell: 1D10+39 = [6]+39 = 45)/2
CT = 23
Also, Galan will check out the area (including the building) with his Mark I eyeballs. That's presumably an Awareness(search) check:
Roll = stress die + 2 (Awareness) + 1 (Perception) = Awareness check: 1D10+3 = [2]+3 = 5
I'm assuming a stress die in case there's something hiding. I'm also guessing that with that roll he didn't find anything. 
I'll do an IC post when I get the results of my rolls.
Anyone can roll for me. I posted my casting total(39) on the previous page.
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Galan's spell allows him to sense only the people he expects to already be within the house. (Vague wording is vague, because I don't know the condition of the manor house, and staff. I'd said previously that the manor can be new/rebuilt, and have some staff there, too, I think. It's entirely up to you guys. I don't care to have the magi wait another season or two before they can get to work even building their labs, but maybe you want your magi to rough it for a bit. Looks like your penetration is sufficient to identify magic might 6 beings and below, correct me if I'm wrong 3 over the spell level, plus penetration 3, plus corpus specialty of 1. It would also work against faeries with a faerie might 9 or less.)
Galan turns away from the house, having given it a once-over both physically and magically. "I didn't see anyone or anything in the house or around it," he says. "And I checked magically for signs of people, just in case. No sign of anyone but the grogs. Of course, I doubt I would have penetrated much in the way of magic resistance. So anything with any significant magical might would have remained hidden. And, alas, my training in Animal is not sufficient for me to try the same thing to look for stray animals. But at least we can be reasonably certain no people are hiding out in the house."
[hr][/hr]
Also, Apollonius will look around as well to see if he can find anything hiding.
Awareness check = Stress Die + 4 (Awareness) + 2 (Per) = Awareness check: 1D10+6 = [9]+6 = 15
That would be a 16 if there's a rodent hiding, because that's his specialty.
And here's Thyra's casting roll:
Aegis Casting: 1D10+39 = [1]+39 = 40
Multiplier: 1D10 = [8] = 8
CT = 16 + 39 = 55
You don't really need that extra penetration, since the Aegis is only level 20. But there it is.
All Apollonius can find is a dewdrop fairy, which quickly scampers away. He could hunt it down, but then he'd have to eat it. And most fairies leave an unpleasant taste in his mouth. (Trogdor, I'm not seeing that you have an empowered bond, nor do I actually see the cords selected, or the bond strength for the familiar listed anywhere, except +2 Bronze Cord noted on your aging rolls. Please include the bond score and cord levels on your main sheet. It appears that the only way to relay this information is to fly back and tell you verbally.) Eventually the fairy is dealt with, whether by bargain or by driving it from the grounds and the Aegis is cast.
For the next ten days, the magi begin the task of setting up their labs, while holding council meetings to determine and divide up the tasks related to setting up a new covenant. It's a rather hectic time, and no one at the covenant is bored, except, perhaps for the guards stationed at the bridge into the covenant's protected area. A runner comes up to the manor house and announces that three figures clad in grey hooded cloaks have come to the covenant. One of them spoke in what was apparently Hermetic Latin, which one of the guards recognized for what it was, and requested hospitality and an opportunity to meet with the magi.
I've corrected the familiar post on galen's thread to reflect the bond scores and instilled powers.
I know one of the things we needed to do was have someone cast a couple Conjure the Mystic Tower spells. I think it was Thyra who was going to do that. If memory serves, it was also Thyra and Galan who were going to set up their labs in the towers. Once those rituals are cast, I'll deduct the vis from my sheet.
[hr][/hr]
Galan works hard during these days, taking upon himself much of the interaction between the magi and the grogs. Despite the fact that most of the grogs are used to magi, he knows that they'll still have an easier time dealing with a gentle-Gifted magus than one with a standard GIft or, heaven help them, a blatant Gift. His efforts are hampered somewhat in his need to keep two ten year old boys out of trouble, however. With matters in flux, the boys have no set schedule and no regular tasks to keep them occupied. Instead, Galan tries to find ad hoc duties related to settling in that the boys can assist with, and which won't cause those they assist too much hassle.
When the runner reports the visitors, Galan is in the manor house, helping to coordinate the purchase of supplies that will be needed to construct the various buildings of the covenant. He looks up at the news and sighs. "It seems the locals have found us sooner than expected," he mutters. Then he goes about quickly gathering the other magi into an impromptu meeting. This would be an important moment for them. They would need to handle this first contact diplomatically if it was to go well.
Calpurnia finds herself busy setting up her lab. Once the blacksmith is set up, Calpurnia sets up their grinding wheel to turn automatically, with her Turn the Wheel spell. Likewise, the metal files are treated with Hardness of Adamantine, so that they are more effective. Any axes that will be used for logging will be treated with Edge of the Razor. She generally spends about five minutes a day casting about a dozen spells to improve metal goods. It keeps her in practice with her spells, and wil make the work go faster with better tools.
Calpurnia takes a day to run out to her vis source and collect her pawns of Imaginem vis. She offers anyone a ride in her ship. She is surprised at the lack of enthusiam for this outing. Most of the time, Calpurnia and Maria are working to set up her lab.
When the visitors come, she comes to the meeting, bringing Maria. She's carrying her bow. "I do not like this. If they are not Hermetic magi, my presence will not improve things. If they are, we chose this place to be away. Why do we have visitors so quickly?"
"Because of the plague, we follow our charter, and house them in the outbuilding."
"We don't really have a convenient outbuilding yet," Galan replies. "We haven't had nearly the time to finish all the construction we've planned. If you like, though, we can put them in the ground floor of my tower for now. I'll take the risk of contamination for the sake of good relations." He shakes his head. "We might consider constructing a small building near the main gate that we can use to greet visitors.
"As for how we have visitors so quickly," he shrugs. "Maybe those ravens were familiars of some sort. We weren't exactly subtle in getting here. A giant flying boat is pretty conspicuous. And then there were the grogs that followed afterwards. We've made a pretty big splash here. It's not surprising if some locals have noticed us. What' is surprising is their use of hermetic Latin. That implies that they're either members of the Order or know we are. It will be interesting to see which it is."
Then he turns to a grog. "Go get Percy and tell him to greet the visitors and escort them to the ground floor of my tower. Have him buy us some time to get the magi together." He looks back to Calpurnia. "I'll be happy to do the talking if the rest of the magi like. My gentle Gift will help with diplomacy, and I can use some magic to help things out. With that, he makes a mystical gesture and casts a simple spell to enhance his ability to make friends.
[hr][/hr]
Cast Aura of Beguiling Appearance to get +3 to win trust and make friends. I think that's better than Aura of Ennobled Presence in this case.
CT = simple die + 31 (-10 for totally silent) = simple die + 21
CT = Aura of Beguiling Presense: 1D10+21 = [3]+21 = 24 vs. level 10 spell
FYI, Percy is the autocrat that Galan brought with him.
Percy arrives at the bridge, and he invites the visitors in. One of the cloaked figures, the man who spoke in Hermetic Latin comes across, but the two other cloaked figures stop at the edge of the boundary, looking confused.
The man stops, turns around and speaks clearly and firmly. Percy gets the impression that he is being looked upon sternly, but not angrily, even though he can't see the man's face within the hood. "I and my companions have requested hospitality. I am aware that the hospitality of the Order is uncommon these days, but I would ask that my companions be invited in. It would also be polite for me to be invited in by someone who is able to do so. As a guest, I tell you now, and will repeat again to your magi, that I will be a courteous guest and come in peace. Further, I bring some information of which the magi are not aware. I will not leave my companions here." With that, before Percy can even respond, he crosses back across the Aegis boundary and waits patiently with his companions.