Thyra sighs heavily. Next to nothing. I just know that the people who get it have a decreasing ability to cast spells. It seems to have hit Normandy and Rome more than others.
Agnarr nods with Thyra's sigh, making clear he's as uncertain; and then changes topic. "It will also be tough to fit together efficiently quickly. Most here won't speak the language, the Magi don't know each other, there might be a lot of bloody Magi, and well founded covenants still fail. I don't have an answer, but I think we need to do some things different. Not smash it to bits before it gets started, or debate every single point. "
After carrying the Verditius down into the hold after Galan and the boys, Kozka unbinds him, saying in Finnish, "You stay here, master. It's much safer here for you while we fly. Call out if you need anything." The sturdy grog has a friendly broad face, with a matching broad body. "don't wanta to have to tie you up again, but you know I will. Gotta keep you safe, Sergei says, so I keep you safe. You're one of the good ones, so we want to keep you around."
Bartholomeus nods at the grog, rubbing his arms where the ropes were constraining him. "Can I have my staff back now, Kozka?" he asks in Finnish as well. The grog nods and departs.
Turning to Galan to answer his question, the red-haired magus switches to Latin, "I certainly wouldn't mind doing that. I don't know a whole lot of spells, so I don't know how many seasons it would take me to scribe them, but I would certainly be willing to scribe any useful ones." (1)
"I could also scribe some tractatus, but I am no great writer, so I'm afraid they would be of fairly limited value. Not bad, mind you, but not great either. Most established covenants wouldn't keep them in their library. Of course, we won't be an established covenant, so they may still be useful. I could also write a Muto primer, but it also wouldn't be a great one. Still, better than nothing if we don't have anything better, wouldn't it?" He pauses, then adds, "But I was mainly thinking that I could enchant some devices for the covenant. Even if, God forbid," he gulps, suddenly pale, "some or all of us were to lose our Gift because of the sickness, our enchantments would remain. We could still use them to do some good."
(1) I'm assuming that the specialty "Hermetic usage" in Latin does not apply when scribing lab texts, so Bartholomeus would be able to scribe down 80 levels of spells per season. He knows enough spells to scribe for 3 seasons.
"I'm no great writer either," Galan replies. "But it occurs to me that we all have our specialties and are likely to know a number of spells the others don't. For example, I specialize in spells of instant transport and know a few that I doubt any of the rest of you do. I'm sure the same is true for all of us in in our areas of interest. We can all, no doubt, contribute to the library in some way."
When Bartholomeus mentions items, the English magus nods in understanding. "I'd expect no less from a Verditius magus. And you make a good point. As horrible as the possibility is, we'd all do well to make contingency plans for the worst. For my part, I have some items I'd like to enchant against that dreadful possibility." His words hang solemnly in the air as he mentions the plague and he pauses uncomfortably before he goes on.
"So you know some of the Finnish," he says more cheerfully on a different tack. "I'm pleased to hear that. I came over here myself last year to scope out the territory and picked up some of the local lingo as well. I was afraid that many of us would be fish out of water without that important skill. As well I figured that I might be called on to deal with the locals, my Gift being gentle."
"Have you spent much time in Finland yourself?"
[hr][/hr]
OOC: It's for Jonathan to decide ultimately, of course, but it would seem to me that the specialty "hermetic usage" ought to apply. As I understand it, the specialty means that you're so familiar with certain words and phrases in a particular area that your skill is considered one level higher than usual. In the case of "hermetic usage," that would include the words and phrases involved in magical subjects. I would imagine that spell descriptions would be chock-a-block full of those sorts of words and phrases. At least that's my take on the matter.
Calpurnia activates the Mercury's Winged Sandals property and flies off the deck to the hull. She casts Hairline Fracture and cuts away a 7 foot by 7 foot section of the hull. (She has to levitate upward to trace a line so high). Calpurnia backs away as the hull section falls with a mighty clang. She ushers out all of the people. Turning to Olinda she speaks. "Olinda, I will cut the chains and unseal the compartments. Put as much as can fit on that hull piece there."
Calpurnia cuts away the anchor chains and moves the metal away so that all the carefully packed equipment is revealed. She pauses to re-establish her Parma Magica over Maria, when she sees her again. "Maria, when you see another magus, speak to him or her politely and tell them that I offer my apologies, but I am otherwise engaged. Stay in sight." In a lower tone. "Where is the Cloak of Romulus?"
"In the chest with the books," replies Maria.
Calpurnia looks around at the encampment. The Eyes of the Eagle is still in effect, so she can see everyone clearly. (I miswrote: Eyes of the Eagle is active whenever Calpurnia wears her talisman) She takes off the helmet and looks again. She's looking for someone that's visible without the helmet, but disappears when it is on. (The helmet's power has 0 penetration, so anyone with Imaginem magic resistance, or the Parma Magica is not visible with the effect.)
Tacitus makes sure his personal equipment and books are unloaded and stored safely.
"Who's in charge of the watch rota?", he asks in Latin, "I need to make sure my men are assigned the correct duties."
"I spent almost a decade as a member of the Three Lakes covenant in Novgorod," says Bartholomeus. "That was before the Tribunal decided to close its border to any Hermetic travellers, upon pain of death. I was away from the covenant when the decision was announced, and I was informed that I was no longer welcomed there." The memory is obviously still painful to the lanky magus. "It is several hundred miles southeast of here, but not so far that the language is much different. My two grogs are originally from that Tribunal, so they are fluent in Finnish and other regional languages. They decided to stick with me. I don't understand why, as they could easily have returned to Three Lakes if they'd wanted to."
"Garapadax is also from Novgorod, he..." just then, the two magi are thrown to the floor by the severe jolt of landing.
"That's a tough break to get exiled from your home tribunal," Galan says with a look of sympathy. "I can see where the Novgorod Tribunal is coming from, and I hope it does them some good. But I know that's cold comfort to you. Still, you have the loyalty of two very fine grogs, and that's not insignificant." Then the ship settles to the ground and their conversation ends.
"Shall we take a look at the new covenant?" he asks rhetorically. "Come Nicholas; come Henry. It's time to see our new home."
Debating our safety is wise. Would you have us accept any magi from the Order who wander in and ask for a place to stay? Thyra leaves the question hanging as she glances up. Looks like Calpurnia is here. Perhaps with others. Hopefully she will land in the lake.
"Fair view", Agnarr replies as he also rises to his feet taking up his staff, "and no. Assume outsiders are infected; otherwise leaving old homes was bloody pointless." He gives a grim stare out to the water on an already oft unfriendly face. "I'll set more ice caves if they don't want to sleep in tents. It's not as cold as it looks", and he walks back toward his own compound; then steps up onto the ice barrier to stand and watch the strangers arrive. Muttering "even this. Too risky."
After swapping between her talisman, and normal vision, Calpurnia heads toward the magi. She walks slowly, turning her head to see everything. Calpurnia does have Second Sight, and is looking for anything unusual.
Once nearby, but not close, she says "I am Calpurnia of Verditius, sodales. We will set up camp next to my ship. I have many questions, mostly logistics about the many people we've brought. Galan, Bartholomeus and Tacitus came with me, along with a number of servants. My covenant was attacked by vis-seekers a fortnight ago, many covenfolk came with me, the other magi have fled to Durenmar."
"Agnarr ex Miscellanea, hello. Suggest keeping separated till we test for the plague. That goes for the grogs too." He calls as he moves to the ground but keeps distant. "We've room enough for many camps."
Thyra ex Tremere. We will need a council quickly to decide on some matters. The first of which is can we test for the Plague and the second will be our policy. It is best to be done quickly so we can work together on this Covenant and hopefully trust each other. She gestures to an open spot by the river. I suggest we gather there but keep separated for the moment as, I am guessing, none of us knows if we might be infected.
As the magi are talking another man exits the large metal ship. He's a lean man, blonde-haired and blue-eyed, and just a bit shorter than average. two men and two young boys come out beside him.
"Good day," he says to the separate groups in Latin. "I'm Gala ex Bonisagus. It's good to finally meet you all in person." He moves to take a place not too close, but not too far from the others.
"If I caught that last comment right, it was a call to council. That seems like a good idea to me. Get matters settled as soon as possible so that we can get to work building the covenant up. I don't doubt that the first order of business will be making certain none of us are knowingly infected with the Plague. We can but hope that none of us are unknowingly infected, for I know of no test to reveal that."
[hr][/hr]
OOC: I assume that there are at least some structures in the spot we chose for our covenant. In particular, I'm assuming we picked a spot that already had a manor house and some outbuildings. Surely we're not starting with nothing and building up from there.
Calpurnia speaks in Latin:
"No one at my former covenant showed any signs of the plague. When the vis-seekers came, I was never close to them, before I put an arrow to them. Do you have reason to be especially concerned? We wrote to each other extensively, and I thought we had each other's trust. Do you require me to swear an oath? I don't believe we have a Merenita who can bind us thusly."
"If you have some test to run, do so now. I have been in close contact with Galan, Bartholomeus, Tacitus, and two apprentices. If the plague is easily communicated, if any one of us have it, then we all do. I think our time is best spent providing shelter, and performing reconstruction. I am eager to return to my studies."
"We will need to work with languages. Most of my people speak only German."
"Finally, I believe everyone has arrived here. Is there any reason we cannot perform the Aegis of the Hearth today or tomorrow? I have a small amount of vim vis."
"We'll have to set up a boundary before we can perform the Aegis," Galan replies. "Perhaps we can create a short trench and wall where we'd eventually like a permanent wall to be. It wouldn't be much in the way of defense, but it could serve as the required boundary, and should be fairly easy to manage with simple spontaneous magic."
[hr][/hr]
Create A Simple Boundary
ReTe 5
R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Part
The dirt in a line up to one thousand paces long, one pace wide, and one pace deep moves to form a berm of equal size next to the newly formed ditch. If the target area contains material other than dirt, that material is not affected.
(Base 2, +2 Voice, +1 Part)
I'm sure there are plenty of other options for setting up a boundary. But this is one that could be done with non-exhausting spontaneous Rego magic.
(OOC: That spell would need 2 added magnitudes for Size, since the standard Individual target for Terram is 10 cubic paces and the spell manipulated 1000 cubic paces.)
For a wonder, Bartholomeus is able to get out of the ship without any mishap. He hesitates a bit before joining the other magi, as he can see the mundanes wanting to get off the ship. Is it safe for them to do so? He wonders, then speaks briefly to his grogs, so that they can help direct the women and children to some place where they can wait, with some of the men taking out tarps to form temporary shelters against the surprisingly warm sun.
With garapadax hopping along beside him, he finally approaches the other magi. Those who saw the hare on board the ship notice that it is now much bigger than before, about the size of a sheep. For the others, the sight of a giant hare walking beside a red-headed lanky magus is... unusual, to say the least.
"Greetings, sodales. It this the place? Where do we start?" He looks around to see what the site is like. "Does anyone know how far the aura extends?"
OOC: Oops. math error. Thanks for the correction. That seemed off. Just drop it to Touch and one magnitude for increased Size and it should still be an effective spontaneous spell for our purposes.
Tacitus speaks up "I should be able to determine the extent easily. Would you like me to pace it out for you, sodalis?"
He then mutters the words to an Intellego Vim effect.
[OOC: Sight of the aura, InVi15, from Tacitus' thread - with a casting total of +40 he should be able to cast with ease. Let me know if there's more than 25 points of penalty]