1260.3 A Crooked House

#1

In the beginning of summer, a Redcap arrives with a letter for Eve.

[i]To Exe ex Verditius,

I require your presence in the Oppidum of Lycaneon to answer to accusations made against you by members House Verditius. As the accusations have to do with misuse or lack of use of the mysteries entrusted upon you, you may bring any crafted item you deem would be worthy of display at Verdi. i shall expect you no latter than midsummer. Failure to answer these charges could lead to you being declared Orba.

Archmagus Zalmoxis ex Verditius[/i]

#2

Huh, well lets see I've made my gauntlet item. Those two I sacrificed. I thought the child's toy was a most excellent one. Two items of quality, both given to mundanes, and I enchanted the connection cutter. Something which really needs to be standard at all covenants. Like the Aegis. I also opened that tower for the Masked One. Who initiated me in... right not mentioning that. Plus I initiate people! I am a distinctly above average mystagogue. There is a slight ping, Eve looks at the clockwork. Now that is something I can use. If I leave Jane behind she won't brag about it, or I'll just need to drill into her the need to lie. Amazing metal work. Helps with magic, but its not even magical in and of itself. Say it exemplifies the mundane craftsmen ship which underlies all enchantments. We've pioneered new crossbows too. Its totally something House Verdi would do. Plus I'm supposed to be enchanting something this summer. Well this fall. I'll claim its was supposed to be in summer. I just need to get the right mix of indignation, pride and blatant lies.

So does this mean you are finally moving on to a better House? I bet Zoltan could initiate you into Merinita.
No our House is a bit over protective of its mysteries. I'll probably get cursed or Wizard Warred.
You should do something about that after accession.
We are not trying to rule Jane. Anyway I can move the clock as long as I put it back in place when I do labwork? I want to use that as my item to show off.
Why not just use bribery?
I ran out of vis. I don't think I even have a single pawn. Eve licks the tattoo on her hand, casting a spontaneous spell Yup still a few weeks short of being a full pawn.
Fine, but I get to come too.
Okay, you know what I said about info security? ... Right we'll be reviewing that on the trip. Well time to go see Laterala.
Eve puts book back on its space in the library and heads to Laterala's office and knocks on the door. Its Eve And Jane too!

#3

There is no answer. When Eve knocks again, Aleksandar comes out of another office.

Greetings Magus. I believe Laterala is in her Lab. I can show you where it is if this is a pressing matter.

#4

Not overly urgent. Eve shows him the letter Certainly not urgent enough to interrupt labwork over. However it is extremely important. I can see her now if she is doing something that can be set on hold or we can set a time to meet later.

#5

Come with me and we shall see if she is available.

Aleksandar leads you outside to a two story stone building. He enters the door and beckons Eve to follow. The entry room is sparsely furnished with some book shelves and a table and several chairs. The only other door in the room, on the back wall, has a sanctum marker on it.

Violeta is sitting in the most comfortable chairs reading a book. She jumps up when you enter.

Is your Master in her lab? Aleksandar asks.

Violeta nods.

Well. Eve would like to talk to her.

Violeta goes over to the sanctum door and opens it. She steps inside calling for Laterala. With the door open, Eve can see a large golden armillary sphere in the center of the lab. Laterala comes out shortly wiping her hands on a rag and closes the door. Aleksandar bows and steps away from Eve.

Yes?

((Per+awareness vs 9 to for any other information on the sphere))

#6

9 on the awareness roll
I have received this letter. And for the record I didn't actually keep any of the items I've enchanted. Eve hands Laterala the letter.

#7

The armillary sphere looks like a Verditius clockwork device.

Laterala reads the letter. There is nothing the Tribunal can do in House matters. You had better set out within 2 weeks so you will make it there.

#8

Wonderful. Needless to say this will delay the process of enchanting anything. I do have several questions though will the tribunal object if I fly to the location? With some money, and a few other sundries Jane and I will be able to make much better time that way. I'll be taking two of my books out of the library. Not magical ones, the ones attacking gnosticism. Secondly, I am better than most mystagogues my House has to offer, and I think it awfully vulgar to charge for initiation. While I understand there are rules about inviting people to the Tribunal, pointing that out could deflect some criticism of misuse. Regadless if there are no objections to my flight plan I can leave at first light tomorrow.

((Really just one of the tracti, but its spread over seven books.))

#9

I understand the need to attend to this. Perhaps one of the lab assistants could start setting up the lab?

They will not object if you fly assuming you will take the proper precautions. Do you know where it is located?

#10

A decent map would be nice. I'll fly high to avoid mundanes, land in out of the way areas. Make Jane wear clothes when she shifts into a human.

#11

((There is no such thing as a decent map in this time period))

#12

((But there are things that they think are decent maps!))

#13

Laterala instructs Aleksandar to show Eve the large map in her office.

It will give you a general idea as to what is where.

#14

Eve will ask a few questions about landmarks and such. Try to get an idea of major landmarks so she can recognize it from the sky. ((If there is nothing else I need to figure out what to pack? Then we get to the flying?))

#15

Having gotten some landmarks to look for she is ready.

Give me 3 Artes Liberales + int rolls

Give me 4 concentration rolls
Stamina+concentration

#16

Eve gets the landmarks and packs. If she is flying she won't be able to lug the whole clockwork apparatus, but she does grab a few of the smaller pieces. It should be enough to illustrate the point. With some food, a bit of money and a few changes of clothing for her and Jane she is ready. Then she sleeps. Jane nudges her awake a few minutes after dawn. You're Parma is down. Eve sighs and performs the ritual, still amazed at how Jane is late despite never sleeping and having built in clocks. She pulls on her bags, and changes into traveling clothes. Then she heads outside and gets ready to fly away. She makes sure everything is carefully strapped to her. Especially her staff. Jane checks the tying of the feathers to Eve's hair, and Eve checks the links holding the remaining casting tools to her. Once she is sure nothing will fall off, Alright Jane, hop on. Make sure your claws are dug into the leather. THE LEATHER! ENNOIA. Sorry...

Eve spontaneously casts a minor creo corpus spell casts her flight spell, looks up to make sure the sky is clear (of stuff she might hit) and shoots up. When the people on the ground are hard to make out she orients herself and speeds off to her destination. (Note on flying: You can and probably should follow landmarks like roads and rivers even if it isn't strictly as the crow flies. Sure straight their is great if you have a GPS, but its easy to get lost if you don't know the landmarks and paths. I speak from experience in a plane.)

Artes Lib = 13,6,6
Concentration = explosion,6,3,explosion Explosions5,21

#17

((Need rolls for the minor CrCo spell and tell me what it does. Roll for your flight spell just to make sure it is not a botch.))

#18

(The CrCo is just a flavour spell. Cat dug claws into the shoulder not even a light wound, this will help it heal faster. Sun duration, base 2 I think Eve can pull off. Eve doesn't roll for spont spells since she has weak spontaneous magic. I wasn't aware that there was stress for the casting, I assumed the concentration was because it always is per the conc rules. Regardless either invisible castle is being a pain, or my internet is. You mind rolling it?))

#19

((Missed that part of the flavor. I'll hand wave away the casting but you do need to roll for spont spells. Weak Spontanious magic just means it is always divided by 5.

The flight spell is much more problematic. It works well for combat in which you stop concentrating and you stop moving. Travel, not so much. Making concentration rolls gives you 2 minutes of flying then you must make another one. Since you do not have the concentration skill you do not get the 15 minute/level of concentration. You could be at this a very long time.))

#20

She can always just refocus. Its not like a spell where losing concentration means the spell ends. It will be a bit start and stop, but there shouldn't be a huge deal. If you really want to be a stickler, I'll get xp from the 1260.1 and can put a point in then and add the right specialty. She's doing something similar with the dirt movement so she should notice the issue then.