Raven will inform any magi she runs into that she has heard Dimitris is planning to search for the missing Magus himself!
Furthermore, she will find Dimitris and talk with him about this "Dimitris, I have... heard a rumor that you are planning to search yourself. That is commendable, but I think it would be wise if you took brought some magi along and possibly a grog or two if they can be spared. I at least would be glad to join the search."
[Now we are getting somewhere... I'll post what Pierrick finds here. Whatever conversations you want to have between your characters before the next day, please go ahead and post, along with what said characters do]
[tab][/tab] Concerned, Raven finds Dimitris making several packs in the guard room, with two scouts. His companions give the maga the respect she deserves with awkward salutes then nervously exit to wait outside for privacy. The young man seems determined but also relieved that Raven offers to help. He thanks her profusely and says he will take any help he can get; he fears his mentor is in trouble. He would take two scouts to help him but magi are better... if they can withstand the weather that is. He will be leaving with the dawn tomorrow.
[tab][/tab] Nicholas makes his report to Pavo. Pertheus is the only one who takes the oath now (and is quite meticulous about it) and is quite jovially helpful. Pavo and Pierrick go outside, behind the tree to investigate. [Windows of Singular Direction is specific for wall, ie worked stone. That would be a spontaneous spell for Pierrick, of one magnitude lower since its dirt, making it a 5 (base 2, touch +1, ring +2). I think a 7 is still strong and non-fatigueing, yes?]. Pierrick concentrates and reveals a patch of dirt against the hill, including the sculpted stone. There are a loot of knotted roots going around, living plant matter that hinders the sight and conceals much. But it is evident to the two magi that there are more stones and columns under there. It appears as if the entrance to an underground construction has been buried here and the tree has enveloped most of the hill with its roots. Besides several broken pieces of marble, you can see two shattered columns and the remnants of a pediment ('αέτωμα') still held 'aloft' by the gnarled roots. Time and dirt have taken a toll and whatever was written on it is now fudged. With the roots concealing large parts of it, its difficult to see text or carvings. This could be a pavilion, a shrine or a small temple of antiquity.
[tab][/tab] Pierrick spends part of the day searching the whole Rotunda for secret spaces. He avoids the claimed laboratories of course and focuses on places that he thinks such spaces exist. The basement reveals nothing; the walls are solid supports of the structure above, plus a half area where the rocky ground has not been excavated. Searching the moving platform area and the main stairs reveals two vertical hollow tunnels that appear to help ventilation, both of them exiting near the cistern. The small office that Dimitris is using reveals a false wall compartment that has space for a casket, a small chest really. There is no mechanism that moves the wall, but it appears to have enough space to move it to one side so that the container can be accessed. Its iron bound wood of good quality and has a keyhole in it. [I assume Pierrick avoids the labs of Christoforos and Anastaj. Please advise if otherwise]. No other secret spaces were revealed.
(chronologically)
1/Pierrick fetch Dimitri and asks him "While searching for Anastaj, I found this secret place in your office. Are you aware of it's existence and can you reveal what's inside the chest?"
2/When the entrance is revealed, Pierrick informs Pavo of his finding " It seems like we found some kind of antique temple. Could it be related to the mighty fairy Anataj was negociating with? I guess we should inform the others before going inside to investigate, Don't you think ?"
1/[tab][/tab]'Fetch' is an easily misunderstood verb. Dimitris is informed and it takes some time for him to come his small office where he listens to your questions. He answers while giving those present a flat look. Those are the day-to-day founds for running the covenant. Mostly silvers and some gold, payments for wares, wages for the folk, some income from the herd settlement. Anastaj keeps another such chest in his quarters. It is locked (he shows a key he wears on a chain around his neck) and protected (though he does not elaborate on that).
2/[tab][/tab] The remnants of the edifice are completely buried. Digging out the remains will reveal ruins around the size of the hill, but might cause the tree to topple. Right now , they are inaccessible . There is no regio apparent.
[ooc is Scylax going to do/say anything?]
After being informed by Raven of about DImitri's plan, he tries to find him and the gathering part to ask for their destination and plans and wether they think he will be of service.
<OOC If Scylax were to hear this, he would snort a bit, and try to contain his mirth, since he was just jesting about Annastaj bargaining with some Winter fairy OOC>
<OOC I apologize for taking so long to post! OOC>
I do not wish to delay poor Dmitris, the man is in a tear to find our missing leader!
In a low voice.
Prometheus! I hope you are not having second thoughts! Is the Covenant oath such a heavy burden? Was my request so unreasonable? Say that you are not taking offense! I have spoken what I pray is wisdom to leave talk of the mirror behind. It does not aid us in our present travails. But! If you could return to confer with the rest of the Council, to offer your talents in the search, if you would swear the Covenant Oath...which you had originally planned to, yes? Then this would go a long way to defuse the, ahem , tensions, natural though they may be, that have accumulated on this most interesting day. What say you? waits for Prometheus's response
I confess that I do not find Annastaj's disappearance as concerning as the rest of the Council, we seem to be running around like headless chickens! Headless birds, at any rate! He laughs at his weak joke. Annastaj is capable and sharp, even if he sometimes seems distracted. We may be putting ourselves in danger by going outside the Aegis, but the motions must be gone through.
<OOC Scylax will be very interested in the tree, although he is very concerned that the tree not be damaged at all. He will try to examine if there's a stronger aura near this tomb, or whether there's a regio somewhere inside. If there's a suspicious lack of Aura, he will spont to see if there's a 1) Faerie Regio, 2) an Infernal Aura 
or 3) a Divine Aura OOC>
"I am not offended by your proposal and never was. I just wanted to know better what I bind to by taking the oath. Meru Mudi appears to be struggling to survive. Is there dept I would share? What is the responsibility I would share? On the other hand, Anastaj does not seem to be worried at all. But he is clearly not here.
Now for your ask to come back to the council...
I offered an idea that could be layed out negatively - if someone wants to. I did propose it in small dose to see what our sodales think about it. Everything was nice and good... until it wasn't. Either our sodales didn't get the hints, they didn't listen or they let my walk like into a trap. I'll choose the middle option for now which is the least insulting for everyone. But what is left to confer about?
With that all said, I didn't leave to somehow withdraw my offer to help though. I doubt I will be of much use on a mountain scouting mission, but I am eager to hear Sodale Pavos plan and my role in it."
"Headless birds indeed. I am not sure I can share your optimism though. Distracted or not, today he missed a council meeting he himself called for. I suspect he is in some kind of odd circumstances... hopefully he is capable and sharp enough to get himself out, I don't see anyone finding him somewhere out in the mountains. "
After a short pause,he adds "If you think we shouldn't be searching, what is it that you propose instead?"
[tab][/tab] As Raven discreetly disseminates the information about Dimitris, several magi show interest. Dimitris is will go on an rescue expedition himself, early the next morning with two other vlachs from the covenant that know the mountain. They will then split, one going north to ask around the villages and settlements, the other two will head south, deeper into the gorge itself. Dimitris states only that he will search the whole mountain if needs be (if pressed on his destination he will irritably respond that he can't really know; uncharacteristically of him). He will accept any and all help he can get, expressing gratitude and relief.
[So which magi pledge to move out with Dimitris on the morrow? It will have to be a small group of magi with few/no grogs (you can certainly bring as many as you like, but you should see the adventure parameters before you do that)]
[tab][/tab] Scylax is interested in the finding about the big apple tree. He had done some research himself [A reminder to re-read his PM 1215]. There is no regio apparent, nor a change in the comparatively strength of the aura, though that could change in particular calendar events, something no-one mentioned nor researched before. There is no sign of divine or infernal aura either [Again it is extremely difficult to detect those two auras, you need specialized stuff]. Searching for a fae aura also fails to detect anything, and yet there is a whiff sent of it that Scylax detects but his sodales do not [A hint of 'Other' and 'Not quite fae'].
[Anything else people would want to do before I move on to the next day?]
Aristocles will make clear he will accompany the expedition. He will ask Dimitris who best to consult on clothing etc for traversing the cold mountains and then get as much of that clothing and equipment specified as possible. He is assuming this is going to be an difficult, cold few days and will prepare accordingly.
Anna will move out with Dimitris on the next day!
Pavo will mention to anyone looking at the tree "I'm sure Anastaj showed you an apple containing vis. This is the tree that apple came from, we do not wish to endanger our source of mentem vis. I believe we will need to discuss how to examine what lies beneath with the magi of the covenant before we take any risky actions." Pavo also examines the area beneath the tree, seeing if there are any narrow spaces a peacock-sized bird could squeeze into.
Pavo gathers food and warm clothing. He will gather rope, and look around for tools that might help getting up and down icy slopes. He will keep himself warm with a CrIg effect.
(OOC: If I use the CrIg base guideline 2 "make an object warm to the touch" and use Co and An casting requisites, I should be able to keep myself warm whether in human or animal form. I'm proposing CrIg 2 (keep skin at normal body temperature) + 0 range personal +2 duration sun for a CrIg 4. Using Cr 8 + Ig/An/Co of 6 + Sta 1 + aura 5, I can do this as spontaneous spell without needing to roll)
(OOC: or you could do it at touch, still without rolling, and offer it to those of us who don’t spont .i.e at least Aristotles)
[Only got three responses... oh well]
[On the subject of the spontaneous spell: 'Keep skin warm' is harder than 'keep me warm', as ''part'' is harder than ''individual''. Yes, a CrIg 4 for personal or CrIg 5 for touch , and as John mentioned both won't need fatigue or roll if done inside the aura at dawn]
[tab][/tab] People start preparing for the search expedition next day, gathering whatever they think is necessary (from clothes to food to ropes and tools), quickly limited to small packs that they can actually carry. Dimitris manages to get two more people to help with the search, so he figures they can split into three groups in the end. Weather seems to hold but who know what will happen in the next days, its quite fickle this high in the mountains, and the air is freezing. Still, the need to find the old man overrides the normally cautions man, you have the feeling he would up and leave to search for his mentor this very minute if he could. Night passes and still no sighting of Anastaj...
[tab][/tab] After a small warm breakfast just before dawn, your not-so-small party gathers in front of the Rotunda, bundled up in as many warm clothes as they can get (except those Pavo graces with his spell, who look quite nonchalant in the cold). With barely a count of heads Dimitris takes the lead and heads down the icy pathway, followed two competent looking grogs his original companions; a old, grizzled man with salt-peppered beard and squinty eyes and a large, dour young man, both of slavic descent and both carrying heavy packs with lots of weird looking tools. They are followed by two more recent recruits, those from the guards and more equipped for combat, then the rest of you. Most are glad for the presence of the magi, thinking that the search will end quickly by some kind of weird display of conjuring or some such. You know otherwise....
[tab][/tab] The path down the gulch is quite dangerous this time of year. Ice and snow cover every surface, making descent quite slippery. The newly built workshop is almost covered up by snow, and the surrounding trees are bare except the few evergreens. Though the sun bathes the Towers in light, and you can see great a plumes of drifting snow float from the plateau in the wind, the cold is biting and you can even hear rocks crack under the strain. Several times you manage to avoid falling down and injuring yourselves, quickly realizing that magi are not meant for such hardship. It takes almost an hour for you to reach the church meadow, now a field of pristine snow next to a slow moving river and a bank filled with skeletal trees. Dimitris quickly divides your party: The large young man and a guard will head north to Vikos settlement, then to Pappigo and the other western villages, and search there. The old timer and the other guard will trek on this side of the gorge and go south, all the way to the other exit and search the eastern villages. Your group will cross the river to the north side, the more dangerous territory, and search the banks and slopes there...
[tab][/tab] Pavo examines the area under hill by the spell of his sodales. There seems be a lot of roots and rocks, yet no spaces or caverns. Then again the nature of the spell would make it impossible to find such things. The outside definitely looks like its solid with hard-packed earth and stones, no holes or burrows anywhere. Whatever is under there, its buried solid.
Pavo offers his spell to anyone who is travelling with him. He reluctantly offers it to those who aren't, just in case the worst happens and they aren't able to be somewhere sheltered by sundown.
Pavo has a skein of rope with a couple of climbing tools, and a bag filled with food.
Aristocles responds "I would welcome your spell of warmth sodales Pavo" lowering his Parma to accept the generous gift.
"I would take a warmth spell too" Raven asks
<OOC Oops, too late to join the expedition? Have been away, have no patience for the laggy nature of the boards these days; still, it might behoove to at least one member of Meru Mudi to stay behind. In any case, Scylax is willing to go, if not very brave, as he considers all the other magi more important to the success of the Covenant, he is too Humble OOC>
To Prometheus:
Nothing for the moment! It's more of a long term proposal. You have skills of the mind, you mentioned. My skills, admittedly of little amount at the moment, lie more in the area of assessing and locating magical resources. But! A happy parallel path opens before us, bear with me! See, in the town of Ioannina, there's a little shop with a green door. A fascinating place! Antiques, and things that might interest even us are for sale there. Raven obtained a comb of ancient make and unknown enchantment, and I was able to sniff out vis on a previous visit! (unfortunately my meager skills were hampered by the usual aura). It could prove most bountiful to Meru Mudi to scout out the loyalties, methods, and contacts of this shopkeeper; it might even be more fruitful to align him with our interests. If such a feat were indeed possible! So, perhaps, a person with deep perception might learn a thing or two. Then that person could confer with another person on points of interest. That second person could then investigate and extract what may be extracted, whereby both parties might profit. Whereby the whole enterprise waves arms enthusiatically around, gesturing to Meru Mudi in general might profit!
Then sheepishly, but grinning Is this something that you might consider?
[ooc the forum lags just lost Prometheus response to Scylax 
will rewrite later... Any alternative if the forum doesn't recover?]
"That sounds indeed like an endeavor to my liking, consider me interested.
...
A shop of antiques, but some could be not only old but interesting for us... What do you think, does the shops owner know what he's selling? Probably one of the first things we should find out. If he is aware of magic, its use on him could lead to the opposite of what we want.
...
We should plan an expedition for the time the roads can be safely traveled again."