[color=red]"I wasn't," she starts to yell before she snaps her mouth shut, jaw clenched as she glares at Ra'am.
[color=red]"I take it, then, that you don't think it would be worthwhile for us to simply talk you back to the doorway?
Oh, and I'm obviously Cygna. Cygna the Bjornaer."
At Cygna's glare, "What? I don't have objection to harsh language. I just wanted a formal introduction. Perhaps my Jerbiton sensibilities got the best of me. Formal introductions, hospitality and all that. Although, forgive my impoliteness. I just had to chide you a bit, since I'd introduced myself. Twice. The first time you ran off. You look very familiar to me. Viscaria said, if I understood her correctly that you're English?"
"As to methods of transport, I have a few at my disposal, too. I'm looking for the one with the least risk to myself, I have a family to care for, after all."
[color=red]"You're quite right. I do apologize.
And yes, I'm from England, Stonehenge Tribunal. I'd lived my whole life in the Covenant at Riversedge before coming here." She continues to watch him closely, although with considerably less hostility. [color=red]"I take it, then, that we're going to be here a while, then? Until you finish your spell or until Viscaria returns with some rope, whichever comes first?"
If so, she will pull up a chair or sit on the floor and start singing to pass the time. Com 1 + Music (Singing) 2 + die roll of 3 = 6
"Well, the spell was to pass the time. It was so we could better analyze the active magic. I know it wasn't 6th magnitude, so it must be less than that, and probably much more subtle. The rope is necessary to drag me through the room if I stop. Although..."
Ra'am snaps his fingers. If Myrtle is there, he asks her, "Myrtle, is there a way to navigate or deactivate the magic in the room to get through it? I'd ask the porcupine, but he's too despondent."
And then to Cygna, "Worst comes to worst, I have a decent chance of working a 4th magnitude ceremonial rego corpus to move me instantly to your side, although
I'll be naked. We can chat if you'd like, it's risk free. Have you heard of Aurelius ex Jerbiton or Tria ex Bonisagus Trianomae? They are my first and second masters, respectively."
Let's see...Int 4 + Order of Hermes Lore 0 + die rolls of 7 (for Aurelius) and 3 (for Tria ) = 11 and 7 respectively. So, I'm assuming that she knows something of Aurelius and has heard Tria's name if nothing else. She will say so to Ra'am (since I'm not sure what, if anything, she would know with those rolls).
"I'd ask about your covenant, I was probably there, but I probably wouldn't remember anyone there, you're only vaguely familiar, and being Bjornaer, we probably didn't talk with your master much. Back 16 to 18 years ago if you remember an itinerant Bonisagus dragging along a surly older apprentice, that would be me. I wasted a wonderful opportunity during that time." Ra'am seems genuinly wistful about that time "Done is done, though. And as it is, it worked out better when Prospero convinced Tria to sell my apprenticeship to him, and then I spent the rest of my apprenticeship in the Normandy Tribunal."
[color=red]"That would have been a little before my time. I've only just done my Hermetic gauntlet a couple of months ago, so sixteen years ago I was just a child helping Mama around the house."
She smiles, remembering the evening that she learned that she had the Gift. She had always been intelligent, precocious, a little strange, the only person she knew who was able to have actual conversations with animals that weren't entirely in her head. She remembers huddling against the bedroom door with her brother and sisters, eavesdropping on the conversation her parents had with her uncle (the magus Vucar) and Grus, the woman who would eventually become her mater. She remembers the veiled warning that, while Vucar and Grus had taken note of her ability and believed her to be Gifted, that her talents had not escaped the notice of the Bonisagus, Adorjan Megidézó. She remembers the warm feeling that she got when Vucar advised her parents that it would be better for the girl if she were apprenticed to him, since he was family, and that Adorjan would not treat her as lovingly as he would.
[color=red]"Riversedge was the only home I've ever known. Born there, raised there, thought I would die there." She looks toward Ra'am, not quite seeing him. [color=red]"Do you ever wonder what would have happened if one little thing in your life had been done differently? If one choice had been made rather than the other? And if the other choice would have turned out better, for you or for someone else?"
"I do, quite often. I think I could've been a formidable member of the Tenens Occultorum, and if I'd done better for Tria, I might've even been appointed for the Stonehenge, Lochleglean and Hibernian Tribunals after the upcoming Tribunal. She saw in me, a rare facility with languages and a formidable knowledge of Magic Theory combining to revolutionize the distribution of quality research throughout the Order." Ra'am pauses, again being a bit wistful at the road less travelled, "I never understood that, at the time. Of course, that was around the time my first child was born, and that would've been an incredibly difficult hardship to put on my wife. Be that as it may, I'm happy with where I'm at now, and I think my family will be happy, too, finally being settled, and much closer to family."
Tyrion's lab lacks tools for even the most basic forms of experimentation, but has an unusual number of measuring devices in it -- an exquisitely crafted abacus catches Ra'am's attention briefly. It is a very good lab, under the debris, meticulously arranged, with a well-stocked cabinet of stores, but it doesn't reveal a preference in Arts or lab activities.
Ra'am also locates Tyrion's collected lab notes, a simple stack of vellum tied together with sheep gut. The pages are very neatly stacked together, and of perfectly identical shape.
Myrtle suddenly becomes suspicious, as if she's only just realized what's going on. "Say, what are you all doing trying to get into this sanctum, anyway? Isn't Master Tyrion going to want his lab when he gets back? Just because he's a Warder now, he doesn't deserve his own room, is that it?"
Since I'll be out of town for the weekend, I'll assume that someone can convince Myrtle that they have a good reason to be there. When you do, she'll explain that all you have to do is close your eye and walk in a straight line to the door. The Mentem spells will still penetrate your Parma ("A rare opportunity for a girl like me, he always used to say. He was ~sob~ such a generous man, no matter what Cersei says." she reminiscences), but the Imaginem spells won't matter. "It's all misdirection, anyway."
Ra'am will try and take these discreetly, if possible. If he's being carefully observed, he'll leave them.
"In your experience, Myrtle, how long does it take for someone to return to Cijara/Phoenix once they've passed? How long ago was the battle? Rumors are it was 6 months or so. Should it take that long? You must steel yourself to the fact that he may never come back. I may be wrong, but the familiar's cords are broken because Tyrion's connection to it is severed. I don't think it would be broken if he were coming back or able to come back, but I am merely speculating. Expect the worst and hope for the best. I could be wrong, but it is best to steel yourself against that eventuality. If Master Tyrion returns, his needs will be seen to as best they may. It is something that the council, which I hope to join, will discuss. And I will bring the matter up to Master Jamie, to see if he has some better ideas about returning Warders. And even should he return, his status as a member of the covenant would be in question. If I recall ghosts cannot continue to be members of the Order." Code of Hermes 1 +Int 3 +Roll of 5=9, which I think is high enough to know this. He'll say this in as charming a way as possible, but this is an area where Ra'am thinks honesty is the best policy. Charm roll=0, check for botch Yes! Botch!
[OOC: Great, Moaning Myrtle is pissed at me.]
Once his foot has been removed from his mouth Ra'am closes his eyes and heads immediately for the door.
As you flee from the sobbing, wailing ghost of a dead apprentice, mourning a master who clearly made frequent off-color innuendo about her unattractiveness, the porcupine's attempt to hang himself is disturbed by Ra'am's staff, which snags on it, pulling the noose tight around the porcupine's neck.
Gerald begins to suffocate, and flails ineffectually at his esophagus, until he manages to pull it free just as Ra'am untangles himself from the rope and tries to help. "Wot's this? Did you see that? He tried to kill me! Choke me to death in the middle of my own suicide!" Gerald is wroth. He shakes his tiny fist at you (Ra'am notices that Gerald has human-like front paws with opposable thumbs), shouting insults and condemnations in his squeaky, high-pitched voice.
In the midst of this aural onslaught, Ra'am remembers, for some reason, that the magi of the Rhine tribunal can continue to vote after death, so long as they show up to the tribunal, or nominate a proxy.
Since it's all a big mess anyway, once Ra'am is back in the hallway he'll call out to Gerald."Gerald, I'm glad you've finally admitted you don't want to die. There's some hope for you, yet."
Gerald hurls an empty wine bottle at Ra'am's head. Being a porcupine, his misses his mark by quite a lot, and the bottle shatters in the fake bedroom. Apparently, this breaks some of the stone engraved circles, because there is a brief flickering of mystical-energy-release when it hits.
"Well, I'm going to say that lab is off limits to me from here on out. Shall we go on to the upper lab?". Ra'am's face shows genuine remorse. He never intended to hurt Myrtle and how his staff got tangled up he will never know.
(OOC that botch result is a bit excessive for a charm.)
OOC: It's not like you permanently marred your relationship with either of them. Both of those characters will react like that a dozen times a day to carelessly spoken words. Though, Ra'am has no idea how commonplace their reactions were, or how quickly they'll pass from their memories.
Not very much, no. And as he hasn't yet cried for help or out of pain, I suppose everything's all right. As you can see for yourself, tells Hiems as Ra'am exits the room
You really think Hiems will wait 45 minutes while you incant?
He'll be gone long before that!!! 
I'm not sure. You could certainly make apologies, if that's important for you. I think these two are hurt because they just lack affection and attention. Given that you've got a family and all, you may be the very one that they need, a father of sorts to them.
Or you could put them out of here, of course.
"Perhaps later, now is certainly not the time to try and apologize. We'll wait for Viscaria and then proceed to the next lab?
OOC: amul, did I manage to get the lab notes?
Yes, you managed to get Tyrion's lab notes.
As Hiems and Cygna have already expressed impatience at the prospect of waiting 45 minutes for a ritual, I'll also say that they will tire of waiting for Viscaria's arrival, and you head up to the 2nd floor lab.
The entirety of the second floor of Phoenix manor is deserted, unless you count the incredible overgrowth of Gossiping Grapevine. There aren't even a lot of Warders here.
As such, there is enough room for 3-4 magi to establish their own sanctum up here. (And once again, I really wish we had the blueprints for a spanish manor. This link, while interesting, is not useful for this set of needs).
It takes a few minutes to locate the lab -- the overgrowth of grapevine, the dust and general state of disuse combined to make it unclear if any part of the upper floors had been used more recently than another.
At one point during your investigations of this level, the Cersei's Bookstand of Hespera leaps out of its hiding place among the grapevine, and then scampers off.
Perhaps Ra'am asked one of the scant passing Warders for directions, or perhaps you eventually stumbled onto it on your own. When you finally find the lab, it proves to be an Undecorated, Spacious, Well-Insulated lab of Superior Construction with a Gallery, No Stores, Inferior Equipment and Inferior Tools.
In other words, an Apprentice Lab.
This fact is borne out by the fact that the apprentices are still here. Four disembodied spirits linger in the space, barely sentient, trapped in the motions of four different lab activities. These four ghosts are clearly something less than Warders, and constitute the Haunted flaw.
[OOC: There's room for 3-4 sancta up here. Does that also include lab space? Or is the haunted lab the only lab possible up here?]
Ra'am sees posibilities here. Getting rid of the ghosts would be high on the list, in his mind. And if there's truly enough room to setup a full sanctum with room for his family and a lab for himself, perhaps with a balcony, all the better.
Yes, by sanctum, I mean lab and bedroom. Really, what it boils down to is that the entire 2nd floor of Phoenix manor (which is the same layout at Cijara manor, which we can only seem to ascertain the RL dimensions of by exterior photographs) is unused, and has been for several years. It is the upper floor of a manorial estate the size of a small castle. There is ample space there, and you have a maga who specializes in construction, so it is pretty configurable. Please don't make me try to estimate square footage or anything.