Cygna closes her eyes as the colour drains from her face. Her body still bears the marks from seasons past when she served a Bonisagus...in addition to the things that he did to her that left no physical sign. She says nothing, however, as she tries to beat down the initial feeling of panic she felt.
As Ra'am sees the color drain from Cygna's face, Ra'am says, "Cygna! Are you alright?" Ra'am refills her cup of water or wine. "You look faint. I can conjure up a spring breeze, it is a bit stifling in here next to the hotspring."
[color=red]"Thank you...that would be appreciated," Cygna says with a forced smile, looking around her nervously and seeming a little embarrassed about it.
Casting a spontaneous version of Chamber of the Spring Breezes (Lvl 5), non-fatiguing. 15 (Cr) + 11 (Au) + 2 (Sta) +5 (Aura)=33/5=6. Die roll for botch check: no botch.
The room is filled with a gentle breeze of fresh air that is faintly reminiscent of the smell after a powerful storm has passed, which will last until sundown.
"There, that's a bit better, I think.
You know, I forgot, Viscaria mentioned this to me, while we were exploring, there is supposedly a half a queen of Vim somewhere, does anyone else know more about that? Maybe I don't need to extract vis at all? Maybe I could learn Wizard's Communion. Azura, could you translate your lab text for Wizard's Communion from your shorthand, perhaps?
"If I remember correctly," Amos muses, "Jamie said the Vis was being experimented on and was kept in Salamandrus's tower, which is where Hiems has made his new home. Have you found anything on your explorations, Hiems?"
"Perhaps we should also find out who is the best scribe amongst us, to learn the Wizard's Communion first - or if the three ladies in the scriptorium can copy it? I don't think they can, but then again since they seem to love Lockehart's writings so much they must have some concept of theory."
After some long thought of Amos' proposal about copying the Wizard's Communion text, "That is a good thought, too. However, my question to Azura had to do with the nature of her Mercurian Magic, as to whether or not she could translate her Wizard's Communion. Since she can cast a 6th magnitude Aegis, and she's a Mercurian so she knows a 6th magnitude Wizard's Communion. I might be able to learn and cast such a spell, but both would be difficult for me, but ultimately very useful to providing the full power we need to cast a fully effective 6th magnitude Aegis.
"The difficulty we face with the Aegis is we don't have any vis currently available, either Rego or Vim. Someone needs to find the Vim vis. Barring the inability to learn Azura's Wizard's Communion, if we have someone copy the Lab text this season, we have two to learn from in the summer, and two in the autumn, which would be 4 of us. If we didn't copy it, over the same period we have only 3 people who could learn it. I am in favor of directing Sharae to have the text copied for convenience."
OOC: This would be a good time for Jamie to mention the ownership of the Vim, Ra'am and Azura don't know who owns it.
Attempting to catch up with all this. In case it wasn't clear, this is Jaime Lannister well after the books -- badly scarred by battle, deeply cynical, and going to seed. He still has the piercing eyes and golden curls, but has the body of a well-seasoned general now, rather than that of the precocious youth of the books.
Jaime contemplates this for a moment, initially defiant, before deflating suddenly. He appears a very old man indeed as he gets up out of the hot spring, and heads out of the room which once held the love, laughter and bickering of his family. "Yes, these shouldn't prove much trouble for you all to handle," says Jaime, a self-proclaimed Archmagus with more than 3 dozen years experience over any of you, as he mopes out the door.
While I'm willing to agree that some vis may still be sitting around to collect from certain types of vis sources, a quick glance at the wiki didn't suggest any which would obviously still be available. You're more than welcome to look.
OOC, the magi have seen the source of the Vim vis already, but have not identified it as such. I provide that tid-bit of information as a clue which can influence magi character thoughts.
Viscaria seems interested in the mention of giant spiders in a rock quarry, but says nothing.
Viscaria is. However, her CrVi LT is 37, so would also yield 4 -- though that can be 4/year, with minimal impact on her plans.
"I passed my gauntlet in Febuary of 1208....wait, does that mean we're nearly all of an age together? How delightful!
"Well, I can certainly see why this particular passage was amended so frequently by the four who came before us. The mere notion of unianimous vote means that we weren't even willing to formally call a vote on any matters! I agree with those who say we should table any changes until after this /SHA-bat/ holiday.
"As for the ♪ Vim-vim-VIS ♪ I believe that we have located what happened to it. It appears to have grounded into the foundation stones of Heims Tower. Collection will require some masonry, but nothing beyond my skills. As Cygna has yet to harvest the several rooks worth of Mentem vis which Jaime mentioned, I have little enough to do in the lab, and so can focus on that effort, but it will take a significant amount of ceremonial casting on my part. If I am to repair the tower entire, it will be a season's work at moderate-to-significant risk on my part."
"Is the tower worth salvaging? I have a casting tablet for Conjuring the Mystic Tower. I even have sufficient vis of my own to be able to cast it. It was a parting gift from my parentes. If getting access to the Vim vis can be achieved more quickly by dismantling the tower, and Heims is willing to be in a new tower, then I am willing to donate the vis I have to that effort."
"Oooh, yes, I should think so!" Viscaria's eyes twinkle with excitement.
"In the first place, it was the last known location of a wizard of some power, and while we've all been content to add his name to the Book of the Dead, there is no surety that he has passed into Final Twilight. He may return even still, and it would be polite to keep a bit of floor where he'll reappear. If he has passed into Final Twilight, then the site qualifies under Herman's Odious Chart as a Major Magical Disaster: it may show signs of potent latency, multi-dimensional shifting, and even Hermetic Incongruity![1] Such resources are to be preserved and protected. If we weren't in such dire need for the vis, I would advise several seasons studying the foundations before extracting the vis.
But, time is fleeting, as the mortals say. I will claim this task, providing we agree it is more than a Short Task of Low Risk. I only need each magus to tell me after the council whether I should repair the tower myself, or if we should bring masons into the regio at some later date. I will collect the answers and report them at the next meeting. Cygna, will you continue to work on harvesting the Mentem vis? Who will claim the dwarven matter? Is there ought else to be assigned?"
[1] Potent latency = vis source. Multi-dimensional shifting = regios. Hermetic Incongruity = ongoing magics which violate Hermetic Theory.
Ra'am's eyes light up at the mention of such esoteric topics of Magic Theory, "Heims may want another tower for a multitude of reasons. Such a resource to the covenant could conceivably cause him a lot of interruption.
"After his mission with the refugees, Étienne would be someone I recommend tackling negotiations. He is quite skilled, and has dealt with many odd negotiations of Hermetic interests. I am concerned by the vague nature of the past agreement, and I think he might exact some greater terms. Vis harvesting of other sources which are ripe or over-ripe should be discussed. Some of these are contested sources and require more than simple harvesting techniques."
That's even sexier.
O_o
What's the matter with this guy??? One moment, he acts like an obnoxious jerk, utterly oblivious to what people say, and the next, he's just offering you an hermetic tower on a silver plater, offering to expand vis, vis! on you behalf... Puzzling, indeed. But hiems has no desire to put up with all this any longer, he just wants the quiet. Moreso, such a gift would invite favors in return, even unspoken ones, and hiems is unwilling to indebt himself if he can avoid it
A most generous offer, but I shall do with what I have unless nescessary. Vis is precious, and you might find it better employed in another project, or just to trade it. And this tower has some cachet, I think.
[color=red]"Unfortunately, I was lucky enough to avoid scribal duties as an apprentice, so I might not be the best choice to copy the Wizard's Communion texts."
[color=red]"So it would seem," Cygna says with a smiile.
[color=red]"If I understand correctly, isn't the accident that sent Salamandrus into twilight the same one that Claudia survived? If so...if Claudia was able to survive the destruction of the tower, isn't it entirely possible that he was, also?"
[color=red]"That's currently my top priority, yes."'
"If the library staff is too busy, I could do it. I could write out texts of spells totaling 24 magnitudes, so if we think there might be others we need to copy, it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to maximize my time. And I would be especially willing to do this, if we could get a copy of Azura's 6th magnitude Wizard's Communion into our library."
That would be interesting, although, to tell the truth, I would have having to relocate once I'm settled. Aside from the wines, I becoming quite fond of this derelict tower. There's something here. Magic in the athmosphere.
Same thing here. Goliath mostly wanted me to handle him tools, watch some minor processes, things like that. He also had me cast some minor sponts* when he was too tired for it. He tried to have me do a little vis extraction too, but that was not my strong point.
- Which, I realize, is a good use of an apprentice with LLSM, as, expending fatigue, he may spont any lvl 5-10 spell for you, allowing the magus to remain fresh.
O_o 24 magnitudes? Hiems is impressed. This is the kind of things the heirs to bonisagus are known for, but it is the first time he can compare himself to a scholar of similar hermetic age.
This would be of great use to the covenant, especially if you could also copy some lower-level Communions for those, such as I, that are not very proficient in Muto Vim. With some luck, we can train in one of these arts while you copy the text, which would allow us to be of some use. In my opinion, we need an Aegis as soon as possible, but should waste no time either in having a fully-fonctionnal one.
"I can only copy what the library has, and even still the 4th magnitude Communion in the library is about as low a level Communion that is useful for a ritual. We may need to schedule some time with a Muto or vim tome to bring some of us up to speed."
I do fear so, at least in my case.
(...)
We thus need to precisely organize our time, in order to have a full-blown aegis as soon as possible. In the meantime, of course, Azura should cast her near-forceless Aegis, if the can find the vis. We're too vulnerable without it.
This means that for the first season, you should copy Azura's Wizard's communion and the one in the library, while those able to make use of one or the other with but a season's study should read whatever book is available. I have a hard time telling who will be able to cast what, and this is a question we must assess.