Argentius walks in to the dinner gathering, a smile on his handsome, youthful face, though the set of his jaw seems to imply a kind of determination about something. The artificer nods to Lares and Zarkut before sitting down.
"Evening, sodales. Seems that everything is quiet at the moment. No interloping desert spirits lately?"
"None that Albrect has seen. It still irks me to no end that we let that happen. The worst kind of incompentence is the sort that you can only blame on yourself."
"Well, Lares, it's not like we haven't been thrown into deep waters here," says Argentius with a chuckle.
"If I didn't know better, I would think that some Faerie Lord set up this whole thing for the sheer entertainment of the thing! I wouldn't beat us up too badly. Not yet, anyway."
The artificer takes a drink and leans back.
"I understand we intended to talk about plans for the coming year. If it's ok, let me share what has been on my mind." He pauses for a moment.
"I think I am changing my original study plans and prioritizing finding a familiar. I can't shake this feeling of sadness about my old self having lost his familiar. No replacement. Not even a real record of that loss. Fingers was there in the records and then just not there." Argentius takes a drink.
"Maybe I'm being foolish, but I feel like that should be my short term priority before returning to my studies and building my foundation."
"I'm happy to have a chat on Magic Lore, or to share my books on the subject, if it helps you in your search, Argentius."
"I've completed my lab project on Shape of the Ancient Kite... this will let me fly to Cairo to contact House Mercere. I can use the spell at touch range, so I can help others with traveling... so long as you're not opposed to a little warping. Contacting House Mercere means we'll be back in contact with the order, our penpals, and so on and so forth. I think Tastheus said something about the quaesitores? And then there's this planned trip to Provence. Unless we change our mind and decide to stay insular, we're likely to have several contacts with the Order coming up. How do we approach that, given our situation?"
"Thank you, Aetherius," said Argentius with a nod and a smile. "I will certainly take you up on that assistance. I'm hopeful that I can find a creature of this desert that will be compatible."
After taking another drink, Argentius leans back slightly.
"It's a good question. Have we identified any advocates or supporters of Al Kufra among the senior magi of this tribunal? It might be wise to find someone who could assist us at least politically."
"I think the idea of seeking a familiar is a good, Bartomeus. One gets lonely. I would, too, were it not for my new old family."
Lares scratches his beard.
"As for plans... I was hoping to brush up on some of my weaker magics. With this spirit disaster, however, I've been thinking I should perhaps try to learn to defeat such fiends, instead. Many of the covenant's children could have been spared a great deal of suffering had I had such knowledge."
He shakes his head dejectedly.
"At any rate, I suspect Aetherius is right about the contacts. We are going to have to contact the order at some point, and I suppose that point is fast approaching. However, I also think Aetherius will be needed on the trip to Provence. How else are they to return? It would therefore seem prudent to postpone the visit to Cairo until the expedition has returned and we have all hands back on deck. We may need to reveal ourselves in Provence - but perhaps not. It is far away, and few would recognize us."
He swipes dust off the table.
"I would like to join the expedition to aid it, but I fear the Cathars might prefer that I stay. Otherwise their sleepers might awaken while I am gone, well-rested for indecency."
He rolls his eyes.
"As for supporters... I was hoping to find correspondence with other Domovyki, but it seems I have had little contact with them. Perhaps my son Winitran might remember someone."
Plasmatoris appears to the dinner looking surprisingly more put-together than usual. Less of a mess, no traces of charcoal or paint or clay on him. He claims his usual seat and pours himself some water, muttering a short spell over it before sipping.
Listening to the other magi talk, he finally speaks up. "I am a reasonable person to send to assist the Cathars in their quest, though I am not the diplomatic mastermind that some of you are. I just happen to speak the language... modestly well." He gestures with his cup towards the direction of the library. "I spent some time studying the language in preparation for having to talk to my own allies," he adds with a faint, idle smile. "I haven't studied all of the languages yet, but I feel I should. I hate not being able to communicate - have any of you tried ordering a meal in a language you don't know? It's atrocious."
"I have been...wasting away I feel, without a chance to actually express myself. I've finally started working in earnest on the painting I've been planning for the last few seasons, and I do not want to lose the opportunity to finish it. My inspiration will not burn brighter with time. I could put it off longer if there is a pressing need of study, but I feel like I'm only half myself lately." He runs at his forehead, and sighs. "Once I have finalized that work, I will be able to focus properly again, and I plan to return to my studies of my weaker Arts... Likely by then we will have more trouble that I can dedicate to solving with some spell or item, which will help my direction."
Argentius considers for a few moments.
"I think we should delay the travel to Provence to resolve the Cathar issue for a few more seasons. Perhaps the next step is to make contact through House Mercere to learn the status of the Cathar situation in France now, in the current timeline. We're still in the dark on their status as a sect. For all we know, the Church eradicated them all during this inquisition. So perhaps this Spring we could send out inquiries via letters through the Red Caps." The artificer pauses briefly for a drink.
"That also allows us to re-establish at least the fundamentals of communication through the Mercere without making them and the Tribunal completely aware of our circumstances. We can start to get some news of the world as it were. Then we can make a more informed decision for what we might do in Summer or Autumn regarding the trip to Provence. Even a trip in winter to Provence won't be any more or less challenging." He looks over at the artist.
"And it gives Plasmatoris time to complete his work."
"I think a trip to Provence will take most of a season, maybe more, so going by boat is an option at that point, but I'm open to going as well if it's felt I can be helpful. A trip by boat could start in Cairo, but I suppose Tripoli may be a closer option. That being said, while I'm open to go, there's always the question of how the trip is planned and what my contribution may be. I'm not exactly skilled in Mentem magic, impersonification or infiltration magic, nor with general information gathering to start with - and I don't speak the local language. The reality is that flying to Provence with no knowledge of recent events, no local contacts, no idea of where to look for a perfecti, being socially misadapted as most gifted persons tend to be and standing out as a foreigner needing to speak Latin while asking questions about whether there are survivors to the local inquisition sounds like a terrible plan to me. I don't particularly want to end up in a jail being tortured by zealots in a divine aura where my hermetic powers are severely diminished because I've been going arround asking weird questions to mundanes about the group that was on the receiving end of a crusade."
He takes a pause to sip on wine. "So if I go in Provence at all, I'm hoping to have local hermetic contacts who know the area and are able to assist us to have a reasonable chance of success. I suppose I can expect stability from a domus magna such as Castra Solis, but the covenants we knew from a century ago may or may not exist anymore. Wouldn't it be wise to get some news and make contacts with the local Order before attempting a trip to Provence, seeing if we can have shelter and local guides? Who knows, maybe we're not alone in having given shelter to the Cathars, and its possible a local covenant would be able to send in one of their Perfecti in exchange for a favor of some kind."
Almost as an afterthought, he adds, while looking at Argentius "If we do go to Provence to search, it might also be of interest to some of us to combine a search with another search."
Zarkut nods as the others speak, then chimes in. "I think it is probably wise to be very careful about Provence, but we need to take care that the Cathars don't think we're going to put it off indefinitely. They already don't trust us, so they may take matters into their own hands in some way we can't deal with, if they think we aren't going to get them Perfecti. We need to let them see that we are taking concrete steps. It also occurs to me that we might try scrying for living Cathars, if we can find a suitable arcane connection. Though there may not be one, it's worth looking.
I think we can make contact with the Order safe and manageable, if it is always us who go to them. Let our correspondence be held for us in Cairo, so that no redcap comes here. We may have done that in the past, anyway, if not, let them know that the roads to get here, and the desert around the covenant, are no longer safe - that will put people off, without too many negative repercussions. If our contacts are always careful, and through House Guernicus or House Mercere, I think we can keep our secret for quite a while."
Lares seems taken aback by Argentius' and Aetherius' comments.
"I agree with Zarkut. Look, I've had a whole bunch of Cathars under magical sleep for the better part of a year, and I've promised them we'd go now. Your plan of preparation is good, but you really should have brought it up earlier. If we start dithering now, they will have our heads. I might have our heads, for that matter, for having to cast these sleeping spells ad nauseam."
He sits back.
"Look, the people at the Oasis are bound to know something about the situation of the Cathars in Europe. They haven't been rejuvenated, remember, and the Cathars in the covenant would have been interested in any news on this subject that the trade caravans might have heard. And, also, I have the description of a perfectus who left the covenant a few years back for Europe. No arcane connection, though. We could try to follow his trail."
Argentius looks over at Zarkut and then at Lares, holding up his hands toward Lares in mild defense. "I see where you're coming from Lares, I really do. But we need more information before we go to Provence. Why don't we spend this Spring gathering information: the people at the Oasis, a few letters of inquiry."
The artificer looks to Zarkut. "Arcane investigations if we can manage them. But the fact remains that we're still walking into the dark. So let's try to cast light on the situation and then consider the journey come summer or early fall."
"Scientia potentia est." Plasmatoris turns his eyes to his cup and hums thoughtfully. "We all know that the best arrow in the quiver is knowledge." The Jerbiton swirls his water and then drinks again, letting out a soft sigh. Tapping his chin with the rim of his cup he considers before responding. "What information can we gather of the current situation quickly, and what requires time to receive?" Eyes swing to Lares, and he gives a lazy smile. "Our Oasis is going to be a good source of information - and in fact we probably should be drawing from that well much more aggressively. As for that missing perfectus, do we know why he decided to leave the covenant? Would he be amenable to our request for his return?"
A simple inquiry will find (though not technically during dinner) that he left to go and spread the faith, believing that the safety of the covenant was important, but that they should not simply take shelter but actively promote the survival and revival of the faith.
I am glad to hear he didn't leave because the Gifted Magi are all insufferable fools.
Lares sighs.
"So you want knowledge before departing. What degree of knowledge would be satisfactory? The situation of the Cathars in Europe, as well as some recent events, we can discover at the Oasis, I think. Perhaps the trajectory of the itinerant perfectus. Possibly hold-out Cathar settlements, if they exist and are publicly known. Covenants in Provence - perhaps not. Dealing and wheeling with covenants - certainly not. For those latter purposes, letters would of course be better, but I don't see what magical means Argentius thinks we could use without arcane connections."
He stands up.
"If there is nothing else, I am going to see what I can find out from Winitran and at the Oasis. If my findings do not satisfy you, then I will resign to this vacillation and try to explain it to the Cathars somehow. Just make sure your efforts actually produce something useful."
"Sure that I'm interested by your spell, Aetherius. As I said, I'm Senior Quaesitor officially of this tribunal... Or I was, I'm not totally sure at this point. The situation is for me a dramatic issue and the Guernicus' house must be aware. Even we decide to stay insular, for my part, I can't and I must contact some of Order, at least. If you want, and be ready to make a deviation by Magvillus, I can travel with you.
And maybe the deviation would be useful to gain informations about the European situation of the Tribunals, include Provence. "
Argentius frowns as Lares speaks, a hint of sadness in his eyes. He listens as Tastheus speaks and nods.
"I suspect you're right, Tastheus. It won't help us to hide this from the Quaesitore, and it certainly won't help you."
The handsome artificer considers for a moment.
"I'm of little use at this point in traveling away from Al Kufra. I'll stay and help Lares keep order here and continue my search and studies. The fact that this Cathar perfectus left for the continent is a good sign, I think. He must've had a purpose of some sort in going. Perhaps the people of the Oasis will know the likely direction he travelled."
Argentius leans back. "So It sounds like we're coming to the bones of a plan. First, we send a few missives to our Tribunal contacts seeking an update on news of the Tribunal. Aetherius and Tastheus lead a group to travel to Magvillus and Provence. Lares and the rest of us keep order and progress here at Al Kufra. What am I missing?"
"Well, I would prefer that Zarkut and Plasmatoris fly to Cairo with Aetherius and Tastheus. When business there is finished, a part of the group could continue to Provence and Magvillus either by wing or by boat. But it is the Provence expedition's own call, in my view, whether they want to wait until Aetherius has gathered further information via letter. I will attempt to justify either decision with the Cathars."
He pauses.
"I am capable of communicating remotely via arcane connection. If the expeditions so desire, we might consider sending long-lasting connections with them. Consider this and let me know."
He heads out, and yelps over his shoulder:
"I will gather what information I can from here and the Oasis. Based on this information, Zarkut and Plasmatoris can decide if they want to leave now or later."
He turns around at the door one last time:
"Oh, and we need to recast the Aegis before you head off - I assume Plasmatoris has learned the Vigil as agreed."
So Lares heads first to Winitran, then the Cathar leadership, then the Oasis, and he also looks through his papers. He wants to find out:
"Waiting some additional informations couldn't be bad. We aren't so busy to don't wait 2 or 3 days more. And that would help us to find the best place to go."
Tastheus though a little about the communication.
"The connections and communications with long distances could be a good thing, yes. In this case, I'm agree to let you some hair, just the time of the expedition, no more."
Letting them even one hair is certainly for Tastheus one of most powerful sign of confidence to his Sodales.