1100:
Ouragen notes that the faeries around him are behaving oddly, suggesting some escapade on the horizon (bad omen)
Evandrus' communications with the Cabal suggest something going on that isn't being directly communicated (bad omen)
Mischievous fairy activities near the Chrysalis of rebirth are being blamed on the covenant's harvest of the cocoons by some of the locals. If it continues they petition to prevent the covenant from continuing the harvest - summer (first challenge social)
A sheriff and some armed men approach the castle with a warrant for Aurthor as he is charged with defrauding customers - winter (first challenge legal)
Please decide who will be involved in addressing these challenges.
Do we all know about the Faerie Regio? Ouragen shall suggest two shield grogs and perhaps an archer or two should be stationed where the Regio is to watch for any signs of Faerie Incursion, as that woudl be the most likely place if he's getting a bad omen. He tells the grogs to come to him immediately if they appear.
As for the other faerie problem, is anyone gentle gifted to start by finding out what the problem is?
Nope, as the only gently gifted person is Aurthor. Aurthor has presence -2 and no social skills, so is begging for a botch if he tries. Give it a couple of years for Aurthor to develop some social skills and he may attempt social adventures, right now you may as well send the Blatantly Gifted Evandrus with similar odds of success. Send a grog or companion to ask the mundane folk what is wrong. If it turns out to need both social and magical skills, we're probably screwed whoever we send. Let's try a mundane character and see what capabilities our covenant needs to develop.
Andros has a score of 2 in Charm, but that's his only applicable social Ability (Faerie Lore needed in place of Folk Ken). Combined with the Gift and Pre 0 and Com +2, he's not really fit to handle social stuff for the covenant.
Evandrus might be able to do more. He has better Communication and Presence. He also has some Faerie Lore and a smattering of social Abilities combined with a few Imaginem spells. I didn't build him to be a charmer, but he's not terrible at it except that he is not Gently Gifted.
Abilities that can be used for the social challenge: carouse, charm, etiquette, folk ken, guile, intrigue, leadership, music, area lore (southern Italy)
Abilities that can be used for the political/legal challenge: common law, civil and cannon law, area lore (southern Italy), artes liberals (rhetoric), intrigue, bargain, guile
I will also make note of something I originally failed to copy from the original solo rules- in place of an ability roll you may make an appropriate casting of a spell with magnitude equal to the challenge number -3. Obviously mentem spells will be useful for either of the above adventures.
A companion would probably be best, then if they judge the best thing to do is to provide a ward or something for the villages we can send a magi, perhaps Ouragan, he knows a few faerie wards.
Actually, that was probably a bad suggestion. Evandrus has his own thing to deal with on top of opening Camilla's Arts (and presumably the season retrieving her?) already to deal with this year.
Speaking of which- is Evandros taking anyone with him to help retrieve Anna? I have the initial challenge for that adventure coming up as infernal- probably an infernalist wanting to steal her Gift that she must be rescued from.
Keep in mind you can send out a team of characters to deal with each situation, but because of how the fast play works you need to choose them all up front. As soon as the people are chosen for each situation we can roll through the adventures...
I meant Aurthor, since he has an "adventure" seeking her in the spring. I was also looking on the wrong chart- the initial type will be legal/diplomatic (which makes sense with her being an heir...)
for the record, I currently have Aurthor going alone to seek his apprentice, Pazzino heading out to represent Aurthor against charges of fraud, and nobody currently assigned to the faerie PR issue.
That matches what I was expecting.
Do I know what the first set of challenges Aurthor will face are?(helps me decide if I need lots of help). Actually, let me review the turb statistics as it may be prudent to take a shield grog in case there's a combat challenge hidden in there.
Tiny rules query, seeing as I'll be the first to adventure - Under the fast advancement rules, there's a reward "Correspondance in one of the abilities used in the set of challenges" - does that mean you can gain correspondence with someone and gain xp like the rules in covenants for writing to other magi?
You will be able to select the abilities+attributes combinations you use, subject to appropriateness and the rules about non-duplication. You know the first set of challenges are political. And yes, you can gain a correspondence like the rules in covenants- though they may be with educated mundanes as well (for example a correspondence on intrigue with Anna's father...)
Each roll I already an abstract, but more people can certainly make it easier- what I will do is take the highest combination (stat+ability) then add 1/2 (round down) of the sum of all supporting abilities to the score.
In terms of taking along someone for protection for Arturo, I would recommend either Drago or if you are looking for something more subtle Edomndo the Bookbinder - despite not being armed or Turb he has an attack:14 and Def:13 due to his exceptional ability in brawl.