Ancient History (Spring 1242)

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Light of Andorra
401

Okay, so this guy has been specifically warned not to look into anyone's eyes. But warnings aren't perfect. I'll give Roberto a Hard Guile+Int check to try and trick the guy into meeting his gaze:

Guile + Int check: 1D10+3 = [1]+3 = 4
Multiplier: 1D10 = [1] = 1
Multiplier: 1D10 = [2] = 2 = 2*3+3 = 6+3 = 9

Barely, but that's good enough. Roberto catches his gaze for just a moment, which is enough for the spell. And since there's a very low Dominion Aura here (1, to be precise; same as at your hideout), the spell goes off with no trouble. The goon is now relatively pliant as far as answering questions.

[hr][/hr]
"Like I said," the man replies, much to his own surprise. "It's gone. Marius took it away with him when he disappeared. I don't know where he went. He could have gone to the moon for all I know."

Then he raises his dagger. "Hey, you're one of those wizards too!" He takes a threatening pose. "Get out of here now or I'll kill you and damn the consequences!"

402

Diego will port into the room, using the Wizards Leap. He has a version which has a good set of requisites so he can take his gear with him. ReCo15 with a CT of 11+roll -less aura. Roll=8, so looks good.
Diego port into room with Wizards Leap: 1D10 = [8] = 8
Quietly, "I'm here Roberto". He's watching the entrance.

Edit: in the round that the soldier draws his dagger Diego will use Heat of the searing Forge on the dagger. CrIg15 vs CT 23+ roll.

403

Roberto must be getting old. Or maybe it is me that is old. :laughing:
My first though was that HotSF may be a bit extreme for the moment, seeing how well armed and warded Roberto is. But Diego acted in a classic Flambeau fashion. :smiley:
Roberto pulls back his cloak to reveal his sword, and glares.
Maintaining concentration on his Inquisition spell...
[color=red]Who is Marius? Where did he go? Was he just here? Is he a Hermetic magus? Did he leave anything behind?

404

OOC: heh! a classic Flambeau who thought first about roasting the soldier and remembered another way. :slight_smile:

405

Everything happens rather quickly. Diego arrives invisibly, with a whoosh of expelled air. Then he starts incanting something, which makes the man with the dagger look quizzically in that direction. Before he can do anything more however, the dagger in his hand heats up. He immediately and instinctively drops it rather than let it burn him.

"What are you ... ?" he starts to ask, when Roberto interrupts with his questions.

"Marius is my boss. I don't know where he went. He just disappeared. He left when we got here; I can't tell you how long ago that was. Not too long. Is he a what? I don't think he left anything behind."

Then he looks Roberto right in the eye, against all previous advice. "You ... you bewitched me. Marius warned me that wizards could do that." He looks back and forth like a caged rat. "What do you want?" he asks at last. "I don't know much."

OOC: I was going to have the guy rush Diego as soon as he appeared on account of the Gift. But then I remembered that he was invisible.

406

[color=red]Don't you want to ca.m down and play it safe? Do you agree to cooperate if I promise I won't hurt you? How do you contact Marius? Who does Marius work for? What was in the package? How do we get to the package? Can you think of any more questions I could ask you about this?

407

bump
:slight_smile:

408

OOC: Oops. I just totally lost track of this story. My bad.

[hr][/hr]
"Fine," the man says. "You win. I can't stand up to a wizard." Though he verbally concededs, he doesn't disarm.

"I don't have to contact him," he continues. "He's generally right at the house. I don't know who he works for; he's never said. The package had some papers that the old man was working on. I don't know what about. They never talk about that where the rest of us can hear. I haven't the slightest idea how to get to the package. It's wherever Marius went and that could be anywhere. I can't think of anything else you might want to know, except that you might want to know about the other wizard."

409

"Give us something that belonged to the wizard, or that he wrote recently. " spoken from aside Roberto, then Diego shifts position slightly to obscure his position a bit.

410

"Who said that?" The man looks around the room in surprise and just a little bit of fright.

Then the spell kicks in and he involuntarily answers the questions. "I don't have anything of his," he says. Then he laughs. "Something he wrote? Why would I have something he wrote?"

411

[color=red]Who is this "other wizard"? What is his part in all of this?
Roberto is frustrated and pssd off at himself for being overly cautious and wasting his opportunity.

412

"There's another wizard named Berkhard," the man replies, still looking around for the source of the disembodied voice. "He's working with Marius, though Marius definitely seems to be the one in charge. Not sure exactly what his part is in this, but he knows more about the old man than any of the rest of us do. At least he's allowed in the old man's office with Marius. None of the rest of us are."

413

"and where is this Berkhard now?", shifting.

414

"He's back at the house," the man involuntarily exclaims, shifting himself and looking all around the room for where the voice is coming from.

415

(via mental telepathy)
[color=red]Cidito! Find Lucas! Quick! There is another wizard at the house named Berkhard! Lucas may be in danger! Get word to him!

416

Meanwhile, back at the house:

As Rilcheaux, Vibria, and Lucas make their plans near the house, Lucas, still invisible, sets forth his idea.

"So, I'll fly over and try to get inside. I should be able to get Wizard's Leap to work, even in this Aura. Then I'll look around the house and slip out to report back. That'll give us some additional intelligence about what's inside at minimal risk. Vibria, you wait here and listen for trouble. If you hear anything, you come runn-"

Boss, Horus interupts. Roberto says to stop what you're doing. It's important. Hold on for more.

"Just a second," the magus adds, "Roberto has some more information."

There's a wizard named Burhhard inside the house; proceed with caution.

"Apparently there's a wizard of some sort inside the house," Lucas adds.

Roberto is on the trail of a second one at the other location and will send word once he's learned more.

"And there was another in the group that Roberto followed. This complicates matters."

Tell Roberto, 'message received,' and thanks for the warning.' We'll take his warning to heart.

"Now," Lucas' disembodied voice continies, softly to Vibria and Rilcheaux. "With that warning in mind, what do we say? Is it still worth trying to investigate? After all, if my Wizard's Leap works to get me inside, it ought to work to get me out quickly as well if things go south. I'll just make sure that I have line of sight to somewhere outside of the house at all times. And I'll jump at the first sign of trouble."

[hr][/hr]
[color=orange]Meowr, Cidito still somehow manages to meow over a mental link. [color=orange]The message is delivered, Roberto. Lucas knows there's another wizard in the house.

[hr][/hr]
OOC: What do Vibria and Rilcheaux think of the recon plan. Even with a wizard inside the house, it seems like it has a reasonable chance of success.

417

FWIW, I found an image that shows what the townhouse would look like, as best can be told from the outside.

There's a third level garret, likely accessed by a set of back stairs on the second level.

418

[color=red]"Your leap," Vibria asks sotto voce with her mouth surreptitiously screened from any possible lip-readers, [color=red]"does it have to be line-of-sight or can you Leap to an Arcane Connection?"

I don't see any problems with it.

419

Kudos! Vibria has dislayed classic Flambeau insight. I just looked it up. It specifies sight or an AC. Versitile. Ot also specifies Casting Requisites. For that reason, I classify it as a true teleport. Meaning it can get you though closed doors.
My opinion. Yours may vary.
Meanwhile, back at the hotel....
[color=red]You have been most cooperative my friend, and you will be rewarded in due time. No need to eschange true identities. If I have need of you in the future, I will call you Pedro. As for myself, you will know me only as Blue Falcon.
Now, I think it is time for you to go to sleep. Speak nothing of our encounter. There is a bottle of wine in the next room. You can have the rest. And the purse of coins I will leave on the desk.
But first, nap for about an hour. There was no one ever here. Remember that.

420

"Why would I want to go to sleep?" the man asks. "You'd probably kill me as I slept." He keeps looking around the room. "And I'm not likely to forget this."

Then, as he speaks, another man appears in the middle of the room out of nowhere. He's wearing chainmail under his tunic and has a long dagger at his side, but no sword and no satchel. "Everything's settled," he says. "Now it's time to -- what the Hell!"

[hr][/hr]
Roll for initiative! (Let me know if there are any Fast Castings happening. Yes, I'm talking to Roberto.)

OOC: As it happened, I'd determined that in the middle of the next interaction, the guy would return.