Vibria was pacing nervously, keeping an eye out for her sodales and trying very hard not to look like a streetwalker, when Flavia approaches. She fingers a stone in her pouch until Lucas interjects.
[color=red]"If the information you have is that valuable, it's best to make sure it gets into the right hands. I commend your caution."
Not having seen what happened in the house, she's not entirely trusting Flavia, and keeps the stone in her hand, ready to Vilano her if she thinks it's warranted.
I will roll out the Leap when I am ready. Safe and invisible at the moment. Roberto is thinking to himself how to get a message to Lucas and get an update on his situation. Cidito should be headed up to the room. That's good for now. Can't keep having him hop everywhere. And in his weakened condition, he needs a reliable bodyguard.
I just thought of something. And now I realize that Fortune dis not alter the outcome so much as it covered up our mistakes. I feel like an idiot. I could have used Cidito's Magic Resistance when my Parma went down.
And Diego! Roberto is so going to chew him out later. Fire attacks in a city? Roberto has been reckless with his fire before, but he was an apprentice with a bad guy for a parens. We are adult magi now. We don't want to set Paris on fire or cause a panic.
I have an idea!
Back to the room.
(131759) = 3
Plus 20 minus 5 and minus 3 equals 15
No problem.
If the coast is clear, undo Invisibilty with Thwarting the Thaumaturgical Threat.
(131760) = 4
plus 15, then minus 5 and minus 3 equals 7. Within range, and with Stalwart Mastery no Fatigue is lost.
And of course I suppress my resistance.
The hard part. Ease Factor of 40, rolling a SD + 34.
(131761) = 6
So 40. But with the -5 Injury penalty, only 35.
Cidito looks around, perking his sharp ear (he has only one) to Roberto's incantations.
[color=orange]meow
I know yer in here. I usta have Second Sight in one eye. But that was the I lost in a fight before I wuz yer parter. Now where are you?
I'm stuck invisible at the moment. kaff Too weak to cancel it out. Broke a couple of rips, got a gash on my leg, and my eye is swollen like I got popped in the face by an ogre. kaff Things went down bad. Corpus master. First he hit me with a Parma breaker just as I was doing the same to him. It all went so fast. He hit me with a barrage of magical injuries and I went down hard. I barely managed to squeeze in the Paralyzer, but he had his spell Deftly Mastered. He needed no words or gestures to fast cast multiple injury spells. The Diego! He shoots off fire blasts from the sky at the guy!
I called to you in the middle of all that, thinking I was done for. kaff But the leg and eye turn out not to be so bad. I can see and walk. The ribs hurt. Hard to breath sometimes.
I need to rest, reset my Parma. Watch my back.
Outside the House
"The information is very important," Flavia replies. "I've found some clues that lead me to a place of power - they know that much. My captors took my notes, which I thankfully kept in code, and the source of my information, a set of ancient scrolls. But so far they've apparently been unable to decipher them to find the exact location. One of the magi threatened to use mind magic on me to drag it out of me, but so far they haven't crossed that line. They've broken a whole host of mundane laws by capturing me, but they've been careful about the Code."
"We need to get my notes back," she says. "And the set of scrolls. If you really are working with Santiago, you'll help me get those back before they discover the truth."
As Flavia speaks, Lucas talks to Horus.
Horus, I need you to get word to Roberto. We've rescued Flavia from captivity in the house. She's the maga that made the discovery that started all of this.
I'd love to help you, but Cidito was called away to help Roberto. I'm not sure where he is right now.
Understood. Roberto wouldn't have called him away if it weren't important. Pass the message along if he returns, and let me know when communications are open again. And you might as well head over here. If Cidito comes back, he'll use his funny cat travel to get to you. That'll find you wherever you are.
"Flavia's right," Lucas' voice says. "We need to get those notes. But first, we need to get word to Roberto and Diego about what's happened. Our lines of communication are temporarily down. And we need to plan an assault on the house, or maybe an infiltration. But if we're going to do that, we need everyone ready to participate."
"Any thoughts?" he asks Vibria and Rilcheaux.
Back at the Inn
The invisible Roberto makes it back to the empty room without a hitch. He can remove his invisibility spell and resume normal activity. There's one of the soldiers to pick up, but no other loose ends to deal with.
As a side note, Roberto can see out the window that a few Paris guards have arrived on the scene. They're down on the street now, but people are pointing up to the roof where the Tytalus magus is lying unonscious.
Elsewhere
Meanwhile, Diego flies back toward the house, across the skies of Paris.
[hr][/hr]
OOC: What was the EF 40 roll for?
[color=red]"You're a wizard?" Vibria asks with a skeptical scowl.
To dispell, the EF is twice the level of that spell. So, PeIm20 Veil of Invisibility, I need to roll 40. The spell he is using is all-purpose, not Form specific. So it is difficult. It best verus 15 or lower, peaks versus level 20, and maxes out versus 25. So still invisible.
The spell is on his sheet. The roll is Level +10, then +9 for Mastery 3 Unravelling.
[color=red]Wait! I have another idea. Cidito, wait here. I am still invisible. I am going to try to create a distraction. Can't leave that guy up there for other people to find him. Wish I had my carpet with me.
Step one of Roberto's clever plan is to come up with a clever plan. So hold on while I electro-roll some dice and figure it out.
Rilcheaux smiles, "Some of what you know, perhaps, but what we want to know right now is what you know about what is going on inside the house. I hope you are willing to speak of that" because, thinks Rilcheaux, if it could be pulled out by magic I suspect her captors would have pulled out the information they seek long before this...
Roberto's clever plan in no way resembles what he just said he is going to do. Instead, the intention is to Leap back to the guy, Flex Cast it on him to send him back to the room, then reurn to the room himself. I rolled five dice, for I had a few more things planned. But the spread fits the plan.
3, 1, 1, 5, 5
It was easier to text that and this explaination once rather that five times.
Anyways, before I forget, I get that wine bottle and take the cork.
Then Leap to the roof. Roll 3, plus Casting score 20, minus 8 for Injury and Aura, total 12, no Fatigue because of Stalwart.
Then a roll of (1, 1, 5, =) 20, plus 20 minus 8 equals 32, minus 20 for Flexed Level equals 12, plus 6 for Penetration & Multiplier. Total Penetration 18.
I do believe that tucks him safe in bed. I will follow up with a Finesse roll if you want.
Then the return Leap, roll 5, all good.
Should I make two more rolls? The original set of five was to check for wound worsening and finesse at the end, but the double exploder messed up the plan. However, I checked and Rob is on the cusp of being still able to move and be active. If he takes his time, 11 seconds per rounds (base 6 + Injury Penalty), the extraction proceedure should only take half minute.
OOC: Just to remind everyone (since it's only been a few days in game time), Santiago said that a maga named Flavia uncovered information about something important and then disappeared down in the Roman Tribunal. He had people looking for her.
[hr][/hr]
Near the House
"More precisely," Flavia replies, "I'm a maga of the Order of Hermes, House Bonisagus, to be specific." She looks barely twenty-five, though that often means little to magi of the order.
"I'm perfectly happy to tell you all I know about the inside of the house," Flavia replies. "If you're with them then you know all about it; and if you're with Santiago, I want you to have as much information as you can."
"Unfortunately, I don't know much about the house. I was kept unconscious until I got there. In fact, I didn't even know where I was until Lucas told me I was in Paris. I was kept locked in the garret, tied up and gagged. I was only released for meals and necessary bodily functions, and then under strict supervision. I never saw the downstairs."
"There are at least two magi inside. One, who seems to be in charge, is a Tytalus named Cassius. He's one of Darius' flunkies, and he's a cruel man. He was in charge of my interrogation. I don't know the name of the other; he rarely spoke. But I do know that he's powerful enough in Ignem that he can cast fire spells in the current Dominion Aura. He demonstrated a few to me so that I would know to behave properly. Both Cassius and the other magus are Gentle Gifted; I felt nothing when taking to them, and my Parma was down the whole time."
"Aside from the magi, there are no fewer than five soldiers. At least I saw five different soldiers at different times accompanying Cassius and the other magus. None of them appeared to be Gifted, though I suppose it's possible one of them had the Gentle Gift and didn't identify himself as a magus. There's also an educated man of some sort. His first name is Andreas, though he offered no last name. He's the one they're using to try and decipher my notes. He's smart, but not smart enough, I think. He questioned me a few times up in the garret. He's good, but not great. I suspect that the better scholars on the subject had too many scruples to participate in a venture of such a questionable moral nature."
[hr][/hr]
Back at the Inn
Roberto has a quick change of plans. Deciding that he isn't going to leave the enemy magus to deal with the authorities, he quickly leaps back to the roof of the opposing building. There he finds the magus lying just where he left him. Then, using a trick he learned to extend the target of a spell, Roberto sends the magus back to the room, more or less getting him on the bed. After that, it's just a matter of casting the spell one more time to return to the room himself. But as he's casting the spell that final time, Roberto can hear footsteps below and a man, clearly hearing the spell's incantations, calls out to whoever is up there to stand down. But whatever else is said is lost as Roberto instandly crosses the 30 paces back to the inn's bedroom.
OOC: FWIW, the inn, and the people in it, are occupied looking at the opposing building. In fact, many people from the common room are out on the street, looking up.
No extra rolls necessary. This is (relatively) calm casting.
Ah. I had either missed that or forgotten it.
Vibria rumbles angrily at Flavia's maltreatment. [color=red]"Sounds to me like a March might be in order."
Does she know anything about Cassius (Int 1 + Order of Hermes Lore 1 + die roll of 6 = 8 ) or of any gentle-gifted fire-magi who are allied with Darius (2 + die roll of 9 = 11)?
"Do you have any idea where Andreas kept his notes, or anything else about him?"
"I wouldn't say no to that," Flavia replies. "But Darius has a good deal of pull in the Order, I suspect its mostly blackmail on other magi. And Cassius was careful not to permanently hurt me or violate any of the rules of the Order. It's blackguardly activity on all their parts, and I'll certainly try and get him Marched. But I fear that my only recourse will be a Wizard's War against Cassius. Unfortunately, he outclasses me in combat magic. I'm mostly a researcher."
"I don't, I'm afraid. He must have kept his notes somewhere downstairs from the garret."
"Andreas has an office on the second floor in the back of the house," Lucas' voice interrupts. "He was working at a desk there when I went through the building, and the door was locked. I'd be very surprised if the notes weren't kept in there."
"As for what I know about him," Flavia resumes. "He's taught at the University of Paris, though not much lately. He takes on occasional private students, but has none at the moment. I gather he's independently wealthy and doesn't have to teach to live. His area of focus is close, but not spot on with my own, which has to make it harder to complete the task they've set forward for him. He's a perfectly adequate scholar, but doesn't have that spark of genius that would make him a great scholar. He's also incredibly arrogant, quite full of himself."
I'll say it's EF 9 (Average) to know about Cassius, and EF 12 (Hard) to know about the fire magus. Both rolls miss, but a single Fortune point on either roll will mean a success.
[color=red]"I would say that kidnapping you, binding you hand and foot, for days on end, and no telling for how long if you'd not been rescued, counts as depriving you of your magical power."
I've got Fortune burning holes in my pockets, I'll spend a point on each.
Here's what you know.
Cassius is Gentle Gifted and skilled in Corpus magic. He's also deft in Corpus. The combination of these factors make him Darius' go-to magus for matters in civilized areas. He has a cruel streak, sometimes being know to use his magic to cause mundane enemies break out in injuries with no apparent reason. He works mostly in Normandy, Provencal, and the Rhine, though he will definitely go farther afield when required. He's skilled with a sword and his talisman is a dagger enchanted to extend into a sword on command.
Darius is known to occasionally work with a Gentle Gifted Flambeau magus named Reinhard, from the Rhine Tribunal. Reinhard is known for being amoral rather than bad. He'll take jobs that pay with little regard for the morality of them. So while he's on Darius' payroll, he's just a hire; he's not a member of Darius' inner circle. Of interest, he's known to have the Second Sight, and he's immune to fire. The latter property, along with his penchant for fire spells, has made him a bit of a pyromaniac.
Roberto takes a sip of the wine and pockets the cork. Cidito sees the bottle raise in the air then tilt without spilling. So he figures that is where Roberto is.
[color=orange]mrow?
I thought he was the bad guy. why'dya bring him here?
[color=red]Because it is the right thing to do. A lot of lines have been crossed and we are in a gray area here. And I don't know how much legal trouble we all are in right now. And in desperation my ethics gave way to necessity. But my morals are still intact. It would be wrong to leave the man alone and helpless at the mercy of the mob, one that I am in part responsible for. I knew Diego was reckless. Not in a crafty way like me, but in a ruthless way that reminds me of the way my master Joel was...
...or like Santiago before the Shadow Wars.
Cidito! Go find Lucas or Horus. Or even Vibria. The first one you can safely sniff out and get to. Give them the run down on the situation here and tell them Diego is on the way.
With a dagger the guy dropped on the ground free for the taking. Not stolen.
$#!+, what was I thinking?
anyway, I need you to reopen the lines of communication and put me in contact with the group. Tell them these guys are holding Flavia captive and we need to get her out before they get to her. The orginal objective can fall to the wayside if need be. Flavia is the source and origin. Tell Vibria, "Fons et Origio", she will understand.
Then after Cidito departs, Roberto will try to calmly cast a few spells. They are ll cast Quietly (-5), but he still used Eggagerated Gestures (+1).
I rolled a batch
All rolls -12 (-3 Aura, -5 injuries, -5 Quiet, +1 Exaggerated)
7, 0, 7, 5, 4
Spell Mastery eliminates the worries of the 0, and I am glad it was second because the first spell is a Spont. As easy one. A Personal Range version of Bind Wounds. CrCo5.
Roll 7, total Penalty -12, Stamina +1, Creo 6+3, Corpus 5. Equls 10, halved equals 5. Right on the nose. 
Then he trys to undo his Invisibility again.
And the 0 doesn, Botch because of Mastery. But it still fails and he looses Fatigue. (Casting score 15, -13, equals 2)
The next roll ws for the unravel, and I feel cheep using it for a better spell. So I will waste it on another Awareness roll to see if the guy has any money.
Per 0, Awareness 2, Injury -5, roll 7; = 4
:mrgreen:
Injury Penalty sucks!!
What am I going to do with myself here?
Roberto heads downstairs. Seeing no one, he heads out into the street to see what the mob is up to.
He looks down the streets, left right and whichever direction. He tries to guess which direction the group at the target house would be. Bus essentially he guesses. With the inn at his back and looking at the roof top, he then turns his gaze Right (ish) and fixes his gaze on the furthest point he can see.
Then without Words, he will Wizard Leap as far as he can go. Casting score 20, -10 no Words, -5 Injury, -3 Aura, roll 5, equals equals 7, successful (Stalwart).
Then again a little further up, maybe to the left a bit. With Quiet words. Roll 4, +this & -that = 10.
At the Inn
FWIW, I went back and checked, Cassius never drew his dagger. So Roberto must have taken it from its sheath, Oops.
Remember, you do have Corpus vis and someone who can cast a healing spell. The real question is whether you have the hour plus it'll take to get to somewhere quiet and cast it.
The mob is looking up to the rooftop where a couple of town guards are now poking around in a puzzled manner. The mob seems worried about what happened. A few are saying something about God's displeasure; others are talking about necromancy and dark magic. It's all a jumble, and Roberto's French isn't good enough to get the fine details.
I'll give Roberto a general luck check to see how close he gets. Higher is better.
Luck check (Stress Die): 1D10 = [1] = 1
Multiplier: 1D10 = [3] = 3 = 3*2 = 6
Middling result. He's by the river, and he knows he can eliminate anything north of the river. Easiest thing for him to do is pick a direction and head along the river that way, looking for their hideout (which is also on the river). He knows the way to the house from the hideout, so that'll reduce things to a previously solved problem. And thankfully it gives him a 50/50 chance of being right. He rolled a 6 on a d10, so that's good enough.
Roberto decides to go down river and makes a few teleports. After the second one he recognizes a church steeple as being one that's near the warehouse the group has rented. By his guess, he's about three or four blocks from the warehouse and could make it there in two or three leaps.
Near the House
[color=orange]"Aye aye," Cidito says with a mock salute. [color=orange]"I'll get right on it." and with that, he starts walking around in a circle until at one turn he finally disappears.
I'll roll for who's most convenient for Cidito to teleport to: Horus, Lucas, or Vibria.
Cidito: 1D6 = [4] = 4; That'll be Lucas
Meanwhile, Lucas, Rilcheaux, Vibria, and Flavia are still debating matters. They are interrupted by a cough and a meow behind them.
[color=orange]"Ahem, ," Cidito says, having appeared from a dark corner of the alley. [color=orange]"Roberto caught the guy with the satchel, though Diego shot some fire in the sky that got the natives all riled up. But he says that we need to put the original objective on hold. The bad guys have Flavia held captive and we need to get her out before they do something to her. He said Flavia is the source and origin and told me to tell Vibria "Fons et Origio." I hope you know what that means Vibria, cuz I don't."
[color=orange]"By the way, who's the new dame?"
"This," Lucas' voice says, "is Flavia. We just rescued her from the house. If we're lucky, they may not even know that she's missing yet. So you can tell Roberto mission accomplished. We've just been having a discussion with Flavia about what's going on inside the house so we can decide our next move."
[color=orange]Roberto, they say 'mission accomplished,' and they have a dame they say is Flavia that they rescued from the house. You'd better get here soon. They sound like they're planning what to do next.
OOC: Note, there's a post I made on the previous page regarding Roberto. I don't want that to get lost in the page jump.
Fons et Origio is Latin for "source and origin", a bit of Flambeau mystacism. The meaning here is that Flavia is the original source of the information we seek. Getting the notes now means depriving the enemy of their clues to the information Flavia has.
[color=red]Tell them to get her to safety as quickly as they can! I am on my way to our safe house. Take her there while I plan our retreat. As for the target house, proceed with caution and only if a safe and viable opportunity is apparent. But it is more important to get Flavia to safety, and we need to now think about extracating ourselves from this city.
As for the dagger, Roberto's mantra is unwavering. [color=red]I found it on the roof after the other magus fell unconscious. I presume he may have dropped it. Bt even then I am not sure. I thought it wise to not leave the man with a weapon, seeing as he had already demonstrated an intent to do me bodily harm.
As for wat we the readers know, that is besides the point. Roberto's first thought was to disarm him, and to acquire a second solid AC. I as a player had a hunch it might be a magical item of some sort.
However, what we the readers know is irrelevant. Roberto will stick by his story if ever asked.
But he will avoid it ever coming to that. It may be a greater advantage to confess and turn the item in for the Q's to examine. The only way to beat a Tytalus at his game is not to play his game. Instead, make him play a different game.
And see, as Roberto matures he becomes more and more concerned with doing the right thing. To follow a moral and ethical code, not because he has to, but because he wants to do good things in the world. Perhaps to atone for the mistakes of his youth, or perhaps because of the lessons he learned from them.
I am babbeling again. I just really like writing about this character, and I am loving this story! The James Bond style here so fits the niche he has created for himself. It is forcing him (and me!) to be clever, to be introspective, and to accept a littlle humility.
Roberto got his @$$ kicked and I'm loving it :mrgreen:
It is just a simple matter of casting Wizard's Leap, calmly and Quietly, and repeating until he gets to the safe house. He will stop to rest as needed, and check in with Cidito to ask Lucas for instructions.
[color=red]Cidito! To shorten and repeat. Tell Lucas to get Flavia to safety. I am headed to the Safehouse. Tell Lucas he is in charge and to act on his discretion, but keep in contact.
Now as for Healing magic, Roberto is the caster for that. CrCo20r & CrCo30r. You know the ones. I need to follow JL's advice and invest ReCo in the Familiar bond. It is on my list. Roberto feels humble right now
He doesn't keep Corpus vis on hand. He has Ignem in his ring (his Fons et Origio, the Flambeau custom of keeping raw vis on hand for combat emergency). I do not want to spend more Fortune or waste any vis.
Or waste time.
If and when Roberto gets to the safehouse...
[color=red]Arachne, I need a little help.
There was also a document we were supposed to retrieve if I remember correctly, the one we were worried they were translating?
Luckily, I told Arachne was just staying at the safe house and relaxing, because I'm loooooost! 
For what it's worth, she could restore Roberto back to visible easily. He knows that...
And then, I read this
When Roberto arrives to the safe house, he finds Arachne quietly spinning a another net. Hearing his voice, she raises her head.
Roberto? Is that you? Please, don't scry on me invisibly, it's bad form^^ Now, what have you done?
...
Are you all right?
Once things are cleared up, since his Parma is down, she can Unravel his Veil of Invisibility easily, despite the dominion:
9 + 51 - 9 (Aura) - 20 (spell level) = 31.
When she sees the flambeau's wounds, her expression changes slightly, from light teasing to concern, but then, she recovers.
Urk. That gotta hurt. Let me see, you rushed in again, didn't you? And now, I gotta pick up the pieces.
She sighs, looking at her beads
These take time to craft, you know? So be careful, next time, try to avoid getting hurt. Now, be a good boy, and lower your parma an instant
She presses one of the beads to Roberto, mumbling a command word while doing to.
Instantly, Roberto feels the pain from his wounds disappear, his aches vanishing under a comfortable soothing (effect similar to Endurance of the Berserker, sun duration)
There, this should keep you running for a little while. So. Tell me about it. What happened?
(Since it's easier for me to record, I scrapped one full bead from her reserve. If need be in this story, she can do that once more without it changing my account)
(BTW, thanks Marko, for remembering Arachne. Not only were you right on cue, I had fun writing her reaction to Roberto's wounds as a mix of old soldier and granny.
Not that much.
First, this means you need to cast 2 spells to disable your opponent, whereas he possibly only needs one.
Then, it needs to penetrate, and the higher his parma, the higher the spell you need (and thus the lower your penetration). If you try to fast cast, that -10 to penetration may be a game changer.
Last, if a combat magus really fears it, he only needs to learn a low-level version, and master it for Magic Resistance to render the spell useless against him*.
In regard to all these, an assassin with a Call to Slumber is often far deadlier: He only needs one spell, and it's only level 10.
Arachne is faaaar better at this than Roberto, but even her would think twice before engaging a dedicated Flambeau in direct combat even slightly younger than her, especially if he's got a focus.
tl; dr: Don't worry about it 