Poena smiles at Kenzams outburst.
Quite well General! I was testing if your reutation is true. Strong headed and determined to focus on fact.
Your statements ring true actually. There are Faerie dragons in Novgorod and there may be ones uncatalogued in Transylvania. And according to our analysis of General Achita's demise, it may well be certain dragons are able to survive ablation. It may be that the Magnitude of the dragons involved was sorely underestimated.
I admire your sharp tongue Kenya. I do not want sycophants. That is the reason I brought you in.
Your scribe is not fired. Put together a logistics plan and a resource requisition list. General Vibria. I want you to put together a Vexillation roster. How many magi do you need? How many mundanes? The hierarchy flow chart.
I am giving you one week to prepare.
Once the meeting is over, Vibria retreats to her room and just collapses, letting the stress and the nervousness of everything that's going on wash over her before she lets it flow away. This will likely be the last chance she has to unwind for a long time.
She starts to go over what Poena told her she needed to accomplish in the next week, as well as her mission objectives. Her mind latches onto "resource requisition list" and she lights up. Throwing open the door, she sends someone to bring her a tailor or seamstress. When they arrive, she charges them to make two sets of robes (one with decorations that look like myrtle and one with decorations that look like Grass) and a wedding dress, and has them go make something for Jaksic for his wedding garb.
Once they're gone, she will meet with Zenza.
[color=red]"This is going to be a very difficult assignment, sodalis. Especially since we've been basically given two tacks to take.
"To be honest, I feel that, in the long run, tracking down Fetiluscaviceps and getting him onto our side against Abur-circirlie would be our best option. I don't know enough about Fetiluscaviceps[sup]1[/sup] to be able to pull off a successful impersonation . I'm hoping that you know more, or know who would know more, if we choose to go that route. If we can pull off an impersonation, either with one of our draconian allies or with one of us, so much the better.
"But that's a long shot. As is our defeating Abur-circirlie without a devastating display of wizardry, and I don't want all our magi on this one task.
"So. If we're going to bring Fetiluscaviceps into our fold, the first question would be, where to we find him? And which of our people would be the best suited to locate and persuade him?"
[hr][/hr][sup]1[/sup]Int 1 + Magic Lore (Dragons) 5 + die roll of 3 = 9.
The old Roman dragon.
You know most of what is written in Against the Dark plus what your grandfather taught you about draconic culture.
Back in the day there were about a dozen, a special band of monsters that called themselves the "Roman Dragons", as if they were a street gang. Sigmundus, Pan-Caudrax, Fetiluscaviceps, and others. They much admired the culture and art of these humans, and for a time decided to emulate them and posed as Roman wizards of that ancient day. Pan-Caudrax eventually grew weary of this charade, buried his treasures in hidden places, and relocated to Iceland (reference ArM4 Land of Fire & Ice). Sigmundus, aka Sigmundo or just Sigmund, aka Grandfather; he retired for a while and built up his library collection. He kept up with the pretense of humanity, and redently has come out of retirement and poses as a Hermetic Magus. Fetiluscaviceps settled amongst the Romans and others loose track of him (as far as his human ID goes). As a dragon, he forged the Pax Draconis based mainly on the forse of his might and the strength of his personality. Supposedly he met with Tremere once. But not much else is known than that.
Let us kick this back into high gear and get on with the wedding 
Grandfather comes knocking at the door...
((Sorry, I've been drawing a blank on this all week, and haven't gotten around to finding my Against the Dark and looking for the info on Fetiluscaviceps.))
Vibria throws open the door. Her face beams when she sees who it is. She pulls him into a bone-crushing hug and whirls around the room with him in her arms.
She finally sets him down and shows him her hand, with the ring on it. [color=red]"He asked me to marry him, Grandfather! And I said yes!"
This is fantastic! If dragons had tears I would cry 
((And the stuff in AtD is mainly fluff))
Vibria spends a good bit of time in her quarters, pondering the problem of Fetiluscaviceps. She's fairly certain that they stand a much better chance of victory if they can find him and persuade him to join them than they do of defeating Abur-Circirlie mano-a-claw-o.
So, she will pore over the CV of all the magi and specialists at her disposal to find the ones who would be most likely to know where to begin looking for Fetiluscaviceps, and who have the most charisma and are the most eloquent speakers for when they find him. She will also send for any Tremere historians at her disposal to see what they can tell her, whether historical record or old wives' tale, about any meeeting of Fetiluscaviceps and Tremere the Founder.
Vibria gives her grandfather another hug. [color=red]"I don't know when the wedding is going to be, yet, but I want you to be there for me...for us.
"I'm excited, but a little nervous. I mean, I've had men talk about marrying before, but it always turned out to just be another line to get inside my robes. But Jaksic...he feels different. He seems to be the only one who's seen me for who and what I really am, and loves me for it. And he understands me, and I understand him, and it just feels so perfect, like I don't want to go back without him. But...I don't want to get married right away, just in case."
Sorry for the delay, trying to get back on this.
Kenza will try to schedule a meeting with Vibria, so that they can pool ideas.
Once the welcomes and chitchat are exchanged...
As far as we know, our objective is there. (She designates a point over the beautifully illustrated map they're combing over).
We'll need guides, of course. I advise we travel lightly, so as to be more mobile.
She pauses, looks at Vibria, clearly trying to assess her.
You're in charge. How do you want to play this? Your plans will determine who and what we take with us. And you should plan at least one contingency. What do we do if our plan fails? Although the ability to improvise can be paramount, preparation is the key to success. This is echoed in our magic, as above, so below.
Vibria walks around the map, studying it from all angles, lips pursed thoughtfully. [color=red]"How sure are we that this is where he is?" she finally asks.
[color=red]"Dragons tend to be rather egotistical and prone to flatter, and the more powerful they are the more they are. Plan A, I think, is to suck up to him, butter him up, try to convince him that draconian society has fallen to pieces since he withdrew and that only he can fix it, and try to paint Abur-Circirlie as the one most responsible and deserving of his wrath."
She pauses for a minute. [color=red]"And if that doesn't work...withdraw gracefully and go kick Abur-Circirlie's scaly butt."
I am loving this plan
If Sigmundo may be allowed to sit in as an advisor...
The old wyrm was fond of using the name Felix back in the day. The place advised to look, that is what I told Poena. But she is not as well informed as you are Vibria. You know what to lok for. Not a dragon. A man. A scholarly man. That was the nature of those Roman Dragons, or so I have read.
Look for a man. Take Jacsik with you. Follow your heart. Let your instincts guide you [strike]Luke[/strike] Vibria. Vaya con Dios.
Kenza smiles widely
Good question! I understand what Octavian sees in you.
The answer is simple: We've got a wide intelligence network all over the tribunal, that's how.
But don't get fooled by the map: The region is quite wide, so finding him won't be as easy as it seems, especially given the beast's mobility.
Which comes around to your question: We ain't. We only know that's where he was, roughly 
That's where you come in. Like Sigmundo says, we hope you'll be able either to find where Fetiluscaviceps might rest, or, barring that, to give us clues as to where he might go.
You're the expert, or so I've been told. If it works for you, it works for me 
So... I think we may need reports to study, concentrating on draconic battles and conflict. This should give us enough evidence to convince him. We worsen the picture, which won't be difficult, presenting him tales on how dragons everywhere are falling apart, and they need a mighty leader to rule over them. So we turned to him, which we heard is both the most powerful and the wisest beast around. Maybe we can say that Abur-Circilie is trying to stage a coup? He deliberately disrupted draconic society in order to take control and become king of all dragons? What do you think about it?
As per kicking Abur-Circilie's butt... I feared you'd say something like that. This will be hard. I don't think we'll be able to penetrate his hide easily, which means we'd have to pile on attacks on him, weakening him bit by bit. Urgh. I don't look forward to it. I'd much prefer to draw him in a pass, drop some boulders on him, bury him under a big, nice pile of rocks, but one can only dream.
Vibria closes her eyes and stands there with her arms folded under her chest, thinking furiously. She goes over everything she's heard about Fetiluscaviceps (and dragons in general), trying to connect the dots. Finally, she opens her eyes and examines the map again.
[color=red]"Are they any universities or academia there?"
Vibria nods. [color=red]"Pretty much what I was thinking. And I don't think all that would be that far from the truth."
[color=red]"I'm truly hoping and praying it doesn't come to that. Going into battle with him will be a last resort, and it will probably cost us a lot of lives. But if it comes to that, we're going to have to wear him down. It will probably require a lot of catapults, trebuchets, and ranged spells. And if we have people who are able to drain some of his power, so much the better."
(Where is my Transylvania handbook? Oh, well, at home... But, well, did marko say where Fetiluscaviceps is exactly? Because I've been vague deliberately...)
Sorry, I don't know. Unless marko says otherwise, it stands to reason that there must be something near. Maybe not an university or school, since these were still rare as far as I know (although if there's a cathedral, there's probably a cathedral school), but at least an oppidum.
Uh? Hum... Yes, around there. What's your idea? I'm intrigued
Yes, although we've found Ballistaes to be a lot easier to aim than catapults against such moving targets.
Do you think we could lure him with some food or gold? Set up a trap with lots of ballistaes and archers and lure him there? Would this work, or would he ignore the bait?
[color=red]"Most dragons are able to take human form, and like to mingle in human society. Quite a few are drawn toacademic society...or, in my grandfather's case, Hermetic society. The best of the best., as it were. My theory is that he would have been drawn to a school of some kind. If we can track him down there, make our case...
"Grandfather, full dragons can recognize each other even in human form, yes?"
[color=red]"Gold, jewelry, art, antiquities. I think he would. And hopefully they'll let me keep whatever he doesn't destroy."
What? Me? Um, from what I have read, yes. Being a dragon scholar as I am and not an actual dragon, I only know what I have studies and seen
:mrgreen:
He gives you that hush-hush glance, but Vibria knows the Tremere are not fooled
What you said is only partially true. It is the intelligent dragons, they like to assume human form. I would not say most, not sure, but many do. Yet many don't. Shapeshifting is not universal, though it is not uncommon.
The power to identify a dragon in changed form, that comes from a combination of second sight and draconic heritage. Even you could do it if you could gain that talent.
The Roman Dragons I told you about. They do have those traits though. They are Intelligent, can Shape Change, fancy having a Human identity, and most important, the Roman Dragons appreciate education. Academic, Magic, Theology, whatever. The treasures found in written words. That is why [strike]we[/strike] they admired the Romans and took that name as a description for their clique.
And mind you, it wasn't a breed or a type. [strike]We[/strike] They all came from different backgrounds and origins, different ages and heritages. The thing that drew [strike]us[/strike] them together was their love of intellect and literacy. That is why they met and began associating. After Rome, they went separate ways.
But the love of learning never left them.
Pan Caudrax became a student of Nordic culture and poetry. Pythia went back to Greece. One of them built an arcane library wink,
And Fetiluscaviceps...
hmmmm....
On the map there, the area your scouts recommend. There is a cathedral school right there in that city that I am pointing to on the map. The Tremere agents. Can they get us a list of the clergy stationed there. Specifically, anyone named Felix.
The information is easilly available, and within a half hour you find what is suggested to be sought.
The headmaster of the Cathedral School is named Father Felix Faust.
wonderful. I imagine him having a fun time there
Excellent! (Marko and I share some cultural references and similar tastes )
[color=red]"So, if Faust is...not so much hiding but has concealed himself in a cathedral school, that means we probably have to deal with the weight of the Divine on our magic. And most of the people have no love lost for magi, and may feel that we are inherently sinful due to our use of magic. So, we definitely want magi with either a Gentle Gift or a way of overcoming the effects of the Gift. Open weaponry would probably be right out, too.
"Do we have anyone who can suppress the social aspects of my Gift, even in a Divine presence?
"And probably an entourage of people who would have reasonable cause to visit a Cathedral school. My fiancé, for one, is a linguist and a scholar. Do we have any others? I don't want a whole caravan. Myself, Grandfather, and maybe half a dozen others, total."
The Tremere can asseble a team to accomodate you; including a Senior Redcap, a Tremere with the Gentle Gift, an a Folk Dancer that has the unique power to render others unaffected by the gift.
Grandfather expresses regret...
I cannot go with you. You must do this on your own and find your destiny.