The giant magus catches quickly up. Janus has to take some care not to desecrate the many bodies. The giant strides really help. They get past the middle of the field before the hoodies react. First one, looking up curiously, then suddenly, startled, he yells, and all of them rise to their feet. Two of drop a body with the chain mail half-way removed.
The steady and straight stride of the two magi may be terrifying. The hoodies have started to pull together in a group, when one of them shouts, as the magi have advance to about 30 paces away, «scatter». And they suddenly and swiftly retreat towards the woods to scatter and disappear.
Lucio will notice the movement, particularly the moving shadow of the giant-blood, but whether he reacts or not is more a matter of personality (traits) than concentration ability. [Awareness+Perception 9+ to spot anything of interest in the hotpot of magic residues.]
[Got a 13 on Awareness. So focused on the magic he probably remains oblivious. Again, he is also saving the more complicated aspects of the scene it his memory palace to be recorded later in writing.]
Janus reaches the edge of the woods and checks the robbers have scattered. He turns to Rubellius and says “Why don’t you start gathering any silver, vis and any useful gear from the battleground, that Guernicus may be of help. I’ll guard against these scavengers returning”
Rubellius grunts in agreement even if he doesn't seem happy to scavenge over mutilated dead bodies.
He easily lifts the dead weights, even if armored, and moves them around as needed.
Rubellius is actively looking for good armor pieces, he should spot easily the well maintained ones as his eyes are well trained. If he finds anything useful he will take it off old owner and carry it on his shoulders. When at full load he'll move the items near his cart. Whether the work is too much for one person, Rubellius will ask his two grogs for help.
Obviously every body is lifted from silver and any kind of valuable jewelry.
Rubellius will keep his eyes open looking for vis, as it is a resource by far more valuable than anything he expects to find.
[I'll roll anything necessary here as an edit]
Whatever it is the outcome of this search, he'll end up covered even more in mud and blood.
Edwin finds looting the dead distasteful, but war leads to this necessity. Wrapping his hood over his face to protect himself from the smell of the corpses, he will help remove valuables. He doesn't know enough about arms and armour to loot those.
"Dirty work, but it will help us build a home", he says to Rubellius' grogs.
There is no shortage of good armour once Rubellius start looting. Selecting the best armour and removing it is a tedious process, and Rubellius takes his time to pile up as much as he can carry. There is no armour of particular quality, but he does notice two superb longswords dropped in a pile of dead grogs whose armour he removes in the middle of the field.
Silver is also plentyful, even though few of the warriors have more than one or two coins. Edwin can roll an awareness+perception [search or sight applies], to find 6d (0+), 12d (3+), 30d (6+), £½ value mostly in jewelry and gems (9+), £1 value (12+), £2 (18+). If he rolls 12+, he also ends up with Luciu on the Eastern end.
Luciu notices a body still under the influence of spells. You would guess on Gift of the Bear's Fortitude or a similar buff. He is not really trained to focus on a spell for more than 15-30 minutes, so this is as much as he is able to get without a break. As he has to give up on his spell, he has ended up on the Eastern end of the battlefield, just to notice two odd figures.
A woman in a white dress is floating a foot above the ground. She small and kneeling, and seems to be completely frozen, which must be why you did not notice her at a distance. Ten paces away is a man in a maroon robe, dead on the ground with a bloody slash across his torso. He wears a helmet beautifully adorned with a copper rim. Luciu recognises him as the preciding quaesitoris.
Janus stands guard. The scavengers are not to be seen, but after a while he sees a small group on horses approaching from the West. They stop to look over the area. Both the riders and Luciu are about a hundred paces away, in opposite directions.
Luciu looks back, and calls to the men who wait at his wagon, gesturing for them to bring it to him. Then he recasts his spell and inspects the suspended woman more closely.
There is an effect, suspending her somewhere between this World and some other. Twilight is the only explanation that makes sense. Can one every know for sure?
Janus has to draw far away from the rest of the group. As he approaches the newcomers, Janus sees a wagon with a big cage drawn by two horses and flanked by two knights on horseback. The man driving the wagon is standing on the bench. He is tall, with an oiled cloak. His face is old and worn by the weather, and his hair is shoulder-long and greasy.
«You do not know me? Wulfric, emissary of Eadric the Ealdorman!?» The man on the wagon shouts, with a confident basso voice.¹ «Who are you to wage war on his land?»
¹ Int+Mercia lore 6+ and he knows the name; 12+ and he knows the face. Add 6 to the ease factor for area lore in another English kingdom and 9 for Stonehenge lore.
Rubellius sees Edwin and Janus busy with the newly arrived.
He makes a sign to his grogs, whom leave the things they were carrying where they are to follow him. Rubellius makes himself big as he used to do in such contexts, even if his face may betray his uncertainty.
He gives a long look at the wagon and the cage, as well as to the two knights: are they equipped well?
Do they seem well equipped and servants of a rich one?
What signs do appear on their horses' caparisons?
The knights wear excellent armour but no crest. That is not unusual though, in this day and age. The horses, to those who have a decent training in animal handling or ride, appear to be of the best breed. Clearly, the knights are able to afford the best, of both aesthetic and martial qualities.
The wagon, in contrast, seems to be built purely for function. Like the driver's cloak it is rough, but solid and durable. The driver looks reckless and merciless, as he speaks. «We received news that the peace of the land has been broken. The culprits are to be brought to the Aelderman. Can you tell us what has happened here?» He glances at the giant, before he resumes his stare at Janus.
Meanwhile, Rubellius' grogs carry the armour to the cart. Were they asked to take anything other than the armour too?
At the far end, Luciu gets his wagon. The spell does not reveal anything new. No active spell effects can be seen, but the spell would not detect vis nor enchanted devices. The lady must be a maga in twilight; nothing else makes sense. A beautiful wooden staff with a crystal embedded at the head has been dropped to the ground beneath her. In the poaches hanging from her belt, you can find two small clay statues, five dried nuts, and three vials of unidentifiable potions.
The presiding quaesitoris has a large seashell in his hand, a sword in his belt, and the ostentatious helmet. His clothes are partly burnt, and they find illegible fragments of a diary which has been burnt with them.
“We were attacked by these brigands and had to defend ourselves, the lord God granting us victory in the struggle. We will take the victors right from the dead and be on our way. I have no wish to meet the Ealdorman so you can be on your way” replies Janus.
Wulfric eyes you suspiciously and scans the battle field. «Brigands, is that what you call them? They just came upon you with hundreds of men at arms and assaulted you? Who are you? Was it just you, or did you too bring a little army.»
Janus' memory of the battle is hazy, but he can remember that both the Order and the Diedne had amassed big armies for an anticipated clash. More senior magi were pulling the strings, and you know little about why it came to a confrontation here and now.
[You are free to postulate any memories which make a good story (no orcs though, I know they are your favourite). You may or may not have been part of the big army. I assumed you were, but I can adapt to your narrative regardless.]
Luciu has his people lift the Quaesitore's body into the wagon. Expecting her not to be movable, he'll try the same with the maga; and if it works he takes her staff as well, otherwise he leaves her undisturbed, and puts her staff in her hand, or gets as close as he can; hoping that if she is holding it in her strange attitude, it's less likely to be taken. Afterwards, he rides with his crew back off the battlefield, keeping a close eye on the others, for he wants to rejoin them, but doesn't interrupt their conversation.
The maga's body is indeed impossible to move. However, the pouches can be cut from her belt and the staff can be removed. You get the quaesitoris' body into the wagon. The big seashell slips from his hand and rolls into a pool of mud. Do you take anything?
It takes a little while to maneuver the wagon back to the hill where you first met, and if you want to catch up with Janus and Rubellius, it will be faster to go on foot. It is hard work to maneuver a wagon between dead bodies, and the ground looks a lot softer if you continue.
From Intellego Vim guidelines Arm5 base book p. 158: "Raw vis will show up as magical, simply as raw vis, under any magical detection. The level of the detecting spell is irrelevant, as is the realm of power that it was designed to detect. However, only specially designed spells will yield any information other than that it is raw vis."
So actually, yes, a vision InVi spell looking for spell traces or active spell effects would reveal vis. It wouldn't tell how many pawns there are, or the type of vis, but it would reveal vis.