Instead of punking out, I shall let Vares go out with honor. He is a temprary NPC, and he will raid the vault of the Arc of Fire with Rodrigo. There he will either die in battle or twink out because of twilight.
If that is acceptable to Arawn.
OOC: "Twink out"? An interesting turn of phrase.
Yes, I had thought that Vares would pursue the matter. He is committed to the course, as promised. Twilight will likely take him... elsewhere.
Do you want me to depart now or run him until that point?
Your decision 
OOC: I'll play out Vares through either the end of this adventure or until something happens to remove him from play.
He'll be focused on their objectives. I'll try to keep any OOC statements to directly relevant asides.
The excitement is almost tangible. A maga kidnapped. A rescue party to save her. Time to go. Marie is surprised when she finds herself hugged by one of the grog's wives (Muriella - her husband scored in last year's ball tournament).
For a moment she wonders what happened if she died there. Her possessions would fall to Andorra. Her apprentice, well, there's be some solution. But she wouldn't die. Not her.
She looks over to the leader of the little force, waiting for the signal.
Isaac has gone through the same experience he always does. The expectation is terrifying, but when the hour comes to ride out, he is calm. He keeps his shield in a loose grip as he follows Marie, having no better way to make sure he arrives where he needs to be at the appointed time.
"We all look sure enough," he thinks. "We'll not disappoint our Houses and sodales. And God willing, we'll make it back alive."
Viola is there, bored, a tad wary, and very impatient. She's evidently ready to leave.
Scott
Then WHISK!
Hands wave, and the dragon grants everyone the temporary blessing of immunity to heat & flames, then everyone flies along with him to the island of Pantelleria. It is a wondrous place, full of lush vegetation, hot springs, and classic architecture. Sigmundo turns the drakes invisible for now, and growls at them to hush if they complain. The old draconic scholar is confused though. Last time he was here the island was under Islamic rule, but it seems as if it has been conquered by Normans when he wasn't looking. Still, it is peaceful and quiet here, and Captain Alexandro is easily able to arrange for the use of a small private villa that the expedition can rent from the owner (while he goes on vacation elsewhere). It is an estate along the sea shore facing north, the direction of the Arc of Fire. You all rest for the night, and in the morning you are to be prepared and alert. The final approach is scheduled for sunset, but Rodrigo tells you to all be prepared to leave within a moments notice if the order is given. He tells you to be prepared for anything, for even the best laid plans are always rendered obsolete once the battle begins. You must ever be able to improvise, adapt, and overcome.
Ohh..., by the way, to weave in the new character, Estaban of Jerbiton arrived just before we departed and was carried off before he even was briefed on what is going on. Because of his Social Contacts, he knows Captain Alexandro, and because he has the Gentle Gift and melds in so well with the grogs, the magi may mistake him for a member of The Andorran Guard they never noticed before.
Esteban probably resembles an officer rather than a common guard. He appears to be about forty years old, with a proud bearing and an air of authority. He wears a mail haubergeon and a plain and well-used sword. His greetings are courteous. He seems a bit wary, giving the impression of someone who does not know what is going on but is trying to hide it.
Esteban speaks. "I understand from my comrade-in-arms Captain Alexandro that we are about to rescue Lady Carmen from Malik-Khyron-al-'Afrit. My sword and my Talisman are at your service. Sister Ameline will negotiate with the genie, and I pray that her words may prevail. I trust we are not planning to meet the genie's ransom demand? What then shall we offer him in exchange for the Carmen's freedom?"
OOC I still need to advance Esteban for the years between Gauntlet and this story. I'm working on it, and will post an update probably Saturday.
OOC: I thought we were going to check with Verdi to see if they had any weapons or useful items that we could buy to be used on the expedition?
I may have missed the decision not to visit there, though if we're waiting on Pantelleria for a day there should be enough time to make the jaunt over to Verdi (using travel spells) and then back.
Vares will be carrying his own Vis for use or trade.
On a related point, what became of the "counterfeit" Vis that Vares was instructed to create--and then did? There's a thousand phantom pawns worth of Ignem-flavoured "Vis" that had originally been supposed to supply a fake ransom.
Rodrigo scratches his head as you ask him about the fake-ransom vis.
I am not sure where it went. I thought you had it. I didn't pack it...seems to be missing, hmmm...
But anyways, if you need to make a side trip somewhere close by as part of your final preparations, you have my approval. I want you back here at NOON, no later. I am going to run you all through a drill or two. I want zero fatalities on this mission, do you hear me? And no one gets left behind. The drills are important, I learned them from your own House Elders, they work.
So, if you want to strike it off on your own and you think you can get to Verdi and back, you are more than welcome
(insert humor)
The Verditius House Catalogue features a five variety of the finest in Hermetic Enchantments. We have a wide variety of Lesser Enchantments and Items of Quality in stock, and a fine selection in the latest lines of magical swords. Strapped for vis? No Problem! For only three pawns down and crippling interest payments for the rest of your existence, you can have a powerful rune carved attuned item [size=85](that isn't cursed at all, we promise)[/size].
(end humor)
:mrgreen:
No, really, I do imagine that you can find a Verditius magus at Verdi (or even closer, a Venditiore in Sicily). The question is, what sort of item are you looking for, and do I want to let you have it?
Roleplaying comes first. I don't wan't to leave you ehind in the story. We can stretch out the island segment as long as it is needed to get you up and running.
As for the part about offering him something and the absurd ransom, that probably led to the conversation about the missing chest of fake-vis.
Someone stole our forgery!
Esteban says, "Forgive me if I speak out of turn, for we have just met and you are no doubt a magus of great power and renown, but I am surprised to hear you speak of going elsewhere at this late hour. We stand upon the eve of battle! Let us steel our heart for the daring feats ahead.
"If the false ransom is not available, then I propose we barter with this afreeti on his own terms. Let us take a hostage of our own to exchange for Carmen! There must be some kinsman of our enemy whom he would not fail to succor, or some trusted servant he cannot do without. Let us raid his fortress and carry off one who is dear to him."
Viola shakes her head slowly...."Complicated."
Scott
Esteban sighs. "You are right, of course. Then we must rescue Carmen by force. Captain Alexandro thinks he knows where she if being held. He has asked me to join you because years ago he and I fought and bled together. It is an honor to fight alongside him again. Pray tell, what opposition do we expect, beyond the afreet himself?"
Vares has his own suspicions about the 'ransom'. Ameline isn't the sort to hide it, but her influence could have prompted one of the others to 'forget' it. "You do realise that's 14 pawns of Vim Vis wasted. Pawns that could have been used for purchasing other things." He sighs.
OOC: Vares is looking for high-Penetration offensive magic weapons, preferably ranged. The kind of thing that would never be allowed to be sold outside of the Order. Charged items are most likely. Perdo Vim along the lines of "Demon's Eternal Oblivion" but targetting Magic Might instead would be ideal (the Order does have these weapons). Barring that, he'd be interested in others that might break through a high Might. Again, a very high Penetration bonus is extremely important, or else the chances of it getting through are negligible, hence the greater odds of it being some kind of Charged weapon.
If there's nothing in that line available, he'll look into others with high Penetration value that can befuddle, confuse, or render a target unconscious. Essentially, he's searching for something that might be able to punch through the defenses of the strongest opponents that they might run into. If it doesn't have a solid Penetration bonus, it probably won't be of much use to him.
Truthfully, I'm not used to needing this type of extra bonus. 5th Ed. may have been out for several years, but my instincts are still wired for earlier editions, when you didn't have to channel all that extra magic into Penetration to blast through. Either the spell was strong enough and took effect, or it wasn't. It wasn't spell roll - spell effect having to still beat Might.
OOC: Please forgive the extreme delay in making a comment on this. I missed it due to other things.
+2 Group won't yield an entire glacier. It'll give Marie Individual x1000 mass. As the 'base' Individual for Aquam is still around 39 TONS of water, her weapon will revert to 39,000 TONS of ice, or approximately 40,000 cubic meters (fudging the total slightly to account for expansion as ice) of ice. A huge block, but not anything close to a glacier.
Oh, looking at the GAME you are. Well, I already pointed out in my post that it is worth reading p. 121 in the main rulebook. There it says that Aquam spells can affect bodies like a large river or a lake. A glacier falls into the same size category, methinks.
Lake Constance (which is a puddle compared to some American lakes), has 48,000,000,000 cubic metres of water, which is 48,000,000 tons, which is about the amount of the Mer de Glace glacier (she could have taken some large Russian lake instaead of the glacier).
The spell is abusive, but doesn't break any rules as written. Of course it could get Marie marched, because removing a glacier will have tangible consequences on fairies and humans. You don't just steal a glacier for fun, and I wouldn't have done it in any other saga, but here I felt it was dramatically appropriate. Anyway, too late.
OOC: rub temples I have to watch my posting when I have a headache.
I was off. Again.
The spell is only +2 for the base Group (10x Individual), not two additional levels of Group (or 1000x Individual). According to the main book, the dimensions for an Individual of Aquam are a pond five paces across and two paces deep. I converted that (roughly) into metric to get 39 or so cubic meters. That is an Individual unit. A group is 10x that. The Group, for Aquam, may compose multiple currents in a "large" river (relative term), but the volume is still only 10x that. That is 390 cubic meters, or round up to 400 if you want (Mythic measurements tend to be approximate for most things, anyway). That would be a block 10 meters by 10 meters by 4 meters. Dropping that on someone's head would cause a LOT of non-magical grief. For a Spont with final level 20, that's a pretty good spell!
The concept of the spell is fine. Brilliant, in fact. But it would be a very high Boundary Ritual in order to work as Marie wants it to. Even when dealing with Aquam, Group is still measured in units of Individual.
JeanMichelle, my apologies. I was distracted, for reasons that are evident. I'm just trying to get back into things here and I caught that. I had missed it on my earlier pass trying to catch up.
Please, I'm only making a technical evaluation here. That's all.