Chapter 1d: The Haunted Covenant

Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Base Camp
21

As mentioned before, he responds to the flickering aura news by suggesting we set up some spont'd InVi/CrIg circles at regular intervals to monitor the strength of the aura.

"I've never really dealt with ghosts before, except in theory. Even that was a few decades ago. My mater had me ward parts of her covenant against ghosts as part of my training, but I ne'er saw a thing to warrant the circles. If these be poltergists, we may want to ward the more delicate goods."

...

"Faeries, right here in the covenant? What would we....oh, but ye have a Merinita on hand to deal with such beasties, do ya not? Viola, I do believe. Does she have much experience?"

Once the tour starts, Patrick confines his questions to the covenant grounds and situation, especially as he comes to understand just how much work is left to do. If Tasia brings a subject up, he'll pursue it, but only insofar as how it would affect covenant defenses.

Does she bring up any of these external issues?

How big is the covenant staff? How many buildings do they have set up, and how many ruins do they need to rebuild still? Leon knows enough Survival to help construct a semi-permanent camp. (OOC, I don't actually know these details, either, yet). He's also quite pleased to see all the lepers around, and more pleased when he learns they are ex-lepers, for the Tytalii aesthetic of the thing.

(Also OOC, he can make some water wards in the caves, but that should happen in the appropriate thread.)

22

The one building that Theodoric was living in is habitable, though even it is still under repair. The first floor of the caves has also largely been cleared out.

The details on inhabitants are in the "Covenant" thread: 10 grogs, 3 specialists, and 2 companions, roughly, though Portia probably took a grog or two with her.

Scott

23

"And that's everybody, is it? And once Portia leaves, you'll be down to two magi? Ooch, easy enough to do. Do you have any tents? Even just large sheets of fabric would do. Did'ya say one of you was negotiating with a tribe right now? If you have a bit of her hair, I can tell her to buy the supplies."

(OOC: Grogs are Bogdan, Godzimir, Petrus, Theodric, and Leon, and 5 others? Specialists: blacksmith, carpenter, bookbinder. Which companions out of the list are still in play? How thick is the forest ring around the covenant?)

Leon pipes up with some additional suggestions, which Patrick agrees to quickly. Unless Tasia interrupts, Leon will head off to start making a semi-permanent camp out of whatever supplies and natural materials the area can create.

"How obvious are we willing to be about magic within the grounds? We could do a lot with the rubble that's already here."

24

Just Alcimus and the cats. None of those count for living expenses, obviously, their all being animals. At any rate, the 2 companions was just a guess about the size of the covenant--we can take as many as people want to make.

Scott

25

So, that's the entire covenant? Roughly 15 people? No "income generating and therefore not counted as part of expenses?"

26

"Yes, at this point the covenant is solely a charter, and Aegis, and a small number of us clearing out space and becoming acquainted with our neighbors. It may seem meager, but we are doing quite well. Only three days ago there was but one grog here. Just imagine what we can do given more than three days!"

27

I missed this question the first time Tasia asked it. Presumably, it comes up naturally later on. "Ah mostly concern myself with creatures of Virtue, as wee fae beasties rarely like ta be ordered 'bout, and I don't have the balls to go messing with such creatures as have been touched by God or the Devil. I wrestle 'em down, and teach them to mind their pees and queues, how to use a fork and remember to ask for the salt, and then I sell them to magi as what wants 'em. If the critter be foul-tempered, there's still often a market for the skin and humors. T'is my hope that with the strangeness of these Eastern lands, I will attract some patrons deft with easing the pressure of years on a soul, for I no longer dance atop tables without it nagging me backside some.

As the short tour winds down, Patrick inquires about Tasia's plans for the covenant layout, and makes free with his opinion of those plans.

"Most excellent!" Patrick enthuses, as the tour winds down. "Thank ye most kindly, lass, for the tour. If it's alright with you, I'll take those first buildings you suggested for my sanctum, near where ye'll be wanting to put the livestock pens. Now, I've taken much of your time, and I see that we've all got much exciting work left to do, to be sure.

"I'll tell Leon and the lepers to set up roofs over those bits o' wall we want to turn into labs, so this Verditus lass can have a place to spell-forge the tools. Then I'll go round and ward 'em against weather, spooks, and wee beasties. Oh, but I will start with those storage rooms where ye're keeping the crates that'll be the library."

28

The covenant build makes some provisions for recruiting local inhabitants--see that for details.

Scott

29

Patrick's smile goes slightly hollow and his hands tremble imperceptibly as he waits for Tasia to give him permission to cast so many spells, hungry to feel the rush of mystic energy flowing through his body.

(OOC : Should we wait for Tasia to respond, or should I start rolling for all those spells?

"The Significant Lamp"
InVi, Base 2: Determine Power of a Mystic Aura, +1 Touch, +2 Ring, +2 Creo Ignem requisite = 15
Produces a flame whose shape and height indicate the strength of the magic aura within the circle. This spell is designed to allow magi to easily monitor changes in the strength of an aura.

He wants to cast :
Ward Against Beasts of Legend (ReAn 20, memorized), and three spontaneous ward-circles:
ReMe 25 vs Mentem Spirits, and
the other two splitting the remaining 8 forms, for a Re(Forms) 20 vs mundane intrusions of (4 different Forms)

...around the inhabitable building, the watch-tower, the two storerooms, and every temporary structure that Tasia tells the grogs to build. The spells themselves will be easy, given his geometry and book(45 or 51 + aura + die / 2). The Concentration and Prof:Scribe rolls for circle-drawing, and Addiction Checks will be a pile of rolls, though.

I'll wait until these actions are approved/numbered by Tasia or the SG before rolling and describing Patrick's binge-casting.

30

Just go ahead and roll. If that's not OK with Tasia, we can say the casting never happened.

Scott

31

For each room:

  • "Scribe Perfect Circle" Re(Cr)Te 4 spont vs Re(Cr) 5 + Te 5 + Sta 2 + Aura = 12 + Aura + die /2.
    Note that he is magically carving actual circles everywhere for the spells
    Addiction: 5 + die vs 2

  • Ward vs Spirits, ReMe 25 ceremonial spont spell. Re 14 + Me 8 + Focus 8 + (17) = 47 + Aura + die /2. 75 Minutes.
    Using the interior edge of the circle he carved with the above spell
    Addiction: Int 2 + Conc(ignore addiction) 2+1 =5+die vs 13

  • Ward Against Legendary Beasts, ReAn 20, formulaic, Re 14 + An 8 + Focus 8 + (17) = 47 + Aura + die.
    Using the exterior edge of the same circle carved from before.
    Addiction: 5 + die vs 10

He'll start with these, taking a total of about 1.5 hours per location on the most important spaces: the two storerooms, the new hospital room and the undamaged house. It would be more in keeping for Patrick to spont wards as powerful as he could make, trying to roll up for additional might-resistance, but that seems like a house-keeping nightmare.

So, barring catastrophic failure, that should be the rest of his first day.

[b]Store Room 1

[/b]([3,1,1,6,3,8], 2 overrolls needed: 6,8)

  • "Scribe Perfect Circle" Re(Cr)Te 4 spont vs (12 + Aura 5 + die 3 /2 )= 10
    Addiction: 5 + die (1, 1, 6= 24) = 29 vs 2
  • Ward vs Spirits, ReMe 25 ceremonial spont spell. 47 + Aura 5+ die 3 /2 = 27.5 75 Minutes.
    Addiction: 5+die 8 = 13 vs 13
  • Ward Against Legendary Beasts, ReAn 20, formulaic, 47 + Aura 5+ die 6 = 29
    Addiction: 5 + die 8 = 13 vs 10

Store Room 2

([10,6,10,7,3,1] -- separate rolls for botch check)

  • "Scribe Perfect Circle" Re(Cr)Te 4 spont vs 12 + Aura 5 + die 0 (botch check) /2 = 8.5
    Addiction: 5 + die 6 = 11 vs 2
  • Ward vs Spirits, ReMe 25 ceremonial spont spell. 47 + Aura 5+ die 0 (botch check)/2 = 26. 75 Minutes.
    Addiction: 5+die 7 = 12 vs 13 Fails!
  • Ward Against Legendary Beasts, ReAn 20, formulaic, 47 + Aura 5+ die 3 = 27.5.
    As this was a very close call, Patrick continues with the spell regimen he originally planned, but needlessly uses FFM to raise the spell to 25, just to feel the rush. Possibly by making the spell Ring/Room, or something?
    Addiction: 5 + die (1, 2= 4) + 3 for previous fail = 12 vs 10

Patrick lets loose a bit and lets himself get really high off the last spell in the second storeroom, and then spends a few minutes panting in ecstasy before regaining his composure and moving on.

Hospital/Large Lab.

Patrick resists the urge to try to form this into a geometrically regular room...for now. Instead, he just makes the largest (mathematically perfect) circle he can, which probably leaves quite a bit of space at the door and in the corners of this oddly shaped room. He'll remind the Chiurgeon about needing to keep the circle unbroken.

Rolls: [3,1,10,4,9,8] , overroll: 8

  • "Scribe Perfect Circle" Re(Cr)Te 4 spont vs 12 + Aura 5 + die 3 /2 = 10
    Addiction: 5 + die (1, 10= 20) = 25 vs 2
  • Ward vs Spirits, ReMe 25 ceremonial spont spell. 47 + Aura 5+ die 4 /2 = 28. 75 Minutes.
    Addiction: 5+die 9 = 14 vs 13
  • Ward Against Legendary Beasts, ReAn 20, formulaic, = 47 + Aura 5+ die 8 = 30.
    Addiction: 5 + die 8 = 13 vs 10

Undamaged building where Theodoric was found.

([4,5,1,1,10,3] , overrolls 3, 4, 7, 3, 4, 8

  • "Scribe Perfect Circle" Re(Cr)Te 4 spont vs 12 + Aura ? + die 4 /2 = 8 + (Aura/2).
    Addiction: 5 + die 5= 10 vs 2
  • Ward vs Spirits, ReMe 25 ceremonial spont spell. 47 + Aura ?+ die (1,1,10 = 40) /2 = 43.5 + (Aura/2). 75 Minutes. Wowza! If the SG is willing to let me roll-up for affect, and assuming an Aura of 3 or greater, this would keep out Magic Mentem creatures of Might 45!
    Addiction: 5+die 3 = 8 vs 13 (or 23) Fails! (And the power surge goes to his head!

Ooh! Patrick loves to be helpful! "All this rubble everywhere is just getting in people's way, and we need SO many more buildings...why shouldn't I just recreate a few of these structures for everybody, huh?"

Rego 14 + Terram 5 + Sta 2 + Aura 5? + die 7 / 2 = 16 vs 15 (Base 3 +1 for stone, + 1 touch + 2 Group (rubble). Effect: Turn rubble into a building.
"Look! There's another building for you all to use!"
Addiction: 5 + 3(2nd round roll) + die 3 = 11 vs 8

He pulls himself together, thinking to himself, "Gotta make a good impression. Can't let anyone know. That's why I like the numbers. I just need to slow down, calm myself. Cast it by the numbers. Can't let anyone see my hands shake. Wipe the sweat from my eyes and just finish this one last spell. Just...one more hit." He calms his breathing, cooling himself off, fighting the urge by telling himself he'll indulge soon, just...not...quite...yet. (and thereby recovers his Fatigue before casting the last spell.)

  • Ward Against Legendary Beasts, ReAn 20, formulaic, 47 + Aura ?+ die 3 =25 + (Aura/2).
    Addiction: 5 + die 4= 9 vs 10 Fails again!

"Well, while I'm at it, it really wouldn't hurt to ward this building against Demons too, would it...? I mean, no sense in leaving a job half-done."

Arcane Ward Against Demons (FFM down to normal Ring/Circle, makes it ReVi20)
Re 14 + Vi 5 + Focus 5 + Sta 2 + Numerology 3 + Aura ? + die 4 = 33 + Aura
Addiction: die 8 + 5 = 13vs 10
Note that this spell has the cosmetic effect of covering the interior of the circle with complex patterns of hexagons.

Suddenly realizing just how deep he's gone, aware of all the eyes on him, he cheeks burn bright red. He flees in shame into his tent, and does not come out for dinner that night. After spending a solid six hours letting magic run through his body, he is now crashing hard, and now that the high is over, he remembers what he is trying to forget.

The next morning, he'll come out for breakfast, and if anybody asks, he'll pass it off as over-enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, Leon and the grogs set up a temporary shelters that day, per Tasia's orders. Assuming Portia is casting the lab-creation spells in these spaces, then there ends up being a weird sort of Algebraic Word Problem that happens the next day.

Portia takes 2 hours and 15 min to create a magical laboratory, and then needs X hours to rest in order to recover fatigue. Patrick can ward each laboratory and building in 1.5 hours, including rest breaks, unless the structure isn't very stable, and then he spends a total of 4 hours to include wards against the elements. It takes Y hours for the grogs to scavenge parts and set up a pavilion tent in each location. How many sancta and other locations can be built and warded before the ghosts show up?"

32

Tasia is happy to show him around and let him do some investigation. She pays close attention to the results of the aura testing.

(OOC - I don't think you have the right level for the building construction spell. As a basic idea and compared to The Phantom Blacksmith (from Covenants) your spell should work. However, I think you need to deal with more than a dozen stones. There's a much different scale involved. I would think it would be 1 magnitude higher to extend the size of the group. Or, alternatively, many spells could be cast, building sections of wall at a time. Also you usually have to make Finesse roll for Rego craft magic. Without a decent roll it will just be another pile of rubble.)

33

I sort of feel like I stole the show with these last few posts, so I encourage Tasia to give Patrick some specific directions, talk about her layout plans for the covenant, etc.

Specific question: if he spends the day of arrival casting spells as posted previously, what does she want him doing on the rest of the days leading up to the arrival of the poltergists? How many buildings, etc? Where does she want him to cast the InVi/CrIg circles? How many of them?

Covenants doesn't specify what attribute goes with the Finesse roll, so I chose Int, somewhat randomly: Per 0 + Finesse 3 + die roll 3 = 6.

The spell was cast due to his failing to keep his magic addiction in check. A poorly thought out, improperly cast spell seems perfectly reasonable. Maybe he only spelled together a few walls? Maybe the rocks just moved into the right shape and then fell apart again?

34

Covenants uses Perception. Also, from Societates, there's an adjustment from -3 to +3 based on familiarity.

The target number is raised by 3, which can just be interpreted as a penalty of 3. An 8 would be just below the work of untrained persons. Tasia won't be entering that building. :wink:

35

Tasia will show him to areas of different auras, figuring with his interest perhaps the two of them can map out where the borders are.

36

(Corrected previous post)

With Perception, that lowers him down to a 6 on the Finesse roll for his Junkie Hovel. We should make it into a trap for unsuspecting raiders :laughing:

Each casting of The Lamp of Significance takes about 45 minutes, and can't fail unless he botches. The Magic Addiction is slightly more risky:

Though he should also spend some part of his day warding precious goods, buildings and beds, as above.

Do we want to die roll these out, or just say that every 4-5 Lamps he casts, he tosses off a Beast Ward or some such? He'll try to play it off as Being Wacky, like any good addict, but Tasia's Folk Ken will consistently rip his Guile apart.

(Glancing at my spell list, I notice he has Gather the Essence, and I believe there's some vis laying about uncollected as yet, though he doesn't know about it yet.)

"What do we know of these ghosts, anyway? Do they tie into the aura pools as well? Part of yon temple what the fair ones dance at?"

37

[Unfortunately, the level of Ceremonial Spells is capped by the length of time you spend casting them (one magnitude per 15 minutes, page 83), so you're limited to a level 25 spell. Given that wards don't need to penetrate in this saga, I don't think you actually gain anything from the good roll, sadly.]

38

[I'm going to assume that Portia has been talked into creating labware for everyone except Viola. MTKnife, let me know if Viola's trying to get her to make some for her too.]

Portia's CrTe total for making glass is (based on the possibly draft character sheet on page 2 of the character development thread): Cr 27 + Te 10 + Te 10 (Focus) + Sta 0 + AL (Rit) 4 + Phil 5 + Aura 4 + stress die = 60 + die, more than enough to cast either of her spells assuming she doesn't botch. Unfortunately, she hasn't mastered the spells, so she has 8 botch dice for the Laboratory of Bonisagus and 10 for the Laboratory of Verditius. This should be fun:

Laboratory of Verditius for Tasia: Lab of Verditius - Tasia (1d10=4, 1d10=6, 1d10=4, 1d10=10, 1d10=3, 1d10=10, 1d10=6, 1d10=3, 1d10=7, 1d10=5, 1d10=6)

Laboratory of Verditius for Gregorius: Laboratory of Verditius - Gregorius (1d10=4, 1d10=6, 1d10=6, 1d10=7, 1d10=7, 1d10=3, 1d10=7, 1d10=6, 1d10=8, 1d10=1, 1d10=8)

Guest labwares x 7 (all the Laboratory of Bonisagus):

So that all goes remarkably smoothly. It cost 67 pawns of vis. However, as she's gaining a Long term fatigue level per ritual (and they take 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours each), it's going to take her about 9 days to do the lot.]

39

Enough time for Patrick to try to sweet talk her into casting the better lab for him? Perhaps in exchange for detailed reports on the aura fluctuations ( and thus possibly becoming a new MT correspondent for him?)

40

If she tries to pull that, Viola will gently remind her that the covenant (not Portia personally) was given the vis necessary to construct a certain number of labs, and that she needs to construct the charged number of labs, lest the failure be reported to the covenant's sponsors, who doubtless will also seek an accounting of the vis. The charter implies 10 labs (4 for the members, and 6 for guests), and the 64 pawns of vis provided by the Tribunal, in lieu of glassware and the like, are precisely what's required for 4 of the better labs and 6 of the lesser ones. Viola wouldn't bring it up herself, but Portia is already violating the charter by leaving her post, and she probably doesn't need to make more enemies. I assume the resident Quaesitor would have something to say about the matter.

If that doesn't work, Viola will find a way to convince her (probably through the grogs) that a fictitious replacement is arriving soon, and needs a lab waiting.

As for Patrick, he's not (yet) a member, and therefore in theory not entitled to a member's lab, but there should be four enhanced labs, meaning there's an extra.

Scott