You're probably right about the sense. Ignoring the question of whether you can do things with Intellego Terram, I wasn't necessarily thinking so much of boulders as corridors and flat surfaces. For example, if you can see down a corridor, you can create a circle that definitely completely blocks the corridor around a point in it by having the circle go into the wall on either side (in this case you'll still be able to see a fair amount of the circle, but not all of it). Alternatively, you can drill a hole in the floor, and create a circle around that (or use an existing hole such as a well if you want it to look less suspicious than randomly drilled holes).
Gregorius takes the scroll, glances at it, suddenly looks obviously startled and rereads it more closely. He then throws it back at Patrick (not especially carefully) and remarks:
"I've never actually met a Tytalus before, you know. Translyvania has something of a shortage of them, and I can see why."
"That reminds me in turn, though - have you seen a copy of the covenant charter? We should get you to sign as a visitor."
"Would you prefer me to accompany you when you talk with the wisewoman? I think we should speak with her relatively soon. She might even know something about local vis sources, even if she doesn't know what they are. If I do not accompany you, I will begin my investigations of the flooded labs."
"OK, good. Things are in order around here at the moment. I'm sure nothing will go terribly wrong in the little time we'll be away. Petrus may not like his new space, but he doesn't seem to like anything, so I'm sure he'll be as happy as ever."
"I dread to think what being one of his patients must be like. Months with nothing to do but listen to him tell you the horrific conditions he's having to work under. I do get the impression some of the Theban covenants used this covenant as an opportunity to clean house...Hmmm."
He pauses a moment, and then continues.
"But, to the main point. Shall we go down tomorrow morning? That should leave us some time in the afternoon before the ghosts are due to appear."
[Assuming Tasia agrees, shall we move the actual expedition to the Relations with the Locals thread?]
"That sounds good to me. It will be interesting to see the ghosts. Whatever tack we take with them, it's bound to be successful. We'll just need to figure out what we intend. In the meantime, yes, let's have our first guest sign in."
Kept the rolls up until the Beast ward which Gregorius didn't want. Therefore, he still fails his addiction roll and casts Demon Ward instead of the Faerie ward agreed to.
Updated list of wards. Areas which Patrick also warded with a Might 20 Demon Ward are listed in green (they're also covered in hexagons, thanks to the spell's side effect):
The Hypocaust lab. Aura 5 : Gregorious (Member Lab 1). No Beast ward.
The big cave. Aura 5. Tasia. (Member Lab 2)
Northern "Storeroom" : Petrus, Infirmary
Southern "Storeroom": Guest Lab 1
The lab on the 2nd floor of the caves. Aura 4 : Guest Lab 2
Faerie Temple: Viola (Member Lab 3)
Kitchen Building: Used by unnamed grog cook.
The one, other intact building (2 story): general barracks, including Miklos Fortunato, Bogdan & Godzimir, Theodric, blacksmith, carpenter, bookbinder, other grogs. No Beast Ward.
The 2-story tower: more grogs, one on tower sentry duty upstairs
Patrick & Leon's tents: (Guest Lab 3) somewhere near a grazing field or some such, near the edge of the Aegis/Covenant boundary.
[/*:m][/list:u]
Assuming rest time, Patrick can cast 1 Significant Lamp/hour, given suitable lamp or torch-like objects on Day 7, before the ghosts arrive. He'll also cast Ring of Candlelight by rote in the infirmary, and anywhere people ask him to, but he'll hold off on casting Ring of Spring Breezes anywhere until after the ghosts show up. He doesn't need to roll for the rote....call it 10 Significant Lamps?
Two possible Addiction botches: 8, 9. No botch, but fails the addiction roll. Both times, he will needlessly use The Invisible Sling of Vilanos, FFM'd to Voice, to clear off some bit of rubble where he was going to place the lamp.
ReTe 15, CT 21 + Aura + die
Addiction: 5 + 3 (2nd rd) + die Die rolls and addiction checks succeed. These rocks get launched at tree trunks in the forest ring.
Gregorius has no objections to the ward against demons. He does, however, look noticably surprised when he sees the circle Patrick produced in the casting, and studies it for several minutes.
[OOC: Second Sight roll of 18 (invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3111458/) vs ease factor of 9 to see naturally invisible things should mean he easily sees the magic circle produced by the arcane ring (presumably located directly on top of the physical ring).]
"That's...odd. You seem to have created two circles. Is that something to do with the hexagons?"
"On the lamps...at least one in the central area on each level of the cave, please. I'm curious enough to want one in my lab. I'd also like one in the temple - normally it shouldn't give any sign at all, but if the magic aura does increase to drown the faerie one, or the faerie one sink, the change should be significant. Otherwise...hmmm. Where to put them on the ground level. They need to be somewhere we'll noticed quickly if they change, but we don't want to damage sentries' nightvision - although there's the glowing aegis there again - or disturb people's sleep."
"I'm afraid I can't really explain that without a stylus and a tablet. Do you ken much about geometry? A perfect circle has a sympathetic correspondence with any other circle of equal radius. Much of hermetic theory has a basis in mathematics, but those without the knowing have simplified the results. For example, what we think of as the range of sight is really drawing a correspondence between the tip of your finger and the point of your target. You do not actually need to see your target at all. If you know where it is, you can affect it just the same, if you've a strong enough foundation in the underlying principles, and have time to do the calculations.
"When I designed this spell, my thought was that if I knew where a demon stood, I could etch a circle 'round him without needing to catch a peek of the beastie. I should be able to manage a similar work against creatures of all ilk. Imagine being able to cage a lion using just a touch of his spoor."
"It's a different spell, but no harder, to cast such a lamp to detect the faerie aura. Shall we place two such lamps in the temple? One to measure the magic and the other to measure the faerie?
"You make a fair point, brother. I was only thinking of the mystical energies we wanted to track, and that we should place them where the aura seems to ebb below the other spaces. But we need to work in these spaces as well. Perhaps we should ask the Turb Captain for his input? And perhaps our wayward grog, who has known this place for so long?
"Tell me, do you ken why the Aegis glows as it does?"
(Technically, I'm also playing the Turb Captain, so it's a bit unfair from a meta-perspective to ask for my own opinion, but the in-character point here is that we should ask people skilled in Prof:Soldier and Local Area Lore.)
Suggested Lamp placements:
1.Cave Lvl 1 main hallway
2.Cave Lvl 2 main hallway
3.Hypocaust lab
4.Temple
5.Temple (Faerie-aligned)
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
"My education in such matters has never gone much beyond the basics. I can certainly see that being able to cast a ward around something you only had an arcane connection to could be useful."
"Yes, let's do that." He pauses. "We should probably let Viola know, as a courtesy. She gets very protective of her position in things involving the fae. I'd have thought something measuring an aura shouldn't be a problem for her, but..."
"You're right that Miklos is worth asking. I suspect Theodoric will have less to input - I asked him before whether he had any idea of anything that might have happened to cause how magical the site is to change, but his knowledge was pretty minimal."
He leads the way to find Miklos, commenting as he does:
"I'm not quite sure why the aura glows, no, but Portia does have something of a reputation for overly enthusiastic experimentation."
"Useful! Of course you see it's useful! But think beyond just wards. Scrying, for example. If we know the value of some of the variables, we can extrapolate the others, and barely need to involve magic at all. It is really quite amazing, these theories of Euclid, and the ways they apply to Hermetic Theory. I suspect Euclid may have been versed in the subject, possibly even a magus himself."
"I take it you have not spent much time hunting for vis sources, brother? In my experience, a man cannot live somewhere for 10 years without learning where the magic lays, they just don't know that they know what they know, if you follow...Ah, Miklos, I have a thought, a bit of clay upon my potter's wheel, if you ken," Patrick taps his forehead, "that I'd like your hands upon before I ask for my brother's stamp of approval."
Patrick proceeds to outline his notion about the Lamps to Miklos.
Miklos absently scratches his cheek in thought, his fingers running across the deep crags left by the leprosy. "So, if I understand you correctly, you need to place these lamps to measure the tidal currents of some kind of magic mumbo-jumbo, like you figure out how high the tide gets on a particular piece of shore before building a hut on the beach? Can't you just look at the shoreline and see where the tide goes?
"The first thought I'd suggest would be to place the lamps high enough that my patrols don't ever have to look through them or over them, but if you're trying to measure how deep the water gets, it won't do you any good to stick 'em up high. But if its a tide you're after, you'll need to stick 'em down low anyway, and it'll be easy enough to see around them. I don't think I can tell you where exactly to place them, m'lords. That requires the sort of knowing I don't have.
"Pardon me for asking, my lords, but does the flame have to get higher and brighter? Could you make it change color, or shape, or something? "
Having just returned, Tasia replies "That is why I thought the wise woman might be good to talk to. Though she may not use magic herself, she is one of the most likely to know of resources we would want to use."
"T'is a wise course you've set on that score, to be sure. I only wish that we had someone versed in Hermetic theory who could double-check my work and think on where to place the lamps while the two of you head off seeking wisdom. D'ya think that surly Verditus lass would take a break from her rituals long enough to help with my wee task?
"Ah, is that the charter you have there? Succinct, by the look of it. Five Trees had one that was a mile long, and it took a season's reading just to understand it all. May I see it?"
Patrick takes the document and is about to read it when something Miklos and Gregorius are discussing regarding the lamps catches his attention, and he rejoins that conversation. He summarizes the discussion thus far for Tasia.
[OOC: It's hard to roleplay out where prime placement for the lamps would actually be, especially without a map and time spent doing Magic Theory rolls and whatever InVi spells you use for such things. Can we just move this to a die roll or seven, now that we've outlined all the facets we're considering?]
After the matter is settled, at least for the moment, and Miklos departs, Patrick remembers the charter. He examines it as he meanders away from grogs, and waits to speak until all but magi are out of earshot.
"Succinct, as was expected. Well, this seems right enough, but I see no place for a visitor to sign as such. Were I to sign this, I think it'd mean I was a member, and I've not served the three years.
"Mind you, in my first covenant, Laguna Sententia, a magus acquires membership, among other privileges, through service to the covenant, and t'was based on this assumption that I've been so free with my talents. As I've said, I'm here to acquire the goods I'll need to barter a longevity potion 'afore the years press down upon me. If my help with the establishment of New Tanais earns me neither pawns nor privileges, then I best be putting your work down and taking up my own, lest I end up in the pocket of some usurious red-hatted devil."
I've added links to two new maps in the "Maps" post of the "Covenant" thread (https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/covenant/5282/6). Note the the buildings shown in the map of the central covenant site are only the most important ones--if extra space is needed, there are several others that can be rebuilt.