Chapter 2: Council meeting

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Novus Mane
41

[color=green]Roberto (Glares at Iolar)
[color=red] ¡Usted insulta a mi padre! No tengo nada más decir!

And with that, Roberto stomps out. He can be found out by the dock, blasting away at the shattered stumps of the ruins of the dock. He is a show of, multicasting five copies of PoF at the same time.

Townsfolk are weirded out. The recognize him as the same strange crusader from yesterday who gave medical assistance. These folk are not stupid. They know wizards live here, and seeing the crusader blasting firebolts, they assume he is one of them.

Betty: What is he doing?
Veronica: Blasting evil spirits maybe? I dunno, but I think I'm gonna keep clear of that guy.
Regie: Freaks, he is one of those freaks from the two towers
Archie: yeah, but they did help us out quite a bit yesterday
Dolly: I dunno, they are prolly godless heathens just like those pirates. Say, what do you imagine they will do now that their ship is gone?
Betty: I shudder to think about it.

That is all for today. Don't get distracted by Robberto, :laughing:, he is just the side show. Tomorrow I will reveal more about the sea devils. And I will do other stuff. Let me know how I am doing with pacing and stuff. Play-by-post is a compleatly new animal to me. I am like super way old school. I still have dice where you had to color the numbers in with a crayon.

42

[color=orange]
Okeanos, can you shed any light on this , you are an expert of Faeries and the sea
[/quote]

[color=red]
Mmm, Oh yes this "Sea Devils" that the covenant folk are talking about... nothing to be worried about they are merely, uh how u say, mermaiden? part woman part fish...nothing quite like the Rusalka of my homeland, all those men would have been pulled to their deaths had that been the case. They are very curious about the renewed commotions at the dock and as you of the fey lore know, sightings of the fey tend to make their presence stronger over time as stories of them spread.... I intend to FULLY investigate further. Future fishing locations will need to avoid any fey lands that may be around.

43

Okeanos now leans over the council table his pupils seeming to grow to fill his eyesocks as he looks to each of the other magi present..

[color=red]Now as for these mundanes having a say...he chortles[color=red] these mundanes will live a fifth if that of one of our lifetimes, they have not the gift to see or to understand the wonders we investigate, the skills we hone, or the wonders we see, cause or invent. they should be honored to be including in the great work we are doing and take that as payment enough. That being said when it comes to organizing the other coven folk to mundane tasks and day to to day life i have little care what they do but on magical matters and matters that may affect those magical matters or matters indirectly affecting those matters (craftsman needed to help in a lab) that is for magi and magi alone!

44

[color=red]Did the mermaids cause the storm? Because someone did, and it wasn't me or the air it was something powerful of the sea and that screams powerful faerie or maybe magical daemon to me . We need to know , thats one of the things that may have destroyed Moles Magna so we must know the casue of the storm and why before we say there is no problem, you are the only one who can breathe underwater

45

Okeanos looks around to see if Jan is around.. the looking back to the council,

[color=red]The mermaids i am sure did not cause this storm but they very well could be associated with something or someone that did, i will go investigate.

[color=orange]Okeanos wonders if it could possibly be HIM. but this far to the west? well if there was a regio perhaps? or maybe a displaced group of villagers that settled here and still believed? Could he be reaching? i know he thinks my training would make him unstoppable but does he suscpect what I, Okeanos plans to do? nah i have to be just paranoid, this storm has me a bit shook up its probably just some local problem good chance its magicaly aligned anyway...

[color=red] If i may have my leave i would like to go this instant to investigate further...

46

[color=green]Wirth

[color=red]Natural order of things? Who went and made you superior?
We live with them. Not above them.

[color=red]However, I agree with you about Magic. We should use it for the covenant. To each is gifts, and ours is magic.

[color=red]I should be able to do this easily, as well as remove dirt and mud. I have a knack with Perdo magics.

47

[color=green]Roberto (he is muttering and cursing in Spanish) [color=red]
Pinche estupida bendeha! Bruja! Where does she get off? So prideful in her magic, thinks that she is better than other people. Then she wants my help in her labwork. Pffft! Like I am a stupid child.

Her wicked words echo in his mind

[color=green]Roberto (muttering)[color=red]Well, I would if I felt it was the right thing to do! Joel would, and he has! Hmmm, but what would Santiago say?

[color=green]Roberto [color=red]That’s not a bad idea. But still, that woman, the way she managed and lead the people yesterday(the storm was last night y’all),[color=red] she proved to me who the true mother of the house is. She put me in my place when I was being a bendeho, and should be afforded the respect and rights she is due.

Roberto’s eyes flare, and he fires off another round of five Pilliae of Fire into the sea.

:laughing: That probably would have been a much better choice of words. Yep. You now have your major dig in on Roberto. You have three outta six if you’re trying to stick it to each of us at least once :slight_smile:
[color=green]Roberto [color=red]Wirth stood by me. He understands what I mean. The Englishman, I didn’t expect him to be opposed(Roberto assumes Havlard is English because he generalizes his accent, like in Flight of the Conchords). [color=red]Robur was opposed, I expected that. Iolar, she vexes me the wench! Arrrgh! She needs to be…, rrr! Then the Tremere, the Jew. Yeah, I can recognize it now that I am more familiar with him. High hopes I have for him. I am out voted, and I will defer to his wisdom for now. Everyone else is wrong. I can never be wrong. He must have some knowledge I don’t. Those people always do. I have a feeling he would be a good leader for the renewal of this covenant. Wonder why he is so obsessed by the zombie labor? Ah! It must be because you don’t have to pay them and they never complain.
Then he thinks to himself what a retarded thing to say that was, but I am leaving it in there. [color=red]Listen to David. He is named for the King. Perhaps try to compromise with him. Give Coljine an advisory vote in matters that pertain to her duties, and the power to cast the tie breaking vote in such as well. Yes, that might work. David is much smarter than Iolar.

Then he thinks about why he thinks zombie labor is a bad idea, and realizes that venting his anger by shooting off fire into the sea is probably not such a good idea either. Perhaps he should think before he acts, eh? Now he has embarrassed himself in front of everyone. What can he do to save face? [color=red]Hmmm… Maybe the stone pier idea isn’t so bad after all. Maybe with a wharf too.

48

[color=red]
This potentially effects the entire covenant Okeano while you are the best suited to deal with the faeries of the Sea , I believe Halvard is familiar with the fay and may be able to offer advice and assistance , and I am something of an expert on the weather. It would be best if you had assistance Roberto seems to be otherwise engaged and Wirth will probably be busy with similar matters. So unless David also wishes to join us I suggest that we go down to the docks while you explain in detail what you have learned and your plans to follow up on this so we can see how we can assist

49

[color=red]Natural order of things? Who went and made you superior?
We live with them. Not above them.

[color=red]However, I agree with you about Magic. We should use it for the covenant. To each is gifts, and ours is magic.

[color=green]Iolar
[color=red]
I do not consider myself superior , any more than I consider a Priest Superior or a Noble superior. I consider myself different and this is a covenant of magi not a mundane community. I will take the advice of mundanes on matters relevant to them and am likely to listen to them as on many matters their expertise is greater than mine.

50

Okeanos is in the water while Roberto is acting like a child and whipping PoFs into the sea. I slid him some information on the sly, but I also sent a duplicate of the same to Fixer so he can manage it while I am unavailable (like, all weekend).

That is all just fail safe though, as Kang cannot post as frequently as he would like and I am sometimes unavailable. Individual or group activity to investigate this matter can turn up this or further information, so feel free to detail what you do and I will relate the results.

51

Assuming she is unnable to get any more information from Okeanos. Iolar will do the following while Roberto is creating Steam. She will ask Clara Wirths wife if she wishes to go into the town to see what sort of clothes the local tailor can manage, if she wishes to go Iolar will offer to extend her Parma magica over Clara. If Clara does not wish to go , unoffended Iolar will go on her own and try to arrange for some clothes to be made. Starting with something simple as an urgent request so she has some clothing to use as a base for her illusions.

Once that is done she will take Eagle form and fly out over the sea looking for signs of the Sea Mother and Mermaids. she will return to the covenant briefly at sunset then resume her search before taking a perch outside the covenant to rest for the night,
She does not really expect to see much but enjoys the flying anyway.
During her brief stay in the Covenant
When Roberto returns from the deck to his accomodation he finds Iolar waiting outside (She saw him return while flying overhead no doubt), this time she is clothed in shimmerring flame .
[color=red]
"So judging by your last comments from what I can understand of the language you are angry because you think I have insulted your father. Well let us discuss that, I certainly have not insulted your father deliberatly as I have never met him and don't know him. If I do ever wish to insult your ancestors I will do so specifically rather than in general.
Fortunatly I am not as sensitive as you , if I was your denying of your magical heritage to go and labour could be seen as an insult of myself , both my parents and all magi. I take it your father is a peasent somewhere in Iberia and is alive and well. I also take it you hae spent most of the last 15 years being raised by your paren's who I also don't know so I am not insulting him either. So you have a living Mother, Father, and Parens possibly sibling , fellow apprentices and other associates from your time as an apprentice .

Up until a few months ago I was living with both my parents , who where also my parens along with the freinds of my childhood in the place which had been my home all my life. Then I found out that I had been away for a few days and everyone I had ever known vanished just like that and they are all probably dead, the few people I knew who where not at Magnus Mole are Fifty years older now and hardly know me at all.
So perhaps you should consider that others may be sensitive as well.

From my point of view I offer you a season of my time as a gift to help you and the thanks I Get is you turning your back and a mutterred insult.
Perhaps I should be offended, would a true Iberian start a vendetta over this should we fight a certeman.

Well , I will not. I have offerered you the hand of Freindship , think about it . I will judge our relationship from our future meetings, think on it let your actions tell me your decison.

Goodnight Magus Roberto Filia Santiago , son of a fine Iberian Peasent.
Without waiting or listening for a response she shifts to an Eagle and leaps out of the conveniently selected window.

52

Well, clara doesn't seem very enjoyed by the prospect and is clearly uneasy, but still, she gracefully accept the offer.

She agrees on the parma-extending effect, as Wirth had previously both explained it to her and done it too. Once this is done, she obviously relaxes

53

Iolar
Roberto approaches Iolar at the next convenient and opportune moment, offers her a full cup, and talks to her. He has meager charm, but he wants to apologize for his ungentlemanly behavior, and thanks you for opening up to him the way you did. He understands the differences between the two of you (Introspective is one of his Personality traits :smiley:). He tells you his entire story (as written in other threads), opening up to you as you did to him. He also tells you details not recorded there. His father’s name was Hernando Rodriguez, and his mother was Maria Gomez (his full Christian baptized name is Roberto Coronado Gomez-Rodriguez). In the raid that sacked his home fuero, his father died spear in hand leading the peasant militia. His mother died when the house was torched. Roberto survived because he ran away. He was a ten year old frightened child. Then the rest is recorded on his character sheet, and the saga of his parens and mentor is recorded in the character development thread.
He puts his hand on yours in a gesture of sympathy, and says that he understands your sense of loss and feels the pain with you.

That exchange from yesterday, your private conversation with Roberto, that was too cool to keep secret. Post it when you get a chance if you want.

54

I severely underestimated Havlard. His Creo Terram Lab Total equals Roberto’s, and his Rego Terram Spont Total beats his.

Rob ReTe Spont = SD + 9 divided by two
Havlard ReTe Spont = SD + 14 divided by two, but he has the Chaotic Magic!
His ReTe Lab Total is 25, +2 for the Nocturnal routine, which also means +3 for Cyclic Magic, totals to 30. His Creo Terram Lab Total matches that.

So Iolar was looking at totally the wrong person for a Terram magus. But you have a Leadership deficiency too! You can use one assistant, and the best is Aelianus for +9, and I don’t think he will cooperate.
But Iolar will assist you I am sure :wink:, and you can experiment!

I am mulling it over, and looking at the Rego Craft Magic rules (I write these big multi-drop posts at night at home, so I can post them in the morning at work :smiling_imp: ).

The Ease Factor is just going to high for our weak Finesse scores to try and do it instantly. Minimum of 12, +9 for a season’s work makes for 21.

There are no rules for doing it the augmented-labor way, so with Max’s approval, I will make the simple ruling that the end result is a boost to moral, a cost savings, and we finish work in a season.

55

There is one problem that must be attended to, otherwise the plan seems fine. The lack of fund, at least labour must be bought and there aren’t the funds to do it. The covenant struggles to break even when it comes to finances. Of course it will be cheap with augmented labour. Is there anyone with the skills in the covenant that might be necessary to build a functioning harbour? Who knows the details of harbour construction?

When it is appropriate Aelianus mentions that it is a part of the feudal obligations of Florum to provide the covenant with a service and using craft magic to build a harbour is perhaps a suitable demand.

56

Good idea. I would still want to have our magi do the hands on spell casting, but perhaps we can ask them to finance us for a season to pay our workmen? Wirth and Robberto can work on the harbor while other magi try to secure some funds (meeting our obligations).

I know people want Roberto to be a raider. I can do that when someone else is running the game, and note that he is uneasy about being a wanton criminal.

Someone has got to talk to these pirates though. I mean, it is really getting to the point where everyone pretty much knows it was a pirate ship that sank.

[u]Rewards!!![/u]
Max has authorized me to hand out Confidence Points as a reward for the successful rescue efforts. I award 1 point each to Havlard, Jan Axel, Iolar, Roberto, Coljine, Dragor, and Okeanos.

Honorable Mentions to Wirth and David. I would give you half points if I could. Keep track of Honorable Mention ponts. I will convert them into something later.

Aelianus, Kilica, and Marcello did not do much at all. They get no rewards :frowning:

And who plays Ulrich One-Eye?

Did I miss anyone?

57

As per finances... Yes, It is probably better if we just ask them money, especially if the can manage to save some. The rest can be easily accomplished by roberto and I

Ok, I'll do it...

[color=green]Wirth
I go to the pirates.

Sure, they are wounded, but this is just a fact of life, and death. A fact I intend to preserve my wife from, as I intend to protect her from Death itself.
But these men? Well, I don't care much. Shit happens, and they'll live.

Marking no hesitation, I go to the man I perceive as the most charismatic and influential [color=blue](i.e. Probably the man with the best presence, eventually + leadership, probably - wound penalties), unless I know them to have a leader
[color=red]Pretty bad day you had there. The loss of your ship and all.
...
Tell me, do you guys have you any plans for the future?

58

The nominal leader at the moment is a man named Fred. Fred VanGoshen. i know, I am heavy with the anglo-dutch name mixing, and we are supposed to be with Flems.

Anyway, Fred VanGoshen is their nominal leader. Pete is dead, and they all hated him anyway. I cannot find Ulrich One Eye anywhere, so I am making Fred the new default leader.
[color=green]Fred scowls, feeling distrust and ill will towards wirth, but recognizing him as one of the people that assisted the other day[color=red]Get a new ship come springtime I suppose. Shouldn't be too hard. Dead ol' Pete got us a good deal on the last one, eh lads? (his cohorts laugh with him; Reginald, Bob, George, and Tom) [color=red] We have been taking care of ourselves for years, neglected by you witch folk in the towers, caring nothing for our welfare but eagar to buy the goods we supply. Aye, not a one of you knows a thing about an honest day's work (breaks out laughing, as does his entourage) [color=red]Ho ho! Not that I can find fault in that!

He looks at Wirth, a good hard look, the sort of look a man gives another man when sizing him up for his prowess. He then pours on some Presence +1 and Leadership 3 (fighting men), and makes an effort to recruit Wirth.

[color=red]What say you? The company of those devil worshipers will earn you no money. I have watched their wretched poverty all my life as I grew up. The folk that work up in there are paid a pitance and treated shabbilly. I offer you riches my friend! Join my crew! We are planning to head off to England, get hired as crew to a merchant ship, and hijack it. Be my man, and I will reward you greatly.

Yes Wirth, this mundane arrogant enough to think he can convince you to work under him.

59

Iolar will procede into town with Clara , making polite conversation, she can be quite charming once the gift is out of the way. She is mainly interested in current events being a bit out of touch but is clearly curious about how Clara and Wirth managed to get together , although equally she clearly is not trying to pry or casue offence. She just finds the concept romantic and fascinating, she can compare the relationship to munerous ballads and songs (although she is careful to avoid mentioning the ones with tragic endings).

On finding this purported tailor Iolar will try to establish what he is capable of making and then try to get some reasonably practical dresses and Robes made. At least one of them with some urgency.

60

[color=red]"I accept your apology , and apologise for assuming your family where still alive. It seems we share some features of our history , I too was considered a magus from an early age by the time I was fifteen house Bjornear considered me a magus although me hermetic training was not yet complete. I hope you fare better with your first covenant than I did though particularly as I live here.
Let us start again and hopefully we can avoid our previous errors and manage a better relationship than we have.