OK, first of all, for purposes of establishing a useful quarry, you don't have to worry about where you're digging: you've pretty much got solid limestone all around.
In Spring, 1226, at Gregorius' direction, the workers established a quarry where an underground stream flowing beneath the covenant emerges to feed into the river: limestone quarried here can easily be loaded onto boats for shipment to the nearby village, or elsewhere. This is, incidentally, how the magi discovered the Terram vis source. Of course, right now, all of the limestone is being used to rebuild/repair the covenant's buildings, a purpose for which the location of the quarry is a little inconvenient, but that consideration is secondary to the effort to drain the caves.
Because of that latter goal, the quarry takes an odd form: rather than cutting out the most convenient rock, the workmen have cut a passage deep into the plateau, enlarging the natural course taken by the stream. As the cave got longer, progress has slowed somewhat, because more and more workers must be devoted to carrying the quarried rock down to the entrance. Nonetheless, after two years of steady digging, the covenfolk come upon something interesting.
A messenger from the quarry team shows up at the sanctum of Gregorius, nearly out of breath. He reports that the workers have just broken through to what appears to be a sizeable cave. They don't have a big enough hole yet to see much inside, and so they don't know if the cave was ever inhabited--they thought it best to report to Gregorius before enlarging the opening.
Once he reaches the passage, he peers through the crack to see what he can see, then checks the aura in the passageway with a non-fatiguing In Vi spont.
[InVi 3 - determine the power of a magical aura. In 6 + Vi 5 + Sta 1 + G 1 + Aura = (13 + Aura)/5 - will succeed on an aura of 2 or more (or possibly slightly less depending on how we're rounding). If that doesn't work, he'll first check it is a magical aura (InVi 2), and then cycle through the other realms, all non-fatiguingly.]
Assuming he doesn't find out he's in a strong hostile aura, he'll then take a torch and light it. He'll then Rego it through the hole and into the cave (I assume the hole is big enough for this?), moving it around to see what's there is to see.
[ReH 5. Base 3 (control an amount of wood) + 1 Touch + 1 Conc. Casting total is (Re 8 + He 0 + Sta 1 + Aura ? + die 9) = 9 + Aura/2. So should work.]
Fray will head over in good time when told. "Can't have the magi at risk alone, nor frogs either I think. " That'll give Gregorius a nice start. When he arrives he'll be looking initially to see that the grogs are ok, then get a look at the chamber.
I'll use An eyes of the Bat when I get there, and will fly across. Casting total is +35 so will divide by 5 for no fatigue.
[roll=Fray]#4454103[/roll]
BBCode 1d10=7, 1d10=8
It's a tunnel--digging straight there was the fastest way to do it. A side benefit is that the tunnel provides a possible route to move limestone quarried from the cave system down to the river.
The hole is really tiny--the covenfolk came to get Gregorius as soon as they realized they'd found something. Of course, you should also keep in mind that there's a much bigger hole lower down--the opening through which the stream runs. Gregorius can't see much through that, either, though.
The aura is 5.
It's too small for that--I assume you're going to open it up a little more, but I wanted to make sure of that before going further.
If he can't get the torch through, and it's that strong an aura, he'll go for the Cr(Re)Ig solution first.
[Create light - maximum base he can manage + 1 Touch + 1 Conc + 1 Re Req = 3 + base level. (Cr 0 + Ig 0 + Sta 1 + G 1 + die 9 (reusing the 9 from the torch)) /2 = 5.5, so base 2, so he gets light equivalent to candlelight - which isn't great, but he does have Eyes of the Cat up.]
The problem is the hole is too small to see much of anything--adding light to that would only improve the situation marginally (after all, Eyes of the Cat didn't help). At best, he can make out what seem to be man-made objects in there, maybe furniture. Why don't you just enlarge the hole?
Once the hole is a bit bigger, Gregorius can make out most of the room, which is about half the size of a Hermetic lab. It looks like this cave must have been used as a storeroom--there's a quantity of lab supplies, but no lab equipment here. Most of space, though, is empty. There's an open passage at the far side, through which the stream flows in.
That's...odd. The room must have some connection (that it's possible to carry lab equipment along) to somewhere else, probably the rest of the cave system, but then why isn't it flooded?
He instructs the quarryers to widen the gap a bit more, so that it's possible to enter the room, then does so.
He'll peer up the passage at the far side, but not go up there yet. Then he'll turn his attention to the cave - particularly, but not exclusively the supplies. Does it look like a natural cave (possibly shaped a bit), or is it a proper "room"? What's the volume of the lab supplies, and are they still usable? Anything particularly remarkable in them?
The cave appears to be natural, as does the passage, which meanders more or less toward the north. It's straight enough, though, that Gregorius can see a Y-junction about 10 paces away--and a corresponding stream junction where two streams unite into the one that flows through this room.
The lab supplies are useful, but not remarkable--mostly consumables, with a bit of glassware. Based on his knowledge of Hermetic labs he's seen, Gregorius figures this storeroom was probably used to hold extra stores, so that a magus didn't have to go all the way to the surface (or send someone else) to replenish the stores in a lab. In game terms, it adds a few pounds to the covenant's treasury (worth one Build Point of Hidden Resources).
He'll grab the aforementioned torch, then proceed up the passageway to the Y junction, and looks to see what he can see from there. If there's nothing obviously distinguishing the two routes (i.e. they just turn into other passages with curves in them), he'll take the one on the left, and proceed down it. Alcimus is with him.
To the right, the passage and stream seem to lead to another cavern. To the left, about 10 paces up the stream, the passageway is blocked by a wall of rubble.
Yes, it's getting through the rubble. He does notice, though, that the stream pushes through every available crack in the rubble (including some at or above eye level.
Turning and taking the passage to the right, Gregorius discovers a wooden wall crossways above the stream, breached by a door with a sanctum marker.
Entering the first cavern, and assuming that he would see or hear signs of trouble if they were occurring; Fray will move quickly through the chambers and take the fork.
Assuming he catches up to Gregorius, he's need to take stock of what the quarry team have discovered. Does the sancta marker have information on the Magi who claimed it?
"Another lab, by the look of it. If we're lucky, it'll be undamaged. If we're less lucky, it'll damage us. Tasia had a useful spell for this sort of situation; I'm just going to have to make do with what I can manage."
[OOC: Am I correct in understanding that the stream is coming under the wall? How big is the gap? Is there any sort of grille/blockage?]
He'll do an non-fatiguing spont to check the aura again.
Then he'll check for magical devices:
[Base 1: Detect the presence of spun vis, +1 Concentration + 3 hearing = InVi 5. Casting total is In 6 + Vi 5 + Sta 1 + Aura ? + die 8 (invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4455423/), so should succeed easily.]
Once he's got the result of that, he'll also check for active spells:
Base: highest he can manage + 0 momentary + 3 hearing = Base + 3. Casting total is (In 6 + Vi 5 + Sta 1 W&G 2 + Aura ? + die 9)/2 (invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4455424/) = (23 + Aura)/2, so he can probably manage a level 10 spell, which implies a base effect of level 3, i.e. sixth magnitude or higher.]
He'll also start paying attention to his Premonitions. [Prem 3 + Per 3 + Aura + die]
After the investigation effects are cast, " My curiosity will not allow me to step away, so lets see what is inside. I can temporarily bend the door to bring it open without touching it if you prefer. Although warding this side of the door seems overtly paranoid. " (MuHe spont CT is around 31-35 depending on the aura)
[His spell to detect spun vis should have only told him the presence of vis, not the amount - that's base 4. As far as the stream goes - well, it's nice to know his options.]
To Fray he responds "Never underestimate the potential for other people to be paranoid. That doorway's an enchanted item of some type - there's vis baked into it. I'm not sure what type of item, though. Might be something other than a defensive enchantment - then again, it might be. Hold on manipulating it for a few minutes - I'm going to try to narrow it down a bit more."
He first casts Bitter Taste of Betrayal upon himself (formulaic, will let him know if he comes under the effect of any magic but won't provide him with any additional information. Should go off without problems).
[Then he'll try to work out the amount of vis in the door: (InVi 10 - Base 4 + 2 Voice. Casting total (In 6 + Vi 5 + Sta 1 + W&G 2 + Aura 5 + die 2)/2 = 10.5, so works and he finds out the 15 pawns. (invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4455790/)]
"There's 15 pawns in there, so it's almost certainly an invested device. Seems about right for the size and materials we can see - eight or possibly ten pawns to open it, then space for up to another eight or possibly ten pawns of effects. Give me a couple of minutes to catch my breath, and I'll try for the Arts involved."
[Next he'll try to determine the Arts of the vis: InVi 10 - Base 4 + 2 Voice. Casting total (In 6 + Vi 5 + Sta 1 + W&G 2 + Aura 5 + die 4)/2 = 11.5, so works. (invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4455807/)]
