Chapter 2: The Palace Beneath the Waves

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

[I'm not sure if you're confused over the local geography. The alehouse is on the south side of Smyrna, the local town and port. The citadel which houses Alexandria is about an hour's walk from there, up the mountain to the south of the city. I'm not sure what you mean by not needing to go into the alehouse because the entrance is in the courtyard - the courtyard is not related in any way to the alehouse.]

When and where are you casting the spell? You'll need to give me a break down of casting total, and a finesse roll with a -3 penalty.

22

OK, yes, I'm confused by this point. Niko said we needed to sneak into the citadel to get to the statue of Alexander in the courtyard. I guess I didn't see the "Smyrna" in the post about the alehouse. Anyway, why are we at the alehouse? Is it just so that Viola can have a look at a soldier so that she can copy his appearance? If that's it, there was no reason for her to stay in human form (she would have used the second of the six daily uses of the transformation effect), but in any case, mission accomplished, so let's head to the citadel forthwith. Or am I missing something?

Scott

23

[Yes, it's just so Viola can have a look at a soldier - the alehouse is somewhere where you can reliably find them. The other place you can reliably find the soldiers is in the citadel; however, in order to get a good look at those, you would first have to get into the citadel, which is most of the original problem. You're ready to head to the citadel now. Tell me when you're casting your spell, and give me the finesse roll.]

24

Changing one sense (sight) is trivial, so we shouldn't need a roll for the spont itself. Assuming this is a Perception roll, here's Finesse:

Per +2 + Finesse 3 + 9 = 14

invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3358110/

Scott

25

[I need to know when and where you're casting the spell. Also, please always breakdown your spell build and casting totals, even if you're not bothering to roll. Otherwise I don't know how long the spell is meant to last for, for example (I can guess, but there's the risk it won't align with what you meant), or whether there are any additions from a talisman attunement or something else obscure.]

26

I'm casting the spell before we enter the place we have to sneak into (the citadel), obviously. I didn't check the guidelines because the spell is so trivial--I think one sense is like level 1, maybe level 2, and we probably want to do it for Concentration (we don't want it to last indefinitely, so Sun is out). That means something like level 3, but I don't always have a book at hand to check; at any rate, her MuIm total (including Sta) is 20, so it should be possible without Fatigue, hence without a die roll, but she'll use Fatigue if she has to (resting after we get into the covenant shouldn't be a problem), and if she does have to roll the die, given her Mystery Virtues (which would double her Im in this case), the number is (28 + die roll) / 2.

Here's a die roll, just in case:

9

invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3358623/

So that would be a max spont level of 19 (assuming any aura at all), or maybe 20 (with an aura of 3).

Scott

27

[You're still not giving me the break down of your casting total. I want to see something like "Mu 10 + Im 8 + Sta 2 + Aura ? + talisman muto bonus 5 - silent and subtle 15 + die X = Y + Aura" every time you cast a spell (at least one you haven't been casting repeatedly), please, because otherwise I have to do it, and I'm more likely to miss something. Plus it's extra work for me, that should be done by the player. In addition, I want to know whether you're exerting or not for your Potent Magic, and if you're using Life-linked Magic I want you to explicitly tell me so (plus the spell level you're aiming for).

In particular, the question of exactly what your casting total was, and where you were casting it, could mean the aura does or doesn't cause a non-fatiguing spont to fail. You were in a town. Any local aura is more likely to be a hindrance than a help to spellcasting.]

When Viola indicates that she's ready to move on, Niko suddenly reappears, and brings you to the outskirts of the city. Calling the seat of the citadel a mountain is an exaggeration, really - it's more of a hill, and the outskirts nestle up to it's foot. From where they stand, Viola can just about make out a strech of wall with a rounded tower at one end, besides which is a closed gate. There's a path leading on up towards the citadel, but a limited amount of cover other than darkness. The path twists and turns, and Viola estimates it would probably take about half an hour to walk up it.

Is Viola casting her spell back outside the tavern? Here? Trying to get closer to the citadel first?

I'd also like you (or someone else) to take-over Theodoric's actions whilst he's trying to get inside, please.

28

I didn't break it down because it wasn't even close to mattering: the spell in question in level 2 (I did just check the guideline now). Sta +2 + Mu 10 + Im 8, even divided by 5, produces a casting total of 4, and that's without accounting for the talisman attunement (which I'd forgotten--thank you), or using Fatigue, or rolling a die. With just the attunement; even in a Divine aura of 10, she can manage a level 3. And yes, I suppose one problem was that I've calculated enough MuIm sponts that I knew it would be ridiculously easy, but you hadn't been there when I had, and I didn't think about that.

I really do apologize for creating difficulty, but I was trying to save us both work. I'm at a place in my life, with a wife and a 7-month-old daughter, as well as the need to find a new job (though I wasn't doing the latter last night, so I can't blame that), where sometimes I have to pick carefully the things that I can devote time to, and what seemed to me to be the lead-up to the main plot didn't seem to be worth that much trouble, and I was in a hurry.

She wants to wait as long as possible to cast the spell, but it's not really safe to cast it anywhere that Theodoric can be seen clearly. If we have at least the cover of darkness, we can put him in a cloak, and then wait until we're fairly close--that will require Viola to stay in butterfly form, but the casting total before dividing is 25 (noted above), and casting with no words or gestures (Constantine can make noise, but Viola can't in butterfly form) is lowered to a 10, which would be a 2 after dividing. Viola will try that, and if it doesn't work (due to an unfavorable aura), she'll roll a die so that she can divide by 2, but won't use Fatigue. Maintaining concentration shouldn't be problematic, since she shouldn't be called on to do anything else rather than sit quietly. It might be a good idea, though, to conceal her so that she doesn't have to fly--will she disappear if she's on Niko's person when he disappears? And do we need to pass a guarded gate or anything like that, or just walk into the courtyard to the statue? She could always transform his appearance into that of a butterfly or dog or something equally innocuous. Actually, the dog would be safer than the soldier, so let's just do that; I'm not sure if that would make the spell more difficult, but that shouldn't matter--it would though mean casting the spell earlier.

Theodoric, having spent some time around magi, will patiently accept whatever stratagem he's pressed into service for, as long as it doesn't seem completely crazy.

Scott

29

[It's not level 2; it's base 1 + 1 concentration (and I had originally been assuming you'd go for sun to avoid concentration rolls, and then PeVi it later) + 1 Touch = 3 (or 4 as had been my original assumption, which would have required a casting total of 20 for a non fatiguing spell, which is right on the boundaries of the aura mattering). Also, Divine auras subtract 3 per level, not 1, so a divine aura of 10 would be a -30 penalty, which Viola certainly can't manage. Not that it is a divine aura of 10, but, details.

Rereading your character sheet, I'm also not sure why you're not just using Image Phantom, rather than sponting weaker equivalents? Is it that you want the concentration duration, or just that you'd forgotten she had it? I'll let you substitute in using it, if you want to, since Viola shouldn't forget the spells she has IC.

I'll note that Viola seems to be making massively less use of her Life-linked Spontaneous Magic than I tend to expect her to - when I'd been originally considering how she'd get into the covenant, I'd been assuming she'd just spont Veil of Invisibility on him, and have done. Yes, it's three fatigue levels down, which means a three-quarter of an hour recovery period, but that's less time than she spent lurking outside the alehouse, and probably less likely to go wrong.

Basically, in non-time-pressured situations my perception is that Life Linked Spontaneous Magic is a way to get round pretty much any obstacle that can be dealt with with a 4th magnitude spell (and Viola can get at least one more magnitude on that for pretty much any art combination if she's willing to risk the consequence of a botch).]

Viola gives some instructions to Theodoric, then turns herself back into the butterfly and perches on Niko's shoulder. Niko then turns himself invisible. The sight of two butterflies perched on an invisible shoulder is odd, but unlikely to be noticed by anyone in the dark. As they travel towards the fortress, Viola suddenly realises that she can see Niko with her Second Sight where she couldn't before. A couple of hundred metres from the fortress, Theodoric stops, and Viola flutters over and casts her spell, fatiguing herself in the process. It works, as far as she can tell, and Theodoric looks like her (hastily glimpsed) memory of the soldier. She realises she has no idea what his voice sounds like, however.

As Theodoric approaches the gate, he's hailed from above in Greek (Theodoric can understand it, but Viola can't).

"Hey! Theo! You're back early! What happened with the fight? I had three silver pennies with Phokas on Aeolus doing for Silas' red bird.

In a somewhat reassuring display of lax security, the gate is already beginning to open.

30

Ugh, I'm an idiot, thanks. She hasn't gotten role-played much in the field since being a few years out of gauntlet, and so I often forget what she can do in terms of spellcasting, and I had no idea she could manage a decent PeIm. On top of that, she hasn't had Life-linked Spontaneous Magic for very long (it was a result of a magical transformation), and Image Phantom is even more recent--it was retconned to be one of her original spells when I reworked her for this saga, after one of us noticed her number of spell points was off. In general, though, she's very cautious about any spont that would entail the risk of a botch--when you have a very high natural longevity, warping is Enemy #1.

The voice part is why I decided in my last post to go with the image of a dog instead. We can go back and do it that way if you like, or, if you want to stick to this path, Theodoric will try to chuckle and wave jocularly (with the local equivalent of a thumbs-up in response to the cockfighting remark), without saying anything intelligible.

Scott

31

[Oops, sorry. Missed the bit about the dog, somehow.

Edit: Image Phantom specifies that the resulting image has to be a similar shape and size to the original; I've been trying to work out to what extent this is a general principle of MuIm, and to what extent a feature of the spell without much success. For the time being, I think I'm going to avoid the issue by just going with the human transformation.

I don't think Niko's cloak would make Viola invisible; certainly not without penetrating her magic resistance, and even if it did she's not part of Niko in any significant sense, so won't count for target Individual.]

The guard laughs, and waves you through. Once inside the courtyard, you can see a statue of a man, standing under a tree. You can also see that the back wall of the citadel is in some disrepair - it would probably be possible to climb over it, although it's clearly also in line of sight of the guards. Once the guard's attention is off him, Theodoric feels a tugging on his sleeve, urging him towards the statue.

At the statue, Viola and Constantine can both just make out the image of tents through the gap between the man and the tree. Niko murmers something in greek - Theodoric understands it as "He lives and reigns and conquers the world", and instructs him to repeat it. Immediately on doing so, he too can see the tents. Niko then steps through the gap, and Theodoric follows.

In the regio, solid cloth tents are arranged in a military style grid, and ghostly soldiers in ancient greek wargear cook, drill, and go about their business. There's no obvious sign of any buildings other than the tents and the citadel walls.

Niko reappears suddenly to normal sight, remarking, laughing, "Let's hope that rooster really did win."

32

Theodoric laughs knowingly, perhaps a little nervously or wearily. Meanwhile, Viola transforms back into human shape, and looks insistently toward Niko for direction.

Scott

33

Niko takes a few moments to notice Viola's questioning gaze, but then rapidly becomes more serious again.

"This is only the first level of the regio, the covenant proper is on the second."

He turns around, and, following him, you see that the statue is now in pristine condition and the tree, which formerly had been barely bigger than a man, is now well over twice his height. Looking backwards, Viola can still see the mundane world through the gap between the man and the trunk. Niko leads you back around to the front of the statue again, and, this time, Viola and Constantine can see stone houses through the gap. Niko shouts "Megas Alexandros!", and the ghostly soldiers suddenly stop what they're doing and repeat the salute, clashing spear against shield. Theodoric repeats the call, and once more the ghostly soldiers echo him. Niko then leads you through the gap where Theodoric too can now see the houses.

On the other side of the regio, the tree is larger again. Seen more clearly, the "stone houses" are beautifully ornate buildings. Niko leads you towards one cluster, saying quietly "Most of the covenant will be asleep by now. I'll take you to the guest quarters, and get Helene to bring you some food - let her know if there's anything else you need."

He leads you to a well-appointed guest room with an antechamber, and leaves you there. After a while, there's a knock on your door, and you find a plain meal has been left outside.

34

And BTW, yes, I've been wondering about this for some time. There's nothing explicit in the rules, but it is implicit in Image Phantom, and MuIm seems overly powerful (esp. if you decide you only need one or two senses) if drastic changes in the size of the image aren't any harder than an image of similar size.

In any event...Viola eats the meal, wondering a bit at why magi would serve a plain one, and then settles down to sleep.

Scott

35

It occurs to Viola that, if all the food is having to be smuggled past the soldiers, there's probably not a high premium being put on fanciness. The fact that she has just arrived late at night is probably also a contributing factor.

Your sleep is undisturbed, and the next morning a (slightly) more exciting breakfast is left for you.

What do you want to do? Look for Niko, or another Redcap? Calliope? Stay in your room and wait until someone comes to you (which won't be very long)?

36

Let's not rock the boat...we'll wait.

Scott

37

Shortly after you've broken your fast, there's a knock at your door, and Calliope enters. She looks much as Viola remembers her - tall, poised and elegant, with an almost regal bearing, and strange golden eyes. Despite the apparent dignity, there's also the familiar barely surpressed abundance of enthusiasm present as she greets you. And, apparently, the tendency to drop names without considering whether Viola is likely to have any idea who she means.

"Diana told me you'd arrived - how was your journey? Isn't getting into the covenant a bother? Small wonder that most of the junior Redcaps are choosing to live in Smyrna itself these days, but of course, they still need to enter to get instructions from poor Leontius."

After a few pleasantries have been exchanged, she proceeds,

"I've arranged with the Mercere to borrow their glass submarine for the trip there. It's supposed to be quite something! There may be a Redcap going with us - I don't think it's been decided yet - Leontius told me to check with him when we're ready to go - is there anything you want to do here, or shall we go and see him now?"

38

Viola greets Calliope warmly, and is clearly happy to see a fellow Merinita and member of the cult. She's too polite to ask who Diana is. The plan sounds acceptable to her, if a bit odd. She does however have one question before they leave:

"Would the library here have anything that could tell us about Poseidon and Neptune, especially in Tanais?"

Scott

39

Calliope thinks, then shakes her head. "Won't hurt to ask, but I'd be surprised. I doubt Alexandria has much of a library - almost all of its members are Redcaps."

She leads you across the courtyard into a large building. As you want down the corridor, you hear querulous greek; a few moments later you hear Niko's voice, also speaking greek and sounding somewhat defensive.

Calliope knocks on a half open door, and the original voice calls something. Following Calliope into the room, Viola can see a tall thin elderly man seated behind a desk with several ledgers resting on it. His hair has clearly receded, and matches his long grey moustache in colour. Niko is standing in front on the desk.

The eldery man smiles somewhat wearily as you come in. "Calliope, you're hear about the submarine?"

She nods, and he turns to you.

"And you must be Viola. Niko was just telling me about your arrival."

40

Viola smiles politely at the elderly man, with perhaps just the hint of a twinkle in her eyes, and puts her quill to use. "I hope that our entrance didn't cause you problems. Is everything all right? At any rate, please tell me about this 'submarine'--I assume that it's a device to travel under the surface of the sea?"

Scott