Chapter 2: Through a glass darkly

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: Phoenix - Rise from the A
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Berenguer - who slept apart from the others (gentleman that he is) - looks tired and worried in the morning. For a moment he considers challenging Hiems to certamen over who gets to save the maid, but sees that the thers are in no mood for gallantry.
Besides, what can go wrong? This hut obviously is not the covenant, so it must be behind the mirror, Probably, Helena just ate and drank too much of the delicious feast they had to welcome the magi and fell asleep.
But well, people like to worry. He puts on his armor (getting a very scared villager to assist him), not becasue he needs it, but because he thinks it makes the ladies feel better.

ooc: I'm playing this character for now. This is a major optimistic, brave +3 character. Fun!

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OOC: I AM NOT A HELPLESS MAID I AM AN ALL POWERFUL WIZARD! PHFFT! :imp:

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The evening before
Cygna stands to one side and watches Helena as the maga Bonisagus manipulates the symbols surrounding the mirror, not looking particularly surprised as each one, in turn, reproduces the earlier effect. She does, however, seem absolutely gobsmacked when Helena passes through the mirror. It takes her a long moment for her to recover, and she looks around frantically for...something. She finally grabs her staff and jabs it at the mirror, but by the time she does, the mirror has returned to normal and the butt of the staff slides off the glass harmlessly.

She hears Heims call out to Helena, but doesn't hear a reply.

“You idiot!” she screams at the mirror. She swings wildly with her staff but misses badly (Atk 3 + 1d10=2 = 5), striking the stone fireplace instead. “What are you trying to prove? Is your entire House insane?” (Presumably by this time the others are trying to restrain her). Eventually she will calm down enough to be released, at which point she will storm out of the cottage, slamming both inner and outer door behind her without a word to the others. Her voice can still be heard for some time after her departure, but eventually falls quiet.

She doesn't return until after sundown, when she's had the opportunity to cast Form of the Phlegmatic Heartbeast on herself: 1d10=2 +9 -5 for No Gestures -1 for Divine Aura = 5, Fail, and down 1 Fatigue Level. A second attempt, at Winded, yields no better results: 1d10=5 +9-5-1=8, another Fail and down to Weary. She returns to human form, dresses quickly, and stalks back to the cottage, muttering angrily to herself. Doors slam, she enters the room, grabs a chair, sits at the table and glares at the mirror without a word to the others.

She eventually falls asleep at the table, head nestled between her folded arms.

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After struggling with the mystery of the circle for a short while longer after Helena disappears and Hiems suggests we retire for the evening, Viscaria goes off to see about securing the wagonload of supplies and checking in on the donkey (accepting the company of any who wish to join her).

This done, she pokes her head in to see if there's been any sign of Helena, then spends a long while sitting in front of the domus, brooding and watching the scant activity of the village. By the time she rouses herself from her thoughts, the other magi have taken to bed, and she makes do with a bit of floor and her traveling cloak (still heated from her moon-duration spell of two days ago).

OOC: Edited in response to JM's offer to railroad us past this point.

"We have found no evidence that there are multiple spells connecting the circle with the mirror, though I find it passing strange that there would be no defenses placed on the entrance. Clearly, the mirror was designed for travel, so if anything has gone wrong, at most it will transport us to the wrong place. I say we grab all our supplies, push them through the mirror, and then follow as a group. "

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In the morning, the others find Berenguer wearing his armor. He has spoken to the priest, who has never entered the hut (nor has any other villager to his knowledge), but says that people who entered it susally reappeared. He also says that people who had never entered it were seen to leave it (strange people, magi).
To Berenguer this all shows that the mirror is a transportation device and a door into the covenant.

The other find him itching to go in front of an activated mirror (fully armored - he enlisted the help of a terrified villager).

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Hiems doesn't act much surprised by cygna's reaction, although he helps restrain her.

  • Calm down! This doesn't help at all, and proves nothing, he says.

I propose this.
I shall go, enhanced by protective spells in case the arrival is in a dangerous place, like in mid-air or underwater. I'll carry with me arcane connections to 2 different pieces of wood you'll keep. If the passage is safe, I'll warm up the first. If there's danger but you're safe with the protective spells, I'll warm up the second. If none does, it'll mean I'll be dead.

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"It sounds like as good a plan as any." Cygna is still glaring at the mirror, looking for all the world as though it had said something about her mother.

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Preparations.

Hiems will take, say, 2 different pieces of wood in the house, mark them in different ways, and take a shard in both. He does this in silence, quietly, as if none of that mattered really. And maybe that's the case.
He'll then give the larger pieces of wood to Viscaria.

  • Fair Lady, I entrust you with these. Hold them close to you. If all goes well, I'll try to warm up that piece of wood, so you'll know you may come. If there's danger and you need to prepare, I'll warm the other. If none of them warm, you should assume that I'm either dead, or outside the normal limits of Hermetic Magic. I'll only be able to do this for a brief moment, so don't lose track of them.

Still cool as ice, Hiems prepares a ceremonial casting space, taking all the time he needs. Then, he begins incanting loudly, exageating his gestures, and, more importantly, drawing on his inner strength. The air in the room noticeably cools as he cast his spells

Hiems will first spont a personnal-range version of "Lungs of the Fish" (lvl 15 MuAqAu), using life-linked spont magic:
Muto 1 + 0 + Sta 2 + + Artes Liberales (ceremonial Magic) 2 + Philosophiae (Ceremonial Magic) 2 + Booming voice and gestures 2 + 1d10=5 = 14/2 = 7. He thus must use 2 more fatigue to go up to 15.

He'll then sit quietly, resting until he feels fine again, which takes about 30 minutes.

Then, he goes to the same spot, and incants again, sponting a spell that'll avoid him to fall should the other side be in the air: ReCo, I guess same base as "rise of the feathery body", personnal range, duration sun.
Re 7 + Co 5 + Sta 2 + Voice and Gestures 2 + 1d10=1, 1d10=7 = 16 + 14 = 30/2 = 15.

2 minutes later, he's recovered.

  • I'm almost ready. If some of you have warding spells you may cast on me, I am ready to lower my parma.

When everyone is finished, he'll then cast his "Endurance of the Everlasting Cold" and "Sidestep the sight". And step through the mirror.
He doesn't intend to die, for a lady might be in danger. But if he dies, he's fine with it.

At least that's the plan.

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After about 15 minutes without a signal, Berenguer decides to step through as well - to save the others.

ooc: How long do you want to wait? (not a rhetorical question)

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I was thinking maybe half an hour,tops.

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“What interests me,” Cygna says as she rises to rummage through her pack and pull out her scribes' kit that she bought at the fair, “is that we have seen signs of both man and mouse here, but have seen neither as yet. Now, I have never let my house get to the point where one could see tracks such as those so plainly, but I would imagine that not much time has passed since they were left, else the dust would have settled in and obscured them once more.”

She sets the kit on the table and removes a piece of parchment, an inkwell, and a pen. “Which means that there are likely still mice around somewhere. Now, it occurs to me that we can attach a long piece of cord to a mouse, have the mouse go through the mirror, pull him back through after a moment, and have him tell us what he sees.”

She will then write a brief note, then look around at the others. “After all...mice are expendable. Magi are not. Unless we want to go through the glass to see what lies beyond.”

She turns the note on the table for the others to read.

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Viscaria reads the letter aloud to the rest of the group (ooc: reading silently hasn't been invented yet, iirc), then nods with a resigned sigh.

"It is frustrating that none of us are versed enough in the Intellego arts to be able to determine if there are additional magics in the mirror. This mouse idea is a good one. Let us be methodical in our experiments, and document diligently."

Then, while Cygna summons her mouse, Viscaria ties the cord around the lens which is now emitting candlelight, activates the portal again, and tosses the lens lightly through the mirror. She holds the cord's tail end in her other hand, waits a few seconds to see if the cord slackens or tightens (the strength of her throw was such that it should have landed a few feet beyond the portal), and then pulls the cord back out to inspect the lens.

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"My Intellego and Vim are about as potent as my Rego and Animal...but would not the simple casting of a spell determine that there is magic upon the item, and not how many effects? If I'm not mistaken, that would require time in the laboratory."

Cygna casts the Rego Animal: Re 5+An 3+ Sta 0 - Divine Aura penalty 3 + url=http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2798147/[/url] = 9/2= 4 (or 5, if you round up, I'm not sure). So...it's either a fail or a success, by a hair either way, but if it's a success then it's enough to get a mouse from within range of her voice.

♪♫Oh, wee mousey, come to me/For I desire words with thee ♫♪

(ooc: I think determining whether there are multiple effects would require Investigation in the lab; if I'm mistaken, please feel free to correct)

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(if the original attempt to spont the Summon Mouse spell didn't work)

Cygna grinds her teeth, clenching and unclenching her fists as she tries not to growl. Then she tries again. This time it's even worse: to summon the wee mousey (1d10=2), for a total of 7/2 = 3 or 4.

She slams her hands on the table. "It's a stupid mouse!" she yells. "How hard can it be to summon a stupid mouse?" She then looks in the direction of the wall over the circle in the corner and points. "Don't laugh...it isn't funny!" She pauses for a moment before continuing. "If you think you can do better, than do so! If not...then back to Hell with you!" With that, she grabs the closest thing to hand...which is the inkwell, with the top replaced when she finished writing the note, and lifts it as though she were about to throw it. After a moment, she nods firmly and puts it back on the table.

She looks around at the others. "Anyone else have any ideas?"

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You actually see a mouse and it scuttles towards you, but when it is two paces away, it sniffs the air and runs away.

Viscaria's lens experiment returns the lens whole an unharmed. The mirror does not deactivate right after it.

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What about the cord-length stuff? Any strange pulls on the cord, sense of a floor being present, etc? The idea was to get an idea about the floor on the other side while dragging the piece back.

I also assume that the ring-duration spell on the edge of the glass is still intact?

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Viscaria's lens is still glowing. It is still attached to the lens. The lens is still glowing. You were fishing in the fog. Nothing supernatural or magical at all happened to them.
The lens didn't encounter any solid obstacles (walls, bodies, whatever). It didn't fall "down" - it seems like walking onto the fog is possible (nor did you see the others fall when they went into the fog. They stepped through the mirror, were ingulfed by the fog and gone).

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"Aha!" Cygna exclaims and jumps to her feet. She half-runs to the other room and proceeds to strip the sheets from the beds and drags them back into the mirror room. She takes two sheets and ties them together by the corner, making the knot as strong as her mighty -1 Strength can manage, then proceeds to tie the third sheet to the double-sheet by a corner - in effect, making a chain. She then kneels on the floor, ties one end of the chain to the table leg, and stands up, brushing off her knees.

"Very well...who wants to go through next? Or shall I?"

edit - pretty much nullified by subsequent posts, but redone after the mouse sequence

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Seeing that the mouse is getting away , Serrano grabs a piece of linen from his belt pouch and incants ,
his gestures made as if cutting & sewing a garment.
OoC : worksheet

The linen flies from his hand shrouding the hapless mouse and forms an elegant , if plain , hooded cloak , nearly two feet long.

OoC: any chivalrous or knightly types in the room , may now more easily capture the Quested Beast to present to a distressed damoiselle.

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The mouse squeals and tries to escape but it should be easy to grab her now.