Cath'rinne boldly mounts the stairs where Thomas dared not. In the last sunshine of the day she can identify the crest of Pontius Arbiter, presiding quaesitoris of Stonehenge, next to the sanctum marker. Below it is a text, about a third of it is in Latin, saying
These towers belong to Lux Draconis, loyal covenant of the Order of Hermes, and they shall come down hard on any intruders.
Below that again, is a cross and a skull inscribed in a triangle.
Cath'rinne will read what is written, described the symbol, and identify the sanctum marker to her sodales. "Does anyone know whether Pontius Arbiter is known to be dead or alive?"
She renews her Parma Magica as the sunshine goes down.
The bear transforms back into Benedict. He sneezes, then says, "He was alive in 1011. But a lot of people have died since then, so who knows. I'm supposed to find him, among other things. Let me know when you're finished with the old secret handwaving and I'll give a knock."
True to his word, Benedict will wait for the magi to do their Parma Ritual, then he goes up and gives a loud, insistent knock on the door.
The door is thick and sturdy oak, and even the insistent knocking does not make a lot of sound. There is a big iron ring on the door, probably a handle. It could serve as a door knocker too, but it does not really make more sound than Benedict's hand.
There is no reply. An evening breeze brushes past, but otherwise the place is as quiet as a grave. Knocking, the door feels as if iit has been barred from the inside. There is no visible lock.
"I can't say I was expecting someone to answer that door, but I do suppose it was worth checking. The question now is what do we do?"
"I will walk around the tower, see if anything looks different in the twilight. Perhaps while I wander around I will see if there's a good spot to camp. Perhaps you can find a way to open the door?"
Thomas sets off around the tower.
"I was hoping the sanctum marker wouldn't be on the front door of a tower, and we'd get some opportunity to look inside and investigate before having to decide whether we want to break into a sanctum... Opening that door... How can I put it... if he's alive, it's probably a low crime for me to merely enter and a high crime if I steal anything of value. I'd like to be able to say that I was confident the sanctum owner was dead if I ever get asked such a question at a tribunal. At this point, I find it likely he's dead, but I can't say for sure he hasn't taken a year or two of Twilight. It's generally a bad idea to get on the bad side of a tribunal's chief quaesitori. A companion isn't bound by the code, I suppose, but I anticipate magical traps inside... Looking arround is fair game, I suppose. I agree to start there but I'm wary of crossing a line until we find a body, a connection to a body, a witness who pronounces him dead, or something similar."
Cath'rinne will switch to her vulture form and start to fly, investigating. She'll look through any windows that's not barred, use her sense of smell (according to Pliny, vultures can smell corpses accross the sea; according to modern science, they can smell a dead mouse a mile away).
If appropriate, her Per+Awa to locate clues is a 13, on which you can add the following:
The tower looks the same from all sides; boarded windows all around. The vulture can see the roof, which is flat. There is a kind of hut with a door which looks very locked, like everything else. There is nothing else on the roof.
The pile of rubble is really not a different hill; the dip between the tower and the rubble, even if lower than the basement of the tower, is also elevated compared to the level land around the hill. It is only about 20 paces between the tower and the rubble. The tower is a bit taller than that, maybe 25-30 paces.
Some of the rubble have rolled almost to the stairs of the tower. An oak door with a big iron ring, much like the one on the tower, lies between the rocks towards the tower.
The vulture can smell rotting flesh under the pile of rubble. The scent is weak; it may be very old. Certainly not a fresh corpse.
There is an eerie feel over the barren land around the tower, but if you are not easily spooked, you should be able to clear the dead heather and make camp. Moving rocks to make camp on the hill would be harder..
She will land down and return to her human form behind a tree to get back in her clothes.
"There is a dead body in the pile of rubble. Let's look in the morning, with the light, I'll need some help to clear the rubble to get to it. It could be the occupant of this tower, another member of the Order, a Diedne, or an intruder in another tower who might have some insight on what will blow up in our faces if we breech this door."
Cath'rinne, not sharing a language with the druids, may not know this, but the story was told between the druids and those who speak their language, and Thurold knows the story well. Thomas will have heard it on an Area Lore Mercia or Hermes Lore 9+ or Peak District 6+ or Stonehenge 13+.
I suppose Thurold does not understand what Cath'rinne is saying.
Thomas says "I heard there was a trapped tower around here, where treasure hunters got crushed by rocks, and by it there stands a tall tower which no-one dares enter. This must be the site I heard about."
"Certainly, it looks dangerous to explore by night. Let's set up camp." He ponders where to set a fire.
Cath'rinne takes a moment to process what Thomas just said. "These towers... shall come down hard on any intruders. It's bold to explain on your front door the type of trap you're leaving behind you. And somewhat stupid."
She seems pensive as the grogs and companions set up the camp.
Cath'rinne will cast a fatigueless InVi effect to have the aura level here. Could we also have a description of the boundary the covenant most likely used to cast its aegis, when it had one? Would it be the hill described?
The only obvious boundary you can see is the foot of the hill where the towers stand. I guess that would be at least 50 paces diameter so a normal Aegis could not be an awful lot wider.
The Sun has disappeared behind the horizon. The evening breeze becomes stronger and colder. You still have some light, but it only makes you see more shadows. Was that something moving in the rubble? In full daylight, you were sure the hill was deserted, but now it is no longer possible to be sure.
Cath'rinne does not sense a magic aura.
Benedict says, "Maybe we should go back and sleep? In the morning, we might try an aerial inspection. And if you were going to make a breach, I'd suggest a random spot on the wall, not the door. Still might well have defenses, but maybe less." Then he transforms himself back into a bear, and starts sniffing the air.
Thomas starts making a camp among the dead heather at the base of the tower.
Darkness falls, on the tower, and the already eerie landscapes becomes even eerier and more sinister. You cannot get rid of the feeling that somebody is lurking in the shadows, and that somebody is whispering behind your back.
Thurold, and anyone else with second sight or magic sensitivity, can actually see the ghost lingering over the rubble, watching you, and whispering behind your back.
(Feel free to interject at this point.)
When you go to sleep after a simple supper, you dream about entering the tower and finding the riches of an ancient covenant, with gold, excellent summæ, and magical swords, depending on personal interests. When you wake up in the morning, before dawn, you still remember the dream, making the tower exceedingly tempting. Benedict finds this feeling exceedingly strong, gaining Avaricious +3 as a personality trait. Turold feels it too, but not as strongly.
Betula has seemed preoccupied since leaving the larger group until sitting down in the camp at the base of the tower when she looks up and appears to see something. She then begins casting repeatedly. After the second time casting a very similar spell it’s apparent she is casting using Intellego and Vim. With each spell she seems more and more discouraged.
[She attempts to cast Sense the Magical Power, Faerie Power, Divine Power, and Infernal Power in that order. Each fails but no botch.]
When she finishes casting she addresses the rest of the group, “We should go. There is either a godly aura here… or a devilish one… and the spirit over there seems malicious.” but she remains where she is sitting on the ground.
Turold will point at the ghost and repeat the word "ghost" in the local tongue.
Cath'rinne switches to her vulture form and casts The Voice of the Bjornaer Magi. Casting roll yields a 10, so this should be a success costing 1 stamina unless the aura penalty exceeds 5.
(if the aura penalty exceeds 5, she stops)
She follows this with a spontaneous ceremonial Intellego Mentem effect similar to sense supernatural creatures associated with Mentem (which usually covers ghosts):
Base 5, +1 diam, +2 smell (InMe 20)
Against a ghost, with my magical focus, she casts at +35.
She's aiming for penetration 15 (6 of which comes from my skill).
Rolled a 0. Assuming no botch, and an aura modifier of 0, with life-linked spontaneous, the spell would go off costing 3 stamina. If the aura bonus exceeds 5, she saves a stamina on both spells.
I'll roll botch dice after GM rules on how many die apply.
First spell works. The aura penalty is -3.
It is quite a sight, even in the dark, when the vulture starts her ceremonial flying patterns against the sky.
Four botch dice.
Cautious sorcerer; rolls one botch die; no botch.
By my calculations you get 32 casting total for level 16, requiring 29 for L20 and +9 pen, which is a shortage of 13 for three fatigue levels plus one for exerting spontaneous magic. Having taken the time to draw her breath after the first spell, she is knackered but not quite unconscious.
Cath'rinne recognises the smell; the ghost belongs to the body, probably one of the bodies, that she smelled previously. An aging man dead for a year or two. Knackered, though, I wonder if she can cast a useful spell without passing out.
(This should be the final edit.)