I think that was asked a long time back in the forums somewhere, and the advice was that a separate effect was needed to create caves or underground structures. A different enough effect to need a separate spell. from memory there was also a discussion of using different techniques in the cave forming spell too (re and mu, or Cr & Pe together). That said, the Tower's foundations are meant to go a few floors below ground (I can't recall the text atm) so it seems plausible that the Tower could be linked with an underground area in that manner.
Edit: Found a thread, but isn't the one I recalled. It has a suggestion for the effect.
[OOC: I'd agree that Conjuring the Mystic Tower isn't really set up for creating underground rooms - you're more going to want a Rego or Perdo spell for that. I suppose technically you could create a massive cavern (or, say, find one in a level 7 magic regio, but that thread's still ongoing and I'm not sure it wouldn't turn out to be horribly risky) and then create the tower within that, but that seems a plan with drawbacks.]
"Then by all means, feel free to use the text."
Is Stephen going to want to do anything besides unpacking of note, or shall we skip to the dinner?
[I'm assuming other people want to roleplay the dinner at least in part, to have other magi meet Stephen?]
"Excellent," Stephen replies. "Now, if you'll show me where my sanctum will be, then I'll see to getting my things unloaded. I should have more than enough people with my own grogs. No need to trouble the ones at the covenant."
[hr][/hr]
OOC: Stephen is content to simply unpack until dinner.
There are two sorts of ruins: first, the old Greek city (which is what you see there, though those walls might have been uncovered by archeological excavation); these occupy the entire square area. Second, there's the ruins of the old covenant, which are closer to being full buildings, and therefore need something closer to repairs.
[And sorry for the delay--I had a grueling job interview Tuesday, and another distraction on Wednesday.]
You'd have to extend the pipe system, unless you wanted to use it to replace a ruined building from the old covenant (those are the only parts of the orignal plumbing system that were repaired by the old covenant), or place it right next to the central fountain.
I don't see why it couldn't have an entrance to a cave. Also, since the foundation goes down 20 feet, I would think you'd just have to dig out the dirt that lies within that foundation.
"For your sanctum, I recommend taking either the free laboratory I showed you earlier, or your room in the main house," Gregorius suggests. "Unfortunately we don't have another lab with the living quarters attached to it, so you're not going to be able to get both - although I suppose we could move a bed in to the lab if you want. Might get a bit cramped, though."
[Moving on, but feel free to continue the earlier conversation in parallel.]
Stephen was shown the dining room in the tour earlier - it's a reasonably sized room in the building behind the main house which also houses the kitchen. The magi are seated at one table, whilst the rest of the covenfolk are scattered around the others.
Gregorius is there in good time, and will give Stephen a quick summary of who's expected.
"The members of the covenant are myself, Tasia of Guernicus and Viola of Merinita. In addition, we've got a couple of visiting magi. I mentioned Fray earlier, but we've also got another Merinita, Calliope, here."
"I'll take the free lab," Stephen says as he starts the unpacking process. "I don't mind having my sanctum split up for now. I'm sure we'll sort things out in time." Then he proceeds to direct the unloading of part of the boat into his new lab and some personal effects into whatever room the covenant assigns him. The boxes are moved by a mix of grogs and an unseen porter spell.
"I have some treats you might like," he says to Gregorius as he passes the other magus during one unloading trip. "Some linens from England, some wine from France, some glassware from Venice. That sort of thing. It's not a lot, but I figured I might as well pick up a few things and I passed through different places in Europa.[sup]1[/sup]
Stephen spends most of the time before dinner making sure that he, Godwin, and the grogs are as settled as possible. The three sailors elect to stay on the boat, there being plenty of room for them now that over half of the people that were traveling on it have now moved to quarters in the covenant. But he's there promptly for dinner, looking forward to meeting the other magi.
"Do you expect everyone for dinner tonight?" he asks Gregorius after he's been given the list of magi who live at the covenant.
[hr][/hr]
[sup]1[/sup] I'm not thinking this would be anything major - just a few nice things from around Europa to share with his new friends. Sort of like a host gift.
"Mmm, thank-you," Gregorius replies to the offer of gifts. "Do you want to present them to the covenant formally at dinner?"
"Tasia's away from the covenant at the moment, so I'm not expecting her. Everyone else is likely to be there, though."
For the dinner, he's dressed in his formal blue-black Tremere robes.[sup]1[/sup] The main course of the meal is venison - anyone staying long at the covenant will soon realise that game and fish make up the majority of its meat supplies, with very little livestock included.
[OOC: Everyone else, this is your cue to bring your characters in. I'll bring Calliope in with Viola.]
[sup]1[/sup] Gregorius doesn't usually wear these to dinner, only tending to dig them out for Council meetings and wearing more practical clothing the rest of the time.
Stephen prepares for dinner by cleaning[sup]1[/sup] and smoothing out[sup]2[/sup] his best robes. Like Gregorius, he's not going to make a habit of this. But he wants to make a good first impression.
"I'll certainly mention them at dinner," he says to Gregorius when asked about the gifts he brought. "But there's no need for a formal presentation - though you could certainly break out a bottle or two of the wine I brought. That might make things a bit more festive."
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[sup]1[/sup] Spontaneous ReTe spell to clean the robe. Control or move dirt in a very unnatural fashion is level 3. +1 for Touch, +0 Inst., +0 Ind. = ReTe 4.
Casting Total without fatigue = [20 (Re) + 13 (Te) + 2 (Sta) +3 (Aura)]/5 = 38/5 = 7-3/5, which rounds to 8; success
I wasn't sure what the Aura was in his chambers so I conservatively guessed 3.
[sup]2[/sup] Spontaneous ReAn spell to smooth the robe. (I'm assuming it's soft wool.) Manipulate items made from animal products is level 1. Let's call this a level 3 effect, just to be safe. +1 for Touch, +0 Inst., +0 Ind. = ReAn 4.
Casting Total without fatigue = [20 (Re) + 5 (An) + 2 (Sta) +3 (Aura)]/5 = 30/5 = 6; success
We can set up some partitions, outside the door of the lab, in the central cavern for him to use as living quarters. This is what I've been planning to do, but I'm not sure if I told anyone else that.
BTW, I don't think you can divide a sanctum into two parts.
Viola will show up somewhat late, looking annoyed at the distraction, and bringing Calliope in tow. She doesn't quite smile to the new visitor, but sits near to him.
How about using a PeTe spell to expand the lab to make an extra room on the side?
Figure base 4 for destroying dirt/stone in a one-pace square, +1 Touch, +1 Part = PeTe 10.
I'll assume that a decent living area would be at least 3 paces by 6 paces (9-ft x 18-ft), and almost 3 paces (8-ft) high = a little less than 54 cubic paces. That's 50ish castings, which is an awful lot.
Okay, let's try it with +1 for size. That lets him make a gap of 10 cubic paces as a PeTe 15 spell, requiring about five castings to make the room. That's much better. Basically, it adds a 2x2 pace square to the floorplan of the cavern for each casting.
Stephen's Spontaneous PeTe Casting Roll, with fatigue, is [1d10 + 11 (Pe) + 13 (Te) + 2 (Sta) + 5 (Aura) + 3 (Talisman)]/2 = 1d10/2 + 17. So he'll easily cast a PeTe 15 spell.
Of course, with a 1 or 5-9 on the roll, he could even make a PeTe 20 check (+2 size), which would make a room of 100 cubic paces. This would get what he wanted, and then some, in one casting. It might take a few attempts to get the spell to go off. But with a roughly 60% chance of success, it might be worth trying that.
Then I looked at the map of the storeroom. Currently it's about 450 square feet, a little shy of basic lab size, but close enough for government work. Assuming that the ceiling is about 8 feet high in the cavern, a single casting of the PeTe 20 spell would give about 6x6 square paces of additional floor space, which would more than bring the lab up to spec, and give enough living space for a proper sanctum. (FWIW, I looked through the maps of the covenant, matching up topside and underground and it looks like this expansion doesn't appear to interfere with anything.)
Here's what it might look like:
Of course, this all depends on the local magi approving such an action. But consider, even if Stephen moves out of the lab and into another, it would still leave this lab as a usable sanctum, including a living space and lab, for another visiting magus.
Stephen notes the look of annoyance on Viola's face. But since he can't do much about it, he pushes on anyway. "Good evening," he says to the two magae. "I'm Stephen ex Bonisagus, newly in from the Stonehenge Tribunal. I'm guessing you must be Viola and Calliope. It's a pleasure to meet you both. I wanted to thank you for the hospitality that Nova Castra has shown me already."
As Fray tends to eat with the magi and the covenant he is expected, but then he is also often arrives at erratic times or brings wax tablets and charcoal with him to continue when not talking.
[Fray arrive as it suits, even after Viola if that suits the flow. Not fussed. ]
This evening he arrives equipped with a tablet for each hand and a typical collection of miscellaneous looking notes. Dressed as always in a set of tougher traveling clothes, all rust and natural hues. His lion cloak hood is up to protect from the wind when entering, and when he sits the cowl falls back to show his scars and burns. Sturdy saxon walks to the Magi's table, although looking far more like a grog at times.
As he is used to his presence and appearance making him difficult to approach, he will look across the room, and make an nod to the magi as he sits and then takes out a letter.
It might make more sense to put the living quarters in the newly created area? That way you don't have to move the lab equipment, even if it is a slightly odd way round to have things.
Assuming Stephen mentions he's thinking about expanding the room, Gregorius won't have any objections, but will ask him to be careful he doesn't accidentally cut through to a stream (although he thinks they're mostly deeper underground). "We've got a dowser amongst the covenfolk, if that would be useful to you.
" Good evening," Stephen says in English when Fray comes in for dinner. "My name is Stephen ex Bonisagus, and I'm also from the Stonehenge Tribunal. You must be Fray. It's a pleasure to meet you."
Fray looks quizically at Stephen, "indeed I am. A pleasure to meet you Stephen. " He moves his notes into a pile rather than spread out to read.
A slight smile, but dryly said, "Stonehenge will be wondering what dearth of charm she has which causes her Bonisagus Magi to flee so far east. I had not expected to meet another from the isles quickly here, and certainly not a brother." His tone drops an octave as he finished the sentence, but then with curiosity he asks, "What brings you to Nova Castra?"
"The ruins - mostly," Stephen replies in response to Fray's question, switching back to Latin so as not to be rude at the dinner table. "I've taken an interest in ancient ruins and the secrets they hold. To that end, I've determined to follow the path of a Seeker." He smiles almost apologetically before continuing. "Of course ancient ruins meant that I was looking at the Roman Tribunal, the Tribunal of Thebes, or the Levant Tribunal. I decided Greek ruins were of greatest interest to me, which naturally lead me to Thebes. When I heard a report that Nova Castra was being so generous to its visiting magi, I decided to make this my ultimate destination. Truth be told, it's location at the edge of the Thebes Tribunal is a draw as well. I'm hoping that any ruins this far from the center of the Thebes Tribunal will not have been studied as carefully as some others and may well have some secrets remaining."
"And what about you?" Stephen asks. What brings you halfway across the world to Thebes?"
