That was actually the source of me thinking that it would be possible to bypass going through a regio to get to Arcadia. I'm inclined to say no, on the basis that the mechanics for leaving Arcadia seem to be quite different from entering it (and it's not mentioned in the box "Leaving by Using Merinita Mysteries" on page 29).
I don't think aura heights are very well defined. In the case of a Dominion aura, though, I'd probably say as high as you can hear church bells is going to have something (give this tends to determine the spread on the ground), which is probably going to be quite a distance.
I thought you were trying to go to Athens' harbour - Eleusis isn't a port, it just overlooks the sea. You can go down to the coast, but you'll have to send someone to find a boat. How big a one are you looking to hire? It's going to be much easier to get something small than something suitable for a significant voyage.
If can get a boat to a ship without traipsing through the Dominion, we only need a small boat. Is that going to be feasible? If so, Viola will send 2 grogs to do it.
Alright - let's say that with a bit of difficulty (and a fair amount of money), the grogs successfully hire some fishermen with a small boat, that can then liaise with a larger ship.
You're pretty sure they think you're smuggling something. Or possibly a fugitive?
Getting back to the covenant isn't entirely smooth - in particular, you have to engage in some interesting manouvering around Constantinople, and again to avoid taking the grain through the village near the covenant, but finally its surrounding ring of trees is in sight.
Let us then carefully make our way into the covenant and Viola's lab. There aren't any Dominion auras around here that we know about, but Viola will check along the way just in case.
Calliope needs to make some tweaks to the song, in light of what you actually got from "Demeter", and then Ipek needs to spend a few seasons spreading it. You then need to enact the finale.
The other thing to be considering is what you're going to do about the barley - much of the original Moon duration has expired by the time you reach the covenant. Are you going to attempt to reproduce it, or somehow maintain the existing spell, or just use it as an unenchanted prop?
Viola's Magic Theory level is a lot higher than mine, but I'm under the impression that extending the duration of a non-Hermetic effect exceeds the bounds of Hermetic magic. As for Viola's knowledge of MT:
Magic Theory 8 + 4 Int + simple die 1 = 13; if that's supposed to be a stress die, the second roll is a 9, making the total a 30.
If Viola knew of an aura where time reliably went more slowly than in the mundane world, parking the barley there might be an option, but the typical case is a faster progress of time.
As Viola noted before, it's at least possible that the Moon duration starts once the brew is mixed. It's also possible that if we fed her the brew now, the snakes would sleep for some extended period of time. Is there enough barley to make more than one brew?
[OOC: It varies by technique - Muto Vim-ing a non-Hermetic effect is explicitly disallowed (and only affects spells whilst they're in the process of being cast anyway), whilst Perdo Vim-ing a non-Hermetic effect is explicitly allowed if the caster has some knowledge of the type of magic (but they don't have to be able to cast it). Intellego is very strongly implied to be possible. Rego and Creo don't say, as far as I can tell (and Creo probably doesn't make much sense), but my inclination would be to allow Rego Vim on a non-Hermetic effect subject to having a good understanding of the effect.
She'd therefore need to:
Cast an Intellego spell high enough to capture the level of the spell, with 3 extra magnitudes for detail (which should be enough to give you the Technique and Form equivalent and a rough idea of what the spell's doing)
Successfully interpret the information using Int + Faerie Lore vs EF 15 (This is fairly high given you're using a fairly general lore rather than something specific to a tradition).
Use the "Sustain or Suppress a Spell cast by another with level less than or equal to half the (level + 5 magnitudes) of the vim spell" guideline (and assume that it's possible to sustain a non-concentration duration spell past its natural duration)
So basically, not easy, but Viola has both LLSM and a reasonable Int + Faerie Lore score, so it's not completely out of the question if she wishes to take the risk of casting high level spells using LLSM every fortnight.]
For the barley to start working only once the brew is mixed, it would have to essentially be a charged item (or something equivalent like extraordinary vis). That doesn't seem very likely, but you'd have to investigate what the magic on the barley actually was to be sure.
Even with the LLSM, I suppose if she does it in her lab it's only one botch die.
Let's see, if she uses ceremonial casting and pulls out all the stops, she can generate this total for InVi:
(In 6 + Vi 5 (*2) +2 Sta + Artes Liberales 3 + Philosophiae 2 + loud words 1 + exaggerated gestures 1 + aura 5 + stress die) / 2 = 15 + stress die / 2. Even with a 0 on the die, that would detect anything magnitude 6 or higher at Touch range. So let's use LLSM and go for the level 20, which will detect magnitude 3 or higher (and if it's lower than that it's probably not worth worrying about). Stress die 3. That's one extra fatigue level.
That's not that hard, but the Lore role isn't likely to work:
Faerie Lore 4 + 4 Int + stress die 4 = 12.
OK, that scotches that. We can try not mixing the brew until we need it, but otherwise we'll have to rely on the force of the story itself. Does she learn anything useful or at least interesting from the InVi, though?
From the InVi spell on its own, you learn it's a level 20 faerie aligned effect - but you think some sort of mortal fae-aligned wizardry rather than a power of a true Faerie.
You could meet EF 15 by spending a confidence point if you want to?
I always forget the Confidence Points....Sure, let's spend one (I think that ups the total spent in this story to 2).
A level 35 ReVi spont with LLSM isn't actually that dangerous in a controlled environment--the casting total is 3 higher than for the InVi, so (18 + stress die) / 2, meaning usually a cost of 3 Fatigue levels, i.e., Tired in most cases, with a small possibility of Dazed. How many times is she gonna have to do this?
But before we start rolling, what does the Lore roll tell her?
Agreed - I thought it was more, but you never actually spent the one for Arcadian travel.
Using her knowledge of the Faerie realm, Viola can piece together that the effect is a level 20 Evocation and Beguile effect to send domesticated animals to sleep, using a crop as a medium.
As far as how long she's going to have to do this...Moon (the obvious, but possibly not the only duration) lasts until the later of the next new or full moon, which essentially means she'd have to cast it approximately twice a month until she used the grain.
Okay - I think that's time to wrap that story up, then.
Viola can take a confidence point, and 6xp (but there's also the tribunal in the same season, so probably worth waiting for that to have happened before finalising expenditure).