Gregorius clambers down the steep staircase to what appears to be a guardpost. A single grog is on duty, who appears to be missing some of his nose. From the pool next to the guardpost, the stream divides into two. One stream runs down a passageway that has been walled off, with a metal door set in the wall and a grate across the stream.
"That way leads to the regio," says Gregorius, pointing towards the door. He takes the other passageway, which divides in two in turn. Taking the lefthand fork, you reach a wooden wall crossways across the passageway and stream, breached by a door with a sanctum marker. The door stands open.
"This is the remains of the lab of one of the magi at the previous covenant. The door is an invested item, but we haven't worked out what it does yet - just that there's around 15 pawns of a mix of Vim, Rego, Corpus and Terram in it. We haven't noticed it activating, and the grogs have been in and out of here, but I'd still be careful of it."
That said, he leads you inside to what look like a magus' living quarters, albeit one that hasn't seen much attention in some time. Another open wooden door (which Gregorius warns you is also an enchanted item) leads to the lab. This is largely empty save for the stream, which runs underneath an overhang until it disappears into another metal grate. The ceiling looks like uneven, although there's no obvious sign of instability, and there's a carefully drawn mark on the floor.
"This could be used as a lab if you wanted isolation. If you did take it up, I'd ask you to share any information you discover on the doors with the covenant. Other than that, we have one more storeroom and then the regio."
Exiting the lab, Gregorius takes you back up to the guard post. There he has the iron door unbarred, revealing a downward sloping passageway with the stream running alongside it. Both he and the shield grog appear more alert, although not to the point of full-blown wariness - prepared for the possibility of trouble rather than expecting it, maybe. The passageway winds down to a small lake - or possibly a large pond, as it's only around a dozen paces across. It fills most of the cavern, which appears to be a deadend.
"This is the mundane side. Now, if you come with me, I'll show you the regio which goes with it."
He walks back up the passage way a little while, and then stops. "Follow me closely here." He then seems to step through a gap in the world that didn't exist a moment before, out of the one passageway...
...and into another very similar one, save with light ahead.
Once everyone who wants to has passed through, you follow the shield grog down along the course of the stream until you reach a central cavern perhaps half a mile across. The light comes from the cave roof: something up there is throwing it off, quite brightly, from hundreds of tiny spots. It's not as bright as daylight, but it rivals the average Hermetic lab, and it's apparently bright enough to support a few spindly trees growing on a small rock island in the middle of the lake.The group has come out standing on a ledge from which the stream falls into the water a couple of paces below. The ledge extends around much of the cave wall, leading to entrances to additional passages, many with their own streams and waterfalls.
"This is the centre piece of the regio," Gregorius explains. "There are various tunnels around it which form something of a maze, but even if you follow a stream directly away from it you never get far away. I spent hours following one upstream, but then as soon as I turned off it I arrived back at the lake pretty quickly. We haven't explored the lake fully, but it has something very large in it. Possibly several such somethings."
Asena looks around curiously: "Fascinating, but I think I want my lab to be closer to the surface. Half-explored regios are not the safe environment to do labwork in. But count me aboard if you ever decide to explore these caves again."
I would rather be nearer the surface so I can defend the covenant if we are attacked, when a lab becomes available. I would also like to test myself against the denizens of the regio when the time comes replies Wishbone.
"Quite understandable," agrees Gregorius. "Given the trek I wasn't really expecting people to want to be in the bottom lab - but apparently one magus wanted it at one point. I wouldn't recommend putting a lab in the regio at this stage, if ever. We do still have a couple of empty rooms up near the top."
"As to finishing exploring the regio - we recovered some notes from the previous covenant which indicated there's a second level in there somewhere we haven't found yet. My suspicion is that it's in the lake. That's going to take some set-up before we're ready to explore - unless any of you know any useful spells? We need to either be able to survive and manouvere under water and avoid being eaten, or find a way to explore for regio boundaries at a distance. I've got a few ideas, and would welcome more, but so far readying defenses against the Amazons has been a more pressing concern."
The regio marks the end of the tour of the caverns, and Gregorius brings you back up into the light - and then into the room in the main manor that houses the covenant's library.
"Houses" is about the best you can say of it - it's a small, dim room into which a number of chests have been squeezed. However, the catalogue which Gregorius shows you has a reasonable list of books on it, at least for a Spring covenant (https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/covenant/5282/1)
"Well, sodales," Gregorius smiles. "That concludes our tour, but do ask if you have any questions, either now or later. Either Sophia or our autocrat, Phocus, should be able to deal with any minor needs you have, but let me know of anything more substantial."
"There's not really that much to study - that was the full version I showed to you earlier. You're welcome to have another read through, but we only have the one copy at the covenant so I'd prefer not to lend it out. As far as your specific question goes, though - there's no requirement for any covenant service from visiting magi. Members of the covenant are charged with maintaining it so it can fulfil its duties - in practice we've been tending to spend a season each year on it, but that's not explicitly a requirement."
As a prospective member, rather than a guest I would like to act as members do from the off set. As such I will happily serve the needs of the Covenant for one season per year. Hopefully the current members may then be able to look favourably on my membership after the three year period.
"We'd welcome your assistance, of course," Gregorius responds to Wishbone. "However, you should bear in mind that whilst I'm sure it would be a factor the magi on the Council would consider whilst making their vote, no amount of assistance will guarantee your acceptance. In addition, members of the covenant receive a vis stipend which as a visitor you would not be entitled to, so you may wish to consider trading your services rather than simply donating them."
Nothing in this world is guaranteed but much can be earned by right behaviour and good manners. I thank you for your guidance and advice and will think well on it. I am sure if you have have need of defence or strength of arms against your enemies you and the rest of the council will see my worth quick enough.
"I'm inclined to agree with my comrade," adds Timaios. "In an ideal world, good behavior doesn't come from promise of reward. While that ideal may not often survive contact with the real world, it is an ideal to which I can at least strive."
"Hmm. Some judicious land-sculpting might make this more accessible. Anyway, I'll keep this mystery in mind," says Timaios. "Thank you very much for the tour. I won't need laboratory facilities immediately, just a place to stay."
"Well, then thank-you, sodales" responds Gregorius. "I had been meaning to meet with each of you anyway and ask what martial capability and other skills you could bring in a crisis" - he appears to be looking more at Timaios than the Flambeau here - "but I should also ask if you have any thoughts about areas in which you could be of particular assistance that I might not consider?"
I follow the founders school in house Flambau and as such I am a caster of fire. I also have a formulaic spell to identify vis at sight range for a full day. I would think to use the latter to systematically search the areas around the covenant for undiscovered vis sources. We can discuss what happens to any vis harvest before I have membership status, if such is my fate. replies Wishbone.
"How are you at facing significant numbers of opponents at once?" Gregorius asks the huge Flambeau. "I think there's a high chance chance we'll have to face large groups of mounted combatants - do you have spells mastered for mutiple casting or with significant areas of effect?"
"The Intellego Vim spell sounds like something I'd like to know myself - at least when I have time to learn it. The matter of vis ownership is covered in the charter - you keep any single instance of vis you discover, or the first harvest of a recurring source, but future harvests from a recurring source belong to the covenant."
Sodales, I can only affect one target at a time and none of my spells are mastered. However both are areas I intent to improve as a matter of urgency.
Your explanation on the vis is interesting as I read the charter to apply that interpretation to members not visitors so I would think the vis source would only be handed over when membership was achieved. Has this been tested before, creating a worked example? Let me check again. Ahh you are correct of course, the vis rule applies to all, my apologies.
The covenant needs vis to support its operations, for the benefits of guests. Therefore, letting guests take vis sources within the covenant's vicinity would undermine its ability to support future guests. It's also pretty problematic for a newly established covenant (which will have many unexplored vis sources nearby) that actively encourages visitors coming to explore--allowing these visitors to take vis sources will give the covenant an incentive to discourage their presence.
And on the other hand the incentive to search for vis sources is that much reduced for visiting magi if they only get one yield worth. As the covenant charter does not require service from guests and seems to actively encourage them to "sell" their seasonal services to the covenant it sets up an environment that seems to me unwelcoming and divisive to smooth integration, particularly to newly gauntleted and, certainly in my characters case, slightly naive new members.
I don't think visiting magi are really expected to search for vis sources - or do other services - for the covenant. Rather, it's assumed that they will be there for a period of time pursuing their own interests, supported by their own covenants (and selling your services is a back-up option to having that support). The charter is written with the expectation that people seeking to actually join Nova Castra long term will be the exception rather than the rule.
Note also that keeping the first harvest of a source isn't necessarily neglible, depending on the source - although it is a lot less stable and predictable than just doing vis extraction in a lab.