Recognizing that he's not part of the "old business," Timaios remains away while the covenant meeting goes on, but does show up for the meeting about Amazons.
Viola stifles a yawn at Fray. "He meets requirements, yes? Why the talking?"
Scott
"Very well, then, if you have no questions let's move to a vote," Gregorius agrees after a glance at Viola. "Fray, would you wait outside?"
Once Fray has left, Gregorius answers Viola:
"Setting precedent. I think he's a good candidate, but I don't want to establish that spending three years here means that magi should get membership automatically. Making the vote on acceptance private is for the same reason."
"Now, I vote to accept him. You?"
The Amazon Meeting
Present: Potentially all of the magi (?). Gregorius has also invited Miklos, the grog captain.
Gregorius thanks all those present for coming, then starts with a short(ish) speech.
“I know all of you have heard something about the amazons, but I don’t know how patchy that knowledge is. I’m therefore going to start with a summary of what we know so far – please ask me if you want me to dive deeper into a point.”
“There was a covenant founded on this site previously in 1208, which was destroyed three years later by raiders in the night. None of the magi survived, but some of the grogs did, one of whom is still at the covenant. One of the reasons for the foundation of Nova Castra was to discover who those raiders were, why they had attacked the covenant and whether they posed a wider threat."
"Since then, we have found out some information about those raiders, but our knowledge is still limited. The previous leader of the covenant, Tasia of Guernicus, disappeared whilst tracking down a lead in the lands to the east of the Black Sea. When we tracked her down, we found she had been captured by a warband of "Amazons", mounted women raiders. I confirmed from the leader's mind that it was some of her people, although not her personally, that had carried out the attach twenty years previously."
"We tracked down Tasia, which was made more difficult than it should have been by the counter measures the leader had put in place against Mentem magic. When we found her, she was highly confused, but told us that her captors had attacked her whilst she slept, then done something to prevent her being able to cast any magic whilst she was held captive. After her rescue, she returned to Magvillus. I have now had confirmation from Magvillus that her mind appears to have been permanently damaged."
"After Tasia's rescue, our first priority was to the defence of the covenant, to defend against another night attack. However, I think we are now in a position to take a more active stance - which means in the first instance, gathering more information on who these Amazons are, where they live, and what they can do. I know from Posing the Silent question upon the warband's leader that they have a home in a sea to the east of where we found Tasia. I would like to find it, set-up a way to scry on it, and find one of their own magicians for interrogation. I ask your help with this endeavour."
Viola nods, "Yes, charter says vote. But you know Fray, I know....What to talk about? He should join."
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The Amazon Meeting
Timaios listens to the whole story, then says, "I think it's clear that these Amazons could present a clear danger to the Order, but they also have magical secrets that might be worth exploring, if a detente can be somehow arranged. I agree that it's worth making an attempt, and I'm ready to contribute my skills to this endeavor, as possible."
The Amazon meeting
“Adventure, enemies of the Order, unknown hordes of adversaries, who could ask for more. I am yours to command hohoho” replies Wishbone.
Council Meeting
"Very well, then," agrees Gregorius.
He calls Fray back into the room. "I am pleased to tell you that the Council has voted to accept your application for membership. Let us work together as one, and grow hale and strong."
Smiling, he passes Fray the Charter to sign, this time as a member rather than a guest.
"Excellent, thank you" he signs the charter. "I am very pleased. I'll get the others and we can set actions for the amazon threat."
[OOC: We're probably a bit early for that still, as it was set for an hour after the main meeting, and the discussions so far won't have taken long. In addition, is there anything else we need to discuss in the Council? The main thing that occurs to me is Tasia's status, if that hasn't already been resolved.]
Fray responds "Timaios I think they present far more than a danger. This covenant has been razed once, a Magus was mindwiped, and their actions are direct and brutal." (Fray is trying to be as respectful in tone as he can to Timaios whilst also disagreeing strongly) "When we found Tasia their soldiers understood enough of magic to cause us to use great caution, and in hindsight I believe we should not have left any alive to report what happened."
"As a Bonisagus I respect the desire for knowledge, however when Tasia was taken these amazons moved from being a threat to an indisputable enemy. If these actions were taken by a member of the Order it would be grounds for trial or march. Outsiders need to be treated the same."
Gregorius nods in agreement to Fray's speech.
"Timaios, my current goal is victory, not peace. The Amazons are raiders, who attack villages for plunder and slaves. So far we have turned one of their number temporarily into a sheep, whereas they have murdered at least four magi and damaged the mind of a Quaesitor - a gross imbalance, especially against those who prey upon the weak. A detente may be possible, but only after those responsible have been punished and the rest have learnt caution." He shrugs. "I agree they may have magical secrets, but there is more than one way to gain those."
"However...even victory is a goal for the future. Now, I want to lay the groundwork. When we rescued Tasia, we had the aid of Stephen of Bonisagus, with his invisible flying ship. His departure significantly reduces our stealth and mobility as a group; however, Fray can turn into a bird. With his agreement, I therefore propose to use him as an aerial scout, supported by a ground party of the rest of us. That ground party needs to be able to reliably fight or evade a band of at least 50 armed horsewomen, possibly with magical support - I do not intend to seek a fight with such numbers, but neither am I confident we will be able to avoid it. I will come back later to discussion of how we can achieve this."
"In the ground party, Wishbone and Asena will be providing martial ability. Timaios will focus on information gathering, both from people and via scrying. I will lead, and provide a reserve to other magi's capabilities as required. Viola will remain at the covenant to defend it and to inform the Order should we not return."
"We will go into the lands to the east of the Black Sea. Fray will locate the sea where the Amazons have their home, and then he, Timaios and I will find the home itself, whether that be an island, underwater or in some regio. We will establish a means to scry on them, and then locate and capture one of their magicians, if possible without leaving a trace. Once satisfied we have a suitable captive, we will withdraw from their lands, and use the information we gain to plan our next move."
"Before we move onto the details, does anyone see any problems with that basic outline?"
Fray confirms, “Agreed,” and waits for commentary from the other Magi.
Asena speaks up: "Two objections and one question. First, Wishbone seems capable enough to handle the military side by himself. I am nothing more than backup when it comes to that. Besides, my fighting skills work better when everyone in the party is mounted, which is unlikely in a group of mages. It would help to know if some or all of those amazon raiders had some kind of protection that needs us to reinforce our spellpower against them with extra penetration?" (ooc: expected magical resistance?)
Secondly, I can't help but notice that we know little about their motivations. We know that they kill and take slaves, but everyone does that, including the Empire and we are not about to repeat the Fourth Crusade in an anti-slavery campaign. We also know that they have some kind of power and the ability to kill magi, which is a good reason to be wary. What's missing in the picture is the why: Why did they attack the covenant? There are easier targets if all you need is silver and slaves. Where they looking for knowledge? Or vis? Or was it revenge for something the Order did like harvesting from a source they considered to be theirs? Can we be sure that all of this is not some kind of tragic misunderstanding that has degenerated into a vendetta? I was hoping, as a woman form the east with a bow and a horse, I might be able to learn something about them. It is risky, and we might lose the element of surprise, but even if they killing them all is the only option, knowing how their minds work will be invaluable.
So we could try to join them undercover - a bit of magic disguising is easy enough, or try to capture one of them to learn more before we wipe them off the face of the earth."
Wishbone replies "I have no issue with your plan sodales Gregorius"
After a few moments of thought Wishbone asks "As I recall the covenant charter is silent on the division of any spoils beyond vis. Would the expectation be that any such spoils are divided among the magi involved, divided among all present or even claimed on behalf of the covenant by the council members? I ask as I find myself without income of any sort, living on the good grace of the covenant members. I would much prefer to pay my way in the world."
Gregorius shakes his head. "Whilst your skills overlap with Wishbone's, they are not identical. You may not be as able as he to kill things quickly, but your spell to summon wolves gives us disposable troops we can use at a distance or to protect ourselves. I also would not lightly dismiss the idea of having or being back-up - we are stronger when we support each other."
"I do not know whether we will face those who can resist our magic. None of the amazons we cast spells on whilst finding Tasia had any obvious resistance, but that is a small sample of mundane fighters. Theodoric reported that during the fall of the previous magi were having difficulty with something with magic resistance, but the situation was confused enough that he wasn't sure exactly what."
"As to your last point; you are right that we do not yet know much about these Amazons; however, the purpose of this mission is reconnaissance not an all-out assault. Capturing a suitable amazon is already one of its key objectives, with establishing a way to reliably scry on them being another. It is possible that we will learn something that causes us to re-evaluate the situation, in which case we will react as appropriate."
"I had considered asking you to act undercover as a separate project to this mission. However, I think there are two significant problems. Firstly, we know too little about them right now to be able to pull off a successful infiltration. We don't even know what language they speak - all of our previous information gathering was done via Mentem magic. That's a problem that we should be able to overcome with time, but the second will be harder. Your Gift is not Gentle. Infiltration is a dangerous activity at the best of times - attempting it when everyone is automatically suspicious of you seems a fast route to death or capture."
Timaios listens and nods, then says, "I understand your position. I am willing to support the covenant in this endeavor as needed, though I do echo Asena's thoughts on the question of why the Amazons have taken up this brutal introduction to the Order. They may simply live a lifestyle of raiding and battle, in which case a decisive victory against them is necessay; but perhaps they have some other inscrutable motivation that we don't know yet, and that, at least, would be informative to discover."
"Regardless, I'll do what I can to learn more about them, and to support in combat. I've taken the trouble of learning to ride a bit, though I doubt I could outride someone born to the saddle. It would be easier to deal with the horse units if someone were well-skilled in Animal arts... simply being able to make their horses stop would allow our own mounted groups to escape any engagement. Do we have any Herbam spells that will defend against arrows?"
"Very well, then," Gregorius says, "to move on to the details of fighting the Amazons. I should stress again that this is a back-up plan - I am not looking to fight them at this point, except possibly on a small scale to capture one - but there is a high chance we will not be able to avoid it."
"I said 50 mounted horsewoman earlier. That is a fairly rough guess - when we were searching for Tasia, we found an encampment that contained around 30 - 40 soldiers, but I do not know whether they were all present, or whether that is the typical size of a band. We had initially found a group of around half a dozen soldiers who appeared to be linked to the encampment; possibly a patrol. It's possible we could end up fighting considerably more, possibly with magical support."
"The soldiers appear to be mounted and lightly armoured, with ranged and melee weapons. Their encampment was well organised, but appeared to lack any significant baggage train, making me think they travel fast and light. In summary, I consider those I saw to be experienced light cavalry. Judging by the several burned out villages we found, they operate as raiders."
"So, the key problems I can see are as follows:"
"Firstly, as Timaios mentions, there's the arrows. Shouted spells should be able to outrange them, but I'd still prefer to be able to set up a strong crosswind or give everyone a version of Shriek of Impending Shafts."
"Secondly, groups trained to fight together can be extremely deadly, and could easily overwhelm our defenses. Destroying their ability to co-ordinate together could be very useful - does anyone know Breaking the Captain's Baton*, or Dissolving the Wall of Shields*? Failing that, I'd suggest Wishbone targets their leaders for incineration, but that assumes his attention isn't needed elsewhere."
"Thirdly - 50 people is a lot, even if they probably won't fight to the last woman. I can target one person at a time, probably not fatally. If everyone else has a similar limitation, it would take us several minutes to defeat them even if they stood there and let us - and actually, they're going to be trying to kill us and kill our grogs. We therefore need to either kill them a lot faster than that, or have ways to prevent too may of them from facing us at once. I believe Fray has been spending time developing a spell to turn the ground beneath them to quicksand. Do other people have spells that can affect multiple raiders at once, or which can control the battlefield?"
"Fourthly, if we do need to retreat rapidly, what are our options? I believe Fray can turn people into birds, but that will warp them, and may not work on Wishbone due to his size." He looks questioningly at Fray on that one. "There's also a risk that Fray will be elsewhere scouting when we need to retreat."
"Fifth - do we bring our own light cavalry from the local village? This sort of thing is exactly why we recruited them, but we won't be able to match the Amazons for numbers, and any deaths are likely to hurt our relations with the locals. They have a certain level of acclimation to magic by now, but this will be their first major conflict, and I am also concerned about how their horses will interact with Asena's wolves. Asena - is there anything you can do on that point? Miklos**, I'd value your thoughts on utilising them more broadly."
"Sixth - given their past form, we need to be ready for night attacks. I'd recommend that everyone on the exhibition has Eyes of the Cat up every night. That's a lot of castings, especially if we bring the cavalry. Does anyone know it as a formulaic, or are they able to cast it non-fatiguingly? If not, sooner or later we're going to have botches."
"Lastly...magical support. It's hard to make plans for this one, as we don't have any idea what they can do. If it's just a mortal practioner without magic resistance, the best option is likely to be for Wishbone to incinerate them rapidly. If they have magic resistance for whatever reason...Wishbone, how much penetration can you achieve? Who has attacks that do not need to penetrate? Who can affect incorporeal beings? And who can see them? To that last set of questions, I can mention that I follow the school of Vilano, and have Second Sight, as well as knowing a weak spell to Might strip ghosts."
[OOC: *Breaking the Captain's Baton (PeMe 10 Magi of Hermes page 50) and Dissolving the Wall of Shields (PeMe 20 HoH:S pg 70) are two different versions of a spell to destroy the ability of people to act in trained groups with Individual and Group targets.
**MTKnife - I'm looking to you to answer on Miklos' behalf here.]
On the question of horses and wolves, Miklos responds, "I don't think the horses will tolerate the wolves--maybe if they're trained together for some time, but otherwise, no, the wolves would spook them."
Scott