Any hints on the odds?
I mean, if it's significantly risky, she could just scratch a circle in ground (assuming it's stone) with a simple PeTe spell.
Scott
Probably 10%-ish? I'll roll a die and say the circle got broken if it comes up as zero.
There are definitely other ways Viola could do this (although the floor isn't solid stone on the surface, and anything she does will have to account for the heavy rain and randomly sprouting barley).
No, let's do a CrHe to create a continuous vine on the ground around the party--with a large enough diamater, that should be more or less impossible to break without intentional action (with sharp instrument). "Create wood in an unnatural shape" is base level 3, and making it Touch/Sun/Circle would be level 10. Let's actually make it a root, so that it's mostly embedded in the ground, and won't be tripped over.
Her CrHe total is Cr 8 + He 6 +2 Sta + aura 6 - Winded 1 = 21. That's enough to do it without Fatigue using Innate Spontaneous Magic, though we will require a stress die:
5, Weird Magic 8
Scott
That should largely work (I'm assuming it's breaking the surface so Viola can trace it for the next spell). It'll be target Ind rather than target Circle (as things created ex-nihilo have to be either Individual or Group), but that shouldn't change anything.
I'll take your roll from earlier
(It probably needs to be level 20 rather than 15 for touch range, but she's still pulled that off).
Keeping track, I think that's three fatigue levels down?
Viola casts her spell, and a thick black smoke (smelling faintly of violents) billows up from the ground to fill the confines of the circle.
[OOC: Are you doing anything else, or just waiting for the gorgon?]
She's down 1 extra level of Fatigue for the MuAu spell, for a total of 2. The CrHe doesn't require Fatigue, since she's using Innate Spontaneous Magic (yes, I have to reread it every time to be sure how it works--dividing by 2 requires a stress die, but not Fatigue).
While we're waiting for Halia, let's make sure everyone knows not to leave the circle.
Scott
[OOC: I think she spent two fatigue levels on the second casting of the InIm spell to hear Halia sobbing, and then a third for the MuAu spell.]
The group huddle in the smoke - at least, Viola thinks they do. Certainly there are a number of people present - one of them elbows her at one point, even as stalks of barley tickle her leg.
The darkness seems to do nothing to diminish the intensity of the storm - if anything, it increases further. From beyond the circle she can hear above the howling winds the occasional "crack" of the pillars collapsing.
Calliope yells in Viola's ear "I don't think that wind dampening spell is going to last much longer! Can you do something with more vines to keep us in place?"
Oh, OK, yes, I guess it was 3.
Um...we need to do something with vines that keeps us from getting knocked out without blocking off the circle, since Halia needs to enter, or at least she needs to be able to reach inside to get the brew. I suppose we could have the vines wrap around legs to hold people in place. The ReHe guideline for controlling a plant is level 4--how many plants are we dealing with here? Using Circle as the target is an option for multiple plants, but I'm not sure what happens to plants part in and part out--or I guess it would just control the parts of the plant in the circle? With Range Touch and Duration Ring, that would be a level 10.
Scott
I think you'd probably be using something like Trap of the Entwining Vines as a precedent, which would be Creo rather than Rego. Or you could use Rego, but you'd need to create the vines first.
I was thinking about the "stalks of barley tickling [Viola's] leg"--will those not work?
Scott
You'd said vines, so that was what I was working on. The barley...maybe? Individual stalks are going to be weaker than a sturdy vine, but there are a reasonable number of them.
It's going to require a roll, but not a Fatigue, so it's worth a shot with the barley--if the grips don't feel firm, we'll try something else.
Stress die:
7, Weird Magic 2
Scott
Negotiating tracing the ring in pitch darkness is a little tricky, but Viola manages it without major disasters - the vine's raised profile helps significantly. As she finishes, the barley ceases merely to tickle her leg, and instead twists round it, binding her in place.
[OOC: Strength stress roll of 9+ to break the barley. Affected characters can add 9 to their rolls to resist being knocked backwards by the wind.]
The barley growth comes just in time, as more cracking noises from shattering stalagmites herald a blast of wind that roars through the circle.
[Please make Dex + Size rolls vs EF 9 for Viola and Chryse, adding the +9 bonus.]
Viola thinks for a moment she hears "...children..." upon the wind.
I assume those are stress dice.
Viola: 7
Chryse: 7
I think that's everything. Viola will take the chance to remind everyone one last time not to leave the circle until she gives the say-so.
Let's go....
Scott
[OOC: Would be more useful if you can give the full total - I think it's Dex 0 + Size -1 + bonus 9 + die 7 = 15 for Viola, and Dex -2 + Size -2 + bonus 9 + die 7 = 12 for Chryse? So both pass, but are dependant on the barley (and Chryse in particular could have failed with a worse roll).]
The wind barrels through the group, and Viola ends up sitting down in a rather undignified fashion as only the barley prevents her moving back abruptly. Fortunately the darkness means that no one else sees it.
The voice on the wind become clearer, and soon resolves into a woman calling "My children...where are my children?" It sounds as though it's pretty close now.
[OOC: Where is the remainder of the brew?]
[I knew that with a roll of 7 and a +9 bonus, there was no way it was even close, which is why I didn't bother to check the stats.]
I'm going to assume Viola has the brew. The question now is how she's going to get it to the edge of the circle--maybe a ReHe to get the barley stalks to "guide" her there? But I suppose Halia could be called within, too.
Scott
Halia could be called within, although that would make the barley grab her. Probably not very effectively, though, given she presumably has a decent magic resistance.
Hmm - I've just realised I completely ignored magic resistance for the magi on it. Can be hand waved as you having suppressed your Parma, assuming Viola would have been willing to do that?
[Sorry, went on a short vacation for our 10th anniversary, and got out of our routine.]
This is probably going to cause me a pink dot headache: I guess since it's holding her it the MR kicks in? I mean, I think we've ruled that a maga couldn't just MR her way through a magic wall, and in principle this is similar, but it feels different.
Presumably, she could suppress MR just for this spell, and not for any later effects?
Scott
[Congratulations]
If it didn't penetrate her magic resistance, the plants could grow near-ish her, but they couldn't actually grip her - basically there's a thin layer around her which they can't get through.
She could suppress her Parma either before or after casting the spell, although doing it before would require a concentration roll. I'd say that for the period that it's down, the plants can grab her, and putting it up again won't cause them to un-grab her (but I'd have to think a bit harder about whether new plants animated by the same spell could grab her later - I don't think it matters much right now, but may do later).
We'll go with that, then. Viola will start to call Halia, as loud as she can: "Halia, your children are here. They brought you drink."
Scott
One of the children contributes,
"Yeah, Ma! Only don't turn us into stone like wot you did to Pely, right? There's this woman wot said she's got some sort of plan, only she ain't told us wot it is exactly. Prolly 'cos it involves old corn-giver taking over Pa's temple."