OOC: Err...Coffee wasn't introduced to Europe for another three centuries, and the first hookah pipes either around the same time or a bit afterward.
How wealthy is the owner of the bar? A "life-sized" statue of a Gryphon would be enormous, and that much plating would be worth a fortune.
You can examine the statue later, see if the plating is really gold or not. The details I gave are simply what he said. Also, I suppose you may bbe right about the coffee. Um, the Egyptians introduced it. Yeah, that's the ticket. This is Mythic Barcelona. Go with the flow. I'm just making stuff up. Perhaps someone would like to volunteer and research for me. What are the legitimate forms of entertainment and foreign cuisine that would be present here.
BTW, you doubt that the statue is as gold as the owner claims, but yes, it looks to be quite valueable. He is indeed very wealthy.
The mix of travelers at the Gold Gryphon intrigues Vares. Pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compestela are a major source of trade for many establishments. He is well-acquainted with the sorts who flow down the routes through France, the Provencal, Languedoc, and into northern Iberia. How many of them, he wonders, actually understand the jongleurs japes, and how many only roar along with the locals?
When the man targets Ludovicio, however, Vares' eyes narrow. He waits to see how the other Magus responds to the insults before acting himself. Though compared the ways in which some respond to the Gift, this is a less extreme expression.
Among the mundanes, Inigo is keeping very much to himself, standing quietly out of the way with his face covered by a cloak. Though he acts as the leader among magi, he leaves problems of this sort to the consortes and the Gently Gifted. If Ludovico appears to be handling it well and the crowd appears merely mocking rather than outright violent, he keeps a low profile.
He whispers quietly to any of his fellow magi who aren’t under direct scrutiny from the crowd. [color=red]We need to be more careful about bringing someone with his strength of Gift out in public. Let’s see if this blows over… I know I’d rather not get into a fight tonight, not here. I suspect that sort of commotion would hardly endear us to the magi of Barcelona.
It is Ludo's Blatant Gift that attracted his attention. Ant one of you with the normal gift, alone in a crowd of ungifted or Gentle Gifted folk, would have drawn his attention instead. But Ludovico stands out slightly, and so was the more ample target. The comedian moves on though, and picks on Golda. Everyone knows and loved Golda, and she "has loved everyone she knows" as the joke goes. She has a reputation as a party girl, even at her age. And people consider her to be a stunning beauty for her age, not knowing she has been on Longevity since her late twenties.
The comedian is done. The house lights are dimmed (as in lanterns are turned down or however it is done back then). Jaume the trouadore is up, sitting alone on the stage, and starts playing a slow and moving song. His voice is clear and his tone perfect. Purely stunning.
The statue is a relief sculpture I am thinking, and maybe not quite life sized, but still large. Someone mentioned Pilgrams to Santiago Compstella. That is on the other side of the peninsula and has little to do with Barcelona. Entirely different culture.
OOC: The pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compestela stretches all the way across Europe, converging from many different directions. For instance, Le Puy en Valey, in the Massif Central region of France, is one of the major convergence sites along the itinerary. Pilgrims would stop at numerous shrines along the way, providing a source of income for businesses catering to the trade. In the 13th Century, pilgrims are the tourists, for the most part. It is the one universally acceptable reason for travel, though, obviously, the more wealthy have other reasons for travel.
The actual pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compestela wends across Europe, going through different passes across the Pyrennes (once El Camino de Santiago is built, it shifts westward), some looping around just north of Barcelona trhough Narbonne. If I recall correctly, Barcelona is therefore one of the stopping points for those coming along the eastern route, and for those traveling by sea rather than by land, one of the most likely debarkation points for those reaching the Iberian side.
With Ludivicio bearing up well under the attention, which eventually shifts, Vares doesn't intervene.
Hearing Inigo's comment, he replies softly, "If necessary, they won't notice it at all. It would take time to work through a crowd this size."
OOC: Vares is an enigmatic Magus, but from what may be known about him, he has a knack for subtlety and avoiding attention.
Octavian had till then remained silent. The gryphon statue had captured his attention briefly although it would be hard to tell from his demeanour. He turns to Jorge with a blank expression. "It is most kind of you to say so." After a long pause he mentions "The venetian glass blowers do exceptional work" as if to imply his eyes are glass.
Should Inigo share this with Octavian, he will nod slightly after a moment of consideration to acknowledge the magus' words.
Jorge momentarilly presumes Octavius must be blind then, but curiously he does not act like one whith impared vision. But he shrugs it off. Golda has made many strange friends over the years, and her daughter Carmen is the strangest of them all (another Blatant Gift). Golda does not even realize that she has the Gift (having the gentle gift after all). She just considers herself a medium, seer, and card reader. Just like her aunt taught her.
Anyways, the signing and playing of Jaume the troubadore is exquisite. It moves some patrons to tears. He sings a song of tragic love, of a love forbidden because of social taboos involving race, religon, and class. But the lovers cannot be kept apart, they would rather die together than be separated. Which is what happens in the midst of a terrible seige upon Valencia.
Afterwatds, Golda will do the reading for Jorge, but in the bback room away from prying eyes. Golda used to operate her trade out of the back room of the Gold Gryphon years ago. That is how she met Antonio.
Her trade is fortune teller, you perverts! LOL, though she has often been accused of otherwise by jelous women (such as Antonio's wife). Ludovico, Octavius, and Vare may all be quite intrigued by her skills and methods. She does not use proper divination. Instead, she has Visions and Premonitions, and uses Summoning to ask spirits questions via her tarot cards.
Jorge has the typical questions; Health, Wealth, and Romance. However, he does have one quite odd question. He asks about the Fire Angel that has been spotted several times in the suburbs of Barcelona. What omens and portents does it represent?
[color=blue]OCC Barcelona is also a major trade city, and that is the aspect I am emphasizing here. There is more to Spain than just a pilgramage site. Aragon/Catalonia is expanding their Medeterrainian interests, and incresing trade with Italy (Genoa and Pisa), France, and even North Africa.
Vares waits until Octavian is free from other attention and the crowd's attention is elsewhere before murmuring to the Tremere Magus, "If you would like, I can help you avoiding drawing attention that way." Vares' own eyes are utterly unremarkable in appearance. In fact, unmemorable.
He listens keenly to the playing of Jaume the Troubador. Each and every note echoes and resonates in the confined space, the clear tones of the lute striking pure--at least to the local sounds. Focusing on his memory, Vares draws up the sounds of the city bells and compares them to the tones he knows. The lute should resonate to the tone of Barcelona's bells, since that is where it was most recently tuned, but if Jaume is tuning it to the sounds of his own memory, there may be a subtly different tone, hinting at Jaume's own origins.
Vares savours the beauty of the music even as he searches for the meanings hidden within the song. Should it be a motet, the composition may contain hidden references deepening the work.
Later, when invited into the back room to watch Golda ply her divinatory arts, Vares watches with utmost attention. He muses on the possibility that she might be able to pierce the Limit of Time, suggesting at ways that the Hermet Arts may eventually transecnd it as well. This turns his mind to horoscopes, wondering if one cast for the futures she predict would connect to those of the present--and how it would relate to those done in the past.
There is a leap--a series of leaps of intuition and insight. Horoscopes connect to those influenced by them, one interpolating bit by bit to another. If more than one were taken, could the difference drawn to the points in common? Could a caster triangulate based on them?
Footsteps to the nativity. It is there, in a flash, in Vares' mind. A way to discover more and more from the smallest of signs--and, from those signs, to discover the imprinted key at the beginning.
So absorbed is Vares in his private epiphany that he almost misses Jorge's question regarding the Fire Angel. He speaks aloud, should another not ask first, "What is said of this 'Fire Angel'?" He asks where it has been said to appear in the past, and what is attributed to it.
You need to post your character sheet. Apologies if you have done so already. But how high of a perception score does Vare have? And what is his score in Music? I am not sure if he would be able to discern the subbtle information he seeks. Make a Perception + Music roll.
The Fire Angel is a new phenomenon. It has appeared twice in the last year, at a sight in the southern suburbs where a legendary battle took place back in the early 8th century. Further inquiries reveal that a simmilar sighting took place in Austurias, and another in the Tagus Valey.
OOC: Just realised I still haven't finished all of the updating touches to the character sheet (posted in "Development"). For this particular roll, however, he has a base of 6 (Perception 2, plus Artes Liberales 4, which includes a formal study of music and music theory; he can't sing or play an instrument, but Artes Liberales lets him evaluate and understand music).
Vares listens very, very closely to the legends of the Fire Angel. He knows the significance of Tagus Valley--and remembers another tale of an Elemental bound by the Flambeau, subsequently released. The Magus asks about the most recent manifestations. Were they linked to a particular area or time of day? If the exact dates can be remembered, he makes careful note of them. He will do retroactive horoscopes for those days to determine common influences--and then attempt to do some backtracing.
In particular, he asks if there was anything burnt by the Fire Angel, or any rumours about words or deed associated with it.
Anyone with a Magic Lore score of 1 or greater will have some understanding of Tarot cards and their meaning. Golda’s basic method is to use Folk Ken to read and understand her subject. Profession-Seer is not a magical ability at all. Rather, it allows her to interact with her subject and tell them what they want to hear, using Folk Ken to gain that understanding. Premonitions enhances her understanding and insight, and allows her to actually make predictions; seemingly exceeding the limit of Time. However, any magus with Premonitions, Visions, or any form of Divination will know that the limit is not truly exceeded. Predictions such as this are based on events as the currently are, and outcomes can be altered by actions of free will. However, as any good seer knows, often times the prediction itself causes events to unfold in such a way as to produce a self fulfilling prophecy. Golda uses these methods for the majority of Jorge’s questions, concerning his health issues, the prosperity of his business, and his romantic endeavors.
When it comes to the question of the “Fire Angel†though, Golda uses different methods. Jorge mentions the other sightings of the Fire Angel, and explains the story a little more. It has twice been spotted in the south suburbs, and to his knowledge, the same or a similar being has also been spotted in Asturias and near the Tagus River. It appears as a being of living flame, man shaped with no distinguishable features. It is unknown if it is truly of a divine nature, but it is called a Fire Angel because of the good deeds ascribed to it. It appeared when a group of bandits attempted to rob a merchant train headed for Barcelona. It killed all the bandits and healed the injured innocents; all the while it was emitting a wail that seemed a mixture between laughter and tears.
Golda uses her Summoning power to commune with a local spirit she is familiar with. Ludovicio, also possessing this ability, recognizes what she is doing even though her precise methods differ from his. She lights some candles and forms a circle by having everyone at her table join hands. Those with Second Sight can see and hear the spirit she summons, the ghost of an old wise woman that Golda calls Yvonne (she later explains that Yvonne has haunted this location for generations, though she has no idea why).
The spirit is vague and enigmatic concerning the Fire Angel. She calls it an avenger and a spirit of vengeance, yet it is also a spirit of regret and despair. For hundreds of years it had been imprisoned in darkness, and it only recently became freed. It seeks to avenge terrible wrongs, some of which were its own doing, and also seeks to be reunited with what it has lost and made whole again.
Octavius has a minor episode of Visions, not as strong as his dreams or what he saw in the Eternal Flame of Andorra. Rather, he sees the vision in his mind’s eye as a side thought. He sees the being of fire again, the same one he saw coming for Kesara. Only this time he sees Inigo as the subject of its interest. This is just a brief fleeting image in the corner of his mind, and later on Golda confirms that she saw the exact same thing.
And that’s the end of the séance. Ludo can easily summon this ghost himself, but this will not reveal any further information. The spirit only knows what it had been told by other spirits (I tell you this preemptively in order to save time 
).
As far as Vare’s intent on trying to figure out where Jaume the Troubadour is from, he is from Toulouse. Artes Liberales does educate you in music theory, but having an actual ear to tell the subtle differences between shades of notes requires the actual Music Ability. But his accent clearly indicates his origin, and being somewhat famous his reputation includes the story of his flight from the Abigensian crusades. Jaume himself is not a heretic, but he sympathizes with those who want to express alternative beliefs. If there is any hidden meaning in his song, it is the message that True Love overcomes all differences, and that since no man is himself God, no one has the right to impose his beliefs upon another. Somewhat liberal for this day and age, but that comes from the horrors he has seen in his home land.
Octavian replies softly and can only barely be heard amongst the din of the tavern. "Why would I deny my own nature?"
Octavian does so slowly and only after everyone else has joined hands. His touch is light without any strength behind his grip.
Throughout the sceance he watches with a cold impassive expression. When Golda is at an end he asks softly to no one in particular. "To what name does this angel answer?"
Octavius is among the first to release his hands from those beside him. If any attention is brought to it, he apoligizes contritely. He remains silent on the vision for the sceance. He will reveal it later after Golda has voiced hers.
The spirit has no answer, it has never encountered the being, only heard stories whispered by random airy spirits that flutter about.
Alright, rather than try and revisit the bar scene with the comedian I'll just say it was probably best I wasn't around to roleplay Ludo's injured royal pride and get us all into trouble, and leave the matter at that. Wait, wait... no I won't. I just don't know what I'm going to do about it yet. See? It is still the same me. Though I think some of his spiritual court may have taken action in such an instance without any prompting from him. I have no idea what however.
Ludo finds the idea that simply 'being' here, and potentially even just defending himself the likes of the comedian or worse would be a violation of the local covenant's rights/claims to be... absurd. It may be a local tribunal ruling, and so he would acknowledge it to be unwise to challenge the issue, he makes no bones about disagreeing and stating the notion he should hide himself an affront. If these folk want to avoid issues with the mundanes they should not live right among them or at least should have a better means of receiving 'real' guests. A tunnel, though crude, would be a more palatable arrangement even.
As a matter of fact he will state quite frankly to their guide that if such incidents continue to occur around him he will not have a very high opinion of Barcelona's hospitality.
The seance is interesting however. Especially the revelation about the fireangel. Ludo will indeed summong Yvonne later on his own, in private, and be annoyed at not getting anything more than Antonio's strumpet did. Then he will voice his desire to investigate the locations where the spirit supposedly was encountered or perhaps even to speak to those who have seen it. The spirits of thiefly gang will be set on this for now, hunting information about this strange occurence. In particular I'm interested in finding where and how it was imprisoned.
More on the vexing of a certain comedian later. When I have refreshed myself on the character and whatnot.
Vares makes no further comments to Octavian on the matter of concealment. It is the other Magus' decision how he would present himself to the mundanes.
OOC: Is Ludoviccio accompanied by multiple spirits? If so, Vares would be able to see them with his Second Sight, and they may react positively to him due to his Alluring to Magic Virtue.
IC: He pays close attention during the seance. He has dealt with spirits before. Yvonne is an interesting example, for if she is a "ghost", she is one who has retained the ability to perceive the world around her and to learn and change over time. The Fire Angel is of much greater interest, however; Vares has his suspicions, but without more precise details of exactly where it manifested, or when, he cannot readily pursue it.
OOC: Was he able to get anything at all on specific times/places of manifestation?
Most often times he is. Though I would imagine he would have them lie low while in a crowd of mundanes. Still, with Second Sight you can see and hear them. Interesting bunch. Two in particular would stand out, as they follow him around; a bodyguard ghost and a faerie spirit (I may be slightly inaccurate here, I would ask Vortigern to explain them in more detail for you).
Yes. The reason Jorge was so interested in the Fire Angel is because one of his friends was rescued from the bandits that attacked the merchant caravan in the south suburbs. He can lead you there. That portion of town was rebuilt a few hundred years ago after it was ravaged and torched by invaders. According to legend, they were driven away by a ragged army of Franks and Visgoths led by Saint James the Avenger. This is apocryphal of course. The Visgoth resistance was to the west in Austrius, led by the legendary Pelayo.
Forgive my spleling. I am a bad typist.
Ludovicio can summon Yvonne later secretly somehow, he perhaps slips into the cellar later on and does his thing. Yvonne is slightly different from other ghosts in that she is able to interact with the spirit world and does retain some knowledge of her activities there. However, this is mostly due to the specific Virtues and Flaws she had in life that carry over into death. Yvonne was her self a cunning woman and spiritualist. She was murdered by her husband a hundred years ago in a fit of insanity, just before he killed himself. You cannot summon him because he went straight to hell. Yvonne hangs on because she wants to help her daughter, who was often abused by her husband. She has no idea that she moved away long ago and dies at a ripe old age. She mistakes Golda for her daughter, which is why she has such a close affinity with her. Yvonne still thinks of this as her house, and has little understanding that it has been remodeled. Like Ludo’s ghostly gang, Yvonne has little direction other than what is imparted by her summoner. Yvonne isn’t able to offer much more information than Golda obtained in order to satisfy Jorge’s curiosity. Jorge is now convinced that the Fire Angel is a spirit of justice. However, you are able to learn where Yvonne learned her information from. Unnamed airy spirits I don’t feel like inventing details about LOL. However, this will give Ludo a trail to set his ghostly gang upon, and he can indeed send them to the south suburban location the Fire Angel has appeared twice before.
OCC - I personally suggest you inquire with the magi of Barcelona about this Fire Angel phenomenon. And as far as your opinions on how they run their covenant, they encourage magi with the Blatant Gift to not go out in public. All of your needs could have been taken care of at the Silver Rooster Inn. In fact, since there was only a Junior magus there when you checked in, they are mostly unaware that a Blatant Gift magus is running around town wth a cadre of spirits. They would be most disconcerted about that.