OOC: Vares wouldn't take more than the people could spare in the way of supplies (obviously, the group has some with them). Depending on the circumstances, he wouldn't turn down the "first time offer".
Information on this Realm would be extremely welcome.
there is no virgin daughter being offered to you!!!
The children live segragated from the adults. And six years is an unreasonably long time to expect a mature girl to stay chaste. Humans are promiscuous by their very nature, otherwise all the taboos and social mores would not have developed the way they did. When pressed. people just do it anyway. In this very era, because many in England cannot affor the marriage tax, they have taken up the habbit of frolicking in the bushes anyways. Virginity is an icky bad thing anyways.
He feeds you, and he will give you directions to the place you need to go. On the edge of town there is a moss covered Pylon. Proceed through the gorge from there and it will take you to Val Negra. He says it is easiest if you sleep on the pylon overnight first.
OOC: 
Inigo nods and thanks the old man. [color=red] Then sleep here we shall. Thank you, kind sir, and I am sorry for your loss.
Ludovico will, in a manner akin to thinking aloud, voice his speculation unfiltered. [color=red]"Perhaps the Realm affects the spirit's passage? We should experiment." he says, both hands settling on his belt as he appears to consider the 'experimenting' quite earnestly.
Then he perks, alert and in the now all of a sudden, turning towards Inigo, whereupon he bows slightly. [color=red]"I agree. Pressing forward immediately is best. We do not know for certain if Metron has some method of traversing this place faster than we, with his greater depth of knowledge here. His intent is obviously to trap us here, or at least to delay us in our ability to follow him. We can not however assume he does not know some way to return to this Realm or indeed our very vicinity in a manner so as to strike at us from ambush." His bearing has shifted from the speculative to instantly serious.
As he speaks he is still bearing the flaming aura of Ordobos, and Yasmine the faerie maid is still visible, holding the rescued child and fussing over it noisily. The rest of his spirit entourage are invisible at current at poking about in the remains of the house or arrayed around him as usual.
The instructions given to approach Val-Negra match those provided for the normal, material world. Vares quietly reminds the others of this fact. "We can attempt to approach that way, but it may not suffice." Still, he cannot see any reason to delay.
OOC: I don't have the writeup for "The Wizard's Leap". Is it a physical jumping spell or a short-range teleport?
I'm asking because if teleportation spells are still viable, it's an important fact.
Separately, anyone else ever read "The Infinity Concerto" by Greg Bear? Some aspects of this place remind me disturbingly of the Otherworld depicted in that setting.
Which makes the question of the disposition of Roger's "soul" that much more significant. Having a Ghostly Warder is a good sign.
Yes, Wizard's Leap is indeed a short ranged Teleport of sorts 
The Moss Covered Pylon
For those of you that have access to the 2nd edition Covenant’s book, the description of Val-Negra includes this strange thing referred to as a “Moss Covered Pylonâ€. I’m not exactly sure what that means, but I do know that there are two contradictory descriptions of it in there (that’s the old Ars Magica curse for ya there ). I reconciled it like this.
Originally, when still in the mundane realm, the only way to get to Val-Negra was to access this magical gorge via this Moss Covered Pylon. From there, you would travel seven hours to get to Val Negra, and the village was a rest stop just outside of the covenant. Perdut was always a lost village of sorts, but at least it was part of the terrestrial sphere still.
Now things have changed, and you still don’t know why. Now the pylon is gone, and the gorge is full of monsters and dotted with strange regios. Instead, the magical Pylon is here in Perdut, on the edge of town overlooking a mist filled valley. You are supposed to sleep on the Pylon, experience terrible nightmares, and when you wake up you can travel effortlessly to Val-Negra.
Or you can do it the hard way and just go into the valley and see what happens 
Going the Hard Way means using Second Sight (though you can later invent special Intellego spells to do this). The Mists of the valley is actually a Mentem Vestige (level 6), representing dreams and nightmares (of one dream or of many dreamers?). So whomever wishes to be the guide needs to roll a stress die + Perception + Second Sight + (1/5 Mentem, rounded down), against an ease factor of 12 ( (10 – Vestige Level) x 3), minus the Familiarity Modifier. You all have heard of the place and know it’s name, so your modifier is 1 (ease factor 11). Ludo has been there, so his modifier is 6 (ease factor 6).
Sounds easy enough, but it is risky. If fall short on the roll by a single point, you are lost in the Twilight Void for all of eternity. That would suck. If you botch it is even worse. A low successful roll could be a journey that takes years, medium rolls a moderate amount of time, and high rolls can get you there in a day or mere moments.
The easy way is to sleep here and suffer the nightmares. The old man tells you that when you awake, you will be on the other side of the valley and will see the towers of the covenant. It is wisest to do it this way, but you can use the mists later to travel to other places if you dare.
(OOC: I take it that Keen vision wouldn't help the roll? What about my specialities?
Well Octavian has Perception 2 + Second Sight 3 (Illusory disguises) + 7/5 Mentem modifier + Keen vision if applicable VS Roll of 11.
So Octavian's roll would look like 1d10 (+6, +7, +9 or +10). )
(OCC Keen Vision would apply I guess, but not your specializations. And this is for later adventures. A bad roll results in becoming lost for all of time. You would travelling through the Twilight Void via the Mentem Province.
Just use the pylon for now
OOC: Vares isn't opposed to the "traditional" route. Oneiromancy isn't his area of expertise, but he is familiar with it.
Curious, what can be made out of the "Mentem Vestige" valley from the area of the pylon? Vares HAS a decent Perception, Second Sight, and a good (if not spectacular) Mentem score. Not trying to navigate through, just see what he can perceive.
Dreams and Nightmares. Does it represent every dream everyone ever had? Or just onde dream of a sigle mid-day nap? You cannot tell.
Please move over to chapter 6a "Beyond the Valley of Mists"