[color=green]Antonio: [color=red]Um, firedrakes, ogres, hobgoblins, stuff like that. Some of us can fly and teleport and whatnot, but not everyone, and certainly any troops we bring will be limited to travel by foot. Um, make travel easier? Make hauling gear easier? Many adventures and expiditions fail because of poor logistics. They set out with their backpacks, and starve to death efore they even get halfway to their destination.
You wait paitently for your scrounging to have an effect, and in a short matter of time something arrives. It crawls up out of the ground, earthy and snakelike, some kind of earth elemental you suppose. With glowing gem like eyes, is whispers...
[color=green]Minor Earth Elemental: [color=red]Oh mighty one, I am your servant Sssssskkkkk. How may I be of service to thee?
Ludovico stands with his arms held high as the summoning commences. Slowly he lowers them to his sides, then inclines his head slightly to the creature. Sniffing slightly before he speaks with a cool confidence, a manner of royalty speaking to a subject... his tone superior, but polite according to an etiquette most arcane.
[color=green]Ludovico: [color=red] "I see you, Valewarden. You are of the strong and deeping stone, and I greet you thus. I seek water. If there is a stream in your Vale, I would have you guide me there."
After speaking Ludovico raises a brow, listening for the reply stoicly, his manner calm and unworried. One hand casually rests on the hilt of his blade, thumb hooking over the hilt, as the other strokes his mustache first in one way then the other.
[color=red]I would be glad too, if thou wouldst do but a minor favor for me.
The man eyes the spirit for a moment before grinning slightly, chuckling to himself. Finally he nods, making a somewhat dismissive gesture with the hand that had been stroking his mustache.
[color=green] Ludovico [color=red] "I am not ungenerous. If your petition is reasonable, I shall assist you even though I am not your lord."
[color=red]Over that hill to the east, you'll find a pond of fresh clean water. There is a shack built upon the shore, a solitary miner. He picks and grinds at my flesh in his quest for silver and gold. Burn down his house and drive him away
Frowning slightly Ludovico shakes his head and sighs. Then he gestures towards the circle and the spirit within it with one hand in a beckoning motion as he nods. [color=red] " I will encourage him to depart. Yet I will not harm him so foully for so small a favor from you. I will do as you have asked, yet you will give me more in exchange. This evening you shall serve as my guard, as indeed I go about your business and my own."
[ Commanding Total: Communication + Rego + Vim(2) + Penetration ]
[ Total: 66 + stress die ]
[ I proceed assuming easy success. ]
Turning after his command was given he begins to walk over the indicated hill, in no hurry. Summoning is always tiring. He moves slowly, giving his body time to recover. Speaking softly as he begins to scale it's slope he speaks without looking to the spirit that accompanies him. [color=red] "Tell me Sssskkk. Do you know how I came to be in your vale? A lovely place by the way."
[color=red]You wandered here in a daze, then slept on the ground all night all day and night.
You suddenly feel uneasy. You have no idea how you got here from Val Negra. Wose, you don't rememer how you got to Val-Negra. You were searching for it, but then you cam upon Taglyn instead where you met Abbadon. But now you remember before hand that Erat Caccus of Tytalus told you that Taglyn is an illusion within Val-Negra. How did you get there without passing through the other first. You begin to suspect that Abbadon has tampered with your brain.
Ludovico doesn't reply, or ask any more questions for now. Cresting the hill uneventfully he stops and looks about for the pond and the shack the spirit told him of, then begins his descent. Silently he appears to have grown more dour and troubled.
[color=red]"Can you travel Sssskkk? If I have an errand for you beyond this valley?" he says at last, well into the descent of the hill. He is still unhurried, moving at an easy walk with his steps sure yet... most of his attention is with his thoughts.
Remember the old AD&D Water Weird, and in 2nd ed they came up with the Earth Wierd? Sssskkkk is like that. He moves as if he were swiming in the earth, and informs you he is bound to the earth here.
Nodding amiably Ludovico sighs to himself and approaches the pond, kneeling to rinse and fill his canteen. He scans the shoreline of it with small interest... then searching for the shack. There his eyes settle until the canteen is full, whereupon he stands and takes a long deep drink. Refilling the thing once again he fastens and stowes it away, beginning to walk again, now towards the shack. Carefree at first, he grows a bit cautious as he nears it. Stopping a good twenty feet or so away from the building he calls out. [color=red]"Hello?! Is there a soul within?" He speaks in latin.
The shack is on the other side of the pond and the elemental cannot follow you. An old man pokes his nose out of the door. He looks a you, then comes outside. He babbles at you in some Latin-related language you do not know. You suspect his intention is to invite you inside.
Ludovico sighs to himself, pulling the hood of his cloak back and then smiling with a false warmth. Now he tries option B. Italian. Fat chance. [color=red]"Do you understand me friend?"
As he does he follows the gestures of the old man and accepts his invitation with a polite nod, stepping across the treshold gingerly.
Wrong linguistic direction. He shakes his head. He then points to the chair, as if he wants you to sit, then brings out some read, cheese, and wine. You size him up. He doesn't look very physical, and you see no mining tools anywhere around.
I have been told, anecdotally, of people who spoke (modern) Spanish and Italian and could converse with one another reasonably well. If this guy speaks a dialect of Langedoc or Spanish, you'd think some communication at least would be possible.
Scott
[ I assume below that the food and wine offered was of typical 'peasant' quality, rather than the snobby best that Ludovico is accustomed to. ]
Ludovico accepts the offered food trying to look amiable, though... really it should be quite clear he is accustomed to better. Whether by his dress, his expression, or just the way he only politely nibbles at the crust that was offered him, his regal bearing betrays itself. The soft growling of his stomach betrays his hunger, despite himself. Yet that is not enough to make him accept this fodder. At least not yet. Giving up on speaking for now he begins to take more detailed look around the shack, expressing interest while trying to humor his host with a pained smile or two.
Eventually however the unbuilt nature of the man and the lack of the accoutrements of the 'craft' he supposedly followed begin to knaw at the magus' thoughts. Had the spirit lied to him? Had it been a devil decieving him? There was no other shack upon the water here. Was he in fact free? Or was this some other new construct of Abaddon in which he was finding the faults? He must be sure.
The possibilities stewed within his skull and he gritted his teeth in nigh impotent rage. He gripped his sword's hilt tightly, eyeing the old man anew... a look loaded with much suspicioun and hostility. When he speaks, it is in latin. [color=red] "What game is this? Speak." His voice has a low edge, tones of violence that are usually deeply restrained coming into his words. Quietly he loosens the blade in it's scabbard, a soft 'snick' sound as perhaps half an inch of steel is revealed into the firelight.
Yes, much like Dutch and English, Catilian and Italian are semi-mutually intelligable. But this guy speaks an old form of Romance. Latin was closer. It isn't as bad as Chineese, lol! They still understand each others inflections, gestures, and a few root words are similar enough that they can get by.
The man looks offended, swears at you (you think), and points to the door.
[OOC: Hmm. I find myself wondering whether Ludo ( a much better nickname... ) would fly off the handle here or run away to pass out in another field. ]
Lejla asks the Mercere Magus: [color=red]How many scholars and teachers do you need? Is this a long-term project or do you need just one right now? Then I might be able to help myself. Otherwise, I suggest opening a school - it won't be easy to get ungifted children for it though that make good teachers. Buying talented children might require some money. I also want you to support me in demanding my own lab with the council - specialised in copying and teaching.
By the way, we are low on high-quality quills and emerald ink. I've included a letter to Santiago in our last envoy to Barcelona - hopefully we will be hearing from him within a fortnight. I've added the costs to the books and taken the money that was required from the oak chest.
Turns to the scribes responsible for the vis and hand s them some plain-looking scales:
[color=red]In our stores of magic items, we've got these scales. Treat them well: They were fashioned by Tullius Secundus over two hundred years ago - they will doubtlessly help you in cataloguing the Vis. Needless to say that I want them back when you've finished. Okay?