Character Creation for Trogdor

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: The Price of Knowledge
41

The money is paid and Alruna thus rescued from the noose. The following week are though for all, as rations are kept to a minimum and fare is plain and bland from lack of spices. Still, all survive this ordeal more or less intact.

Bernhard finally arrives. The meek redcap reports that as he suspected, his buyer has sensed the desperation that drove someone to sell raw vis for silver, and offered only 30 pounds of silver for the 3 pawns. Bernhard claims he's had to bargain hard to get that much. Hopefully, by the time you need to sell more vis he will have found another buyer.

To raise morale and celebrate the arrival of the much-needed money, a small feast is organized by the covenfolk. Nothing fancy nor expensive, but there is still a fair amount of ale consumed. The old man that serves as your cook pass it around freely, in as much cheer as everyone else.

But in the morning, as the mundanes and magi of the covenant wake up with a bad headache, they discover that the man is gone. The chest where the much-needed silver was kept has been broken open and lies empty.

(That's what you get when one of the magi has the Difficult Underlings flaw. :imp: )

42

We're magi. We use magic to find the man and hunt him down. There's no question about that. We live on an island. There's only so far he can hide. Even if he jumped right on a boat, we can follow.

BTW, it seems like it was awfully easy for him to steal all of our money. One imagines we would have kept it in a sanctum or something. I know you're trying to show the downfall of a covenant. But it does seem like the theft was easier than it should have been.

43

The cook has lived in the covenant. We must have an Arcane Connection to him. So, let's cast the following spell:

Find the Dastardly Thief
InCo 15
This spell gives a momentary indication of the location of a person to whom you have an Arcane Connection.
(Base 3, +4 Arc)

InCo
Level 3: Locate a person to whom you have an Arcane Connection.

I'm guessing it might give a location and distance, or something like that. With no map, it would be hard to pinpoint exactly. (Not that there were good maps at the time.)

Ceremonial CT = 1 (In) + 11 (Co) + 2 (Sta) + 2 (Aura) + 1 (loud words) + 1 (exaggerarated gestures) + 2 (Artes Liberales) +2 (Philosophiae) + stress die]/2 = [22 + stress die]/2

That's 45 minutes per casting.

Scrying spell: 1D10+22 = [2]+22 = 24; fail
Scrying spell: 1D10+22 = [10]+22 = 32; possible botch
Botch Check: 1D10 = [2] = 2
1D10 = [2] = 2
1D10 = [2] = 2
1D10 = [10] = 10 no botch unless there were 7 botch dice (-3 for Cautious sorcerer)
Scrying spell: 1D10+22 = [7]+22 = 29 = 29/2 = 14.5 (does that round up to 15, because that would be a success)
Scrying spell: 1D10+22 = [2]+22 = 24; fail
Scrying spell: 1D10+22 = [8]+22 = 30 = 30/2 = 15; success!

He eventually gets it. Yea, it's only a momentary indication. But that could tell us volumes about where he is.

Konrad is really steamed at this. He's not going to just let this guy go. RIsk of Warping be damned! I'll see this covenant go down for lots of reasons, but not because some greedy grog stole our cash reserves.

44

When Konrad questions the other grogs and magi about how the money was secured, he learns that:

  • The money was kept at the former inn because there is always people here, whereas up on the plateau the magi come and go based on whether they are performing lab work there. Since it is more comfortable here to study, it is also where the library is kept at the moment.
  • The locked chest containing the money was indeed kept in Prochorus' sanctum.
  • All of the long-time grogs knew where the money was kept, some admit that the liberal consumption of ale the previous night may have caused them to mention it aloud. They are absolutely horrified that they may have been the cause of the theft.
  • Dietlinde was usually the one to manage the money (to pay for the supplies) and she knew where Prochorus keeps the key. But the lock was broken anyway.
  • Prochorus is also angry. He says he didn't drink that much, so perhaps the thief drugged his drink.

In short, it seems the man planned this for some time before acting. He had been working for the covenant for over a year, knew about the ghost that haunts the inn, and by now he probably knew that the magi were some some of wizards.

By the time Konrad succeeds in pulling off the location spell, it reveals that the man is somewhere southeast of the island, about thirty miles away. Probably on a ship headed for the continent.

And indeed the magi can go after him. Both Prochorus and Konrad can fly to the ship. If/when they locate the right ship, will they simply land on it, change into human shape (naked in the case of Prochorus) and start flinging spells? How will they bring back that amount of silver (which they cannot carry when flying)?

45

I think the best plan is to follow the ship to where it's going. It's likely just heading back to the continent where the cook can get off and disappear. Follow the cook until he gets somewhere relatively out of the way, then Konrad puts him to sleep while still in raven form, turns back to human form, grabs the silver, and then leaves, returning to the island by ship. I'd like to do more to the cook. But we'll likely be in a town, so killing him would cause trouble.

Call to Slumber has a CT of +10 and is ReMe 10. If Konrad casts it without speaking, that's -10 (no penalty for no gestures because of Subtle magic). That means he's a base +0. Assuming he rolls at least a 1 on the simple die, he should cast the spell and take a level of Fatigue.

46

Once you take flight to track the ship, you realize that this is a fairly busy waterway. All the ships travelling to Hamburg pass here. There are more than one ship in the vicinity of when you detected the man's presence. How do you determine with a better degree of certainty which ship he is on?

47

These are unlikely to be large ships or ones with cabins below. It's a short ride and there's a decent chance that he'll be on deck of whatever ship it is. Land on the mast and look around on the ships. There can't be that many ships of the proper type in that general area. We can discount fishing boats and such. We're only looking for ships 30 miles SE-ish of Helgoland. You can't tell me that the sea is filled with them in that general spot. If we were just looking based on an assumption that he was fleeing by ship, I totally get that we'd have a real hard time figuring which ship he was on. We wouldn't know when he left or which direction he went. But we had a pretty decent location. Even accounting for drift in following those directions, we have the area narrowed down pretty well. And I'm assuming that Konrad and Prochorus left as soon as they got the directions.

So land and look is the best tactic right now. He's likely let his guard down now that he's 'safe' on board the ship. After all, there's no way we can follow him now.

48

Scale on maps is not something very reliable at the time, nor is it easy to estimate distances when you are flying. Ships move at different rates and it takes over an hour for the magi to reach the general area where the ship carrying the thief is supposed to be. All of this makes for a fairly large area of search, with several ships in that area and many more fishing boats.

Prochorus and you inspect a dozen ships without success. But finally, you spot your thief in a fishing boat sailing towards the mouth of the Elbe. You almost missed it amongst the many fishing boats, but now you have at least found him.

49

That's fair.

I get the impression of some very nervous birds checking out increasingly unlikely ships as time passes.

Now the waiting game begins. We need to follow the cook until he's somewhere on his own where we can take him down, or something else happens to provoke us to action.

Just out of curiosity, how many people are on the fishing boat? Prochorus knows how to sail a boat. If it's the sort of thing he can manage and there aren't too many people on board then maybe a direct assault is possible ... (I tend to assume it has more people than we could handle. But I thought I'd ask.)

50

It's only a small fishing boat with two people aboard. The boat is so small that adding the two magi would make the boat quite crowded, what with all the fishing nets and the packed belongings. The other person looks like a simple fisherman.

Konrad and Prochorus make for a strange pair as they fly around the boat -- a crow and a duck flying in tandem. Of course, you don't have much way to communicate in this form.

51

I"m assuming the following:

  • Four on the boat will be crowded, but not dangerous;
  • This is a boat that Konrad believes Prochorus is capable of handling on his own and getting safely to shore (I know Prochorus can't tell me that. But we've known each other for some time now. I'm guessing Konrad has a basic idea of how competent he is on a boat);
  • Conditions on the water are smooth (meaning that sailing is not difficult right now, and the boat isn't likely to go out of control if the fisherman doesn't constantly tend to the ropes); and
  • by now the boat isn't too far from the continent.

If any of this is not true, then I will change my plans.

But if that's all true, then I'll cast Call to Slumber on the cook, then on the fisherman. Both without gestures or words, since I'm currently in bird form.

The first casting is 1d10+0 - Call to Slumber casting #1: 1D10 = [7] = 7; success, loses one Fatigue
The second casting is 1d10-1 (due to Fatigue) - Call to Slumber casting #2: 1D10-1 = [4]-1 = 3; success, loses a second Fatigue
(It would be better to have Prochorus cast the spells, since he's much more skilled at casting them. But with no way to communicate, I can't ask him to.)

Then land in the boat and take off my cloak, telling Prochorus to do the same and take control of the boat. After that, tie up the cook and the fishermen (there must be rope - it's a boat) and look for the silver, having Prochorus sail us to some deserted spot on the continent, preferably within a day's walk of a port. (BTW, he can steal most of the cook's clothes to wear.)

The plan will then be to leave the fisherman and the cook (minus the stolen silver) to eventually untie themselves and us to walk to the nearest port city to get a ship back to Helgoland.

If my assumptions are not correct, then we'll have to play it by ear.

52

Comments on the assumptions and plan:

  • Crowded but not dangerous, unless a scuffle starts or you need to move around it quickly
  • Prochorus only mentionned that he has some experience with fishing boats, whether he can make it back to the island in the open sea is unkown; Prochorus mentioned he'd need help to bring the Baltrum home, so a fishing boat is probably within his capabilities
  • Weather condition are ok and the boat is following the shore, which is within sight (a mile or two away)
  • Call to Slumber only makes someone fall asleep; it doesn't keep him that way and moving them (such as tying them up) is almost certain to wake them up at some point
  • I assume that Konrad probably has clothing made of wool, so that his shapechanging spell can include them; that isn't true for Prochorus
  • It is autumn, fairly up north and fairly cold, so keeping someone without clothing for multiple hours can be deadly (probably not high on your list of consideration)
53

Further comments and observations.

We'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen then. :wink:

If all we need him to do is bring us to a shore that's within sight, we're probably okay. I never assumed he'd try and bring us back to Helgoland.

That's ideal. All Prochorus needs to do is bring us to shore. I'm sure there's somewhere reasonably isolated nearby.

My plan is to have Prochorus ready to knock them out again if they wake up, at least until they're tied up. He's better at Call to Slumber so can cast it easily without gestures (-5), or even without gestures and using soft words (-10). Once they're tied up, we can let them come awake.

That was my assumption as well. We'll have to get Prochorus into some clothes quickly.

I'm hoping that with clothes for three, we can stretch them out to four without anyone going totally without. (The cook is going to get the short end of this stick.) Yes, it's going to make life very uncomfortable for the cook. But as you say, that's not a high priority for me. It does say that we're likely to try and put into shore quickly to whatever place looks most isolated. My goal is not to kill either of them. (as much as the cook deserves it for condemning all the grogs to a winter of starvation.) I would hope that the fisherman would be able to get free and head back to sea without too much trouble once we're gone. I do intend to tell him what the cook did and why we're treating him like this. The fisherman has to know that something not entirely above-board is going on, since the cook paid him to bring him to the mainland. That can't be normal.

As for what to do next, I have some ideas for how to avoid further entanglements. Prochorus can take wing again, while Konrad changes his appearance.

Growth of a Few Inches
MuCo 10
R: Per, D: Moon, T: Ind
Adds a couple of inches from the target's size.
(Base 3, +3 Moon)

Disguise of the New Face
MuCo 15
R: Per, D: Moon, T: Part
The caster's facial features are transformed to any approximately human configuration you choose.
(Base 3, +3 Moon, +1 Part)

With a CT of stress die +35 (due to minor magical focus), this should be no trouble.

That way even if the cook or the fisherman want to come after us (doubtful, but possible), they should have a real problem finding us.

BTW, how long does blood last as an Arcane connection? I may want to get a lasting AC from the cook - just in case.

54

Ok, you plan works and you end up on the shore of the mainland. The cook and fisherman are both tied up and very frightened. The cook is crying and saying that "these devil-worshipping sorcerers from the island are about to kill him."

Blood is listed as "Years" on ArM5 p.84. That's assuming it can be mundanely preserved in a proper container to prevent the connection from degrading as the physical medium does. So you'd need a proper vial or something similar to store the blood.

55

Konrad will recover the silver, including and pieces of silver that the fisherman suspiciously has on him. (What would a fisherman be doing with silver out on his boat?)

"We're not going to kill you," Konrad replies. "Though we ought to for the slow death of starvation that you were willing to condemn your fellows to over the coming winter. It was not our perfidy that put you in this position, but your own. We didn't force you to doctor our beer so that we'd fall asleep; we didn't force you to break into the strong box and steal our money; and we didn't force you to flee in the night on a fishing boat. That was your own greed at work. But rather than kill you, we're going to let you go. And you'll have to live with the fact that winter is coming and you have no position and no money. Good luck with that."

"And as for you," he looks at the fisherman. "Be more careful who you accept silver from to make suspicious journeys. It may not always work out as you expect."

Then he'll put the fisherman to sleep without words or gestures.

Call to Slumber: 1D10 = [3] = 3; success - takes a level of Fatigue.

"But just in case," Konrad says once the fisherman is out, "I'm going to take a precaution." He takes a fishing knife and cuts off a small piece of his braies. Then he makes a small cut on one of the cook's fingers, allowing a few drops of blood to stain the fabric swatch. "I have some of your blood now. I'll be able to track you wherever you go. If you take any action against the covenant, we'll be able to strike back at you. So don't think of trying anything else foolish."

After resting 2 minutes, he'll cast Call to Slumber again without words or gestures, this time on the cook.

Call to Slumber: 1D10 = [2] = 2

After that, he'll cast his spells to change his height (I realized shorter is better than taller, since it's easier to fit into clothes that are too big than too small) and appearance:

Loss of a few inches of height: 1D10+35 = [8]+35 = 43 = 43/2 = 21.5; success, one Fatigue level.
Disguise of the new Face: 1D10+35 = [10]+35 = 45; possible botch
Botch Check: 1D10 = [6] = 6
1D10 = [4] = 4
1D10 = [5] = 5
1D10 = [3] = 3; no botch; = 35/2 = 17.5; success, one Fatigue level.

Also make his tunic different (and fit better):

Remake the Tunic
MuAn 10
R: Touch, D: Moon, T: Ind
Transforms a tunic. The substance and color must be preserved, but the shape and cut can be altered. An Intelligence + Finesse roll determines the quality of the new set of clothes; an Ease Factor of 6 is sufficient for a simple change, although the Ease Factor is 3 points higher if the new tunic is dramatically different from the old. The spell assumes that the clothing is in the main of animal origin — wool, felt, fur, leather, and silk — which is usually the case.
(Base 2, +1 Touch, +3 Moon)

Remake the Tunic: 1D10+21 = [7]+21 = 28 = 28/2 = 14; success
Finesse check: 1D10+4 = [8]+4 = 12; looks good

Rest in between to recover Fatigue.

Now he looks totally different and is even wearing different clothes. Good luck finding me now. :wink:

Make sure that the boat is tied up securely, have Prochorus turn back into a duck, toss the cook's clothes on top of him (also put him under whatever cloth the fisherman has for cleaning fish), and loosen the fisherman's bonds so that he can untie himself when he wakes up. Then beat feet out of there to the closest road/settlement/house to get back to civilization.

What about a stain of blood on a piece of fabric?

FWIW, even if that doesn't work, Konrad will still go through the process of taking the drops of blood. The cook certainly doesn't know how effective his blood will be for future enchantments.

56

The fisherman's eyes are wide and scared. He has no silver on him or in his boat, aside from what is in the cook's baggage.

The cook tries to shrink back when you approach him with the knife, and he struggles against his bonds when cut cut him, making the cut much bigger than you wanted. He also yells and screams as you cut him, waking the fisherman again. Prochorus puts him back to sleep again, and again, until you are done and the cook ceases his yelling.

(The blood will lose its connection to the cook much faster because it is in contact with the environment, but it should still be at least months fefore it fades.)

It takes you much longer than you expected to reach a settlement from there. The coast is only sparsely populated and there aren't any roads. You and Prochorus take turns flying around to locate where to go. Eventually you reach a village where you can pay for a ride in a fisherman's boat to get back to the island. You need to pay a disproportionally large amound of silver for the ride (still only a handful of silver coins), since both of you have the Gift.

Herman is relieved to see you come back with the silver, and doesn't ask too many questions.

What do you do in the winter?

To recap again what has been done so far post-Gauntlet:

  • Year 1, End of Summer: Arrives at the covenant and makes a trip (story Chasing a Tale). 5 xp in Folk Ken
  • Year 1, Fall and Winter: Setting up his lab. 2 xp in Magic Theory in each season
  • Year 2, Spring: Studying Causa et Cura. 16 xp in Medicine (including Book Learner)
  • Year 2, Summer: Disappearance of the Baltrum and resulting story. 5 xp in Intellego
  • Year 2, Fall: Study A Comparative Exploration of the Four Realms and How They Interact With Our Arts. 12 xp in Vim (including Book Learner)
57

Start wondering whether it's fair to the grogs to put them through all of this. Compassionate rears its ugly head. :wink:

Right now our biggest problems are money, grogs, and vis. We don't have nearly enough of any of them. We need money desperately. We can't feed people, operate our labs, or do just about anything without money. To make more money we need more grogs. But to get more grogs, we need more money. Not a good position to be in.

As I see it our only hope (and it's a longshot) is to try and find more vis so that we can afford to sell enough vis to invest in some kind of money-making venture. We need a money-making venture or we're sunk.

So here's my plan. I'm assuming that since I've set up my lab but haven't ever used it, that it's good for at least one season of work before it starts to run out of things. So I'd like to invent Shape of the Sea Swimmer to help with the vis search, which seems focused still on the sea.

Shape of the Sea Swimmer
MuCo(An) 20
R: Per, D: Sun, T: Ind
Req: Animal
The caster places a sealskin over himself and changes into a seal. The caster may change back at will by taking off the sealskin, ending the spell. Before casting this spell, you must first, of course, acquire the skin of a seal.
(Base 10, +2 Sun)

LT = 11 (Mu) + 16 (lesser of An/Co doubled) + 3 (Int) + 2 (Aura) + 5 (MT) + 3 (IG) = 40

I figure sealskins are no trouble to get on Helgoland.

I'd also like to have a frank discussion with Prochorus and Herman about what they think about the future of the covenant. If it's going to fail, better it fail in the spring or summer so that the grogs can find a place before winter. We can't kick them out in the cold if things go poorly in autumn. Yes, we magi have places to go. But they might not.

58

Prochorus and Herman share the following thoughts.

The problem is that your covenant is set up in a fairly small market with limited opportunities for producing goods. There are basically two major economic activities in Helgelund. First is the production of foodstuff for local consumption, mostly through fishermen and some agriculture. These are labor-intensive activities, which provide minimal amounts of cash. The second is a service industry oriented at the merchants travelling in the area, mostly by way of pilots that lead the ship through the local waters and into the mouth of the Elbe, to help them avoid the shifting sandbars that form there. Winters are so difficult because storms reduce merchanting pretty much to nothing.

There are also some marginal industries on the island -- some mining, a bit of boat building, etc. For both of these, lacks of base materials (lumber) are an issue.

Note that Japik had a dolphin heartbeast and was investigating the nearby waters quite a bit. He failed to find any regular vis sources (aside from the human bone in a cave to the north). So inventing a spell to turn yourself into a seal may not be the most useful thing. Plus the fact that seals are actively hunted in the area, so you might get be at risk from mundane hunters.

Herman is just about ready to call it quits and move on to England or Ireland, where faeries are more interesting. Prochorus still feels he could make a living here.

59

Any chance Prochorus or Konrad could try and learn the sandbars well enough in duck/raven form that they could teach someone and we could get into the piloting business? That seems a bit far fetched, but I'm trying to think outside the box.

There's also the possibility of trade. But of course we have no capital and no one skilled at trading. Starting out without companions hurt us. We don't have mid-level non-magi leaders in the covenant.

We have no access to lumber, so we're not in a good spot to enter either of those industries. And see above, we have no capital.

Konrad is starting to get discouraged. Without a source of income, the covenant is doomed. And it doesn't seem like we have any prospects for an income source. I've skimmed through the suggestions in Covenants and have come up with precious little.

CHARITY: Not likely given where we are.
CRIME: We're not criminals, and in all likelihood would just get caught.
FISHING: We have neither the equipment nor the skills, and are unlikely to get more of either.
FORESTRY: There are precious little trees on the island and they belong to other people.
HOSPITALITY: We haven't the people for that. Then again, maybe we could try and refurbish the haunted inn to serve guests. Not a great idea, but we don't have many.
LIVESTOCK: We haven't the money to get a herd, nor do we have anywhere we could graze animals.
MANUFACTURING: We have no skilled craftsmen, and no real market for goods. I suppose we could try and craft by magic. But we don't have the magical skills either, nor the FInesse.
MINING: We have nowhere that's good to mine, no skilled miners, and no wood to shore up mines.
MONEY: We have no money to lend out.
SERVICE: I suppose we might be able to do a little of this. But we're low on skills and grogs.
TOLL GATHERING: We have no right to collect tolls.
TRADE: We haven't the capital to start trading, nor have we any skilled traders.
WIZARDRY: We need to keep a low profile.

So we're like a lower class person with no marketable skills and no prospects. There's precious little we can do to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.

So what about trying to make the inn into a functioning inn again, at least for the three seasons a year that traffic comes through the port?

Or what about the local lord. Does he know we're magi, or does he think that we're just scholars? I was thinking that he might be the sort who would give us some charity. And if we donated some charged magic items to him ... (Yea, I know, that's a bad area to go into. But we're really short on options.)

I was thinking that seals were prominent so wouldn't draw any attention. I wasn't thinking about hunters. Good point. And I'm starting to wonder if there really is any extra vis around. It's not like it's everywhere.

So let me reconsider. There are plenty of things I'd like to do. But I feel like I need to do something to help benefit the covenant.

I could extract vis, which would get 3 Vi vis. But that would run into the problem of our labs running out of supplies.
I could study the Vim summa again to try and get better at extracting vis. But see above about vis extracting.
I could study the Medicine summa to become a better doctor. But there doesn't seem to be much of a market for those skills.
If we had flocks, I could try and work up a MuAn ritual to make the animals better. If we had vis.
I could try and recruit grogs, but with the Gift (and no money) that's not going to work too well.

So I guess the best I can do is be a good Bonisagus and read a book again. You don't need money to read a book. So how about the Vim summa? It's what we have and it gets me closer to (someday) being able to cast an Aegis. Konrad will keep the seal idea in his back pocket for now as a future plan, and will make sure he gets some sealskins.

I don't blame Herman. I"m starting to wonder myself.

60

So Konrad settles down at the inn during the winter to study the Vim summa. In the late days of December, Dietlinde comes running into the inn, calling loudly, "Master! Master! We have to leave! NOW!"

Then, not even waiting to catch her breath, she rushes into her bedroom to grab a few items, then proceeds to bang on Prochorus' door, "Grab the silver! HURRY! Guards are coming to arrest you! All of us! I SAW it happening!"

(You were made aware at some point in the past that Dietlinde sometimes has visions.)