Well, that's that. Let's grab all we can and get out of there. I trust people with visions.
Items to grab (if they're at hand): cloak, books, silver, and vis. Everything else is replaceable.
Get out and order the grogs to leave. If she's wrong, it was a great drill. If she's right, then she's just saved our lives.
I should have killed the cook. Damn that Compassionate flaw!
The people at the inn quickly gather what belongings they have at hand and follow Dietlinde as she leads them away from the inn. It is winter and cold, particularly since you were all only able to grab the strict minimum. Even the grogs don't take the time to don armor. Prochorus puffes as he carries the heavy chest containing the meager silver reserves out of his sanctum, while Konrad carries the one containing the few pawns of raw vis you collectively have. Gerhard (Konrad's grog) grabs a chest with the books.
Herman was working in the lab up on the plateau, so he's not there to follow you in your escape. Neither is Baldwin, for he is at the market selling his herbs and services as an apothecary.
The fat woman leads you down the river and to a more distant group of houses, trying to stay out of sight. You small group of six people arrive at a house and knocks on the door. A young girl in her early teens answers to the door, her eyes going wild as she sees the group standing outside. "Momma!" she yells in a somewhat scared tone. An older woman soon appears, and Dietlinde asks her to let them in please. They obviously know each other. After a moment's hesitation, she shows you in. "This is Hielke, Dibbelt's wife," Dietlinde says, before explaining to her (and to you as well) that Lord Knud's guards have been sent to arrest you all and that you need to get away. Fear spikes from the three young ones (including the girl who answered the door) that cluster around their mother, eyeing the strangers (two of whom have the Gift). Dietlinde pleads with the woman for help, waying that they need Dibbelt's help to leave the island. (Konrad vaguely remember Dibbelt as being a fisherman with whom Bernhard the redcap has friendly relations.)
"We need to get off the island," Konrad says in a definite tone. "And we can pay our passage in silver. How are the seas? Can they be sailed or are they too rough this time of year?" He pauses just long enough to get an answer then shakes his head.
"But for now," he adds, "I need to go warn Herman."
Konrad will leave the house for Prochorus to deal with (to the partial relief of the residents, I'm sure), and head out of sight and hearing. Once there he'll cast two spells. First, Touch of Warmth using no gestures as a spontaneous spell.
Touch of Warmth
CrIg 4
R: Per D: Sun T: Ind.
Maintains the target at a warm temperature.
(Base 2, +2 Sun)
Touch of Warmth casting: 1D10+10 = [2]+10 = 12 = 12/2 = 6; success
Then Cloak of Black Feathers using soft words and no gestures.
Cloak of Black Feathers casting: 1D10+24 = [9]+24 = 33; success
Fly up to the hill (staying high up for now) to see if any soldiers have arrived there. If not, go down and warn Herman that trouble is coming.
As Konrad flies up to the plateau, he sees a small group of guards climbing up the stairs leading to Ober village. They are probably ten diameters away from reaching the oak and Herman, if they maintain a brisk pace.
How many is a small group? If it's small enough Konrad might try something stupid. If it's more than, say 4, he'll just have to warn Herman and take off again.
At least six, perhaps as many as eight, from what he can see.
Too many. We'll have to settle for just warning Herman.
You get there about twenty minutes before the guards can arrive. Your announcement send Herman and his two mundanes in a panic. How do you get them out and avoid the guards?
"There's only one chance I can think of," Konrad says. "You're going to all have to go down the side of the cliff and make your way to safety from there." He takes a deep breath. "But don't worry, I have a plan. I'll cast a spell on all of you that will allow you to float down like a feather. Just remember, you have to concentrate on the effort the whole way down." He looks over at the servants. "No time to be squeamish. This is your only chance of escape."
"Once you're at the bottom, I'll meet you in raven form and try and lead you to safety. Grab a warm cloak and everything of value and let's go."
The plan is to spontaneously cast Rise of the Feathery Body on each of them to allow them to float down to the bottom of the cliff on the north side and get away that way.
I have a base CT of: 7 (Re) + 11 (Co) + 2 (Sta) = 20
There's just time to rest between castings.
#1: Rise of the Feathery Body casting: 1D10+20 = [2]+20 = 22 = 22/2 = 11; success
#2: Rise of the Feathery Body casting: 1D10+20 = [3]+20 = 23 = 23/2 = 11.5; success
#3: Rise of the Feathery Body casting: 1D10+20 = [5]+20 = 25 = 25/2 = 12.5; success
Make sure they grab all the things of value when they leave (i.e., any books, silver from the labs, etc.)
Konrad will turn back into a raven and try and guide the group back to the house." (Boy, are they going to love us there.)
Note that it is the caster that needs to maintain concentration of the spell, not the target. So Konrad needs to maintain the spell for each of them until they reach the bottom of the cliff.
Also, they don't have time to gather anything other that what is immediately accessible. That means you are leaving behind lab notes and equipment for mundanes to find.
Right. I play a Mutantum magus in another saga and I'm used to being able to hand things off. Not a problem, Konrad can concentrate while resting from each casting. (It can't take more than 2 minutes to get to the bottom of the cliff.) That should still give a good ten minutes of leeway. He'll start with the servants.
I was figuring that Herman would go last. He'd have at least an extra 5 minutes to run in and at least grab the important things, like books (if there are any there). You can't tell me it takes more than a minute to run into a lab and grab a book. I was also thinking that the silver stores in a lab might be easy to grab, though I'll understand if they are less accessible for security reasons. I agree that most of the equipment and the lab notes must be sacrificed. But some big ticket items should be salvageable.
Depends on how fast you want them to drop. 
But that sounds about right.
It also took some time to explain what was going on. Just banging on the lab's door to get Herman out took some time. 
Well, there wasn't much easily-carried valuables kept in the labs. Lab texts and notes, mostly. A bit of gold used in lab work.
As he is about to go down over the cliff, Herman asks, "What about what we leave behind? Do we really want mundanes to plunder our labs?"
"Do we really have much of a choice?" Konrad replies. "I could try and set the buildings on fire, but Ignem isn't my strong suit. And there's almost no time left."
Setting a wooden building on fire would either be CrIg 5 or CrIg 10, depending on how flammable they are (flammable or slightly flammable). I'd think if I cast it inside, it would be flammable. That would also give it time to grow.
Best case:
Set the Lab on Fire
CrIg 5
Sets a wooden building on fire.
(Base 4, +1 Touch)
They might have time to put it out. But it may be worth trying.
Still, if it's a CrIg 5 spell, and if there's time (I don't want to press my luck - then again, casting spells is real quick), Konrad will try and set the two labs on fire.
#1: Set the Lab in Fire casting: 1D10+10 = [7]+10 = 17; = 17/2 = 8.5; success
#2: Set the Lab in Fire casting: 1D10+10 = [7]+10 = 17; = 17/2 = 8.5; success (oops, forgot the -1 for Fatigue. Still works)
But only if there's time. Konrad isn't going to get caught to try and set the labs on fire.
Just in case, take a few seconds to cast Wizard's Sidestep.
Note that Konrad is already down 2 Fatigue Levels from his spontaneous casting to get Herman's servant and grog down. He hasn't had time to recover those and still has to cast another spell to help Herman down.
On the other hand, it is winter and the hearths are full of burning lumber already.
I assume that concentrating takes no physical effort, just, well, concentration. So the two minutes he takes lowering the first grog down should allow him to recover a Fatigue level. But if that's not the case, then it takes four minutes to recover, and that's budgeted, if barely. Then he casts the second spell, goes down to Winded again, lowers the grog and recovers during that two/four minutes. Finally, lowers Herman and recovers for that two/four minutes.
Once he casts the fire spells, he won't take time to recover, just beat feet (wings) out of there and accept going down two Fatigue levels.
If that's the case, I'll definitely try to set the labs on fire.
Here's what I think of as a rough timetable:
00:00-01:00 - Konrad arrives and bangs on door and gets let in
01:00-04:00 - Konrad explains what's happening and gets the grogs to the edge of the cliff
04:00-08:00 - Konrad lowers first grog and recovers from Fatigue loss; Herman grabs things of value
08:00-12:00 - Konrad lowers second grog and recovers from Fatigue loss; Herman grabs things of value
12:00-16:00 - Konrad lowers Herman and recovers from Fatigue loss
16:00-18:00 - Konrad sets the labs on fire and takes off with two levels of Fatigue
18:00-20:00 - The fires spread
A minute is an enormous amount of time when you 're rushing. And Konrad wasn't about to waste any time. I have him a full fifth of the time getting his information across, and four minutes for each lowering/recovery effort. (Less if he recovers more quickly.) Even if concentration is considered 'remaining active' he should still recover in 4 minutes. (I would argue that concentrating is the same as quiet rest, but I can understand if you feel differently.) And that's assuming that the guards don't stop to rest or at least slow down their pace. Twenty minutes of climbing stairs in armor is quite an effort.
Everyone is down and the main building is set aflame. There is the matter of the smaller building with the first lab in it, but there is no time remaining -- the guard are in sight when Konrad gets out of the and prepares to get away. One of the guards spots him, his yell prompting the others to speed up their approach.
Casting his spell, Konrad changes into a raven and flies away. Taking a roundabout flight path, he makes his way back to where Herman and his two mundanes are huddled hidden at the base of the cliff. After a few hours, the small group rejoins the others at Dibbelt the fisherman's house.
The group is pretty much exhausted by the stress of the last few hours as they need to decide what to do. Dibblet says he can take a few of you at a time in his fishing boat to drop you off somewhere along the coastline of the continent, but he is afraid for his family should you be discovered in his house. He doesn't mention any payment for his help.
Prochorus and Herman get with Konrad to discuss where they can go and whether they should leave for the same place. Herman expresses an interest in going to England, whereas Prochorus thinks he'd have a better chance of making a living in the the north of the Novgorod tribunal. Herman mentions to Konrad that Fengheld is usually welcoming fo peregrinatores, and might even consider accepting him as a member.
Once he's recovered from his efforts, Konrad insists that Dibblet accept some payment for what he's doing, and argues with Prochorus and Herman, if necessary, for such an outcome. His feeling is that Dibblet should be paid for his effort and the remaining silver should be split up among those who need it, including the grogs. The few pawns of gathered vis should be split up between the magi. He also argues that they should get out as soon as possible on the boat, taking every precaution to avoid being discovered.
If necessary, Konrad can use the following spontaneous spell to help avoid suspicion:
DISGUISE OF THE NEW BODY
MuCo 10
R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind
The target’s entire body is transformed to any approximately human configuration you choose.
(Base 3, +1 Touch, +2 Sun)
(Assuming that the grogs are willing and that Dibblet and his family wouldn't be too freaked out by it.) He has the MuCo CT to manage it. It might help if they're looking for us in particular.
For his part, Konrad says that he intends to make his way to Lubeck to visit his parents and then see if Fengheld is accepting new members. He's done with the idea of joining a brand new covenant and is ready to do his time in an old one. He offers to take any of the grogs with him to his family's home in Lubeck where he promises that he'll urge his father to take them on as servants. He hopes that his own shield grog and servant will be willing to come with him to Fengheld and the promise of a safer life.
Oh, and as a matter of curiosity, what books did we manage to salvage?
Oh, and I better have a friend for life in Herman after pulling his fat out of the fire. 
So the magi split up and each goes his own way. Herman promises to send letters through the redcaps when he finally settles down.
Once you reach Lubeck, your servant Baldwin asks to remain with your family. He's had enough excitement, he says, and a in city like Lubeck he can earn a living. Gerhald stays with you as you make your way to the Harz mountains where Fengheld is. (That puts you on the same level as the others regarding having a single personal grog.)
The covenant had relatively few books. As such, you are left with the equivalent of 5 pounds of silver, two pawns of Vim vis and a pair of tractatus:
The season where you made you escape gives you 5 xp to spend on either the subject you were reading on at the time or story-related xp, at your choice.
You arrive at Fengheld in late spring. (I assume you sent a letter ahead.)
Konrad will definitely keep in touch with Prochorus and Herman in the future. Also, Konrad would have tried to get a note to Bernhard warning him not to go back to Helgoland (at least not for a while).
That's fine. I'll miss Baldwin, but fair is fair. And he did go through a lot.
I'm assuming this is to keep his starting texts in keeping with the others in the saga. Because Konrad was in the process of studying a nice Vim summa when the warning came and would certainly have grabbed that. And he had both a Medicine Summa and an Ignem Summa that would have been in his sanctum. (So there were summae around.) But I understand the need to keep things even, so I'll take what's fair. 
I'll take 5 xp in Vim (what he was reading at the time).
Definitely. It would have been a letter requesting probationary membership. Having nowhere to call home, Konrad is looking to settle down, not simply be a visitor.
Dibbelt will take care of that.
The others didn't start with any books at all, so in that respect you are ahead of them. 
Sure.
Do you wait for an answer before travelling to Fengheld? If so, what do you do in the meantime?