Let's do that, then. In spring 1241, operation "Eternal Guardianship" shall be launched!
Whenever Fleur and the Spider manage to see each other.
Arachné welcomes Fleur in her guest quarters, with some wine, milk+honey, and other delicacies.
(She'll have invited Lucas, too, thinking this kind of discussion fits right into her grooming him to replace her, so he might be present)
Thank you for meeting me.
I've been thoroughly impressed by your knowledge of hermetic magic, and would like your advice and comments on my latest idea.
See, since arriving in Andorra, I've been obsessed with protecting our covenant as much as possible, ensuring it doesn't suffer the fate that befell both Insidiae and the old guard.
Through the wooden guards and, more importantly, the Eternal Guardians project, I think I've ensured a stable basis for strong physical defenses, that are harder to dispatch that physical guards.
I can thus turn to trying to save more lives.
I have thought about a way to trap Valten, should he be strong enough to master Rego Corpus magic, and I think I've found a way. More importantly, a way that relies on my innate strength, which is great.
It involves casting a Perdo Vim enchantment over a circle, barring any use of any spell of Instant Transportation cast within, or to, the inside of it*. Assuming I can penetrate or lower this parma beforehand, he'd be pinned long enough for us to slay him.
But this ain't the point. While musing other this, I've thought that this might be a great way to protect our covenfolks, and maybe even ourselves, from the kind of attacks that were used against our predecessors.
Similar enchantments against Perdo Corpus slayer spells might save the lives of those covenfolks inside, just as a protection against Perdo Vim warping spells might avoid us an unwanted trip to the twilight realm.
Likewise, Intellego Imaginem scrying effets might be barred from our council chamber, protecting us from eavesdropping magic.
I'm reasonably sure that this is possible, but this is all quite exotic magic, which, as far as I know, no one has attempted before. Likewise, I haven't even tested any such effect, so I thought I'd check in with you before, see if this looked sound to you.
I've also considered another trap for Valten, one I might be employed to other purposes once this is done. This is a secondary project to me, and I'm less sure of myself, but I might try it anyway.
The catch is to create an item that, working at sight range so as to avoid detection, would translocate him constantly to the same spot.
I'm of two mind about this:
- The first idea is to have an effect cast and recast**, moving him back again and again. I might need a three magnitudes base effect, in case he ran or such.
- The second, and more exotic, only needs a spell or 2 base magnitudes, but, having a constant effect, should pin him in place whatever he does. I'm less sure about this, but this'd be more efficient. He might escape it if going out of teleport range, but, combined with a trap such as described before***, I figure this might be quite inescapable.
- Transforming Mythic Europe p109, "Impede the Impertinent Interloper".
** unlimited uses
*** If the spell teleports him to a spot within 5 paces, constantly, he should be pinned there, save if he teleports instantly outside these 5 paces. But if I block him from using teleportation, he's toast.
"It seems it would be easier to have an ageis within an ageis than to try and layer that many protective spells over an area already protected by an ageis. If the ageis itself doesn't stop those spells... aside from protecting those with no parma of course, it implies whomever is casting has a token. The Ageis should already block foreign intelligo spells, as well as spells to teleport in. I suppose if a foreign magus broke into the covenant through mundane means and began laying waste to covenfolk, but even then I would expect mundane security should take care of them in short order. If you do not mind my asking, what was it exactly that happened at Insidiae? If these are the things you are worried about it would seem that either there were exotic measures used by the intruders or the Ageis was simply insufficient.
As to your trap, if it is sight range the real limitations will be on where it is constructed, whether he has an arcane connection to someplace that would allow him to escape if blocking his casting fails, and of course being able to get out of the trap yourself in case you should accidently trigger it. It also occurs to me that much the same effect can be accomplished by a windowless room if you can protect the walls from his magic, as he would be unable to see out to teleport anywhere. As to which is more effective that would depend on your own abilities versus his own."
The witch smiles
Actually, that's quite different.
To go straight to the most interesting point, an Aegis is less efficient against feeble spells, through which one can muster all of her power. This effect works exactly in reverse, blocking low magnitude spells, and is unaffected by the enemy's Penetration. This means that there are spells which won't be stopped by an Aegis, but will be blocked by this kind of magical working.
If we consider the kind of attack that was used against Antonio's covenfolks and the old guard, that of a magical item used inside the aegis, its penetration was irrelevant against mundane covenfolks, and the Aegis, whatever its power, was useless to save them. This could have, if designed properly.
Insidiae... She frowns. They died. And that's enough.
She sighs.
I thanks you for your insight on the trap. Effectively, just enclosing him into a room-like space could be enough. I'm sometimes a little too convoluted for my own good. Now, what could I do if he's able to translocate? An effect as discussed above could work, but it'd require much penetration. Do you have another, simpler idea?
"I wonder if a room could simply be enchanted with a PeVi effect of some sort that would prevent spellcasting altogether. It might be a good idea to have a similar effect on some kind of jewelry or something you could tie to the prisoner if you might want them outside the room or to be around people who can cast. It would still need to penetrate their magic resistance, but it would cover a lot more than just translocation."
This is something I've considered for quite some time. I think it could work, although I'm not sure it would.
But anyway, you're right, simply using my arcane talents to stop him from translocating would probably be way easier for me than any such trap. I should slap me for not thinking about it sooner.
I thank you for your insight, Fleur, it's been precious.
"Of course Madame Pontifex, I am at your disposal"
Okay, here's another idea I had 
She can have several circular mirrors in her sanctum, each holding such an effect:
InIm base 1 (sight), +4 AC range, +2 Ring, +4 Sight = lvl 15.
Cast with ACs taken from different parts of the covenant, this'd allow her to have "windows" to look over several parts of the covenant.
Cool, isn't it?
Having it using T:Vision will incur you a fair amount of warp. Not sure if Ring and Vision can be combined that way(?).
Could instead add a Creo req and have the image created there and maintained on the mirror, and avoid warp. It will drop the spell level down significantly too as your target can be Ind instead of Vision.
Reading the description of magical senses (p. 113-114), it doesn't look to my like it works the way you have it here. It's Intellego magic, but it grants magical senses to a person (or, presumably, animal or someone in an animal's form). How about this. Since Arachné is a lot stronger in Rego than Intellego:
Rego Imaginem. Base 15 ("Make an object appear (to one sense) to be in a location to which the caster has an Arcane Connection"), Range: AC (+4), D: Concentration (+1), T: Individual, for a final spell level of 40. Have the device maintain concentration (+5), and you can have the mirror watching constantly. Wherever the AC is, put up a blatant sign in Latin that says, "Caution: Magical Scrying In Progress" so no other magi can cry foul if they're spotted doing something they shouldn't. Give it multiple uses a day if you want to be able to turn it off and on again, rather than just "once on always on".
On the down side, she'd be hard-pressed to enchant it. Int 2 + Re 22 + Im 5 + MT 7 + similar spell bonus (Through the Eye of the Spider) 3 + Aura 5 + S&M Bonus (Mirror, to display images) 6 = 50. On the plus side, with an effective leadership of 5 in the laboratory, she can get a lot of help, not even counting +8 from Intissar.
Okay, that's wicked expensive. Maybe never mind?
Given that Vocis has some spells akin to this and that he's interested in signals/scrying - the Spider and Vocis should chat. He'd love to help in this kind of development.
Is it known that the Spider is working on this style of project, if so I'll approach her?
Well, I don't care about the warping, it's the mirror that uses a sense at a distance (namely, vision).
Ring is a duration that can be used with other targets. You just get a discount when using T: Circle.
From the top of my head, look at "Voices from Hollow Spaces" from a D: Ring, T: Ind spell (In fact, this is what first gave me the idea). I also seem to recall a D: Ring, T: Room spell used to ward a room, but maybe that was from Sub Rosa instead (the material that didn't made it into F&F)
This is not "giving a magical sense" (like being able to see Vis, or Auras, or making a golem able to see - all things which work by extromission) but "using one sense at a distance" (Namely: Vision).
There is already a veeeery similar Canon effect in Hermetic Projects: "Summoning the Distant Senses", in HP46, the main differences being that it uses Constant duration, the "special target based on room" of MoH, is mobile and can change targets.
Not yet. This is just something she's been thinking about recently.
Since her lab is removed from the world, she realises that she can miss a lot of things, including an attack on the covenant. She compensates partly by having Eva wander the grounds, but she'd want to just be able to peer and see if anything is amiss.
The main problem, of course, is that this is scrying.
If the effect is using your sense at a distance, the you don't need the T: Vision at all. The Base InIm Base 1, with a R: Arc is enough. T: can be Ind, or a special variant to see around the arcane connection.
T: Vision affects a person, and the Range is to the recipient of the enhanced vision. You cannot grant Vision to a mirror, or to put it another way, how is the mirror projecting the image for the caster to see?
T: Arc makes this a ritual, which means this cannot be enchanted, doesn't it?
I don't think so. There are examples of items, such as the map in SE which use R:Arc. Not listed as a requirement of Arc in the Ars book. What's the source for that rule?
reviewing I am mistaken- arcane connection range does not make a spell a ritual... please chalk this up to exhaustion...
T-Arcane is not Ritual material in ArM5. That was 4th edition.
@Arthur
@Peregrine_Bjornaer
Since you seem to be somewhat active now.
And everyone else who may be around, of course.
The year is 1245. Autumn is fading into winter.
The covenant is having a council meeting, adressing basic matters of governance.
After more pressing questions have been adressed.
Sodales, if I may?
I have been thinking, and I have 2 things I'd like to submit to you.
One is a gift, the other, a request for your advice.
But first, the gift.
I intend to develop a spell to keep, as much as possible, Arcane connections fresh. Sadly, nothing as durable as fixing a connection, but it should still be of considerable benefit.
The only requirement is that the connection will need to be inside a circle, which is why I intend to keep them, for example, in suitable vials.
In a gesture of good spirits towards my covenfolks, I propose, once I've invented this spell, to cast it on any recipient of your choosing, free of any charge.
The request for advice, now.
I am pondering the opportunity to create a magical item that would allow our covenant to defend against an army, be it mundane or not.
Here's the geist of it: Invent an item that cast a Ring duration spell able to lift a huge rock. Have such rocks crafted, whether magically or not, with a base wider than the submit. Put a metal circle around it, cast the spell, and we have a constant flying rock.
Now, with an arcane connection to that rock, we can use and intangible tunnel, and, through control of the item, position this rock high in the air, anywhere around the covenant. We could to this several times, as much as we need.
Note how arcane connections to the rocks can be made to last longer to the the use of the previous spell. I'm thinking about chess pieces with a hollow, round base. Anyway.
If need be, any magus could, later, use a Tunnel to just unravel the spell, dropping a huge, non-magical rock on any attacking army.
Yet, I am questioning the wisdom of it.
Not so much the getting attacked part. In my opinion, we need to be ready, and it is my job to plan for unforeseen trouble.
But anyone getting access to the board and controlling wand could, theoretically, use this against us. Truth be told, though, such a level of treachery would probably spell our doom anyway.
Another thing is that this could attract undue attention. Still, we could make the rocks invisible.
The last bit worries me a little more.
I am doing what I can to ensure that anything I do keeps being useful after my death. But should no one renew the connections, we would be left with a bunch of useless rocks, maybe invisible, just hanging around forever around the countryside.
I don't know. What do you think about it?
Note: this is surprising. She's usually way more sure about her ideas.Game Info:
Sustain the Fleeting Connection (CrVi 25)
Decrease the rate of decay of an Arcane Connection as if the connection were two steps higher on the table in ArM5, page 84. If this increases the Duration to Years or greater, the duration of
the connection continues to be measured in a period of years.
Base 10, +1 Touch, +2 Ring, +0 Circle
I intend this as (IIRC) type 2 rings, the one in which the spell affects anything inside the ring while it is inside, and cease to affect it once it leaves the ring.
Whatever floating rock (ReTe 25+)
IIRC, lift up to 100 cubic paces of stone
Base 3, +1 touch, +1 stone, +2 Ring/Circle, +2 size, any potentially remaining magnitude going into moving this faster than a crawl.
It'd maybe be better to do this as a type I circle, but this could mean having to keep a bunch of circles in the covenant, and if any is broken, drop the rock. No way, the ring stays around the rock.
"I must say that the idea of having several huge invisible rocks floating above us, which could drop at any time, would worry more than reassure me."
Marcellus shakes his head, "Would they not risk drifting due to winds? There are creatures out there which might detect them even if they are invisible. Could they not interfere with the flotation spells and thus drop them on top of us? Circle spells are fragile, after all. Even such mundane thing as rust, or a strike of ligthning, might eventually damage a ring and to break the spell."
Yes, these are the kind of things that went through my mind. No so much the risk of drift, since it is not a floating effect, but other unintended consequences. Granted, these are not very likely, but I prefer to err on the side of caution.
The alternative to that would be circles tied to the rocks that we would keep here, which, in a way, make them safer and easy to break if we want to drop a rock, but I worry about time, memories, and neglect.
Scratch that, then. Thanks for your input, sodales.