The corpse, which was slumped and limp, is still slumped and limp. It's still gently dripping on the deck. It continues not to breathe.
8)
So, what are you doing to test if your spell was effective?
OOC:
This gave me the perception that it was moving, to some degree, previously. Was this perception incorrect?
So basically I was gauging by the continuance, or not, of it being 'animated'. Hmm. If there is no outward sign of it being somehow enchanted etc. then Vortigern really isn't equipped/wouldn't have been thinking he could tell on his own. If that is so then add the following to my post.
IC:
After the bright energy strikes the corpse, rolling off and around it in radiant and crackling bolts, the Tremere inspects his work for a quiet moment then turns back to Iohannes taking a breath and letting it out.
"No mark upon it. Yet there possibly wouldn't be, depending on what type of ensorcellment it had upon it. Do you see more?"
Perhaps Iohannes sees a difference in the mystically icky thing moving inside him.
Ah, no, my bad...
If we can’t slay all of these foul abominations isn’t it a good idea to attempt to turn their boat into sticks and then sail away from here. Perhaps use Vispilius flying sticks to slay as many of the walking dead as we can while still escaping their reach. Perhaps it could be a good idea to, in the future, spend some of the covenant’s vis on magical items that aid us in combat against both mundane and diabolical foes? Perhaps even improve our combat abilities without the aid of items.
It's not moving now.
Iohannes says, "It's Infernal, your spell had an effect."
(OOC: The mystically icky thing isn't moving inside him, but does it remain?")
If Timothy says the thing remains:
"Blast it again, Scipio, and finish it off."
If Timothy says the thing no longer remains:
"I think we'll be in good shape if we can keep them from swarming us. Unless Vispilius has something new to tell us, or the enemy has something new to show us, I plan to destroy their ship in a few minutes. Then we shall come about and see what our swimming corpses are up to. We may need to pick them off one by one. I don't particularly want a horde of these things showing up on our doorstep a month from now. Or anyone else's."
Vispillius tries a few experimental blasts at the hull of the ship, to see how sturdy that is, or whether it is as weak as the rest.
He then flies in a bit closer, and sees if the corpses respond to his presence. A few more Dust to Dust spells, thinning out those that occupy the rear deck, and perhaps he can actually get a better view of the inside of the ship...
If not, he swoops in and grabs a chunk of the ship that has been knocked loose by his spells, to act as an arcane connection if needed later. He'll even set foot on the deck, tho' still supported by the flying stave and ready to leave at a moment's notice.
If his efforts seem unproductive, he returns to the other vessel to report back.
You can damage the ship, but it doesn't seem to slow it, much like when the front was taken off the boat and it just spilled out moving corpses instead of filling with water and going down. You can keep going with dust to dust. Eventually this does draw a shower of generic bits of deck flotsam, but none of it hits you. Still want that bit of decking?
His Imagonem spell of only limited duration, Vispilius flies off out of immediate range, renews it once more, then flies in, toward the bow again, to break off a piece, preferably off of something more solid, that might last a while, to use as a connection if needed.
He then returns to the Sanctum, reporting his marginal successes, to confer and plan.
You break off the piece successfully. It feels kind of sticky, and has a slightly elastic, gummy consistency.
Iohannes sees Vispilius returning through the dense fog; he calls out in a loud voice, "Don't bring that aboard."
At some point as he returns to the Sanctum, the Brief Veil of Invisibility wears off, and Vispilius is seen riding the spar, holding one hand out as if in greeting or perhaps feeling the wind rush past it, the second spar follwing in formation next to him. Rather than land on the ship, he brings himself even with the rear deck, a half score paces off, the other stave further still.
"No sign of any alive aboard, the whole is packed tight with the undead, and chained to place down below. The entire ship seems rotted, and yet does not easily yield to being broken apart, and I think I know why, or at least have a line on that particular fish.
"But before I board, do either of you have the power dispel or at least analyze a magical effect, specifically an Herbem one? I do not know the magnitude, but doubt if it is minor. The problem is that it seems to have an element of contagion to it, and I do not know exactly the scope or nature of the method of spreading, beyond direct contact."
He glances at his hand, which he is still holding awkwardly away from his body. His tone remains light, even a bit darkly humorous, as if only he were party to some private joke.
"On the plus side, there seems to be no Corpus element to it... as yet..."
Scipio steps forward, bowing slightly towards Vispilius as he begins to speak. "The corpse you furnished was vulnerable to Arts designed against the Infernal. Perhaps the charm that ails you will be likewise vulnerable. With your leave comrade, I will attempt such a conjuration against it?"
Scipio speaks and moves with a brisk yet formal manner at this time. He comes forward after his bow quickly, to better see Vispilius' hand... and yet he very clearly is not about to take action without explicit leave. The formality of the Tremere is ever present.
"Thank you for being careful. I can probably do that, but not yet; it takes a lot out of me. What do you think would happen if I destroyed the entire ship at once, all the Herbam? Then you could mop up the stragglers with Perdo Corpus, so they don't shamble after us for months. There's something Infernal infesting the corpses, but Scipio seems to have Perdoed it."
"What happened to your hand?"
The course of the ship strayed slightly, and with a thought Vispilius adjusted the Euclidean line that was otherwise the course of his stave.
"Something infernal within the bodies, you say? Hmmm... my hand? With any luck, nothing at all. I tore off a piece of the ship to act as an arcane connection, and it didn't feel right - spongey, sticky with... something that should not be there. Perhaps something akin to what you found.
"I trusted it not a bit, and tested it with a touch against the other stave that I had the fortune to have brought with me," and he gestured to the other flying spar that was hovering further out, beyond the magus.
"The spar immediately turned dark, and went limp and sagged - you can examine it yourself. I can bring it closer, tho' I think we agree that keeping it from touching the ship is paramount. I suspect that it is rotting and equally infectious, and if it is not already I wager it will soon will be as far gone as the ghost ship, which is, I further suspect, largely held together by that same stickiness, if not that alone.
"It's possible that my Parma protected me, but I simply do not know if the substance has greased my hand or not, and if so whether it remains active there. We could readily find out if you have another piece of wood I can grasp, one that is expendable if it proves the infection remains after a touch. The spar showed the infection immediately along its length, but it's possible that any residue on my hand would have an initially more subtle effect - so I'm sure it's unnecessary to recommend the utmost caution on all parts."
He floated a bit closer, but not close enough to touch, and held out his hand for a spar, or for inspection.
"Let's wait on that. I think we're going to have to destroy every bit of that ship, and then destroy the pieces, and then make sure nothing is harming you. Let's not add to the things that have been contaminated and that have to be destroyed. The enemy ship is getting closer; if I perdo every bit of the Herbam, and you perdo the swimming corpses, and you," turning to Scipio, "perdo anything Infernal that might be trying to infest Vispilius," turning back to Vispilius, "based on what you've seen, does that make sense?"
Timothy: Second Sight show anything? Any cats reacting to the floating, possibly tainted magus?
Vispilius gives Iohannes an odd look, then glances to Scipio for a moment, and he mutters in Parisian French, almost strangling in the attempt to recollect the most appropriate of the long unused words -
"Oh, sacre... putain!...."
With a gesture and a loud shout, he casts a spell, and a gaff that was lying secured to the railing springs to life, and tears loose with a wrench, and flies low over the heads of those assembled on the after deck to the hand of Vispilius, who grasps it in the hand in question, and waits to see the result.
"Let's not wait, shall we? Or at least, don't mind if I don't, please," he says with some irritation.
Scipio quirks a brow, his gaze going back and forth between the two other Magi with no small darkening of his expression towards both of them. To Iohannes: "I have offered my services. If he accepts and gives me leave, I will do so. Otherwise I will not. It is not for me to bespell another Magus without leave. I beg you mind the bounds of your authority comrade."
To Vispilius: "I would not continue to bear the wooden fragment you acquired. If it is tainted with the Infernal as things seem to indicate it may well be dangerous in it's own right. I urge you to destroy it. I await the outcome of your test... and your leave should you decide to accept my offer."
Vispilius has only just grasped the object, and holds it, paying some close attention to it's entire length, but his voice has calmed, and returned to Latin -
"It is with utmost frustration that I must accept your generous - and timely - offer, sodales - nothing personal, I'm sure you have an empathy for my position. And fear not, I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment - but depending on what you have at hand, I thought you might be able to analyze one pole or another and glean some information from that comparison. I do not know if the mere touch of that diseased wood can spread from my hand, or it must be wood to wood, and I am loathe to drop my Parma in case that, and that alone, is keeping it at bay.
"But it seems, for the moment, that this spar is not the worse... perhaps our fears are without foundation, even if our caution is not.
"Did you have an Intellego in mind, or were you going straight for a Perdo spell?"