Hah, someone knows my favorite house very well!
I have a bit of a situation here, in 'another walk in the garden' there is an extremely high probability that Bernat and possibly Carlos will die. While technically grogs these are not characters that I feel should be easily discarded, but there are elements of the situation which make it even more dire than I think they realize.
There is one way out, but I suspect it is one they will not think of, and the approach they are currently pursuing is one which only delays defeat.
Something I will throw out there because I suspect most do not know or are not thinking about it- faerie characters have a special flaw called "role requires suffering", without this flaw, faeries take no penalties from injuries less than incapacitating, and they will recover from an incapacitating wound (unless dealt with properly afterwards they will recover from death).
Applying wound penalties should help, and knowing how to keep a faerie down afterwards will definitely help (if they can get the beast incapacitated in the first place). But is that enough? If you want the gogs to survive, is there anything else that can be done to help?
Thanks for the warning! (And Bernat's my Companion, plus Carlos was on track to be promoted...)
Marko, thoughts?
It's worth noting that we already have a senior Tremere magus Master in the covenant (although he's now an NPC), so it would make the most sense that your magus was sent to aid him. I know Vocis was working some angles regarding a Tremere hospital that the Tremere were pushing to establish at Andorra. It's been a while, but I think it was discussed in the "Terror in Transylvania" thread.
Also, it's worth noting that one of the Masters of Andorra is a quaesitor (Solomon, my character) and he is rather conservative and is well-connected with his fellow quaesitores. So, if your magus does have a history with the quaesitores, Solomon would likely know it, and would be unlikely to look the other way just because he's a member of the covenant. Not a big deal as long as he doesn't actually do anything wrong, or is good at hiding it, just providing fair warning.
Carlos was indeed elevated to Companion, I just have not gotten around to updating him (or Roberto, as I am wating on resolution of "The Visitor").
My thoughts? Throw the stupid flower to the beast and run like hell, screw these damn faries, leave this place and never ever return.
Also, I think Silveroak misunderstands Carlos' intent. He fees obligted to make sure the women are safe. He doesn't caare about much else other than survival. In fact, his survivl instinct trumps his concern for the ladies or even Bernat.
I say we cut our losses and run.
And spend Fatigue and Confidence in your Attack & Defense! If you can strike a hit well enough, I will spend my own Fortune to augment the Attack Advantage.
If Bernat dies, Carlos will flee while the beast is distracted getting at the flower. He will eventually return to avenge you, maybe bring his wizaard buddy.
If Carlos dies, said wizard buddy (Roberto) might just charcoal every damn faerie on this island :mrgreen:
PoB brings up a good point. Why is this guy a thorn in the side of the Q's? And a Tremere voting block would not protect you if you are guilty and the charges severe. They may vote in unison to condemn you just to make an example.
However, it could be that the charges were minor and results were useful, so the Tremere want to try to reform him. To do so, they assign him to be the protoge of Vocis Tremere who is off in the Andorran non-Tribunal.
Do note that there is an NPC Tremere Quasitor named Octavian that used to be a member. He was never keen on the odd tribuna status, and begrudgingy accepts that his House finds it useful. He is off in Transylvania at the moment. So is our Vibria of Fambeau, fighting the Dragon Wars. If you are a quick creator, maybe your entry coud be an assignment to assist her current mission.
Also, why the Gentle Gift? I am beginning to think it has become far to common in this saga. Not saying no. Just questioning.
It's more a case of going off and fighting in the odd mundane conflict (and nothing big at that). There's precedence set for a Magus to do just that by the way, provided they don't use magic (ie get caught using it). Given his style of fighting and the complete lack of overt magic, it would be very hard to prove anything. Take a look at the Thebes tribunal book, as memory serves there's a Flambeau Magus who fought during one of the Crusades. So all in all, fairly minor infraction, though technically it's not even one. It's enough to ruffle the feathers of some of the more conservative Q's, but not enough to really cause problems (though it has good story potential!) and I can imagine the more liberal ones are all for expanding the peripheral code.
When I get home tonight I can easily get him whipped up and submitted for review by tomorrow morning. Vacation and all that, so I don't have my library to review. Given his martial inclination it makes perfect sense to have him involved in the war.
As for the gentle gift, I picked it because it makes sense for someone who is designed to lead mundane troops in battle. I imagined that the house would have noticed this (and his martial bent, second son of a noble and all that) and given him that kind of role.
Probably wise. Care to suggest it in character in thread? I'm not sure Bernat's thinking straight enough to identify the flowers as the problem.
That awkward moment when you'll racked your brain for better than three days trying to figure out how to make your magical animal's Power, only to glance at the next higher level on the ReMe guidelines and see exactly what you need there.
Random question, I know Turquoise is considered semi precious by today's standards, but that's largely because of all the synthetics etc. Would it be precious in 1220 or semi? Asking because of enchantments and all that (12 vis vs 15).
From a cursory reading: turquoise is decorative in the lands around Nishapur (the origin of European turquoise), valued highly in Egypt and India, and...barely even recognised in Western Europe. Turquoise won't see much use in Western jewelry until the next century, and won't become fashionable for many centuries after that.
This isn't a particularly helpful answer. Nishapur was recently sacked by the Mongols, and in Andorra we a long, long way away from there regardless. So at a guess, if you can actually get your hands on some turquoise, I'd be tempted to rate it as an equivalent material to gold - or maybe even silver (it really isn't valued in the West at all!). But if not, Western Europe definitely wouldn't regard it as a precious gem. Semi-precious at best.
Semi Precious it is!
There are already absoute categories fr all stones and the classification is timeless. I don't care about relative values for time and place, or that the terminology hints at value. These categries go back to ancient times I think. Even if not, it is not worth research or debate. Look it up on wikipedia, and whatever it says there is good enough for me.
The precious stones are REDS (Ruby, Emerald, Diamond, sapphire), with all other gemstones being semi-precious. The categories do not define actual value as some semi-precious stones may be worth more than some precious stones, depending on color, cut, clarity, inclusions, and other details that affect quality.
Good to know! That makes things less complicated.
Agreed, thanks for the clarification!
And priceless gems would be REDS with exceptional 4 C's, to use modern parlance?
Or perhaps any sufficiently fancy / legendary / master-crafted gem that you spent an adventure to acquire! But yeah, probably stuff with an abundance of carats and such?
very exceptional 4Cs, especially the carats. I believe one of the crown jewels of England is around 350 carats as a single diamond. The display (which I am remembering from high school in the 1980's) didn't mention its clarity color or cut, though the last was clearly exquisite, it's color was white or near white from looking at it and it's clarity was as close to flawless as one could determine without a jewelers loupe- and at a distance of 3 feet which is as close as one could get without getting a very genuine experience of medieval weaponry that the visible guards were armed with.