Plasmatoris gets a few of the older boys together and sends them out for an impromptu survey.
Okeannetis examines her lab, which appears to be designed with safety (+3) in mind while it does nothing to ameliorate the effects of the surroundings on her health (-2), though it is impressive (aesthetics+4) in part because of the guardsman and defenses that have been erected, presumably to help with any wizard wars, suggesting she has taken a defensive position. It favors experimentation (+1), and improvement of the familiar bond (+3), along with the arts of Muto(+1) and animal(+2). While it seems it could be rearranged to focus the animal pen on animal instead of the familiar bond that might be unwise since the refinement (4) she has made is not something she could repeat at her current level of understanding.
In his writings Silas discovers that the cross is enchanted with Demon's Eternal Oblivion, as is one of the wands, though the cross is enchanted to cover a room target, presumably the entire lab, while the wand would need to be pointed at the demon or suspected demon- both items have 16 penetration. Of significant interest is the fact that the cross has unlimited charges in a day and is apparently triggering every minute or so. He also discovers that another one of his wands is capable of inflicting leprosy. You find a text for constructing the wooden automatons you have seen around and imbuing them with an ability at woodcraft, apparently more ability than you currently possess, and you appear to have made one of these into a form of forge companion, provided one for teh covenants use, and made others to trade with other Verditious who constructed automatons imbued with other skills- from your correspondance it would seem the covenant has automaton masons, smiths, jewelers, glass blowers, leatherworkers, tinkers, candlemakers, brewers, cooks, percemanarius, ink makers, bowyers, armorers, and you have made some not imbued with skills as general laborers.
After going through his own note Silas sits down and thinks for himself. Demons seems to have been a concern of mine. I wonder if it comes from experience. Well no matter. That cross does seem to rule out one realm Jessica could belong to...
Silas examine the automata in his lab. I really should put it to use before it falls apart due to neglect. I might have to learn the mystery quicker than before just to keep all these machines functioning.
Silas returns to the kitchen and helps himself to some of the fruit and vegetables he spotted earlier. Silas heard much about the aura and its affect on food so hes curious to try it for himself. As he sits down he raises his voice.
"Jessica I am gonna eat a little, will you join me?"
Argentius sits with the three rings placed on his desk, the lab notes describing them neatly organized to the side. He reaches up and lightly touches each ring as if connecting with something sacred. He releases a deep breath with a long, controlled exhalation and then places each ring on a finger of his right hand: gold on index, gold on middle, and silver amethyst on pinky.
The magus stands and whispers into his right hand, activating the silver pinky ring's aura reading capability, his intention to understand better the aura in his lab.
When he finishes this effort, Argentius returns to studying his lab and how it has been set up and organized, what benefits it might present, what challenges are evident, with a particular eye toward anything it my tell him about his future-past self.
Occasionally, the Verditius glances over to where he put the date or looks in any other likely spot a rodent named Fingers might have made a nest.
Jessica sits down with Silas and places a bit of steak on the enchanted plate, cooking it instantly before she starts eating alongside Silas.
note on the pinky ring- it has a day effect and will also trigger at sunrise and sunset if being worn at the time, targeting your senses. Argentius instantly feels a gentle caress that indicates he is in a magical aura.
The lab looks expensive (3 upkeep) and impressive (3 aesthetics) and clearly designed for making magical items (+2), though the enchanted lighting might cause some irregularities in the process (warping 1), with a heavy focus on intelligo (+4), and a slight benefit to teaching (+2), texts (+1), Perdo(+1, from the surroundings), and Imaginem (+1), as well as a slight overall increase in quality (+1 general quality)
Silas finishes his food and looks up at Jessica. Absentmindedly he begins tapping his fingers lightly at the table as he speaks.
âI have asked you loads about myself but havenât taken the time to inquire about yourself yet. I must admit I thought you wouldnât be eating food, but I suppose even if there is no need one can still partake. What exactly are you Jessica? What are your plans for now?â
Jessica shrugs "I am your muse, I am here to inspire you, and your artwork. I suppose I don't have to stick around, I might go try and find out what has happened with the missing time for myself, if you have no need of me. On the other hand I would suggest you study our old artwork for a bit and build your abilities back to what they were, your fame as an artist is not going to benefit from the works you can produce as this younger version of yourself."
Argentius pauses again and again in his investigation through the lab, his lab! His fingers trace along beautiful fixtures as well as the more expensive components in the lab. The expression on his handsome young face is one of awe and wonder if not occasionally surprise. Throughout the exploration he keeps looking for a rodent nest or cubby, occasionally speaking aloud.
"Fingers? Are you nearby? Come say hello. There's more figs if you're hungry."
The magus returns to the table and area where he kept/keeps his lab notes and writings. He whispers again into his cupped right hand before pressing the ring to any notes, papers, or journals that might refer to any role he had in the administration or running of Al Kufra. Argentius is curious to see how the plain gold ring on his middle finger reveals the history of a book. He uses it with loose collections of papers, bound and unbound lab notes, any bound journals or any books or tomes. He is methodical in his study of the ring's ability, organizing the writings into types and pressing the ring to one of each type to understand the effect better.
âNo need of you? Quite the opposite, I can think of a great many things I could use you for. My intentions are certainly to regain whatever skill I have lost. Though I might be forced into a slightly different path this time around. Demand can push creativity just as much as a beautiful being. Despite me having little hold over you and it being a very egotistical request I would prefer if you stayed here. I donât imagine you would necessarily feel contempt being contained in this building alone but thatâs what would be the best. A secret ally is the most powerful kind.â
Silas pauses briefly and examines her. She still hasnât told me much about herself, no hint of origin or realm. Well, no matter. There will be more time to pry laterâŚ
âYou want me look through my artwork? I too am curious though hesitant at the same time. There must be some meaning behind packing them into that crate. First it made sense â as you explained it anyways â I just came home from a trip, but we now know the year isnât 1260. Did I undertake another trip and returned yesterday? Did I attempt to flee but didnât make it out in time? Is this some order that I never managed to ship off? If I start undoing too many things, I might never find the answers. I will leave the crate be for now, I shall make new pieces and hone my skill once more. All in that box will soon be outshined, as will whatever rings that Argentius can cook up. A toast to that!â
Silas laughs and raises his beverage at Jessica.
Jessica smiles and drinks the wine with your toast. "Perhaps you could unpack one of the later pieces, leave the rest where it is, but I would expect those to be the pieces you could learn the most from studying, and at this point you will certainly learn more from studying than doing. The first time around you produced a single piece of artwork before studying the works of masters abroad, despite the snubbing you got before your amulet, and spent years in study before offering up your own work."
Once the lads are out and doing the work he needs, Plasmatoris will finally head to his labroatory. Having already reviewed his Studio, the lab is the next most natural thing. He the first hour or so just studying the setup, making notes on the lab's design and specialties. Then he goes looking through lab notes to see what he had worked on in the past, and what he had planned to work on in the future. Perhaps there's a clue to our state, if I really botched some new spells. Should he a place where he feels the butterfly would be comfortable, he'll make sure to make the Rainbow aware of it.
And for the most part, he's going to do his best not to harass the faeries around. When the faeries start straining his patience, he's going to head out to look at how the older boys are doing on their survey.
"Another task," he says, to them. "We are going to need a list of food supplies. And what professions everyone has been training for." I don't think anyone here actually finished their training, did they? We've all reverted to barely our peak of youth.
Silas drinks a little more of his own wine. Heâs still feeling rather cheerful. Despite the circumstance, with some good food and drink anything can feel normal. The company isnât unpleasant as well, though Silas canât help but think Jessica could improve somewhat as a listener and praise him a little bit more.
âI was rather methodical. Well I guess thatâs what I would expect from myself. All this traveling around I am not so sure about. But I suppose I thought the risk was worth the reward. To become great, one must study the greats. But your suggestion is tempting Jessica⌠Yes taking out a few pieces wouldnât do any harm⌠After all its for the sake of returning my abilities. And I shall carefully note down what I take and from where.â
Silas finishes his drink and gets up. Rubbing his hands together in glee he looks at Jessica.
âDo you have any suggestion on where I should start? Any item that caught your attention in my absence?â
Plasmatorius explores his lab- and discovers it has 8 levels of refinement, seems a bit above normal in terms of general quality (+1) and is very impressive (aesthetics 11). As might be expected it focuses heavily on imaginem (+9), with safety being a significant consideration (+5), though it looks like it might cost a small fortune to maintain (upkeep +4), beyond that it will be of benefit for experimentation(+2) and teaching (+2), while the surrounding landscape gives a benefit(+1) to perdo. Your lab notes suggest you were working on spells to improve the aesthetics of artwork, trying to merge art and magic, though it looks like the furthest you got was a spell to modify a piece of art after it was completed, which trades a bit of its natural beauty for a-hopefully larger share of magical beauty based on finesse.
Jessica replies"I do have my eye on what seems to be the most advanced piece that I don't recognize." She gives Silas a smile and heads to the crate with the pieces in it, pulling out a woodwork scene from the crusades, very violent and gory, you can almost feel the heat and rage of battle when you look at it. (Artistic quality 21)
Argentius continues his experimentation with the plain gold band on his middle finger, pressing the ring to any notes, papers, or journals that might refer to any role he had in the administration or running of Al Kufra. Argentius is curious to see how the plain gold ring on his middle finger reveals the history of a book. He uses it with loose collections of papers, bound and unbound lab notes, any bound journals or any books or tomes. He is methodical in his study of the ring's ability, organizing the writings into types and pressing the ring to one of each type to understand the effect better.
Occasionally he pauses and looks about the lab for Fingers, sometimes quietly calling out to the rodent.
Fingers does not appear, and Argentius finds he had no apparent role in the administration of the covenant, instead he seems to have spent much of his time searching for the rings, having tracked down a number of tombs that he believed they might be buried in based on inheritances of arab nobility which returned from Spain. He has a few leads towards the end which he has not followed up on yet, one tomb which he just located and two more than he has only the name of the town they would be located in.
He also has a number of texts in Arabic that extend from the 8th century to a mere 200 years ago, which from their histories were largely written by nobles or lawyers and have much grief associated with them.
Silas takes it from her and studies it. The longer he holds it the more excited he gets. He examines it from each angle and seems entirely focused on it for some time. Still holding it tightly in his hands he speaks with a wide smile on his face.
âOh, I see why it grabbed your attention. Its quite the piece! One shouldnât praise oneself but look at the carvings, the composition and the material. I must say I am not very familiar with these knights â nor I am sure why I picked such a scene â but the emotion it draws out of you is something else. How could I hide this away in a box? I need to rectify this! Where is my studio? I will place it in the very centre of it! I wonder if it has been prepared for enchantments⌠Otherwise I should rectify that as well!â
Silas examines the piece once again searching for any runes along it.
At a natural break in Argentius's study of his lab notes and writings, he walks back toward his living quarters and stops by the kitchens.
"Nicole? Please leave a few figs out for Fingers. I'm hoping he returns." The magus smiles before heading out of his quarters into the covenant proper. Just before leaving his quarters, he whispers the key words into his right hand, activating the silver amethyst pinky ring in hopes of helping him learn more about the covenant proper, any auras associated with it and any potential regio entrances. He'll also have activated the index finger ring's translation capability.
Stepping out into the sunlight, Argentius walks slowly but methodically about the compound. If he sees any covenfolk, he smiles a greeting and might stop and talk with them. His intention is to get a lay of the land, a sense of the place and the people.
He's also on the hunt for any common treasury or vis storage location. If the other labs are on par with his own, the financial circumstances (mundane and arcane) could quickly become a problem.
Should he see a statue, he will likely stop and talk with it as well.
It reassured her that her lab was well built, and designed to be a safe haven from these upstart Bjornaer, but now it was time to put her texts to order.
She began to collect every bit of research she worked on into one pile, to be pursued later, and began to look for any lab texts she had. Surely, in that amount of time, she has done some enchantments, even those of the bond, that she can learn from. But she was curious to see whether she has left behind any Talisman.
Silas finds no runes nor, as he considers the question, does he remember having a studio in this sanctum.
Argentius' translation effect requiress the targeting of a group, but it can be cast an unlimited number of times per day, rather than being a constant effect. He speaks with several of the covenfolk who are very respectfull as he talks with them, and the do direct you to a building, the same size as a normal house, where the covenant vis is stored.
Okeannetis finds that most of the enchantments she has done have been on her familiar bond, and she does not discover any talisman to date.
Silas gently puts down the woodwork on the table and takes a few steps back to observe it. He mumbles to himself as he looks at it for some time.
âWhat a waste⌠This need to be rectifiedâŚâ
He shakes his head and clear his mind. No studio? Though of course it wouldnât be inside my sanctum. that would destroy the whole point. I should find it nonetheless. Should be in one of the adjacent buildings. Perhaps I could get one of these woodmen to take me there? Or some servant.
âJessica, I am heading out again. I would appreciate if you could keep a low profile until I know more. Would you mind staying in here for now? And pretending you arenât here if someone comes asking for me.â