(( With no actual mention of information from the young scribes, and the fact we're gathering for lunch, I assume they haven't gotten back to me in the time that has passed. ))
"Rainbow," he thinks to the butterfly that has become bound to him. "It sounds like you don't have any recollection of meeting me, or spending any time with me. Is that correct?" he tries to speak with the butterfly, apparently his familiar. He tries to carry on some level of conversation to find the butterfly's interests, and its abilities, as well as re-establish whatever rapport he had that allowed him to bind it as a familiar.
After learning this, Zarkut heads to his laboratory. Once there, he will suspend his Parma and try to examine himself, for any active effects. (Which incidentally I believe would include a Longevity Ritual if he has one active.) He will also take further stock of his laboratory, trying to learn it's capabilities but also trying to figure out what the last thing was that he was working on.
Should I assume this examination is an improvised InVi spell?
Zarkut has a size 2 lab with magical (superior) lighting, a (lesser feature) balcony, (lesser feature & lesser focus) desk, (lesser feature)map, (lesser feature) mirror, along with his collection of relic specimens (plus universal vile surroundings), the lab is somewhat refined(2), it is not great for general usage (-1 GQ), but only moderately expensive (upkeep 1), and not great for your health either (-2 health), though fairly impressive (aesthetics 5) and heavily focused on learning (In+5), with some focus on spells (+1), texts(+1), Pe(+1_. Im(+1), and te(+1)
Silas smile at Jessica prior to gathering the Casting Tools he recognizes. Before he leaves, he takes a last look around his laboratory. Trying his best to memorize how it looks and where everything is placed.
Well outside Silas try to get a hold on some servant who speaks Latin, asking to be taken to his studio. He approaches different groups of people and asks them questions in Latin. Quickly moving on if they donāt answer in the same language. Silas does try his best to gauge how people react to him. Of course his Gift means that most will have a negative reaction but hopefully he can get some information beyond this.
The investigation thread is supposed to be for the investigations prior to lunch, and lunch is still in progress, so it has not been responded to because it hasn't happened yet.
Plasmatoris is delighted to re introduce himself to Rainbow, and show off his work. He will even praise searching his lab to find some younger individuals and ask them for information on the butterfly - where it liked to fly around, where it usually slept, if there were any garden areas it enjoyed - and pad this on to Rainbow before remembering his task and returning to search for recent lab notes and experiments.
Lares enters the library from the council chambers and starts looking for a ledger that could shed light on the resources and mode of subsistence of the covenant.
Going through his correspondence the first thing to jump out to Aetherius is all the hermetic mail is directed "in care of the covenant of Cairo" where it would appear a Mercere portal was installed some time ago. There are also many orders for copies of texts which you find in your sanctum as well- A summae on Area Lore:Cairo (L:8 Q:16), one on the seeker profession in Egypt (L:8 Q:16), a translation guide for hyroglyphs to Latin (L3, Q:14) and a pair of tractatus on magic lore:magics of Egypt(Q:11) and The Hungry Desert(Q:12) other titles:
Bidayat al Mouridin (Arabic) theology(sufI) tractatus:9
Ouns al Wahid (Arabic) theology(sufI) tractatus:9
Tahfat al Arib (Arabic) theology(sufI) tractatus:9
Diwan (Arabic) (collection of poems) theology(sufI) tractatus:9
Kitab al-iātibar (On Reflection) theology(sufI) tractatus:10
Kitab khawass al-huruf (Characteristics of Letters) theology(sufI) tractatus:10
Tawhid al-muqinin (The Certain Profession of the Oneness of God) theology(sufI) tractatus:10
Incoherence of the Philosophers theology(sufI) tractatus:8
The Deliverer From Error theology(sufI) tractatus:8
The Revival of Religious Sciences theology(sufI) tractatus:8
The Jerusalem Tract theology(sufI) tractatus:8
The Revival: Summa, Theology: Islam (Level 5, Quality 8)
As Silas finishes count and inspecting the vis storage, he excuses himself from the group. Quite pleased with everything discovered. He returns to his original errand of trying to find some covenfolk who speaks enough Latin to take him to his studio, if such a building does exist. As he walks around between the groups of covenfolk, he thinks to himself. If only I had a covenant map, maybe such a thing would exist though I doubt it. I suppose we need to have one madeā¦ I should ask whoever is capable of guiding me to give me a full tour after I inspect my studio.
So these are texts that Aetherius would have made available for copying Milvi Antiquiti-style, rather than orders he made. Would there be any unfulfilled orders at this point? Aetherius will scroll the seeker profession book a bit just to have an idea of what kind of profession this is.
Silas finds someone who speaks Latin, though not fluently, and they seem confused when you are talking about your studio.
The seeker profession seems to be unique to Egypt, and is essentially the profession of raiding tombs seeking magical or valuable artifacts, including tips on recognizing and disarming common traps along with guidelines for what fees or bribes need to be paid and other odds and ends.
Zarkut finds no traces of any active magic upon himself.
Also assuming we can continue post-luncheon investigations here.
Plasmatoris is going to seek out the scholars he's been talking to and sending to speak with people, and will find the one he feels most suited to acting as an interpreter. His goal for the day - possibly for a few days - is to get as much information on the current state of the covenfolk as he can. Ideally he can find someone who's better at organization and perhaps trained as a chamberlain or leader to try and finish the task better - but he expects anyone with such training forgot about it once their history was erased.
Other than getting a full list of residents, he in particular wants to speak to the younger members, and figure out who was acting as chamberlain, steward, turb captain, librarian - basically, he wants to figure out who had positions of authority, and see if he can get them heading back towards those roles.
Obviously (in retrospect), Plasmatoris would also seek out anyone who worked with him in the past, and would possibly get along better with him. And he definitely wants to figure out who all the crafters in the covenant are, assuming there ARE any crafters, and they weren't all replaced by the Verditius mechanisms.
Zarkut will then try an improvised spell [InCo 5, sense a specific piece of information about a body, Mom/Per/Ind - Aura 8 + Sta 2 so he can do it with 0's in the Arts] to identify whether or not he is infertile, as (I think) someone who had once been under a Longevity Ritual would be, even if the Ritual were dispelled.
Despite his initial cheerful mood Silas get a bit frustrated trying to communicate with the servant. As he canāt make the person understand what he is seeking, he tells him to bring someone who is more fluent in Latin to him, or even better someone who is familiar with his work and needs.
Looking expectedly at the servant Silas thinks for himself. How annoying these language barriers are. It couldnāt be that that they couldnāt aid me since my studio doesnāt exist, could it? No surely not. Even if guest or customers werenāt common, I am fairly certain I would have wanted one just for meeting my fellow covenant members. Besides all these building must have something inside themā¦