"We haven't identified a tradition, unless they are themselves a unique tradition."
"Well, I shall certainly be interested in hearing how this matter gets handled by the Tribunal," Talus adds, "if at all. It sounds like a sticky situation."
The night wears on with talk of various things up for vote at the tribunal, people brought for punishment by quaesators and disputes between covenants. most of it you do not follow, until the wee hours of the morning when the other magi retire to bed.
Talus turns in when the talk gets to local politics. It was a long day today and promised to be a longer one tomorrow.
The group had originally planned for a longer trip, before realizing the logistical problems, and the next day the majority of the magi from the tribunal begin to arrive, as well as the merchants from outside the tribunal. One is a merchant who deals almost exclusively in Items of Quality, and there are a few who are looking to trade in other magical items. Book merchants are conspicuously absent, aside from one individual who trades in tractatus and commentaries.
Talus wakes with the dawn to renew his Parma, and finds out where to break his fast. Once he's fed, the magus looks for merchants selling books to see what kind of a deal he can get for various texts.
Merchants are just setting up, and you note that most of what is for sale in terms of books are either tractatus or commentaries on the books you have been told are the authorities. The exception to this are some higher level books in aurum, animal, muto and creo. Most of these seem to be what would be classified as vain, or at least below sound. The listing is:
Aurum:
1 text, level:19, Quality:6
Animal:
2 texts, levels 19(quality:3) and 16(quality:6)
Muto:
3 texts: levels:17(quality:3), 16(quality:11), and 19(quality:3)
Creo:
4 texts: levels:18(quality:6), 19(quality:8), 19 (quality:3), and 19(quality:3)
Talus skims over the available texts, largely unimpressed with what he finds. The quality in some was execrable, especially compared to what they could get through the tribunal. But there were a few gems among the rest. He casually requests the asking price for one of the Muto summae and one of the Creo summae.
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How much are they asking for the Mu L16/Q11 summa and the Cr L19/Q8?
They are asking 16 and 19 pawns of vis respectively, but they are willing to negotiate which tractatus or commentaries they will throw in.
I can't help thinking that we'd be better off negotiating for copies (provided later, of course) of the authorities (or in the alternative negotiate for the right to copy some of the authorities). For a start, we ought to get Principles of Order, Wind and Weather, Rock dirt clay, and Basics of Power for a pawn each. After that, some of the middle-to-high level authorities.
Talus would like to see what the cost would be to get copies of the authorities. I know it will be less since we're not in the tribunal. But so be it.
When you speak of it to one of the venders he grins "Don't let any of the redcaps know, they sell those outside the tribunal as sound summae, but I would be willing to get you those at a pawn every 3 levels. Consider the discount an investment in future business." He nods towards the stacks of commentaries on the authorities.
"Very good," Talus replies. "Given those prices, I daresay that my budget will allow me to purchase come commentaries as well. Let me just consult with my colleagues and determine what our precise needs are."
OOC: Any comments from anyone else as to what summae and commentaries we want to get?
I think I'm the last one posting on this thread. Jean Patrick and Kuiji haven't even logged onto the forum since March. How do you want me to handle that?
We will assume they have wandered off and are unable to respond. If we haven't heard from them by the end of this adventure they may be spending some seasons in (or have permenantly transferred to) other covenants.
Seeing no one else around, Talus comes up with a list of his own. "Here's a preliminary list of what we might be interested in." He offers it to the vendor. "I'd say toss in six or eight commentaries as well, preferably in Muto, Perdo, Corpus, Imaginem, Terram, and Vim. But that's flexible. Obviously we wouldn't be looking for immediate delivery." He smiles. "What on the list can you accommodate?"
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LIST
Creo: From art to birth: a study of creative magics: Level 14 Quality:17
Muto: Variance and Theme: Level:14 Quality: 16
Perdo: Study of decay: Level 10 Quality: 22
Aquum: Qualities of Water: Level:13 Quality:18
Corpus: Human Anatomy: Level:15 Quality:15
Imaginem: Principles of Illusions: Level:12, Quality:20
Mentem: Duality and the mind: Level:12 Quality:18
Terram: Salt, stone, and Loam: Level 11 Quality:19
Vim: Fundamentals of power: level:11 Quality: 20
Given that we have next to nothing in the library, I went for some middling books to give us a sound base in a few of the more popular Arts. Really, at these prices we could afford to buy a lot more. But I don't want to push things too far.
He tabulates the order. "One hundred twenty four levels total, that comes to forty one and a fraction pawns, make it forty two and I'll throw in a tractatus on animal (Quality:8). Delivery will take a bit... given the size of the order, I should be able to get them all to you within a year. And which commentaries did you want? I have higher end commentaries on each of these that I can sell you for 2 pawns apiece."
"How about high-end commentaries for Muto, Perdo, Corpus, Imaginem, Terram, and Vim?" Talus replies. "That should do us just fine."
Selecting for commentaries on the books you are purchasing, you get quality:
Muto:15
Perdo:14
Corpus:14
Imaginem:14
Terram:15
Vim:15
Sounds good to me.
"And of course everything will be covered by cow and calf, at least until you join the tribunal, at which point the authorities are no longer covered."