If he does not see his quarry among the young men, he'll expand his search. Young women, perhaps? Or smaller children of either sex? He does not want to be intrusive to avoid offending the sensibilities of the villagers, but he'll continue looking for anyone who fits the build.
There are a number of women in the village, both young and old, who could fit the build defined by the belt, though you do not notice anyone with a conspicuously incongruous belt.
Okay, Penko will report back to the mages and Garcin. He's not willing to push such a minor thing that probably means nothing.
On a side note, do you subscribe to the idea that people with related languages can communicate, such as that found under the Andorra house rules? If so, Garcin's Spanish of 7 might be comprehensible by the villagers that speak Italian. If so, He's just LOVE to go hang out with the pretty young things in the village. Of course, Penko and the magi know where that will lead. If the magi are unwilling to let him off the leash, he'll at least amuse the youngsters by storytelling (Com+Language=8, needs adjusting for language barrier), perhaps the tale of the Phoenix?
I follow the rules as presented in The Sundered Eagle, roughly- roughly in that you will never achieve high-end communication going cross language, but in terms of being able to convey ideas it will work. So story telling will convey a rough idea of the plot and seduction will need to rely on something more than a clever tongue.
Itallian and Spanish would be at roughly -3 each way, so French at 5 would allow you to convey ideas as if you had a 2 in Itallian.
The afternoon was closing to an end, and some villagers were already starting to heat fire to cook the evening meal. Penko and Garcin had came back without information about the owner of the mysterious belt. Antonius was sitting with Tomas and Cheech, speaking about their impressions about Skorba and what they had found so far.
-You know, Tomas, I am really intrigued by the mysterious belt. I would bet that the person to which is belong knows a lot more than us about the secrets of the ruins of this temple. Perhaps there is a group of women that still practice ancient fertility rites here. He hands a figurine to Tomas and one Cheech I don't know, it just seems the aura of this site would have remainded that strong without any magic being performed here.
Antonius remains quiet for a few minutes, thinking about the various possibilities:
-There are a few hours of sunlight left, but today was a long day I wouldnt mind heading back to the camp before dinner... Still... I wonder. And if we come back, it is more than probable that the arcane connection will have faded. Maybe we can try one last thing ? What if the belt itself would guide us to the woman ? Maybe if we had a map of the village itself it would be easier. And oh ! That's it !
Excited, Antonius stand up and begins to cast, what Tomas can discern to be a rego vim formulaic spell (Opening the intangible tunnel with the arcane connection Casting total : sta 2 + 23 rego +23 vim+ 10 aura = 55, 33 penetration; I forgot to add it on the first page of my character, but it is supposed to be there, if you look at my seasonal advancement on page 5, winter 1207)
-I have establish a connection to whomever this belt belongs. Let's now solve this mystery !
Antonius proceeds to eagerly mix the arts of intellego, corpus and imaginem to cast a spontaneous spell through the intangible tunnel (Like The Eye of the Sage, but range touch InCo(Im) 15 casting total : 2 sta+10 aura+5 intellego+imaginem/corpus 10 die roll 1 and 10... so 10 = 37, ok, with 3+7 penetration)
)
You feel the intelligo spell push through a weaker magical defense (not the intangible tunnel- if there was magical defense against that it blew it out of the water), and see a young woman, probably in her later teens, sitting at a kitchen table shopping vegetables. She has black hair, olive skin, and green eyes.
For a while, Antonius seems absent, gazing in the distance; his attention his focused on the young woman. And over a few seconds, as the spell ends, he becomes aware of his immediate surrondings again.
- "I knew it Tomas ! The belt belongs to a young lady, and she does seems to have some measure of magical powers, as the spell was opposed by some form of magical resistance, altough somewhat weak. I wonder if she has the Gift... If she does, and her Gift hasnt yet been by some other lesser magic tradition, it might be possible to teach her our art !" says Antonius, visibly excited.
-"Well, I hope so, but if we cannot teach her the hermetic arts, imagine what she could tell us about this place ! And she might know other local practionner of magic; I think it would be appropriate to come to a certain understanding with them and not settle here as conquerors."
As soon as he is done talking, Antonius and back to the village, and enquire to everyone he meets until he finds out where the woman resides.
Tomas and Cheech will follow Antonius, mostly to see just what happens.
Garcin as well. Penko is going to finish dinner.
While you recall the unique features of the woman you glimpsed her description is fairly typical for this village, and it doesn't take long for you to realize that different people are giving you directions to different houses. You finally get it narrowed down to three houses, but by this time most of the villagers seem to be in for the night.
As the sun dissapearing behing the hoziron, and candles are lit inside the villagers' dwellings, Antonius, Tomas, Cheech and Garcin are sitting near the well, and still no sight of the mysterious young woman.
-"It is late; the day has been long and to be honest with you I am quite tired. We did not bring any material to establish a temporary camp in the ruins; and even if we did, I would rather much sleep in a comfortable bed. Let's try a more direct approach; it might work, and if it doesn't I would be in favor of calling it a day, what do you think", says Antonius to Tomas while kicking a small rock with his foot. " then starts to cast using subtle gesture.
(Open the intangible tunnel ReVi 30, and then cast Words of the unroken silence CrMe 5 (base 2, +1 touch, +1 diameter) , 2 sta + 11 mentem + 7 creo + 7 die -3 subtle gesture= 24, 14 of penetration)
"Most pleasant evening to you, young lady. Don't be afraid, these words are spoken by me, Antonius, one of the ... sahir that came to the village today, but only you can hear them. I would very much like to discuss with you. If you wish so, you can meet me neart the village fountain or near at the old temple ruins, in an hour. We did happen to find one of your belonging there, a belt, and I would like to give it back to you in person. If you don't come, I will leave it where my friend's companion found it, in a bush not too far from the ruins."
This time you encounter no noticeable resistance, and an hour later nobody shows up.
Assuming everyone is heading back by starlight at this point, I'll give 7xp
For confidence:
Tomas:2
Antonius:3
Penko and Garcin will both go Arabic 5 and Italian 2
For Tomas, 5 in Corpus, 2 in concentration.
Add 1 confidence for Cheech as well...
Okay for this:
5 XP in charm (villagers) , because I didnt got run out of town by an angry mob.
2 xp in vim because I did cast a lot of vim stuff