Fleur approaches Solomon at dinner. "Excuse me, sir, I know we have not always seen eye to eye on things, but given that I am about to go poke a large angry bear, metaphorically, I was hoping I could get some advice from you first."
Solomon sighs, "What bear are you planning to poke, and how may I be of assistance?"
"Vulcanus. I'm planning on claiming his apprentice, and I need to know how far he can legally go in trying to avoid it, and who in his tribunal I should talk to if he goes to far."
Soloomon shakes his head, "That is definitely a large bear to go poking. First, I must strongly recommend against this course of action. However, it is of course your choice, and your privilege as a Bonisagus.
Generally speaking, Vulcanus can do nothing legally to prevent you from claiming his apprentice. Although, if you do not know his apprentice's name, nor any way to identify said apprentice, he could make the legal argument that you can't claim his apprentice, since you can't actually identify what it is you're claiming.
Second, if Vulcanus has taught this apprentice any of his House's mysteries, he could make the argument that you claiming his apprentice could constitute an act of scrying upon the mysteries of the House, and therefore would be a violation of the Code. This is an interesting thought, and I will have to do some research to determine if there is any precedence for that argument.
He could of course simply refuse to hand over the apprentice even after you have properly claimed him. At that point you would have to appeal to the senior quaesitor of the Tribunal, Master Ender Wiggins*, that Vulcanus is in violation of the Code. I would of course aid you in this appeal.
Regardless of all of the rest of this, know that Vulcanus could, and likely would, call a Wizard's War against you should you take this course of action. It is within his rights, and anything he did to you, the apprentice, or any of your possessions would be completely covered by the Code."
((OOC: The Flambeau have no House Mysteries. Valdarins are a secret cult like the Mithrainians or Neo-Mercurians.))
"Given Vulcanus attitudes towards Andorra he could call a wizard war on any of us at any time. I suspect the reason he hasn't is that he was hoping to provoke one of us into declaring Wizard War on him. He can't go through Sa Dragonna without running into someone else's Sanctum, which means he would need to attack over Mallorca. Guiverna confirmed he had taken an apprentice in 1236, while he did not have one when he left in 1234, which means he has been apprenticed at most 5 years, not enough to learn a house mystery. I'll ask Guiverna if she knows the name of the apprentice before I go, thank you for your advice and support.."
She goes to find Guiverna before heading off with Epona and whoever might be interested in going with her...
OOC: Cren is interested in recliing the Phoenix sword and this is what she and Guiverna know...
The SG's botched his math 
Vulcanus had two sons born by a pair of redhead covenant wenches in 1230. Then he married Fedora,had ore kids, then left in 1230 with his bastards and their mothers. The boys he named Modi and Magni. Guiverna has heard Vulc cal them both apprentices, but hs never seen them work magic. She only knew him less than a year though. Yet there is no way of knowing if they are wizard apprentices or smithy apprentices. If they are wizards, then they would indeed know t least the mystery of Valdrian craft magic. Basically a bastardized version of Verditius magic. The Veri have let it slide because the lineage and their mysteries are so small and messing with House Flambeau is suicidal. And they want to learn that one unique mystery they discovered by reuniting the lineages.
Hey, I had four kids and didn't get a single magus/maga among them! 
Vulcanus has at least ten kids by now.
Roll 80 or better on a stress die.
:mrgreen:
The Gift is totally random, and as stated the kids may be blacksmith apprentices.
Also, I have said many times, Statistical Calculus is out of paradigm. The Gift appears when and where the SG and Troupe decide. With cause for stories. Flear4 research aims to disable random whim and assure gifted children. Even if successful, one maga is not enough to spike the average.
Oh, I'm just poking. I have an apprentice now. I'm happy. 
Marko, I believe you indicated that Antoine's found that stealing back the sword would serve as a cult initiation? Or something like that. In which case, Antoine would want to be in on this, if we can get him to hear about it.
I suspect we will want to make a stop at Duerenmar on the way to Waddenzee.
Solomon will make one final point before Fleur leaves, "Fleur, I want to make one thing perfectly clear; if you choose this course of action, you will be undertaking it as an independent Maga, under no official capacity of Andorra. As such, I expect you to utilize only your personal resources or resources of those who choose to accompany you. This will not be seen as an action sponsored by Andorra."
Fleur nods "I understand this. I'm just a Bonisagus looking for an apprentice for a year, not an agent of Andorra. And I will be careful."
Guiverna looks at Fleur with a surprised expression on her face, before her lips tighten into a grim smile. "We're finally going after him, n'est-ce pas? Good! It's about time. I would love to go with you to help you hand his tush to him. His rock-hard...magnificent...
"Let me know if you want me to distract him for a while." She smiles a dreamy smile and licks her lips enticingly as she fondly remembers the times she lay with him.
"I know he has two of his sons with him...or did, at Bellaquin. Calls him his 'apprentices', but they obviously can't both be his Hermetic apprentices, and I didn't see either one of them do any magic. So, he probably means blacksmith apprentices. Whether any of his other children are gifted, I don't know. Or where they are, either, for that matter."
I will go with you for motives of my own. I find your ploys of petty revenge to be ill advised, but I am interested to know if Vulcanus does have Gifted Children. There is a story behind the birth of those two. I will tell you along the way.
But I tell you this. If you take his sons away as your apprentices, I suggest you keep them through Gauntlet.
As for me, I plan to break into his Santum. Do not say anything to Solomon. You see, I have done this before. We found out Wadanzee were fencing stolen goods that belonged to us. And that tower, it used to be the Sanctum of Vulcanus' rival. Forget the guys name. But the rival had an artefact stolen from Vulcanus' deceased Mentor. We stole it back. It was all planned and stupid and whatever. But we were able to track down the identity of the one that attacked the covenant and stole from us, and recovered a portion of our things.
Thing is, there is a regio inside. I snuck in through the top while Bernhard and the others went in the front. I bypassed the traps and met them in the middle.
There is a balcony on that upper floor, looking out into another realm. After we finished our task, I took the long way home.
I flew out and up. I met the storm sheep and took them with me. I found a castle in the sky and met Frey. He tries to romance me but I kept my legs locked. I wasn't sure if it was a magic being, a faerie, a demon, or what. And I ain't risking pregnancy by a baing that claimes it can overcome Longevity infertility.
Yeah, right up your bag.
He also gave me a book on Ignem by Elaine I put in the library. then took me to Valhalla. I pissed Thor off on the Bifrost and never got to go in
He also gave me the Phoenix Egg. When I brought it home, that bitch Vibria stole it from me and hid out in the Eternal Flame and hatched it.
The Phoenix still sleeps in the Flame, and I did promise Frey that I would bring the bird to him when it matured.
Which it now has.
Sometime in the late spring of 1240 Lucas shows up at Fleur's quarters for a brief chat. He has a long and thoughtful face when he arrives.
"It's no secret around the covenant that you intend to try and take an apprentice from Vulcanis," he begins once the pleasantries are finished. "If he has one, that is." Lucas takes a deep breath. "I think this is a fool's errand, and runs the very real risk that you'll become the target of a Wizard War by a very unstable and dangerous magus. You're waking the sleeping dragon in this, and I strongly advise against it."
"That having been said, if there's one thing I've learned in the past seven years, it's that you're incredibly headstrong. Once you get an idea in your head, you're going to run with it until the ends of the Earth. I doubt very much anything I say will convince you to pull back from this idea."
"So I'm left watching one of my sodales go into danger when I know I could help. Because there's no one in the covenant who's as good as me at infiltration. I can make people invisible and silent; I can make people fly; I can make people look different; I can make people harder to hit by targeted traps; I can bypass locks; I can teleport; I can put people to sleep; and I cast all my spells silently. With all due modesty, I'd be a real asset to you in breaking into Vulcanis's new forge."
"I also understand that Antoine is looking at going along with you and trying to retrieve the Phoenix sword. That's two of my sodales going into danger."
"I've thought long and hard about this, and talked it over with Cecelia. I'd like to come along with you and help you and Antoine get in and out of Vulcanis's sanctum safely."
OOC: for clarity, was that Carmen or Roberto?
Fleur thanks each of the Magi. "Before we depart I should explain something here. I am moving forward with this plan, yes, but I am doing so cautiously. I plan to start by going to Duerenmar to see if Vulcanus has even registered a hermetic apprentice, apparently they are considered member of the order in some fashion and my understanding is that they are entered in the rolls kept at Duerenmar. I had no plans to try and penetrate his sanctum, though it sounds as though many of you have more valid reasons to wish to do so. I would appreciate learning to penetrate his sanctum, since if he does declare wizard war on me it would be an invaluable thing to know, especially if Camillus can prevent him from gaining entry to anything significant in my sanctum, and depending on how plans actually play out I would not be averse to attempting this if the situation warrants, especially with so many soldales to aid me. At the same time I want to make sure that everyone is aware that I am not spoiling for a fight here, and do not plan to go charging in recklessly. When everyone who wishes to go still is ready, I believe the gate network can take us to Duernmar, and we will see what we see there."
Once they arrive in Duerenmar Fleur will inquire as to whether they do in fact keep records of apprentices, and if so whether Vulcanus has a registered hermetic apprentice.
Having a hard time not to laugh...
I advise very much against breaching his sanctum, nor will I aid you on this. This is unlawful to the extreme.
But, should someone unrelated to andorra breach the Oaf's sanctum, I hope they'll take some arcane connection that, should god will it, will one day happen upon your hands, just in case.
That was Carmen. She speaks in purple
The story she told, that is the paraphrased events of an actual story we played run by Ryu (who was Vulcanus).