Note: as a house rule, I am making Aegis suppress the negative effects of The Gift. It is one of the reasons why magi like to stay at their covenants. It also means that inside an Aegis it is difficult to say if someone is a magus or not, and that the "away" teams of covenants tend to be less loyal. This serves to justify people interacting normally even if some of the characters are Gifted and did not know each other before
In the bailey people seem to be stopping their activities to observe the newcomers and the flurry of grandiose antics they are performing. The boy that Boniface has addressed runs into the inner bailey (if that can be its name: only a low wall foundation is in place, with some chickens roosting on it) and disappears into the main keep.
As Remi is talking to you you all hear a ruckus coming from the outer bailey through the half open door. A kid comes in running through the door connecting to the keep, and after a small bow approaches Remi and tells something to his ear. Thank you Pierre. Seems more of our guests have arrived. We were not expecting them today, but we can receive them. Fetch them in.
As the pair of newcomers enter the foyer a pair of house maids bow and disappear scurry into the upper floor. you see Morris appear through the library door and greet you formally. Welcome to Triamore mylord and mylady. We were expecting you. may I serve you a refreshment after your trip? he gesturs to a small girl that runs downstairs, proably to fetch some wartered down wine and snacks. If not, the lord of the house will receive you in the great hall once you are ready.
Frere Sulpice chuckles and answers: I am impressed by your librarian. My compliments! She not only knows, where the valid copies are. No, she also knows the little problems of Triamore's history well enough to make a good joke of them at the right time! She will certainly be an excellent aide for problems hailing from recent changes in canon law as well. Please ask her, whether the decisions of the 4th council of the Lateran, which our prince bishop has helped to make, are arriving from Paris!
Then he bows to Remi. Given, that I am already a member if the Order of Hermes, I have no problems to help my sodales in maintaining this place of learning and join their covenant.
As Honorine is shown in, she looks around in the room, draws her hat and bows, then speaks briefly in Latin: I am Honorine Filia of Honors, RedCap of the Order of Hermes and detailed to Triamore. I bring letters and books from Paris for Daria, Remi and Sulpicius.
A rotund figure follows Honorine into the council chamber. The blad man is dressed in burnt orange robes with greenish-blue pants peeking out from under the robes.
"Master Remi! So good to see you again! It has been, what, almost ten years now? How is Mistress Daria?" He approach the senior magus to shake his hand.
Turning to the newcomers, he exclaims, "And who are these? New members of the covenant? How magnificient! I am Boniface of Ghent, philosopher of Chartres, responding to the invitation of Triamore." Turning back to Remi, his tone is more somber, he adds, "I was very sorry to hear that Aline had passed away. You have my condoleances."
Boniface then moves to an empty chair and sits down, smiling at everyone.
EDIT: Removed the references to Daria being present, as she left before Boniface and Honorine arrived.
Sophie listens to Remi carefully, keeping some of the prior things she has heard in mind. "I would be happy to take the oath, though I do not fully understand the magic it provides." (OOC - Those who met her outside will know she either has the Gentle Gift or no Gift at all.)
With the commotion, she turns to pay attention to whatever is going on. Sophie rises as the new people arrive. She politely replies, "Pleased to meet you both, though I have no idea what a Redcap is. I am Sophie, the local 'wise one' and 'faerie doctor.'"
Note: Daria is not in the room. She left a few minutes ago but will receive the newcomers this afternoon.
Remi answers to Sophie and the others as Boniface and Honorine enter the room.
Excellent! he says with a grin. We will surely appreciate the divdersification of abilities that you are bringing to the covenant. As you would expect there will be a probation period, but I am sure you will become sodales in brief time
As the door opens and the newcomers arrive with Morris he recovers some of his more formal stance until the antics of heavyweight man make him grin again. Welcome to our humble dwelling he says in a theatrical gesture. It seems Remi is in a great mood today. You do not know if he is always like that or just doday but there is no mustaking that he is enjoying himself. The grandeur of the great hall is not what most of you would call a humble dwelling. Not grandiose by magus standards, but well above what the hall of most nobility that you have seen looks like.
He is more formal with Honorine, but he recognizes her as a fellow sodales and she is addressed as a current member of the covenant already. House Mercere has that influence over the Order. And as Honorine knows Triamore requested to have a resident redcap. Welcome to your new home milady. we hope your new base of operations and rooms suit your tastes. Morris will show you your rooms to you later today. Our librarian Isabelle will examine the books that you brought for us when you have the time to spare and visit her.
He looks at Boniface and seems to like what he sees. He approaches the big man and clasps his arm in Boniface's. Welcome back my discrete fellow. I see that you have grown. That would be insulting if Remi had not teased Boniface in similar ways when he was a teenager in Triamore and in his visits to Ghent. Remi was way thinner than the elementalist, but he enjoyed a good meal as well. Just not as frequently. he tended to eat like a starving wolf in Boniface's opinion.
His face darkens somewhat when Boniface mentions Aline and he acknowledges the sympathy. Thank you sodales. It seems to have been a lab accident on a Monday. We hope she did not suffer and that her soul reached purgatory in good condition since she took mass the previous day.
He proceeds to introduce the same information that Daria told the 3 previous candidates to the new arrivals. His tone is more jovial an less formal, but the content is more or less the same.
OOC: Note that despite the name, Aline is described as male in the Triamore book. I edited my previous post to reflect Daria's absence.
Boniface laughs, "I'm afraid so! The pleasures of the table have always been a weakness of mine, and time only seem to push to to other excesses. You've been to Paris, my friend, so you know of the delectable delicacies that can be found in the city. And the women also!"
"That all seems very reasonable. As you know, I am already a member of the Order of Hermes, and would be quite happy to join Triamore as a member."
Remi thanks you all for your time and for having come to the meeting. Honorine will be automatically a member of the covenant, the rest will be on a probationary status for a while. That means that what you could do automatically under other circumstances (free usage of the covenant's resources) will be subject to Member approval. Not a major problem in any case.
You all will have unrestricted access to the library in the meantime, and you will be assigned living quarters and, if available and you need it, laboratory space. There is available space in the kitchen area, in Ulisterious tower and above the stables, as well as in front of Daria's rooms, the best ones and the ones with the largest space for a laboratory. The old labs of Aline are out of bounds because “something” is there, and they are not fully sure what it is. The area is pitch black and dangerous. None of you seem to require a very big lab even if the rules for Elementalists do not specify lab space required for Refining). the chapel might be discussed as a laboratory space, but will be frowned upon if it prevents the space being available for religious services.
(Fade to black)
While you are in the covenant and talking to Morris and Remi, you learn the information about the surrounding political and supernatural situation. Surprisingly the magi of Triamore seem at a loss regarding the supernatural community around the covenant. Except when Remi talks about infernal witches. You detect a hatred there. There are no remaining infernal witches in Namur. he tells you with some satisfaction, as if it was a personal thing. Maybe it was…
The apparent information on the village and castle (main characters, main assets, enchantments, the fact that it is unfinished...) are also learned by the characters. there is concern about the capacity of the castle to withstand even a medium assault as it is. The outer wall has huge gaps that are only being covered by a stout palisade, so any usage of even limited siege equipment (a ram) can open holes in the defenses. Apparently, Daria was working on that, but she decided to abandon the project recently. After seeing her you all understand why.
The registered vis sources of the covenant are the pool of the stone horse, the painted cave and the 3 sisters. And of course, the library. Right now there is an acolyte from Verdun reading a tractatus on the life of saint Peter and the banishing of demons there, but no visitors: you all took the space generally reserved for visitors in a given season.
Daria receives Honorine and Boniface in the great hall later in the afternoon. She is seated in his chair at the head of the room when you enter, and she does not rise during the interview. She is much worse than Boniface remembers, and this saddens you. She was always an upright stern woman, and seeing her having difficulties remaining straight pains you.
Daria is clearly ill. Not terminal yet, but she is unlikely to survive for long years. You know it, she knows it and she knows that you know it. She is still the regal lady of the manor, but has no illusions about her long term survival. The current influx of 5 new Milites (Boniface, Honorine, Sulpice, Sophie and Yannis) is clearly a project to boost the covenant as she fades from the world.
She also tells you (and the others get it from other sources and herself during the next days) about the political stance of Triamore as a political shield of non hermetic supernatural traditions against the Ash Guild of the Rhine tribunal, that advocates extermination of non-hermetic casters (despite this being an unreachable project). Triamore is bbuilt in a spirit of cooperation, so even if any of the new casters decides not to join the Order or the Covenant as a full member, she expect you to hang around as trusted associates. She would like for triamore to keep up that political stance in the future. Being smart people you notice that this might change as Remi seems to like removing witches from the face of Mythic Europe from his words...
Boniface's comments to Remi and Daria are pretty much the same.
His Blatant Gift makes him unsuited to interaction with most mundanes, so he feels it would be best if he stayed away from them. If there is something he can do, he will. But he expect others to take the lead there.
He is very much in favor of preserving the spirit of cooperation with all tradition, hermetic or otherwise, provided they are not infernally motivated. In fact, his own research could benefit from good relations with various traditions. So he is very interested in contributing to this.
He is also eager to dive into the library. A little space for a lab would be welcome, for activities such as extracting vis and studying magical creatures.
As Remi begins to depart, Sophie chases after him to try to get a quick word in. "My companion is stuck outside of your wards at the moment. Is there a way I could get him through the wards?"
Remi nods and produces a small rounded stone with the covenant's symbol in it. It is the same stone that you all got a few minutes ago. An Aegis marker. We do not tend to provide the fay with access to our covenant's defenses, but since you are our guest and potential sodales your friend will be our guest as well. It goes without saying that his good behaviour is Sophies responsibility. He smiles and stands up to go out and give the marker to the creature. It is that small bird, right?
"Thank you so much. Yes, Siffleur is the chaffinch waiting outside." She takes a moment to not depart abruptly, but once Remi is headed his way Sophie rushes off to get to Siffleur.
"Sorry about that, little one." As Siffleur takes his place on her shoulder, Sophie walks back into the Aegis of the Hearth's boundary. "Let's take a look at our new home, shall we?" With that they start humming at tweeting while walking about the places open to them.
@Xavi: Frère Sulpice will spend a night in prayer at the chapel, to be approachable by his patron angel. If you wish, we can some time role play him discussing with Pahalia the merits of joining Triamore.