Bernhard's not going to turn any of that down if Carmen's offering. Also, he's kind of appointed himself as Vibria's 'grog'. Ludwig will be sharing that duty unless Arachne makes noise about wanting a grog, in which case she gets Ludwig.
Btw, Bernhard is very protective of Vibria, treats Carmen with respect, and ignores Arachne as much as possible. He also has Judged Unfairly, so enjoy taking all of those options in the worst possible ways. 
Ludwig snorts. "Sure, I can hide behind the ugly old broad instead of you, but as soon as a stiff wind knocks her over I'm coming back over here," he quips in German.
(Vulc and Bernhard keep him around because he's sneaky, he's got keen eyes and sharp ears, he cooks really well, and he only pisses off the people he talks to when he's trying. He's a "shield grog" in name only.)
In German: Oh, I doubt she'll have that. Vulc says she'll spend her time telling you how to dress yourself and which end of a knife to hold. Just give her the ja wohl, gnadige Frau and smile. If we're lucky the little one will burn her clothes off again and we'll all get a show. If we're not lucky, run and let the hag fend for herself.
Then he's the perfect man for the job.
"If she tries it on me, she'll find toad shit in her stew."
"I wouldn't say that where Vulc can hear. Did you hear about their negotiations for the work she commissioned? He told her he'd take standard covenant salary and that if she wanted to add a gratuity personally, he would accept no more than a single pawn of Vim. Either she's blackmailing him, or he's in love with her. And don't be an Arschloch, I hate it when you call people "little" when they're taller than me. Schweinehund."
Vibria will thankfully accept all the wards that Carmen offers...even the one against heat and flames, to try to avoid a repeat of what happened with Venkath (sorry, boys 
).
Awesome...he and his charge both have Judged Unfairly. She probably thinks he's trying to get under her skirt, he probably thinks she's a trollop, and everyone else probably thinks they're knocking boots 
Vibria looks up at the tower. [color=red]"You know, for having grown up in the mountains, you'd think I'd know how to climb better than I do."
The smell of baking apples and fresh bread are a good indication that there is staff working despite the master of the tower being absent.
Melantha appears before Arachne. "There is no Aegis," the spirit muses. "Is that not unusual?"
Ja, I was there. Poor bastard was 'negotiating' with his Schwantz. I suspect she'll get what she needs out of him and cast him off. And what a verdammt joy that will be for the likes of us to deal with. But he runs the Geschaft, so I'll keep the little tart in one piece. And don't start your moaning. Not like I held your grandmother down while the kobold had his way with her.
In broken Latin: Can you not......fliege, Fraulein? Eh...go to top?
"'Kobold'? Is that what Vulc calls his Schwantz, Oma?"
Ludwig snorts. "Oh, I bet she knows how to go on top," he muses in German.
Carmen can fly up to take a look, but will need to borrow the Blanket of Invisibility
Vibria sighs. [color=red]"Not just yet."
Egon tosses his silky black hair. "It is quite suspicious that there is still no Aegis," he muses. "I wonder why a magus of Caduceus' skill would eschew its use. Well, shall we make our way within?"
Carmen, Vibria, Arachne, Bernhard, Ludwig, Egon, and Carmen's two grogs: this is not a small team, and you will have trouble moving around quietly and unseen inside with a party of this size.
[color=red]"Perhaps he doesn't have the vis?" Vibria answers uncertainly.
[color=red]"Perhaps instead of sneaking in, there should be something to draw their attention, draw them away from where we want them not to be, and go in while they're diverted."
The only thing that would clear out the entire staff for a tower of this size is if the whole place was on fire, which would be... ill-advised.
We don't need the whole team to infiltrate at once. Just a few of our stealthiest, with the others to provide backup and support.
Split up into three tactical squads. Two of us try to fly up and infiltrate from the top, two of us try to sneak in from the bottom. The rst wait out here and lusten & watch for our signal. Whe should have three; one meaning cause ruckus & distraction outside, a second that means to burst in and extract us from danger, and a third indicating they should flee for their safety.
Once this is translated along, Ludwig looks unhappy. "Ruckus and distraction outside? These people live isolated on their own island. They've driven everyone out of the local village, and only a seaworthy vessel can get here safely. If it gets to the point where we have to create a distraction outside-- the only obvious thing we could do would be to upset the livestock-- it would put everyone within on red alert, because there aren't any predators on this island, it's completely deserted."
That is exactly what I mean. But only if needed to cover our tracks and let us make an escape
"I'll go in above; you'll need me to disable the ward," Egon says.
Ludwig scowls. "Two teams means you double our chances of being discovered," he growls.
A low window would be fine.
That's a good question. IMO, they should not have any special climbing abilities, so they'll climb mostly like a small animal would, meaning they need things to hang on.
One could make an argument that, since that base is akin to telekinetic control I can just lift them, but I don't like this (I see the spells as more potent, but more specialized than spont magic).
=> She'll try to have the spider climb, and if she can't, she'll take it, cast a base 3, +1 touch, +1 conc "Flying Spider" spell, and gently lift it there. So itâs not really a problem. What do I see?
(I do no roll for her sponts, since it's all fatigueless. Totals are without aura, just Te + Fo + Sta + Talisman + Spell Foci)
That's great! I like the grogâs reactions
Arachné knows the importance of a shield grog, so she'll ask for one, yes.
Yet, if she sees ludwig is not really dependable and tends to drift, she'll consider it moot. This is a problem, but for later. You need be able to trust your shield grog, and scalding him now wonât help.
In this case, she'll instead take the time to find some large enough pieces of wood (even if she must cut a few tree for that) and spont rough-hewn servants (tome p55). Sheâll store them in the village, so if theyâre available should they need to retreat or retrieve them.
Arachné is surprised
Quite so, yes. Yet, he is alone, and maybe he hasnât mastered Rego Vim enough, although I doubt it, given its ward. Thank you, ancestor, but I urge you to take care, though. He may have other protections against spirits and, in fact, I smell a trap. Too bad Intissar or Guillaume ainât here.
Please, before we do anything, let me send a spider first. They are stealthy, and most of all expendable. We are not. Weâll decide later what to do
In fact, I can do this several times and hand control of a spider to people with a âPassing the Reigns of Herbamâ lvl 05 MuVi spell (base 4, +1 touch) and a âPassing the Reigns of Imaginemâ lvl 10 spell if it makes it easier, story-wise, instead of having just âmeâ first explore the tower.
(MuVi spont total 10. And yes, I recon, Iâve spend a lot of time thinking on all this)
Problem is, both spells need concentration, so magi should at least try to spont a lvl 10 ReVi spell to sustain the animation (base 3 to maintain up to half base +5, touch, sun).
The windows are few, and they are all paned with glass. The spider would have to go in through a door (which may need to be opened, depending on the size of the spider) or possibly the balcony (you can't see whether the door there is open or not).
They won't be able to climb within because the interior of the tower is all solid stone; way too slippery for climbing. (Holding off on being able to fly the spider, because I'm not sure the Sight range Intangible Tunnel stays open once the spider is no longer in Sight range.)
How does your Talisman add to your spont totals? And what does it add? Also, I don't know anything about Spell Foci, please describe/explain whatever I'd need to know.
The first thing Arachne notices when the spider makes its way inside is that the interior of the tower is all white marble. This is odd, because she knows how Conjuring the Mystic Tower works-- it creates one solid piece of stone, and the tower is carved out from it by the casting magus. The exterior of the tower is jet black, so the interior should be the same stone as without, but it isn't.