So I will get something to climb up on, so my line of sight is further, roughly along where the birds leave the field (does not have to be precise). Then project my hearing as far as I can see along the path ahead of the birds. In 15, Sta +2, Loud +1 (no extravagant gestures since I will not be in a grate position) +1 Aura gives 19, so I need a stress rolll of non-zero. Try to concentrate on what I can hear from the birds, and what I can tell. I don't expect much, but I need to try.
The best view point would have been the covenant's walls, but you would have been too far to clearly see the birds when they leave. Climbing a tall tree might have worked, but you are not a great climber and you'd have risked falling. So you end up simply moving up a bit on the sloping hill where the vines are planted. A proper position is hard to find, as the vines block your line of sight to various parts of the forest, but after trying different places you find one that you hope will allow you a good view of the birds when they leave.
Near sunset, when the birds leave, you visually follow their path of flight for some time. A bit before you'd lose sight of them, you cast your spell. It is a bit disorienting at first, hearing the sounds from the remote location, but it does eventually provide you with an approximate direction in which the birds have flown. They do fly farther than you can hear, however. So you have a heading, but not the distance they are going. It points to deeper within the hilly forest that begins close to Fengheld.
(Note that by that time, you've spent about three weeks chasing the birds and trying different approaches.)
I will look for Günther Lupus in order to ask for his assistance in discussing the matter with his pater.
(Note that Eule of Bjornaer is a woman.)
Günther sees you in the well-appointed boudoir just outside of his sanctum. "What can I do for you, sodalis?"
"Thank you for making the time for me. As you may have heard, I have been asked to help the covenant in the mater of the birds that plague the vineyard in the summer. I have done some investigation. The results are curious. It seemed to me that Magus Eule might be able to lend some insight, at least into approaches I could apply to determine more about the situation. For example, there are conflicting indications as to whether the birds have magical might."
"No, actually, I wasn't aware of that. However, it seems like a fairly simple thing to take care of, not really something that would warrant disturbing maga Eule. She is very old, you know, and very busy. Perhaps I could be of assistance instead?"
"What is it, specifically, that you would like us to do? If it proves to be something that I cannot help you with, then I will approach my mater with."
(ooc: I had mistakenly thought "pater" was used for the one who taught an apprentice, regardless of the sex of the individual.)
"Having birds attracted to the vineyard is not in itself surprising, and even a visitng magus would not have been asked to investigate that. However, Magus Peter noted that the birds are not scared off by scarecrows, and are not affect by wards against normal animals. I have spent the last several weeks trying to study. As spells of stealth are not within my limited purview, I have not been able to get within 50 yards of the birds. I have tried to determine if they are magical, and in spite from having a decent supply of their feathers, they do not seem to be associated with any realm I can test. it seems odd for them to display so much persistence and almost intelligence without a strong enough magic might to detect at least the realm. They also fly a significant distance to and from the fields each day rather than nesting for the night in the nearby portion of the woods as one would expect. I have also tried testing for whether the birds are themselves enspelled, as I could imagine someone working against Fengheld and Magus Peter. To the best of my ability to tell, that is not the case."
"I see," Günther nods. Then he pauses and asks. "So what is it that you'd like me to do?" His grin has teeth, as one would expect from a Bjornaer whose heartbeast is a wolf.
(In short, make specific requests for spells to be cast, or for some other form of assistance. He will not take over the investigation, as this is your task, but may be able to give you some information that mnay help you achieve it.)
"That is the key question, isn't it. It seems to me that to stop this, or turn it to the covenants advantage, we need to know more about these birds. Can you determine what I missed as to the magic might and realm of the birds? Assuming that they are coming from a regio, are there approaches you can suggest to finding the regio that I have not yet come across?"
"Well," Günther says, "Intellego Vim is not my strong suit. As far as I know, mistress Eule does not have formulaic spells to check the Might of the various creatures, and at her age spontaenous magic would be far too risky for such a minor problem."
"As for checking for a regio, have you followed the birds to a place where they disappeared? If that's the case, this might indeed be their lair in a regio. Mistress Eule might have been able to give you a location on a map, given an arcane connection, but unfortunately such spells don't work across regio boundaries."
Okay, we go for the mundane means. (I need to be able to at least put in significant effort both to live with myself and to get the Covenant to acknowledge I earned the "reward".)
First, I thank Günther for his time "In that case, I will see what I can manage. I appreciate your time, and Iif I come across something where you or your mistress may have resources that would help, I will get in touch with you. If you happen to talk with Maga Eule, you might mention some of the oddities. It may be that she has seen something that would be helpful in her activities."
I and my grogs will use various markers to mark where the birds leave the fields, and to work our way into the woods a ways. We will have to do this over several evenings, progressively positioning ourselves in advance a ways woods-wards, spreading the three of us a bit, from where we took the last marking, then observing where the birds go, marking as far forward as we reliably can, etc. I figure after a week or so we should get a decent distance. We may even need to make crude camp in the woods to make progress. My goal is to get a sense of how far they are coming and from where. My hope is that it really is a regio, but I can imagine many other explanations. (I don't know if the characters find the birds behavior odd, but I sure do.)
After learning of your plan, Günther assigns you two of Fengheld's woodsmen to help you track down the birds' origin in the forest. After two weeks of gradually following the birds' flight over the forest, you finally locate their nests.
The forest itself is pretty thick in this area, moving up and down along the broken hills that are the lower part of the Harz mountains. In some places, strange rock formations rise up between the trees. None of them looked like they have been shaped by the hand of men, but one has to wonder how they came to be.
The birds nest in one such strange place. In a narrow notch, a cedar tree has grown very tall, filling the opening in the rock face with its branches. The noise of many chicks can be heard when you finally approach, each squeaking to be fed by the returning birds.
It is presumably a bit after dark when we find this. So we will camp carefully, casting no spells, and wait for morning. I expect the birds will leave, and then I want to look around. I will cast a spontaneous sense of magical power (spell level 2, In 15 + vi 5 + st 2 + or - aura + stress die, halved, will work as long as I don't botch.) In the unlikely event is says "nothing" (this reeks of warping to me), I will try the faerie version, which would be 5 higher. If that is nothing I will try infernal, and then if necessary dominion. I will task the 4 grogs to look around carefully, after warning them that some things may have unexpected properties and they should be careful.
(Sorry, didn't have time to post something on this topic today. You're first on the list for tomorrow.)
( no problem. I have a flight most of Friday anyway. I figured if I did not see anything by Monday I would ping.)
Actually, it is mid-morning when the group finds the nests. You've been able to backtrack on the birds' path when they leave in the morning. So, as it happens, you arrive at the notch and its cedar tree when there are fewer adult birds around.
Your first spell reveals that there is a very weak magical aura here.
The grogs do a quick reconnaissance, but aside from the cedar tree filling the notch, with the numerous birds' nests, there is very little that distinguish this place from hundred of others in the area.
(If I understand correctly, this low an aura would not of itself produce warping in creatures living in it?)
Since the birds are not here, go up (if necessary, work together to climb up) to the cedar, and take a much closer look. See if the crack goes back. With the woodsman's help, see if the tree itself is odd in any way (bark, branch shapes, leaves, berries, ...)
(Correct, this low aura would not usually warp creatures.)
(There are adult birds around, just fewer of them than the number of nests would seem to indicate.)
As Herman observes the nests, he sees that there are still many adult birds flying around, carrying small pieces of fruit, seeds, insects and worm to their nests to feed the numerous hatchlings. The place is literally bustling with constant flying, birds coming and going constantly. He has never seen so much activity around bird nests before.
Let's see if there is anything odd about the tree itself. Down at the base of the tree, InHe, Target 5 (base 3: learn general information about a plant, +1 for range touch, +1 for concentration so that I can actually learn something) In 15 + He 5 + Sta 2 + Stress (normal voice and gesture, I hope it does not scare the birds, or cause them to attack us.).
Your spellcasting does indeed disturb the birds, but most of the nests are high enough amongst the branches that the disturbance is relatively harmless. You get hit by a bit of falling needles, but that's about it as far as attack goes.
Your spell goes off, although it proves a bit more difficult than you had hoped (die roll of 0, no botch). The tree is a fairly common example of cedar that grows in the Harz Mountains, although it is of an unusual size. After sifting through the information provided by his spell, the one thing learns that is quite unusual is the tree's age. It has only seen four winters.
(A tree that size should be at least several decades old.)