Before Torros departs from Valnastium, his pater spent some time with him to plan ahead his trip to visit some interesting sights as he makes his way north. Having heard of the Rhinefalls, he wants to make it his first stop. The first part of his journey is thus the Rorschach chapter on Lake Constance, from which the Rhine flows down. He is accompanied by a redcap named Anton (who is on his way to Basel), as well as his servant (Franz) and his grog (Hans).
"It should take us about a day to reach the falls," says Anton.
Torros smiles at Anton and tries to start a pleasant conversation.
(If possible I would use my ability charm 1 (Pre 1) to make a good impression) :mrgreen:
“Excellent! Can´t wait to see them!
I have so many questions about the world out there. Hope you like to tell me some stories about the places we pass.
Is there some place to establish a camp or some other place where we find shelter?
I hope you will stay with us for some days and show us around. You should taste the fish stew of my servant Franz. Delicious!!
Is there a change that we travel with you to Basel? I´m planning to by a small boat and hope you could recommend someone to ask for?
I don’t want to bother you too much. So if I´m asking too many question just let me know and I will shut up and enjoy this beautiful day silently.”
(Actually, that is the plan. Anton is going to Basel anyway and you are tagging along so that you have a guide until you reach there. You are on the road to go there.)
"Don't know that many tales," the redcap shrugs, "I'm mostly a message runner. I'll take it slow this trip, because I don't have any urgent messages at the moment, and I've been told you needed a guide. Though I do stop here and there to get a sense of what's going on in the real world, then report that to my House. That way, magi are kept in touch with stuff that could impact their covenants. For example, a few years back..." He then regales you with a -- quite boring -- tale of how something he'd noticed had helped some magi avoid a minor loss of silver. Anton seem to think that this was quite important, for some reason.
"You say you want to buy a boat? Better wait 'til we get past the falls. Basel is prob'ly your best bet." He nods his head toward Franz and Hans, "Either one knows how to handle a boat? The Rhine can be treacherous, you know."
“I didn´t know that boating on the Rhine could be dangerous.
Hey Franz: Do you think you can ride us the whole Rhine down in case we would have a boat?”
*1)Assuming neither Franz nor Hans will admit. Torros is continuing with a slightly uneasy expression:
“ *2)Anton: Do you think we could hire someone to handle the boat for us? Wow much will someone take for boating us down to Cologne?”
A bit later Torros will come up with another Topic: Is there someone in Basel who can help us to plan the next steps on or trip?
OOC: *1) What ability is used to control a rowboat?
*2) What is the correct title in case Torros is talking to another MoH?
(OOC 1: That would be Profession: Boating.)
(OOC 2: Correct title for who? Anton? He's a redcap and a member of House Mercere. Technically, you could call him sodalis, which basically means 'fellow member' or 'companion in the same organization'. But many magi do not like calling mundanes by that title, so they will simply use the term redcap.)
"I'm sure you could, but that's not my road for messages. I handle the movement of dispatches between the Tribunals of the Rhine, of the Greater Alps and of Normandy. I'm sure that one of the others at Basel will be able to tell you the going prices for boating services." (That kind of answers the second question as well.)
From Rorschach to the falls is about 2 days, with about three more days for you to reach Basel.
Torros' belongings and travelling gear are packed on a pair of mules, loaned by Rorschach and under the care of Anton (since neither Fanz nor Hans know how to take care of them -- they don't have Animal Handling).
From Time to time Torros will start some small talk. Nothing important.
Slowly he realizes that they are traveling with a bit more baggage than expected.
That could become a problem challenge in case we don´t have mules or vehicles.
Did Jorgus gave some advice for this sort of event?
Torros will discuss this with Franz and (partly) Hans.
He is not really worried but likes to have a plan if needed.
For the rest of the trip Torros will just enjoy the world outside Valnastium.
In case we will camp Torros makes sure that someone is at watch.
"So long as you have sufficient silver," Jorgus used to say on the subject, "just hire someone. Or rather, have your people do it. Ship, chariot or mules with a man or two to handle it. But keep an eye on them, to avoid being robbed."
When you ask Anton about hiring transportation, he says, "At the Mercer house in Basel, they should be able to point you to someone trustworthy. Depends where you want to go, I suppose."
After two days of travel, your small group arrives at the Rhinefalls. The Rhine is quite wide at this place, almost five hundred feet in span. The rumble of the falls slowly grows as you approach them, so that speaking becomes difficult when you begin seeing the impressive falls. The air is damp with the fumes from so much water cascading down the rocks is a series of cataracts. Raising in the middle of the river is a rocky island, about 60 paces in length. The raw power that is projected from the falls are simply amazing.
After the first enthusiasm with many exclamatory remarks like: “Whow gigantic ! …Beautiful!... Look how powerful water can be! Anton look..do you see that?”
Torros is taking some time just to watch the Falls and trying to remember as much details as possible. In the next winter he will carve the falls out of the biggest Ice block as possible.
He tries to change his perspective to see this wonder from different angles. First he is moving up and downstream a bit, and then he tries to find some relatively save way to the island.
A bit more downstream still close to the island the water is not too rough but still flowting much too fast to swim.
He is looking around and makes sure no one except Anton Hans and Franz is around. Then he is concentrating for some time to prepare a ceremonial spell.
Then he cast a fatiguing spontaneous Spell (Ceremonial Casting) with Loud voice and Exaggerated Gestures
ReCo Level 5
Walk over the water
(Base 4, Per, Conc +1)
Base 4 “Move target slowly straight up or in one direction over surfaces that cannot support its weight”
[i](There doesn't look to be a safe way to get there... Two hundred feet of churning water on each side of the island.
A few problems with your spell. First, it isn't simply a surface that cannot support your weight -- it is a surface that will hit you sideways at time. Second, maintaining concentration is not a given -- and if you fall into the water, there is a very real risk of drowning.
Third, there are other people travelling the road, and boat anchored not too far downstream, where merchants load and offload their cargo moving along the river. Although it is not automatic, someone could see you.
Note that you only add Artes Liberales if you spend 15 minutes (per magnitude) preparing the spell, with candles, drawn pentagram, and/or other stuff like that. Again, not very practical in a place where mundanes can just arrive at any time.)[/i]
After casting his spell, but just before he steps on the churning water of the river, Torros gets hit by a sense of danger. He feels like he cannot breathe, as he is drowning. The shock of his sudden premonition break his concentration, and his spell ends.
After some minutes rest Torros simply walks along the riverside looking for small stones that may look interesting.
He is really bad in Intellego but vis is easy to detect.So it might be worth to try.
First he hands over his Vis to Franz and tell him to stay not too close, and then
cast Spontaneous Spell to smell Vis loud voice and exaggerated gestures
InVi 4 (Base 1, Smell +2, Conc + 1)
(In 0 + Vi 0 +2 voice and gestures + Aura + Die)/4 (deficient technique intellego)
He only tries it once and then gave it up, simply looking for thinks in the water or close to.
(Fails miserably, though not catastrophically -- rolled a 0 but no botch.)
The river banks are rocky and fairly steep here, so it is difficult to see anything in the water. Rocks, mostly broken rocks rather than the smoother river rocks that you could find upstream of the falls. Nothing obviously magical jumps out here. In fact, nothing jumps out of the water at all. Probably a good thing too, because anything strong enough to swim in those turbulent waters would probably be dangerous as well.
Well than let´s have a look what the others are doing!
“Hey Anton, do we establish camp here close to the Falls or do you have some other spot in mind?”
Anton leads them away from the falls. It is still early in the day, so they have their pick of a good place to camp. Their camp is perhaps half an hour away from the falls themselves.
While Torros is relaxing from the exhausting Travel (he is not used to such long term hikes).
Hans collects wood for the fire nearby.
And Franz will use his survival skills to find some fresh food. First he will set some fish traps and snares then he checks what Mother Nature is willing to share (looking for mushrooms, berries, roots, spices, eggs etc). Hans will keep the camp in sight. Franz will move around as far as needed, but making sure to be back at sunset.
Next morning Torros will stand up early and walk back to the falls to watch the sun rising over the Falls.
After some peaceful moments he walks back to the camp.
“Come on fellows let´s move there are some more wonders to see. Can´t wait to see Basel”
After a couple more days on the road, your small group reaches Basel. Anton makes his farewells at that time, since he is set to travel back to Normandy. There are other redcaps at the way station that their House maintain there, but none travelling down the Rhine any time soon. What are Torros' plans?
