I'm pretty sure the original plan had Viola leaving before Gregorius did (as she was leaving right at the start of the season, whereas he spent some time exploring the caverns first).
Proposed xp spend for Gregorius:
Caverns story (already spent):
Tasia Story:
Horses Story
Seeing that Stephen arrived on the scene in the search for Tasia at the same time Frey did, I've bumped his XP for that story up to 7 (I edited the post in question). Not that it matters, since he hits the per-seasons cap of 10 either way.
Scott
Just want to make sure I don't overspend xp or on the wrong season - assuming this was in Spring 1228?
I had a lab activity in that season too, which means I apply an xp penalty too?
Yes, this was Spring, 1228. I don't think the three stories together exceeded 10 days--esp. since Fray wasn't involved in the Tasia hunt until later.
Scott
Thanks! My draft advancement is:
I have slightly updated the letter Gregorius wrote to Boustaphon in Spring 1228: https://forum.atlas-games.com/t/card-board-games-archive-links/116/1
Since this topic should really be OOC, I've moved the conversation between Gregorius and Theora (including the part about the Aegis) into a thread of its own.
Scott
Makes sense - I'd actually been wondering about suggesting it.
A question on the destroyed lab we found at the bottom of the cave system - is it destroyed as in the "Wrecked" flaw on page 117 of Covenants (so you need to spend 2 seasons repairing it, but after that you have a non-standard lab), or is it just completely destroyed such that one would have to make a new lab from scratch?
I suspect it's the latter, but I'll have to go over the thread at some point to check again. In any case, there are enough free labs that it shouldn't be an urgent concern.
Scott
I'm not sure that's actually the case, unless I'm missing some. My understanding of the current lab situation is there's:
Gregorius is probably going to have the ward lab dismantled, on the grounds that no-one who isn't a mad Tytalus is going to want a massively unsafe lab with no privacy that's exposed to the elements (or will be as soon as any of the wards fail), and dismantling it now will save on glasswear.
That just leaves the sanctum-lab of the currently absent but still technically a member quaesitor. That can be given to someone at a pinch, but it's not ideal, and it's still only one lab. Other than that, there are a few places labs could be put, but none set-up.
I could have sworn there was another lab or two on the partially flooded level. I'll have to look back through the thread.
Scott
I'm pretty sure the rest of the second level of caves other than Fray's lab was blocked off and flooded - see the map here: mtknife.net/Caves%202.jpg
My read on the caves thread is that there's now one more room with two doorways available, but it doesn't currently have a lab in it due to having been full of water at the time Portia was creating them.
I think my intention was that we had drained everything, but that room on the north side of level 2 may have been a storeroom. I will do my best this weekend to catch up.
Scott
I'm pretty sure we've drained everything now - but I think it's a storeroom.
Gregorius is going to attempt to acquire a couple of things over the next couple of years:
Given the threat the covenant faces (and his desire not to lose study time), his plan is to use the casting tablet to get to tribunal and back rather than spending time travelling mundanely. Obviously it's a bit of a risky plan - if he botches, he's looking at at least 7+1 warping points.
A Summa on Leadership might be a little tricky--I don't think in-period anyone (mundanes) was writing anything like that, though some Greek or Roman works might serve as Tractatus.
Scott
A roman work is fine. He'll settle with some tractatus if he has to, although he'd definitely prefer a summa.
[Edited to add: I suppose if necessary, he can request a leadership summa from the Tremere once he's returned the Aegis lab text.]
What about the casting tablet?
Was Viola back at the covenant long enough during Spring to get any studying done? I assume she was in the regio no more than a few days in real time, but I'm not sure how long it took us to get to Chersonesus. It looks like it's about 800km, which, at 4-5 knots, would take 4-5 days--but I don't think medieval vessels sailed at night. However, this page suggests we're probably looking at over a week (granted, it's for ancient ships, not medieval, but I think 1228 is before the major development in ship design), which would preclude any lab activity other than studying from a book: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Journals/TAPA/82/Speed_under_Sail_of_Ancient_Ships*.html I'm not sure if this affects the Aegis casting, since she would probably have started studying something else before realizing she was going to have to cast the ritual.
I think I'll do the roll now anyway, and we can always change things retroactively if need be. I'm assuming a level 40 casting tablet, and, as you noted elsewhere, her total without the die roll is 27. I can't find Covenants right now to look up the casting tablets rules, but her roll was a 7, which should do the trick.
I've subtracted the 8 pawns of Vim vis from the covenant's vis stocks. Do you have any idea when we last updated the stocks? I need to figure that out so that I know how much to add to bring them up to date.
Scott
No.
Gregorius requested a fifth or sixth magnitude casting tablet (it's the lab text which we decided to request an eighth magnitude one of). So that should only be five or six pawns of vis this year.
The vis sources listed include the pollen on the altar, so I'd assume it's correct at the start of Spring 1228.
OK, I should have phrased that better, given that we've already established that any period of time allows prorated studying from books: How long was she back at the covenant?
If he asked Viola about it, she would have told him eighth magnitude. Wouldn't he have asked her first, given that she had to do the casting?
Good catch. That makes that one easy.
Scott
Not long enough to do any useful studying*. As noted before, I introduced the retcon of her temporarily leaving the regio without it causing any significant problems solely to sort out the timeline snarls, so please stop trying to push it for advantages. You've got 8xp from the adventure that season, so you're unlikely to get more from a pro-rated book.
*Exactly when things took place in the season is a bit vague, other than Viola leaving right at the start of it; however, Gregorius probably didn't start looking for Tasia until fairly late, given that she only left in Spring and had to have been gone long enough to cause him to start worrying, which means that Viola doesn't have to have been back that long.
Just checked, and Boustaphan provided a sixth magnitude tablet. I can't see that Viola's ever expressed a preference for a specific magnitude when she's been included in the conversations about getting a casting tablet, so he'll probably just have gone for something similar to what they had previously, and which is roughly in line with our Vim vis income - talking to Viola is too hard work for him to do it more than he has to.
