Copied from the "Second Singer" topic:
What about the other characters involved? Even if you're handling the grogs and/or our new friends, I'd like a record here so that we can check things later.
Scott
I think the other characters are Bogdan, Godzimir and "not-Theodoric"?
8 xp, but no confidence points (as they're grogs).
Once we know how far they're advancing (and I have a bit of free time), I may do another bulk grog advancement (assuming you still want them done seasonally instead of on a 15 xp / year basis as a precondition of them improving their latin?)
For the Tasia story proper, 8 XP for Gregorius, 7 for Fray and Stephen, 6 for Alcimus, and 5 for the grogs. For the horse episode, 5 all around. In any case, I think that adds up to the cap of 10 for everyone involved. I can't be definitive about Confidence Points until I reread the topics, but Gregorius should get one, if for nothing else but on lieu of getting the full 21 XP.
I'm not positive where Theodoric ends up: I have to look at everything again to figure out who left first, but I doubt Viola would have actually taken her trip then if she'd have realized it would leave the covenant with no magi present while a maga was missing due to suspected foul play.
Scott
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):
- 5xp Nova Castra covenant lore
- 1xp Concentration
Tasia Story:
- 1xp Mastery of Posing the Silent Question
- 1xp Area Lore: Causcasus (?)
- 1xp Organisation Lore: Amazons
Horses Story
- 1xp Bargain
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:
- Inventing the new spell Our Foremost Memories Consigned to Stone (MuMe/Te25).
- 4xp in a Mastery (fast casting), for Gift of the Bear's Fortitude. Brings this to Mastery 1(5), which might be handy for the regular battle with the stallion.
- 2xp in a Mastery (still casting), for Cloak of Black Feathers.
- 1xp Correspondence with Master on Magic Theory.
- 3xp Covenant Lore - Nova Castra, bring this to 1(5).
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:
- Viola's lab in the faerie regio
- Gregorius' lab on level 1 of the caves
- Tasia's lab on level 1 of the caves - Tasia isn't currently around, but we've not kicked her out of the covenant so it's still technically her sanctum
- The storeroom lab on level 1 of the caves - currently occupied by Stephen
- Fray's lab on level 2 of the caves
- Patrick's "ward" lab out in the open
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:
- A decent book on leadership. Hopefully this can be acquired for silver without much difficulty. Ideally he's looking for a low level high quality summa, in time for him to study it over the period.
- A casting tablet for Leap of Homecoming that can be used with a rock from a place - this is probably harder and more expensive, but it feels like the sort of thing that should be available within a couple of years, as it's a fairly common spell, and it's a pretty obvious arcane connection type.
- A rock arcane connection to Delos where the tribunal is held. I'd expect this to be fairly easily doable via the RedCaps.
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