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.
The story XP's will be in Summer..which, now that I think about it, mean she can't do the studying we talked about in Summer. So can we move that fractional season of book study to Spring?
I don't guess it matters much, but it does seem a little disorganized on the part of Gregorius. 
Mind you, disorganization often happens in real life....
Scott
I'm happy for her to take the adventure xp in Spring, as that's when the meat of the story took place. If she doesn't do that, the only thing she can get in Spring is exposure xp, as that's all she'd have been eligible for without the retcon.
It doesn't really matter in which season it happens, so that's fine.
Scott
We don't seem to have taken an explicit position on the mastery of general spells controversy (which I just discovered--ugh), but our possession of a Mastery text for Aegis of the Hearth with no level specified implies we're treating all levels of a general spell as sharing the same Mastery skill. Are we all OK with that?
Scott
thats my preferred position.
I guess for Aegis it doesn't matter much, since Adaptive Casting is close to the only useful special ability anyway.
Scott
I don't think that mastering the Aegis at level 40 should automatically mean you master it at level 25 as well (should you then learn a level 25 version) - that makes Adaptive Casting basically meaningless. Rather, I'd take it that the spells at different levels are close enough that a text can be applied to any one of them - but you still have to go through the work of applying the text to master that specific spell.
I agree that it invalidates Adaptive Casting, but arguably the problem there is that Adaptive Casting provided a "special ability" that a lot of people thought already existed--that puts it in a position similar to Vulgar Alchemy, which we've already effectively thrown out.
At any rate, for the purposes of the Aegis, it's a moot point, since Viola can take Adaptive Casting as her first special ability.
Scott
I was sure I posted this last night, but here it is again. I've brought Viola up to the end of Spring, 1229 (less whatever happens in Autumn, 1228), after which point it's hard to make plans without knowing what her lab looks like at the completion of the Halia story.
1228
Spring: Searching for a singer to translate Calliope’s song, ends up in a faerie regio for most of this season and next, where she assists a faerie version of Gykia, the Heroine of Chersonesus, to kill her treacherous husband and his band of invaders, then awaits the end of the story, when Gykia fakes her own death to test the inhabitants’ vow to bury her within the city’s walls, triggering the opening of the exit from the regio when the citizens fail to do so. Adv.: Black Sea Lore +5=10 (1); Faerie Lore +3=65 (4); +2 CP -1 spent = 19
Summer: Returns from the regio with only a month left of the season, and spends that time (mostly around the covenant’s central fountain, since the high aura there can provide a Study Bonus) studying Vim from Analyzing Vis (Quality 12 + 3 [Book Learner] +2 [Study Bonus] / 3, rounded: +6 = 21 [6]), in preparation for learning Aegis of the Hearth.
Autumn: Travels to Eleusis to entreat Demeter to aid Halia against Poseidon. ?
Corrrespondence with Salignus: Faerie Lore, +1=66 (4)
Corrrespondence with Theodolphus: Magic Theory, +2=204 (8)
Corrrespondence with Theoros: Magic Theory, +1=205 (8)
Vis Income: 1p Rego and 1p An from the covenant, 4p Im from the faerie wine casks.
1229
Winter: Uses a lab text borrowed by Gregorius from the Tremere to “invent” a level 40 version of Aegis of the Hearth (Int +4 + Magic Theory 8 + Aura 5 + Lab General Quality 8 + Rego 9 + Vim 6 = 40). Exp.: Magic Theory, +2=207 (8)
Spring: Studies Spell Mastery of Aegis of the Hearth from Research Notes on the Aegis of the Hearth (Quality 11 + 3 [Book Learner] / 2 [Loose Magic]: +7 = 7 [1]).
Constantine likely earned XP in Spring, but, trapped in the regio, he didn't have access to his personal stash of vis, which he needed to eliminate the XP penalty for his Might. He did however earn 2 XP in Magic Theory from Exposure while acting as Viola's lab assistant in Winter, 1229.
While I'm at it, let's do the cats, starting with Mama Cat:
1228
Winter-Summer: Prowls around the covenant and its environs.
Autumn: Prowls around among the locals, Practicing Kipchak and eating 6 pawns of vis (+8=8 [1]).
Vis income: 4 pawns Animal from hairballs
1229
Winter-Spring: Prowls around the covenant and its environs.
Summer: Teaches Shapeshifter to the Kitten.
Autumn: Prowls around the covenant and its environs.
Vis income: 4 pawns Animal from hairballs
1230
Winter-Summer: Prowls around the covenant and its environs.
And now the Kitten:
1228
Winter-Summer: Prowls around the covenant.
Autumn: Prowls around the covenant, Practicing Latin and eating 4 pawns of vis (+8=35 [3]).
Vis income: 4 pawns Animal from hairballs
1229
Winter-Spring: Prowls around the covenant.
Summer: Learns Shapeshifter from her mother (Com + 1 + Teaching 4 + 3 + 6 [single student] – Might 8: +6=21 [2]).
Autumn: Prowls around the covenant, Practicing Kipchak as locals begin to take up residence there, and eating 4 pawns of vis (+8=8 [`]).
Vis income: 4 pawns Animal from hairballs
1230
Winter- Summer: Prowls around the covenant.
Scott
Adaptive Casting is one of the masteries restricted to the Cult of Mercury, so she's unlikely to have access to it.
Ugh, OK. That's a lot of work to put into a spell that will probably be dispensed with at some point.
Scott
OK, a Summa on Leadership is now listed in the library--it appears at the end of Autumn, 1228. I've also resolved a vis trade requested by Gregorius: 2 pawns of Imaginem and 1 pawn of Animal for 2 pawns of Mentem (which includes 1 pawn for the delivering Redcaps).
Scott
Draft advancement stats for Gregorius:
1228
Spring: Explore the magical regio in the covenant, rescue Tasia, horsehunt. 5xp Nova Castra Lore, 1xp concentration, 1xp Area Lore: Causcasus, 1 xp Organisation Lore: Amazons, 1xp Bargain, 1 xp Mastery of Posing the Silent Question, 2 confidence points for regio exploration.
Summer: Read Rego Summa 15xp
Autumn: Tribunal ?
1229
Winter: Read Leadership Summa, 13xp
Spring: Set up lab, 2xp Magic Theory
Summer: Read Mentem Summa 16xp
Autumn: Read Mentem Summa 16xp
Correspondences: 1xp MT with Slyvanus (Spring)
1230
Winter: Read Rego Summa
Spring: Set up lab, 2xp Magic Theory
Summer?: Read Rego Summa
Correspondences: 1xp MT with Slyvanus (Spring)
Question: Does Gregorius (or any of the other characters) get any confidence points for rescuing Tasia and/or the horse hunting?
Draft "advancement" for Alcimus:
He's got a Might of 10, and no vis source, so basically nothing when it comes to gaining xp. Possibly he gets some confidence points from the fight with the horse?
However, he is going to start aging in the winter of his 10th year, and then every season thereafter except Spring (assuming we're using the Hounds rules on page 51 of Lords of Men).
His Aging Modifier increases by 1 every 4 years, so will be +2 at age 10.
The Covenant has a +2 Aging modifier; however, he's going to be spending a fair amount of his time not in the covenant, so let's say he only gets +1 of that. Let's assume he also gets a +1 from a better-than-standard diet.
Aging rolls:
Winter 1230: +2 -2 + die 5 (roll.coyotecode.net/lookup.php?rollid=216099) = 5. Apparent age increases
Spring 1230: N/A
Summer 1230: +2 -2 + die 6 (roll.coyotecode.net/lookup.php?rollid=216100) = 6. Apparent age increases
Yes, give him a Confidence point--I don't see adding more than one, since it was a short episode.
Scott
Is that for Alcimus, Gregorius or both?
Or other PCs? 