He glances over at one of the houses. "Well, it's complicated. I said he goes into our homes, but, it's more like an atrium, but not an atrium." His shoulders sag.
"I hope we're not wearing you out, friend," says Bartomeus gently. "Would it be possible for you to show us one of these… atria? These homes?"
"I'm on my way to classes, maybe sometime later," He heads towards a larger building in the center of town.
Bartomeus nods his head in farewell. As the talkative man walks away, he turns to his colleagues.
"Now that was unexpected. What do you make of this place?"
"First, i would bet that the different Houses and the rocks Mingus was carrying was our covenant's income, currently lost, but which could be recovered if we take on the habit of carrying rocks well past the portal and into those atriums... Or something else, if we don't want to be known as rock wanderers. chuckles
Second, we need to figure out how teaching a ghost helps them accrue vis which they pay as a fee to the teacher. With the number of ghosts here, there's more vis to be obtained here by offering teaching lessons than the covenant will ever be able to spend. How much effort we care to pour into this is a good question, but it could be the tool we need to progress. Possibly limitless mentem vis makes me worry a lot less about the lack of mentem tractatus in our library.
Also I really wonder whether those ghosts, if we were able to communicate with them and not just this given individual, might have anything to teach us that would help with our arts, or let us uncover other ancient magic. It's not impossible some of those were hedge wizards in life. Those are my main questions right now.
But I say we keep on exploring and we visit one of those atriums. It may get us closer to figuring out exactly what Mingus was up to, how this place operates, and how we can learn from it to progress."
Kriegeist nods, taking a step forward to undo the distance he was keeping. "I think there is probably a better way to collect the vis from here than wandering with rocks, I will do some research into that. As for the teaching, magic creatures in this realm can naturally accrue vis, I've not heard of a teaching arrangement, but it sounds similar to the way magic creatures collect vis to improve themselves. I'd be surprised it's ordinary teaching such as you or I would do, I suspect we'll find that we can't teach them the way the teachers now are teaching them. But it's a good idea to observe, and see what we can learn from what they're doing."
To Kriegeist "Is there any reason you were standing back, sodales?"
"I'm always cautious about my Gift, it tends to have an extreme effect. Also, you were asking the same questions I would have."
"I have the same problems with mundanes and my blatant gift, Kriegeist. It was one of Mingus' criteria, remember? We may be safe with creatures from the Magic Realm. So far anyway."
Kriegeist smiles. "I didn't realize. Alright, I'll take the next one."
Kriegeist says, "Perhaps we should move on? If the teachers don't speak Latin, I'm not sure how much good observing will do, but we can. When we get back, I'll ask my friend if he knows Raetian, he might. Did you have a specific goal, or are we just exploring?"
Bartomeus listens to his colleagues quietly, nodding to Anastasia's outline of the situation as well as Kreigeist's sage perspectives. After some consideration, he agrees with them both.
"We should explore a bit more, I think. See if we can look in on one or two of these atria to see how they are set up, how they might work. They may have some organizing principle or perhaps a more organically structure. Is Mentem the only vis source here? Or is there a variety? So many questions…" Bartomeus pauses again.
"And Anastasia is quite right: if the denizens of this place are from many ages past, we may have access to a veritable university of knowledge: hermetical, magical, and mundane. It could be quite staggering in its scope.
"I'm also rather curious by this goodman referring to Mingus 'passing through' this place. That sounds like Mingus may have gone on to yet another place from here. And he was familiar enough to earn a nickname and a reputation. Rather curious, it seems to me."
Anastasia explains to Kriegeist that the goal is exploring, because it's hard to have another goal until you know what the place is really like beyond abstract goals like "gain knowledge" and "acquire vis". Seeing that both her colleagues concur with exploring further, she steps forward, in the direction of a nearby atrium. She'll be examining the place from the outside and the inside if possible with Comprehend Magic, to see if she can gain insight into whether there is any variation in the aura.
Comprehend Magic check is 16.
You see the house as being a blend of a regio boundary and an arcane connection, as if instead of leading to a local regio, or something similar, it was leading to a distant regio, except as you focus more deeply you realize it is a form of arcane connection to multiple things, the strongest three of which are a plot of land in Northern Germany, a distant area within the magic realm associated with this land, and the magic realm itself, in a manner that seems reminiscent of twilight.
Metagame, this is a vestige, and you can use your comprehend magic ability to navigate the vestige. The distant area of the magic realm can be reached automatically, with no need for an ability roll.
Anastasia will navigate the vestige and assist her sodales in understanding how to travel, if required.
Kriegeist puts up his hand to stop her. "Wouldn't it be best to look at some other houses first? If they're all connections to separate far-off places, we should survey them before we choose where to go."
"If you wish. This one seems to link to somewhere in the magic realm that has a resonance with Northern Germany. You wish to survey the options... Lead the way."
Anastasia follows Kriegeist and will keep analysing the houses as they explore.
Bartomeus follows his colleagues. As he does so, he pulls from his satchel materials to take notes, starting to sketch out a rough map of the village, making quick notes as the proceed, preparing to add details later.
"Curiouser and curiouser."
Kriegeist smiles. "I must admit I'm a bit jealous of the information your house can gather with but a look. Maybe I can find something to make it worth your while to share that, some day. If I took the time to invent the spell, I could call the daimon of your founder...
But anyway, I can't see much of anything, I just recall you mentioned the houses all looked like regios, so if that means they're all like this, the town might be connected to all sorts of places, eh? Which could explain the variety of languages we heard, no?"
As he talks, Kreigeist is wandering from house to house. He will activate the power from his familiar bond that allows him to see magical effects, but beyond that he simply sees what the naked eye can.
Bartomeus remains quiet as they walk, taking his notes. Inwardly, he uses his familiar bond to see what Aurelius is seeing as the large cat makes his own reconnoiter of the village.