"My so called husband, whom I did not choose, has kept me imprisoned at your covenant, and these my people have been forced into servitude by lies and magic. Scholars you may be, but benevolent you are not!"
As she speaks the 5 grogs unsheathe their weapons, realizing they have lost the element of surprise. (init 9 for the grog unit)
"Whoa, whoa. Put your weapons away," says Argentius, confidence in his voice. "No need for violence." The magus looks around the group, trying to assess the disposition of the traders. He turns again to Barshako.
"I thought you understood the situation we all found ourselves in with the youthening. Did you not just tell me that but a day or two ago, how the risks you have in older age are no longer there? Let me advocate for you with my colleagues. There is no interest in enslaving anyone. Especially magical animals! Seriously, we seek friendship and companionship with these amazing creatures."
Argentius fingers the pebble in the pocket of his robes as he speaks, hoping that somehow he can connect with Lares given the mess the artificer has landed himself in.
They are not simply menacing you at this point- they are attacking.
"You would risk the wrath and curse of magi?!" calls out Argentius imperiously to both the grogs and the traders before attempting to cast Rise of the Feathery Body in an attempt to lift himself up above the attackers.
The group lunges at you with spears (attk 15) as you attempt to evade (def:4) each of them hitting you (dmg19-soak1) inflicting five incapacitating wounds before you can get off the ground.
Later that evening when Lares tries to contact Argentius he gets no response.
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What does Lares see and hear, exactly, in connecting to the pebble? Remember, he tries to scry a bit first before communicating because he has a bad feeling about this.
Edit: If he doesn't see or hear anything, he also tries smell.
He sees what appears to be Argentius' body lying naked in the desert.
Lares reels, his hand grasping for support from the wall of his lab.
"Barshako! What have you done!"
He spends a while quietly sobbing, curled up in the corner of his lab.
I should have known! How could I have been so foolish!
Then something strikes him, and he wipes his tears in his sleeve.
What if you are not yet done?
Lares rushes to his desk and digs through his belongings feverishly. He finds the pouch in which he stores the lock of Barshako's hair that he stole from her.
He casts the same scrying magic as before, but with a twist. He first casts the Tunnel over the arcane connection, but he then casts his Moon duration maintaining spell on the Tunnel. That means that for the coming month, he will be able to cast spells at Barshako at Touch range.
After that, he casts the same hearing and vision scrying spells as before.
As Lares casts the intangible tunnel he can feel magic resistance to his efforts, a resistance he easily overwhelms. Casting a spell to maintain the connection from within his lab is not quite as easy, but has no resistance to overcome and he manages with no unappreciated side effects (like fatigue). The scrying again meets with mild resistance, he nearly botches the spell but instead manages to get an image of a hyena loping across a desert under the moonlit sky.
Lares' hand balls to a fist and anger creases his brow as he watches the hyena. Then his feature soften and he shakes his head.
Lares casts The Call to Slumber on Barshako through the tunnel.
(Can Lares cast spells on Argentius over the arcane connection in the pebble? For what follows, I'm assuming not - that he could just target the pebble itself.)
Lares then rushes over to Argentius' sanctum. He hesitates briefly at the door - ends and means, hmm? - but then steps in and tries to find anything that might be an arcane connection to the present-day Argentius.
He shoots for as strong a connection as possible, so preferably a lock of hair or other body products, failing that a favorite tool or item of clothing. He starts with trying to find the place where Argentius grooms himself, hoping to find fresh clippings of one sort or another left by the impeccable magus.
Remind me what the arcane connection in the pebble is- obviously the pebble was never part of Argentius and thus is not an arcane connection to him...
The hyena everts to Barshako's form, though naked, and lies down to sleep alone in the desert.
Breaking into Argentius sanctum you find the place is technically clean, but easilly find a hairbrush in his bedroom with two sets of hair in it- one set gray and the other clearly belonging to the Argentius you know.
It's just a rock, the other half of which I have and Argentius the other.
Lares casts the Tunnel on new Argentius' hair. He should have a penetration multiplier of 2 or 3 for this.
He then lifelink sponts Physician's eye (level 5 CrCo) at Argentius. He shoots for a penetration of 11, remembering that Argentius had borrowed the Parma book and guessing he would not be into Corpus.
You lose two fatigue levels (I assume you meant InCo but the math is the same) and find that Argentius is expired.
Lares harrumpfs in disgust. It was as he had expected.
Better not jump to conclusions, though.
He first rests he fatigue away, then casts the equivalent of Doublet of Impenetrable silk at Concentration duration on his clothes, and then casts his Moon maintenance on it.
Then, he gathers his sons to a place where no one else can hear their discussion.
"I fear the covenant has been betrayed. I strongly suspect your mother, that snake at my bosom. But I am as yet unsure as to whether there are co-conspirators."
He gravely looks at each in turn.
"I will need your help to get through this. Think hard. Who among the covenant's soldiers are amongst the most loyal to the covenant and me in particular? Preferably ones who have not been associating with Barshako. I will need two such people of valor to accompany me."
Lares pauses.
"I am hoping to question the families of the five who accompanied Argentius on his latest expedition. I hate to ask, but... have you heard any rumors of serious discontent among these people?"
He sighs.
"And please keep everything you have heard to yourself. When they inevitably ask what is going on, tell me that Argentius' expedition seems to have run into trouble, and that we are considering how to best support them. This is the truth, if not the whole truth."
The boys look back and forth between them until the newly oldest nods his head "for years there has been miscontent amongst the Berber's of the covenant, and even talk of open rebellion. The only thing, despite your efforts, which have kept them defending the covenant and not rising up is fear that the Arabs would oppose them by the side of the magi, your powerful arcae abilities, and of course wanting to protect this place as their home from additional outsiders. There is nobody we would recommend to go into the desert with you if mother has turned against you unless you take an equal number of Arabs with you.
Are there fighters among the Arabs, as far as Lares knows?
"I see. Do you know the families of these five companions of Barshako's in particular? Is any family less seditious than the others, as far as you could tell? I would benefit from their cooperation for finding a connection to their son."
The arabs are entirely academics to the best of Lares knowledge. However this does not mean they are completely incompetent at fighting.
Do they have any answer to the question about the families of the grogs who accompanied Barshako?
They don't know how comparatively seditious those grogs are compared to others- its a situation where everyone complains a lot and your sons are not necessarily aware of who complains how much because, well, everyone expects that they are the people you would ask.
"Makes sense. Well, I suppose we will just have to play it by ear."
Lares thinks for a moment.
"I need something from at least one of these five warriors accompanying Barshako, and preferably from all of them. Hair, favorite item, something like that. Would you be willing to go and ask their families? By the sound of it, I suspect it would not go well if I ask myself. Perhaps they might be more amenable to an approach by you."
He rubs his nose.
"Tell them Argentius' expedition is in trouble and I need these things to help. But be careful. I do not know if these five or their families are part of Barshako's betrayal. Visit the families together, and be ready for trouble."