"Hiding out? As in, some of our grogs would escape and be provided supplies by the hunters? Bah, I never seem to learn to anticipate all this disloyalty. The dangers out there I could anticipate."
Lares runs his fingers through his beard.
"I would like to do right by the Berbers, though. Oh well. I suppose we will have to try. Thank you for your counsel, once again."
Lares will suggest to the council of the covenfolk the following:
"I would like to try increasing the hunting trips, but let us move carefully. First make a list of all those who would like to participate. I will vet and choose the hunters. They will have to agree to give me a lock of hair, so we will be able to find and help them in case there is trouble."
The council again profusely praises your wisdom and the Berber representative says he will speak with his people to get such a list compiled, and wishes to know, since it will be asked, what will happen with the lock of hair when they are not hunting.
"We can agree that I will destroy the hair as soon as each hunting party is safely back at the covenant. I will ask if my son Merin could manage this business with the hair."
When he gets the list of willing hunters, he invites them all as well as his son Merin (if he agrees to do this) outside his laboratory. He will explain to them:
"Before we start, I will say that I am going to use this on you."
He raises above his head the tablet that shows personality traits, the one that Silas borrowed Lares here:
"It will give me information that helps me discern which of you are suitable for the hunt at this initial stage. If you are unwilling to participate, I will not force this upon you, but I will not consider you for the hunt at this point, but perhaps later."
He will then take each individual who stays aside and use the tablet on them in turn, making sure that no one sees what it shows. He will mark down everyone's name and personality traits, again keeping the information hidden from everyone.
"Very good. You are all accepted. Now I will take a lock of hair from each so that we can find you in case you are in danger. After that, you may start making preparations."
After this is done, Lares casts the Tunnel on one of their hairs and life-link sponts Peering Into the Mortal Mind, level 30, no penetration. It's the same total as before, so 25 with exaggerated & loud.
He wants to know what plans the grog has for the hunting trip, and if he has heard of any plans that others have - if they have ulterior motives, that is.
Roll of 6 puts your (divided) total at 15, so you take 4 fatigue levels.
The plan for this trip is to simply go out and hunt, the individual you are peering into has no other long term goals beyond taking a share of the meat to make sure his family is better fed, though he does remember the council representatives telling them that they needed to build trust and if anyone was even thinking of pulling anything beyond hunting they shouldn't volunteer, which has him worried about his intention to take a share for himself.
He does not find any might strippers, he does find a spell "seedling to tree" which was apparently used to plant a number of trees at the oasis (date palms), and one for blessing crops, nothing on mind reading.
It looks like one you developed early in the covenant history: it ensures crops grow well within the boundary of a circle/ring. base:1, range:touch, target: circle, duration: ring total level:4, entitled "Blessings of the encircled field"
Argentius takes time to study the maps that Al Kufra's library may have of northern Africa, spending particular time trying to understand what is west and south of the Al Kufra.
He also talks to any of the traveling covenfolk about what they've learned about the traveling away from Al Kufra, any particular dangers or trouble spots.
In general, the artificer is preparing for an unknown summer journey. He continues his evening strolls about the covenant but other than being the library, he is rarely seen outside his sanctum.
Lares examines the lab text and chuckles to himself.
Looks like I'm one step ahead of myself.
Lares investigates the way that the covenant farms currently. He begins by interviewing Winitran.
"Do you remember me or another magus casting spells on the crops? Did we ever say what those spells did?"
(OOC: If it seems like Lares is spending too much time away from the lab in the Spring, please say so. I'm just posting all of this stuff to keep up my daily posting habit while the Europe trip progresses, so I can easily move it into the next season if it gets to be too much. Maybe work on a companion in the mean time or something.)