Table talk (Bibracte)

[amul]

@The Fixer

Now that I think of it, it would probably be a good idea to get hold of a "normal" 10th magnitude Aegis, to cast only on the covenant, should we be under attack.

My understanding is that the +3 levels of size increase is to cover the smallest coherent boundary both inside and out of the regio. What would this "normal" sized option cover?

@amul

Given our Rego resources here, this shouldn't be too hard to achieve. I strongly suspect that we'll be acquiring a library of such texts. The best bet would be to have everyone teleport to a nearby regio boundary, or a bunker inside the regio that is inaccessible from the covenant. That way you can use just the 1-league teleport. Base 25 +1 Touch +2 Group = 40, so without the Animal/Herbam reqs for clothing, I can make 6 of these charged items in a season. Perhaps we could bestow them as tokens of trust to our covenfolk?

I was actually thinking about an armageddon scenario, where Mons Electi is overrun and we have to flee. The further, the better. Like Novgorod further (No, Isen is not aware of the Mongol threat)
With a gate inside the covenant, a place where people gathered to flee.

Given that I know 7-league stride, if I do this as a doorway, I can do it to transport 100 people at AC range, with 3 charges. And requisites.

I was also considering an armageddon scenario. In which cases, you want as many people as possible to flee. So a lower magnitude spell that transports everyone to a specially-prepared defensive location allows us to save more people. Putting them in keepsakes which covenant members carry, rather than statues, means that we can save divergent groups even if they get isolated, and the transportation will be wherever people already are.

Oh. Or you could make Greater Invested Device/Statues which only accept mental commands, but offer unlimited uses. Or instead of mental commands, you could make them emotional triggers! A teleportation device which only works on people who are truly afraid!

@amul

Viscaria would recommend MuTe Quicksand Rings that transform ground into very viscous mud for an instant. "Magic resistance don't mean squat if your legs are buried in mud. Anybody that can Leap out of it won't be hindered by any hold person spell either."

I wasn't counting on them fighting magi or powerful creatures. These is ours to handle. In fact, some penetration is only useful if the target is possessed, and it doesn't need to be very high. If it does, we're in over our head anyway.

I thought about using an other art than Rego, but I prefer it, because it doesn't need targeting. Point, activate, hold. By the way, a spell to hold a target's body motionless continues to act even if she translocates, contrary to quicksand.

But you raise a valid point. Do we want a cadre of grogs with items allowing them to fight magi? Should we do it? Although this could prove very useful, it could also easily be turned against us, and would require us to train them in Finesse. I'm not sure this is a good idea. Of course, we could always hand them items that require penetration, to be used on attacking mundanes. Or non-killer items.

"Well, I concede that a general strategy of Rego-based defenses makes sense, given our aura, and it hadn't occurred to me that the spell would linger. That is certainly a point in its favor. On the other hand, it's not the cadre of grogs that worry me so much -- we do a generally good job of keeping them on our side, but the cadre of items lying around that worry me. Our Mentem sources are strong enough that it might be worthwhile to restrict our items to mental command only. But that increases the time and cost of those items measurably.

"It would be far cheaper if we restricted such items in certain other ways. For example, if we branded those we trust to use the items with a secret sigil, then it would be much cheaper to detect the existence of such a brand and limit usage to that group. However, that effectively gives permanent access, and would use Corpus or Intellego, neither of which we have in quantities worth considering.

We should use the materials we have in greatest supply for our defenses -- the chess pieces. The Rego Terram vis is plentiful and powerful. We effectively double the attack capacity of those wielding items made from it."

I had forgotten that! Ice Elementals!!! That's awesome!!!

Why fiona's help? She's our Muto specialist.
So we can create an elemental. And another. And another. And yet another.
And she can create an enchanted item that changes each of them into, say, a pebble. With Constant duration, so that it doesn't flicker. You don't want a full-sized elemental appearing in your purse at sunrise/sunset, however briefly.
So we need another effect, a Perdo Vim effect, to dispel that specific enchantment when we want it. Linked to a Rego effect that gives control of the elemental, so as to avoid being dependent on spellcasting.
Given the need and the Vis, we could each have quite a lot of elementals at our disposal in a few moments. Let our enemies face that.

"You over-complicate things. You just need somewhere to store the elemental and a device that summons and banishes it."

Structure would be fine... ... ... ... ... Kill me. Amul, you're my savior!! I had entirely forgotten about Structure, and it doesn't need to be a ritual, meaning I can enchant it, meaning, sure, people will be left behind, but we'll catch most of them!!! Thank you!!!

You'd still be grabbing everyone in the building, including any enemies.