The awakening

Retired Play by Post Campaigns Ars Magica 5th Edition: A Sudden Spring
1

You all believe you have just finished your gauntlet and been taught the key which unlocks your parma magica, when you wake up in an unfamiliar room, everyone is hot, and the room is clearly very dry.

Silas awakens in a room which is almost austere, a wooden cross hangs over his bed and a chest is at the foot of his bed.

Argentius awkens next to a table which has 3 rings upon it, the style of their manufcture suggest that he made them with considerably more skill than he has. Two rings are bands of gold, the other silver with amethyst. There are maps on your wall of Corsica, Iberia, and Morrocco.

Okeannetis awakens in a simple room darkened by heavy drapes

Lares awakens next to a dark skinned woman who is lying beside him, both of you naked. She is still asleep and looks to be about 18. The room has two clothes cabinets

Plasmatoris awakens to discove an eye sitting on the table by his bedside- it appears to be made of silver and gemstone, but the emerald that forms the iris and the opal which forms the orb seem to be merged impossibly as if it were a natural eye, and the eye moves and blinks, following his movement.

Aetherius finds an ankh on a leather cord next to his bed, and a chest at the base of the bed.

Tastheus finds himself waking up alone, where he is certain he fell asleep with his wife next to him. A series of pictures decorate his wall, 2 of them covered in black cloth. Two of the others depict women in their forties, the last a man, apparently a soldier of some sort, who seems to be in his late 50's. Your wife's ring sits in a glass case below one of the covered pictures.

Zarkut awakens to find a man with no legs floating in the air at the foot of his bed. He attempts to speak with you in a language you do not recognize.

2

Zarkut rubs his eyes blearily, looking around, his mind full of questions. Noticing the figure at the end of his bed, he peers at it, fear rising as he realizes what he's looking at, and his first impulse is a panicky "Who are you!?" in Basque, his voice cracking. He sits up in the bed, scooting backwards to put the most distance he can between himself and the figure he assumes is a ghost, and trying to compose himself, he asks again, this time in Latin, "Who are you? Why are you here?"

3

Tastheus gets out of bed and calls for his wife in French, "Cateline? Are you up already? What are these new portraits?"

Approaching the covered portraits, he takes the black clothes off to inspect them, along with the others. Does he recognize who these people are on closer inspection?

After that, Tastheus will carefully investigate his room, to see if this is some kind of trick or ruse by his former Pater to steal Catelina back.

4

Lares blinks groggily. He isn’t entirely unused to this kind of a situation – though no famous lecher, Lares had in his travels with Albrecht woken up next to a girl with hazy memories of the night before.

Never this hazy, though.

Wasn’t I just at my Gauntlet? The stuff Avia was saving for the celebration must have been potent.

He smacks his mouth.

Hm. Potent and bereft of unpleasant aftereffect. Perhaps some new Aquam trick?

Lares takes a closer look at the girl, then shakes his head.

… is she a Moor? Rod’s bollocks.

He gets up quietly and sneaks to the cabinet.

Better take a look around. I hope I haven’t messed up too bad.

If he find clothes in the cabinet, he puts them on and exits the room through the door.

5

Okeannetis wakes up in a startle, whenever Persephone had her room darkened, it was because then she could punish her for not waking up with dawn. So she immediately rushes over to open the heavy curtains, and only once she grabs them, she recalls that she has already passed her Gauntlet, and breathes a sigh of relief.

But the relief is only brief, since she doesn't recall having such a room, so she proceeds to open the drapes, to get a better look around the room. Is this another of Persephone's tricks?

6

Aetherius stretches, wondering where he is, before standing up.

Where is he?

No hangover, he shouldn't forget where he fell asleep. Did his parens toy with him last night? He shouldn't, right?

Aetherius sees the unfamiliar ankh.

And yet, who else would leave something like this here. A gift for passing his gauntlet? This is something he hasn't seen before. Where did his parens get this?

Aetherius will take some time to examine the object, mundanely. He will also take some time to use Sense of the Magical Weight and, if he gets a positive answer, Sense the Nature of Vis.

7

Silas sits up slowly in the bed. As his gaze wanders from corner to corner of this strange room, he confirms to himself that its completely alien. This room doesn’t fit in with any cave or tower of Verdi. He slowly gets out of the bed and careful starts pacing around in the room.

Is this some sort of secondary test? Where is he? How did he end up here?

He finds no answers by just walking around, the room doesn’t seem to want to answer any of his questions. Silas quickly forms the opinion that the room and the pressing heat is meant to put him at unease.

I must be careful, it likely that someone has abducted me for some unknown goal.

8

Argentius remains very still, his violet eyes moving from rings to the maps and then back again, his brow furrowing.

After a few moments of looking about the unfamiliar room, the young Verditius stands slowly and approaches the table. He reaches down toward the silver and amethyst ring but pulls his fingers back before touching it. He then turns and walks toward the wall, looking at the maps to study the maps, searching them for any marks or notes.

Throughout Argentius attempts to be quiet as he takes in his surroundings.

9

Aetherius finds no vis in the Ankh.

When Silas gets to his window he sees what look to be black rock mountains nearby.

The maps have trails marked upon them, some of them crossed out, most with notes or dates. The path from Corsica to Spain has the date 807 on it, and the routes within Spain and from spain to Morrocco become harder to follow, frequently transitioning between maps.

When Zarkut switches to Latin the figure smiles and uses the same language "I seem to be bound to you, though I know not why. Very unusual, do you know why I am bound to your service?"

When Tasteus removes the black cloth from the portraits they appear to be pictures of skeletons, each dressed in women's clothes, one those of a high born (or well married) woman, the other in a style that is common in your covenant.
The pictures of living people all seem to have a family resemblance to Cateline.
Cateline does not answer.

The first cabinet seems to be filled with women's clothes, the second has clothes which seem to be for an older man with a heavier paunch than his own. Heading out through the door he finds a hallway with both kitchen and laboratory attached.

Okeannetis throws back her curtains and sees black rock mountains a short ways away and the buildings of an unfamiliar covenant or village nearby. She sees pens with an odd assortment of animals by her window, including what seems to be a large black unicorn, larger than the largest horse she has ever seen, and with what looks like armored plates growing from it. She can feel a connection to it that feels like it might be a familiar bond. Beyong that is a geyser of water spraying up into the air which does not fall down again but seems instead to evaporate midair.

10

Lares stares at the male clothes with a creeping suspicion.

Oh no! You drunkard, what have you done? The master of this house is going to gut you – and with good reason. Well, no use being gutted butt-naked.

Having borrowed some clothes, Lares creeps into the hallway. He peeks into the laboratory.

This looks quite advanced. Have I cuckolded an archmage?

Lares' curiosity gets the better of him. Hands trembling, he enters the laboratory and looks around.

11

Once Silas notices the dark mountains, he approaches the window a bit hesitantly and looks out. Trying to spot anything he recognizes to get an idea where he has been taken. Trying to gage what sort of building he is in and what floor as well.

12

Could I have a description of the object?

13

Zarkut relaxes a little. Ghosts are unusual, but not inherently frightening, if they aren't hostile. He looks around again, wondering where he is, and how he got here. He can't recall a party, or drinking, or even going to bed...

He looks back at the ghostly figure. "I'm sorry, I don't remember binding you. I don't know how I would even do such a thing. Honestly, you're a stranger to me. I'm... Zarkut. It's good to meet you, even if the circumstances are strange."

14

The maps have trails marked upon them, some of them crossed out, most with notes or dates. The path from Corsica to Spain has the date 807 on it, and the routes within Spain and from spain to Morrocco become harder to follow, frequently transitioning between maps.

Argentius's finger stops on the point on the map where the date 807 is written, leaning in to look more closely at the hand-writing, considering the curve of the script, and then looking again at the paths and locations between Spain and Morocco. He shakes his head slowly, looking around again at the room, taking the unfamiliar details in.

"Where am…"

The young magus goes back to the table, picking up the silver amethyst ring first, turning it over. Then looking at each of the gold rings in turn, applying his experience as a both a jeweler and his understanding of Verditius Mystery to look more closely at the rings, looking in particular at the inner circle of each ring where he often placed appropriate runes, either Verditius runes or possibly an Elder rune.

Having studied the rings, Argentius slips the rings into a pocket (assuming he has one in his clothing) and moves to the door of the room. He slowly opens it and looks out.

15

When Tasteus removes the black cloth from the portraits they appear to be pictures of skeletons, each dressed in women's clothes, one those of a high born (or well married) woman, the other in a style that is common in your covenant. The pictures of living people all seem to have a family resemblance to Cateline. Cateline does not answer.

"What in the name of God Almighty is going on?" Tastheus mutters. "My Pater Perdas is playing an amazingly elaborate prank on me. Why spend this kind of money on art for Cateline's mother's family members?"

Skeletons in women's clothing? Grim, but I suppose a message of sorts from Perdas. I shall have to plan for a Wizard's War with him sooner than I thought.

The first cabinet seems to be filled with women's clothes, the second has clothes which seem to be for an older man with a heavier paunch than his own. Heading out through the door he finds a hallway with both kitchen and laboratory attached.

Why put me here? Why go to the effort of playing with my memory like this? Ugh, and these clothes aren't even fashionable!

Tastheus decides he will investigate the kitchen and laboratory carefully - as they could be trapped. However, a journal or other correspondence he will keep any eye out for, it may explain more of what is happening.

16

Lares opens the door to a massive lab, 25 feet by 50 feet, with a pallet, a monolith, a summoning circle and what seems to be a threshing machine within, along with a menagerie of small animals and a collection of what looks like some form of primitive talismans. There are stacks of lab texts that seem to be in his hand and his shorthand, the one on top describes a half finished bit of lab work dedicated regarding the effects of casting warping spells on a creature with magical might, and notes in the margins speculating how this would translate to faerie.

Silas sees nothing familiar- the sky is remarkably cloudless and clear, and he sees indications of earthen structures painted white. he can also hear the sound of a spraying guyser, but it seems to be on the other side of the building. He does spot some young people, mostly between 10 and 20 though a few are younger, ranging from very dark skinned, presumably Moors, to an olive complexion which would suggest a Mediterranean people, though even these are more tanned than usual.

The ankh is a sandstone amulet with hieroglyphs engraved upon it.

The entity bows his head "My name is Al Zahut, and I am your faithful servant for the next six months, though as we both seem short on memory, I might recommend that we return to my home on the Great river and see if it restores my recollections." it selects a white linen robe from the closet as it speaks and brings it to your bedside.

Argentinius sees his markings of verditius runes, he apparently did not feel the need to use the elder runes for this work, whatever might be enchanted upon it, but these too are of his own style, and seem sized for his own hands.

*Tastheus only has one cabinet in his room, that description was for Lares, sorry that was not clear. The closet in your room contains 10 sets of clothes, 2 for older women of modest means, 2 for wealthy merchants, 2 which look like they belong to some form of clerk or religious office you have never seen before, 2 sets of rugged clothes that and mundane adventurer into a rough, hot and dry wilderness might wear, and 2 sets that appear to belong to some form of soldier.

Tastheus finds a labratory of some expanse, 30 foot by 50 foot, with astronomers tools, a ballance, a massive desk, a map of north Africa with markings near Cairo and Morrocco, and a mirror. He finds a collection of lab notes and letters upon the desk, the top letters are addressed to him from a baron of Beniparrell which addresses you-apparently, as grandfather.

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17

This doesn't look fake.

Aetherius will keep the ankh with him for now, unsure with it. He will then search the chest at the base of the bed, wondering what else his parens left him.

18

*Tastheus only has one cabinet in his room, that description was for Lares, sorry that was not clear. The closet in your room contains 10 sets of clothes, 2 for older women of modest means, 2 for wealthy merchants, 2 which look like they belong to some form of clerk or religious office you have never seen before, 2 sets of rugged clothes that and mundane adventurer into a rough, hot and dry wilderness might wear, and 2 sets that appear to belong to some form of soldier.

The collection of clothing profoundly confuses Tastheus, as he had plans for various identities to establish a network and agency, like... Someone did all the work for me ahead of time.

Tastheus finds a labratory of some expanse, 30 foot by 50 foot, with astronomers tools, a ballance, a massive desk, a map of north Africa with markings near Cairo and Morrocco, and a mirror. He finds a collection of lab notes and letters upon the desk, the top letters are addressed to him from a baron of Beniparrell which addresses you-apparently, as grandfather.

"This is a joke." Tastheus will spend as much time as it takes, or until he is interrupted to read through the various lab notes and letters.

Baron of where? I recall no such place in Normandy, or have heard of such a place in France or England. Where am I?

19

Zarkut gets out of bed, and puts on the robe. "Thank you." He takes a look around the room, searching for anything familiar one last time, then moves to the door and opens it cautiously, saying as he goes, "The great river? I'm not sure what river you mean."

20

Argentius turns the rings over, brow furrowing again as he studies them and then he slips them back into his pocket before pushing through the door leaving the room with the table and maps.

When he steps out, he is slow and cautious, clearly puzzled by the unfamiliar surroundings.