"Come in, come in." He gestures you inside and the guard steps aside. "If he is a diabolist it certainly has not shown up in what I have observed of his abilities, which seem primarily defensive in nature, though he does have some interesting developments that I suspect many verditius would be interested in having integrated as well. He appears to be both gently gifted and unaffected by the gift, which in addition to being an advisor to the emperor places him in quite a position to organize other magi, which he seems to correspond with quite frequently."
Corresponds with other magi? Hermetic magi or just hedge wizards? Either way that is cause for concern. If magi are involved in his schemes, they may well be in violation of the Code. If he is organizing hedgies into a rival order, then we need to nip this in the bud.
Diabolism can be hard to proove and is often used as a boogey man to motivate anger. But I am more concerned with his readilly apparent activities. Harassing lesser hedge wizards based on ethnic animosity is disrupting the arcane and mundane political landscape in the Levant. I have no idea how bad it may have gotten here in Rhine or in Rome.
But in my opinion, any wizard powerful enough to bully other wizards is powerful enough to be given the ultimatum to Join or Die.
"Possibly, but how do we give him the ultimatum without disrupting the mundanes? Especially if he challenges us to kill him?" He sits back "He has not contacted any magi of the order, I haven't been keeping a list, but he seems to have two sets of magi he corresponds with, one seems to be his own tradition, the other seem to be of other traditions, whom he appears to wield some degree of influence over. I did check, and it is not his magic which is influencing them, rather I believe he is using his position as Fredrick's advisor and court magician to bring them to heel."
There is a flaw in your train of logic. Say, for example, there was a Hermetic magus secretly serving as a court wizard weilding the same amount of mundane influence. By your reasoning, we cannot bring him to justice since it would disrupt the mundanes he is interfering with.
"There are a number of differences, which I'm certain the local Guernicus could discuss at no end with you, but part of the issue here is the sheer magnitude of social influence, and the fact we simply do not know the full extent of his power. Fredrick II wars with the Pope, and his court magician appears to correspond with magicians of other courts. Indeed, it is the social rather than magical influence which appears to be the issue here, I doubt the man by himself could hold a candle to even one freshly gauntleted magus. So if you threaten him with join or die, then what? Either we admit a poor excuse for a mage into the order and deprive Fredrick of his advisor, or we enter into a fight already covering a third of Europe. If his social influence makes him dangerous will we forbid all hedge wizards from being court wizards? Or are we going to restrict whom they can communicate with? What we have here is less a powerful mage who happens to be a court wizard and more an in influential advisor who happens to have some magic."
At this point all am up to is investigation. And do me a favor. You confuse me when you call hedge wizards magi. Just call them wizards, not magi.
Anyways, if he is gifted, then he no minor player. And he seems to be forming his own little consortium, which is not only a rival to our Order, it is also a source for him to gain more magical knowledge and power. We need to nip this in the bud before it flowers.
As for the ultimatium, he doesn't need to be informed of having a choice. If need be, if it is necessary, it can be arranged for him to meet with an "accident".
I am unconcerned with depriving the emporer of his advisor. He is under excommunication anyway and thus no longer qualifies as a mundane authority. As for wizards, whatever it is they are involved in is an arcane matter and not interfeering with mundanes.
Investigation first though. The Order deserves to have as much intelligence as possible for this matter.
"That I can certainly help with. When I scried on him yesterday he was in Sicily, and given that he does not appear to have access to anything like our gate network, I would presume he is still there." He hands you a fingernail. "This is his, and still relatively fresh, so it should aid you in beginning your investigation."
Many thanks sodale. I suppose what I need next is a spell or enchantment to use it with. Any suggestions in that area? I am willing to purchase a casting tablet or item if you have one to sell or rent, or perhaps loan.
"Not I, but Daedalus ex Verditious is a couple floors down."
I shall go see him then. I tank you most graciously. One final question though. Is there a resident Quaesito magus present? Or one that you can reccomend for me to visit? I want to make sure my actions are square and on the level.
"Not in Fenghold, but there is one at Duernemar."
groan...
I suppose I have to head back that way anyway. After I visit our verdi sodale. Many thanks.
Then she goes knocking on the other guys' door.
A grog opens the door to his studio and gestures for you to have a seat. A number of lesser enchantments are around the room, including a few items of quality. The grog makes sure you have some food and beverage before going to seek his master. The wait is fairly long, but after about an hour a gruff man wearing leather pants and no shirt shows up, with a beard down to his navel.
"My apologies, I was in the middle of some forge work and couldn't just stop. I take it you are in the market for some enchantment."
You remind me of Vulcanus. Magus I once knew.
Anyway, I am not looking to commission a new item, but if you happen to have one that suits my current needs I would be interested in negotiating a deal. I need an Intellego Corpus effect that will help be locate someone whom I possess an Arcane Connection to.
"I do have this old thing, it is priced at 9 vis" he walks over to one of the cabinets with a key and removes a small arrow made of amber with a hole drilled into the shaft. "Tie a piece of string with your arcane connection attached through the hole and hang it. If you place it over a map it will point to their position, though not immediately, if you hang it over the ground, or over a map of an area where they are not, it will simply point in their direction. The device can be used once a day but will maintain concentration for you, and has a penetration of 10. I used to use it to keep track of apprentices, and once in a wizard war, but that has been a long time now."
Seems rather expensive for an item of such limited use. Why did you not design it for greater accuracy? Such as a Scent target or some such?
Still, it was useful for your intended purpose, so it makes sense. I would be adapting its function for my use.
Counter offer. I will give you sven pawns to purchase it or I would be willing to lease it a season for the cost of a pawn.
"I will agree to lease it for one pawn if you leave three more pawns as security, physically or in redcap credit, and we make sure to write this whole agreement up just in case anything happens. Flambeus have a tendency to occasionally not come back."
Ad Mortem Incurre Sodale. The deal is agreed. I will gladly put in in writing and sign a letter to my account with the Mercere.
In a matter of minutes the deal is done and you are on your way with an enchanted locator item.
Carmen will get some rest and head off for Durenmar the next morning. She will stop off here before going further, and while she's at it, she will request an audience with the resident Quasitor she was told lives here.