Ulrich hasn't seen very much play, and what play he has seen has been character driven and not too strongly numbers driven. Given the choice between keeping the character or exiling him from the saga, I'm erring on the side of keeping him in the saga, if there's enough interest. If things have to change and players involved can agree, and the troupe as a whole doesn't object, it's not a big deal, IMO.
Ulrich started out as an apprentice for a character/player that never went anywhere. PB stuck around, for some reason. I'd rather provide a player with an opportunity to retool his character than make him wrestle with a hamstrung character concept that is a mess because he had too many masters and went in too many directions. Not everyone wants to play a character that isn't good at anything, or had a messed up apprenticeship, such as Talia, my maga in PB's saga.
If we were to change Whittling to Craft:Wood(animals), then Viscaria would be happy to take him. Although I think there's a certain humor value in having Ulrich go to Laetitia.
Ulrich studies Maris right back, still a little confused about all that's going on. (Only description I could find of Maris is a bald woman wearing charcoal grey robes...which makes me think of Lieutenant Ilia, which Ulrich would not mind in the least).
[color=green]"Yes he did," Ulrich says. [color=green]"He taught me the art of Rego about two years ago, and Maga Fiona taught me Magic Theory last spring." He smiles. [color=green]"I would certainly enjoy some more personal instruction, though."
Maris arches her right eyebrow slightly at his appraisal of Maris"I see no one has taught you to lie convincingly, or at least not broadcast your base desires." Maris's hair is cut very short. She was bald. She's not stunningly attractive, but has a certain quality. She's adorned a deep blue robe which sets off her eyes. "Lying is an art you must learn, at least if you want to survive very long.
So tell me, young man, have you had an opportunity to satisfy any of your desires? Or do you just stand before every maiden or pretty woman slack jawed and drooling?" Her questions are academic and direct and don't express any personal desires. Ulrich's loins begin to itch and burn.
Ulrich swallows, and tries to fight the urge to scratch. [color=green]"Actually, no, I haven't," he admits. [color=green]"I'm still not used to dealing with people, especially girls."
Maris looks at Ulrich and the itching stops, but the memory of the pain remains and he feels his loins throbbing in response to the relief. "We will endeavor to modify your training schedule a bit. You need to learn to lie and lie well, because your life depends on it. What were you studying when we retrieved you?"
There is a light rapping on the door into Maris's sanctum, "Come in Tria, Ulrich and I are getting acquainted."
Tria enters, carrying the book Ulrich had been studying at Mons Electi.
"My thanks, Maris, I hadn't expected it to be so difficult. That blasted spider of Viscaria interferes in every detail imaginable. I can only imagine what would happen if she managed to sink her fangs into young Ulrich here." Maris looks questioningly at Tria, who responds, "Nevermind, not important, it's a familiar to Viscaria, one of Ra'am's sodales from Phoenix." Changing her tone, "Does he have it?" Maris nods back. Tria swears and follows it up with "Your pater was a fool, Maris."
"Perhaps. He set his own course after a time. That was our own fault, of course. We used and abused him, all while he quietly dug into the lie the Order had become. Had we listened earlier, he might still be alive. Had we listened more closely to what he was saying, we wouldn't be in the mess we are now. My last letter from him was cryptic, but I managed to make sense of it. He was telling me his harbingers of doom had come at last. Lightning fire and a daughter of Guernicus were his harbingers, but the context of it was such that he meant a descendant, not just a female member of the House. He said the daughter must be preserved despite what she might do. I think he knew she was going to be responsible or involved in his death. Do you know where she is?"
Tria shakes her head. "No, she's missing, as far as I can tell. My agent escaped from Magvillus with a tale that they had cleaned out one of their ritual chambers, one not touched in hundreds of years. And then all hell broke loose with part of the castle collapsing. They're blaming Aiakia filius for it, and have declared him Orbus and are convening a special Tribunal in Rome to have him marched. No one has seen him, and I don't even have his name! Last I heard Aiakia was being groomed to take Ausculator. It's a huge mess and too many things are in motion."
Looking at Ulrich, "You really don't have any idea how much danger you're in. Your first pater was on offshoot of Diedne tradition, did you know that? I'm pretty sure Apollodorus did, but why he brought Silviatos to Mons Electi, I haven't the foggiest clue, nor does Maris. Do you have some idea, boy?"
Ulrich looks back and forth between Tria and Maris, trying desperately (and failing) to understand anything of what they're saying. And trying not to look at their boobies (as nice as they might be)...that is almost a losing battle as well, but he keeps reminding himself of what they each did to him last time they caught him misbehaving like that.
He has no idea who "lightning fire" is, nor Aiakia filius, nor what an Ausculator is, but he has a suspicion about the "daughter of Guernicus" that brought about his doom...and finds himself growing a little angry at her. He hopes that his confusion and frustration isn't showing on his face, but he fears that it is.
[color=green]"What? Silviatos was Diedne?"
He shakes his head. [color=green]"No, domina, Apollodorus didn't tell me much of anything outside my studies."
"Do you know where your first master went? How old are you, Ulrich? Your general inability to keep your eyes in your head, and your desires under control is likely to get you killed. Had you been successful with that spider it is quite likely she would have eaten you afterward. Had she dangled you on a thread with a promise of pleasures yet to come she would have made you a tool to satisfy her own desires. Part of being a magus is being able to manage your vices. Some do it inconspicuously. Some can hide them for years, like Apollodorus, but his big mouth and warm heart got him in the end."
Maris interjects, "Except he had a good idea of when his end was, or at least the circumstances. He always told me he knew the conditions under which he would die, and he said he was attempting to retire all his debts before the end."
Tria regards Maris a bit coolly, "Be that as it may, do not let your grief over your pater cloud your judgment here. He was a fool, he talked too much, and he acted too hastily. I thought we were agreed to wait for Grand Tribunal, to see what tricks Guernicus would play with the Lotharingian Tribunal issue, and now Apollodorus goes and gets himself killed."
Maris shakes her head vigorously, "No, I'm sure he didn't bring this on himself as you intimate. He had been discreet for over 50 years, the one exception was that dinner party I attended with his sodales of Mons Electi and my Tremere. We wouldn't reveal his secrets willingly, and I don't think they had been able to dig into his past over much. They were all likely giddy at the largess he provided them given their restrictive backgrounds. He chose those sodales for a reason. I refuse to believe that he walked directly into some elaborate trap." Turning to Ulrich, "Boy, do you know where Regulus is? Is he still alive?"
[color=green]"No, domina, he simply said that he had to take care of some personal business and would be back in a few weeks. He didn't tell me where he was going, and I have no idea what happened to him."
[color=green]"I'm 14, ma'am," he says, having a harder time control his frustration at...pretty much everything, at how his whole world and everything has just been stuck in a blender and pureed.
[color=green]"Maybe if I were to have a nibble from time to time instead of constantly being told not to think about how hungry I am all the time, I might have better luck with that!" he snaps. [color=green]"And Thera is actually pretty cute in her human form!"
[color=green]"No...Regulus is dead, too. Just like...like..." And that's when he loses it and starts to cry uncontrollably, after trying to pretend for a week like nothing was wrong, like everything was okay, that Apollodorus was just off on another one of his jaunts and would be back soon and everything would be back to normal, just like it always was.
"Maris, if you'll excuse us, I'll be retiring to my sanctum. Thanks again for your help." She leads Ulrich out.
When Ulrich gets to Tria's sanctum she sits him down in a chair. "Ulrich, you are a boy playing in a grown up's world. Magi and Magae develop unusual appetites, and you've been on your own for far too long. Without proper training and close supervision, you'll end up a broken magus before you even begin. I'm of a good mind to give you to a Tytalus. I think Apollodorus did you a disservice. Did you know that he was in contact with a magus called Methuselah? He would have taken you, no doubt about it, and you'd have ended up cleaning up after his dotty old mother for much of your apprenticeship."
Tria digresses and contemplates what having Methuselah as a master would have really done, "Although, I'm sure Apollodorus knows what Methuselah did to his last apprentice, which was an awful shame and a blight on our House. Methuselah's first apprentice, Tektonius was a brilliant academic, much like my first apprentice, Ra'am. Methuselah bungled Tektonius's training so badly he can't even cast simple spells he was taught. Caecilius, Tektonius's grandparens was unable to fix it. Thankfully he's still a brilliant academic and if he can keep his big mouth shut, might be a brilliant addition to the House. Now, for tonight, go fix your problem there. She points between his legs. Images of nymphs touching him in a multitude of ways fill his mind."Also do the same first thing in the morning, because I need you to focus on your studies. You can ameliorate your worst impulses by having satisfied your libidinous demands by yourself. You are not a dog trying to hump every leg or chair it sees, you are an apprentice in the Order of Hermes. Once you have established yourself as a Magus of some renown, hump anything you please." Tria leaves and closes the door to her private room behind her.
When Ulrich gets into bed and touches himself, his hand doesn't feel right against his member, and it instead feels warm and wet, and the image he has in his mind is that of one of the nymphs atop him. His dreams continue through the night and he's lost in a world of sensual imagery. In the morning, his loins are raw for entirely different reasons.
Ulrich was somewhat disappointed in the way things had played out – when Tria led him off to her sanctum, he had hoped that she would do something different. He tosses and turns throughout the night, and doesn't get much rest (and not only from following her advice every time he was even half awake).
When dawn does break, he lies in bed, thinking about what she had said. He thinks about Silviatos, abouy Apollodorus, about Methusaleh and the Tytalus, and Tria. And he thinks of his father, in the mountains of Tyrol. He wonders if his father ever thinks of his only child and misses him, and if he does, if he's glad to be rid of him. He wonders whatever happened to Silviatos, where he went to that was more important than his apprentice, or if his leaving was just a ruse to be rid of a boy that he regrets taking in. He wonders what Apollodorus did to him, that upset his domina so. He wonders if Tria thinks that he would have been better off with this Methuselah, and he wonders if she is going to give him to a Tytalus so that she can be rid of him.
He wonders if he would be better off just leaving all this behind, and if he could make it on his own, going where he will, being with whom he wanted when he wanted.
When he finally rises, he cleans himself off and goes looking for Tria.
When Ulrich presents himself in the morning Tria seems uninterested in whether he had a pleasant night's sleep. "My lab needs a thorough cleaning, boy. I judge it shouldn't take anymore than a week, which shouldn't interfere with your study of the book too much." The lab is quite untidy, appears as if it hasn't been touched for years. Cobwebs and a thick layer of dust are the order of the day. Tria provides rags and a bucket of water and some soap. "I want all the glassware everything that used to shine to shine once more."
Ulrich looks at her, confused for a moment. What? he thinks. She's going to all this trouble for a scullery maid? He grits his teeth but says nothing. Just a simple [color=green]"Yes, domina," as he takes the cleaning supplies and gets to work without waiting for her to leave.
He throws himself wholeheartedly into the task, except for a few brief spells when he just doesn't give a flip, determined to prove his worth. To give her no excuse to cast him aside or to abandon him like everyone else in his life has. And to have her lab the way she wants it, sooner than she wants it.
A scullery maid drops off some food for Tria and Ulrich halfway through the day. It seems as if Ulrich hasn't made as much headway as he'd like. The scullery maid looks at Ulrich slyly while bringing the food in. Over lunch Tria says, "I haven't told you much about my first apprentice." She picks over her meal. "I trudged him all over the Stonehenge, Loch Leglean and Hibernian Tribunals for two years. The last year of his apprenticeship I found that his wife. Yes, he was older than you, his wife was pregnant and I kept it from him. When he discovered it he behaved so vilely that I almost lost my temper and killed him myself. Thankfully, the new master I had sold him to was around and stopped me. I probably could have killed him, you know, and as long as I returned the vis Prospero had given me in trade, nothing else would have been done. It's murky area of the code, not one anyone is eager to explore, I'm sure."
Ulrich, in return, checks out the maid and smiles at her in what he hopes is a friendly manner. Bet she feels better than my hand does, he thinks.
He devours his meal as only a hungry teenage boy can as he listens to Tria talk.
[color=green]"Why did you keep it from him? Isn't it something that he deserves to know?"
Ulrich stops eating for a minute as he looks at Tria. [color=green]"It sounds like you didn't have this apprentice very long. So, this buying and selling of apprentices...that's common, then, or at least for you? There's that much of a market for us?"
"Telling Ra'am would have interfered in my work. It wasn't done out of cruelty, but for efficiency and expediency. Also, keep in mind had I told him he would have missed her all the more, but would have been unable to visit his wife. At the time he was quite angry, later he understood why I did it. He disagrees to this day, of course, but we have great respect for each other, now."
Tria takes his question and does a quick assessment of his knowledge of Magic Theory, "Assistance in the lab allows magi to make and do ever greater things. That has a value, yes. You've been spared much of that, but you have enough knowledge to understand how it works, don't you? Ra'am's oldest daughter, Elizabeth, is of a great help to Ra'am in the lab. Abigail, who has recently joined you as an apprentice at Mons Electi, is his youngest daughter has at least as much knowledge about Magic Theory as you. She will be of great assistance to Korvin. The work, though is not pleasant. But both of his daughters know what is at stake. They know that they must serve someone else for 15 years. One serves her father, the other serves another magus at the pleasure of her father. No one is looking out for you, though. Is that fair?"
Before he can answer, she looks at the pail of dirty water and screams out in a terrible voice that seems to shake the walls, "That water is filthy! Get some fresh water, immediately."
I'd rather provide a player with an opportunity to retool his character than make him wrestle with a hamstrung character concept that is a mess because he had too many masters and went in too many directions. Not everyone wants to play a character that isn't good at anything, or had a messed up apprenticeship, such as Talia, my maga in PB's saga.