Let me say it another way: you need to quarry some rock to expand the Tribunal/Tournament field.
I figured as much -- locating the quarry-able stone was/is one of the goals for the exploration chapter.
Figuring out how to do that is a matter that's been discussed in the Tribunal Prep thread. Options are to make Stone Cutting Knives and Enchanted Porter Gloves, or for Viscaria to do it herself (spont or through spells acquired).
Talisman, 1st draft
Gloves/slave bracelets, made of Silver, bronze and electrum chain links, depicting a mason’s chisel on one hand, and a small hammer on the other. Three attached rings bear stones on each hand: magnet(ite), red coral and opal
Inspiration: Design 1, or Design 2. A central pendant larger than 1 but smaller than 2, with chain links and metal bands to the three fingers shown in Design 1, with stones attached.
Components:
-
Glove
affect things by touch 4 Ars Magica fifth edition p110
manipulate at a distance 4 Ars Magica fifth edition p110 -
Mason chisel
shape stone 2 Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults p137 -
Small hammer
building 2 Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults p137 -
Silver
terram 1 The Mysteries Revised Edition p33
intellego 2 The Mysteries Revised Edition p33
lycanthropes in general 5 The Mysteries Revised Edition p33
protect spirits 3 Realms of Power: Infernal p123 -
Bronze
terram 3 Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults p137
darkness 5 Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults p137 -
Electrum
scrying 3 Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults p137
deception 3 Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults p137
muto terram 4 Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults p137 -
Magnet
rego 2 The Mysteries Revised Edition p33
rego corpus 4 The Mysteries Revised Edition p33
rego terram 4 The Mysteries Revised Edition p33 -
Coral, red
versus demons 10 Ars Magica fifth edition p110 -
Opal
eyes 6 Houses of Hermes: True Lineages p139
images 2 Houses of Hermes: True Lineages p139
imagination 2 The Mysteries Revised Edition p33
invisibility 2 Houses of Hermes: True Lineages p139
memory 4 The Mysteries Revised Edition p33
travel 4 Houses of Hermes: True Lineages p139
JL just pointed me to the restrictions on the number of components you can put together. (MRB 97, last column, end of 1st para).
Now, when talking about compound components, are we talking about the list above, or does it get counted like below?
- A silver chain link slave bracelet/glove with 3 silver rings
- with a bronze mason's chisel depicted on the left hand
- and an electrum hammer depicted on the right hand.
- The rings have stones of red coral,
- magnet, and
- opal
You can depict whatever you want, my gut tells me that the shape is that of a glove or bracelet, maybe ring, maybe all three. But the hammer and chisel are just depictions and wouldn't get any bonuses for shape. This isn't Potent Magic.
That's fine. Their bonuses are basically overridden by the materials, anyway.
Because Viscaria is a min-maxing dork....
The season that I add an enchantment to Ogmios's Saddle for Fiona, that enchantment is a MuAn(ReTe) 30 spell, but I have a Lab Total of 67. 67 - (30*2) = 7. I get a +5 for adding enchantments to my Talisman, so that remaining 7 MuAn(ReTe) becomes a 12.
So....what's a MuAn(ReTe) 6 enchantment? +1 for 2 uses/day, +2 for Sun...drops us down to a Base 3, or Base 2. It's a Talisman, so range:Personal includes me and all my stuff, right?
Maybe it makes her spidersilk toga/dresses more durable? Or...turns it into a tent! No....
Oh! Since the MuAn(ReTe) effect going in to Ogmios's Saddle is to turn the horse into a metal-winged Pegasus capable of flight, then maybe the mini-enchantment she puts into the talisman turns her clothing into glider wings or something else that would help her avoid falling damage?
More number crunching.
If V is taking over Korvin's princeps duties so that he can sort through A's stuff, then things get rearranged so that the season Abigail is helping her in the lab is now the season where she's enchanting the 2nd half of the mental communication link, and I'm no longer making a spell to handle refuse.
Enchant Familiar - Mental Communication (CrMe 15)
Cr 7 + Me 6 + Aura 5 + MT 6 + Lab 4 + Familiar 6+ Creo bonus 5 + Abigail 11 = 50,
In which case, I don't need her help and can return her to the pool
OR I could use her help and add an additional CrMe 10 effect.
CrMe Base 3 +1 touch, +3 envir trigger, +3 6 uses/day - CrMe10
Familiar Enchantment. Notifies one when the other receives damage or passes out (environmental trigger)
"The Falling Swan"
MuAn(ReTe)Base 3, +1 Touch, +1 diameter, +1 2 uses/day = Total 6
Mirroring the enchantment made to Ogmios's Saddle, this effect will be enchanted into her Talisman using the remaining LabTotal from that season. The MuAn turns the spidersilk clothing into wings, the Te requisite adds metal boning to the wings, and the Rego requisite to slow the descent to survivable levels.
"Perceive The Mystic Aura"
Base CrIg2 : candlelight / InVi2 : Determine Power of a Mystic Aura, +1 Conc, Ind, +2 InVi requisites +5lvl Item Concs, +3 environmental trigger, +10 unlimited = CrIg(InVi) 23
This spell is triggered by shifts in the aura. It causes one of the multifaceted gems built into the talisman to glow in a manner that expresses the strength of the magic aura. It can be turned on or off by command. There are four versions of this lab text, to detect each known aura type.
Note that Perceive the Mystic Aura requires a lab text for Viscaria to complete the enchantment during that season.
Just thought about something:
If doing a second lab activity, you must use the same arts all through the season 
Yep! That's half the fun for me. I suppose that technically, the season I spend doing MuAn(ReTe), I can use the leftovers on any old MuAn, but it just seems a lot more fun to restrict myself to the exact arts and try to come up with something.
It's a pain, but the alternative involves doing percentile math, and I say to hell with that.
Ratios FTW.
A few random rolls that I haven't done yet:
1224.2 Theraphosa refines the lab and removes the flaw "Missing Equipment." She rolls Int + MT vs 12/15 for the chance to gain Highly Organized and Spotless (note that Gunthar's Broom does not provide Spotless+Warping, but gives a bonus to Health and Upkeep instead).
Int 1 + MT 5 + die 0,8. URGH. If there's more than 1 botch die, this may mean a possible botch, and therefore a Hidden Defect Flaw.
And thus, by strange mechanics, we discover that IF Theraphosa botched then Patience, the daughter of Viscaria's Forge Companion, who fetches and carries and generally Servant's for the enchantress, has a Int of +1 or greater, and is probably the only one who has noticed the Hidden Defect, and spends the next 3 years quietly keeping it from destroying the entire mountaintop.
(Hidden Defect is -3 Safety, which would bring the lab to -1, which would require all kinds of extra math. Patience, however, has been listed as a Servant +(Int/2, round up) to Safety this entire time, with her Int unknown -- it could have been -3 and the lab still would have been Safety 0+.)
Speaking of lab dangers, Viscaria's lab has Warping 1. I am presuming that I do not need to roll that Warping roll on seasons when she is not working in the lab except for Hermetic Alchemy -- side effect/modified effect on vis extraction makes little sense. If you want me to roll for those seasons too, let me know.
She has ten seasons of lab work: invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3695871/
1d10 → [4] = (4)
1d10 → [10] = (10)
1d10 → [6] = (6)
1d10 → [7] = (7)
1d10 → [9] = (9)
1d10 → [9] = (9)
1d10 → [1] = (1)
1d10 → [10] = (10)
1d10 → [2] = (2)
1d10 → [10] = (10)
That is the season that she is spending doing CrIg enchantments
Enchant Candle-wand(5/6). CrIg Enchant LT 69.
- Lamp Lighters (base 3 +1 touch +2 ring +10 unlimited = CrIg20),
- Hearth-Starters (base 4 +1 touch +2 ring +10 unlimited = CrIg25).
Add effect to Talisman (24 left over +5 Talisman) (affect things by touch + 4)
"Glimmer of the Magician's Strength" Base CrIg2 (candlelight) / InVi2 : Determine Power of a Mystic Aura Per :, +1 Conc, Ind, +1 CrIg(InVi) requisite +5lvl Item Concs, +3 environmental trigger, +10 unlimited = 22
(Causes one of the multi-facted gems in the Talisman to glimmer in a way that reveals the current Magic aura strength)
Three effects, three even/odd dice: invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3695872/
1d10 → [7] = (7) - Side Effect
1d10 → [8] = (8) - Modified Effect
1d10 → [9] = (9) - Side Effect
Effects: invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3695874/
1d10 → [4] = (4) Minor side Effect on the Lamp Lighter enchantment
1d10 → [6] = (6) The range, duration, target or potency is increased on the Hearth Starter
1d10 → [2] = (2) Major Side benefit on the Talisman's CrIg(InVi)/Magic Aura enchantment
The warping comes from the Chaotic nature of the labs' constantly shifting stalactites.
For the Lamp Lighter enchantment, how about the light generated by these circles are unusually attractive to insects?
Increasing potency on the Hearth Starter from Base 4 to 5 gives the option of merely increased fire strength OR the same quality of fire, only in unnatural(non-cosmetic) shapes. That's interesting, but doesn't yield any obvious ideas to me that aren't purely cosmetic. What if my talisman enchantment's InVi gets mixed in there by accident? The fires created by the Hearth Starter grow stronger in the presence of vis -- a subtle warping which we probably might not even notice, until the Tribunal comes along.
I feel like it's out of place for me to suggest a major side benefit for a constantly-active effect on my talisman, but there are a few ideas that I'll throw out just to get the conversation started:
- the most obvious one would be if the spell measured and detected more than one kind of aura type. That would be a much more valuable lab text if it wasn't for the fact that it was for my talisman -- I believe that even under the new house rules, no one else would be able to use it to reproduce the same side benefit.
- perhaps it detects things besides aura strength
- left field option, maybe it keeps her "warm to the touch" regardless of the weather or her clothing
- completely left field, she accidentally rarefies a tame, insect-sized Fire Elemental (Might 1) who now lives in the gem, feeding off the magical fire and reacting to the aura.
Okay! That was one helluva tangent. The other roll I was going to make was the experimentation roll on the Villa De Luna spell. I was holding off on it as I debated between doing it as Original Research or simple experimentation. I've decided that I'm going to do it as simple experimentation.
Dice rolls:
1d10.open(10) → [7] = (7) More than the 2 I needed to complete the spell.
1d10.open(10) → [9] = (9) +2 = 12, Modified Effect
Twice more:
1d10.open(10) → [3] = (3)+3 = 6 (Side Effect): minor flaw
1d10.open(10) → [[10, 3]] = (13) Possible botch (Golden Cord -2 botch dice), No botch, otherwise 3 (no effect)
~sigh~ So there's some kind of minor flaw with the spell she plans on using to create all the housing that she wanted everyone to be so impressed with....
Too tired now to figure out what that might be. This was way more dice rolling that I expected to do.
You may want to consult JL on this, and ask him to read your thread.
I LOVE this.
And it solves the problem raised by Callen, in that, even if the base level is the same, the primary effect is InVi, so this should be In(Cr)Vi(Ig), not Cr(In)Ig(Vi)
I explain: Viscaria, either by error or because she proudly thinks she can do it nonetheless, wants to do an effect that can't work. This normally would have failed, but the strange magic in her sanctum reacts with her labwork, summoning the elemental that, in a way, allows her to do what she wanted, stumping all magic theorists with an enchantment that, ironically, wouldn't have been possible with a non-warped lab.
BUT, if you do this, I'll ask if I can design it 
Hum...
IIRC, you have a fixed design, with 1 added magnitude, to bypass the finesse roll. But the roll is not just to doing a functionnal item. It can allow you to do a great item. Like a craftsman can do a poor, average, or excellent sword.
So, despite (or because) the precautions she took to ensure the houses would be functional, the design is, a little shoddy, like a low finesse roll. So:
- The houses could be functional, but not very good looking and well designed. Like, the windows could be not orthogonal, maybe even a little ~ when it should be -, the doors could be difficult to close...
- Or they could be fine (standard quality, that is), but not very sturdy, beginning to degrade at about half their expected lifespan. So, instead of disapprearing at the end of the duration, there will be cracks in the walls well before that, which, despite changing little to the villa's ability to protect from the elements, reflects poorly on viscaria.
Why is Viscaria experimenting? Is her time so very constrained? Keep in mind some of these decisions might best be deferred until after events of Mother's Footsteps so you have a better idea of the full scope of time available to Viscaria.
It's a roleplaying choice. The spell is important to her plans, so she borrows both apprentices and gets really experimental (+3 risk) in an effort to make The Coolest Spell Evar to impress all her friends.
It's also sort of a setup for whenever she advances in Verditus mysteries next and takes the "refuses to experiment ever" flaw.
I agree that we'll need to re-visit this stuff later as time crunches happen.
No one in that thread has said you couldn't do it this way, just that it makes more sense to do it the other way. And since I need a lab text to make it work anyway, it's moot until we start reviewing the whether or not we get lab texts.
I like the idea that it begins to crumble and slowly fall apart over the last half of the Moon duration. It's the sort of subtle failure that Viscaria wouldn't notice. I'll have to look up exact moon phases for the Tribunal to get an idea of whether or not any magi at Tribunal will notice.
I'm thinking that, if the cracks don't start to show up until as the magi arrive, that could start a nasty little whispering campaign about Viscaria. "Oh, my stars and garters, did you see the villas that Verditius created? I don't know who her pater was, but I don't see how she could have passed her gauntlet with shoddy work like that." Much clucking of tongues.
Exactly! Or maybe only half of them have the cracks. Or maybe the lunar cycle will be a blessing upon her and it'll turn out that the buildings stay perfectly intact until after the Tribunal closes.
moonpage.com/index.html
The spell lasts until the new and full moon have set, so careful timing could make it nearly 2 months. According to that page, June 21, 1227 is at 43% of the waxing full moon, so it's looking like Viscaria is going to get away with it being OK. And I'm fine with this being the minor flaw...
If the Warping from Viscaria's lab is due to the constantly shifting stalactites/stalagmites, what kind of Personality does the Lab have due to the Warping?
And what was Viscaria working on when she hit the Warping?