Late spring of 1235, and the covenant has turned the calendar page for June. Vibria has been slaving away in her lab for a couple of months, and is less then pleased with the results so far. The first ring she made worked wonderfully...if you're immune to heat. Which limited the possible users down to, basically, her, unless someone were to cast a ward against heat on whichever grog drew the short straw that day. And, since it required the wielder to concentrate to keep the light shining, made it even more useless.
She is fuming over her failures ([color=red]I bet Vulcanus never had anything like that happen to him, she thinks) when everything went white.
The rest of the covenant sees blinding light pouring out of every window, around the cracks of her door, and up the chimneys for what seems like a long time, accompanied by a steady noise that's hard to identify.
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Rolling on all her valuable items, just going down her list. (Although, actually the only valuable item she keeps in the lab proper is the Vis; the rest she keeps in a separate room. Unless the definition of "lab" is expanded to include her sanctum, in which case everything is on the table.)
(* Would Adan be back from Giza yet?)
assuming so- Adan sees the light pouring from the tower and begins running for the stairs yelling "The Rapture! The Rapture! The Rapture is upon us!"
Roberto runs to the runiend and smoking tower, races up the stairs, find his way blocked by fire and debris, uses Wizard's Leap to get past it, comes to Vibria's door (blown off the hinges), and tries to rescue her.
He has Ward against Heat & Flames to protect him from the blaze. Vibria is immune to the blaze, she just takes shrapnel damage.
Just reread the damage, and it's Simple Die plus the level of the Enchantment Level, not the Magnitude. This might suck just a little bit.
So: Level 13 + die roll of 4 = 17. Her Soak is Sta 2 + Tough 3 = 5 + her Form Bonus. Ignem is +4 (or +3 if her Puissant Ignem doesn't figure in – I think it does, but I can see where it could be interpreted as not); Corpus, Terram, and Vim are +1; all the other forms are +0.
If it's Ignem, she takes a Medium wound, while any other form results in a Heavy wound.
It is part Ignem, a greater part shrapnel and magic energy. I will grant the soak bonus but not immunity to fire. You are not protected from the blast, just from the follow up damage from the blaze. An intense fire (size +17)
Roberto (with his ward) and Cidito (who is immune to fire) burst into Vibria's blazing sanctum
base dame of 17, die roll of 1d10=9 equals Fire Damage 26
versus Roberto's soak of
(Stam +1, Ward +15, Ignem bonus +3, then +3 DoIS on his tunic, and a stress die... 1d10=10
shit... 1d10=5 whew
Soak 22 versus Damage 26 results in a Light Wound.
Vibria is rescued and alive.
Cidito tries to rescue shiny things until the roof starts to collapse. Then it caves in while he is inside! OMG!!!!
Then from behind you... meow?
He managed to escape instantly because no one was observing him. Not only is there no one else in there, if there was he can yurn invisible by standing in fire.
He has collected 7 items, rescued from the fire. So when Vibria rolls for the survival of her belongings, seven items (that can be carried by a large cat that can grow man sized if needed) are automatically saved and do not have to be checked. Peregrine, you decide which items get automatically saved. Pick some that will make Vibria happy, have some items destroyed that will make her sad.
So, my understanding is that either Carmen or Roberto will cast Gentle Caress of Aesclepius, after which Fleur will cast Touch of the Moderated Wound. The covenant will foot the Vis cost (10 pawns of Creo and/or Corpus in all).
[color=red]"Thank you, sodales," Vibria says.
[color=red]"I will also be very grateful if the Council could see fit to have my tower rebuilt...perhaps if our craftsmagus nonpareil would be so gracious to cast a Conjuring the Mystic Tower once the rubble is removed?"
Vibria looks absolutely sick, almost on the verge of tears. Whether it's from the physical damage of being caught in the explosion, or the emotional ravages of having her home and lab blown out from under her, or something else, is hard to tell.
Vocis: I have no objection to paying the vis cost out of the covenant's stores, though I would expect that it will be considered a loan to be taken out of your future stipends as Warder.
Pere: Preferably with interest.
"For my part," Lucas replies in Council, "I'd be content to have the tower rebuilt - or reconstituted via magic, as the case may be - at Covenant expense. By all accounts this was an accident and not at all intentional. I'd just as soon the covenant bear the risk of such accidents than place the risk on the individual magi. We all make things as safe as we can - it's in our best interests to do so for any number of reasons, not the least of which our own health and well-being. But magic can be a dangerous business. Accidents will happen despite the best precautions. I'd rather not see a maga penalized for being unlucky enough to suffer such an accident. Bad enough Vibria was badly injured and had her lab destroyed. To add to that the cost of rebuilding her lost tower seems a bit too much for me. In the end, the question is who should bear the risk of accidents. I think one of the reasons we gather together into covenants is to spread that risk around. That's why I'd prefer to set the precedent that we share the cost of rebuilding. Consider, next time it could be you, or me, who suffers such a loss."
Solomon turns to Lucas, "While I agree with you that the covenant should concern itself with taking care of its magi, just as we have with providing the necessary healing for our sodales, I would not go so far as you. Yes accidents can and will occur, but we must ensure that all necessary precautions were taken before we apply covenant assets to recompense magi for every accident that occurs. Imagine, for instance, that one of our sodales chooses to engage an ancient dragon alone, after numerous warnings against such an action. Assuming said magus survives, but loses his talisman in the process, should we provide vis to compensate for this foolish endeavor?
While this is an extreme example, it proves a point. Every situation must be adjudicated individually to ensure the 'accident' was not due to negligence or attempts to work beyond one's own means[sup]1[/sup]. In this case, I don't know, which is why I would like Mistress Vibria to provide us an account as to what occured."
[sup]1 Solomon is trying to say, in character, that if the accident occured due to experimentation the covenant shouldn't pay for it, since that's basically the magus trying to speed things up and not working as safely. He may be somewhat biased since he is a Cautious Sorcerer and is quite conservative in his spellcasting.[/sup]
Lucas nods at Solomon's words. "Your point is well taken. Accidents are one thing, unnecessary risk-taking is another.[sup]1[/sup] I suppose I should modify my previous comments by saying that in conditions in which standard precautions are taken, yet an accident still occurs, I would be in favor of the covenant bearing the risk. But, as you say, if the 'accident' is the result of failure to take proper precautions, or of rushing things unnecessarily, then it's an entirely different matter. In that case, the magus or maga has willingly taken on the risk. In that case, the covenant should not be responsible for any property damage that occurs. You're quite correct that it should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis."
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[size=85][sup]1[/sup] Lucas is also a Cautious Sorcerer, so he's on the same page as Solomon. [/size]
"It seems to me that the tower is a part of the covenant, and the covenant responsibility. However, if there is another magus who would like that space, the person who destroyed covenant property does not need to have priority I reoccupying the same space, if in the opinion of the council they were overly reckless."
"That's true," Lucas says in reply to Fleur's comment.[sup]1[/sup] "And I would totally agree if it were a natural disaster or a true accident. But if it were caused by a maga's recklessness ... well, I find myself in agreement with Solomon. I mean, if I decided to go out and set fire to the woodpile, the covenant would rightly expect me to pay for all the lost wood, and the damages caused by the fire as well. I'm not sure it's different when a magus takes unnecessary risks with covenant property."
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[sup]1[/sup] At least I assume it was Fleur talking, since silveroak posted, and we're in Council.
Vocis: While I agree with the case-by-case sentiment, in this case the alternative to magically replacing the tower is to tear down and rebuild a tower that forms a corner of our curtain wall. This will take months, during which our mundane security will be in question. We have the vis on hand and Vibria has an income sufficient to repay the cost in less than two years. If we want to charge interest or some punitive fine, so be it. I'm more concerned with maintaining our fortifications.
"Of course, the security of the covenant comes first," Lucas acknowledges. "And since we have both the ability and the resources, we should clearly summon a new tower. I think the only remaining question is whether the cost in vis should be assessed to Vibria or whether it should be incurred by the covenant in general."
Roerto looks puzzled. [color=red]Can't you just house her in the empty tower and repair the corner tower with mundane resources? Looking at it, the base is still good. Jut the top needs repair, and mainly interior work.
Carme looks interested.The empty tower is new, replacing the tower I used to use before it was blown up by a genie. Vulcanus conjured it with magic after I moved into my father's old lab. It has not yet been used for anything.
"I think the real concern," Lucas notes, "is that the destroyed tower is probably the worst tower for us to have lost. It's right my the road and its absence makes for a serious gap in our security. Repairing it by mundane means might take six months, say, half of that with the breach in the wall being significant. Three months may not seem like long. But the threat of possible attack during that time remains real."
((there is no breech, just the top of it is blown out. You can just repair the top without affecting the bottom using mundane means. Conjuring a new tower with magic would require a breech, for the whole of the old tower would have to be cleared away first.))
