Vibria smiles and curtsies quickly.
Vibria's mind starts to race at the untold possibilities. How rich will I be if a great dragon sees that I'm taken care of? she wonders.
As Vibria stares off into space with dollar signs in her eyes (a-la Scrooge McDuck), Sigmundo silently rests his gaze upon her. And everyone notices, and by the time Vibria comes back to focus on reality she notices everyone looking at her.
Is this craft magic?
Repairs in the Library are going well. Most of the damage was in the unprotected lower floors. The upper level has a protected core that held most of the valuable texts. Gone are many substandard and mediocre texts and exemplar copies of other stuff. Vis Stocks are mostly bare still, and they are being stored in the Mercere Vault (the vault's ours, we just rented it to them).
And speaking of the vault, one of the Redcap inspection team's grogs approaches Arachne.
Um, ma'am. We found something oddly curious down in there. I think you may want to take a look...
As Vibria comes out of her reverie, she looks around at everyone looking at her. [color=red]"What?" she says, having no idea why they're staring.
Sigmundo replies Tell me, girl, what was the name of your parens? And of your mortal parents?
[color=red]"My mater is the Archmaga Fulminara of Flambeau, of Plateau Covenant. My mortal parents are Guillem and Ermengarde, of the village of Calbinyà, in Catalonia."
Yes, yes indeed. Fulminara wrote Legacy of the Forked Dragon, an excellent summa on the Arts and History of your House.
I wait to see the tale that you shall some day write, the legacy you inspire.
So what say you all? Do this favor for me and I shall bestow favor in return.
Esteban smiles and replies, "Culling out these ogres is exactly the mutually beneficial proposition we came to discuss. All that remains is to settle on the terms. If I may be so bold as to inquire, what specific reward do you propose for destroying this giant undead ogre and dispersing its minions?"
Yes.
Since she sucks at formulaics, I have 2 goals for her with this:
- Create a lot of traps in the covenant (As I told you, little effect on adventures, it is just fun for me). This is my main goal, and what she's doing here.
- Create some general purposes "spider-gadgets" that will allow her to bypass her problems. Like the flying "carpet"
Hu-Hu.
Thank you. You were right to alert me. Let's see this.
And Arachné follows the redcap.
We discovered it a few days ago, but I did not realize what we were dealing with until just now. We were doing inventory, and discovered part of the back wall was false and hid a conceled room. But it was an empty room, so we thought nothing of it. I was going to turn it into a break room area of sorts, and I discovered a second false wall. It opened up to reveal this...
And you see a huge streel slab of a door, embossed and engraved with many symbols mundane and arcane. It displays the coat of arms of Andorra (a griffon and dragon combatant counterchanged).
Weird glyphs and runes mark the door, none that you recognize (it is Iberian script). And at the very bottom, in huge letters, it reads VALDARIUS MCXI
Vibria leans forward slightly, waiting with great interest for Sigmundo's answer.
My my, you are eager. A true adventurer's heart.
As for specific details of the ogre, be it undead or just unkillable and what followers if any it may retain, those details can be gained from Maurice. He is slightly smarter and more knowledgable than the others.
As for a specific reward, how about I let you live another day...
Bwahahahahahahaha!
Just trying to scare you. Seriously, as a reward I am willing to renegotiate the treaties I had with the Archmagus and extend them to the covenant as a whole. And even further, I will help rebuild and restore your library. If my understanding is correct, the best material remains intact and only slightly damaged. This is good. But you lost many diverse lesser texts and the quality of the damaged texts needs to be restored.
I have a copy of almost every book your covenant's library has ever posessed, going back nearly 120 years. I would need to come visit and inspect what works needs to be done first, and I would make some copies of certain things for myself of course.
But something more personally advantageous perhaps. Hmmm...
I will let you each spend one season copying from my library. Anything you set your eyes on. Hermetic science, Ancient magic, Academic scolastic texts, Historic Lore dating back to Rome, whatever you can find.
"I have some skill as a scribe, and would be willing to peruse these texts to find which may be most useful," Tiana offers.
(A Folk Ken+Perception of 10 or better would reveal that Tiana seems to have some kind of ulterior motive.)
No ulterior motives detected by NPC's / monsters under SG control. Maybe another player?
Carmen: Excellent idea Tiana. This little task should be a piece of cake, so whence we have completed the mission, we gan get you to work on the selection process. But otherwise, I am satisfied with the arrangment. What say the rest of you?
((Per 0 + Folk Ken 0 + die roll of 9 = 9. Dammit! 
))
[color=red]"I think this sounds like a smashing idea," Vibria says.
"I concur," says Guillaume, who's just been quietly observing.
Well then...
:mrgreen:
Meanwhile...
Gardiatius is travelling through the Pyrenees, on his way to try and make a new home at the legendary covenant of Andorra.
Cunbningrat; tell me something about your travel conditions, your entourage (if any), and etceteras. Paint a scene for me 
Snow? You have got to be kidding me. I travel a thousand miles, to the fabled land of olive trees and orange groves, and I still get snow?
The road through the Pyrenees called Port d'Envalira twists about like a snake afflicted with St. Vitus' dance, sprawling across the mountainside in broad untidy loops, punishingly steep in places... and at the moment is indeed buried under about 10 inches of snow. Gardaitis is breaking trail through said snow, and grousing to himself -- only half-heartedly, if truth be told, because the trip is not without its rewards. The view, for example, is breathtaking. Snow-cloaked copses of pine, fir and beech march away into the distance to one side of the road. To the other side, the enormous brooding bulk of Pic del Maia hangs thunderously over the pathway, with other peaks to each side of it retreating into the distance like soldiers marching in lockstep.
Gardaitis stops for a moment to take a deeper breath of the thin mountain air. Only for a moment, though. An old mule, bought in the last village, is following along in his tracks, drawing a sled that was likewise bought in the last village. The three kids are riding in the sled, with Johanna and Beatriu trading off at regular intervals: one drives the sled while the other walks behind it. Unfortunately, the mule doesn't like the Gifted man in front of it in the slightest; whenever one of the women lets it get too close, it tries to take a chunk out of his arm, undeterred by the chain mail.
Well. Could be worse. Could be ten feet of snow rather than ten inches. Besides, it's not far at all now. They told me Soldeu was just a few miles down the road... and Arans is perhaps a day or two beyond that...
He twitches his shoulder out of the mule's range without looking, and keeps breaking trail, snow crunching under his boots. Long journeys are easy. You just put one foot in front of the other till you get there. Nothing to it...