Eve can help with the books. In fact, if you have any tracti in mind I can change her current tracti set around a little. Maybe.
There will be some specialist there but not many. Autocrat, brewer, glass blower, Librarian.
OK, so here's the BPs
Levitating ring: 16 points
Zoltan commisioned this from a Verditius at Verdi itself. It's built with a high Penetration to enable it to be used on many magi or other beings that would try it. Upon a command word it instantly causes the wearer to float gently and move in a direction as fast as walking as long as he concentrates.
Base 4 R: T+1 D: C+1 T: I 10, 6 uses per day +3, Penetration 54 (+27 levels)
Total Item level 40
Vis Sources 50 Points (10 pawns per year)
Milk Snakes. In the Spring near the inn, nursing mothers often complain of pains and marks on their skin, and their babes sometimes are not fed enough. Fairy snakes sneak in at night and feed from the nursing mothers until they're bloated like over full sausages and sluggishly crawl away. These snakes can be captured and wrung out like cloth, the stolen milk becoming vis laden with Corpus. 7 Pawns of faerie vis.
The bottom of the barrel. It is no exaggeration to say that the Summer brew is magical. The waters of Heviz saturate the wood, making it absorb some of the magical qualities. Once the barrels are drained the sodden wood can be deconstructed for Vim vis. 3 Pawns.
Vis Stocks 9 Points (45 pawns)
15 Pawns Rego. Scraped Vellum pages, taken from some of the oldest books in Transylvania. These pages (now blank and unreadable) are actually copies of the various pages detailing Tremere's humbling at the hands of the Guernicus and the rest of the Order from the Sundering. The rigid controls the pages represent as well as being stored in some of the strongst auras have turned them to vis. Tremere is actually glad to be rid of these painful reminders, but first are scraped clean by blind copiests and paper preparers. If a magus were to actually try to restore what was written on them he risks greatly offending the Tremere hosts of Transylvania.
10 Pawns Perdo. A leather pouch of a strange creature, difficult to tell its origin as it has qulaities of both man and wolf. Inside are 10 fangs of a vicious predatory beast. What could have fangs so sharp and yet...so human looking?
10 Pawns Terram. The stony gnome. This small statue depicts a small gnomish fellow in the garb of a jester and a long beard with a coxcomb hat. He'd look quite funny and whimsical, were it not for the horrified and painful expression it bears on the carved face, along with the various bits and chunks chiseled out of him. This is Faerie vis.
5 Pawns Ignem. Carefully dried and preserved fish, stored in a jar filled with a strange oil. The fish are a bright orange and supposedly are a rare breed that swims in the deepest parts of Heviz, near the source of the spring. Fisherman are known to pull up their nets with strange damage to them, as if they were burnd while under water, and there's always the occasional fishing boat or dock that burns mysteriously.
5 Pawns Mentem. A jar filled with a slightly luminescent powder. Two Tremere apprentices are often tasked with gathering it at some of the ancient pagan tombs throughout Transylvania. Many Tremere masters warn their apprentices that on these expeditions a great deal of vis is often gathered, but only one apprentice actually returns. Surely such a thing can't be true though.
Here is my first attempt at making Zoltan's faerie friend. The powers need some development as I took them right from the example powers in RoP Faeries section in character creation, and I believe that leaves room for some changes.
Juriska
Might 10 (Auram)
Size -3
Int +1
Per +1
Str -3 (-6 more, Little)
Sta -2
Pre +3
Comm +1
Dex +1
Quick +3 (+3 more, Little)
Virtues:
Faerie Sight m
Humanoid Form m
Increased faerie Might m
Feast of the Dead (Breath of young girls) m
Focus Power M (Wind effects, up to level 25)
Personal Power m (Invisibility, faerie pg 62)
Personal Power m (Flight, faerie pg 62)
Lesser Power m (Cause Drowsiness, faerie pg 57)
Narrowly Cognizant (Free)
Flaws:
Traditional Ward m (Folk Charms)
Little M
Negative Reaction m
Envious M (pretty girls)
Busybody m
Nocturnal m
Personality Traits:
Dislikes Dogs +1
Envious +3
Nocturnal +2
Gossip +2
Attached to Zoltan +2
Pretenses:
Athletics (flight) 3
Awareness (dogs) 3
Area Lore (From above) 5
Penetration (Auram) 3
Guile (Lies) 4
Charm (Magi) 3
Stealth (sneaking) 4
Intrigue (Gossip) 4
Order of Hermes Lore (Merinita) 2
Juriska has the look of a lovely little girl, but is very off putting as her skin is a deep blue and her fingers and toes are so dark as to appear black. She often is invisible and prefers to fly and flit about. She became attached to Zoltan when he made the mistake of giving her a name while he was on a journey studying a Mystery. She likes the fact that he can control air and weather, and she often tries to impress him with how strong she can move the wind, often while he's trying to study or do other things that wind is not conducive to. She gets very jealous when he is paying attention to pretty girls, and will often target them later. She'll have them fall asleep at inoppurtune moments, and then tear their clothes, cut their hair and steal their breath. She hasn't killed or even seriously hurt anyone, yet.
Juriska formed from the stories of the children left to die out in the forests. Their craving for warmth, life and just to be loved is what created her. Thus she is jealous of the things that pretty young girls developing into women get. Traditional charms that women use to ease the pain of their monthly ordeals work to keep her away, and certain rhymes and songs will also keep her away.
While she often tries to annoy Zoltan, it's only to get his attention, she's never mad at him, even if he's with other girls. It's always the other girls' fault for stealing him away from her. She knows that Zoltan is afraid of dogs, so she tries to keep an eye out for them and scare them away. She's usually invisible but if she knows someone can see her (through Second Sight or Magic) then she will likely try to talk and gossip with that person as well as do other things that get their attention. If the person becomes angry she's likely to try and shift the blame to others, including Zoltan ("Zoltan said you liked to play!") but try to avoid taking any kind of blame or responisbility for her actions.
edit: added Personality Traits
Feast of the Dead doesn't include a method to actually inflict the fat level.
I think it does, it steals a long term fatigue level. For Juriska I said she steals their breath which is a common medieval curse (cats were often blamed for doing that). She has the power to cause drowsiness also, which allows her to do this easier.
Unless a power specifically needs to be built I think the virtue provides the power, or am I reading it wrong?
Quote!
Now, she can stab someone, or whatever to get it. Arguably if she has someone down and can coup de grace her she should be able to just inflict one. She could kill them so who cares if its just a fat level?
She steals breath...the mechanism would be that while they are sleeping (especially if she caused the sleep) that she covers their mouth with her own and steals their breath, causing a fatigue level. There's not really an attack or tool that does that. Since she also controls the wind, she might be able to rip it from their bodies, but that would cost her Might and that defeats the purpose of stealing the breath.
My thinking is that while they sleep she simply steals it away. She's not going to be able to fight somebody and use it as an attack, for that she uses her drowsiness and different applications of the wind.
That's a power I could use some help developing.
Eh... technically only a short term for air loss. Like I said, if you can kill someone long term fat is reasonable.
You're thinking rational 21th century, not superstitious medieval peasant. I rather like the steal the breath touch myself. It's taking part of their essence, not just a little oxygen.
Focus Power: Auram 20 Initiative +1
Juriska can control the winds and has copied the various effects that Zoltan has spoken of (Chamber of Spring Breezes, Broom of the Winds, Charge of the Angry Winds, Circling Winds of Protection, Whispering Winds*, Talons of the Winds, Quiet the Raging Winds, Wind at the Back). She does not understand that Talons of the Winds actually hurts people and will sometimes cast it instead of something gentler like Charge of the Angry Winds, not knowing the difference. Since there isn't a Wind spell higher than 20, I dropped a magnitude off the power to raise the initiative. I wanted to lower the point cost, but that's not allowed for Focus Powers, each power costs a point per Magnitude.
*This is a special spell, a legacy, so if she's not able to use it that's fine. It does have a fae quality I thought though, and it goes well with her personality.
Personal Power: Flight Cost 0
Base is 15, Constantly on. 2 Intricacy points from the unspent Magnitudes are spent to reduce the Might cost to 0. Juriska does not like to have her feet touching the ground or other surfaces (they weren't built to support her very well). She will always fly as long as she has Might left. She leaves behind a chilly path of air wherever she goes.
Personal Power: Invisibility Cost 0 Initiative -2
Juriska doesn't like the way people react when they see her (Negative Reaction flaw). She doesn't like to scare them even when she's angry at the person (she's envious of others' beauty, seeing them startled by her makes her sad and angrier). The power is not always on, and she does leave a shadow, but because she's so small and can fly she usually hides in the shadow of other people and things.
Lesser Power: Cause Drowsiness (Corpus) Cost 0, Initiative +1, Voice
Base 10 for Voice, 1 Intricacy to reduce cost to 0, 2 Intricacy points to increase Initiative. Juriska usually uses this to help her steal someone's breath, once they're asleep it becomes easy for her. She's also used it to perform pranks on people, having them fall asleep in the middle of a conversation or when riding a horse. Anything much more active and they're unlikely to suddenly become drowsy. To initiate it she whispers 'Sleep' in a sibilating whisper, sometimes using her powers of the wind to carry her voice to the victim from further away than a whisper, or to make it so only her intended can hear it*.
*Optional, she'd need to use a special application of her Focus Power to do this.
Clouds crossed in front of the waning moon as a brace of guards stomped their feet to both keep awake and fight the cold in the lonely tower at the crossroads. In the moment the light was lost, with its return came the coach and six. It was an elegant equipage, drawn by night black horses, driven by a man wrapped twice over in furs and blankets while another sat beside him with a loaded crossbow. The guardsmen’s livery as well as the drivers on the coach bore the same emblem of the circle, square and triangle, and the guardsmen snapped to attention at the sudden approach. One of them opened the door to inform the others inside as the horses were skillfully pulled into place in front of the tower. From inside the narrow windows of the tower torches and braziers were being lit for the arrival and as the drivers secured the brakes on the coach a heavily robed and bleary eyed man stepped out of the thick doors of the tower accompanied by the guardsman who had gone to rouse him.
While the driver attended the horse the one with the crossbow set it down and opened the door for the coach. Initially it seemed that they had driven an empty coach, but as the clouds passed from the face of the moon, a pale, almost blue skinned hand emerged, with long and slender fingers, an onyx gem set into a silver band upon the ring finger. The coachman stiffened at the gesture, but then tentatively reached out to accept the hand and assist its owner in exiting the coach. He was almost luminescent in the moonlight with fine clothes and well-coiffed black hair. He stepped down from the coach as if he not only owned it, but also the road, the tower and the men gathered in front of it. He stood tall and regal for several moments, his black eyes betraying no expression as he observed the surroundings. The coach had no windows and he had not been told where he would be going, only that he was needed, his special expertise. The moments began to tick by and still he said nothing until the heavily robed man stepped forward and harrumphed.
“Excuse me…you are Zoltan?” he asked in Latin that was slightly thickened by his local accent. The tall pale man looked down at him dispassionately for several seconds before finally answering.
“I am called Zoltan. It is in there, yes?” he finally confirmed as he looked back at the tower.
“It?” the robed man asked, but some of the guards were already nodding.
“Yes, It. The creature that claims to be a man. It. I was asked, quite firmly, to come and speak with It. And given virtually nothing else. I was packed into a coach with no windows and have been riding in it for some three days now, am I here to speak with It, or have I wasted my time?”
The robed man looked back at the tower and then nodded. “Yes. You are here to speak with It. I am Malvolen Tremeris, my filius Gyorgi will be joining us.”
The tall pale man’s eyebrow arched at that and he said nothing as he seemed to be considering the situation.
“Is there a problem?” Malvolen asked. Zoltan paused a few more moments before speaking.
“What? No. Of course not. Please, take me to It. How is It being held?” he said as he smoothed his hair back and straightened his elegant cloak.
“Clapped in irons, in a warded room and we have garlic and fennel in the room.” Malvolen said as they approached the tower and waved at the guardsman to open the door. Zoltan was shaking his head.
“Remove the garlic and fennel. You’re feeding It, it’s a wonder It hasn’t escaped.” Malvolen looked confused as they entered the tower.
“Feeding It?” At the base of the tower some of the guardsmen tended to a brazier for warmth. “Send up someone to remove the garlic and fennel.” He commanded to them. They all looked at each other for a moment before the grizzled older guard pointed to the fresh faced one whose beard was the shortest. He sighed and crossed himself before going up the spiraling stairs to the lone chamber at the top.
“Yes, feeding It. Anything you feed, grows. Do you think such folk charms keep it away or complacent? Why would they? It wants you to fret over It, to use those peasant remedies. It makes It feel important. The iron though…” Zoltan shrugs. “That is a good idea.” The two waited at the bottom of the stairs, the guardsmen trying to avoid looking at the pale skinned man, and always finding themselves looking up to see him staring at them, through them. The young man came down after several minutes with a basket and sack. Zoltan covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief as the strong garlic smell emanated from the bundle.
“Is everything ok?” Malvolen asked as he saw the gesture.
“It is nothing…I may have caught a chill from the ride over. If we are ready…”
“My lord.” Interrupted the young man with the bundle before he walked out. The two magi turned to stare at him, to his credit he stood his ground, with some effort. “He…he is doing it again.”
“Thank you, he is still in chains though?” asked Malvolen.
He nodded. “Aye lord.” Malvolen waved the man on.
“Doing what?” asked Zoltan as they began up the stairs.
“He…It has a disconcerting habit of making himself look like others. It can be quite convincing.”
Zoltan nodded, the news did not seem to surprise him. They walked the stairs in silence, turning round the central open shaft that was the core of the tower six times before reaching the top landing which had a guard standing at attention in front of a stout ironbound door. He was nearly as stiff as the door he guarded and said nothing as he began to undo the bolts and latches that secured it.
“Gyorgi has not left?” asked Malvolen to the guard. He shook his head as he undid the last bolt and waited for the command to open it. Malvolen looked to Zoltan who merely waved a slender pale hand. Malvolen nodded to the guard who pulled hard on the heavy door to open it. Moonlight barely filtered through the heavily barred windows, but there was some silvery light still. Several candles also danced in the breeze from the door’s opening.
Inside the round stony chamber was a desk and stool, several candles in sconces on the wall, a bucket by the window, and two copies of the exact same man. One sat at the desk and the other was stripped to the waist and chained to the wall with heavy iron manacles. While they looked the same, it was obvious that the one in chains had received far different treatment.
The man at the desk stood up and bowed to both Zoltan and Malvolen then stayed standing. The other man though spoke up in a desperate voice.
“Master! You must help me! It has beguiled the guards! They put me in chains and think he’s me!” The man by the desk sighed and shook his head.
“It started this just after you left.” Malvolen nodded and turned to Zoltan.
“Before you arrived it was pretending to be me also.” Zoltan was staring intently at the man in chains. He said nothing, merely kept staring at the prisoner. This went on for several more moments as the prisoner seemed to wither under the scrutiny while Gyorgi and Malvolen looked between them all with growing unease.
“Is there something you need?” asked Malvolen finally.
“Only silence.” Zoltan said dismissively. Gyorgi’s jaw dropped and Malvolen’s hands went to his hips in annoyance.
“Excuse me? We brought you here…” Malvolen began but was cut off by Zoltan suddenly turning to him.
“You brought me here to talk to It. Do you want me to talk to It, or do you want me to talk to you? I’m told I can be quite charming.” Malvolen’s eyes narrowed as both Gyorgis held their breath in anticipation.
“Talk to It.” He finally said and gestured to the prisoner.
“Thank you.” Zoltan said and bowed to Malvolen obsequiously before finally entering the room. “Where did you find It?” he asked as he regarded the prisoner again. The resemblance between the man at the desk and the man in chains was close enough to be twin brothers.
“We found it at a tomb, it put up a powerful struggle, but fortunately our grogs were trained to subdue.” Zoltan was shaking his head.
“You presume too much. It is here because It wants to be here. You subdued It because It needed to be subdued. You have not strayed at all from the narrative, yet you do not see the narrative.”
“What?” Malvolen asked from the entrance.
Zoltan sighed as he continued staring at the prisoner. “You look on this being as someone with fathomable desires, like a man might have.”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t we?” Malvolen asked.
“Yes, why wouldn’t that be the case?” asked Gyorgi, the one at the desk.
“Sodalis…please…” the man in chains began but Zoltan cut him off with a wave of his hand.
“We are not sodalis. Do not use that term.” Zoltan turned back to Malvolen. “How much have you been talking in front of It?”
“I…what do you mean?” he stammered at the sudden question. Zoltan cocked his head and took a step towards Malvolen.
“How much have you spoken in front of It? A lot? With great frequency? Only a little? Did you avoid speaking to It or while in Its presence?” Zoltan prodded as he walked closer.
“I…well Gyorgi and I have spoken with It somewhat, that is our assignment. And the guards received their instruction while helping us.” Zoltan shook his head. “What?”
“It is learning, don’t you see? That is why It allowed itself to be captured. That is why It transforms Itself. You called me here to put It to the question, but It came here to learn of you. You should have called me sooner. Much sooner. Then these…deceptions would not have gone so far.” Zoltan’s shadow seemed to lengthen and stretch on the floor, spidery fingers reaching towards the prisoner on the wall.
“What, this? We’re not concerned about such simple tricks.” Gyorgi said waving to his duplicate in chains with some contempt.
“You should be.” Zoltan said with a heavy sigh, before his hands flew up and began to quickly form arcane gestures and he spoke words of power in Latin. A sudden wind picked up where his hands traced the air, it smelled like it sprang from within a dank well, while his shadow seemed to actually be climbing, clawed appendage by clawed appendage up the quivering legs of the prisoner who howled in terror.
“What are you doing!” exclaimed Gyorgi and he brought up his own hands to begin a spell, but he was going to be far too late…as was Malvolen who was struck by the wind with the strength to blow a door off its hinges. Malvolen was picked up by the gale force and blown several feet back, his arms and legs flailing as he tumbled off the landing to fall down the central shaft of the tower and land with a distant thud on the stone floor below.
“Traitor!” snarled Gyorgi as he started to alter the spell to one that would bringing flaming ruin onto the pale magus. Zoltan sneered at Gyorgi and with a flourish of his cloak pointed over to the man in chains on the wall. Slumped in the manacles, beaten and abused was a haggard and barely conscious looking man that Gyorgi immediately recognized.
“P-Pater? Malvolen! But-but how!” he stammered as he looked from him to Zoltan and back, and self-consciously looked down at the iron rod that he had applied with some vigor more than once on the prisoner when it seemed determined to annoy him with his antics. The wind finally stopped and the guardsman rushed in with his weapon raised; he had just seen his master fall to his death. “Stop! Stand down!” Gyorgi commanded while Zoltan raised his hands to defend himself if necessary.
“But…!” the guard stammered.
“Go check on the one that fell, it’s probably not dead.” Zoltan said, pointing out the door. The guard looked from Zoltan to Gyorgi to the man that looked like Malvolen slumped in chains across from the door, then back to Gyorgi.
“Go…do as he said. Send up Ivan, he has the keys.” Gyorgi said as he finally hurried over to Malvolen and tried to do what he could to provide some comfort to the beaten magus, bringing the stool with so he could at least sit down. Malvolen groaned as he sat down, it was obvious he was still barely conscious. “How…how did you know?” Gyorgi asked, turning to Zoltan. The young guard burst into the room, still breathing hard from his frantic run up the stairs.
“It’s gone!” he said with a gasp. “They sent me up to tell you!”
“How?” asked Gyorgi while Zoltan shrugged; this did not seem to concern him.
“He...we saw Malvolen…It land on the floor, scared the life out of us! And It changed back into the one that we first captured and simply ran out. We were too surprised. When we tried chasing It, there was no sign, like it vanished!” Zoltan was nodding and he stepped over to the guard.
“That is fine, leave us now.” He said as he guided him out the door. “Send up someone with keys.”
“Again…how did you know?” Gyorgi asked once the young guard had left the room.
“How?” he shrugged. “I suspected when I first arrived. He would not step onto the crossroads. Then as more was revealed about his capture, I presumed we had a changeling…one that wished to join our Order.” Gyorgi seemed skeptical at the answer.
“Alright…but how between the three of us did you know it was him? Not me, not…not” and he gestured to his master still groaning in chains.
“He wouldn’t step into the room, across the wards at the door. Plus, he was making it sound like the real Malvolen was talking like you…but I could hear the regional accent of the false Malvolen. Faeries are imitators, but no imitation is perfect.” Zoltan said, pointing to the iron engravings set into the stone floor. Gyorgi looked at the door, then to Malvolen and then down at his hands. It was several seconds before he could speak again.
“But…but when could he…I don’t see how he could have…when did he switch with Malvolen?” he finally stammered. Zoltan chuckled.
“How the Hell would I know? I’ve only just arrived.” He points at the iron rod at the desk, dark with dried blood. “For your sake, I hope it was recent.” Gyorgi looks over at the rod and then back to Malvolen with the livid and bloody bruises and welts on his body and winces. “Now then. I know this was a test, when am I going to meet the one who I’ve written volumes of letters to regarding proper placement in an Oppidum?”
Nice !
(now I've got to write a story too... if only to fully detail Diotima's howful Dark Secret).
Thanks, thought I'd put a little Sherlock into him.
[i]
[/i]
Zoltan looked at the line from the charter of the Oppida, he read it again, he read it several times. He checked for hidden messages somewhere in the page that further clarified this point. Seeing nothing but this simple statement he sighed and gathered some paper and writing instruments from the supply room. Upon returning to his chamber he felt a slight chill in the air by the door he had left open and his eyes narrowed in suspicion as well as focus as he slowly scanned the room. He stopped his search when he reached the stool he had set in front of the desk, seeing several of the pages rustling from a breeze that should not have been there. He heaved a sigh and with a moment's further concentration he saw the little blue girl that had been following him for some time.
"Juriska. You know I can see you." he said as he entered the room and closed the door. She was barely larger than a toddler and wore a simple homespun chemise, likely stolen off a clothesline. Her skin was a vibrant blue, her wispy hairs a deep black. The overall effect was pretty, yet her hands and feet were almost black, and the childish features made the whole seem...unwholesome, reminding the viewer of the all too common sight of the body of a child left to die in the cold.
The little blue girl floated out from behind the back of the chair, barely hidden, yet invisible to anyone else. She had a pout on her expressions, which was almost comically expressive, before it changed to a bright smile. She floated over to Zoltan and orbitted around his head, leaving a cold breeze wherever she passed. "I know. But you always tell me I should hide." she said in her small and squeaky voice. It sounded no louder than a mouse, but it could carry far when she wanted.
"Yes I do." he said, trying not to get absorbed in a discussion as he took his chair and began the task of writing what would likely be a difficult letter. It was to be a letter of acceptance yet at the same time try and explain the impossibility of the task they were alotting to him (him most of all he was sure, no one else would likely be capable of it).
"So what are you doing?" she asked as he assembled the ink, quills, knives and other tools for writing. She looked bored already and little breezes were picking up dust and other articles as she directed the air where her flighty attentions desired.
Zoltan sighed. "I'm writing a letter."
Juriska matched his sigh, but hers seemed to cause a breeze which scattered some of the loose pages on his desk. "Writing is boring."
"Terribly so." Zoltan said and picked up the fallen letters. "Why don't you play with the chamber maid?" he suggested.
"Oh don't worry." Juriska said darkly. "I will.". Zoltan tried to concentrate on the letter he was going to write and not on having to hire another chamber maid to replace the ones that Juriska kept scaring away. As he finally began to organize his thoughts he started writing on the blank page while Juriska floated idly. He managed to do this for several minutes, but something was nagging at the back of his brain, something obvious, but he was missing it, what could it be?
"So...what does 'weaponize' mean? I understand 'catalog', but weaponize seems like a made-up word." Juriska said, floating close to his head, looking over his shoulder onto his page. Zoltan's scratching quill stopped immediately and he turned to Juriska in surprise.
"What? How do you know that word?" he asked quickly.
"I don't. What does it mean? I'm asking you, silly. It was in that letter you were reading"
"No...no, no. You don't know how to read. How do you know that word?" Zoltan repeated, one hand moving to massage a throb in his temple.
"Again...I don't know the word. That's why I'm asking you, what does it mean?" Zoltan's eyes narrowed and he spoke firmly to the flying girl.
"How...do...you...know...of...that...word?"
"Oh! Oh...well I heard you say it while you were reading it. You whisper as you read, so initially I couldn't hear it well, most of it actually, but then I used the wind to carry your words to me, and I caught it. So. To catalog means to...count and name right? Are you going to count us Zoltan? Name us? Will you be like the others I hear of, counting each fennel seed or each grain of rice? You'll be able to count all of the seeds in a dandelion field, and still not have the smallest fraction of us counted for. But you knew that right?"
Zoltan's jaw had dropped and he listened to Juriska and stared at her in amazement. That was what was prickling his thoughts...
Juriska continued. "Now, to weaponize...that's new. It has 'weapon' in it. Maybe it means to make us into weapons? To use us as weapons? Maybe to have us join your armies? Is that what they think you can do Zoltan?" she laughed, like the shattering of glass ornaments. "Oh this will be such fun when they hear of this..."
Zoltan stood to his full height suddenly, Juriska floated back, slightly startled while Zoltan took on an imperious and severe tone. "Juriska! I forbid you! Forbid you! You will not tell anyone of this! Do you understand!" he bellowed, adding as much gravitas as he possesed into the command. Juriska looked up at him with an unreadable expression for several seconds before she burst out laughing again.
"He-he-he-he! Oh Zoltan...I bet you thought that would work didn't you? You can command the wind and the dead Zoltan...but no one commands us!" she said with a mock scolding gesture. "I would have thought you knew that? You seemed so smart." she brushed her hands on her shirt. "Well, I'm off. I have so many to talk to, they'll find it as funny as I no doubt." she started to float towards the window as a sudden wind blew it open. Zoltan turned to her in near desperation.
"Juriska...stop! It is not I that am doing this, you understand don't you?" he asked, losing all of the imperiousness he mustered just moments ago. Juriska paused at the window sill and looked back at Zoltan with a quizical expression.
"Zoltan...dearest Zoltan...what makes you think we care?" she said and laughed again before disappearing out the window. Zoltan slumped into his chair, running his hands through his hair as he contemplated the recent events.
'It is learning. When I first met it, Juriska couldn't even remember my name, not until I had mastered the Mystery and it became bound to me in some way. But now...it's starting to remember things...it...she is learning...'
Zoltan looked back to the page he had started writing and picked it up, reading its contents briefly before putting it into the fire.
((How Zoltan got the flaw Supernatural Nuissance, the Fae))
Added personality traits to Juriska.
I forgot to come up with a voting sigil for Zoltan. He has a well carved figurine of wood, carved to resemble a little girl; it's a likeness of Juriska, sitting atop a skull (so it is a bit creepy).
Name: Zoltan House: Merinita Race/Nationality: Hungarian Religion: Pagan (Non-practicing)
Title: Magus Confidence 1/3 Age 55 (25 apparent age) Warping: 2/10
Height: 6’1” Weight: 180 Size: 0 Hair: Black Handedness: Right Decrepitude: 0
Eyes: White irises with large black pupils (lost the original color in Animae Mystery)
Characteristics:
Int +2 Cunning Str +1 Vigorous Pre +1 Exotic Dexterity 0
Per +1 Keen Eyes Sta +2 Untiring Comm +1 Commanding Quick +1 Catlike
Personality Traits:
Wrathful +2 Lusty +1
Brave +2 Vain +1
Nocturnal +2 Fear: Dogs +2
Virtues:
The Gift, Hermetic Magus, Faerie Magic (all free)
Strong Fae Blood: Sidhe (+1 Presence) Major
Major Magical Focus: Necromancy Major
Puissant Art: Auram Minor
Affinity with Art: Auram Minor
Piercing Gaze Minor
Improved Characteristics
*Arcadian Travel
*Animae Magic
Flaws:
Vulnerable Magic (The smell of garlic) Mystery Cults pg 87 Major
Susceptible to Divine Power Minor
Supernatural Nuissance: Fae Major
Wrathful Minor
Nocturnal Minor
Warped Magic (ill wind) Minor
*Faerie Friend (From Animae Mystery)
*Prohibition: Never break word (Animae Mystery, wasting sickness)
*Fear: Dogs (Arcadian travel Mystery)
*Permanent Arcane Connection to a Site in ____ (Arcadian Travel Mystery)
Abilities:
Area Lore: Covenant lands 0/3
Artes Liberales 1 Ceremonial Magic
Athletics 2 Grace
Awareness 2 Keen Eyesight
Bargain 2 Faeries
Charm 2 Maidens
Concentration 3 Spell Concentration
Craft: Woodcarving 5 Charms
Faerie Magic 3 Faerie Vis
Finesse 3 Auram
Folk Ken 2 Magi
Guile 2 Detecting Lies
Leadership 2 Ghosts
Language: Magyar 5 Eloquent
Language: Latin 5 Hermetic
Lore: Faerie 3/5 Fae of Transylvania
Lore: House Merinita 3 Initiating others
Magic Theory 5/8 Necromancy
Parma Magica 4 Ignem
Penetration 3 Auram
Second Sight 3 Ghosts
Single Weapon 2 Sword
Stealth 2 Sneak
Domus Magna: Irencillia
Parens:
Primus: Brenna
Covenant of Apprenticeship: Laniena?
Arts:
Cr 14/7 An 5/5 Ig 5/5
In 5/5 Aq 5/5 Im 5/5
Mu 6/4 Au 15+3/10 Me 13/8
Pe 6/4 Co 13/11 Te 10/5
Re 13/1 He 5/5 Vi 6
Wizard’s Sigil: Shadows animate (plus ill wind from flaw)
Voting Sigil: Wooden figurine of Juriska sitting on top of a skull
Longevity Ritual lab total = 41
Spells:
Circling Winds of Protection CrAu 20 +35 Mastery 1 Fast Casting
Charge of the Angry Winds CrAu 15 +35 Mastery 1 Quick Casting (Societates, House Flambeau)
Whispers Through the Black Gate InCo (Me req) 15 +25
Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit PeMe 10 +28 Mastery 1 Penetration
Ring of Warding Against Spirits ReMe 10 +41
Wreaths of Foul Smoke CrAu 10 +34
Coerce the Spirits of the Night ReMe 20 +41
Ward against Rain ReAu 10 +34
Stench of the Twenty Corpses CrAu 10 +34
Incantation of Lightning CrAu 35 +35 Mastery 1 Magic Resistance
Wizard’s Communion MuVi 20 +14 (Sun Duration)
The Chattering Man CrCo 30 +42 Animae Magic spell
The Stony Goblin CrTe 30 +26 Animae Magic Spell
The Tempestuous Pixie CrAu 40 +34 Animae Magic Spell
Ward Against Faeries of the Air ReAu 20 +33
Ward Against Faeries of the Wood 20 ReHe +20
The Chattering Man Cr Co 30
Range: Touch Duration: Sun Target: Individual
Base 10 +1 Touch +2 Sun +5 Might
Creates a faerie in the shape and form of a human skeleton with a Might 5.
The Stony Goblin Cr Te 30
Range: Touch Duration: Sun Target: Individual
Base 5 +1 Touch +2 Sun +10 Might
Creates a stony gargoyle like creature, a faerie of stone and earth with a Might of 10.
The Tempestuous Pixie Cr Au 40
Range: Voice Duration: Sun Target: Individual
Base 10 +2 Voice Sun +2 Might 10
Creates an airy faerie that can fly and has some control of the weather with a Might of 10.
Image: Zoltan is a tall and handsome man, slim but not weak looking. His hair is shining black and hangs to his collar, but has no beard or other facial hair. His features are of high blood and sharp, handsome, but intense and cold. His smile is sharp as well, but the teeth are merely very white, not fangs. He has pale skin that looks almost blue in the moonlight, but is without blemish. The most disturbing though are his eyes, which have no color but white and the black pupils, which grow larger as the hour grows later. He dresses well, as a noble with money and a tailor from foreign courts, and he keeps appearances by use of a skilled valet. When he uses his magic the shadows lengthen and dance, mocking those around him, or mirroring the dark feelings he hides as a chill wind with a foul humour rises.
Background: Zoltan (he answers to nothing else, in fact does not know his original name, but he knows that Zoltan is not the name given at his birth) was a found child, an orphan taken in by near poverty stricken nobles of Hungary. They loved and feared the fae child, knowing that he was not a normal child. Their home remedies of prayers, garlic, and other charms only made it worse, he was near death when a strange man came to them, offering to cure him, but he would have to take him with. The parents tearfully agreed. Zoltan grew and strengthened under his master’s tutelage and in proper surroundings. Power seemed to come naturally to him, as did the arrogance and quirks that come with it.
After passing his Gauntlet; a harrowing dinner party with the dark fae of Transylvania as well as a cabal of vampires, Zoltan continued his studies in his master’s covenant as opportunity to go to another Oppida was limited. He increased his knowledge and power and also his standing within the House and Tribunal. The resident Tremere was both concerned and impressed by Zoltan’s magic, but also was worried that he might be a vampiric plant within the Tribunal. The word of both his Parens and the Prima of his House have reluctantly convinced the Tremere and Zoltan has been allowed to join a new Opidda in return for his studying and reporting on the Dark Fae of the Tribunal.
*edit: updated for two spells added and exposure Magic Theory
*edit: updated for +2 exposure XP in Magic Theory