8/27/17

c'thinker (GM): salvete omnes

devil's fav demon (GM): many hails

c'thinker: did you know that "ave" is allegedly derived from carthaginian

dys (GM): I didn't. But now I allegedly do

c'thinker: or, at least, the practice of saying it instead of salve

dys (GM): Today is Spring 1337, for those who were unsure.

Endrite (GM): Thank you, gamer.

dys (GM): Hafl, I can do your mystery initiation now before the session proper begins.

Hafl T.: cool

dys (GM): Christ, this PC list is huge. Anyway.

Beatrice Orsini : having millions of characters ftw

dys (GM): Over winter, Jorn was able to put you in contact with the one mystagogue of this particular mystery active in Italy. At least, the one mystagogue who states it when asked.

Beatrice Orsini : The most dangerous kind.

dys (GM): A meeting has been arranged, the place given to meet was a house on the outer edges of a wood, some distance from the covenant.

Beatrice Orsini : Any wood is some distance away from a covenant in Rome.

dys (GM): When you arrive at it, give me a Second Sight roll.

Beatrice Orsini : I'll prebuff with Doublet, Discern Own Illusion and Aura of Ennobled Presence before leaving the covenant just in case.

rolling 1d10+0+1 per second sight

(

10

)

+0+1

=

11

the best i can do

dys (GM): When you arrive, you see a large and wonderfully maintained home, far from any others. The walls look new, as if it was only built within the last year or so.

Beatrice Orsini : The invitation said it was a house.

dys (GM): The front door is lying slightly open

Beatrice Orsini : Let's try knocking first.

dys (GM): No response from inside upon knocking

Beatrice Orsini : I'll go inside then, unless I got any specific instructions on how to announce my presence.

dys (GM): Nope, just a place to meet. Very vague, purposefully.

The interior is darker than it should be, though you can see light coming from one of the rooms.

Beatrice Orsini : I can see in the dark because of Strong Fairy Blood.

But I'll head to that room.

dys (GM): Sure, it's not hard to see in, just noticeably darker than it should be.

Inside, you find someone sat down in front of a table.

Invidia of Merinita: They motion for you to take a seat

Beatrice Orsini : I do so.

Invidia of Merinita: There's a few candles lit on the table, and a few precious stones.

Hm. You can actually pass it, so give me a second sight roll. Can't hurt.

Beatrice Orsini :

rolling 1d10+0+1

(

5

)

+0+1

=

6

Invidia of Merinita: Condolences.

Beatrice Orsini : as a wizard, my abilities are not great

Invidia of Merinita: "Please, take a seat." he motions to the chair opposite him, across the table

Beatrice Orsini : I do so.

Invidia of Merinita: He lightly pushes forward the precious stones on the desk, one by one. A diamond, a ruby and a sapphire. "Before we begin. Which of these do you think is greater?"

Beatrice Orsini : "A diamond can have many colors."

Shauncat: cumthinker - Today at 11:08 AM

it's true.

unless i have access to an apothecary's workshop, in which case i can invent new charged items

We have an apothecary, VIolante

Oh, I guess that's for mats

Invidia of Merinita: "True. However." he blows on one of the candles, and the stones are revealed as small, worthless pebbles

Shauncat: I think you have to open a mundane workshop yourself, similar to how labs are opened

Invidia of Merinita: "To follow in the teachings of Pendule, the unreal and the real will begin to meld. If that spell had held forever, and you'd had a diamond, and sold it as a diamond, and never saw it again, would it matter that it was a pebble?"

Beatrice Orsini : "To some, perhaps."

Invidia of Merinita: "Morally, maybe. But if the candle lasted forever, and no-one ever learned the truth?"

Beatrice Orsini : "It's difficult to make a candle last forever."

Invidia of Merinita: He taps his finger on the table a few times "Ah. Practically minded. Well, that's fine. It's never bad, to be practical."

c'thinker: Shauncat: We have an apothecary, VIolante

gulielmus also keeps his own workshop i think

Invidia of Merinita: "However, to understand the teachings of Pendule, you'll have to open your ways of viewing the world. A little, a lot, it may make certain details unimportant as you learn the mysteries that surround them."

"There's always something to be given, to gain things like this. If you're certain, then we'll proceed. If you're unsure, then that is fine. Perhaps when you're ready, perhaps never."

Beatrice Orsini : "I am ready to give."

Invidia of Merinita: "In that case..." he reaches under the table, and produces a small collected work, a tractus "Return it when you are finished, of course, but here is a work to begin your studies. As for your task, to understand the unreal you must experience it, personally."

"For a month, with no exceptions, you must shroud your face from the world. Whether magically or" he taps his mask "Mundanely. Merely taking another face is not enough. It must be hidden, obscured. Do this, and study, and you should be ready to learn."

Beatrice Orsini : "Should I begin right now?"

Invidia of Merinita: "Oh, begin when you feel you're ready."

Beatrice Orsini : "Very well."

johns (GM): wait I thought it was +1 for magi

Endrite (GM): Lemme do a quick aging roll here.

rolling 1d10

(

1

)

=

1

johns (GM): the living bonus. sorry. was scrolled up

Invidia of Merinita: "Pendule was a light-hearted soul. Tasks to understand his teachings are to be done at your own pace. Rushing them out of worry may honestly be to their detriment."

Shauncat: Is +1 better or worse than 0 in this case

Beatrice Orsini : "Did you know him personally?"

johns (GM): +1 as in good +1

Shauncat: Cool

That bumps my roll down to 9, no aging point

Invidia of Merinita: "He was almost a creature of fables, so in a sense, by reading them. In practical terms no no, he's from a very long time ago. But the lineage is there."

Shauncat: Unless that +1 is from the statue of Apollo

Invidia of Merinita: "How much of his deeds are true matters little. It's more enjoyable that way, you'll come to appreciate." he heads over to a different door than the one you took in "Oh, do blow out the candles before you leave."

And with that, departs

Beatrice Orsini : I'll blow out the candles, fully prepared for the house to disappear.

Invidia of Merinita: You guess correctly

It's a small section of wood laid out, and a table

Everything else, a fabrication

Beatrice Orsini : Nice.

I'll return back home and I'll work on figuring out what to do about the task.

dys (GM): The script is similar to the one in the houses of hermes book, except that it's +9 instead of +12 since he has good presence and lore. So no Social Handicap Flaw

Beatrice Orsini : nice

dys (GM): The other 2 flaws, harmless magic and Poor Memory (faces) are still there

The final +3 from the task

Beatrice Orsini : That's not so hard, probably.

I'll send a grog to buy me a mask in town.

And I'll hide my face under a cape.

dys (GM): As for Plutonis' magus, I'm not sure how specifically to introduce him since Venator is currently away, so it'll probably be the traditional Vardian's Welcome - he blunders into a meeting of the magi where they're discussing how to solve their current problem

Beatrice Orsini : And I'll spont level 5 MuIm (1+1 Part + 3 Moon) to make my face look blank. I can do that without fatigue.

Endrite (GM): AFK a minute.

Beatrice Orsini : Just flesh with nothing but eyes.

dys (GM): Nice

Bialas of Bjornaer: he can be carrying a letter from venator.

dys (GM): Hopefully this ties in better with the flaws it gives you of making you forget faces

Beatrice Orsini : I'll read the tract this season instead of labwork.

dys (GM): When the living modifiers say magi/mundane, how does this apply to redcaps, who are unGifted but live like magi.

Shauncat: You need a lab to benefit from the Health characteristic

johns (GM): redcaps have magus living conditions

basically magus = you have a bunch of servants working for you

dys (GM): Do they get the rat statue benefits, since it's not exactly a lab benefit, its a covenant benefit that we just slot into the labs system for convenience.

Shauncat: That's a good point

dys (GM): It's cancelled out by subterranean anyway lol

johns (GM): i just posted a summary

also the undanes dont live underground

or conduct the majority of their day there

dys (GM): Ah

So +1 for being a magus, +1 from the benefits of the magic rat statue, +2 if she lets Lavinia have arcane connections. I see.

I will grab a drink and then hopefully start without any problems.

c'thinker: youd be a fool not to give her your arcane connection

johns (GM): you'll be glad you did when a demon uses his obsession power on you and no one can cast a ReMe spell to return you to sanity because they can't penetrate your parma

Beatrice Orsini : I'll read Art and Academe to figure out how to make an air filtration system for the covenant that transforms unhealthy vapors into species.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: fortunately the maga who has the connections also can't cast any spells

Beatrice Orsini : Or however diseases get spread in 14th century.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: and doesn't leave her lab

Hypatia of Athens: I already gave Lavinia arcane connections in order to recover from my wounds from the pseudovikings

Jorn of Merinita: I mean, I did

dys (GM): I'll start soon, just have to sort out something that's come up irl.

johns (GM): Lavinia has never betrayed her sodales, nor is she a murderer, which is more than you can say for most people here

dys (GM): Zita isn't a killer, due to insanely bad luck.

Beatrice Orsini : There's a first time for everything.

Jorn of Merinita: So that's -4 not including the penalty for Subterranean or personal benefits of your lab?

johns: rat statue +1, magus +1, regimen +2

Beardbeard: aristide is not a murderer

johns: no but he is a traitor 4th columnist whose loyalty is house tremere

Jorn of Merinita: Ok

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: what if he indirectly murders proclus of rome

Aristide of Tremere: his loyalty is the order actually

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: that makes him a traitor to house tremere

dys (GM): I don't think diseases factor much into health score / aging rolls, or taking something like Greater Immunity (Disease) would give you a bonus that is arguably undeserved.

Aristide of Tremere: yes

dys (GM): Well they probably do but this is for game balancing's sake

Jorn of Merinita: You can mark Jorn down as a regimen beneficiary, he needs it since he doesn't do any of that spermcount-killing longevity stuff

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: well, if someone's putting in the effort to make an enchanted item it's probably worth a bonus point or two

johns: diseases inflict maluses to your activities like injuries do but i dont think they impact aging rolls

Beatrice Orsini : Maybe you should have a played a female character so that you don't have to worry about spermcount.

dys (GM): Maybe you should have played a female character and made breakthroughs with fertility magic, so that you do.

Beatrice Orsini : You're a Merinita. If you want kids, just steal them and say the faeries did it.

Jorn of Merinita: Longevity kills ovaries too

However, Zita has infinite ovaries

So I didn't go fully optimized

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: do we have any teachers besides jeanne

Hypatia of Athens: Okay, switching back to Hypatia since Jorn's planning a vacation

dys (GM): Play who you feel most appropriate.

Endrite: Ok I'm back.

johns: a&a has rules for sneaking into university classes and you can do it at sapienza university in rome

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: or did we not take any, because mont mercure used teachers to gain lots of xp

dys (GM): I would recommend a wizard, or a companion directly involved in the Order of Hermes, for this adventure.

johns: im a grog

dys (GM): Though I can't stop someone playing a minotaur if they desperately want to.

Gah

Bialas of Bjornaer: I'm this guy.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: let the troling of the gm begin. bwahaha. shoe's on the other hand now

Proclus of Rome: Idiot. noob.

dys (GM): A minotaur, a transvestite and a fae molester walk into a bar. The barman says, hello Proclus of Rome, good to see you again,

Proclus of Rome: Who is at the inn today?

Hypatia of Athens: I saw a plot hook where a nunnery that ran out of money started teaching ArLi and Latin for cheap and it's suggested that the convenant might start sending their female apprentices there to exploit it

Beatrice Orsini : I am.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: salve

Beatrice Orsini : I'll keep that in mind when I get an apprentice.

dys (GM): It's currently a sunday, at this specific moment, and you're on your way home from church, Proclus. The letter in the thread has not yet arrived.

Proclus of Rome: Ok, what street am I on?

dys (GM): Hello Plutonis. I'll introduce your character in a moment.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: how much xp can i get from sneaking into sapienza

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Blutonis.

Bialas of Bjornaer: we have a lot of users in this video call.

Proclus of Rome: There's a rule for stealing an education.

Plutonis: all right

dys (GM): You are a few streets from the church. Unless this would place you in/outside the inn. In which case you are not.

Proclus of Rome: It's in Art and Academe and I think you take, like -5 or something.

Beatrice Orsini : We'll have to clear some catacombs to make room for more labs at this rate.

Anthemia Mercere: I'll put on my red hat then

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Nice hat.

Proclus of Rome: How many people are on the street?

Bialas of Bjornaer: Good thing the adventure right after this involves exploring the catacombs.

Beatrice Orsini : What a coincidence.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: What's the aesthetic quality of the street?

dys (GM): There's a decent throng of people returning home from the church service, Proclus.

Proclus of Rome: I'll count them.

dys (GM): It's 69, Gulielmus.

Proclus of Rome: How many exactly are there?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Wow!

Beatrice Orsini : Zita is entrusted with the task of dumping bones reclaimed from the catacombs into Tiber.

Aristide of Tremere: holy shit

Aristide admires the street.

Bialas of Bjornaer: Wow this is a beautiful street!

Beatrice Orsini : The most aesthetic street in history.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Too bad Jorn isn't here to see this

Proclus of Rome: Maybe you'd see it more if any of you heathens went to church.

Beatrice Orsini : Adventure over as the entire covenant spends the entire season gaping at a street.

Aristide of Tremere: maybe he has a daily trip to look at the street

like aristide

dys (GM): Does that effect penetrate magic resistance? What realm is it aligned to. Do you have any effects that can count the lunar realm. Does it have gestures or words.

Beatrice Orsini : I go to church.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: I go to church sometimes.

Proclus of Rome: I'm counting using Artes Liberales.

Anthemia Mercere: Jorn has useful skills for catacomb exploration but right now he's planning a trip to Avignon to study architecture and mingle with Jerbiton

Beatrice Orsini : I'm like the only other christian in the covenant besides Proclus.

dys (GM): What's the penetration score on your artes its about 30 I guess. It's 31.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Uhh hello?

Proclus of Rome: Aristide and Lavinia are also Christians.

Beatrice Orsini : You're Norman. That means your religion is Norse.

Anthemia Mercere: I am also a Christian

Proclus of Rome: It doesn't need to penetrate as it is a purely mundane ability.

dys (GM): Zita is a christian, though currently away on an assignment.

Aristide of Tremere: aristide proclaimed the realm of man superior to that of the divine at tribunal

Bialas of Bjornaer: Bialas is NOT asleep, and is sitting at a table at the inn, eating five plates of cured salted fish.

dys (GM): As you count, Proclus, a man bumps into you

Beatrice Orsini : That just makes Aristide a Lutheran.

Thug, Fat: "Oof, watch it!"

Proclus of Rome: "Excuse me."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: jesus.

Thug, Fat: Make a perception+awareness roll, please, Proclus

Anthemia Mercere: Notorious NAP

Thug, Fat:

(To GM) rolling 1d10!+2+8

(

7

)

+2+8

=

17

Proclus of Rome:

rolling 1d10 + 0

(

8

)

+0

=

8

Thug, Fat: You don't notice anything in particular.

However, a few moments later...

Beatrice Orsini : no awareness crew wins again

Aristide of Tremere: Aristide is also in the inn, enjoying a mug of wine and a fine plate of beef while writing in his journal.

Thug, Skinny: "Hey, I saw that! He just picked that man's pocket!"

Proclus of Rome: I'm 8 aware.

Thug, Skinny: Another man points an accusing finger, at Proclus!

Proclus of Rome: "Excuse me, I think you have me confused with someone else."

Beatrice Orsini : I'm at the inn, but incognito.

Thug, Fat: The first man makes a show of patting his sides "He's right, my coin pouch is missing!"

Proclus of Rome: Hmm, it seems that Bialas' head is on fire.

Thug, Fat: People are beginning to stare

Aristide of Tremere: has our innkeeper been keeping up to date on his aging rolls

Proclus of Rome: Nope.

Aristide of Tremere: hm...

Beatrice Orsini : He's the platonic idea of an innkeeper.

Thug, Fat: He died 3 years ago and no-one noticed

Lavinia of Jerbiton: his ghost is bound to the inn

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: maybe a faerie replaced him

Aristide of Tremere: venator could reasonably have his body preserved and enchanted to continue serving

Proclus of Rome: "Are you sure it was me? I can assure you I have nothing to hide."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: so he just continues tending bar in spectral form

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: and is just doing a really good job at being an innkeeper

Thug, Fat: "Oh yeah? You'll show your pockets then, will ya?"

Beatrice Orsini : The only thing he serves is spirits.

Thug, Fat: do ho ho ho

Aristide of Tremere: that was bad

Beatrice Orsini : I stole it from Ultima 7.

Aristide of Tremere: return the joke [said desperately]

Proclus of Rome: I turn out my pockets.

Thug, Fat: Proclus, in your pockets you find a coin purse that was not there before. It is not yours.

Proclus of Rome: Hmm, interesting.

"Oh, how did this get here?"

"To whom did you say this belonged?"

Accusing woman: "Clearly, it's because you stole it." someone from the crowd beginning to gather around pipes up

Proclus of Rome: "It is far more likely that I am being pestered by a mischievous fairy."

"In fact, I would wager, though I am not a betting man, that this bag isn't even real."

Accusing woman: "I highly doubt that. That sounds like the excuse of a thief."

Proclus of Rome: "Look, all I need to do is upend it and it vanishes."

I cast the rote Illusory Transition and place its image behind a nearby object as I turn it over.

No casting rolls required and it is silent and subtle.

Accusing woman: What does that do, exactly?

Proclus of Rome: Or rather, requires no gestures at all.

Bialas of Bjornaer: lol

Accusing woman: Just so I'm clear what's happening

Proclus of Rome: It's a ReIm effect that moves the image of an object up to a pace away.

Like Wizard's Sidestep but for something I'm touching.

Accusing woman: Ah. And you hold it to stop the coins actually falling out, right.

Proclus of Rome: I time it to vanish as I turn it 90 degrees.

Thug, Fat: "Eh? What the fuck, where'd my purse go?"

Proclus of Rome: "As I said, it was probably a fairy."

"They're quite mischievous."

Accusing woman: "No, he is right. I apologise for my accusations, you have clearly won this debate, Proclus of Rome." the woman says, before running off into the crowd before you can respond

Aristide of Tremere: what a well spoken woman

we should hire her as a barmaid

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: she's going to have to try harder than that

Proclus of Rome: "I would consider it my Christian duty to recompense you for your suffering, as I am the cause, however indirect," I say to the fat thug.

Thug, Fat: "Huh? Er right, yeah, you should recompus me."

Proclus of Rome: "I don't typically carry much money with me, but if you'll follow me to my inn, I am sure we can work something out."

Thug, Fat: The thug does so, waddling along. The other man who accused you before seems to be headed in this general direction, by coincedence of course.

Proclus of Rome: That's a real coincidence.

Thug, Fat: Anyway, nothing untoward happens, and you reach the inn

Proclus of Rome: I'll put the bag back in my robe before it reappears, as the duration is only a Diameter.

Thug, Fat: Do you return this man's coin purse to him

Proclus of Rome: Yes, as soon as we get to the inn.

Thug, Fat: He immediately buys a drink with it "Cheers, then."

And leaves after a few drinks if you dont do anything further with the man

Proclus of Rome: Uh, I think we should capture this man immediately.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Who was that?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: proclus being paranoid again

Thug, Fat: As is your right, as a PC. Who else is in the inn this sunday morning. Do you start asking your fellow sodales to grab him?

Proclus of Rome: Who is in the inn?

Bialas of Bjornaer: I am.

Proclus of Rome: Any grogs around?

They should do it.

Beatrice Orsini : I am.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: I am.

Bialas of Bjornaer: True.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I return from church, the good church that doesn't let gift stink wizards in

Aristide of Tremere: I am.

Proclus of Rome: I'll motion for the grogs to grab him.

Thug, Fat: A bunch of grogs start grabbing him

"Hey, what's all this? Get off me!"

Proclus of Rome: "Who sent you?"

Aristide of Tremere: proclus is fresh out of mass and immediately starts thinking the worst of his fellow man once again

Bialas of Bjornaer coughs through his salted fish

Bialas of Bjornaer: "What's going on now?"

Thug, Fat: "Your mum, she misses you, wishes you wrote more."

Aristide of Tremere: I look at the spectacle and go back to writing.

mum huh

alright boys

lets kill this englishman

Proclus of Rome: I'll cast Frosty Breath of the Spoken Lie on him.

Thug, Fat: "Ah fuck, what are you doing now?"

Thats the thing that makes any lies obvious and visible, right

Beatrice Orsini : Turns out he wasn't lying and Bialas' mum misses hime and wishes he wrote more.

Proclus of Rome: It makes his breath turn white when he tells a lie.

Beatrice Orsini : Bialas' 90 years old mum.

Proclus of Rome:

rolling 1d10 + 18

(

3

)

+18

=

21

It's a level 20 spell so that's a resounding success.

Bialas of Bjornaer: She's very healthy.

Thug, Fat: "I didn't do nothing, lemme go." his breath turns white

Proclus of Rome: Penetration 6.

Thug, Fat: You penetrate his magic resistance of 0.

Proclus of Rome: "Please don't lie to me. Lies tarnish the soul."

I'll nod to Tanolfi to give him a slug to the ol' breadbasket.

Thug, Fat: "Oof!"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Proclus, how can you bully this poor man on the Lord's day?"

Thug, Fat: "Alright, alright!" he says, seeing how things are going

Proclus of Rome: "He bore false witness against me by planting this coin purse in my pocket."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "That's stupid."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "That was kind of him, but I don't think Proclus needs alms."

Thug, Fat: "Got paid a few to do a little trick with a buddy, s'all. Hey, you lied too, you called it some fairy shit."

"Tarnish the soul, lies do." he smile

* smiles

Proclus of Rome: "I said it was probably a fairy."

Aristide of Tremere: "He's got you there, Proclus."

Proclus of Rome: "I'm wrong on occasion."

Aristide of Tremere: I say without looking up.

Proclus of Rome: "Who paid you?"

Thug, Fat: "I've had that purse a year now, never vanished before you touched it, mate."

Beatrice Orsini : He had magic resistance of 0 instead of no magic resistance, so something's up.

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Proclus, give the man his purse."

Proclus of Rome: Oh, oh course I return the pouch.

After all, it isn't mine.

Thug, Fat: "How's it matter who paid me, nothin' happened to you. Just a scare or something."

Proclus of Rome: "It's very important to me, because I have many enemies for reasons that I don't entirely understand."

Thug, Fat: "Yeah, nice upstanding man like you, how'd that ever happen." he laughs

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea remains extremely focused on his bread and cheese.

Proclus of Rome: "I must insist that you tell me who paid you."

Thug, Fat: "Oh? Then what, your boys start hitting me again?"

Proclus of Rome: "No, they're going to throw you into the Tiber river."

Thug, Fat: "Oi, oi, that's murder that is!"

Proclus of Rome: "No, it's only murder if I ask them to knock you out and put you in a sack first."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: dark proclus

Thug, Fat: His face grimaces as he gets the implication

"So no drowning me in the Tiber if I say then. Right? You gonna promise that?"

Proclus of Rome: "Of course, I would never do that."

Aristide of Tremere: I note Proclus's extreme disposition towards Wrath in my journal.

Proclus of Rome: Updated my journal.

Thug, Fat: He gulps "Well, it was uh." he looks confused "It was uhh. You know, tip of my tongue. They were uh." he begins to look very worried

"Y-you wouldn't believe this, but I've gone and forgotten it."

No white breath, no lie

Proclus of Rome: "I believe it entirely."

"My guess is that you've been the victim of a hex, cast by an evil magician."

Thug, Fat: "Yes. Yes that's obviously it. Yeah. So it's just a misunderstanding, no sacks needed. Yeah?"

Aristide of Tremere: hm. who could have used a perdo mentem effect on this man to make him forget a name

Proclus of Rome: "Of course not. We'll just need to perform a few philosophical tests on you and you'll be free to go."

Lavinia, can you find out where this man has been in the past?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: uh

im not sure

Proclus of Rome: Ok.

What else do we got then?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: lol

Lavinia of Jerbiton: check for signs of a sigil

intelligo vim

Proclus of Rome: Can anyone jump into his brain?

Anthemia Mercere: A song to perceive the stains of sin upon his soul, perhaps?

Proclus of Rome: No, I'm sure he has many.

Thug, Fat: You might say that sin, is 'in', for Thug, Fat

Proclus of Rome: I mightent.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: who has scores in intelligo and in vim

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i do

but also i can't cast spontaneous magic.

Proclus of Rome: What's the base level for spotting a sigil?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: 10?

Level 10: Detect the traces of powerful magic. Detect the recent presence of weak magic

Thug, Fat: It should be in HoH:TL

Let me check

Proclus of Rome: Ok.

Thug, Fat: Okay. It's a level 50 InVi spell apparently.

Proclus of Rome: Hmm.

Well, I can't spont that.

Can anyone else?

Thug, Fat: Base 10

Lavinia of Jerbiton: +3 magnitudes gives the rough details of the

effect and the sigil of the caster

Thug, Fat: Ah

Proclus of Rome: Where are you getting that?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: true lineages

Thug, Fat: Well, all you really need is a good enough spell to detect it, though perdo mentem for small details typically isnt a very high magnitude spell.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: if he's under a sun duration variant of Tip of the Tongue PeMe that's an l10 effect

hm, this does seem impracticle to spont

ask the man where he's from

Proclus of Rome: Hmm, we could just keep him around until night time.

"Where are you from?"

Beatrice Orsini : rome

Thug, Fat: "Eh? Well, around here, you know."

no lie

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Meet any strange women today?"

Thug, Fat: "Only on good days." he chuckles and wheezes slightly with his bruised breadbasket

Proclus of Rome: "Have you met any other strange women today?"

Thug, Fat: "Nope."

Proclus of Rome: Hmm.

Beatrice Orsini : "What about strange men?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: lets take an a/c from him and question him in a day or so when the spell effect should have ended

Beatrice Orsini : "Proclus excluded."

Proclus of Rome: Sounds like a good idea, Lavinia.

I propose we pay him a fair wage for this.

Thug, Fat: "Maybe, who knows, meet a lot of people in Rome, you know."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "The hair of someone who has been hexed has some valuable properties. May I have a few strands for my studies?"

Thug, Fat: "Well when you ask so nicely" he grins

He's also being restrained by grogs so he cant really prevent you

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Oh, stupid grogs

I'll take some hair then

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: don't restrain me silly grogs

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Thank you. My apologies for Proclus' violent temper."

Proclus of Rome: Do we still have a spare room in the catacombs we can lock him up in?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I don't support kidnapping random strangers

Thug, Fat: Sorry, I just realised stones was not currently playing. Now stones is currently playing.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: just chain him to some skulls

Thank you.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: We can track him down later if need be, why commit a terrible crime on a civilian

Proclus of Rome: I GUESS.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: lmao

Proclus of Rome: I think he'd be safer here, though.

The enemy might try to kill him to cover their tracks.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Not our problem

Proclus of Rome: It would make me feel bad.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Committing kidnapping would make me feel bad

Proclus of Rome: We could just bribe him to stay here until nightfall.

Aristide of Tremere: if it will make proclus feel better, we can credit him with the kill

Thug, Fat: I'm sure it would warm his heart to know that.

Beatrice Orsini : Bribing him seems fine.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I return to my lab to file away hair sample, leaving Thug at Proclus' lack of mercy

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: we could do a classic vardians tomb move, and tell him the truth

he's been hexed and it's much safer if he stays here until sunset.

Proclus of Rome: Hmm, good idea.

Thug, Fat: Anyway, please make a decision re: fat thug, as the letter still hasnt arrived and that will throw things into motion more.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Unfortunately Gulielmus is still focused on his bread and cheese.

Proclus of Rome: I'll tell him that the magician who cursed him will probably try to kill him now that he's been caught and that he's safer here until we can figure out what's going on.

Beatrice Orsini : We can give him some bread and cheese while he waits.

Thug, Fat: Classic Vardian's Tomb

However, you suffer from Gift Stink, so if you want him to stay willingly, someone roll charm/leadership

You also live in a literal tomb

Proclus of Rome: Well we're in this nice inn.

Thug, Fat: True.

Beatrice Orsini : Bribe him to overcome gift stink.

Proclus of Rome: Anyway, I have +8 charm.

Does anyone have better than that?

Beatrice Orsini : 5 charm and 3 presence

Aristide of Tremere: i have 7 leadership

Thug, Fat: Money is always good at motivating people

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: 6 total here

Thug, Fat: This is just to convince him to stay without spending anything

Proclus of Rome: Ok, go for it Beatrice.

Beatrice Orsini :

rolling 1d10+3+5 pre+charm

(

9

)

+3+5

=

17

Anthemia Mercere: 5 charm 3 presence

Beatrice Orsini : now i can spend 1 adventure xp to get 6 charm

Plutonis: (I am here)

Proclus of Rome: Ownage.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: sugoi

Thug, Fat: He's apprehensive, but you get him to agree to stay overnight.

Proclus of Rome: I mean the adventure XP.

Thug, Fat: Hello, Plutonis

Proclus of Rome: NOT Plutonis showing up, which is merely fortunate.

Thug, Fat: Since Plutonis is here, I'll try to move things along swiftly. In the morning, he is still unable to recall his employers name.

Proclus of Rome: I see.

Beatrice Orsini : I am sure a new wizard showing up when we're investigating an enemy wizard hexing a thug and hiring him to embarrass Proclus is fortunate.

Thug, Fat: What do you do with fat thug in the coming days?

Aristide of Tremere: its worth noting that after fading tip of the tongue doesnt automatically restore memories

it just gives them a small chance of remembering if they make an int roll

and i do not think he has good int

Thug, Fat: Oh, I see.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: lol.

Beatrice Orsini : can someone spont CrMe to increase his Int?

Aristide of Tremere: sorry, int + concentration, against a raw target of 9

so scaled up to whatever

Proclus of Rome: He can just keep trying.

Thug, Fat: I will be honest, and open here. I forgot perdo mentem needed a duration. So I had to decide what would be most appropriate for a plotter.

Aristide of Tremere: it gets +1 to the difficulty each retry

so

Proclus of Rome: So he just needs to get a big crit.

Easy.

Aristide of Tremere: i am going to assume he has 0 concentration and negative int

Thug, Fat: Anyway. He doesn't remember come morning.

Proclus of Rome: It can't be helped.

Well I mean it could have been helped.

Beatrice Orsini : can aristide spont a CrMe to give the Thug a name to give Proclus?

Thug, Fat: Do you let him go? Throw him into the river? Put him in a bag then throw him in the river? Put rocks in the bag too?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: we could have gone on an adventure in his dreams

Aristide of Tremere: hm

Proclus of Rome: I think we can just let him go, as he has now learned his lesson on consorting with wizards.

Aristide of Tremere: its a possibility but that would be rude and pointless

Beatrice Orsini : making your fellow wizards happy is never pointless

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: the one who sent me... was proclus of rome

Thug, Fat: Alright

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Just let the fellow go!"

dys (GM): Then, maybe a week later, while Lavinia is out at Salerno.

Aristide of Tremere: i have uncovered proclus of romes plot to murder proclus of rome

dys (GM): I'm just going to abstract this to hurry things along, if that's alright with you Johns. I didnt expect the fat thug to take up as much time as he did space.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: welcome to gming ars

Proclus of Rome: Fu fu fu.

dys (GM): It's fine, it's fine. You got information out of it, anyhow.

Aristide of Tremere: i cant wait to see what stupid plot point everyone gets hung up on in my adventure

dys (GM): Lavinia, during a visit there, a man approaches you

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: lets take a couple hours to play out gulielmus's objections to interrogating people in the common room

Beatrice Orsini : The two driving forces of ars players are 1) paranoia and 2) shoehorning in the neat spell you invented that has an extremely niche use

Young scholar: "Excuse me, are you Doctor Zoboli?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I am."

Young scholar: "Ah, I've heard about you from some others here, I wondered if I could discuss some things with you." he tries to engage you in conversation about medicine

Proclus of Rome: I am THRILLED I got to use one of my rotes today.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I would be delighted to speak to you, young scholar."

Young scholar: As he continues two things become apparent. He isn't particularly well-versed in medicine, but he is fairly argumentative. He won't back down on one issue and, with several people nearby, asks you to debate him on it.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: A disputatio is a way to grind XP in my Academic Rep, so I shall

Proclus of Rome: University of Salerno feat. Yung scholar.

Young scholar: Yeah, a disputati.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: disputo

Young scholar: However, there's no point playing it out. His arguments flounder, hopelessly, and its an almost effortless success for you, Lavinia.

Looking slightly flustered he says "I am sorry to have wasted your time. You have clearly won this debate."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "It is never a waste of time to debate. Please feel free to try again after you have mastered the details of Galen."

Young scholar: He nods politely, and departs

Then with that...

dys (GM): Zita is away, so presumably Hypatia delivers the letter in the thread

Hypatia, you have also been asked to escort a young man from Portugal, of House Bonisagus, to Vardian's Tomb. He has been asked to take up residence there, and has a letter from Venator with him confirming this.

Bialas of Bjornaer: be back in a minute

dys (GM): Plutonis, do you have a character sheet for your magus in roll20?

Plutonis: No

Proclus of Rome: Oh NO.

Hypatia of Athens curtsies or bows as appropriate.

dys (GM): Feel free to stick a token and fix his name, you should have it now

Plutonis: Not yet, just on drive

Proclus of Rome: Another damn heathen in the Covenant.

Sheesh!

dys (GM): I meant to be able to type as them, I've seen your sheet, its fine.

Beatrice Orsini : Portugal might be Christian by now.

Aristide of Tremere: an aura of poverty follows the foreign magus

dys (GM): Anyway, Hypatia comes to the inn with 2 important messages. One from Venator, confirming this man is to stay here as a member of the covenant. Another from Potestas, addressed to all the magi here.

Hypatia of Athens: It's a long way to travel but I am an okay rider.

Aristide of Tremere: the aesthetic quality of all nearby works is halved

Lavinia of Jerbiton: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/91/4f/82/914f82d6452d0b19d965fa24d701725d.jpg

Hypatia of Athens: It's time to raid the Potestas pizza parlor

Aristide of Tremere: "Potestas? Throw it out."

Proclus of Rome: Why is Venator sending his own covenant letters?

Gordiano of Bonisagus: Portugal was reconquistada in like the 11th century

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: our street is reduced to AQ 35

Proclus of Rome: Are we sure the letter is from him?

Aristide of Tremere: no gulielmus, this is a powerful effect

you round down

Hypatia of Athens: I'll mark Spring 1337 as a delivery season

dys (GM): I mean, he has a letter to him, from Venator. To clarify.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Wow! A genuine Bonisagus!"

dys (GM): More specifically to House Bonisagus confirming that he'll allow Gordiano to stay at Vardian's Tomb.

Beatrice Orsini : "What did you do to be sent here?"

Proclus of Rome: Hmm.

Ok.

What's your Artes Liberales score?

Aristide of Tremere: "Clearly the Bonisagii have realized what a boon it is to study in my presence."

Sister Aurelia: Hypatia also has a new grog escorting her

Lavinia of Jerbiton: they realize what a baboon you are. bwaha

dys (GM) chuckles, learnedly

Aristide of Tremere: what the hell?

whats lavinias animal lore skill?? baboons are HIGHLY foreign

Proclus of Rome: A new grog?

dys (GM): Anyway. You have this second letter as well, whoever chooses to open it can be the bearer of great news.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: theyre old world monkeys

Beatrice Orsini : just for that, aristide will sneak into lavinia's lab and paint his face on all her stuff

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Gulielmus ex Miscellanea, pleased to meet you -- but please, call me Guillaume."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: The hamadryas baboon was a sacred animal to the ancient Egyptians and appears in various roles in ancient Egyptian religion, hence its alternative name of 'sacred baboon'.

Aristide of Tremere: "But yes, back to the Potestas letter, it should be thrown into the hearth."

Proclus of Rome: There you go.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Come, you must meet the other magi. The witty one is Beatrice, the witless one is Aristide."

Jorn of Merinita: "Heil og sæl"

dys (GM): Plutonis, do you have a token for your magus?

Proclus of Rome: I think it's more important to discuss the impending Wizard War we'll have to suffer through in exchange for getting Aristide kicked out of his House.

Aristide of Tremere: thats not important at all yet

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: did anyone open the letter

Aristide of Tremere: because no one is doing anything with the letter

dys (GM): I would wholeheartedly suggest someone open it, personally.

Aristide of Tremere: except aristide slowly getting closer to grabbing it and throwing it in the firepit

Jorn of Merinita: While I have this sheet up, I'mma see if I can construct a stone relief suitable to use as a charm for travelling to Avignon

dys (GM): And not let Aristide burn it

I mean, that's just me

Jorn of Merinita:

rolling 15+3+d10

15+3+

(

9

)

=

27

Yep

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Hello, Aristide seems to have a letter addressed to us."

Aristide of Tremere: "Actually, it seems to have a strong affinity with ignem."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Who delivered that letter?"

Proclus of Rome: "I'm losing my patience with Aristide's sticky fingers."

dys (GM): It'd be the first person in this covenant to have any affinity with ignem.

Plutonis: Making it atm

dys (GM): Sure, sure. Your magus can shyly wait to say hello while you do.

Meanwhile the magi of vardian's tomb will grapple with this new threat. A letter.

Beatrice Orsini : i have 5 ignem, that makes me one the best in the covenant

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea continues pointing out magi to the newcomer.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: who delivered the letter

Proclus of Rome: "I should consider constructing a bell that rings every time Aristide touches something that doesn't belong to him."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "This is Jorn, the stonemason, over there is Proclus the mathematician, that's Bialas of Bjornaer, the one who just spoke up is Lavinia of Jerbiton, and, hmm, where's Archibald?"

Beatrice Orsini : "We'd never get any sleep."

Aristide of Tremere: is anyone goign to accept the letter

and open it

Proclus of Rome: "I'm a philosopher."

Beatrice Orsini : I'll take the letter and open it.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: whats the aesthetic quality of the letter

dys (GM): You see the letter as written out in the thread.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: how old is the letter

I don't as I do not have the thread open.

Hypatia of Athens: I delivered the letters

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Magi of Vardian's Tomb,

Your actions against our covenant will be tolerated no longer. These blatant hostilities against all of us have gone past the point of the code, and we will not wait for next tribunal to settle this. We demand a return of the vis you have poached from us, and a hefty reimbursement for your actions, or we will take back what is ours by force. As primus of Tremere in this tribunal, I will have Aristide expelled from our house, and we are not afraid to bring Wizard's War against the ones at your covenant responsible for this. If I receive no response by the next full moon, I will assume you are not willing to comply.

Tolas of Tremere

dys (GM): It has an aesthetic quality of schfifty.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: ty

Hypatia of Athens: I was out on redcap dtuies

dys (GM): Yeah

Proclus of Rome: Hmm.

dys (GM): You have 2 redcaps staying here so I assume most letters you recieve come through them

Beatrice Orsini : "Hey, Aristide, they kicked you out of house Tremere."

Proclus of Rome: "I was not aware of any vis poaching."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: importantly, one of the redcaps can read the address on the letter, and one cannot

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: lol

dys (GM): I wrote that a bit weirdly but they were more specifically threatening to kick him out, not actually currently doing it

Proclus of Rome: "Perhaps Archibald has been involved in some more shady dealings."

dys (GM): To clarify as I'm sure Tolas is a better writer than I am

Aristide of Tremere: "That's nonsense."

dys (GM): And expressed it far better in latin, without any ambiguity

Beatrice Orsini : "Oh, they're just threatening to kick you out."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "I thought Tremeres were supposed to oppose house Tytalus?"

"They seem just as awful."

Beatrice Orsini : "And declare Wizard's War."

Aristide of Tremere: "That's also nonsense. Why would they kick me out of my house?"

Proclus of Rome: It happens.

Aristide of Tremere: "And declare Wizard's War?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Did you steal anything from them recently?"

Beatrice Orsini : "They say we poached their vis and made other hostile actions."

"Lavinia, Proclus, do you know anything about the vis? You were out looking for some last year."

dys (GM): brb

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Why, that's-"

Aristide of Tremere: "Steal? I am no thief."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Did you sully their name?"

Proclus of Rome: "We found some vis but it was well within our rights to claim it."

Gordiano of Bonisagus: Here

Aristide of Tremere: "They're fellow Tremere, weak though they might be. How could I sully their name?"

Beatrice Orsini : "That's what Tremere do."

Aristide of Tremere: "Nonsense."

"We should immediately head to their covenant and see what this mess is about."

Proclus of Rome: "That sounds dangerous, as they are willing to declare Wizard's War on us."

Aristide of Tremere: "The alternative is to stay here, and have them declare Wizard's War on us."

Proclus of Rome: "I'd recommend we send either Zita or Hypatia.

"With a letter, obviously."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Can they really kick you out? Where will you go?"

Aristide of Tremere: "What, entrust important matters to mundanes?"

Beatrice Orsini : "They mentioned Aristide specifically, so we should send him."

Aristide of Tremere: "No, we'll go there ourselves."

"If you're too craven to go with me, then I will go by myself. With a retinue of grogs."

Proclus of Rome: "They're magi, Aristide."

Aristide of Tremere: "They can't cast even the most basic of spells!"

dys (GM): Back

Proclus of Rome: "Sounds like something you'd have to bring before the Tribunal."

Aristide of Tremere: "They're messengers who were given membership on an oversight by the founders."

dys (GM): Hypatia is of course, right here.

Proclus of Rome: "I'm sure that, as powerful as you are politically, you would have no trouble getting a motion to expel House Mercere passed."

Beatrice Orsini : Looks like Aristide just unsubsribed from the Redcap mailing list.

dys (GM): Zita is at Durenmar currently, on redcap duties and personal matters, so it's just Hypatia to handle things currently.

Proclus of Rome: Well, Hypatia it is, then.

Aristide of Tremere: i am aware of hypatias presence

Proclus of Rome: What should we put in our letter?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Ignoring Aristide, I remark, "Historically it is rare for wizards to war against the redcaps, so Hypatia would be a good representative."

Aristide of Tremere: "Expel House Mercere?"

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: a lock of aristide's hair

Aristide of Tremere: "They're perfectly fine wizards, if a little misguided. But at least they're wizards."

Proclus of Rome: "It is settled then, now all that remains is to write a letter."

What should we say?

Beatrice Orsini : A sample of Aristide's urine with a note saying "Drink it in good health."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I would be willing to go in person as well, if need be. I do not think it helps our covenant's reputation if the mere threat of war is enough to keep us all hidden in our labs."

Aristide of Tremere: is it a violation of the code to use imaginem magic on something a wizard will eat or drink

Beatrice Orsini : "I'll go as well. I have responsibility to help my kinsman sort out his mess."

Proclus of Rome: "I believe that there is another force behind this conflict."

Aristide of Tremere: "My mess? I've done nothing to Potestas."

dys (GM): talking as myself as the GM feels weird

GM: Ah

Much better

Proclus of Rome: "It therefore behooves us to avoid unnecessary exposure."

Beatrice Orsini : Just talk as Venator.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: it's our favorite wizard, GM

GM: Talk as Johns' magus?

Aristide of Tremere: "Hiding in our covenant hardly seems a sign of men who have done nothing wrong."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Maybe the letter isn't even genuine."

GM: The GM wizard is clearly the guy who unearths Vardian's Tomb 50 years after their fall and recounts their story

Aristide of Tremere: "I am resolved to go, whoever among you isn't craven may follow."

GM: brb, again, im sorry

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Then Tolas will wish to know someone is writing falsely under his name."

Proclus of Rome: Hmm, if Aristide leaves we can lock him out of his lab.

Beatrice Orsini : "Do you have any enemies who might want to immediately destroy any covenant you join?" I ask the new guy.

Aristide of Tremere: I go rouse as many combat grogs as I can and have them get equipped.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "What enemies could a Bonisagus have?"

Beatrice Orsini : "The Trianoma?"

Proclus of Rome: "Anyone whose apprentice he's stolen, for one."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "What's a Trianoma? Some kind of rival tradition?"

Beatrice Orsini : "Yes."

Proclus of Rome: "Yikes."

GM: Sorry about that. A frog got into the house, somehow.

Hypatia of Athens: RIP

Aristide of Tremere: the trianoma arent rivals

they work with bonisagus!!

Lavinia of Jerbiton: the french invading scotland again

Proclus of Rome: They might be.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "They must be very dangerous indeed!"

GM: Please. The Auld Alliance is still valid, Lavinia.

Beatrice Orsini : "There's rumors they have infiltrated the Order itself."

Aristide of Tremere: anyway, lets say i get a retinue of 9 grogs ready while everyone argues about being too afraid to visit another covenant

Proclus of Rome: "Someone else should go to prevent Aristide from getting us Wizard Marched."

"I nominate myself."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Using lore, I would like to ask, is this threat from Potestas something they've done before

GM: Sure, Lavinia. Roll OoH Lore.

Lavinia of Jerbiton:

rolling 1d10+2+4

(

8

)

+2+4

=

14

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: how far is it

Proclus of Rome: It's on the other side of the boot.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: that's really far.

(From GM): You do recall hearing about Potestas getting into arguments with Luctatio that grew heated enough to reach wizards war, though this was over a century ago. They take a firm stance against people messing with them directly.

Proclus of Rome: I think it's about twice as far to get to there as to get to Cesena.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: the bad boys of never getting to do lab work

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I heard that Potestas once threatened to reach wizards war with Luctatio a century ago over actions directly targeting them."

Proclus of Rome: Maybe 1.5 times as far if decimals have been invented yet.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Now that the rest of my sodales have been emboldened by my example to join Aristide, I point out that I offer nothing to a diplomatic envoy and will be staying here."

Beatrice Orsini : I'll take my book with me.

Proclus of Rome: That makes Lavinia smart.

Beatrice Orsini : "Some sun would do you good, Lavinia."

Hypatia of Athens: I can deliver mail to wherever we're going so I'm not worried about seasonal work

Beatrice Orsini : "You never go outside."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I just returned from Salerno and the rustic fields of Naples, actually."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: spoken like a peasant

Beatrice Orsini : "I did not know your lab was so large."

Hypatia of Athens: I work two seasons a year, so yes.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: what are you going to do next, suggest that she eat garlic

GM: That's how you deal with Tremeres, not Jerbitons.

Beatrice Orsini : Garlic gives Jerbitons bad breath and activates their gift penalties.

Proclus of Rome: We should bring some vis along with us.

Aristide of Tremere: jerbiton shold have a modified gentle gift that works the same on mundanes but delivers similar effects to the blatant gift to fellow magi

Lavinia of Jerbiton: yeah, infernal vis

Proclus of Rome: Do we have any infernal vis?

Aristide of Tremere: we could check archibalds lab

Beatrice Orsini : Here's the infernal vis we poached from you. Sorry about that.

GM: I believe we do have infernal vis, still

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: we probably do actually have infernal vis

GM: From killing the red knight

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: just have to pop it into a different container

Aristide of Tremere: i sure wish we had a bonisagus here to lead us

we dont dys

Lavinia of Jerbiton: we have 4 pawns of perdo vis from a demonic hammer

Aristide of Tremere: because his vis was in his sword

which hangs from aristides belt

on the opposite side of the viking sword

GM: Dont you also have the viking sword hanging from

Incredible

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: lol

Beatrice Orsini : "Let's give Potestas our infernal vis as reparations."

Aristide of Tremere: "Let's give them an ultimatum." I say, returning with 9 of our fiercest grogs in tow.

Beatrice Orsini : The ultimatum: Take Aristide or we'll have you declare Wizard's War on him.

Aristide of Tremere: i should invent a similar effect to aura ofe nnobled presence that makes me seem like a master swordsman

Gordiano of Bonisagus: (I'm herE)

Ombra Cadaveri: Grog here.

GM: So, what grogs do you take along on this visit. Potestas is a while away.

Anyone who is going, slam your token onto the board

Ombra Cadaveri: Ombra, Napolino, Tanolfi, Tunde for Grogs

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: the label is gone

Salve Gordiano.

Aristide of Tremere: yeah 4 grogs is more sane

Hypatia of Athens takes Aurelia

Aristide of Tremere: if the coward magi are actually coming now

I grab my staff and cast kingly facade on the crest of it.

Wielding it like a banner as we march.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i'll come along as i'm sure this is simply a mistake.

Aristide of Tremere: I keep Aura of Ennobled Presence up the entire time as well.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: don't forget The Appropriate Attire

Aristide of Tremere: aristide does not know that spell

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: it's level 4

Aristide of Tremere: i dont even see it in the book

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: just spont it, and then roll 50 to see if any of your recasts botch

* 50 times

it's in Apprentices

Beatrice Orsini : No rolls on non-fatiguing spont.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: mighty

i can't control my token, again

GM: Gulielmus, Beatrice, Proclus, Hypatia. Any other wizards willing to slam their tokens down?

Does it now work

Ombra Cadaveri: where TF is aristide

Aristide of Tremere: alright. i spont the appropriate attire the entire way as well

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: thank you.

Ombra Cadaveri: the serial killer grog is aristide's appointed shield

GM: Plutonis, you've only just arrived, do you join them on this expedition to Potestas?

Beatrice Orsini : or is it the other way around?

Aristide of Tremere: the appropriate attire takes effect by changing my garb to look more like that of a high ranking knights formal attire

GM: There's still something that's happening back at the covenant, while people are journeying, at least. For those who stayed.

Not much but something happens

Anyway. It's about 110 miles, how long would that take to travel in Mythic Europe, Johns?

Proclus of Rome: You should go on a very political expedition that you don't really understand.

Ombra Cadaveri: by foot let me look up c&g

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: a redcap is going to use the item that kills everyone in the building instantly, which we demonstrated is legal and available to redcaps under the rules as written

Ombra Cadaveri: River barges travel 8 to 10 miles

per day, faster downriver than

upriver. Rivers with particularly

strong currents make this disparity

larger.

Most road cargoes travel 15 to

Ombra Cadaveri: 25 miles per day.

GM: So about 5 to 8 days. A week, let's say.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: shouldnt river travel be a lot faster than road travel

GM: Have you ever been on a riverboat

Beatrice Orsini : Water flows slowly.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i've.

Proclus of Rome: River barges are mostly for transporting cargo.

Aristide of Tremere: travel by water is for things that necessitate traveling by water

Beatrice Orsini : Like witches.

Tremeres can't cross running water anyway, so we can't travel by water anyway.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: good point

Proclus of Rome: Long castle.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: I will but uhh man I wish I did a proper intor

Ombra Cadaveri: Concept art of a castle

GM: Here is an image of Potestas

Gordiano of Bonisagus: *introduction

GM: You could introduce yourself on the journey, if you go along.

Aristide of Tremere: that spear is my staff but its got my portrait instead of a speartip

GM: It would be a good chance to get to know your new sodales, as you'd be on the road with them for a week.

Beatrice Orsini : I asked if you had any enemies who would want to destroy any covenant you join.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: dont worry. gulielmus already introduced you to everyone while you were afk

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea dusts off hands

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: problem solved

Proclus of Rome: Smart.

GM: You could ask your sodales about the political climate, past deeds of the Tomb, etc

Proclus of Rome: "Salve Gordiano."

Ombra Cadaveri: I tell the newcomer that VT is full of murderers, rapists, and thieves

Beatrice Orsini : It's true.

Proclus of Rome: "You should be careful with whom you associate in this covenant, as many magi here are not to be trusted."

Beatrice Orsini : As are all covenants.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: A hive of scum and villainy

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Ah, come on, it's not that bad."

Proclus of Rome: "Have you even MET Archibald?"

Beatrice Orsini : Who's the rapist? I thought Prudenzio left and Giraldo murdered the farrier.

Proclus of Rome: "A more savage pagan I've never seen."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "But with a heart of gold!"

Aristide of Tremere: "Alright, Gordo, you might be a Bonisagus and accustomed to dusty old tomes, but I'm going to take you under my wing and teach you things a book never could."

Proclus of Rome: "Only in the sense that it is cold and hard."

GM: Christ

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: lmao

Aristide of Tremere: "Watch how a master handles his uppity lessers."

Beatrice Orsini : I spend every possible moment of the journey reading a book I refuse to show anyone.

Proclus of Rome: "I hope you aren't referring to your superiors in House Tremere."

Beatrice Orsini : I probably get some stew on it while eating.

Proclus of Rome: "As you have not even gained the privilege of holding your own voting sigil."

"Is your master even in this Tribunal?"

Beatrice Orsini : Jesus Christ is everywhere.

Aristide of Tremere: "I believe Venzi currently holds my sigil. I'm willing to make a bet with you that I'll have it within the next decade."

Proclus of Rome: "I'm not a gambling man."

Aristide of Tremere: "Very well. That pledge still holds true, though."

johns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDnu0giUS00

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Who's Venzi?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Just because these Potestas apprentices had weak, no-name masters, they think they have the right to call themselves superior."

Beatrice Orsini : is tormenting master mandatory for tremere?

Aristide of Tremere: not really

tremere masters arent tormenting, in general

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: it's free virtue points

Aristide of Tremere: they just make you fight for your sigil

Proclus of Rome: "Gordiano, do you have any experience battling Muslims?"

GM: Aristide doesnt have one and look how he turned out, I think it's a sign that they need one

Beatrice Orsini : His master didn't warp him enough as a child.

Aristide of Tremere: damn, i should make venzi give me every sigil in his possession when i beat him in certamen

GM: That would be incredibly illegal.

Aristide of Tremere: not necessarily

Proclus of Rome: Oh no, is Gordiano mute?

GM: Though at that point, as Primus, you would have other ways of securing votes.

I don't think he has the Mute flaw, or the Curse (Autism) flaw, no.

Beatrice Orsini : He actually has the Gift.

GM: Oh, that's even worse. That explains it.

Hypatia of Athens: Those sound like good flaws to make it easier to roleplay my next magus

Aristide of Tremere: ah damn. cant believe gordiano fell into a bog and died on the way to potestas

nothing we could do

Hypatia of Athens: Instead of being an autist who spends 3 virtue points on Gentle Gift like a sucker

GM: Flaw: can only communicate by casting pillum of flame, Virtue: Affinity with Ignem

Proclus of Rome: It happens.

Beatrice Orsini : that's just a flambeau template

Aristide of Tremere: vardians tomb increases in reputation as the final resting place of bonisagii

GM: Does Gordiano really say nothing at all? I think Plutonis mentioned something was going on IRL, he might be distracted. Though if he's not here soon I'll just move on to you all arriving.

Aristide of Tremere: he said that, and then he said he was eating dinner but was back

GM: No sense holding up the whole game over a shy portugese man.

Aristide of Tremere: lets say mean things about him

Beatrice Orsini : i thought plutonis was brazilian

Proclus of Rome: Bazinga.

Hypatia of Athens: What's Brazil?

Beatrice Orsini : it's a movie

Hypatia of Athens: Is that that area on the left part of the map marked with the sea serpent?

I think you just fall off the edge of the planet if you go there

I mean, the disc

GM: Gordiano, it seems, is too shy

johns: lol @ backwards peasants believing in a flat earth

Aristide of Tremere: if you have no philo you think the earth is flat

this is now canon

Beatrice Orsini : flat earth just makes sense

GM: And so you arrive at the covenant of Potestas, located right at the Adriatic Sea. It's a fortress, guarded at the entrance, and since Hypatia has been here before, she knows about the basic layout. It's divided into two sections. The outer fortress is for visitors, grogs, etc. The inner fortress is solely for the magi of Potestas, and is a large cathedral-like building containing their labs and a courtyard for duelling.

Proclus of Rome: Dueling, eh?

Aristide of Tremere: I make a show of raising my staff-banner even higher as we approach.

GM: An arrow hits you in the eye, instantly

Aristide of Tremere: what the

Proclus of Rome: Ouch.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: gg

GM: Ahem. You all make it to the door, without being shot in the eye, shoulder, or anywhere at all. No arrows are thrown at you and no tar is dropped on you as you approach the doors.

"Business?" one guard asks you

Hypatia of Athens splits off, taking Aurelia with her as she goes to give Potestas their mail.

GM: You go ahead first then?

Aristide of Tremere: "Addressing false claims made by your master."

Hypatia of Athens: Yeah

GM: Alright, they recognise you and let you in, then. Then the rest of you rumble on up.

Anthemia Mercere puts on her cap

GM: "Who should we say's here."

Proclus of Rome: "My compatriots and I am here to request a negotiation on behalf of Vardian's Tomb."

Aristide of Tremere: am? not are? shameful showing from proclus's artes liberales

Proclus of Rome: It makes more sense in Italian.

GM: "Alright, wait here." the guard goes inside, for some time. Eventually, he emerges again "Your grogs are to leave their weapons with us." he spots Aristides swords "And his."

Proclus of Rome: Man you just can't catch a break with that sword.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea, once again, takes his staff with him.

Beatrice Orsini : be careful with that sword, it's satanic

Aristide of Tremere: "Mine will stay."

GM: It's just a customary disarm. As magi, the aegis of the hearth already heavily disarms you. Speaking of which unless you have incredibly, notably high resistance against it, you are under the effect of a hostile aegis after stepping inside the gates.

Aristide of Tremere: im not giving up my swords

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Gulielmus whispers to his sodales. "Seriously, though, who is Venzi?"

GM: "Just drop them, please."

This music isnt anywhere near ominous enough for Tremere. One moment.

Aristide of Tremere: "Your masters have given me enough humiliation. If you peons wish to join in, I would advise otherwise."

Proclus of Rome: RIP Aristide.

AFK a sec.

GM: The guards look at each other

"Look, you leave them or you wait outside."

Gordiano of Bonisagus: (Incredibly sorry. Whenever I think I'm done with serving dinner I am called to clean it. No way this will happen again)

Sister Aurelia gives over her mace, but her shield is a Relic and stays with her.

GM: What is important is that you're here now.

Proclus of Rome: Ok I return.

GM: They aren't as picky about a shield, so you're fine there.

Aristide of Tremere: "If it will make you happy, you may keep this blade until I leave. But the other one is pitted and dulled, unsuited for battle."

I hand him the demon sword.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: good. maybe gordiano can tell gulielmus who venzi is

GM: Someone has to know

Aristide aint saying

He eyes the sword

Eventually, sighing, he accepts it

Aristide of Tremere: good

i wont be denied my magic sword two social uses in a row

Beatrice Orsini : They have some shitty guards here that don't immediately assume any dull sword worn by a magus is just enchanted to look like that.

Aristide of Tremere: i successfully used my "being an ass" technique to bypass thistrap

GM: Well, enchantments end, because of the aegis

Aristide of Tremere: i dont know if that happens with this

endrite would have to confirm

Ombra Cadaveri: all enchanted effects that were not created within an aegis end

GM: It doesnt change inside the place

Ombra Cadaveri: once entering a hostile aegis

GM: it really is that shitty

No illusions

Aristide of Tremere: i dont even know what the effect is

just that it ignores magic resistance

GM: I know about one effect because it almost derailed this adventure. Anyway

Proclus of Rome: Do they let us in or what?

GM: They do, sorry.

Yes, you're allowed in, they eye most of you suspiciously due to your Gift, and due to Aristide's way of being Gifted even with the gentle gift

Is beatrice currently concealing her face or is that something she's doing another time

Proclus of Rome: *Alpha

Beatrice Orsini : I am, but with both magical and non-magical means.

Aristide of Tremere: only a great tremere magus could cow the guards of another covenant without even the smallest incantation

GM: You're led through to a meeting room, chairs laid out for you. Opposite are two members of the Potestas covenant. Tolas of Tremere, and Exileratus of Flambeau. Both are regular tribunal attenders, so you of course have seen them before.

Proclus of Rome: Anyone else?

Aristide of Tremere: I take the chair opposite Tolas.

Proclus of Rome: What shape is the table?

Ombra Cadaveri: whats the aesthetic qualtiy fo the table

Tolas of Tremere: They have a few guards, armoured and well-armed. The table is rectangular, you all on one side with the Potestas on the other end.

It's 69. What a table!

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Salvete."

Gordiano of Bonisagus: (Belayed answer to Proclus) "The mouros has been subdued two generations before I was even born, and currently our King fears the Castillans as much as them, Master Proclus. Not to mention that I'd rather fight a well roasted boar than a saracen myself!"

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: wow, jorn missed it again

Proclus of Rome: Wow, these Potestas guys sure know how to live!

Beatrice Orsini : Time and place, Gordiano.

Proclus of Rome: Let the man speak!

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: The time is here and the place is now.

Jorn of Merinita comes by later to study the tablet for 69 stonemason XP amplified by his affinity

Tolas of Tremere: "Proclus of Rome." the man speaks your name with particular distaste

Proclus of Rome: "What is the meaning of this letter?"

Tolas of Tremere: "It means precisely what it says."

Beatrice Orsini : He was silent the whole journey to Potestas, thinking about the answer.

Tolas of Tremere: "Impersonating our covenant, having a mundane lord that you meddled with demand payment from us, that we could wait until tribunal to settle."

"But you have gone too far."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: social skills are not hermetic and are not bound by the limit of time

Aristide of Tremere: I look at Proclus with confusion.

Proclus of Rome: "While I think all of us at Vardian's Tomb would appreciate getting Aristide banished from house, this accusation is beyond reason."

Beatrice Orsini : "I would not."

Proclus of Rome: "Almost all of us."

Beatrice Orsini : "Thank you."

Tolas of Tremere: "While he is complicit, it is your actions I'm more offended by."

Gordiano of Bonisagus: "Seems like in retrospect that the Bonisagus knew what they were doing when they sent me to this Covenant, huh."

Proclus of Rome: "What actions?"

Tolas of Tremere: "A man came by our covenant, before. asking for a Proclus of Rome, who lived here. We were given a bill for a mill. We had to waste a lot of time sorting this mess out."

Aristide of Tremere: "Yes, they knew that they could only teach you so much, Gordo."

Hypatia of Athens:

rolling d10+2+3 OoH lore to figure out why everyone's begrudges Aristide

(

7

)

+2+3

=

12

Beatrice Orsini : To Gordiano: "What did you do? Steal someone's paper on breeding mice using Rego magic?"

Tolas of Tremere: Because he's a Tremere that hates fighting, Hypatia. He's a noted coward, and the Tremere consider themselves the soldiers of the order of hermes.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: "What the... I am just built largely!"

Aristide of Tremere: breeding vermin?

bwuh?

huh?

Tolas of Tremere: Sorry, unused to whispering lore rolls

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: noob detected

Proclus of Rome: You should whisper to players instead of characters.

Tolas of Tremere: I know, I mean I GM systems where everything is in the open.

Proclus of Rome: Psssh.

Beatrice Orsini : say everything out in the open and trust players to separate ic and ooc knowledge

Tolas of Tremere: I do. By god I do.

Hypatia of Athens: You can populate a bee farm by CrAn a corpse that lasts for a while and generates bees.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: for example, i still don't know who venzi is.

Ombra Cadaveri: me neither

Hypatia of Athens: The bees don't go away when the corpse does

Ombra Cadaveri: i assume someone just made up the name

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: probably

Beatrice Orsini : Gui should ask Tolas about it.

Tolas of Tremere: "That matter would have been saved till tribunal, it's at least easily settled. But to poach vis is a step too far."

Proclus of Rome: "Vis?"

Hypatia of Athens: Kifaaya probably knows how to make sillkworms with a goat corpse by now

Gordiano of Bonisagus: "Ah, yes, likely the reason I was sent to the Tomb where they whisper that three Bonisagus have been killed. Yes, it was because my master commited a... Large amount of scrying, specially to steal knowledge."

Proclus of Rome: "What vis are you talking about?"

Exileratus of Flambeau: "We prefer good relations with our fellow covenants, but we won't deal with criminals."

Hypatia of Athens: Or she learned to make them by CrHeing mulberry

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Proclus spends half his time in the lab and half his time at church. He's no thief."

Aristide of Tremere: lets make gadflies in the fields near potestas

Exileratus of Flambeau: "You know the site, but I'll state it for your sodales. Perhaps you pinched it and never told them. There's an oak tree south of here that grows 2 pawns a year of herbam vis. When we went to harvest it, lo and behold, the vis had been taken already."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: thus but locusts

Beatrice Orsini : let's steal arcane connection to their building, then i'll glamour their buildings into humans and give them phimosis

Aristide of Tremere: "And what evidence do you have that this was our doing?"

Proclus of Rome: Hmm, I don't think we've actually done this.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "We live on the other side of Italy!"

Tolas of Tremere: "The vis site is nearly halfway between our two covenants. Obviously, closer to ours, and legally claimed by us."

Beatrice Orsini : "We don't even have anyone who could have use for Herbam vis, I think.

Tolas of Tremere: "But distance is no factor here."

Beatrice Orsini : "

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i could use some herbam vis.

Proclus of Rome: "Oh, there are always ways to use vis, but we aren't responsible for this theft."

Beatrice Orsini : i don't know that

Aristide of Tremere: "So, some folk witch harvests your tree, and you immediately seek to blame us?"

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i'm the potions and herbs guy!

Tolas of Tremere: "Furthermore, it is well-known you're a gang of  vis thieves, and your outright aggression against our covenant is apparent."

Beatrice Orsini : "I only ever stole vis from Vardian's Tomb, not any other covenant." I blurt out.

Tolas of Tremere: "Some witch! Incredible, you're as cowardly with words as you are elseways."

Aristide of Tremere: I stand up.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: let's burn the tree down

Aristide of Tremere: "Coward? I don't understand Proclus's feud with your covenant, but the man is no thief."

Hypatia of Athens: The tree burns forever and now gives Ignem vis, which is more coveted

Beatrice Orsini : "He believes theft is bad for the soul."

Proclus of Rome: "How dare you accuse me of theft, Aristide?"

Tolas of Tremere: "As well any good man should. Whether he acts on that belief, I doubt it."

Gordiano of Bonisagus: A forever burning tree? Obvious a fairy magic

Aristide of Tremere: i just said proclus isnt a thief

Hypatia of Athens: Faerie fire FTW

Proclus of Rome: "These learned magi know no better, but to accuse me of impersonating them to defraud some lord when you should know better is low."

Beatrice Orsini : "When did that impersonation happen?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Yes, let's start there. And who is this man who billed you?"

Tolas of Tremere: "Of course. It was another Proclus of Rome." he says, humourlessly

"The Lord of Montorsaio"

Beatrice Orsini : "That's nonsense then. Proclus wasn't even with us at Montorsaio."

Exileratus of Flambeau: "Demanded quite a sum of us." his sodales notes

Proclus of Rome: "Where?"

"Is that in Italy?"

Tolas of Tremere: "Presumably. It's you who went there, not I."

Beatrice Orsini : "The village where Aristide blew up a mill."

Tolas of Tremere: He looks at Aristide

Proclus of Rome: "He did what?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Yes, Proclus was performing work in his lab when we visited Montorsaio."

Tolas of Tremere: "Of course."

Hypatia of Athens: "Those poor villagers."

Aristide of Tremere: "I was not the one who destroyed that mill, either."

Beatrice Orsini : "He volunteered to lure some ghost vikings there at considerable risk to his own skin."

Hypatia of Athens: "A winter without their mill, under an indifferent lord."

Beatrice Orsini : "Quite brave of him."

Aristide of Tremere: I nod.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: "That sounds like a really fun use of your time."

Tolas of Tremere: Tolas eyes you with some suspicion

Aristide of Tremere: I think on the matter.

Tolas of Tremere: He rolls Folk Ken against beatrice which I suppose does nothing? Unless she actually is lying to help him

Aristide of Tremere: "Didn't that one spirit swear revenge on us? No doubt some sort of demon."

Tolas of Tremere: Are you being honest or lying, beatrice

Aristide of Tremere: "Perhaps it possessed the lord."

Beatrice Orsini : He lured the vikings in with his voice and he was close to the mill when they landed.

Aristide of Tremere: for all beatrice knows i could have been working extra hard to lure them

Tolas of Tremere: Yes. But also, you're saying Aristide did something to benefit someone who isnt himself, so I need to confirm if youre actively lying or not.

Beatrice Orsini : He benefitted from it.

Aristide of Tremere: I sit back down, slightly calmed.

Proclus of Rome: Ruthless GMing.

Beatrice Orsini : I can roll my 0 guile though. It's untrained, so I have a chance of passing.

comm or presence?

Tolas of Tremere: I just mean are you knowingly lying or not lol, sorry.

Aristide of Tremere: "So, that seems the right of it. A demon has inconvenienced both of our covenants."

Tolas of Tremere: Presence I think

Beatrice Orsini : I'm not saying anything I think is untrue, but I'm presenting it in a flattering manner.

rolling 1d10+3+0

(

8

)

+3+0

=

11

Aristide of Tremere: "It's possible that it was also involved in this vis theft of yours."

Tolas of Tremere:

(To GM) rolling 1d10+0+5

(

3

)

+0+5

=

8

Tolas of Tremere: He seems to buy it, Beatrice

Beatrice Orsini : i assume gift penalty is negated by his parma

Tolas of Tremere: "Nevertheless, he destroyed the mill, and then, strangely, a man calling himself Proclus showed up claiming they would pay for it."

Yeah

"Despite being in his lab. Strange!"

Hypatia of Athens: "That IS strange."

Aristide of Tremere: "Strange, but easily explained by this vengeful demon we encountered."

Beatrice Orsini : "Guilleimus, Aristide, and I are the the only magi from Vardian's tomb here who were also at Montorsaio."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: shouldve just killed the lord

Tolas of Tremere: "This would imply that someone at this place, a liar and a scoundrel with a petty grudge, impersonated poor Proclus, a person that only the visitting magi of Vardian's tomb would know to name."

Aristide of Tremere: "It would imply that a demon impersonated him, and corrupted this lord."

Tolas of Tremere: "So I say again. Your covenant, or someone within it, wronged us."

Proclus of Rome: "What did you get up to at Montorsaio?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Frankly, Tolas, I'm surprised that a magus of your standing would continue hurling accusations at fellow magi rather than relenting and working to figure out how we can remove this demon troubling us both."

Proclus of Rome: "Though I must say, I am quite famous in Rome."

Tolas of Tremere: "I'm working to remove this demon, Aristide, believe me I'm trying."

Beatrice Orsini : "Destroyed their food supply for the winter and Jorn ruined their landscape with fortifications. But we did destroy a few dozens of ghosts."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "He is universally known as a philosopher."

Proclus of Rome: "Almost anyone from Rome would know who I am."

Beatrice Orsini : "And I believe none of the villagers were hurt."

Tolas of Tremere: "A strange coincedence that his name would be chosen, just as the rest of you are there."

"There are many famous men and philosophers in Rome, yet it's a magus of Vardian's Tomb that is apparently charging us for a mill that  you  blew up."

Aristide of Tremere: "Strange indeed, but who can understand the nature of demons?"

"It seems to me as well that it would have been more convenient for it to claim one of our identities."

Proclus of Rome: "Could it possibly be related to that man who claimed I was a thief?"

Beatrice Orsini : "Aristide, you seem a bit too insistent that this was caused by a demon. Do you have any proof of that?"

Proclus of Rome: "That was quite unusual."

Aristide of Tremere: "No proof, just a suspicion based on the infernal spirit swearing revenge on us."

"It could be some other manner of spirit."

Proclus of Rome: "Someone planted a coin purse in my pocket as I was walking home the other day. I had thought it was a fairy, but maybe it was a conspirator, looking to ruin my good name."

Aristide of Tremere: "No doubt another plot to trouble us."

Tolas of Tremere: "A conspiracy would be very convenient for you, wouldn't it."

Beatrice Orsini : I don't want to rat out Aristide for talking to the lord after the mill blew up.

Aristide of Tremere: I sigh and look at Tolas with disappointment.

"For such a senior of our house, Tolas, you behave more like you belong in Tytalus."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "It was exceedingly strange. The man's memory had been altered."

Beatrice Orsini : And Gui was unconscious when it happened, I think.

So no one can tell.

Proclus of Rome: "It would be convenient, but also true."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: oh yeah

i was taking a nap

Beatrice Orsini : "Aristide, I believe it's unwise to insult our hosts who have every reason to be suspicious."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: after annihilating my fatigue with a single spell

Tolas of Tremere: "Why, it was crows who left portraits of Aristide over the town that he destroyed the mill of, then demons who impersonated Proclus, and fairies who ruined his good name. Every realm save the divine seems working in perfect harmony to make it seem like you are attacking our covenant."

Ombra Cadaveri: lets ask one of the grogs who was here to witness it

Aristide of Tremere: "Oh, no, the portraits were my work."

"I wanted the people to know their savior."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Perhaps your faith is being tested?"

Tolas of Tremere: "They were trying to take them down when we arrived. I destroyed them out of the kindness of my heart."

Proclus of Rome: "It would be strange if that were the case, because I didn't know about any of this until today."

Aristide of Tremere: I cough and look away.

Proclus of Rome: Uh, you can't it's an Imaginem spell.

Tolas of Tremere: Perdo Vim??

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: the ol pevvy

Proclus of Rome: Well yeah, but the peasants couldn't take them down.

Tolas of Tremere: Yes

He said trying

Not succeeding

Beatrice Orsini : Aristide invents a L45 version of kingly facade

Tolas of Tremere: We're all learned men here, so he doesnt need to say that they cant remove illusions, of course.

Aristide of Tremere: "In any case, we left shortly afterwards."

"After collecting the vis from the spirits."

Proclus of Rome: I think we should just give them some tribute here.

I mean, we have a LOT of extra vis and no way to prove our case.

Beatrice Orsini : We have a way, but that way is betraying Aristide.

Aristide of Tremere: "We understand that this vexing demon has caused both of our covenants trouble. As a show of good faith, we would be willing to reimburse you this year's vis harvest."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: let's conjure some illusory gold, and then set it up so when it vanishes there's a message inside mocking the count for his greed and cruelty

Beatrice Orsini : Which Beatrice won't do and no one else can.

Hypatia of Athens: How much vis can be extracted from Aristide?

Aristide of Tremere: 1 pawn, as with any gifted man

Tolas of Tremere: "The other matter is more dire. The theft of magical resources is a violation of the code of hermes, outright."

Aristide of Tremere: "Again, we had no involvement at all in that."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "You must have come up with some kind of evidence before threatening to kill us all, right?"

Proclus of Rome: I FEEL like Tremere are wise to phony gold.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: right, we send the phony gold to the count

Aristide of Tremere: "We have far better things to do than steal a couple pawns of Herbam vis, of all things."

Tolas of Tremere: "The evidence is your aggressions prior to this. When a covenant of hedge wizards, necromancers and thieves is openly taunting and harming you, it takes little leap of thought to deduce that thefts are their next step."

Proclus of Rome: How much Corpus vis do we have? We should just give them like 10.

Hypatia of Athens: "Perhaps this antagonism merely provided the distraction the thief needed?"

Tolas of Tremere: "Besides, I put this to you. Say you, Proclus, are innocent. Do you know that none of your allies committed these crimes? One of them impersonated you!"

Hypatia of Athens: "A coincidence, as it were."

Aristide of Tremere: I snort. "Listen, Tolas, whatever fixation you have with us is one-sided. I take as much notice of your covenant as I would which bush I piss on."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Unbelievable! You really are no better than the Tytalans of Normandy."

Beatrice Orsini : "Gui, please."

Aristide of Tremere: "We feel for your misfortune, and would be willing to gift you some Herbam vis in the spirit of good will."

Tolas of Tremere: "The Tytalans are buffoons, they've been a joke here since their primus died."

Proclus of Rome: We should somehow restrain Aristide to prevent him from negotiating further.

Exileratus of Flambeau: "Gift." he snorts "It's a start."

Aristide of Tremere: "I can only hope that in the future, your covenant is more able to control the local hedge wizards and stop another stolen harvest."

Proclus of Rome: "Hedge wizards?"

Beatrice Orsini : "Hypatia, do you know if anyone tried to sell Herbam vis recently? Two pawns to be exact?"

Exileratus of Flambeau: "Tribute as apology at bare minimum."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: let's kill aristide

Aristide of Tremere: "We won't apologize for something we did not do, Flambeau."

Proclus of Rome: "This is clearly the work of a member of the Order of Hermes who seeks to undermine me. No doubt they wish to silence my unorthodox approval of Fabius."

Aristide of Tremere: "It seems far more likely, Proclus, that the incidents are unrelated."

"A folk witch found a tree of vis and harvested it for some useless ritual."

Proclus of Rome: "Why should they be?"

Exileratus of Flambeau: "Pfft. I think you can't see the forest for the trees. Look at Vardian's Tomb, you're a barely restrained gaggle of maniacs."

(To Gulielmus ex Miscellanea): Let's kill him for real though

Hypatia of Athens: "Sodales, I have manifests for vis delivers for this season."

Exileratus of Flambeau: "Figured you'd push this too far."

Proclus of Rome: When he's right, he's right.

Aristide of Tremere: "Ah, but at least our name is known. Look how far Potestas has declined."

Hypatia of Athens: "I believe some of them were herbam."

Beatrice Orsini : "Does anything in there look suspicious?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Barely even able to keep a claim on their vis sources from hedge wizards."

Beatrice Orsini : Turns out Vardian's Tomb... has two more herbam vis than it should.

Aristide of Tremere: did someone really steal herbam vis

Hypatia of Athens: "Lucatio and Literatus have bot had vis transported for the sake of sale this season."

Aristide of Tremere: of all things herbam vis?

Beatrice Orsini : Weed wizards are real.

Proclus of Rome: Herbam vis is great.

Aristide of Tremere: whos the guy that stole their herbam vis instead of their 20 pawn fairy lake

Proclus of Rome: Most buildings and all ships are made out of wood.

Tolas of Tremere: "You really have no respect for basic authority, Aristide, it's why you were sent to that pit instead of here."

Hypatia of Athens: "Wasn't Vardian's Tomb once humiliated by some animated wooden houses?"

Tolas of Tremere: "To think a lineage like that would end in you. Pitiable."

Proclus of Rome: Damn.

Aristide of Tremere: "Honestly, this seems like more of a pit. What was once a grand covenant, now home to some Flambeau whose house is the most noteworthy thing about him, and the apprentice to some dog."

Proclus of Rome: But also, yes we were.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: "Good grief."

Aristide of Tremere: I gesture around to the grand meeting hall, staffed by only two resident magi.

Proclus of Rome: Carnivorous houses are no joke.

Bialas of Bjornaer: Good lord. That took forever.

Beatrice Orsini : "Vardian's Tomb is more of a crypt than a pit."

Proclus of Rome: If we offered to beat Aristide bloody would that help us or hurt us, here?

Tolas of Tremere: Hi Bialas.

His eye twitches, Aristide

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "It's a very nice crypt."

Hypatia of Athens: "As it were, I don't believe those houses even required vis. Imagine what Mercere could do with that spell, some herbam vis, and some wands?"

Bialas of Bjornaer: Hi. Sorry, I got called away and it ended up being for much longer than I thought.

Exileratus of Flambeau: "Big mouth for a craven coward."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "You would really love our skull pillar."

Beatrice Orsini : "The recent construction work really made the place look nice."

Aristide of Tremere: jerbiton were the music lovers right

Proclus of Rome: I think there's only one thing to do here and that's Certamen.

Beatrice Orsini : art lovers

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: brb

Aristide of Tremere: does music count with that

Beatrice Orsini : yes

Hypatia of Athens: Jerbiton like muggles, art and music are muggle things

Aristide of Tremere: "Oh dear, have I struck a nerve, Tolas? Would you like me to call on a Jerbiton magus to paint your portrait, or sing you a lullaby?"

Tolas of Tremere: "Enough. Guards, take this idiot out of our covenant, he's degenerated into this when his lies failed h-"

"Throw him out."

Proclus of Rome: Uh oh.

Tolas of Tremere: the guard begin to surround Aristide to remove him from the covenant

* guards

Proclus of Rome: I make no attempt to stop them.

Beatrice Orsini : Neither do I.

Aristide of Tremere: "Let me know when your tears have dried, Tolas!"

Beatrice Orsini : I know he needs a lesson.

Aristide of Tremere: I call as I'm dragged out.

Tolas of Tremere: "I'm sure you would be glad to have him ruin your negotiations no further."

Aristide, you're tossed onto the grass with a thud

Hypatia of Athens: "What's wrong with singing? It's a perfectly divine pursuit."

Tolas of Tremere: the gate is closed

Aristide of Tremere: I stand up and brush myself off.

"Finally."

dys is gay

oops

Hypatia of Athens: Loading screen appears as you're banned from the aegis

Beatrice Orsini : is being gay aristide's dark secret?

Tolas of Tremere: Ahem. I wanna bring things back to Lavinia and uh

Bialis stayed behind too I think

Since he isnt here

Hypatia of Athens: Jorn may or may not be in Avignon by this point

Ombra Cadaveri:

(To GM) rolling 1d10!+2+9+6+3 comm+rite+school+aura

(

8

)

+2+9+6+3

=

28

Bialas of Bjornaer: I guess. I'm catching up niow

Aristide of Tremere: I find a nice shaded spot and pull out my journal, writing down some ideas for a new spell.

Tolas of Tremere: I see.

Well

We'll come to that in a moment, Aristide

Aristide of Tremere: come to what

is tolas going to get mad at me writing near his covenant

Tolas of Tremere: Inside,

"It's very simple. We demand reparations. Substantial ones, the mill ended up costing us nothing and merely wasted our time, for that a smaller payment is fine to put this behind us."

"For the blatant thievery, to not bring this before the tribunal, we demand a larger tribute."

johns: i suggest as a counter offer we let aristide face the full judgment of tribunal

Bialas of Bjornaer: I can't believe you all stole from this poor man.

Proclus of Rome: AFK a sec.

Aristide of Tremere: i cant believe someone actually stole 2 herbam vis

and it wasnt me

Beatrice Orsini : "Would you agree to allow us time to investigate the theft before bringing the matter to the tribunal?"

Exileratus of Flambeau: "Ha, can't hurt."

"You came out here to talk it through at least, even if you dragged that little yapping dog with you."

Aristide of Tremere: oh right

Beatrice Orsini : "He was mentioned by name."

Aristide of Tremere: I collect my demon sword from the gate guards.

Exileratus of Flambeau: "Was he?"

Hypatia of Athens: "Are there any local rumors of hedge magicians that have not been pursued thus far?"

Beatrice Orsini : "In the letter, yes."

Tolas of Tremere: "Yes, I thought a threat might make him more humble. A mistake, but we learn and move on."

In that case, well I'll wait on Procus to get back first but

Are you settling on investigating the theft to see what you can find out

Beatrice Orsini : I don't think we can convince them we didn't do it.

The theft. I know Aristide is responsible for the impersonation.

Hypatia of Athens: We can still investigate

Beatrice Orsini : And we can always pay later.

Tolas of Tremere: "You can have until the first days of summer, that should be enough time to find out who amongst you committed this theft. If you too have been stabbed in the back, we are open to alternative discussions."

Hypatia of Athens: We can build a case that they ignored local hedge magicians

Beatrice Orsini : Or try to deal with it at the tribunal.

Tolas of Tremere: I should probably say that there is still something going on that has yet to happen, but timeline wise it had to happen at hte covenant after you got this first letter, and you left immediately

So there's still things to look into, at least

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: im back

Beatrice Orsini : We have things to look into.

And I should have a private chat with Aristide.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: nice, i wasnt killed for insulting the tremere

Tolas of Tremere: Oh, when did you insult him?

Sorry, I might have missed a message in amongst a few

Beatrice Orsini : he said he's like normandy tytalus

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i said he's just as bad as a tytalus

Tolas of Tremere: Ah

Hypatia of Athens: "If there are heathen hedge mages about, perhaps they can be converted."

Tolas of Tremere: He said you vastly overestimate tytalus, he was honestly too busy getting mad at Aristide to dwell on it

You got off easy due to Aristide's insanely high aggro

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: ya

Tolas of Tremere: "Join or die." he muses "For heathens the latter is preferred, of course."

Aristide of Tremere: i also called him a tytalus

Tolas of Tremere: So

Hypatia of Athens: "Of course. Though being of the Redcaps, my sodales have more talents for the latter than myself."

Tolas of Tremere: Are you returning? I want to wait on Endrite getting back before I move on with the group here and your return home.

So

Johns, dfd

Are you here?

Bialas of Bjornaer: yep

johns: yo

But now that you mention it, afk for the next 2 hours

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "If we're going to investigate this we will need the exact details of the vis source."

Proclus of Rome: Ok I'm back.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: welcome back.

Timotheos decorates his maze with some cool skulls.

Proclus of Rome: Sorry.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: all is forgiven

Tolas of Tremere: Alright

GM: Back at Vardian's tomb, about 10 days after everyone else left, a letter arrives

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Oh good, a letter and no Tremere to burn it."

GM: it's addressed strangely

it is addressed to

Lavinia of Tytalus and Proclus of Tytalus

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Popular!"

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: its in cut and paste newsprint style, but the letters are giant illustrated ones cut out of bibles

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I don't think I can open this Bialas, as it is not addressed to me. Would you do the honors?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Congratulations on moving up in the world, you two."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "It's certainly not addressed to me."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: aristide is not present, i think

Beatrice Orsini : Aristide is at best halfway back from potestas.

Aristide of Tremere: damn

Violante the Herbwife hides before they ask a grog to open a potentially trapped letter.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I ask Sir Oak to open it.

Aristide of Tremere: oh i thought it was 10 days after we got back

Bialas of Bjornaer: Good job, Sir Oak.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Sir Oak does not know the alphabet so he can be forgiven for making such a mistake."

Violante the Herbwife: Everything's coming up Oak

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "He would not recognize the difference between 'Tytalus' and 'Jerbiton,' after all."

Artemisia comes out of hiding from her husband.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: let's sell miniature sir oak figurines to all the children of rome

Aristide of Tremere: fully functional miniatures

use them to kill demons, each other, or your parents

GM: The Ultimate Rapist, who has unlocked Becoming, begins phasing through the walls as his might score exceeds the vardian aegis.

Artemisia: line of action figurines where sir oak is the hero and aristide the villain

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: :blessed:

Aristide of Tremere: aristide is no villain

look how thoroughly he owned that antagonist at potestas

Artemisia: villain's bumbling sidekick

proclus is the villain

GM: Does Bialas open the letter?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Sir Oak opened it

GM: Oh, Jorn is back at home too I guess. Unless he is not at home.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: then left it on the ground. Ah, no choice but to see what it says now

GM: Sir Oak is unable to read, of course. He leaves it.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: jorn is on a field trip, i think

Jorn of Merinita: Jorn is going to go study stonemasonry at Avignon for 1337

So him and his wife are gone

GM: Ah

Well

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: he should jump to house jerbiton if he's fed up with the cult

GM: There's the letter

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Hahahaha!"

Jorn of Merinita: He's gonna be hanging out with some Jerbiton

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: since he has gentle gift + a great appreciation for aesthetic quality

Jorn of Merinita: He might have the opportunity

Avigonon is full of them

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Should I be insulted or honored?"

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: and our jerbiton isnt even hermetic

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Congratulations on your new House, Lavinia, Proclus.

"

Jorn of Merinita: There's evidence of where Jorn went, since he added a relief of Avignon to the walls of his lab.

Proclus of Rome: It can't be helped.

Violante the Herbwife: "Congratulations!"

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: it's a crime to go inside your lab

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "This is proof that Virgillian magic is no mere hedge tradition, if it has been part of both houses Jerbiton and Tytalus."

GM: Proclus is at Potestas. Or on his way back. Or dead! I mean, thats the risk you take when you jump slightly ahead in time.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: use your arcane connection to see if proclus is dead

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Scrying? Who would do such a thing?"

Violante the Herbwife: Jellified after passing through the singularity

Gordiano of Bonisagus: "I would know one at least."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Anyway, it seems I am meant to depart now. That means I will have to take Sir Oak, the various tracts I have written, my share of the vis, and my knowledge of vis sources with me. Alas,"

Violante the Herbwife: Guernicus can send redcaps into people's labs with due cause

GM: Lavinia will take some time to do so at least, time enough for the others to return

... If they return at all! Let's cut to what horrible thing is about to happen.

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Well, I guess there's no arguing with a letter."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "What a lovely day."

Proclus of Rome: "Nothing could possibly go wrong."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I shall miss you most of all Gulielmus, but I know the covenant will be strong with you to represent the Christians."

Hypatia of Athens: It was brief, but Hypatia did mention that Literatus has been dealing in herbam vis to those at Potestas

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Ok, time for me to roll a new character

any ideas?

(From Aristide of Tremere): I investigate the horn.

Hypatia of Athens: Criamon

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: pralician!!!!!!

Aristide of Tremere: path of strife criamon with a loving wife

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: path of wife

Lavinia of Jerbiton: also im taking my piss jars with me

Hypatia of Athens: True love route 100% CGs

Proclus of Rome: Path of W/E.

Bialas of Bjornaer: Oh, you're not even going.

GM: And this is my criamon path of whateva

(From Aristide of Tremere): I begin screaming and run.

Bialas of Bjornaer: That would mean leaving your lab.

(From Aristide of Tremere): home

GM: Something is happening in whispers, don't worry.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: things happening in whispers

the thumbs down emoji

Lavinia of Jerbiton: :(

Proclus of Rome: Getting left out hurts.

Hypatia of Athens: (sound of everyone playing with their phone who isn't passing notes)

Proclus of Rome: It HURTS my FEELINGS!

AKA my fee fees.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: is there any pizza left

Lavinia of Jerbiton: im playing a different game on the other monitor

Proclus of Rome: I'm playing a different game on this monitor.

Artemisia: im playing a different game on the same monitor

GM: Gah!

Proclus of Rome: It's called "How do I avoid a Wizard War?"

(From Aristide of Tremere): I brandish my viking sword as I look around for escapes.

(From Aristide of Tremere): I'll run back.

(From Aristide of Tremere): does hte yelling sound angry?

Artemisia: it's fine, we have until summer to investigate

that's what we do best

Hypatia of Athens: If you eat the pizza at Potestas you get tainted by the infernal vis used to make it

(From Aristide of Tremere): I'll go towards potestas.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: jesus

Hypatia of Athens: Sources of Tainted Children

(From Aristide of Tremere): I hope my +1 quickness legs can carry me farther from them.

Aristide of Tremere:

(To GM) rolling 1d10+1

(

7

)

+1

=

8

Proclus of Rome: Speaking of, I still want to get married.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: i want to take a nap

Proclus of Rome: It is well known that you're a sleepcuck.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i'm checking the lime count in a different tab.

GM: I'm very close to you being able to do something, I'm sorry Johns.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: no it has nothign to do with this game

its an eternal yen

Artemisia: Let's find Proclus a nice succubus to marry.

GM: I'm killing off a PC, this takes time.

Did I say that? I meant I'm killing a PC.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: are you resolving combat through whispers

(From Aristide of Tremere): I guess I walk back off then.

(From Aristide of Tremere): Hopefully not near a river.

GM: No, when he stops running I'll do it openly

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: everyone except aristide is under the effect of a powerful mentem effect and he's the only one who's aware of the combat killing all of us

(From Aristide of Tremere): I raise my blade and cast Wizard's Sidestep.

Proclus of Rome: It could really be any of us.

Artemisia: the only time i resolved combat in whispers was when it only involved NPCs and the PCs weren't even aware of it

GM: Alright, I guess we're resolving combat then.

H-h-here we go!

Bialas of Bjornaer: lol

Artemisia: I know this blank battlefield well.

Bialas of Bjornaer: resolving combat in whispers is powerful

GM: No I'm resolving it openly, I cant do that shit in whispers.

Bialas of Bjornaer: i'm almost caught up

Hypatia of Athens: Cosmic brain: resolving a combat between two factions of NPCs while everyone talks among themselves.

Artemisia: i'm not promising it will happen, but it might

GM: Alright. Well, you're all inside the covenant, so anyone who feels like dropping into this mess and risking your neck to help Aristide, you can probably hear him screaming by now.

Aristide of Tremere: I stand confident that these are all just illusions, and in any case, I'm sure my friends at Potestas will help.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Did you hear that?"

Bialas of Bjornaer: oh god, more vikings!

Proclus of Rome: Oh my god it's so juicy.

Beatrice Orsini : Would I be let back inside if I try?

Hypatia of Athens stands among the grogs to give them a tiny Leadership buff

GM: Who knows

Anyone who intends to assist him, drop your tokens inside Potestas

Grogs as well

Proclus of Rome: Can we hear this fight happening?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i can't control my token. again

Bialas of Bjornaer: You can hear Aristide screaming in fear.

GM: You can hear him screaming by this point, as he's screaming very loudly

Proclus of Rome: It might be a Potestas trick.

I'll continue negotiating.

GM: Good man

Uh. Well. Johns, want to play some grogs?

Beatrice Orsini : How far does Potestas' aegis extend?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: im a little distracted atm

GM: To their walls basically. The very outer edges of them.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: gimme 2 min

let;s just assume the grogs leave aristide to die

Beatrice Orsini : Do they have any windows?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: gulielmus will valiantly run to the aid of his sodalis

GM: They have very small windows for firing arrows out of

However they make zero attempt to help Aristide

Bialas of Bjornaer: man who just admitted to playing a video game at the same time: im a little distracted atm

Proclus of Rome: Unfortunately, we have no arrows.

Beatrice Orsini : That's enough.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: fine

what grogs are here

ombra was shielding aristide i remembner

weren't the rest assigned to different magi

GM: That might be difficult after Aristide was thrown out and then chased around by ghost vikings for a while. I thought his shield grog was still inside.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: ombra is loyal

he'll stick by aristide's side

Gordiano of Bonisagus: I ain't fighting!

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: selected|character_name Initiative: 12

GM: Sister Aurelia Initiative: 22

Hypatia of Athens Initiative: 91

selected|character_name Initiative: 9

Beatrice Orsini : "I ask of you, will you provide me with a casting token to allow me to save my kinsman? I am willing to give you some of my hair as insurance, provided you destroy it once I return the token?"

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: selected|character_name

Beatrice Orsini : To Tolas

GM: Gulielmus???

Beatrice Orsini Initiative: 22

Bialas of Bjornaer: Máriu Puddu Initiative: 63

Aristide of Tremere: Aristide of Tremere Initiative: 53

GM: Tanolfi Initiative: 92

Napolino Initiative: 31

Tünde Initiative: 4

Ombra Cadaveri Initiative: 58

Ombra Cadaveri: why is gulielmus' token always fucked up

Aristide of Tremere: mariu puddu

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: hes a hedge mage

Máriu Puddu: That's me.

I'm the grog who is afraid of women.

Aristide of Tremere: if i get another grog i can lead a group

Beatrice Orsini : which is why he stands by aristide. the one place no woman will ever be.

GM: Take your turns and let's try to make this death quick.

Gulielmus: Gulielmus Initiative: 81

selected|character_name Initiative: 52

johns: ok i think i fixed gulielmus' token, i twas messed up because someone set a defauilt appearnace

Gulielmus: maybe his name was too long?

oh

Hypatia of Athens: Hypatia of Athens Initiative: 22

Ombra Cadaveri: you have to delete the token and drop it in again

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Gulielmus ex Miscellanea Initiative: 31

GM: Gulielmus ex Miscellanea Initiative: 30

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: there we go

Aristide of Tremere: what gets divided when sponting

Máriu Puddu: the Sardinian warrior is relieving himself on a wall.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: gulielmus is just running for the edge of the aegis instead of bothering to trade his life away

for a token

Aristide of Tremere: just everything but the stress die?

GM: Well, its simultaneous turns and I dont particularly care about the exact distances here so, move on up to where you want to be. It'll take a turn for them to open the gate, though. It's not open this first turn.

Everything, including the die

Aristide of Tremere: yikes

Hypatia of Athens: Sister Aurelia Initiative: 48

Hypatia of Athens Initiative: 23

We rolled like 3 22s so that should help

Aristide of Tremere: I spont a touch range Wizard's Sidestep for my pal Ombra.

rolling 1d10!+15

(

1

)

+15

=

16

uh oh

Ombra Cadaveri: woot

Máriu Puddu: Nice.

Aristide of Tremere: the gm can roll the botch

Máriu Puddu: Well done.

Aristide of Tremere: because i dont know the aura

GM: The aura is... magic 2 out here, magic 4 further in on the covenant site.

Does magic aura add to botch dice?

Ombra Cadaveri: Nope

GM:

rolling 1d10

(

1

)

=

1

Lmao

Máriu Puddu is admiring the young men around the Potesta grounds

Máriu Puddu: lmao

Ombra Cadaveri: Yes. Yes.

Aristide of Tremere: oh no

Ombra Cadaveri: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ALwKeSEYs

GM: So, sidestep botches

Bialas of Bjornaer: "What's all that yelling, anyway? Maybe a good time to take a nap."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: whats it do. whats it do!!

GM: Your magic fizzles, and ombra is instead surrounded by a number of useless copies of himself. They add nothing, but make it harder for him to see.

Aristide of Tremere: well at least i didnt enter twilight or warp

GM: Go, grogs, go

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: you are supposed to warp i think.

Aristide of Tremere: how much warping

GM: You do warp, dont you? I thought every botch gives you a warping point.

1 per 1s on teh botch dice

Ombra Cadaveri: yes you get 1 warping pont

GM: so, 1

Proclus of Rome: Yes,

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: now roll for twilight.

Hypatia of Athens: I forget, what causes you to enter twilight?

Aristide of Tremere: i now have 1 warping

Ombra Cadaveri: 2 warp points at once

GM: No, thats only on 2 or more, gulielmus

Aristide of Tremere: whats the twilight roll

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: sad

Aristide of Tremere: oh

Ombra Cadaveri: how far can ombra move this round

GM: Anyway, grogs and anyone acting, take thy turn

Uh

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i'm trapped inside the aegis

Máriu Puddu: ok.

Aristide of Tremere: "Er... You can do it, Ombra!"

GM: Quickness + something, we houseruled it, whats the current distance you can move

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: but i will move over by the door

Hypatia of Athens: I guess that explains why it happens to Criamon more often

Ombra Cadaveri: 3 tiles

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: jesus.

Ombra Cadaveri: Movement:

5 Grids or 15 feet / turn

Disengaging from melee provokes a free attack from every able-bodied enemy in reach of you

okay

so do whatever you want

Beatrice Orsini : I asked Tolas for a casting token for their Aegis, offering some of my hair as an insurance, provided they destroy it when I return the token.

GM: 5 grids, sure

5 square

Proclus of Rome: Let's all make fun of Potestas for having a tiny covenant gate.

Ombra Cadaveri: ombra runs right in there to engage 5 in melee at once

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: ombra???

Máriu Puddu: rofl

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: isnt a round like 5 seconds

Ombra Cadaveri: 6 seconds

GM: Tolas very reluctantly agrees in this specific situation, since you offered your hair up as an arcane connection.

Ombra uh

Do you attack?

Ombra Cadaveri: sure if I can

GM: No reason why not. I mean, besides that it will do nothing and you'll die.

Ombra Cadaveri:

rolling 1d10!+16 Stabbing with a sword

(

8

)

+16

=

24

GM: On which one

chieftain or his guards

Ombra Cadaveri: the chief.

Aristide of Tremere: johns is playing the jackbox game in zachs stream and so is killing himself to go back to that

GM:

rolling 1d10!+19

(

1

)

+19

=

20

Aristide of Tremere: which is very rude!!

Beatrice Orsini : excellent

Aristide of Tremere: ohh

GM:

rolling 1d10

(

5

)

=

5

Ombra Cadaveri: i am buying aristide a turn to run away

GM: no botch, hit

Ombra Cadaveri: +6 damage

devil's fav demon: thats pretty fucked up

GM: Total damage of 10 then?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i am managing my depression

Ombra Cadaveri: yeah

GM: 9 soak

1 damage, a fatigue

Ombra Cadaveri: gahaha! success!

Hypatia of Athens is appalled by this grogsploitation and does not order Aurelia into this slaughter

Proclus of Rome: Huzzah.

Máriu Puddu runs up a little bit

GM: It does very little

Alright

Uh

What does Aristide do since hes the only one outside the gates

Máriu Puddu: oh i thought mariu was outside the gate as well, since his token was outside of the red thing

Aristide of Tremere: my turn was sponting wizard sidestep

Máriu Puddu: whoops.

Aristide of Tremere: on ombra

GM: Oh you already. You already acted then.

I see.

Well

The vikings turn!

Ombra Cadaveri: none of the vikings can move away from me without me getting an attack on them

except the guy in back

GM: True.

They can't move up this turn

How much did group bonus add to attack?

Beatrice Orsini : good luck surviving, ombra

+2 per adjacent friendly combatant, i think

GM: I see

Ombra Cadaveri: oh, hm.

GM: So +10 for this guy

Beatrice Orsini : you don't count yourself

GM: The chieftain swings his replacement, less impressive longsword

he has 5 allies

Beatrice Orsini : but one of them is not next to ombra

GM:

rolling 1d10!+30

(

10

+

5

)

+30

=

45

Okay Ombra, now

This might look bad

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: lets kill archibald

Ombra Cadaveri: ive got Qik 0, single weapon 10, long sword adds +1 defense, heater shield adds +3, so defense roll of 14

whew.

Proclus of Rome: Nice.

GM: Roll it!

Ombra Cadaveri:

rolling 1d10!+14

(

4

)

+14

=

18

Aristide of Tremere: i believe in

Proclus of Rome: You did it.

Ombra Cadaveri: ah, so close

Aristide of Tremere: alright

Proclus of Rome: You insanely died.

Aristide of Tremere: so, the backup plan here is hoping theyll let me in the covenant

GM: Nice. What's your soak, Ombra?

Proclus of Rome: Hope you got right with God.

Ombra Cadaveri: soak +4

GM: Okay. Ombra, you take 41 damage and explode.

6 vikings stab you at once. You essentially walk into a blender, if such a Reason aura thing existed in this world.

Ombra Cadaveri updates bio to say he's now dead

GM: Alright

Máriu Puddu: "Why would he have done this? Ombra!!"

GM: Did any of you open the gate, by the way

Well, no

Beatrice Orsini : Ombra Cadaver

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i thought someone else was opening the gate

GM: the guards open the gate, at the door, so they can get inside

So the gate is currently open

New turn, all

Aristide of Tremere: I bolt for the door.

Ombra Cadaveri: 5 tiles

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: hmm

Aristide of Tremere: oh

how far can i go

with 1 qik

GM: You can run onto the same tile as Guli, logically, unless he bodyblocks you on purpose to kill you

Do you do that, Guli?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: if i step outside this turn and cast, then can they get a free swing at me next turn thanks to simultaneous resolution

i do not.

i guess theres no reason to cast anyway. because of the enormous aegis

Beatrice Orsini : I can try casting at the vikings through a window this turn, right?

GM: If you step outside you will no longer be subject to the aegis.

yes beatrice

Beatrice Orsini : You could ahve offered an arcane connection for a casting token.

I'll do that when my turn comes up, then.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: right. i mean they cannot get inside because of the enormous aegis

"Aristide! Get inside!"

Aristide of Tremere: i am inside!

GM: Alright. Well, since every single one of you is currently inside the aegis, the vikings cant actually harm you at all, so theres not much point to run a very, very slow and long combta

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: not until the turn resolves bucko

Beatrice Orsini : They could try charging to catch Aristide halfway, maybe

GM: You win through the ultimate move: making the GM not want to play out the fight and take all day

He moves at the same time as them

Hypatia of Athens: I am not wont to order Aurelia in after what happened to Ombra.

GM: so logically, they dont catch him

Beatrice Orsini : but what if they move faster

Proclus of Rome: That's not really true.

johns: Regardless, we are now poorer one grog, and for this Aristide needs to suffer

Proclus of Rome: You can still make a charge move.

GM: Oh

Bialas of Bjornaer: What if they just wait outside forever?

GM: Thank you Proclus

you're too kind, really

Aristide of Tremere: ombra is now playing the great zach stream game in the sky

Beatrice Orsini : *hell

Aristide of Tremere: hm. proclus is right

now, lets see what happens to our friend aristide

GM: They thunder along, what does a charge move entail Proclus?

Beatrice Orsini : don't worry, i can fire a spell at one of them, potentially hurting him

GM: You should do it on principle. Who do you spellsling at while Endrite tells me about the charge move

Proclus of Rome: Charging on Foot

Charging is an action that lets a character

move and make a melee attack in the

same round. The movement must come before

the attack. It is also possible to charge

as a javelin or throwing axe, but not with a

Proclus of Rome: and attack with a hand-hurled weapon such

bow, sling, or crossbow.

Charging on foot is like combining

movement with exertion on the attack (see

ArM5, page 173). If on foot, the character

must spend a Fatigue level and may move

Proclus of Rome: at up to his running speed. (See Movement

Rates, earlier in this chapter). If the character

moves faster than a hurry, he may lose an additional

Fatigue level due to running.

On foot, a charging character gains a bonus

to his melee Attack roll equal to his Combat

Proclus of Rome: Ability. Charging carries no additional

penalty to Defense due to charging.

benefits or penalties. In particular, there is no

GM: Seems like its just moving and attacking on the same turn

Doesnt really make them any faster than him

Proclus of Rome: I mean maybe.

I don't know how fast Aristide is.

Aristide of Tremere: i have qik 1

GM: I assume he's, as a massive coward, running at full speed

They have 1 qik as well if I'm reverse engineering their stats right

Beatrice, what do you stick them with?

Beatrice Orsini : just flame dart

rolling 1d10!+17+2+1+1

(

1

)

+17+2+1+1

=

22

excellent

GM:

rolling 1d10

(

10

)

=

10

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: incredible! ten botches

GM: No botch, penetration?

Beatrice Orsini : 15 total

roll is 0 only if botch is confirmed, right?

GM: Yeah

Only if confirmed

Anyway, it does nothing, due to their Might.

Beatrice Orsini : rip

i tried

GM: The vikings can't enter the aegis, so they start throwing rocks at the covenant, tossing them over the walls, etc

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: sounds like the tremeres' problem

Aristide of Tremere: "I told you! I told you about the demons!"

Beatrice Orsini : that should get potestas to act

do they attack the vikings or do they throw aristide to them?

"Before you throw Aristide to them, I should tell you that these viking ghosts can provide a lot of Corpus vis."

GM: Ah, sorry, Endrite informs me they have javelins. They instead pelt the covenant with javelins, before running away when confonted with other attacks.

rolling 1d3

(

3

)

=

3

3 are killed while retreating

Proclus of Rome: Augh, roll out combat between NPCs, coward!

GM: Potestas attacks them back once their grogs are put in danger by all this

no!!

Beatrice Orsini : Proclus of Rome: Augh, roll out combat between NPCs, coward!

GM: I'm skipping Aristide's Excellent Adventure to play out hte one everyone else is in

Aristide of Tremere: whats important here is that aristide died

er

lived

Tolas of Tremere: "What in God's name have you brought to this covenant?"

Aristide of Tremere: "I told you about that demon!"

johns: let's finish the job

Bialas of Bjornaer: everyone wanted to peer out the windows and watch Aristide pull out his swords and dual-wield on these vikings.

Aristide of Tremere: "It seems that its plan was foiled, so now it's resorting to full on assault."

Beatrice Orsini : "I believe the vis you can gather from these ghosts will be more than sufficient reparations."

Proclus of Rome: "Demon?"

Tolas of Tremere: "Those were not demons, did you even check the realm they belong to?"

Proclus of Rome: "That was just some kind of trick Potestas conjured up to distract us."

Aristide of Tremere: "Whatever they are, they're lead by that vengeful spirit."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Good one, Tolas."

Tolas of Tremere: "Trick?"

He had the grogs lay out the Briny Bones full of vis "Is this trick vis, then, Proclus?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Trick? They killed noble uh... Ombra!"

Hypatia of Athens: "My song can reveal whether they are demons or not. It is not magic, and thus their deception does not work on it."

Proclus of Rome: "How should I know what you consort with here?"

Tolas of Tremere: He coughs "Thank you, though they are far gone now."

Hypatia of Athens: Holy Music + Intervention

Tolas of Tremere: "Are you  accusing  me of bringing some outside force to attack my own covenant, kill 2 of my grogs with javelins, and depart, Proclus?"

Beatrice Orsini : "Proclus, they're the same thing we fought in Montorsaio."

Aristide of Tremere: lets do exactly that and get him marched for attempting to kill me

Tolas of Tremere: "That idiot, brought them h-" he looks at Aristide, and notices his Clearly Viking Sword

Bialas of Bjornaer: lmao

Proclus of Rome: "It's very convenient that Aristide would be attacked by outside forces the moment he set foot outside the covenant alone."

"I think you were just trying to murder him."

Bialas of Bjornaer: These Tremere. Can't get anything past these guys.

Tolas of Tremere: "Are you certain of that?"

"This sword here, that's his, isn't it? Hm? Not something we gave him."

Beatrice Orsini : "I think you are wrong, Proclus."

"Aristide, where did you get that sword?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Yes, it's a fine sword I took from one of the leading spirits."

Tolas of Tremere: "So you'd be perfectly happy to walk off into the woods alone carrying it, would you. Since it's harmless, and all a ploy by us, of course."

Hypatia of Athens:

rolling 28+d10 Holy Music Invervention

28+

(

5

)

=

33

Beatrice Orsini : I don't know, since I was getting Jorn to a forest to spont a recovery spell on him when Aristide got it.

Proclus of Rome: "I don't carry weapons, they promote violence."

Hypatia of Athens: "They are not demons," i say as the song concludes

Tolas of Tremere: There are no demons here, Hypatia, yeah

Aristide of Tremere: "Well, I would not be fine with that. It's hardly a weapon suited for battle."

"Just look at the pitting."

Gordiano of Bonisagus: "Good grief, quite glad we have Grogs to do this kind of stuff."

Tolas of Tremere: "They promoted violence against Potestas."

Proclus of Rome: "Allegedly."

Hypatia of Athens:

rolling d10+9 music quality

(

8

)

+9

=

17

Tolas of Tremere: "We have 2 less." he says with some venom "After this idiot's stunt."

Hypatia of Athens: Pretty good

Tolas of Tremere: 17 aesthetic quality. Alright.

Aristide of Tremere: "Stunt? You think I summoned evil spirits to attack me and kill a grog of my own?"

Tolas of Tremere:  A esthetic with a giant A in Devil May Cry font

Aristide of Tremere: "As I've said, a malevolent spirit wishes us ill for stopping its deeds in a town."

Beatrice Orsini : "Did you even try to examine the sword?"

Tolas of Tremere: "How would it track you to our covenant unles you walked around carrying some unexamined, dangerous item you stole from them."

Hypatia of Athens: There's no AQ, Music is performance quality

Aristide of Tremere: "Yes, perhaps it's magic but that wouldn't help against spirits."

Hypatia of Athens: AQ benefits from Artes Liberales, Music does not

Proclus of Rome: Wouldn't using Holy Magic be blocked by the Aegis anyway?

Aristide of Tremere: "I examined it very clearly. It provides some manner of helpful boon that ignores the parma."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "If it's such a piece of trash, why do you carry it? He must know of some powerful magic it possesses."

Ah.

Tolas of Tremere: "I've had enough of this. These discussions are over, we have people to bury. As do you. Wander around with that idiot and his sword and see what happens, it's clearly cursed but I can't stop you killing yourselves."

Proclus of Rome: "Did we seriously allow this idiot to steal another sword?"

Tolas of Tremere: "He has another one?"

Bialas of Bjornaer: "It was laying right there, and no one else wanted it."

Tolas of Tremere: a guard nods, confirming yes

he had two magic swords with him

Aristide of Tremere: tolas can clearly see a demon sword on aristides belt too

Hypatia of Athens: The aegis might

Tolas of Tremere: "This is beyond my reckoning. Never before has this house produced a worse magus."

no they never

gave you that back

they threw you out

Hypatia of Athens: In which case I'd borrow a token, as what harm could giving a token to a redcap do?

Aristide of Tremere: i said i retrieved it after being thrown out

Tolas of Tremere: "Just leave."

Aristide of Tremere: "As soon as you return my other sword."

Tolas of Tremere: "Take it as far from this place as you can, so we aren't harmed when hell swallows you whole."

Aristide of Tremere: I scoff.

back to the covenant i guess

Tolas of Tremere: At this point you are all of course thrown out

Aristide of Tremere: "Cursed blades. The nerve."

Tolas of Tremere: Please, for the sake of my sanity too, say you stop carrying around the fucking sword that summons vikings to kill you.

Proclus of Rome: This is as good a time as any to mention that the other sword summons a Devouring Regio when you scoff.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: uhh

Aristide of Tremere: do we even have a way to prove the viking blade is cursed

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: you mean the sword that summons enormous piles of vis to you

Bialas of Bjornaer: haha

Aristide of Tremere: yeah thats a good point

Bialas of Bjornaer: those vikings are complete chumps.

Aristide of Tremere: if we set it up right we can get a lot of vis with this sword

its the most valuable item we have

Tolas of Tremere: They killed one of your grogs immediately and can attack when and how they please.

Aristide of Tremere: we can just leave it in the covenant when we arent vis farming

Bialas of Bjornaer: Honestly, if Tolas has collected the vis from them, he's been paid back.

Aristide of Tremere: i think discarding it should be a vote, at least

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i vote in favor of farming vis

Beatrice Orsini : Keeping the sword and letting Aristide keep it are two separate things.

Bialas of Bjornaer: I think mostly you shouldn't just carry it around for no reason.

Aristide of Tremere: yeah i can reluctantly give it up

Hypatia of Athens: I'll head out of Potestas on a different route than Aristide, since I'm still in the middle of redcap duties.

Aristide of Tremere: for storage in our vault

Proclus of Rome: We definitely shouldn't let Aristide keep it or any other personal possession.

Hypatia of Athens: And can just go deliver mail for Potestas.

Tolas of Tremere: You have to survive a week's journey carrying a giant beacon that summons might 20+ swordsmen to kill you. It's unfair to make demands, perhaps. but if you keep the sword I'm just saying you die at some point on the way back rather than play out 20 combats as you flee until you are caught and slaughtered.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: a compelling argument

Tolas of Tremere: I'm not wasting time with this completely pointless suicide, sorry.

Beatrice Orsini : Is there a way to get to Rome through mundane or magic Aura?

Tolas of Tremere: They can appear in any aura.

Beatrice Orsini : No, I have WIzard's Leap mastered.

Tolas of Tremere: They dont like dominion, thats it, but you have a lot of non-dominion before you hit rome

Oh, probably then yes

Aristide of Tremere: alright, ill hand the sword to beatrice

Beatrice Orsini : So if there's only one botch die, I can teleport.

Aristide of Tremere: she can bring it to our vault

Tolas of Tremere: Fine. You can teleport it back to your vault to examine it that way.

How far can a leap take you?

Beatrice Orsini : only 50 paces, but I can do it repeatedly without botching

Tolas of Tremere: Oh, then you hop on

Uh, this might mean you arrive and see lavinia's letter

Timelines!

Oh it arrived moments before you did, by coincedence. Fucked up. Anyway, you arrive right after it.

Beatrice Orsini : it's level 15 and i have enough casting total to fast cast it without fatigue in mundane or magic aura and appropriate mastery ability

Tolas of Tremere: Yep. Sounds safe to me.

johns: "Hello Beatrice, back so soon?"

Beatrice Orsini : "I've brought Aristide's sword to keep under Aegis."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Oh?"

Beatrice Orsini : Oh, before I leave I exchange the Potestas casting token for the destruction of my hair.

Proclus of Rome: I assume the rest of us are kicked out.

GM: The rest of you arrive back about 6 days later, after being kicked out, yes.

Alright, beatrice. You get your hair back safely.

Beatrice Orsini : Good.

Plutonis: "Is it always like that with the other covenants?"

Gordiano of Bonisagus: (OOPS)

Beatrice Orsini : "It's not safe to keep outside Aegis."

Hypatia of Athens: I give back the borrowed token after proving the vikings aren't demons, and pick up Potesta's mail for Lucretio.

I'll head there instead of Vardian's Tomb

GM: A smart choice, perhaps.

Proclus of Rome: Alright, first order of business: how do we keep Aristide from fucking everything up next time?

Bialas of Bjornaer: We should probably have a system of claiming magical items we find.

Rather than "Whoever runs to pick it up first."

GM: If he finds no new house within a year he's marched automatically, so just tie him up for a year.

Proclus of Rome: Hmmm.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: we used to have an archon for that

Lavinia of Jerbiton: We could kill him.

Bialas of Bjornaer: He can be my apprentice for eight years or whatever.

And then try to get a heartbeast

GM: I'm supposed to be neutral here but really, even I'm boggled that anyone lets him come anywhere.

Bialas of Bjornaer: We might not take him.

Beatrice Orsini : I could grind up enough Cult Merinita Lore to intitiate Aristide.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: if he wins an argument with lavinia he can be a tytalus.

(To c'thinker): Let's enact our plan, for real

GM: Ahem

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Does Aristide have any swords now

Proclus of Rome: Yeah, you can just join a Society if you know the right people.

Bialas of Bjornaer: Aristide still holds his ridiculous infernal sword.

Beatrice Orsini : He does have the Satan sword.

GM: So, 6 days pass, you hear the blissful sounds of Stones begin to drift in the air. You are home, minus one grog.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: I wanna join the Mercurians

Bialas of Bjornaer: He should try to join Flambeau

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: ombra...

he should join ex misc

Bialas of Bjornaer: rip ombra

GM: Flambeau would not take Aristide in a million years.

Bialas of Bjornaer: That's why he should try to join.

It would be funny.

GM: He petitions Exiliratus,

You are all reunited, under the loving embrace of your home covenant. The inn is peaceful, the days are getting warmer, you have finished your negotiations at Potestas.

I'm sure you all have things to share with each toher

Beatrice Orsini : I keep the sword in my lab until I can actually investigate it.

In a few years.

Hypatia of Athens: Jorn is a good Jerbiton candidate, he has Gentle Gift and Puissant Craft

Proclus of Rome: We should investigate that Herbam vis site.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: aristide is also a good jerbiton candidate

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Hello all, Proclus and I have been recruited by Luctatio covenant."

Proclus of Rome: "What?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I show them a letter.

Proclus of Rome: Hmm.

Aristide of Tremere: "Ah, finally returned."

Proclus of Rome: I whisper to Lavinia.

Bialas of Bjornaer: What a shakeup.

(From Proclus of Rome): We should probably take their offer.

Aristide of Tremere: "Tytalus? Well, at least you two are arguably moving up."

Lavinia of Jerbiton nods

Proclus of Rome: "How much more foolishness can we be expected to abide from you, Aristide."

Beatrice Orsini : "I didn't know you had dealings with them."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I do not agree with the Tytalan philosophy, but I think their covenant is more functional than ours."

Aristide of Tremere: "Foolishness?"

Hypatia of Athens: "I refuse to join Tytalus!" "You just did."

Proclus of Rome: "You were exiled from your own House out of your own stubborn pride."

Beatrice Orsini : "Not yet."

Proclus of Rome: "Not just any House, but House Tremere."

Aristide of Tremere: "They only threatened to expel me."

Beatrice Orsini : "Not until summer."

Aristide of Tremere: "They would never dare follow through on that threat lest they see my wrath."

Proclus of Rome: "If that does not rouse the virtue of humility then nothing will."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Aristide is too much of a Tremere for his own House."

"You like animals? Hohohoho"

Proclus of Rome: "What 'wrath' would you visit upon the?"

"Putting your own picture up everywhere?"

Aristide of Tremere: I cough.

Beatrice Orsini : "Perhaps some study of mysteries would calm Aristide down."

Proclus of Rome: "Staining the walls of their keep with your own blood?"

Bialas of Bjornaer: "He could make them look at his face a few more times."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Anyway. If Proclus and I are departing this covenant I believe we are due a share of the resources appropriate to the time we have devoted to developing this covenant."

Aristide of Tremere: "Well, in any case, we can ignore that. You especially, since it seems you're leaving for Luctatio."

Bialas of Bjornaer: Aristide is getting roasted, but really, he shouldn't carry around two cursed swords he doesnt even know how to use.

Aristide of Tremere: "Naturally, Lavinia."

Gordiano of Bonisagus: "Ah, yes, excuse me, as I am just out of the Gauntlet, I'd like to know some more about this Covenant. What are the mysteries that you study here?"

Aristide of Tremere: we can blame the theft on lavinia

and say she left for a tytalus covenant after

Beatrice Orsini : Excellent.

Proclus of Rome: "The mystery of why we let Aristide walk around a free man."

Beatrice Orsini : "I don't think it concerns you anymore."

Gordiano of Bonisagus: lol

Bialas of Bjornaer: [

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: jesus.

GM: Harsh but by god it's fair

Aristide of Tremere: I chuckle. "Gordo, we study practical things here. Things such as diplomacy, which you saw me put to incredibly effective use there."

"Or even more practical things, like certamen."

Proclus of Rome: "You managed to make things worse and almost got yourself killed."

Beatrice Orsini : "Don't think I'm done with you, Aristide. We'll have to talk later."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: so far i;m seeing like 0% IC reason why lavinia would want to stay here

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: the ehdge mage alliance

Bialas of Bjornaer: So you don't get wizard's marched for stealing people's blood.

Proclus of Rome: "I never thought I would say this, but the Tolas showed incredible restraint and patience in dealing with you."

Bialas of Bjornaer: And scrying on them.

Beatrice Orsini : And so the GM and Archibald's plot to become the most senior magus is succesful.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: No one can prove I do anything of the sort.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: Gordiano grunts. "If I were to do Diplomacy I would have joined the Mercere. I just want to practice my magic and eat in peace"

Aristide of Tremere: I scratch my chin for a moment, thinking of something.

GM: Oops

Aristide of Tremere: "Actually, Lavinia, are you truly so eager to leave our covenant?"

Gordiano of Bonisagus: also gordiano's gonna get offended every time someone calls him gordo

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: boy! he bout to do it

GM: me: ha ha the tytalan thing to make you join by throwing a debate would be a fun session idea

Gordiano of Bonisagus: because that means fatass in portuguese

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Whatever amazingly clever thing you are about to say, just get on with it."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Gordiano, I respect your priorities."

Aristide of Tremere: i didnt know that but thats good

"Well, it's been so long since I've had a good bout of certamen with a Tytalus."

"And you should prove that you're truly ready for that life."

Proclus of Rome: "It's been a long time since you had a good bout of Certamen with anyone!"

"Have you ever even won once?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Of course I have!"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Interesting, so after being proven a coward, you are going to redeem yourself by picking on the defenseless?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Defenseless? Are you not just as much of a magus as myself?"

"You're hardly some redcap."

Violante the Herbwife: "Oh no, if we lose our doctor we lose a good share of our mundane revenue."

Bialas of Bjornaer pulls Gordiano aside and starts raving about the inn's salt-cured fish.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Have you no shame, Aristide?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Here's my counter proposal. I've invested a good deal of my time and effort into building up this covenant, as has Proclus."

Proclus of Rome: It's really amazing.

Aristide of Tremere: bialas making good use of his initiation script

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Presently Tytalans and Tremere alike act against us and threaten to split us apart."

Aristide of Tremere: "I have plenty of shame, but Violante also makes a good point that I was somewhat getting at."

"Lavinia is responsible for several enchantments which are highly useful to our covenant, as well."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I am prepared to oppose the Tytalans if you are willing to do what is necessary to placate the Tremere, and remove the cancer that sullies this covenant."

devil's fav demon: jesus

Aristide of Tremere: "What are you getting at here?"

Beatrice Orsini : "I'm pretty sure it's you who is doing the splitting."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: she's saying you have crabs

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "What do you think, Proclus?"

Proclus of Rome: "I think that Aristide needs to perform a truly heroic task to redeem himself in the eyes of this covenant."

Aristide of Tremere: "Name the task, and I'll do it."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Agreeing that fast?"

Beatrice Orsini : "I have a perfect task for him."

"Go back to Potestas and admit that it was you who impersonated Proclus at Montorsaio."

Aristide of Tremere: "I have no other- I mean, yes."

I begin hacking and coughing.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: "Salt-cured fish? Ahhh, how I miss the codfish from my home!"

Aristide of Tremere: "That's quite the accusation."

Beatrice Orsini : "You were the only one who went back to the castle after we fought the vikings."

Proclus of Rome: "If he confesses that he and he alone is responsible for the crimes Potestas accuses us of and makes full restitution without drawing on any of the resources of the covenant, as well as swearing an oath to touch no magical items without the permission of your peers for a period of ten years then forgiveness may be possible."

Aristide of Tremere: "That... ah..."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Even the vis theft?"

Aristide of Tremere: "Very well! When I return, the Potestas business will be settled."

"I did not steal any vis!"

"Investigate that bit yourselves."

Beatrice Orsini : "I believe Aristide is innocent of the vis theft."

Proclus of Rome: "Consider the confession a substitute for any crimes you have committed and haven't been punished for."

"Naturally, I think we should get to the bottom of this theft ourselves."

Aristide of Tremere: I head off to Potestas in order to settle the business.

Beatrice Orsini : "It's probably a Tytalus plot and I can provide some good reasons for that."

Aristide of Tremere: Barred from covenant resources, I gather some funds on the way to repay them.

Proclus of Rome: Why would Potestas want mundane currency?

Aristide of Tremere: they wanted a repayment of the money they spent

or a reimbursement of some manner

GM: They did spend any money.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: he can stay for a year, and let apprentices practice winning certamen against him

GM: They managed to get rid of the lord, but it took a while and a lot of hassle

Aristide of Tremere: hmm

GM: They wanted reimbursement for you framing them and wasting their time

Aristide of Tremere: gold can still work for that

GM: They dont need gold.

Proclus of Rome: I assume they can make their own gold, honestly.

Aristide of Tremere: gah!

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: how many pawns of vis can aristide extract in a season

Aristide of Tremere: i need to repay them with something

GM: They're a well-established covenant, in the century since the rome tribunal was written up they've, imo, only grown.

On par with something like Literatus

Proclus of Rome: You do need to repay them with something.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Your blood

Proclus of Rome: Maybe.

Aristide of Tremere: I have no lab texts worth knowing, and no magic items save a demon sword that could be broken down for infernal vis.

GM: You could probably offer them seasons of work as an apprentice

Well

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Bring them samples of your blood to be an arcane connection they can use against you

GM: lab assistant, I mean

Lavinia of Jerbiton: a sign of trust

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Reason one being that they're house Tytalus."

Proclus of Rome: Did we ever find out where the tree was?

Aristide of Tremere: i could visit literatus and challenge them to certamen for vis

GM: Being a lab assistant is a sign of subservience, actively aids them, and you can provide it

Aristide of Tremere: and pay potestas with that

Bialas of Bjornaer: lmao

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i mentioned it but tremere guy didnt say anything

Proclus of Rome: lol

Lavinia of Jerbiton: i bet i can find the tree

Bialas of Bjornaer: back at the inn "Aristide really jumped to task there. Maybe he is a man of valor after all."

GM: Oh. Well, they were cagey about giving you directions since they dont want to hand out their vis source in case it was just one of you who found it and stole it.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: what's your CrVi lab total beardbeard

Beatrice Orsini : He said it was near halfway between Potestas and Vardian's Tomb, but closer to them.

Aristide of Tremere: Alright, I've got it.

uhhh its

22

Proclus of Rome: "I can assure you that he is not."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: nice, if you spend a season in the lab you can give them 3 pawns of vis

Aristide of Tremere: I go to Potestas, and confess to the framing them thing. I offer seasons of lab assistantry... provided they can defeat me in certamen.

Proclus of Rome: "He knew he was one word away from suffering a Wizard's March."

Beatrice Orsini : "He is innocent of the vis theft though, and that is much more worrying."

GM: In that case, Aristide, I'll play our your shameful defeat another day, since there's still other matters to deal with.

Proclus of Rome: "If someone stole from it once, they'll surely try again. If we investigate the site we may be able to learn more."

Bialas of Bjornaer: Who would want to frame us for vis theft?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: tytalus

Proclus of Rome: "Just about anyone."

Lavinia of Jerbiton:

rolling 1d10!+16+2+3 vs 20: divining location of herbam tree

(

4

)

+16+2+3

=

25

Beatrice Orsini : "It's clearly Luctatio's doing."

Proclus of Rome: "Gelafre the Elder may still hold a grudge against us."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "If that fool of a Tremere hadn't hidden the location of the site, we could actually help him out."

Beatrice Orsini : "They want to get Proclus and Lavinia as members while at the same time, brewing bad blood between us and Potestas."

"And Hypatia mentioned they were involved in Herbam vis trading recently."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Let's declare wizard's war on them."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: do the sortes lead the way to the tree, GM

Beatrice Orsini : "No one benefits from all this except for them."

Proclus of Rome: "I don't know why they would want to frame us for this."

Aristide of Tremere: hey endrite what kind of vis was in the demon sword again

Proclus of Rome: "We should talk to Klybutes."

Beatrice Orsini : "To give you and Lavinia reason to leave."

GM: Oh, how do the sortes work exactly, Lavinia?

Proclus of Rome: "I don't think they planted Aristide in our covenant, Beatrice."

Beatrice Orsini : "No, they merely took advantage of the opportunity."

GM: Oh its just a roll. Well, assuming that they can indeed give an accurate location, yes, you can track down the tree.

Aristide of Tremere: do i need a lab to break this thing down into vis

Proclus of Rome: 6 pawns of Vim Vis, Aristide.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: it's easier if you have a lab

but you can spont spells to do it

Lavinia of Jerbiton: This Practice is similar in scope to Hermetic Intellego, and a set of Ease Factors is given below for divinations. This magic apparently breaks the Hermetic Limit of Arcane Connection, and is capable of divining facts about targets outside of sensory range, but it does so by using The Aeneid to access the ancient prophetic wisdom of Virgil.

Aristide of Tremere: I do that along the way then.

Breaking my sword down into vis, for my certamen.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Ease Factor 12 (adjusted to 20): Locate a plant

Beatrice Orsini : Potestas is probably rich enough to have a spare lab.

GM: Ah. You are given the necessary visions to track down this specific tree, Lavinia.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: the sword can stay intact, you just need an object to put the vis in

Aristide of Tremere: yeah but i want to use the vis in certamen

Beatrice Orsini : Aristide using infernal vis in certamen. Excellent.

Aristide of Tremere: i dont need it to stay intact

i just want my vis

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: it's a cool sword

GM: Using vis in certamen against fellow tremere is considered incredible disrespectful. Just so you know.

Aristide of Tremere: i know

GM: *incredibly

Beatrice Orsini : You should try being respectful to take him off guard.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: so what kind of characters are johns and endrite rolling

Proclus of Rome: I think the real question is just how is Aristide going to be killed?

Aristide of Tremere: how much vis can you spend at a single time in certamen

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: aristide can't die, he needs to become a necromancer who summons clones of himself

GM: Being exiled from his House for a year then immediately jumped the moment he's no longer legally protected by the code is my first guess.

My second guess is his magi at vardian's tomb, before this

Beatrice Orsini : I'm going to make him a Merinita.

Then he gets killed for babbling about mystery cult secrets everywhere.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: have him study the scriptures of mercury and join House Mercurius

GM: Aristide enchants roads to display his face all along them

Bialas of Bjornaer: beardbeard, here's a pro tip from a certamen champ. you can use CP.

Beatrice Orsini : Road is range.

GM: Hi. Wheres the CP?

Beatrice Orsini : Target Road is different thing.

Aristide of Tremere: yes, i know cp is effective against potestas

GM: Sensible chuckle

Anyway

Aristide of Tremere: how much vis can i spend at one time though

if i can spend all 6 on my vim attack

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: are we checkin out this tree

Aristide of Tremere: then i have a decent chance

Violante the Herbwife: The Potestas are very adept at not getting caught using CP, even when they do.

GM: What are you all, the group of you not burning all bridges possible, going to do next?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Who here can use Intelligo Herbam to learn from the tree?"

Beatrice Orsini : Investigating the tree.

Bialas of Bjornaer: Yeah.

Beatrice Orsini : Gui, maybe.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Gulielmus, could you prepare a charged item for that before we depart?"

Bialas of Bjornaer: Trees are cool.

Proclus of Rome: "I have 15 InHe."

Beatrice Orsini : 9 InHe

Violante the Herbwife: Jorn's going to come home to find the Tomb in ruins

Proclus of Rome: "Plus an additional +12 from Ceremonial Casting."

Beatrice Orsini : Intellego is my dump stat.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "Let me see what I can do."

Bialas of Bjornaer: lab score 30, formulaic 24 InHe.

GM: Let me grab a glass of water, brb

Proclus of Rome: "it takes 25 Spell Levels to speak to a tree."

(To Beatrice Orsini ): Would you allow me to borrow the sword to investigate it for a bit

Proclus of Rome: "I could bring 7 Herbam vis with me to boost my Casting Total, but that would be very dangerous."

(From Beatrice Orsini ): Not when you're leaving.

(To Beatrice Orsini ): Yeah some other time

(From Beatrice Orsini ): In that case, probably.

Violante the Herbwife: For 7 Herbam we can just pay off Potestas

Proclus of Rome: "Also, I am not confident the plant would know who picked it."

Oh we paid them off by selling Aristide into slavery, this is just for our own edification.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: if you can put enough penetration into it you can talk directly to the spirit living inside the tree

assuming one exists.

Proclus of Rome: There's the rub.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea:

rolling 1d10!+12+3 inhe + aura

(

5

)

+12+3

=

20

mmm haha

Proclus of Rome: I mean it doesn't seem reasonable to expect to be able to pull off a level 25 spell with spontaneous casting for any of us.

Maybe Bialas could do it.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: ok that's enough to produce a level 25 effect if i throw in a material bonus and inventive genius

Proclus of Rome: I think we need to try a different tactic.

Bialas of Bjornaer: No, probably not.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: but it won't have much penetration

Beatrice Orsini : inventive genius is only on labwork

Proclus of Rome: Inventive Genius and Material bBonuses aren't used for spontaneous casting.

Bialas of Bjornaer: hes talking about making a charged item.

i thought

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: using rustic magic to make a charged item uses a dice roll instead of your full lab total

Beatrice Orsini : experiment to get double from inventive genius then

GM: To clarify, if the vis thievery stuff is unresolved, they'll probably keep pushing you about it.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: i think im going to roll up a swiss verditius who makes magical crossbows

Beatrice Orsini : I assumed so.

Violante the Herbwife: Gulieimus's exmisc tradition is all about milking out material bonuses during adventure time.

GM: Is he using hedge magic to make a wand that can talk to hedges

Violante the Herbwife: And using charged items where other wizards have to spont

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: assuming you can prepare in advance, which i can right now.

Violante the Herbwife: Rusticani craft magic

Proclus of Rome: Could work.

GM: Seems like an interesting gimmick, he can't even spont

Proclus of Rome: But keep in mind that trees can't see or hear anything.

So their ability to tell us who plucked an acorn will be limited.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea:

rolling 1d10!+12+3 inhe + aura again

(

9

)

+12+3

=

24

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea wootles

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: crafting the potion takes an hour and fifteen minutes

Proclus of Rome: Nice.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: so uhh assuming i can get a second hour and fifteen minutes i can just make the same potion again, but with more charges from the lab text bonus

GM: The spell example says that a tree wont remember people unless they directly interact with it in some significant way, but they are aware ofthing

Things

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: actually no, the second time around would take a lot more time

Beatrice Orsini : I could try sponting a synaesthesia spell to help, but they're sort of complicated.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: how about InAn charged items, in case there are animals who nest nearby and may have seen something?

Beatrice Orsini : What perception does a tree have?

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: so assuming we take a day, gulielmus emerges from his lab eventually with... 7 tree potions?

GM: Certainly. Assuming this is how your disgusting non-hermetic tradition works.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: it is

GM: Trees can see and remember people, it seems

Beatrice Orsini : That makes things easier then.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i'm assuming hazel's Divination bonus works here

Proclus of Rome: Nice.

Nice.

GM: It should do

Anyway, you make a trip to the tree of woe

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i will brb. gulielmus hands his fellow magi the case of potions

GM: It takes about 4 days of travel, in which no vikings, demons, ghosts, fairies, fairy ghosts, werewolves, flagellants or tytalans attack you.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: you have to pour it out on your hand, and then touch the tree!

very important

Proclus of Rome: Sounds good.

GM: The oak tree is surrounded by a circle of stones that seem to have fallen there naturally.

Proclus of Rome: Who wants to talk to a tree?

Beatrice Orsini : sounds too specific to be good

Bialas seems like a good fit.

Proclus of Rome: Could work.

Bialas of Bjornaer: Sure, sure.

Nice stereotyping.

GM: You commune with the old oak tree, then, Bialas.

Ask your question

Did I specify what the vis was? If not, I'll do it now

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Buddy, did you happen to see who took __vis description__ a little while ago?"

GM: It's 2 apples that grow to 3 times the normal size of an apple.

Bialas of Bjornaer: Nice.

GM: Especially weird as apples dont grow on oak trees

Proclus of Rome: Painfully swollen apple.

Bialas of Bjornaer: Some of those good oak apples.

GM: Bialas, you wait 5 minutes, no response.

10 minutes

15 minutes

Bialas of Bjornaer: "He's getting there."

GM: 20 minutes

23 minutes of waiiting, and you hear

"Ttttttttttttwwwwwwwooooooooo......................mmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaaaannnnnn...."

You can ask it more questions, at this (insane) pace

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Do you remember their shape, or color?"

GM: I'll truncate it's incredibly, incredibly drawn out words into more readable ones. Each word takes it about a minute to say, with half a minute between them

Proclus of Rome: Women of Color.

GM: "One... wide... one... thin... flesh... colour..."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Thank you."

Proclus of Rome: Hmm, could those two guys who accosted me?

Beatrice Orsini : Makes sense.

Proclus of Rome: Good thing Lavinia has an Arcane Connection to the fat one.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: i do?

Bialas of Bjornaer: Bialas turns away from the tree. "I know a guy, his heartbeast is a cypress. I swear this tree here is better conversation."

Proclus of Rome: Didn't you???

GM: You did, I'm sure

yeah

I remember you taking a connection to him

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i'm back

Lavinia of Jerbiton: oh

the thug

ok

let's track him down the

n

Proclus of Rome: Sounds good.

Incidentally, how long does it take to get to the tree and back?

GM: 4 days there, 4 days back. It's closer to Potestas, after all.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: "It worked, then?"

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea beams.

Proclus of Rome: Ok.

GM: Keep in mind that they didnt reclaim their memory of who hired them after a day

Lavinia of Jerbiton:

rolling 1d10!+16+2+3 sortes: locate guy with AC

(

6

)

+16+2+3

=

27

penetration 11

GM: Meaning they either cant remember it at all from low int and repeated failed rolls, or its Moon duration

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: the tree is just out in the wilderness, right

GM: You penetrate the fat thug

It's slightly auspicious, but yeah

Proclus of Rome: Where he at?

GM: In Rome, probably hustling and bustling like a good thug does.

Proclus of Rome: Ok, let's go ask him when and why he went to a tree to take an apple.

With some goons.

Thug, Fat: "Oh not you again." he grimaces as you and your boys corner him

"I told you, I don't remember nothing."

Proclus of Rome: "Did you go out into the wilderness to pick an apple?"

Thug, Fat: "Maybe. Apples are nice."

He glances around at the goons you've brought "Well, maybe there was one apple that stood out a little, you know?"

Proclus of Rome: "Don't play games with me, this is important."

"Tell me all about it."

Thug, Fat: "Huge. Biggest fuckin apple I've ever seen. Got paid a nice sum to grab it and deliver it to some guy taking it north. Had to pick it on the right day too."

"Lotta money for apples but some people like that shit I guess."

Proclus of Rome: "Who did you deliver it to?"

Thug, Fat: "Just some guy I got asked to, dunno the guy's name or nothing. I mean he wasn't the guy who hired me, you know."

Proclus of Rome: "Who hired you?"

"If you can remember, that is."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I offer the description of the young scholar from Salerno

Thug, Fat: "No, no, wasn't him. Feels like he was uh. Well scholars maybe right, maybe older? I can't remember a bloody thing."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Okay, let's take him in and InVi the sign of a sigil on him with ceremonial casting this time

Thug, Fat: "Didn't think much of it but ever since you mentioned that hexing I've been thinking about it, thinking real hard see, and I dont remember his face neither."

"Sure it was a guy though."

"Older guy. That's all I got."

Bialas of Bjornaer: "Hm."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: what was the target level

Thug, Fat: "So you gonna get rid of this hex then?"

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: probably beyond my potion-making ability

Lavinia of Jerbiton: okay

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: how much invi can proclus muster

Proclus of Rome: I can hit 30 casting total with Ceremonial Casting.

Bialas of Bjornaer: Nice.

Proclus of Rome: +stress die.

But that's halved to 15.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: can he confirm which oak it was

Proclus of Rome: Well, let's try it.

Thug, Fat: Getting a sigil is really hard, frankly, with the +3 it needs

Lavinia of Jerbiton: if so and we can't get a sigil then just send him to potestas and make it their problem

Proclus of Rome: It was the only oak with an apple growing out of it.

We told Potestas that Aristide did it.

I mean, hopefully he told them that.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: why did we do that

Proclus of Rome: We should send a letter to them.

So they'd get off our backs.

Beatrice Orsini : Aristide did not do that and I protest against Proclus falsely blaming him.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: well then we've already lied once so they won't believe anything we say now

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: if we send proof of his innocence maybe they'll see it as proof of his noble character

Thug, Fat: I dont mean to presume his actions, but there is of course a 0% chance that Aristide claimed any responsibility for the vis theft, to Podestas.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: or they'll see it as him being a weasel. could go either way

Lavinia of Jerbiton: fine.

first, confirm the tree is correct by the dscription

Proclus of Rome: We aren't doing this to clear Aristide, we're doing it to find out who is plotting against us.

Beatrice Orsini : The thug said it was sent north, so that is another reason for me to suspect it was Luctatio.

I do it to clear Aristide, since he's the only family I have.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: second, hire him to deliver a letter to potestas and await a reply. the letter in latin reads: "this is the man who stole the vis. someone has used mentem magic to erase his memories. the same man participated in a plot against proclus to engage in a debate that lead to tytalus claiming him. this should demonstrate that we are all being played by Luctatio."

Thug, Fat: He confirms the tree is right, when you press him on it

Proclus of Rome: We could do that but I don't want Aristide to escape even an ounce of punishment.

Beatrice Orsini : Aristide should be punished only for things he did.

Proclus of Rome: Eh.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: then let's agree that the only way proclus stays at VT is if aristide gets punished, if not by tremere then by us

Bialas of Bjornaer: True.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: do you think potestas will believe this shit

Proclus of Rome: It does seem rather far fetched.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: and not think that you were the ones who mind wiped him

Proclus of Rome: We still don't have any solid proof.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: and sent him as a patsy

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: maybe they'll have someone who knows how to investigate magic

Beatrice Orsini : Blood relations before fellow christians. I'd rather keep Aristide than Proclus.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: I mean it's well within a Mage's process to find a random peasant bastard and mind_break him and set up as the guilty party of their crime

Proclus of Rome: We should ask him more about the person he delivered it to.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: alternatively

well, n/m

Beatrice Orsini : I'm completely for Aristide being punished for the things he did do. The boy needs some reeducation.

Proclus of Rome: We should consider Aristide's time in the wilderness separately from our investigation at this point.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: we have nothing else to investigate

uynless we want to go to luctatio and ask them directly

Proclus of Rome: We could see if his skinny accomplice knows anything.

Beatrice Orsini : yeah

Thug, Fat: You do know people like Klybutes, you mentioned him earlier.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: gulielmus isn't thrilled at the prospect but agrees something should be done

Thug, Fat: If you want to investigate further.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: He's horrible!

Thug, Fat: I'll save time and say that the other thug doesnt know anything the first didnt.

Proclus of Rome: Ok.

To Klybutes' leper colony!

Thug, Fat: They're consistent in their stories, though he needs 2 punches before he spills the beans.

Proclus of Rome: Fair enough.

GM: Who goes on a wonderful journey to the leper colony?

Celeste: Who wouldn't?!

Beatrice Orsini : I have penalties to recovery from illness, so I shouldn't.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: i shan't.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: User loses casting privileges for six hours

GM: Well, I'm sure you can somehow arrange to meet with him outside of the colony.

Proclus of Rome: It isn't that far outside Rome as I recall.

GM: Not sure how far away it is, Johns can say later.

Proclus of Rome: It's on the Rome and Environs map.

GM: Wow, that IS close!

Proclus of Rome: Yep.

GM: Oh my god. Aristocritus is on this map.

Proclus of Rome: RIP to those that died.

Beatrice Orsini : If it's outside the colony, then I'll go.

GM: I'll leave him there out of respect

Beatrice Orsini : Rip Aristocritus, Aristide, Archibald, Proclus and Violante.

Klybutes of Tytalus: "Proclus, lovely to see you. I'd shake your hand but, aha." he chuckles at his own private joke

Proclus of Rome: I'll give him a big ol' non-lepery hug.

Klybutes of Tytalus: "What brings you and your sodales to this place?"

Proclus of Rome: "Good to see you."

"Well, this may be hard for you to hear, but I believe that someone a Luctatio is trying to pit us against Potestas through trickery."

Klybutes of Tytalus: He reciprocates "Ah, you're too kind, Proclus. Not like that Aristocritus. Never once hugged, you know. Boy was strange."

Proclus of Rome: "A fat man and a skinny man were hired to steal Potestas' vis by some stranger who then wiped their memory of the event."

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: rip "blind man" villani

Proclus of Rome: "Do you know anyone who would know how to do that at Luctatio?"

Klybutes of Tytalus: "Probably agents, well, that's normal, you know."

"There's house secrets, of course, can't just say everything to anyone, but I'd say, well, anyone there. Didn't that Heliste take offence to you before?"

"You really showed her up, after all."

Proclus of Rome: "Do you mean when we won the Fairy Queen's prize?"

"She's really held a grudge, I guess."

Klybutes of Tytalus: "It's just a guess. I'd say she probably showed up to the games ready to beat you at every one, instead."

"Then you never showed up, aha."

"Any other people from Luctatio you've talked to? You want to catch someone being sneaky, look who's being friendly before you look at your enemies."

Proclus of Rome: "Well, that makes sense then."

Klybutes of Tytalus: "Have you read the analects? Lot's of wonderful advice on what to watch out for, plenty of examples."

Proclus of Rome: "Oh, did you do it?"

Beatrice Orsini : who wrote the letter to lavinia and proclus?

Klybutes of Tytalus: "Nah, maybe if Aristocritus was still around, might be nice to see him all flustered."

Atlas ex Tytalus

Proclus of Rome: I don't know who that is.

Klybutes of Tytalus: You can roll OoH lore

He attends tribunal but you havent interacted with him at all

Proclus of Rome:

rolling 1d10 + 3 + 2

(

10

)

+3+2

=

15

Good roll but not a great score.

Well, Atlas is the guy in charge of the covenant, so it might be him.

Did we vote against them?

Well, we have been getting them involved in our votes and then losing.

Klybutes of Tytalus: I think Vardians Tomb and Luctatio have usually voted in opposite ways, at least that's my memory of things

We havent cut deals with them, to my knowledge

Proclus of Rome: We tried to wrangle them into things against Potestas.

Hmm, what does everyone else think?

I'm stumped.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: im fading

Klybutes of Tytalus: Do you want to call it here and sort out what you do in the thread, then?

Proclus of Rome: I suppose so.

Beatrice Orsini : probably

Lavinia of Jerbiton: endrite and i have to make new characters now

Proclus of Rome: We're down 18 days, which I think is still enough to do lab work.

Beatrice Orsini : at penalties

Klybutes of Tytalus: I think it's late enough and there's not likely going to be any more actual scenes, mostly planning.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: -18 days is enough to read a book

but your lab total will be annihilated

Beatrice Orsini : Is Beatrice's initiation finished at the end of the season?

Klybutes of Tytalus: If she does the task, yes.

She did, iirc, so yes

Beatrice Orsini : I kept the mask on.

And made precautions against having my facechanging spell dispelled, so I passed that test too.

dys (GM): Congratulations. You have found: 2 Minor Flaws, 1 Minor Virtue

Aristide of Tremere: the incredibly awful death note live action movie closes with the line "You people are so stupid."

Beatrice Orsini : the minor virtue is ftw though

Proclus of Rome: Oh yeah, we should send a letter to Potestas informing them about Aristide's arrival.

Beatrice Orsini : good idea

Aristide of Tremere: i think aristides going to arrive there before the letter

Proclus of Rome: Well, if he decides to show up.

dys (GM): Adventure XP I'm not sure how it's calculated, but for your hussle and bussle and political tussle, 7xp.

Beatrice Orsini : I could now wall up my lab and just perdo it when I want to go in.

Hypatia of Athens: Hypatia ends up missing the epic conclusion by going to Lucatio

Proclus of Rome: Adventure XP is solely at the GM's discretion.

dys (GM): It seems about right. Probably.

Proclus of Rome: But since Exposure is 5 XP now it should be more than that.

Or equal to.

Whatever, I won't fuss over it.

Hypatia of Athens: Archibald went on an adventure in the meantime that netted him 69 XP, in that case

dys (GM): As expected of Archibald

Beatrice Orsini : too bad he didn't use enough skills to spend all that adventure xp

dys (GM): He found a lake that gives 20xp per year

Hypatia of Athens: Aya; It's like we're 69ing but with adventure XP

Beatrice Orsini : 20xp per year is 5xp per season

dys (GM): That's the joke. You lie in the lake and get 20xp for lying there.

Hypatia of Athens: Magi get 30XP a year just by existing

Proclus of Rome: Ok so we got a -26 lab penalty for this adventure.

Celeste: Nice.

Proclus of Rome: PRETTY bad.

Hypatia of Athens: Hypatia gets work done by traveling, luckily

Beatrice Orsini : I was reading Mystery Cult book so I wasn't doing labwork anyway.

I return it stained with grass and food.

dys (GM): I have a headache, so I'm going to take something for it then probably try to sleep. If I can't sleep I'll write up an after-action report for the adventure and what stuff you still can look into between adventures, and the overall outcomes of things.

Proclus of Rome: Ok.

Gordiano of Bonisagus: good night

Beatrice Orsini : good night

Gordiano of Bonisagus: ok i gotta then find out what shit i'll pull out and make my lab

Beatrice Orsini : We're clearing more catacombs to have room for Gordiano.

Eventually all of Roman Catacombs wil be Vardian's Tomb.

Proclus of Rome: Ok, see you all later.

Aristide of Tremere:

rolling 1d10+5

(

5

)

+5

=

10

devil's fav demon (GM): Good luck, Aristide

Aristide of Tremere: thats the name of my pc

Tolas of Tremere: Your order of hermes lore tells you that he uses the Hoplamachus style as his favoured style of duelling. He's noted also as having very high Rego.

devil's fav demon (GM): I'm wishing your PC good luck.

Aristide of Tremere: dys is gay

Tolas of Tremere: "No vikings with you, this time?" he notes as you enter

Aristide of Tremere: "No, no, not this time."

I clear my throat. "My sodales have informed me that I should give you some information I withheld."

Tolas of Tremere: "Go on."

Aristide of Tremere: I explain what I did in Montorsaio.

Tolas of Tremere: "What possible reason would you have for doing something so stupid."

Aristide of Tremere: "That's neither here nor there. The point is, I've come to settle the consequences."

"However, as we are both Tremere, I would like to propose a good bout of certamen to settle the business."

Tolas of Tremere: "You already owe us a great deal."

Aristide of Tremere: "And naturally, should you win, you can extract whatever price you feel reasonable."

Tolas of Tremere: "If you wish to duel for it, then you have that right. Disgraceful as you are, you are a Tremere."

"But the cost will be high."

Aristide of Tremere: "Of course."

Tolas of Tremere: "If your sodales have sent you here alone, I assume they want you to pay for your crimes yourself, without involving their resources. Understandable. You can  assist  in the labs for the rest of the year."

"If you wish to duel to try and reduce it." he sighs "I can't think of much else you could offer beyond that. Frankly, keeping you here for years on end in service would test my patience as much as yours."

"The end of your pinky finger on your right hand." he states, staring you in the eyes "If you wish to duel in certamen for it, that's what I want as my prize."

Aristide of Tremere: jesus

devil's fav demon (GM): thats really fucked up. thats a minor flaw and a penalty to gestures buddy.

Tolas of Tremere: A body part is an arcane connection that lasts decades.

Losing part of the pinky wouldn't affect gestures. Losing a whole hand is a minor flaw that does.

Aristide of Tremere: I stare for a moment. "Very well. Should I win, let us consider all debts settled."

Tolas of Tremere: "You'll agree to that? You're only a decade out of gauntlet, Aristide. Are you really sure?"

Aristide of Tremere: "I'm certain."

Tolas of Tremere: He gets up from the chair and leads you inwards.

You are led inwards, to the inner courtyard of Potestas, usually reserved for those staying at the covenant. He hands you a casting token, so that you can participate in certamen.

It's a large garden surrounded by the cathedral-like building. At the centre is an obsidian circle on the ground, beautifually carved.

A duelling circle

Now... let's duel

Aristide, you are the Alba, as his style is Hoplamachus, which automatically loses initiative.

Tolas of Tremere: You declare one art he must use in the first round, to attack or defend with.

Aristide of Tremere: I propose Auram.

Tolas of Tremere: He declares one from you. Creo.

Aristide of Tremere: damn no veto

i veto the creo

Tolas of Tremere: Ah, the veto. Well, he doesnt use it.

Alright, his second choice is... Muto.

Aristide of Tremere: alright

Tolas of Tremere: Alright Aristide

He declares an early defence, with Aurum!

And uses Hoplamachus to shift 4 from his attack to give him 8 defence.

Aristide of Tremere: I'll attack with Ignem then.

what was the roll, art + ?

finesse?

Tolas of Tremere: 1d10 + pre + art

Aristide of Tremere: ah right

rolling 1d10!+6

(

6

)

+6

=

12

ill burn 2 conf

for 22

wait

5 more from superior

Aristide of Tremere: 27

hang on

Tolas of Tremere:

rolling 1d10!+19

(

9

)

+19

=

28

He defends

Do you declare an early defence? You have to use Muto either way

Aristide of Tremere: yeah

early with muto

Tolas of Tremere: Alright, +3 defence

He attacks with Rego

Aristide of Tremere: oopsi forgot my certamen bonus

Tolas of Tremere: Ah right.

Okay

You hit him with 0 attack advantage

Damage is int+penetration+attack advantage

whats your total?

Aristide of Tremere: 7

Tolas of Tremere: His soak is 13

No damage

Aristide of Tremere: gah!

Tolas of Tremere: He attacks, with -4 to his attack, with rego

For...

rolling 1d10!+24

(

8

)

+24

=

32

Aristide of Tremere: thats a lotta rego

Tolas of Tremere: You get +3 from your early defence

Yes

Well, your OoH lore told you that

Aristide of Tremere:

rolling 1d10!+12

(

7

)

+12

=

19

hmm

hmmm

ill

conf that once

Tolas of Tremere: Sure.

he drops a conf token too

Same advantage

Aristide of Tremere: gah!

Tolas of Tremere: NPC mages can and will conf in certamen.

Anyway

Soak?

Sta+Parma, btw

Aristide of Tremere: 4

Tolas of Tremere: Okay. His total damage is 27, so after soak, it's 23, which is 3 levels of fatigue iirc

Yes

New round

Aristide of Tremere: alright

now things might be looking bad here

but dont worry

Tolas of Tremere: He shifts 2 offence into 4 defence.

No early defence this time

Aristide of Tremere: I'll attack with Vim.

Tolas of Tremere: Alright. He defends with Terram

Roll it

Aristide of Tremere:

rolling 1d10!+14-3-5

(

5

)

+14-3-5

=

11

hmmmm

do i have to conf now or can i see his roll

Tolas of Tremere: You can see his roll, I believe

Aristide of Tremere: ok

Tolas of Tremere:

rolling 1d10!+23

(

1

)

+23

=

24

rolling 1d10

(

1

)

=

1

Aristide of Tremere: i conf

double conf

Tolas of Tremere: Oh, he botches his defence, 0 defence

Alright, what's your total damage? 21+penetration+int

Aristide of Tremere: 28

2 whole fatigue after his soak woo

devil's fav demon: holy shit.

Tolas of Tremere: You dealt 5 more damage, my mistake. Its the exact same damage though.

2 fatigue!

His attack

Early defence?

Aristide of Tremere: no

Tolas of Tremere: He attacks with Mentem

Defence?

Aristide of Tremere: Imaginem

hes at -5

Tolas of Tremere:

rolling 1d10!+18-2-2-5

(

6

)

+18-2-2-5

=

15

Aristide of Tremere:

rolling 1d10!+10-3

(

9

)

+10-3

=

16

Tolas of Tremere: New round. You go first

No early defence.

He shifts 2 attack to 4 defence, again

Aristide of Tremere: I'll attack with Intellego.

Tolas of Tremere: He defends with Ignem.

So, -1 to your attack

Roll it

Aristide of Tremere: ok

Tolas of Tremere: Oh, sorry

Not ignem, my mistake

Wait

yes, sorry

fucking cycles

Aristide of Tremere:

rolling 1d10!+12-3-1

(

3

)

+12-3-1

=

11

how does he do it folks

Tolas of Tremere:

rolling 1d10!+16

(

3

)

+16

=

19

He defends

Your turn, early defence?

Aristide of Tremere: no

Tolas of Tremere: He attacks with Creo

-2 to attack and -2 from fatigue

Aristide of Tremere: gah!

ill defend with auram

so -1 to his

Tolas of Tremere: Alright

rolling 1d10!+10

(

9

)

+10

=

19

Defence roll, go

Aristide of Tremere:

rolling 1d10!+7-3

(

7

)

+7-3

=

11

gah

i think he wins

Tolas of Tremere: 8 attack advantage, for 22

-4, 18

2 fatigue

yes

He wins

Aristide of Tremere: gah!

devil's fav demon: Good try.

Tolas of Tremere: You landed a hit on him but the sheer difference in experience, years and training won out

Aristide of Tremere: its dfds fault

johns (GM): i hope he casts a really mean spell on unconscious aristide

devil's fav demon: He's probably gained a tiny bit of respect for Aristide because of that hit.

Maybe, a few years from now, they may even be friends.

Tolas of Tremere: As his reward, he can cast any rego or aurum spell. He casts a rego corpus spell on Aristide to hold him perfectly still for Sun duration. During this time, he claims his prize. You are paralysed and conscious during it.

And so ends the duel

johns (GM): he claims aristide's ass

devil's fav demon: this.

Tolas of Tremere: However, the fact that you entered a duel with stakes like this did earn you some respect.

No, the stake was a decades-long arcane connection to Aristide. The end of his pinky finger.

He made this very clear and Aristide insisted on the duel, so it's all well and good.

Still, idiocy or not, risking that in a duel is decidedly un-cowardly, so it did improve his opinion of you.

Aristide will return to Vardian's Tomb in Spring 1338 after his service as a lab assistant ends.

Aristide of Tremere: i get exposure xp for magic theory at least!

devil's fav demon: hell yeah

Tolas of Tremere: Nice

Aristide of Tremere: thats 5 per season right

Tolas of Tremere: Yes

Aristide of Tremere: ill just add that now

Tolas of Tremere: You should put your adventure xp into parma if you intend to duel more, imo. It's also good in general. It's a great ability.

Aristide of Tremere: that took me up 2 levels

devil's fav demon: lets have a bracketed certamen tournament arc

Tolas of Tremere: Sounds like a good laugh, and a half, someday.

dys (GM): Anyway, that concludes the adventure for real now, I'll leave the summary another day or two in case someone chimes in and insists you do things a different way, then write up the outcome.

rolling 1d2 male | female

(

1

)

=

1

devil's fav demon (GM):

rolling 1d10 experimentation

(

7

)

=

7

rolling extraordinary results

rolling 1d10!

(

5

)

=

5

side effect. rolling simbple die.

rolling 1d10

(

8

)

=

8