8/26/18

moe: Salve

15 mins?

Giraldo of Milan: think its 1 hour and 15

moe: even better

johns (GM): oh

i was planning for 2pm

which is 15 minutes

moe: >which is 15 minutes



devil's fav demon: that was an hour ago

moe: yeah

i got scared for a little just now

devil's fav demon: man crawling through desert labeled "lack of timestamps"

moe: i thought he wrote that just after i left and you all started already

johns (GM): gimme a little extra time to get my coffee and gamer grub lined up

moe: hmm

i haven't eaten dinner yet

sweat forming on face

Shauncat: Cool map

dys: it cool

johns (GM): cumthinker also wanted us to resolve stuff related to his adventure so we should do that first

Endrite: Ok.

Would that it were so simple...

devil's fav demon: cool

oh, by now you've sent all the stuff back to durenmar and made copies of the books you wanted, right?

Fiorella of Jerbiton: I'll let guy handle that, he's the 'sagus

johns (GM): no

i thought we were holding onto it and giving it to the tribunal

devil's fav demon: i thought you were making copies of it and then sending it off and trying to pass a peripheral code law at the next tribunal

johns (GM): yes but I wanted to sent it to Harco for safekeeping, not to durenmar where we'd never get it back ever

devil's fav demon: house bonisagus has a legal right to the contents of his lab though.

johns (GM): do they?

bonisagus are obligated to turn over their research but Lavinia is not a bonisagus

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: They only do if you tell them about it.

devil's fav demon: yes, i said that a while ago. absent any living filii or children it goes to durenmar

johns (GM): hmm

devil's fav demon: well, yeah, if they don't find out about it. this is assuming no one in house bonisagus was in contact with Anson or will visit Vulcanal before Tribunal.

johns (GM): i guess our hands are tied and we simply must turn over the materials (After copying all of them)

c'thinker: salve

moe: mystical greetings

devil's fav demon: i will run with whatever you do but i dont want people to be ill informed about potential threats.

moe: i think i have summer 52 free so if we need another rewriter I can help

devil's fav demon: also, a lot of minor hermetic crimes are kind of getting glossed over and let slide, i imagine, as the order's focus is turned towards the blight, self-preservation, and resource hoarding

johns (GM): well if we copy the stuff we're fine either way. lavinia was merely planning her Civic Duty to the Proud Roman Tribunal, last bastion of sanity in this topsy turvey world.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: We should probably focus our efforts on finding a portal to the Magic Realm so we can destroy the Blight.

devil's fav demon: That would be badass.

johns (GM): a portal, besides the one archibald is keeping secretly hidden from the rest of you

moe: naturally

johns (GM): ok now that cumthinker's here

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Now that you're here!

devil's fav demon: Copy & send off the books (except the horseshoe text), keep the magic items? gotcha.

c'thinker: cumthinker is here. hide the fun.

johns (GM): do we want to spend vis for Mortis to interrogate the dead bodies

moe: the ones from the horse murder episode?

c'thinker: if you wish to get the quaesitores involved you can also just ship the bodies off to them

johns (GM): Fuck the Quaesitores.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: This.

Archibald of Guernicus raises hand, but slowly lowers it and shuffles away

johns (GM): Archibald's ok, he's just a hoplite.

is lavinia allowed to weigh in on this debate

Archibald of Guernicus: I'm still trapped in a conversation that I can't escape without a good enough exploding roll

rolling 1d10!-6

(

5

)

-6

=

-1

No good, it'll be another day at least

c'thinker: sad!

ok, archibald is paralyzed for a day. roll 500 soak rolls versus fire as the valley burns around you

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Why wouldn't Lavinia be allowed to weigh in?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: idk if you're making a decision while in the valley or heading back to base

moe: oh this is still in medias res at the massacre

Dusan is not there then

Archibald of Guernicus: You could go fetch me from examining the red herring I was clearly pursuing

c'thinker: you can examine the bodies at any time really

moe: hmm

Lavinia of Jerbiton: How many corpses?

moe: i'll have to switch machines in a few minutes probably, so i'll keep Dusan in reserve and possibly join after switching

Lavinia of Jerbiton: and can you describe them enough for us to decide which is worth casting Whispers Through the Gate on

c'thinker: there are three, plus the two named bandits

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

Rosario of Flambeau: there was one that was very formally dressed iirc? or all of them were?

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Is Bismaximus a man or a woman?

c'thinker: there's a woman, who presumably owns the witch kitchen, a young man in a red outfit (complete with red hat)

and a handsome man.

Celeste: Shame that guy's dead, he looks pretty sharp.

c'thinker: bismaximus is a man

moe: (extremely upper class Venetian voice) where can i cop

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

So casting Whispers Beyond the Black Gate on the handsome man is probably the way to go.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Has the loot you posted included a search of these people's belonging, cumthinker?

johns (GM): alternative plan: mortis casts a ward to keep the bodies from putrifying then invents an item for Whispers Beyond the Gate at a later time

c'thinker: i had to clean up some cat puke

thats a perfectly good plan!

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Yeah that was my plan but I figured we should talk to Bismaximus immediately.

johns (GM): bolad can study the journal in Season 2 of 1352

moe: the ward is a bunch of tape that says "police line do not cross"

Guy of Bonisagus: lets kill the augustan brotherhood

johns (GM): o_O

c'thinker: the boy in red is far too young to be bismaximus, and the other guy doesn't look very wizardly

should i just reveal what happened to his body. i don't want to waste everyone's time

johns (GM): Ok

Celeste: Guy of Bonisagus: lets kill the augustan brotherhood



c'thinker: he had a dust to dust watching ward, as all good paranoid wizards do.

Celeste: thats smart

lol

johns (GM): thumbs up cat

Guy of Bonisagus: that makes him VERY smart

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I can draw a ward around the corpses for one vis.

c'thinker: There is one pawn of corpus vis in the lab.

convenient!

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: That IS convenient.

But of course I will draw the ward back at the covenant after I march all the corpses there.

c'thinker: nice.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Do I still get +3 from using vis to spontaneously cast a spell?

johns (GM): +2 and yes

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Ok.

c'thinker: sounds good.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer:

rolling (1d10! + 4 + 4 + 10 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 1 + 2)/2

(

(

3

)

+4+4+10+2+3+1+1+2)/2

=

15

No botch.

What a shame.

c'thinker: well

unless our resident quaesitor wants to investigate the lab for himself, or anyone wants to harass the villagers

johns (GM): i'll commit bolad to spending the summer reading the diary for Mercere Lore, does that bring up anything immediately pertinent?

Celeste: nice

c'thinker: you learn a great deal from the diary!

Archibald of Guernicus: I can investigate the lab with the ultimate power. Sight of the Sigil. A spell that reveals all magic at sight range for conc duration, full details and everything

truly the ultimate investigation spell

c'thinker: that is a good investigation spell

Archibald of Guernicus: vision range, rather

moe: Ars, meet Gumshoe

Archibald of Guernicus: Unfortunately its level 50, whats the aura here?

c'thinker: neutral

no aegis, though

Archibald of Guernicus: I'll use my mercurian magic to do a ceremonial cast then

rolling 1d10+38

(

7

)

+38

=

45

Take a fatigue, but it casts

c'thinker: hang on, isn't that a ritual

Archibald of Guernicus: Nope, 50 is the highest non-ritual effect you can get

c'thinker: dang

ok, while archibald is performing his ceremony i will feed information to bolad.

moe: Should Dusan read The First Key of Bonisagus

I don't know what key is being mentioned but if it's important I do have the season free

c'thinker: it's just a parma text

johns (GM): bolad isn't keeping any information secret so feel free to tell the whole class. for bonus points factor in Bolad's incomprehensible trait in these explanations.

Celeste: nice.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Heh heh heh.

Classic.

moe: com -1 ftw

c'thinker: in the interest of time i will only incorporate my own personal negative communication and incomprehensibility

all right.

moe: OK, switching machines back in 10 hopefully

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Bon chance, as they say.

c'thinker: bolad learns that bismaximus made his meager hermetic living by writing and trading books and lab texts

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: How did such magus get his hands on a legendary sword?

c'thinker: and, as we all know, he was in contact with several mysterious groups - a careful reading does not reveal exactly who they are, but makes it easy enough to say that this entry is about group A, this one is about group B, and so on.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

What kind of groups were these?

Did he write about the bandits?

c'thinker: he had no idea they were coming, as far as you can tell

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

c'thinker: coincidentially there are two groups who repeatedly requested some kind of forbidden text from him

johns (GM): was he trading hermetic texts to these foreign groups

c'thinker: yes

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

My guess is he was trying to trade away the Parma Magica.

Celeste: What the hell?

johns (GM): yeah one of his books had the Parma with the key in it

c'thinker: he seems to have always been on friendly terms with group A, and politely rejected their request - but towards the end of the diary, after much handwringing over whether it would be right or wrong, he says he did write their book.

johns (GM): any  RIVAL TRADITION  that got their hands on it could use it

Celeste: Lavinia: That's, uh, horrible. Just terrible. By the way, can I see that book?"

c'thinker: but they never showed up to claim it.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

HMMMM.

johns (GM): So he was a traitor.

Celeste: Hmmmmm indeed.

This is serious!

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: What if one of us were to pretend to be Bismaximus for the purposes of making this trade.

johns (GM): Any descriptions of these Mysterious Groups we can use as clues to guess the nature of their powers, or their aims?

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Of course we would trade them something useless instead of the key to the Parma Magica, but then we'd be able to see who wanted to make this trade.

johns (GM): sounds delightfully devilish

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It occurs to me that the Redcap was probably in on it.

Since who else is going to deliver the mail?

Celeste: Birds or dogs.

c'thinker: group B, on the other hand, only shows up in the last few years of entries, and is much nastier in its dealings, trying to intimidate him into writing whatever it is.

Celeste: Group B needs a little "C", if you know what I mean.

Church.

c'thinker: oh they definitely do.

Guy of Bonisagus: group b is obviously the augustuan brotherhood

johns (GM): i guess in archibald's vision the fruit is the parma, the snake is the traitor mercere, and the thug is the rival tradition

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Who is the almond?

johns (GM): maybe the rival tradition sent these bandits and the witch

c'thinker: bismaximus mentions that, in a fit of pride, he wrote the material this group demanded as well, but has hidden it where it may never be found.

johns (GM): perhaps the rival tradition is the Folk Witches, and their sinister mastermind...... Potom FLos

c'thinker: He worries for the safety of his brothers.

Guy of Bonisagus: the fruit is house tremere, the snake is tremere the founder, and the thug is a thug

Celeste: oh jeez this guy's giving away all kinds of secrets

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

c'thinker: he had a lot of secrets, too, cf his many useless lab texts

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Well I should be able to whip up a Whisper Beyond the Black Gate item in a single season, in any case.

Dušan of Criamon: do his incomprehensible lab texts fall under any bonisagus law btw

c'thinker: don't think so

Dušan of Criamon: good

Fiorella of Jerbiton: I loooooooove enigmas

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: How many of these dang secret magi are hanging around the Tribunal, anyway???

c'thinker: you might be able to study them for insight towards a breakthrough but otherwise they are just not useful.

lots, apparently!

Dušan of Criamon: all roads lead to Vardian's Tomb

c'thinker: archibald finishes his ceremony!

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Wait, what kind of breakthrough?

c'thinker: so the spell reveals all active magic, plus traces of recent magic

uhhh

Archibald of Guernicus: Magic decays over time, lowering in magnitude effectively. this is traces of 1 or higher

c'thinker: it might reveal too much at this point to just say what exactly makes the lab notes useless?

but you can study em.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Nice.

Is it possible to copy texts you don't understand?

c'thinker: Bismaximus's lab, being a formerly-active wizard lab, is full of stray magical traces.

i think the answer is no

since you will inevitably make something that appears to be a small error but completely ruins the value of the text

however! archibald detects 3 active effects in the lab.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I mean, illiterate people can copy texts, so it should theoretically be possible.

johns (GM): no they need a score in latin to copy things

c'thinker: i think there are extra rules for copying wizard texts

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Latin doesn't make you literate.

-The ReaIBanksy

Dušan of Criamon: Artes Liberales does that

also RAW I don't think any lab text is good for anyone but the author

c'thinker: there's an InCo effect watching the room for anyone entering, a Prying Eyes-like InIm effect, and a CrIg effect providing light to the room from a ring engraved on the ceiling.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Gasp!

We've cracked the case.

Guy of Bonisagus: this guy scried on us

c'thinker: i am not sure if the spell gives more information than that?

Guy of Bonisagus: we need to kill him

Celeste: Wow. How insanely illegal is that?

Archibald of Guernicus: It gives the magus' casting sigil

Fiorella of Jerbiton: It IS illegal since his sanctum is unauthorized

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Anyway, if there's a prying eyes effect then there's probably a hidden room nearby.

From which to pry on this room.

c'thinker: if it should say, for example, that the inco effect is part of an item with a linked trigger

Archibald of Guernicus: It says that it comes from an enchanted device

dunno if it would say more

c'thinker: oh

well, both intellego effects come from enchanted devices, but none are visible after stealing everything from the lab except the explosives

SO mortis is probably right.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: By "ring" you mean a circle and not the thing you wear on your finger, right?

c'thinker: right

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

c'thinker: it's just a ring spell to create moonlight up there on the ceiling

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: What are the walls of this room made of?

c'thinker: Smooth stone.

kind of a tangent here but: even if you don't get the wizard cops involved, are you going to write Julius back when you get home

Archibald of Guernicus: I'll check every wall with prying eye

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Smart.

johns (GM): we owe julius a sword

Celeste lays on an improvised stretcher, burnt to a crisp.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

Celeste: "Ow."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: A fake sword you say?

Well, we could try it.

johns (GM): i did not say it

it would have to fool InTe inspection which would be hard

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: True.

c'thinker: a sword that delivers a powerful perdo mentem effect to anyone who touches it

you don't  have  to give julius the sword

Guy of Bonisagus: a sword that delivers a declaration of wizard war

c'thinker: all that matters is that this dangerous weapon is off the streets

he would probably like the sword though.

Archibald of Guernicus: Making a cursed sword on purpose would be funny

grabbing it inflicts a ReMe effect that makes you kill everyone in sight

Lavinia of Jerbiton: did julius indicate what the swords powers were

c'thinker: anyway, archibald quickly discovers a hidden compartment containing bismaximus's security doodads.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Nice.

c'thinker: i suppose what he actually discovers is a hidden dark room

prying eyes and all

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: You mean ALLEGED security doodads.

Guy of Bonisagus: he used those doodads to scry on us

lets kill him

c'thinker: Only God has this right.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Well, it should be no difficulty to enter this secret room.

Archibald of Guernicus: I can see in the dark!

I use Archibald's Unwelcome Entrance to open the room up

c'thinker: A tiny door swings open in the wall, revealing...

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Uh, it actually temporarily destroys the wall!

Sheesh!

c'thinker: a tiny compartment!

i thought it was like an actual door

Dušan of Criamon: the spell? More like a hole

c'thinker: dang

Archibald of Guernicus: It makes part of the wall swing open like a door

cumthinker was right the first time

this is why it has a muto requisite

Fiorella of Jerbiton: Alright, sister and in-laws are here so poke me on Discord if I'm needed and unresponsive

c'thinker: vindicated

Dušan of Criamon: shame

c'thinker: anyway, since the compartment is tiny, the wall is also tiny, and so the door

it contains what is presumably bismaximus's security system

Celeste groans in pain some more

c'thinker: celeste is in agony, having suffered an incapacitating wound.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: If only someone had done something about the Corpus Blight.

Archibald of Guernicus: "Now, can someone please bring me up tae speed on what happened while I was investigating that dead end?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: But alas, my powerful healing magics are of no use.

Archibald of Guernicus: "We need tae get Celeste back, Lavinia should be able tae help with that."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "We destroyed these bandits, who were squatting on the remains of a magus' lab."

"As any literate person can see, Bismaximus was attempting to trade away the Parma Magica before someone, or something, killed him."

Dušan of Criamon quietly joins the proceedings

Archibald of Guernicus: "And we cannae find his body anywhere?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "He may have fled or been disintegrated."

Archibald of Guernicus: "Cannae keep his belongings. If he's still alive, he can get them back fae Harco."

Guy of Bonisagus: fae

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "We have a duty to investigate his death."

Archibald of Guernicus: "Aye, that's why I'm looking through the dust here tae see if any of it might be our man."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Therefore, we should retain control over his belonging until we discover who, or what, has slayed him."

Archibald of Guernicus: "You can cast Whispers Through The Black Gate, right?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Of course!"

Dušan of Criamon: "I think it goes without saying that we have to safeguard all these things until the rightful owner can claim them again, to think they'd fall into the hands of mundanes!"

devil's fav demon: now mortis canonically has the bane voice. im never going to be able to imagine it as anything else

c'thinker: lol

Archibald of Guernicus: "Then, this is now an official quaesitorial investigation. Which means that vis usage is supplied by House Guernicus, as part of it."

"There. No worries about dipping into our stocks to ask the bodies here what happened."

Dušan of Criamon: free vis, for great justice

Guy of Bonisagus: hm. excellent

lets drain guernicus dry

Archibald of Guernicus: It's something that hasn't come up in ages but it's part of the quaesitorial system

Celeste: thats good to know

Lavinia of Jerbiton: no one has seen mortis without his helmet mask

Archibald of Guernicus: Vis that was necessary in an investigation is paid for by the house

Guy of Bonisagus: tytalan becoming a quaesitor so he can drain guernicus's vis stocks to nothing

Celeste: for a future adventure

Archibald of Guernicus: Anyway, it means we dont have to feel bad about spending vis investigating this

we're being funded!

c'thinker: hell yeah.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I will NEVER feel bad about spending vis.

That's what it's there for.

Maybe you should start an Official Investigation into the Blight.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: rmeember when archibald's big thing was going to be confronting corruption in house guernicus. lol

c'thinker: the blight is probably a hermetic crime. who else would be capable of doing such a thing

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: GREAT point.

Fiorella of Jerbiton: Making magic items is a good reason to save it up but it takes getting the hang of when tems have an advantage over formulaic (provided you didnt

flaw up formulaic

Archibald of Guernicus: How is claiming vis in a legitimate investigation corruption?

Dušan of Criamon: Archibald turning from a good wizard trying to change the corrupt system to a hard boiled wizard who uses the corruption to dish out REAL justice

Archibald of Guernicus: A gifted mercere died. Last I checked there were like 6 total and 4 of them are babies

c'thinker: its been like a hundred years since then!

there is actually a good explanation for this that i didn't mention earlier, because i was just covering the most sinister aspects of bismaximus's life

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Frankly there should be a lot of gifted Mercere babies now that we have Fertility Magic.

Archibald of Guernicus: Anyway, the best way to fix up House Guernicus is to achieve Archmage status and become someone that can't be brushed aside when confronting it.

c'thinker: but, he's part of an illegitimate branch of house mercere

Archibald of Guernicus: Yeah, Mortis

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

Archibald of Guernicus: Well, maybe Zita was a trailblazer

but theyll all be doing it soon

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Well anyway, I'll use the Corpus vis to cast Whispers Beyond the Black Gate on the redcap.

c'thinker: which is to say, somewhere along the line someone took an apprentice the regular way instead of waiting for a gifted kid to pop up in the family

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer:

rolling 1d10! + 4 + 4 + 10 + 2 + 1 + 1 -5 vs Level 15

(

1

)

+4+4+10+2+1+1-5

=

18

Yikes!

A botch!

Celeste: oh hell yes.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: What's the aura?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: youre doing it back at the lab right

c'thinker: 0.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: thats 1 botch die + 3 for 3 pawns of vis

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Right.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: also an extra "weird magic" botch die

c'thinker: thats a lot of pawns

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Roll it, Storyguide.

c'thinker: house guernicus should just fund mortis's item

rolling 5d10

(

3

+

3

+

4

+

8

+

10

)

=

28

Lavinia of Jerbiton: wow

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I dust off my hands.

Guy of Bonisagus: adventure where the gang commits a major hermetic crime and then investigates it while sending the bill to guernicus, so that they can replace their infernal vis with normal vis

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Another successful magical spell cast.

c'thinker: great job, boss

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: But that would involve casting spells with Infernal Vis.

c'thinker: i have to rejoin to select this token

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Which is the whole thing you don't want to do.

Also you should technically be rolling the Weird Magic botch die separately.

Since it causes unusual rather than dangerous botches.

c'thinker (GM): probably easier to just say it's the last one

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Anyway, I casted the spell.

"Who killed you?"

Appollonio de' Merccheri screams.

Guy of Bonisagus screams.

Celeste: lol

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "That's not really an answer, pal."

"Don't you want to get revenge on your killer?"

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "No, no! It- huh?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "You heard me, spirit "

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Who are you?"

"Why do you want to know about the axe man?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "You mean you've never heard of me? I'm the great Mortis ex Verditus, Giant Slayer."

"There is no more potent necromancer in all of Italy than I."

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Oh!"

"How terrible!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "If you don't want to be buried upside down in a swamp, then you'll lose the snide remarks."

"Tell me all about how you died."

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Please, mister necromancer, I haven't done anything wrong."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Then what do you have to fear from telling me how you died?"

I guess alot.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "It seems like it was only a moment ago.... Father was preparing his wards, like he does every year."

"And then they came out of the woods! Swinging axes and shooting arrows!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "A sensible, though inadequate precaution."

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Oh, mister necromancer, it was awful!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Was the magical sword of no help against the bandits?"

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Baldassarre tried to save us. But those arrows must have been guided by the devil himself."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: bald ass

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Heh.

Lavinia, does he have arrow wounds?

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "I still remember the look on his face as he went over...."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "What happened then?"

"Did you retreat into the lab?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I point out the gnarly throat wound on the other man.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmmm.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: It's pretty gruesome.

"I ran inside, and tried to open the door!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Did the door not open?"

"Were you not familiar with the enchanted nail holding it closed?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqB1uoDTdKM

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "It never opens- I don't know the secret- but maybe this time-"

"No, no, no!"

Appollonio de' Merccheri screams again.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

"Did you recognize the bandits?"

"Did they have anything to do with the groups you were delivering letters to?"

Appollonio de' Merccheri: The corpse is quiet for a while.

Guy of Bonisagus: bandits of christ

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "N-no, sir. It always used to be peaceful, here."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I tap my fingers impatiently.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: whats your score in Corpse Ken

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Listen, I'm not a quaesitor. Your business is your own."

"But if you were to tell me who you were dealing with, then I could deliver justice in your stead."

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "I saw him meeting with his business partners once! I wasn't supposed to, but I looked."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Wouldn't that be the best way to honor your father's memory?"

"That is your right."

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "I think it was a Magus of Hermes!"

"Just like me, and my dad."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Gasp!!!!!!

"Oh, what makes you say that?"

AFK a sec.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "I don't know. Just a feeling."

"He looked like a philosopher, you know?"

Archibald of Guernicus: "Describe the man."

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "He, uh. He wore robes."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmmmmm.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "What color?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It was clearly Anton.

Case closed.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Brown."

"Oh!"

"And he had antlers!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Quite the detail."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: A Bjoarner

I knew it

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Like a deer, you know?"

Guy of Bonisagus: hm. a small detail, but maybe, just maybe, we can get something off this

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I KNEW IT

Celeste: those FUCKERS

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Or ,maybe he was a cuck

Appollonio de' Merccheri: Mayhap

Guy of Bonisagus: it was galafre, clearly

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Sounds like the perfect time for a ORDER OF HERMES LORE roll.

Celeste: Too bad I'm Incapacitated.

Lavinia of Jerbiton:

rolling 1d10+2+2 lore

(

10

)

+2+2

=

14

Celeste: sick!

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: hmm

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: HMMM!

Appollonio de' Merccheri: it would be flavorful to say that there are a few magi in the order with antlers, here

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Makes sense.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: but it would also be a red herring

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Gasp!

Don't worry, one day you will be a confident enough Storyguide to deposit red herrings at will.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: therefore! Lavinia hasn't heard of any Hermetic magi with antlers.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

What about the Spider?

He was some type of druid right?

They wear antlers, I'm pretty sure.

Celeste: Ooh.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: no the druids were diende

oh

Appollonio de' Merccheri: Maybe it's a Bjornaer, or some other kind of nature magus.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: No, it's a Diedne, and we have found the last survivor of their house.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Ohhhhhh shit, dawg.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: Updated my hook.

Archibald of Guernicus: And that Diedne? The next member of Vardian's Tomb.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Were the horns actually ON the person? Not a decoration?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "So you were unable to enter the lab before you died?"

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Yeah! The way he acted, it was like they were part of his body."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Sounds like warping"

"or twilight scars."

Dušan of Criamon: "Or something even more sinister."

shame i can't see them for myself

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It does makes sense that it wouldn't be a hermetic magus.

I mean, they already know the Parma Magica.

It's like the one thing everyone knows!

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "There's no way I could get into the lab. Dad... Father never taught me the Parma Magica."

Archibald of Guernicus: Can I roll Magic Lore on a magical tradition that might give something like that?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "What language did they speak? Did they have an accent? Which direction did they come from?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmmm.

The door was stuck shut when we were there right?

That means he must have been killed inside his lab by someone, or something, that could enter at will.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: the kid is in the house, outside the lab

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Also, my guess is that he died before the bandit attack.

No I mean Bismaximus.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: ah

well, that would mean the kid is lying about the wards

"Uh, Latin?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Who knows what kinds of wards they were?

Appollonio de' Merccheri: The dead body says this as if it is the most obvious thing in the world.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It is obvious.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "As a redcap you're well traveled, you should recognize if their accent was Italian or not."

Archibald of Guernicus:

rolling 1d10+2+2 magic lore

(

2

)

+2+2

=

6

probably nothing from that

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "I've lived here all my life!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Some Redcap he is.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "I'm not a redcap! I'm an apprentice!"

Guy of Bonisagus: lol

2 dead gifted mercere

a really big :blessed:

Appollonio de' Merccheri: win

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: This is fucking awesome.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: eat shit mercurytards

Dušan of Criamon: lmso

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Your father was going to sell the secret of the Parma Magica to an outsider before teaching it to his own son. Shameful."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Leaving that aside, when was the last time you saw your father?"

Appollonio de' Merccheri: i have to look something up for archibald's roll

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Ok.

I GUESS we can wait!

Appollonio de' Merccheri: ok

"What!?"

"I told you, it was the day the axe men attacked!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "But when?"

"Right before the attack?"

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "I lost strack of him while I was running away, but he was there."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmmm.

HMMM.

So he never made it to the lab in the first place.

That challenges my theory.

Celeste: Fucked up.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Well, I can't think of anything else to ask.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: do you have any further questions for the body

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Did your father ever work with or deal with Folk Witches"

Appollonio de' Merccheri: let me look for an appropriate sound effect here

Archibald of Guernicus: "Cannae be a twilight scar if it's not a magus, a folk witch or other tradition might be the one he was dealing with."

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Uh, yeah?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Spare me the sass, you're dead"

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Oh my God! I didn't even tell you about Mother!"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Go on"

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "She was a witch!"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: was there a dead women in our pile of bodies

Appollonio de' Merccheri: "Uh... I can't see where we are, but her kitchen is probably just around the corner."

yes

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "What did she look like?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Ah, there you go then.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: so I can confirm an identity

Appollonio de' Merccheri: The kid gives a description that matches the body, minus a few wounds.

Archibald of Guernicus: Might be worth talking to mommy too

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Oh for sure.

We should really speak to everyone.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: probably!

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: ESPECIALLY the bandits.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: but just one interrogation is probably good for today

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Alright, looks like we're on our way to revenging this guy.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: after all  johns  is running today

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Allegedly.

Let's talk to five more corpses.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: i have no objection to continuing to investigate cumthinker's adventure

so i do not have to do any work today

Celeste: lol

Appollonio de' Merccheri: gah

Guy of Bonisagus: yeah lets see what else cumthinker prepped

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Bwah ha ha.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: reversal of fortune

Celeste: what grogs are here? maybe i'll play one of them if we're going to hang out interviewing corpses

Appollonio de' Merccheri: we're back at vardian's tomb, i think, so you can play whoever

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Whomsoever you please.

Appollonio de' Merccheri: any further questions for the witness

Celeste: Oh, I forgot we marched all the corpses back. Hahhh.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I can't think of any.

Ok, I'll dismiss the spell.

Let's try the bandit chief next.

rolling 1d10! + 4 + 4 + 10 + 2 + 3 + 1 + 1 -5 + 2

(

7

)

+4+4+10+2+3+1+1-5+2

=

29

Pssh, nothing personal, kid.

Salvatore Tafano: Ayy.

Capicola.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Foul spirit, I abjure and conjure you to answer my questions!"

Salvatore Tafano: "The hell?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "You heard me."

Salvatore Tafano: "Ahhh it's the fucking wizards again, isn't it?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Yes."

"Who hired you to raid Bismaximus' lab?"

Salvatore Tafano: "Hired?"

"Salvatore Tafano and his boys work for themselves."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Nonsense, who told you about the lab?"

Salvatore Tafano: "What is this anyway? The Inquisition?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Yes."

Rosario of Flambeau: "You're not famous enough to be murdering wizards and dealing magic swords to work by yourself."

Dušan of Criamon: "Very close."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Answer my questions, lest I feed you to the rats."

Rosario of Flambeau: "Has anyone here ever heard this guy's name before?"

Salvatore Tafano: "I don't do no Bogomil stuff."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "I hold your very soul in my hands! Answer my question!"

Salvatore Tafano: "What's a rat gonna do to me anyway? I'm dead. You can't touch me."

Rosario of Flambeau: "Friend, we decide whether you get a Christian burial or not. We're only talking to you now because you haven't yet. You want to go to hell?"

Salvatore Tafano: "Looks like you wizard guys are pretty dumb after all, huh?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "The Sorcerors of Hermes know the darkest and foulest of ways to torture a spirit. With no body to worry about the pain will be infinite."

Salvatore Tafano: "Whoa, whoa, hang on."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It do be that way.

You know, theoretically.

Maybe.

Salvatore Tafano: "Now, uh, now you're talking."

Rosario of Flambeau: "One last chance to do good before your soul passes on? Now there's an opportunity. You might even get into heaven after a life of crime!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: AFK a sec.

Salvatore Tafano: "Speaking my language: the most refined of liturgical Latin."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "You're saying you're a churchman?"

Salvatore Tafano laughs.

Salvatore Tafano: "Hell no!"

"I mean, uh, of course not, ma'am."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "A pity, I know plenty of sorcerors who'd love to torture the spirit of a priest. Please, go on."

Salvatore Tafano: "Well.'

"The thing is."

"You see."

Rosario of Flambeau: "Oh, out with it."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Don't waste my time, spirit."

Dušan of Criamon: (whispering to other cop behind fake mirror) "Choir boy background, five lira."

Rosario of Flambeau: lol

Salvatore Tafano: lol

"All right, all right!"

Archibald of Guernicus: Just as he was about to continue the scene, cumthinker's brow erupted in flame as his turn staller chi reached its peak. The assembled magi gasped, coughing up mouthfuls of blood.

Salvatore Tafano: "So we're out there, working around Pescara, right?"

Dušan of Criamon: lmao

Salvatore Tafano: "Knocking over traveling merchants, robbing pilgrims, that kind of stuff. Never been a better time to get into the business with all the bad shit that's been happening."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Of course."

Rosario of Flambeau frowns and furrows his brow

Rosario of Flambeau: "The easy thing to do."

Salvatore Tafano: "Then my good friend Silvio comes up to me, looking like he's seen a ghost, and he says, Boss, I gotta tell you about this ghost I saw."

Rosario of Flambeau: lol

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Classic ghost trick.

"What ghost did he see?"

Salvatore Tafano: "I dunno. He tried to explain it but it didn't make sense to me."

"The important thing is, it showed him what to do."

Rosario of Flambeau: afk for a minute. sorry.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "What secrets did the ghost whisper in his ear?"

Salvatore Tafano: "'Silvio, go to this place at this time, bring your good friend Salvatore, bring your bow, bring some fresh bodies and whatever weapons you can shove into their hands.'"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmmmmm.

Salvatore Tafano: "I mean that's what he tells me."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: This guy is quite the bowman.

Dušan of Criamon: Time to rez and befriend him

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Did you see this ghost yourself before you died?"

Even better, we could bind him to our service.

Salvatore Tafano: "Nobody ever heard from it again!"

"But it was telling the truth, wasn't it?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "I suppose it did, though it lead you to ruin in the end."

Guy of Bonisagus: "Sounds like Silvio would be the next one to question."

Salvatore Tafano: "It was that freaky door!"

"We wouldn't have stuck around if it wasn't for that."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Heh.

Genuine dick suckers!

Salvatore Tafano: lol

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "How did you slay the defenders of the wizard's sanctum?"

Salvatore Tafano: "Usual way."

"They were doing some weird shit, we caught 'em off guard."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "What were they doing when you attacked?"

Salvatore Tafano: "I'm trying to gesture, here, but I can't, you know? Very difficult for me."

"I dunno. Walking in a big circle around their stuff, chanting."

"Weird shit."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Apollonio failed to mention this.

Guy of Bonisagus: he did say they were warding it

he probably meant aegis

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Maybe.

Salvatore Tafano: "So, listen, about this burial."

Rosario of Flambeau: "Yeah, RIP."

Salvatore Tafano: "I'm already dead, right, but you're talking to me, so do you bring a priest in?"

"Or do you just put me in the ground and say some words?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Do we know which one is Silvio?

Rosario of Flambeau: "We'll get a priest later."

Salvatore Tafano: i want to say his name was shouted during the fight

Rosario of Flambeau: I am not lying and do intend to call a priest over from the priory or something and get them buried properly.

Dušan of Criamon: It is right to do so

Salvatore Tafano: "All right, sounds good."

it's all coming up Salvatore.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: In any case, I'm out of questions.

Rosario of Flambeau: "You're gonna have to go back to being dead for a while and just trust me."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Seems fairly straightforward.

Guy of Bonisagus: lets get silvio now i guess

Dušan of Criamon: Yup

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Sounds good.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: our tax vis hard at work

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I'll end the spell without further interaction.

Ok, let's get Silvio up in this piece.

Archibald of Guernicus: We should talk to the witch

who might know about who the hell he was dealing with

better than a kid

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Alright, we can get to everyone eventually.

Silvio Zenzare: can't wait.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I'll cast Whispers Beyond the Black Gate on the woman.

rolling 1d10! + 4 + 4 + 10 + 2 + 3 +1 + 1 + 2 - 5

(

3

)

+4+4+10+2+3+1+1+2-5

=

25

Silvio Zenzare: the old bait and switch

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Keh heh heh heh.

Domenica the Witch sobs.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Spirit, I come to you with an offer of aid."

"Tell me who slew you and I will serve as your instrument of vengeance."

If other people want to talk to these ghosts you should feel free.

Domenica the Witch: thus

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I don't want to monopolize the entire game just because I'm so good at talking to ghosts.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: im fine

i will interject when i have a question

Domenica the Witch: "What aid could you possibly offer?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "I can slay your enemies."

Domenica the Witch: "This wrong cannot be set right."

"Oh, my poor Beppe."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: RIP Beppe.

Archibald of Guernicus: beppie

Domenica the Witch: yeah, rip.

Archibald of Guernicus: "Not interested at all in vengeance?"

Domenica the Witch: "My enemies? I imagine you have slain them already."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "But what of their dark and insidious masters?"

"Surely you are aware of your husband's dark dealings."

Domenica the Witch: "Dark dealings!"

Rosario of Flambeau: "High Hermetic crimes, as far as I've heard."

"Selling secrets, and all that."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Well, who cares about that?"

Domenica the Witch: "Dark dealings!? You rip me from the grave, child of Hermes, simply to insult my husband?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "The important thing is that they set a pack of wild dogs upon you and your family."

Domenica the Witch: "These are things that  can  be set right. Except for Bismaximus."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "The Children of Hermes are shameless, aren't they?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "We know a little of the horned man and we know that the bandits attacked at the urging of a faceless spirit."

Domenica the Witch: "You know nothing!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Did you see Bismaximus die?"

Dušan of Criamon: faceless is not yet confirmed

still one interrogation to go

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Spirits like a little showmanship.

Domenica the Witch: "Die? I saw him crumble to ashes in my arms!"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Well there goes that theory.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Was that before or after he abandoned his son to die at the hands of bandits?"

Rosario of Flambeau: "What a virtueless family." I mumble.

Domenica the Witch: "Harridan!"

Rosario of Flambeau: "The poor child."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "But can you deny the truth of her claims?"

Rosario of Flambeau: brb again

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "That's how he recounted it to us, when we pulled his spirit forcefully from his body."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "If you wish true justice to be done, you must tell us who your husband had dealings with."

Domenica the Witch: "Poor indeed! His life cut short, his guardians powerless to defend him."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Powerless still since you have no way to stop us from using his spirit as we see fit. Unless you're prepared to tell us the truth, that is."

Domenica the Witch: "Why!? Why are you doing this?"

Archibald of Guernicus: "An injustice has occured, and must be put right. Ye can speak, and know that by speaking ye have secured the safety and sanctity of your poor boy's soul."

"Think of it as one final bit of protection for your son."

Guy of Bonisagus: I pull Archibald aside. "Are you threatening not to give the boy a proper burial?"

Domenica the Witch: "You would hold his soul hostage?"

"Very well. Give him a good burial, and that fool of a swordsman too."

Archibald of Guernicus: I say quietly "Perhaps someone else should sell this threat. It's an empty one from me, it would be cruel to torment him. I just need her tae speak about who this man with antlers was."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Fool of a Took!

Domenica the Witch: "I will suffer your torments, and face Purgatory with Bismaximus."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I sell it gladly

"Speak the truth if you want your son buried."

Rosario of Flambeau: "Hold on, Lavinia. This seems unnecessary."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Here's what's necessary: for me to invent an item that compels ghosts.

Dušan of Criamon: "I have to say, it has to be something truly great for her to be ready to sacrifice her son's afterlife."

Rosario of Flambeau: "Why don't we bury the child anyway, and you can just consult the Aeneid on where to find this stag."

Dušan of Criamon: "Fair witch, why would you protect your murderer?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Honestly, this woman's son could serve a greater good if he were donated to science. I know many Salerno doctors who advance our understanding of disease by dissecting the dead."

Fiorella of Jerbiton: Sci... ence?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: natural philosophy.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Thank you.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: sorry, i was caught up in the moment of bullying helpless people

Domenica the Witch: lol

"Protect? It is as I said: if you are talking to me then surely my murderers lie slain."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "What of the stag horned man and the ghost?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "You know as well as I that the bandits did not happen upon your home by chance."

Domenica the Witch: "All that remains is a good burial or two, so that we may cast aside what remains of this fleeting life... except for Bismaximus."

Guy of Bonisagus: "Perhaps the witch brought this tragedy upon her family and wishes not to speak of it."

Domenica the Witch: "A ghost? This valley is not prone to hauntings."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Who, then, would be capable of sending a magical messenger to meet with the bandits?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Who were the factions your husband was dealing with? His journal mentioned two, one an old association and one a new."

Domenica the Witch: A tone of frustration creeps into the witch's voice. "I don't know. Maybe a faerie thought it would be funny. Maybe some court wizard mumbled when he set a spirit on his rival."

"Maybe it was one of you Hermetic magi."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It might've been.

"Why were you so hidden away from the Order of Hermes?"

Rosario of Flambeau: "It probably wasn't a Hermetic magus, because we all already know the things he was trying to sell."

Domenica the Witch: i'll address these in order i guess

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I'm excited.

I think this is the break in the case we've been waiting for.

Domenica the Witch: "This is about the books, no? I know who you mean. The German with the antlers, and the other one."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: German?????????

Rosario of Flambeau: "German, huh?"

Domenica the Witch: "The number of guests we entertained would surprise you."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: The origin of the listicle.

Domenica the Witch: she stuck to one weird rule, though.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Why have so many guests?"

Domenica the Witch: "I took care to avoid learning too much about them. This exact situation seemed inevitable."

"Business partners, friends from afar, cousins."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: there are german shapeshifter wierdos still around that bjoarner was descended from

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

Domenica the Witch: "But that other man... Bismaximus would not permit anyone to see him, or even to speak of him."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: That Man!

"But see him you did."

"What did you make of him?"

Rosario of Flambeau: "That" customer...

Guy of Bonisagus: the guy he tells you not to worry about

Domenica the Witch: "A glimpse. A whirling black cloak in the shadows of the forest."

"Bismaximus would be furious when he returned from their meetings."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Did you ever discover what they were meeting about?"

Domenica the Witch: "Some kind of secret."

"Mystical knowledge, rarer even than the Parma Magica."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Well, that isn't saying much.

Lavinia of Jerbiton:  takes bite out of apple  sounds gay

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Every Hermetic Magus knows the Parma Magica.

Dušan of Criamon: good hook though

Domenica the Witch: yeah but there's like 30 hermetic magi

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Still though.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "How did he get his hands on it?"

Domenica the Witch: "From his parens, of course."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Who were they?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: AFK a sec.

Rosario of Flambeau: Sounds like a good time to roll Order of Hermes Lore.

rolling 1d10+1

(

10

)

+1

=

11



Domenica the Witch: nice.

Rosario of Flambeau: actually let me conf so i can get to the 12 ef rank.

Domenica the Witch: nice.

"Gardinus? Something like that."

Rosario of Flambeau: "You'd think we'd have all heard of them, if they had some powerful secret." I say with the full force of my 0 int.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: The logic, frankly, just works out.

Domenica the Witch: you have not heard of Gardinus, but, as Bolad learned earlier, bismaximus hails from an illegitimate branch of house mercere

Rosario of Flambeau: Ahh.

Domenica the Witch: and himself lived as a vagrant

so. not very prominent

Guy of Bonisagus: thats right - branch diedne

Lavinia of Jerbiton: he knew the secret magic of Mercere the founder

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Frankly, the Roman Tribunal is lousy with vagrants.

Guy of Bonisagus: the magic of lying and saying your mundane kids are wizards

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: We need to build a wall to keep them out.

Domenica the Witch: There's just too many magi running around nowadays.

Guy of Bonisagus: theres an entire mountain range meant to keep these bozos out

but they keep crossing it in droves

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: We need to build a wall and make the Alps pay for it.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: they are drawn to our superior culture and aesthetics

i cant blame them

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: FUCK a video game about being a Greater Alp tribunal magus would be dope.

Archibald of Guernicus: Elephant bjornaer keep crossing over them

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Thanks a lot BLACK CHICKEN.

Anyway.

Domenica the Witch: "I would tell you more if I knew it, for my son's sake."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: really any video game about being a Magus in the Order of Hermes would be dope

Domenica the Witch: "But I am no master of the Hermetic arts."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Would any of your grogs know more?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: or even better, a Magus seeking to destroy the villainous ORder of HErmes.

Domenica the Witch: sounds like a job for dope kid.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Damhad-Allaidh simulator

Dušan of Criamon: Yume Nikki except it's just a criamon going "hmm, yes, I see"

Guy of Bonisagus: a video game about managing a monastery and trying to carefully balance your relationship with the local lord as well as the papacy while also ensuring the nearby settlement thrives and you do not get raided by vikings/mercenaries

Lavinia of Jerbiton: that's my dream game beardbeard. do it in the rimworld style

Domenica the Witch: :blessed:

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Instead they're doing western kancolle.

Domenica the Witch: :cursed:

Rosario of Flambeau: lol

Guy of Bonisagus: rope kid put a lot of heart and energy into the Official Pathfinder Card Game: The Video Game game

Domenica the Witch: "I doubt it."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: also the monks can turn into heretics to get mechanical bonuses but then the inquisition lead by Bernard Gui comes by and you have to deal with that

Domenica the Witch: "They wouldn't step out of line. They lived in fear of being cursed."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

Domenica the Witch: "Unless you're talking about Baldassarre."

"I believe we have already established that he is a fool."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Yes, of course."

"What role did you have in the household?"

Guy of Bonisagus: a monk arrives and asks to join your monastery and theres a chance hes fled from a heretical sect and the inquisition might make a mess of your jars and gardens but you could use the extra pair of hands and hes got some good skills

Fiorella of Jerbiton: As Carloman shows, ascetics become supermen if they follow Hermetic style procedures

Lavinia of Jerbiton: thats so damn sick bb

Archibald of Guernicus: Joshua Sawyer made Pathfinder: The Card Game: The Video Game: Rise of the Runelords and refuses to take responsibility for his crime

almost as bad as the women he ran over and killed in 1997

Lavinia of Jerbiton: i cant believe josh cuckkid sawyer is riding the pathfinder bandwagon well after chris avellone got on it

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Ga ha ha ha,

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Baldassarre is the guy with the throat wound.

He took an arrow to the neck.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Anyway, what did this folk witch do?

Domenica the Witch: Witch business.

Fiorella of Jerbiton: A friend said Pathfinder Online was the only MMO they ever regretted purchasing and they buy almost everything

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Her business

Domenica the Witch: brewing potions, hunting for vis

threatening to curse the villagers

threatening to curse the grogs

practicing the Parma Magica

Fiorella of Jerbiton: Some people just need to be cursed

Lavinia of Jerbiton: she was gifted?

Fiorella of Jerbiton: Can Bjornaer curse people with a stink that makes animals attack them?

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Sure.

Fiorella of Jerbiton: Well I don' tknow how scent targeting works

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It's in the standard Hermetic toolbox.

Domenica the Witch: she was

Lavinia of Jerbiton: whoa

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: This is big.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: What are the damn odds. 3 gifted people all in one spot.

Rosario of Flambeau: the bjornaer scent targeting only works with people smelling the caster

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Pretty good, since we have 8 gifted people in one spot.

Domenica the Witch: the odds are 1, as it turns out

Fiorella of Jerbiton: The stink that wards off predators in core rules isn't actually working like that, you have to target the specific predator in that case

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Also it means that Bismaximus is a super duper extra illegal traitor because he taught an outsider the parma directly.

Rosario of Flambeau: sensory magic affects other people's sense of you rather than intellego magic giving you magical senses, so bjornaers have spells that affect people who bite or kiss them, smell them, hear them, etc

Domenica the Witch: he is.

she hasn't actually said that though

it just happens to be a fact

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Since he has escaped justice, it is only fair to make his son suffer for the crime.

Rosario of Flambeau: By giving him to Rosario as an apprentice, exactly.

Domenica the Witch: the dead apprentice

Lavinia of Jerbiton: well, he's dead, so good luck with that

Rosario of Flambeau: Oh, yeah.

Revenant apprentice.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Your husband sounds like a traitor and all around ne'er-do-well."

Domenica the Witch: if your apprentice is already dead, is it a hermetic crime when someone discovers that he is dead

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Oh, since Bismaximus was a hermetic criminal, we should confiscate his property.

Domenica the Witch: "Oh, he wasn't that bad."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: good call!

that includes the sword

"By the way, what's special about the sword?"

Domenica the Witch: "The sword? I suspect you already know."

"It cuts through metal."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "How do you activate it?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: ???

Domenica the Witch: "You simply call on the name of Ramius."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I will test this out now.

Domenica the Witch: "I don't know who Ramius is. Don't ask."

Lavinia of Jerbiton:

rolling 1d10+3+2 magic lore

(

4

)

+3+2

=

9

rolling 1d10+2+2 ooh lore

(

7

)

+2+2

=

11

both asking: who is Ramius

Rosario of Flambeau: I know who Ramius is.

Domenica the Witch: yeah he's a flambeau

Rosario of Flambeau: Coincidentally, I am a School of Ramius flambeau.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: That IS a coincidence.

Domenica the Witch: i will leave the explanation to rosario

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Oh, speaking of, what were we offered for returning the sword?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: (((coincidence)))

Domenica the Witch: nothing has been offered yet, but at a bare minimum julius would owe you a favor

you might get some vis for it

Julius Trianoma: I'm a pretty influential guy.

Rosario of Flambeau: "Ramius was a middling Tremere who defected to us Flambeau after the Sundering of 848. He popularized martial training as a means of indirectly overcoming the Parma."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: How many effects are inscribed in this sword, GM?

just the metal cutting?

Archibald of Guernicus: "Smart idea."

Domenica the Witch: it contains two

Archibald of Guernicus: I can investigate the sword any time

Domenica the Witch: it's decorated with symbols of intellego, perdo, terram, and ignem

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "I see.. And who is this Rodericus, whose name is inscribed?"

Dušan of Criamon: perdo terram I get, but ignem and intellego?

Domenica the Witch: mysterious!

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Let's throw it in a fire and see what happens.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Maybe it detects fireballs.

Dušan of Criamon: 'identifying fire: yep, it's fire'

Rosario of Flambeau: "Hmm."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Any legends surrounding the other powers of this sword?"

Domenica the Witch: i am gonna go afk for like 10 minutes

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Uh oh.

Dušan of Criamon: dang

Lavinia of Jerbiton: aghhhhj

Rosario of Flambeau: "I don't know much about Rodericus. Depending on who talks about him he's a hero of Spain or a lawless butcher of sahirs and moors."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Stay safe on your journey.

Dušan of Criamon: ok, so in prep: I want to ask Silvio about the ghost

Rosario of Flambeau: "Both, really, to most."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Another flambeau?"

Domenica the Witch: also worth noting that rodericus lived a very long time ago

Lavinia of Jerbiton: the inscription on the sword is dated 1189

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: That doesn't sound that long ago to me.

Domenica the Witch: it's like 1350 now!

Old.

Rosario of Flambeau: Older than any of us, at least.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I mean, one of our greatest foes is from 500 years ago.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: 600!

Domenica the Witch: yeah but that guy is a special case

ok brb.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Our GREATEST foe is from 1,350 years ago.

Domenica the Witch: feel free to puzzle out the mystery of rodericus, or archibald's vision, or who the mystery man is

Rosario of Flambeau: "This is some cool Flambeau stuff. I'd better go brag about finding it immediately."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Here's what we need to puzzle out: how much stuff from this laboratory can we straight up keep?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: all of it imo he's a full-blown traitor

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: That's what I say.

Domenica the Witch: the order's greatest foe dates back to anno mundi 0

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Athena.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: He's under Forfeit Immunity. Thus all crime against him is legal.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: High five!

Rosario of Flambeau: apparently there's no listed House Acclaim bonus for finding ancient historical artifacts so we should just keep it. Fuck it.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I think we should give it back.

Rosario of Flambeau: I will still brag about it.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It doesn't seem very useful.

Dušan of Criamon: A favor is better currency

Rosario of Flambeau: Let's mount the sword over the bar.

Archibald of Guernicus: We can keep all his stuff as he's a traitor to the order, though I'll have to report to Magvillus over the details of what happened. But the man was selling the damn parma.

Pretty clear-cut

Rosario of Flambeau: yeah, it's pretty fucked up to do stuff like that.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: haha. lol. who'd do such a thing.

Rosario of Flambeau: Haha.

Dušan of Criamon: collar tugging

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: So we know who ever ordered this hit knows Bismaximus is dead, but what about the other group he was selling the Parma to?

Do we have any way to do a sting operation here?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: the bjoarner-related skinchanger cult have ancestor spirits so it would make sense if they sent the ghost

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It would.

Those guys are a real thorn in our side.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: and thus there is no sting opportunity b ecasuse they already betrayed bismaximus

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

What about the other party?

Lavinia of Jerbiton: certainly the well meaning augustan order. no threat at all

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: But we could catch 'em.

Still, I agree we do need to focus on curing the Blight.

Guy of Bonisagus: what if we lied and said we took down this hermetic criminal living in the wilderness with his band of bandits and hedge mage minion, recovering valuable hermetic artifacts along the way

Rosario of Flambeau: the aw bustin' order

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: That would be a bad idea, because then we wouldn't be able to siphon vis for further investigations.

Rosario of Flambeau: what if we didn't lie at all?

Guy of Bonisagus: we shouldnt lie, because its sinful

it was a thought experiemtn

Rosario of Flambeau: oh i just realized, Rosario doesn't know about the horseshoe since he wasn't there. Definitely never let this accidentally get out.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Fortunately we have a compact to kill anyone who lets that info out.

Rosario of Flambeau: Good thing.

Dušan of Criamon: alright

do we interrogate the final witness

Rosario of Flambeau: Archibald should take this sword and start dual wielding.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: We should as soon as the Storyguide gets back.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: we should kill cumthinker for real

Dušan of Criamon: ahhh

Rosario of Flambeau: ️umthinker

Dušan of Criamon: we did bring this on ourselves however

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: If you can't slam with the best, then die with rest.

Dušan of Criamon: i can't blame a GM with passion no matter the mishap

Domenica the Witch: ok im back.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: good

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Welcome back.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I instruct sir oak to murder gulielmus

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Smart.

Domenica the Witch: sir oak can slay gulielmus with ease

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Anyway, does anyone else have a question they want to ask Domenica?

Domenica the Witch: Yes.

Domenica asks herself if the cruel children of Hermes will make good on their word and bury her son.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I don't care about reanimating her son, so it's fine by me.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: you should enslave the spirit of her gifted son to be a lab rat

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Eh.

Domenica the Witch: you should enslave the spirit of baldassarre just for giggles.

Dušan of Criamon: I'd be dutybound to help free the slave so it's a lose/lose situation

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: He probably has good stats so I might enslave Baldassarre.

Rosario of Flambeau: "All the dead here will be buried with proper ceremony. I'll make sure of it."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Some of the dead will be."

Rosario of Flambeau: "Most of the dead."

Domenica the Witch: "I don't like the sound of this."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: we have not spoken to baldassarre, and it's only house guernicus' vis we're wasting

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Of course the bandits will suffer their just punishment."

Dušan of Criamon: "You don't get much of a say in this, but I assure you most of the magi here have a sense of morality and justice. Several."

Domenica the Witch: "I am aware of your sense of morality and justice."

"It's why we lived out in the woods."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Heh.

Should of lived deeper, bitch!

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Have no fear, I am not a Hermetic Maga, so I am not tainted by their immoral and selfish streak. My words earlier were a sheer bluff."

Dušan of Criamon: "Well, better luck next time."

Domenica the Witch: "Of course."

it's not clear who she is responding to.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Alright, I cancel the spell.

Domenica the Witch: Farewell Domenica.

Rosario of Flambeau waves at the departing ghost

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Ok, who next?

Dušan of Criamon: Silvio

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Proclus of Rome

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: How much more vis do we have in the tank?

Sadly his corpse was destroyed by Venator.

Alright, Silvio it is!

rolling 1d10! + 4 + 4 + 10 + 2 + 3 +1 +1 + 2 -5

(

5

)

+4+4+10+2+3+1+1+2-5

=

27

Silvio Zenzare: Fazool.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: whats going on with this guys token

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Hearken unto me, spirit, for I conjure and command thee to answer my questions."

Silvio Zenzare: he looks like this

Archibald of Guernicus: brb

Silvio Zenzare: oh i'm on the wrong page

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: RIP.

Silvio Zenzare: he looks like this

Dušan of Criamon: Aah!

Rosario of Flambeau: the noble blackamoor...

Silvio Zenzare: "Eh?"

"Who's there?"

"Whoever you are, you better let me out of here!"

Fiorella of Jerbiton: Blackmoor's Rainbow

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Vouchsafe unto me your dealings with the spirit who has led you to death and destruction!"

Silvio Zenzare: "Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but you gotta let me out."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Your freedom comes at my whim!"

Silvio Zenzare: "Christ, I'm dealing with some kinda lunatic."

Dušan of Criamon: "That is beside the point."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Tell me who sent you to attack the magus and I will grant you your freedom, shade."

Silvio Zenzare: "It was a rooster! All right?"

"Big freaky-lookin' rooster. Now let me go."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "I see through your pathetic lies!"

"Your compatriot is already within my power!"

"He already told me it was a ghost!"

Sheesh!

Silvio Zenzare: "Yeah!"

"A ghost rooster!"

Dušan of Criamon: This guy's good

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Madre de dios... El Pollo Diablo!!!

Silvio Zenzare: lol

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Test me not, lest I condemn your immortal soul for all eternity!"

Silvio Zenzare: "Look,"

"I didn't ask to be visited by no ghost birds."

"All right?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: could these be uh.... nightwalkers?

"Did you feel sleepy in the bird's presence?"

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Nightwalkers?

A mere children's story!

Silvio Zenzare: "I was wide awake, I swear."

"Keeping watch. I never fell asleep doing that once."

Archibald of Guernicus: birds huh

Archibald of Guernicus turns to look at Fiorella, suspiciously

Rosario of Flambeau: Never fell asleep on watch, huh.

Silvio Zenzare: He's good.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

"What did this 'ghost chicken' tell you?"

Silvio Zenzare: "It didn't tell me anything."

"It  showed  me things."

Rosario of Flambeau: "Is this some kind of mystery cult crap?"

Dušan of Criamon: "Shush, I want to know where this goes!"

Silvio Zenzare: Maybe.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Elaborate, lest I harry your soul with flaming whips."

Silvio Zenzare: "I dunno! It looked me in the eyes, and I started seeing things."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

"What things?"

Silvio Zenzare: "Things like the way to Monteflavio."

"The time of day to show up."

"Money."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: "Mere money?"

"Did it show you the hidden vaults of the slain magus?"

Silvio Zenzare: "The way down, and then... it's gotta be money."

Dušan of Criamon: "You assumed?"

Silvio Zenzare: "What it showed me... it had to be."

im being troelld

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

"When did you first see this 'ghost chicken'?"

Dušan of Criamon: "You're doing all you can to avoid saying it didn't promise you money. What did it show you really?"

Silvio Zenzare: "I only saw it the one time!"

"And, look, some things you just can't explain. Or at least I can't."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: I bet he can, and we just need to keep making cumthinker answer our question until he does.

Dušan of Criamon: I think our boy got bamboozled

Rosario of Flambeau: "I guess we could just go to Monteflavio."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Hmm.

Rosario of Flambeau: "Give us the directions."

Silvio Zenzare: that's the village you almost burned down

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Archibald might be able to see if anyone cast magic on this guy.

Rosario of Flambeau: Oh.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: You know besides all the magic we casted on him.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: oh what if that knight/the lord was the other faction the wizard was dealing with

quick! go investigate that

Silvio Zenzare: coming up on hour five of our intro to johns' session

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I think it's POSSIBLE.

Silvio Zenzare: "It just  showed  me something, and I couldn't stop  thinking  about it."

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: However, my feeling is that the priest only knew about wizards because he was used to dealing with Bismaximus and his wife.

Archibald of Guernicus: Oh, right, for social stuff I've decided now that I have a level 25 intangible tunnel I should develop more mentem effects. We can now erase major/long memories from people through a tunnel if you bring me an AC to someone.

Dušan of Criamon: sorry johns

Silvio Zenzare: "All day long! I tried not to. Like it was burned into my mind."

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Don't apologize. I am still planning to run my 8 hour combat crawl right after we're finished here.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It's Madden time.

Dušan of Criamon: alas, I won't be there for that. Kill some goblins for me

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Anyway, are you going to Detect Magic on this guy or what?

Silvio Zenzare: What a shame.

Dušan of Criamon: would detect magic work?

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I think having a sigil or similar would go a long way.

It sounds like he had a spell cast on him, so it might.

Who knows how long ago it was, though.

Dušan of Criamon: eh, shot in the dark, sure

Silvio Zenzare: sure

Rosario of Flambeau: Could be a spell, could have been a Supernatural Ability of Entrancement

Silvio Zenzare: is archibald casting another level 50 invi spell

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I don't know.

Maybe he's magic'd out.

Archibald of Guernicus: No, I'll cast the level 30 spell

which is the same effect, just touch instead of vision

Rosario of Flambeau: VERY cool.

Silvio Zenzare: ok

the spell is probably too lod to have any kind of meaningful remnant, but i will give it to you anyway:

* old

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Bullies run this covenant.

Silvio Zenzare: at some point silvio was subject to a moon-duration creo mentem effect

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Gasp!

So it wasn't over the Parma Magica after all.

Archibald of Guernicus: By god, that's... Anson of Bonisagus' sigil!

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It was, rather, over his mysterious and unknown magic.

Silvio Zenzare: you also extract a sigil: a bizarre, complicated glyph

Archibald of Guernicus: "Sodales, it was a hermetic effect after all."

Guy of Bonisagus: glyph huh

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Oh no, it's Adolf Hitler of Jerbiton.

Guy of Bonisagus: its the order of odin

Silvio Zenzare: well, it corresponds to a hermetic effect

Archibald of Guernicus: "The sigil appears to be this:" I describe it as best I can

oh, its non-hermetic

well you should say that first

Silvio Zenzare: does your spell not work on hermetic effects

Archibald of Guernicus: it does

Silvio Zenzare: *non-hermetic

well. it's a non-hermetic crme effect with a sigil

Archibald of Guernicus: it only gives as much details as i could reasonably interpret, so a CrMe equivalent would make sense, but forms or techniques unknown to hermetic magic would need someone who actually knows how to interpret it

Rosario of Flambeau: Hmm.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Ah.

So it might of been over the Parma.

Archibald of Guernicus: we had a thing ages back where beatrice helped me interpret a fairy magic effect

Silvio Zenzare: real rollercoaster ride here

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Parma Classico.

Archibald of Guernicus: i could interpret a virgilian effect with lavinias help

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Please draw the Glyph.

Silvio Zenzare: very well.

Archibald of Guernicus: "A non-hermetic effect, and a sigil." I say, erasing everyones memory of my previous sentence

Silvio Zenzare: I have drawn the glyph behind all of the foreground tokens and images.

Rosario of Flambeau: Clever.

Silvio Zenzare: also i have lied.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: cool swastika.

Silvio Zenzare: the sigil is the words ELF WEED PLANTATION

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: That's right.

54.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: Elves!!!!!! I knew it was Elves!!!!!

Rosario of Flambeau: "Non-hermetic magic, huh? Can't really trust it, can you?"

Lavinia of Jerbiton: "Likely from some unenlightened, boorish, non-pacifist magic tradition."

Silvio Zenzare: can i get, uhh, better of magic lore or ooh lore

Archibald of Guernicus: "Well there are several magic traditions outside our own that are in the Order."

rolling 1d10+2+2 magic lore

(

4

)

+2+2

=

8

Rosario of Flambeau: what about, hehhe, magic theory?

Silvio Zenzare: n.

Rosario of Flambeau: rip

Lavinia of Jerbiton:

rolling 1d10+2+2 oohlore

(

2

)

+2+2

=

6

rolling 1d10+2+3 mlore

(

6

)

+2+3

=

11

Silvio Zenzare: Neomercurian Lore is also acceptable, should anyone have it.

but i'm sure nobody does.

Rosario of Flambeau:

rolling 1d10+1 ooh lore

(

7

)

+1

=

8

Lavinia of Jerbiton: BOLAD DOES

Archibald of Guernicus:

rolling 1d10+2+1 neomercurian lore

(

6

)

+2+1

=

9

Bold has it???

* bolad

Silvio Zenzare: what the

Lavinia of Jerbiton: just kidding

Silvio Zenzare: well, the rooster is a symbol of hermes.

maybe some kind of lesser messenger spirit?

Who knows.

Rosario of Flambeau: huh

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Surely not I.

Rosario of Flambeau: how mysterious

Dušan of Criamon: hmmmm

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Yikes.

Is this the hook for the next adventure?

Transported to an endless void?

Silvio Zenzare: no clue

Archibald of Guernicus: the orange box

Dušan of Criamon: it's a hook for me to read the mystery cults book parts on non-criamon

Silvio Zenzare: who will win

bold move

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Alright.

Lavinia of Jerbiton: hacks

Silvio Zenzare: well uh

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: So, how do we get our vis back from the 5 spells I cast?

Archibald of Guernicus: 5?

Silvio Zenzare: bill house guernicus

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Ah, I get your drift.

6 spells.

Wink

Archibald of Guernicus: No, I mean we interrogated the kid, the wife, the bandit and the other bandit

thats just 4

Silvio Zenzare: anyway

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I GUESS.

Silvio Zenzare: the party has exhausted several avenues of investigation, and is now more prepared should anything come up in the future

presumably

Dušan of Criamon: hard to say for sure

Silvio Zenzare: originally i was just going to ask what you were going to say to julius and then hand the game back over to johns.

Rosario of Flambeau: hah.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Gwah ha ha ha.

Oh that's right, we still need to hand the sword over to Julius.

We'd better inform him of our ongoing investigation.

Dušan of Criamon: perhaps even try to bill him

Archibald of Guernicus: egg

johns (GM): we dont have to hand it over

it could be useful and archibald should investigate it

Silvio Zenzare: also, now that you're having house guernicus pay for your blighted spells, are you going to say anything to them about it.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Yeah but I'd rather have vis than this lameo sword.

johns (GM): he only asked us specifically to get it out of mundane hands

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Shit!

Dušan of Criamon: oh no!

Silvio Zenzare: It would be rude to just say nothing though.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: It's really up to Archibald what he wants to say about the investigation.

Archibald of Guernicus: Well yes, I'm going to say we found the lab of a dead magus, I investigated his cause of death, and found that he was trying to sell the parma magica to people outside the Order. I'll give them descriptions of the 2 strange figures, and ask that if any other quaesitor runs across them or the sigil found, to let me know

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Except he should mention that I'm willing to sell Necromantic items.

Silvio Zenzare: lol

Archibald of Guernicus: Oh, sure. I'll mention that Mortis was a good help in all this, and that enchanted items could be a vital vis-saver in these troubled times, so his services are well worth considering

Rosario of Flambeau: Gotta get the plug in.

johns (GM): also mention this scandal in no way should impugn the honor of non-hermetic traditions. really the biggest villain here is a True Lineage Hermetic Magus, if you think about it,

Silvio Zenzare: Enclosed please find a bill for fourteen pawns irreplaceable Corpus vis.

johns (GM): we could have used Replacable Intelligo Vis

Archibald of Guernicus: We presumably did

Dušan of Criamon: do not write that last part down

keep the bit about corpus vis

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Clearly it was 15 Corpus vis.

Obviously.

Archibald of Guernicus: its being replaced anyway, using corpus vis just makes it less likely to be replaced

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Gimmie the vis!

Silvio Zenzare: well

i will increase the adventure xp to  9 points

Archibald of Guernicus: It would go too deeply against my beliefs to defraud the only justice system the Order - indeed, these days, perhaps the whole world - has, for petty gain.

Dušan of Criamon: vardian's tomb recreating "reply of the zaporozhian host"

johns (GM): betray it for significant gain

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: This guy.

This FRICCEN guy!

Silvio Zenzare: since we sat through a third session

Fiorella of Jerbiton: gg

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Uh, we need to do at least one more session to hand the sword back.

Archibald of Guernicus: I've relaxed on it since my younger days but a man's got to have principles.

Guy of Bonisagus: now hold on. i think theres still some stuff to explore, back in the village

we should do a thorough sweep next week

Rosario of Flambeau: hah

Fiorella of Jerbiton: Guy is right

Guy of Bonisagus: we might find the last experience point

c'thinker (GM) screams

johns (GM): agreed

Dušan of Criamon: shooting every wall to find the secret area

Archibald of Guernicus: I did that off-screen and found numerous incredibly suspicious pellers, cobblers, goat herders, town fools, town drunks, drunk fools, foolish drunks, etc that were all hilarious red herrings placed by the ars magica writing team.

johns (GM): ok time for my adventure

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Nice.

c'thinker (GM): Take it away, Johns.

johns (GM): god sends 10,000 angels to smite the covenant

Archibald of Guernicus: We missed out on 10 or more hours of interrogating these people for no gain whatsoever

johns (GM): roll initiative

Guy of Bonisagus: what was the deal with that peller anyway?

Rosario of Flambeau: lmfao

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea:

rolling 1d10!+2

(

5

)

+2

=

7

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Do you add Finesse to initiative?

johns (GM): nope

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer:

rolling 1d10!

(

10

+

4

)

=

14

Wow!

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Nice.

Rosario of Flambeau: Gasp!

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Take that St. Michael.

johns (GM):

rolling 1d10!+200

(

4

)

+200

=

204

Dušan of Criamon: if this is some seasons later I have my bodyguard grog around

johns (GM): ok the angels go first and kill you all

gg roll up new chars

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Ok.

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Farewell.

Rosario of Flambeau: ty

Dušan of Criamon: that's fair

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I will make a Guernicus.

johns (GM): nice

anyway see you next week for Autumn 1352 where Epic Shit Will Happen

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Autumn, you say?

johns (GM): lets make it Winter

get you an extra season in

Dušan of Criamon: alright

is there any reading required for the loot we got besides the diary that Bolad already chose

Archibald of Guernicus: Epic shit will happen. PCs WILL die!

johns (GM): i dont think ive ever killed a pc while GMing

im way overdue

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: are we copying the books

from the other adventure

johns (GM): note:I do not accept responsibility for PvP murder of ccourse

Rosario of Flambeau: im glad cthinker got close

Dušan of Criamon: nor do you get any reknown for it

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Here's a question: does a permanent Endurance of the Berserkers mean you don't have to sleep?

johns (GM): gulielmus I was going to have copy the mundane books in autumn/winter, archibald's apprentice is copying the intelligo, and lavinia's apprentice is copying the parma

Rosario of Flambeau: i need to put together a real combat next time i run and not just hand you guys tons of ACs

Guy of Bonisagus: when are we canning this game and starting over fresh

johns (GM): :(

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Never!

Guy of Bonisagus: gahaha

ok thats your punishment for not running today johns

good work everyone

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: ok

please post a reminder about the mundane books in the thread

johns (GM): I meant to say "bolad" is copying those books

I will, sure

Archibald of Guernicus: johns (GM): i dont think ive ever killed a pc while GMing

You iced Malach

Guy of Bonisagus: i cant believe johns forced cumthinker to run a third session in a row just so he wouldnt have to do any work

johns (GM): oh right

Guy of Bonisagus: even though he finished the prep a day or two ago

johns (GM): and I felt good doing it

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: What if you cast Endurance of the Berserkers on someone else?

Would they forget to fall asleep and then die?

johns (GM): probably.

they'd get sick from imbalanced humors and die of disease.

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: I'm surprised no one has ever said that that spell made them immune to death.

johns (GM): prinny sorta did

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: it's come up i think

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Prinnydood claimed that about a similar ability in Rogue Trader.

Guy of Bonisagus: ok johns lets play on the ars server

turns out lzs skyblock garbage sucks

johns (GM): i gotta take a nap but ill be on later if i wake up

Guy of Bonisagus: he made skyblock gay and i wont forgive him

ok ill probably play til like 10 then go to bed

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: what happened

Guy of Bonisagus: im gonna try to get crops going

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: is it the automated mob grinder

Guy of Bonisagus: cumthinker you saw me describe the lz mod

he made an even more automated mob grinder

a big tower where they fall to their death and you collect their drops from behidn a wall

you get no interaction you cant even see them

Rosario of Flambeau: lol

Guy of Bonisagus: you stand next to a wall and hear mobs die and you get drops

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: drops that include every single item in the game, from loot bags

Guy of Bonisagus: yes

Rosario of Flambeau: lol

Guy of Bonisagus: lz told me to download the twitch.tv app, for thie modpack, and i trusted him

johns (GM): i knew it was a trap

Guy of Bonisagus: then i got into the game and got artifact diamond armor from a lootbag

note: this is skyblock and the level of tech we were on required me to crouch over a grass tile and pound it to make pebbles pop up

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3rNTcLOa5M

Guy of Bonisagus: which i then crafted together into cobble

but i had artifact diamond armor that let me fly and see in the dark and breathe water

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: the pebbles should craft into gravel, and you should have to do something stupid to craft the gravel into cobble

Guy of Bonisagus: actually you craft gravel from cobble

by hitting the cobble with a hammer

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: lol

Guy of Bonisagus: then you hit gravel with a hammer to make sand

then you hit sand with ah ammer to make dust

then you put the dust in water barrels to make clay

then you add bonemeal to the clay to make porcelain clay

then you make a crucible

then you melt cobble into lava

Guy of Bonisagus: then you can make a cobble generator

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: seems legit

Guy of Bonisagus: BUt you have to make a bucket first

to make a bucket you need to pound cobble into gravel and run the gravel through a sieve until you get 27 iron rocks

which you can then smelt into enough iron for a bucket

and then you still cant mine the cobble so you have to run more gravel through a sieve until you get flint so you can make a flint pickaxe

and this was all cool

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: See ya next week.

Guy of Bonisagus: but while doing this i had artifact armor that let me fly and see in the dark and breathe underwater

bye

Gulielmus ex Miscellanea: Gg.

Rosario of Flambeau: gg

good story beardbeard

Dušan of Criamon: ggs

thanks for the game, and the game that didn't happen yet

devil's fav demon (GM):

rolling 1d10+3 Addled roll, Sta-Addiction Personality Trait vs 3 times one addled season

(

10

)

+3

=

13

that is over 3. ty

rolling 1d10!-8 aging

(

10

+

8

)

-8

=

10

amazing.

rolling 1d10 experimentation

(

9

)

=

9

rolling 1d10+3 extraordinary results

(

6

)

+3

=

9

devil's fav demon (GM): i rolled the wrong numbers for aging because im retarded.

never actually put the bonus for lavinia's health regimen on my sheet.

or the penalty for triple overtime. balances out to the same aging result though

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Experimenting on the Crown of the Lord of the Dead.

rolling 1d10

(

5

)

=

5

Rolling Extraordinary Results.

rolling 1d10!

(

9

)

=

9

Special or Story Event.

Whoops!

Mortis ex Verditus, the Giant Slayer: Thank you in advance for incorporating this into the adventure.