Summer 1221 - The Luminous Codex [Arduin]

[Grognardsw]

The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.

Arduin recognized the influence of Arcadia and tried to tune the voice out as he tied the rope end around his waist. He purposely bit his tongue and the shot of pain pushed the voice away for the moment.

Arduin touched his four-leaf clover hoping its protective powers were helping. Then the songorcerer focused his resistance to the magic voice by singing himself (a bold military dirge whose yelled words and spirit were counter to seductive melodies, and made it hard to hear anything else) and rushed down the path to the door. He scooped up the sword of the writhing Melchior along the way.

Arduin’s mind reached out along the path and to the door looking for a suspected entrance to the regio.

…the tickle at the nape of Arduin's neck tells him that Arcadia holds sway here, and while he does not know, he strongly suspects that the grove and the cottage, at least, might lie on the boundary of a regio.

Arduin doesn't possess any special traits or abilities that would allow him to "pierce the veil", to see beyond the mundane world into the upper layers of a Regio. So, he has his suspicions but the only way he could confirm them would be to try to find entrance into a suspected and see if he can gain passage--and observe the changes that would take place. It seems likely that there must be some way to pass through the brambles, and if this is a regio, then the brambles are the doorway and key to the first layer.

Here in the House, currently a Faerie Aura of level 2 holds sway, which provides a +1 to any magical tests (skill or ability checks) made here.

[AleBelly]

The sight of "her" men's disobedience is shocking to Gertrude, and a certain indication they are under some sort of enchantment. She will look for any unenchanted folk to help, then take a few steps toward Melchior. If she feels no enchanting effects she will attempt to drag him away from the vegetation, adopting Arduin's tactic of singing loudly to ward off the song in the air.

She will not do this if she realizes she's not strong enough to drag poor Melchior away.

If this action jeopardizes her ability to pull back on the rope attached to Arduin, she will look on nervously instead.

[Grognardsw]

[Keehnelf]

Gertrude looks upon the scene in growing horror, eventually landing on something specific to do to help. Calling to Simon, who stands nearby similarly engrossed in the events unfolding before him, and the two of them rush forward to drag Melchior away from the brambles. He is unresisting, although each hand reaches out to pluck a fresh fruit from the vine as he is dragged through the garden dirt.

Meanwhile, Arduin advances steadily along the pathway, following the wall of the cottage. He hears the strains of song coming from within: now transformed into a folksy, rustic song, promising the rewards of hard, honest work in the dirt and the joys of a homecooked meal after a long journey abroad. The voice still carries the same hint of sweetness as before, though, the same timbre that makes the skin on the back of his neck prickle.

Arriving alongside the cottage, Arduin can see the signs of unhurried movement within, but the leaded glazing is so grimed that he can't make out details--in the name of haste, he continued onward, until he comes to the corner of the open doorway, where Balthazar stands, dazed, staring within. At the butcher block that dominates the center of the front kitchen, a young woman stands, bent over a rolling pin pressing out a circle of dough. The kitchen is hot--the stove has been burning for some time, it seems, prepared to receive whatever the woman is preparing.

The woman's hair is long and dark, somewhat matted and tangled, since she's been hard at work, and one side of her thin linen dress hangs limply off a bare, sweat-dewed shoulder. The earthy aroma of baking emanates from within as she looks up from her rolling, flashing a coy smile toward Arduin and biting her lower lip enticingly. "Why don't you come inside, my dear?" she half-whispers, meeting Arduin's gaze. "Have a seat. I'm just making a pie, now the berries are ripe." She tosses a wicker basket to Balthazar, who catches it clumsily, mechanically. "Balthazar, sweet thing, why don't you make yourself useful and go get some berries for us?" As Balthazar nods numbly and turns to go, the woman casts Arduin a sly look and a wink over his shoulder.

Everything about this woman--her voice, the tangle of her hair, the texture of her skin--is familiar to Arduin. But nothing about her is recognizeable, though he feels a powerful urge to satisfy her needs, which he knows instinctively to be great indeed.

[Grognardsw]

Does Arduin see books in the cottage or the mask?

Did Arduin’s mind reaching out along the path and to the door detect any entrance to the regio?

[Keehnelf]

Arduin doesn't spy any books sitting in the kitchen--nor is the mask visible there.

He also doesn't detect any anomalies or fluctuations in the area's aura. He isn't really able to detect regio directly but he's keeping his senses peeled for a strengthening Fey aura, which has not yet manifested.

[Grognardsw]

Arduin paused, trying to stay focused on the task at hand. Had he not a mission, and people relying on him, the magus may very well frolic with the fey woman. Instead he stayed at the doorway and looked for openings into rooms off the kitchen

This is how I visualize it at the moment. It’s a small cottage, so it opens into the kitchen. Is there a view into another room(s)?

[Keehnelf]

The geometry of the room is correct, but imagine your approach being from the top left of the image.

Arduin can spy two doorways leading into other parts of the cottage. On the right-hand wall (according to the picture), the leftmost doorway has a rustic wooden door in it that's currently shut. On the right side of that wall, another doorway has a dark linen curtain covering the doorway. Seeing him hesitate and inspect the surroundings, the woman steps out around the butcher-block and beckons him in, wiping one hand on her dress. "Come on, love. Do you have somewhere else to be?" she teases gently.

[Grognardsw]

An updated map. Is the path the A, which seems winding, or a straight path (B) that your initial post about the parting brambles described?

Also, where is the oven? Sorry for all the questions, each is for a reason.

[Keehnelf]

Path A, except that it doesn't wind, it just comes straight down from the top.

The oven is between the two interior doorways, and the butcher block centrally located in the kitchen.

[AleBelly]

Assuming the first part of this post is true... Gertrude, noticing no ill effects, feels a pang of guilt leaving Arduin to his fate. She walks quickly and deliberately towards the cottage, ready to turn back at any sign of fey enchantment entering her mind...

[Keehnelf]

As Gertrude moves toward the cabin, she can hear the tuneless singing more clearly, but as near as she can tell, her mind is unaffected by whatever is impacting the rest of the group.

[Grognardsw]

Arduin hesitated at the doorway entrance. With the angle of the path to the door, the rope ploy would not work.

The magus paused his counter-dirge given the woman wasn’t singing herself.

“Yes, I would enjoy your pie, but one moment,” he sing-songed to her, then resumed a Latin verse. The magus took a few steps back from the doorway so the angle of the wall prevented sight, let the rope around his waist fall, and sang the verse of Veil of Invisibility.

[Keehnelf]

OK, go ahead and make your spellcasting check for this. It'll be:

(Perdo Score) + (Imaginem Score) + (Stamina Ability Score) + 1 (Faerie Aura) + (1d10 stress die result)

If the total is 20 or higher, you cast the spell with no fatigue.

If the total is 10 to 19, you cast the spell but take a fatigue level. It's impossible with your skills to not successfully cast this spell, but if you somehow got below 10 you'd take fatigue and the spell wouldn't fire.

If the stress die result is a 1, then you roll again and multiply the result by 2, repeated for as long as you roll a 1.

If the initial stress die result is 10, you roll another d10 for your botch.

[Grognardsw]

Arduin sang the magic verse to Veil of Invisibility.

“𝔰𝔞𝔱𝔲𝔯𝔫𝔞𝔱𝔲𝔰 𝔳𝔬𝔠𝔞𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔰 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔡𝔲𝔪 𝔢𝔠𝔠𝔞, 𝔞𝔩𝔤𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔱 𝔢𝔰 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔠𝔞𝔵. 𝔪𝔞𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔪𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔠𝔞𝔰 𝔞𝔫 𝔳𝔦𝔫𝔞𝔱𝔲𝔯 𝔵𝔢𝔫𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔞𝔫 𝔦𝔫𝔳𝔦𝔫𝔠𝔞𝔯 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔳𝔦𝔳𝔞𝔱𝔢 𝔣𝔲𝔫𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔪! 𝔞𝔫 𝔠𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔯𝔲𝔫𝔱 𝔰𝔦𝔟𝔦 𝔳𝔦𝔠𝔞𝔳𝔢 𝔭𝔥𝔶𝔰𝔦𝔠𝔢𝔪𝔲𝔯!”

I’m not sure if Imaginem abbreviation is IG (0) or IM (10) in the Arts section of my sheet

(Perdo Score 1) + (Imaginem Score 0 or 10) + (Stamina Ability Score 0) + 1 (Faerie Aura) + (1d10 stress die result) = 2 or 12 + 1d10

[1d10]=8

So 10 or 20

Next to Veil of Invisibility on my sheet it has
(Pelm. 20) +11. What does that mean?

[Keehnelf]

Imaginem is Im, Ig is Ignem!

[Keehnelf]

That means your die roll is +11 before accounting for circumstantial modifiers for that spell (it's useful to know how to calculate it rather than rely on the preprinted numbers) and the PeIm 20 means it uses Pe and Im and the spell level/target number is 20!

[Grognardsw]

Assuming my math is correct, the 20 made it so…

The invisible Arduin glimpsed Gertrude coming up the path. Perhaps she could serve as a diversion.

The invisible magus padded into the house then paused to see if the woman could still see him. If not, he moved to the curtain and peeked through without moving it to see if any books or the mask were beyond in that room.

[Keehnelf]

Gertrude sees Arduin step back out of the doorway, chanting a kind of liturgical tune low, before he locks eyes with her and promptly vanishes from sight!

Turning back to the doorway, he slides inside as stealthily as he can, keeping one eye on the young woman inside as he does so. She looks directly at him, almost locking eyes, and then suddenly looks all around the room. She gives a brief cry of surprise, and then runs past him to the door, looking out in all directions in distress. "Oh, he must have thought I was talking to him when I asked about getting some berries! Pooh. Well, he'll be back soon, I suppose." She walks back past the area Arduin was in on her return to her prior spot.

He slips past her and moves to the curtain, peeking inside. He sees a cramped pantry with canvas bags of grains and flours, along with ceramic crocks and a handful of glass jars with various food items inside, but no sign of books or masks--or other exits.

[AleBelly]

Gertrude stifles a cry of surprise as Arduin vanishes. Surely this was by design. Gertrude hums to herself as she approaches the cottage, again staying on guard for the feel of any ill effects. If nothing, she will peek her head into the cottage.