At the Covenant - Secondary Focus

[Grognardsw]

“A little of this, a little of that,” said Arduin to Bran as he sipped a vibrant glowing wine made from grapes harvested in the regio fields.

“My studies are an eclectic mix of art, music and the erotic, with evocation as one mode under study. I have had fascinating encounters with fey.”

Bran regards the magus with interest. "In Eire, it is a ... ... brave soul that seeks to interact with the fey. All tales of the fey revolve around their trickery and deceit. Have you found them to be so?"

“Aye, they can be a tricky lot. Precautions and preparation I learned the hard way. One day with a dryad and I escaped with a year lost in time.”

Arduin lit a pipe of snake weed, which writhed in scintillating green fields in the third level of the regio. The smoke swirled serpentine, sinuously around the sorcerer.

”I hear you occupy Salvatus’ old quarters. Have you discovered any secrets in the nooks and crannies of his mind in those journals of his?”

[AleBelly]

"Not yet. The tome is written in dense language, so it will take time to untie the various threads. Let us discuss this when you return from your travels...I hope to have made progress by then."

Bran will spend the summer looking through Salvatus' notebook(s), starting with the one with the weird rope knots on the cover.

[Keehnelf]

Bran's exploration, over weeks during the summer of 1221, is both fruitful and not. He is able to decipher--at the most literal level--the contents of the text after about a week of analysis, finding it written partly in a cypher that dedicated review allows him to unlock. The meaning of the contents, however, remains mostly gibberish to him.

Disconnected fragments of thoughts. Meandering descriptions of improbable objects in impossible settings. Lengthy discourses on the most minute of emotional states. All held together by a series of poetic snippets that remind one of sumerian epic tales, with unrecognizeable characters and anonymous settings. It's headache-inducing, trying to work through the meticulously obscure structure of the text to find anything worthwhile. Eventually, Bran is forced to give up, but not before putting some pieces together about what the text is.

The knotwork-notebook is a primer into the ability Enigmatic Wisdom, which cannot be unlocked without guidance. If a reader can secure the services of a mystic to lead them into the outer realms of the mystery of The Enigma (a Criamon mage, any Criamon mage, would be able to serve in this capacity) for a season, then for that person this book will serve as a textbook for studying to learn that skill. It has a quality of 5 and a level of 3, meaning a student would earn 5xp plus their lab study modifiers (usually Int) per season of study, and can continue to study the text until their Enigmatic Wisdom score is 3.

This is a hard skill to acquire other than at character creation, and is a bit of a double-edged sword--it can offer unique insights into the mysteries of magic, but makes falling into Wizard's Twilight more likely, the more you delve into those mysteries.

[AleBelly]

As the weeks drag on, Bran at times regrets this choice of a tome. He's used to complicated texts, but the depth bewilders him and tries his patience. No wonder Salvatus was going mad as a box of frogs he thought to himself.

Thinking back to the hippogriff, Bran ponders the text with the fang on the cover. He considers this one to study next.

Did study of the first text occupy the entirety of Bran's summer, or does he have time remaining to examine another?

[Keehnelf]

Unfortunately, "unlocking" this particular tome does occupy the season. It's a multiseason project to get all its benefit. I was hoping that listing it third would unconsciously lead you to examine it second or third

[AleBelly]

I am very poor at picking up hints

No worries. Should I wait for the other adventure to resolve or move forward with the next season?

[Keehnelf]

Since Bran's will be the next "active" story season, the first decision point is: will Bran want to have an "adventure" in the fall or should it be a stay-at-home season for all?

[AleBelly]

I'm thinking he will want to get out after spending a few months with the dreadful book. Plus, travel could be difficult in winter. Bran would like to look for summae, but would like to negotiate access to Terram vis if the summa(e) he recovers do not include information on that magical art.

[Keehnelf]

Something could be arranged, certainly!

As for closing out summer in this space…is there anything Cugel wants to do, or will he use this as a “work season”?

[Grognardsw]

Later that day, Shabsai Weil offered Cugel tutelage in Latin. Cugel considered the offer. With his residence in the Covenant, the thief had a rare period of stability that afforded him the luxury to pursue such pleasures and wayward distractions.

“Scribe Shabsai, thank you I look forward to studying Latin under your wise guidance.”

While learning Latin, Cugel is casing the Covenant, devising a long con, and practicing Latin love sonnets on women. Do we role play all that out?

[Keehnelf]

If Cugel plans to stay at the covenant for the summer, we can roleplay a scene that moves that story forward. Beyond that you can choose:

Does he study Latin for the season? (In which case he will not be available for adventures since he’ll have been “active” for two seasons already this year (so he’d have to wait until next spring for more advancement or adventure)

Or

Does he spend the season at the covenant focused on making a living? (No skill advancement, but it would make him available in fall or winter for an adventure or other advancement activity).

In either case, if Cugel isn’t available in fall, you could roll up another companion to join the cast and accompany Bran on his planned fall excursion.

[Grognardsw]

My understanding was for the Summer he was studying Latin, which we discussed as an option in the posts about XP. Then in the Fall he’d go on an adventure with Bran. Is that still the case? If not, then he’d forego Latin (or just suspend his lessons) as I don’t want to tie him up with that and miss the Fall adventure. I don’t want to roll up another PC, as I’ve barely scratched the surface with Cugel.

When you asked about closing out Summer, I thought you meant if he was going to do anything else. Assuming Latin doesn't take up eight hours a day (or even if it did), Cugel would case the Covenant, devise a long con, and practice garbled Latin love sonnets on confused women. I’d be good with a concurrent Companions thread to play that out, while Arduin’s book jaunt proceeds.

[Keehnelf]

He was active in spring--that was the first time he studied latin and when it was made an option for him. So you can't be on an adventure in spring, study latin in summer, and go on an adventure in fall. Companions get two "active" seasons per year.

[Grognardsw]

I see. I hadn’t realized two seasons were do nothing, I thought it was non-adventure stuff like studying. So in Spring 1221 Bran and Cugel adventured, and in Fall they will rotate back in. So by the rules I guess Cugel just lounges around in Summer and Winter.

[Keehnelf]

Not necessarily lounging around--he has to "make his living", so if he's not adventuring of advancing in summer he could be casing the covenant or building a con. He wouldn't get XP for it but it's still a roleplay opportunity.