Campaign Log: Winter 1470 (3) (updated)

Our heroes go back to Florence with their vis and (unknown to Tito) flower. Valantino asks Cosimo to heal him but the spell does not go correctly. There's no immediate ill effect, but Cosimo insists that Valantino stay with him for observation.

Valantino had planned to go back to Rimini to be with his wife, and deal with all the other things that are going on right now. Leora, his wife, has been sleepwalking, lured out at night by the magical creature that until now has only been interested in Valantino. Unable to go to Leora, Valantino charges Tito with going back to Rimini and making sure she does not get outside tonight.

This is one of those cases where Valantino loses track of the big picture when responding to the immediate need. Tito, you see, was earlier banned by Valantino from having any contact with Valantino's family. They had a duel over it, and Tito lost. The reason for the duel was that Valantino tries to keep as many details of his life as a mage as possible away from his family. As an example his wife doesn't even know he is a mage - despite being able to fly, Valantino made the entire party travel two days by regular coach to Rimini, just so that his wife could come with him and not find out about his magic.

Tito is broadly sympathetic with keeping Valantino's magic a secret - in fact, revealing another mage to a mundane is against the Treaty of Rome - but Valantino has a lot of other secrets, such as the number of people he's killed, which Tito is not cool with. Nor does Tito like telling lies. Hence the ban.

Tito leaves Carlos and Valantino in Florence and heads back to Rimini, arriving just after dark. Gaius is  fobbing off Leora about the whereabouts of her husband by telling her he left with Tito on some errand or other. Tito comes back, and in two words proves the wisdom of Valantino's ban:

Leora: "Where is my husband?"

Tito: "In Florence."

Cue head-slaps round the table, and groans from Valantino's player. There follows a bit of interrogation as to how Valantino could have reached Florence in just one day, but eventually Tito is forced to confess that they travelled in his magical flying carriage. She doesn't believe him at first, but he takes her down and shows her that it can, indeed, fly. Convinced, she asks to be flown to Florence to be with Valantino.

Tito: "But... its night, and I've been flying all day and- "

Leora: "Take me to my husband now!"

Tito: "...OK."

Gaius is present for this whole scene but provides no help at all to Tito in this argument. Much later (Tito got a little lost) the characters are all in Florence, and Leora gets to sit vigil by her husbands bedside. He's a little delirious and not entirely sure if she's really here.

Tito would like to get some sleep but he keeps hearing this singing noise coming the dormitory window. Gaius is there, but can't hear anything, so the pair of them go out into the garden - Gaius comes along because Tito has become his favourite form of entertainment. They track down the singing and discover that Valantino managed to find time before getting 'healed' to plant Daunte's gift. The flower is singing in the moonlight - no words, just a tune. Gaius can hear it well enough now, but its evidently louder for Tito, who stares at his nemesis, the singing plant.

Once again, Tito is in the company of someone perfectly capable of destroying plants, but who is disinclined to acquiesce to Tito's frantic demands to "Kill it, kill the abomination!" But here in the covenant, a nexus of magical power, Tito can conjure fire. He does so, the merest lick of flame, but enough to put paid to this small flower. He sets it to one of the leaves, and the plant screams! Not any more loudly than its singing, just a plaintive wail of pain and suffering. Tito tries to keep holding fire to the plant, but he can't bear to hear its suffering. He gives up. The plant shall live.

In the morning, Valantino wakes up to find that Leora being here wasn't a dream, and that Cosimo has identified the nature of his spell botch: Valantino is healing in reverse. Cosimo isn't sure of the best way to proceed. Its possible that they could take advantage of this - healing him by casting harmful spells. They could try to break the spell, or just leave it to run out on its own. Trouble is that they don't know how long the spell will last...

They discuss the options over breakfast, after Valantino and Tito have had their spat: "You brought my wife back!" "You brought that plant back!" One of the other students, Bryan (from the Stonehenge Tribunal) mutters something in his abominable accent about knowing a spell that might fix it. It proves to be so - but Valantino is still left injured and with no vis left. And its only a matter of time before Leora wakes up and he has to explain about the magic. He limps out into the city to find an apartment - he has plans of constructing a trap to catch this Lamia that is haunting him.

But wait! I forgot about the presents. In a previous session, Valantino had been contacted by Rinaldus, an apparently immortal mage who was responsible for a whole deal of trouble in an even earlier session. Rinaldus had a new tune this time - he wanted to help Valantino with his many problems. After a discussion of what they were, Rinaldus offered some magical items that he had 'lying around' that might be of use. And while Valantino was in Rimini, these items arrived, along with instructions on what they did and how to use them. Now that they were all together, Valantino presented the items to the other PCs.

Tito could not believe it. After all they went through with Rinaldus before, and here was Valantino accepting gifts? Did he not remember that Rinaldus was behind Master Bernado's attempt to enslave them all with mind control? Did he not remember that there was still a decision to be made in the upcoming Tribunal about that? Was he going to start voting for Rinaldus now? Did he have any reason to think that these items didn't mind control their wielder? Had he even noticed how the other apprentices that had been 'gifted' by Rinaldus were behaving? Was Valantino, in fact, mad?

Valantino's defense: "But he seemed so nice."

Tito goes back to Rimini - he has some bandits to negotiate a contract with. Not having the money to pay them directly, he comes to an arrangement where the bandits 'levy fines' from people coming into the forest, and he clears it all with Duke Sigismundo. The bandits have been limiting their depredations to stay under the Dukes radar. Under this arrangement, they'll be able to rob more people, but take less.

Tito: "and no killing."

Bandit leader: "Of course. Unless theres some situation where we have to."

Tito: "What? No, no killing!"

Bandit leader: "Oh, but we'll need to have that option. What if we run into someone who won't pay up? Or threatens one of my men?"

Tito: "But..."

Bandit leader: "If anyone dies, we'll have a full investigation."

Tito: "Well..."

Bandit leader: "And a report!"

Tito: "Allright..."

After this... I think that the way it happened was that Gaius teleported to Tito, flew the cart back to Florence to pick up the other PCs and they all met up in Rimini to handle another bit of negotiation with the primitives up on the mountain site of their proposed covenant. And the way that went was that the High Priest declared that in order to get their God's approval the PCs would have to spend a nights vigil in the sacred chamber (ie: cave). The PCs elected to postpone this until Valantino was better and went back to Florence.

The next day, there was a message from Ysabelle. I don't believe I've mentioned her before - she's a spy. She was raised, trained and employed by the mysterious and evil Countessa, but came off second best in her first encounter with Constantine (another PC). As punishment, and as a form of reparations to Constantine, she was given to him. She was ordered to obey any of his orders, and it was made clear to Constantine that if he sent her away, she would be killed. She's been fairly useful to Constantine in the past, and has not yet betrayed him. And since he can read her mind, he should know.

But Constantine is gone now, no one knows where, which is why Ysabelle wants to meet with Tito and Valantino. If they can't help her find Constantine, she wants them to get her to the other world.

More back story.

The other world, (Altero Terra) is another plane of existence, or regio. Unlike most regios, this one seems to mimic the real world in terms of landscape and seems to be as large as the world. It was discovered a few hundred years ago by mages, attempts were made to colonise it - but they ran into problems. The PCs, in a previous adventure, gained the ability to travel to the Altero at will, but when they do, all their possessions, clothes, etc get left behind. The only way to bring stuff from one side to the other is to use the portal concealed within the maze at the Academy. Ysabelle explains that she thinks it likely that Constantine is hiding out in the Altero. If he's not, then the Altero is the one place Ysabelle can think of that might be out of the reach of the Countessa - so Ysabelle might get to live. To get there, she needs to use the portal, but she needs someone to a) get her into the Academy and b) solve the maze.

The PCs agree. Tito doesn't like to see people getting killed, and Valantino owes Ysabelle for past misdeeds - as Tito points out when Valantino brings up the question of whether they should be trusting Ysabelle. But neither of them can actually help her, as neither of them can solve the maze - it requires knowledge of the Criamon mystery to do so. So they send a message for another student NPC who can help - Topillio.

Then its back to another of Valantinos problems (he has so many) - the Lamia. Tito goes off to prepare the trap they are constructing, and Valantino goes home - his wife has got a lot of questions to be answered.

-- Update --

Leora has been doing some thinking. Tito has admitted that he is a mage, and he and Valantino hang out a lot together in an 'academy' with a bunch of other students... Valantino can see where this is going and admits, that yes, he is a mage. He was only keeping it from her because he thought it would freak her out. She seems quite practical about it though (remember that the whole 'magic isn't real' meme hasn't caught on yet) and has a number of questions like: "Where is the money going to come from?", and "How did you get injured?" which Valantino can answer with varying degrees of honesty (He neglects to mention his recent career as an assassin)

When Valantino then explains that he has to go off to hunt a magical beast, Leora puts her foot down. Valantino is to injured to go out, she says. Valantino might have explained that his part in this was simply as bait, but that way led to many more long explanations, so he tried to explain that only he could cast the spells. Not Tito, nor any of the other mages in the academy. Leora wasn't buying it. She insisted that he wait until he had healed before going off to try something so dangerous. Unwilling to explain what the danger was (ie: that Leora would be lured to her death) Valantino gave in.

The next morning, Topillio arrived back from the Altero, agreed to take Ysabelle through the maze, and even offered her a place to stay - the abandoned covenant that he is trying to set up again. Offers were also made to the PCs - this is another possibility for a future covenant. It all went reasonably smoothly - invisibility spells were cast to get Ysabelle past the school masters, no one failed badly, it all went well.

Campaign Log: Winter 1470

The characters are still in Rimini, scouting out a location for their covenant. They have a potential site, with just one problem - the local residents. The site is on Mount Titano, and the locals are a stand-offish group who haven't had much interaction with the rest of Italy. As magi, the PCs could probably destroy the small community without much effort or repercussions, but despite strong representation for that option, the majority are against founding their covenant with a bloodbath.

Efforts at negotiation have been made more difficult by Carlos, who played around with some illusions last session, provoking the village. Tito had to fly in and put a stop to it, managing to stop the confrontation from escalating, but not really ingratiating himself with the villagers.

So in the morning, its up to Valantino to head up the mountainside and negotiate. Flying most of the way there, he lands and approaches on foot to avoid spooking the villagers. He spots the guards before they can ambush him, and speaks his piece, offering gifts and asking to speak to the leader. When the leader agrees to speak with him, he continues his humble approach, submitting to the silly (and quite uncomfortable - bathing in winter?) rituals and is allowed to come up and speak to the High Priest.

Meanwhile, Tito is wandering around Rimini, trying to find out something about the bandits that are living in his forest. Of course, Tito being Tito, he says the wrong thing to the wrong person, and he finds himself in an escalating confrontation with a very loud shopkeeper. He shouts "Fine, see if I care if you get killed by bandits!" and tries to leave. But the crowd blocks his way. He forces his way past them, but the crowd follows, yelling insults, and working its way up to throwing stones at him.

Before it can get to that stage, though, Tito cracks. He starts blubbering, crying "I'm sorry that I'm so ugly, I don't mean to be!"

Confused, and more than a little disturbed by the sight of the big man blubbering, the crowd disperses. Tito goes back to his rooms in the castle (the players are guests of the Duke, Sigismundo) and sulks. When Valantino comes back with news that the villagers are ready to move on to the next step in negotiations, Tito is in no mood to hear it.

The rest of the party are pleased to hear that things are moving forward. Valantino tells them that the next step is for the people that were fooling with and/or killing the villagers last night will have to come forward and apologise. Its suggested that they will have to pay were-guild for the dead raiders. Sigismundo steps in a this point, and says that there's no need to stint on the gifts - he provides silver, fine cloths and wine for the characters to offer.

And offer them they do. The High Priest is pleased with the gifts, and impressed by their powers - it seems he is no stranger to magic. He admits that the warriors that were killed were on a raid, so their deaths were honourable and accepts the gifts as reparation. He declares that there will be a feast. He doesn't mention that the feast will be a test of the characters good nature, but they get that anyway.

The feast is held, and the characters acquit themselves well. Gaius makes an impression on one of the prettier villagers, but he manages to sneak off with her and not cause any trouble. Carlos declines to make any more mischief. And Tito has a chance to save a young kid from a nasty fall. The kids mother thanks him profusely, and Tito starts to come out of his sulk. The characters are invited to stay the night, as climbing down the mountain isn't safe - but the characters have a flying carriage, so they decline. Gaius manages to re-join the party in time, and they depart.

As the party flies down to the castle, they spot a figure wandering the battlements. A closer approach reveals that it is Valantino's wife, sleepwalking or in a trance. Valantino snaps her out of it, and gets her back to bed. Carlos also retires, but Gaius takes Tito out into town. Tito has been moping far to much for Gaius' liking recently so he gets Tito drunk and pays a 'large woman' to spend some time with Tito. Tito is too chaste to take advantage of her offers, but he feels better at least.

The next morning, Gaius declares that he needs a coffee and a kebab to deal with his hangover. Since neither of these have been introduced into Italy yet, he teleports to Tunis, where such things are available. He quickly regrets it, as it turns out teleporting is bad for hangovers. Even with the recuperative powers of coffee and kebabs, it is noon before he feels well enough to teleport back. But he's in time to join the party's bandit hunting expedition.

Tito has learned from Sigismundo that the bandits are ex-members of his mercenary company. They are skilled, know the forest and are trained to deal with magic. Worse, they have got a hold of at least one of the helmets that Sigismundo equips his trusted soldiers with. These helms allow the wearer to see through illusion and provide magic resistance. Nevertheless, the characters are feeling confident as they set out. The weather is good, if chilly, and they hope to fly over the forest and identify the bandit camp by the smoke from the campfires. A high aerial pass shows 5 possible sites, Valantino volunteers to do a close inspection as he can both fly and go invisible.

Some three hours pass, and Valantino does not return. The party heads out after him. They quickly investigate a charcoal-burners camp and a lone cabin by a lake. As they approach the third site, a man pops out of concealment an fires a crossbow right at Tito. Tito is protected by his Shriek of the Impending Shafts spell and dodges the arrow. The man pops back into concealment and sounds his warning horn, as the flying carriage zooms up to his hiding place. He is not to be seen there, and as they fly over the ridge in pursuit of him, they espy the remains of a hastily-vacated camp. Ignoring their attacker, whom they have lost track of anyway, Tito lands in the camp and identifies the direction the bandits have left from. He follows on foot, leaving the rest of the characters to follow.

The bandits left a few traps to slow pursuers down, but Tito uses his magic to disable them without breaking stride. Much to his dismay though, he finds that the tracks split a number of times. Each time they do, he knows the chances of finding Valantino grow smaller. He runs on. Carlos falls behind, gives up and heads back to the carriage. Gaius manages to keep up, and spots another ambush ahead. He teleports above the ambushers, ready to serve up an ambush of his own....

End of Session.