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.
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