Tito walks into the ambush site, screened by his walking trees. (Animating trees is Tito's Thing). But he's not here for a fight, he just wants to find Valantino, so he tries to open up negotiations. Gaius, up on the hillside is looking for a fight, so he's trying to find the bandits that he saw going over the ridge, without much luck. He holds off on starting anything, knowing how Tito gets when he causes needless casualties.
The bandits are also not interested in getting into a fight. They saw Tito fly in, and they're looking at walking trees - they know they're up against a wizard. So negotiations begin. They fetch their captain, and Tito sends Gaius back to the campsite to pick up some stray hairs for use as arcane connections later.
Cut to the campsite, an hour or so ago. Carlos has made his way back there, after losing track of the other mages. As he approaches, he hears activity. Being invisible, he easily manages to sneak up to the campsite and observe that some of the bandits have doubled back and are clearing out their hastily abandoned campsite. They move with precision and purpose, destroying or removing every trace of their presence here. These are no ordinary bandits.
Carlos tries an illusion to scare them away from the flying carriage, but this only causes them to sweep the forest for the illusionist. He evades them, but chooses not to interfere further. The bandits complete their cleanup and depart. Shortly afterwards, Gaius teleports back to find a clean campsite. He casts around for a bit, exchanges a few words with Carlos, and then goes back to Tito - who sends him back when he admits that he didn't use magic to find the stray hairs.
Carlos goes back, fails to cast the spell, and teleports back to Tito. He's getting a little tired of being Tito's errand boy, but changes his tune when he hears how the negotiations are going.
Titos goals are a little unusual for a Italian landowner. He wants:
- Nobody to get killed.
- His trees not to get cut down.
The bandits, of course, want money. I think it was Gaius that proposed that Tito hire the bandits to keep other people out of the forest, and to not rob people. Captain Gavino is agreeable to that, but his price is 300 florins per month, which is money that Tito just doesn't have. Other options proposed include simply allowing the bandits to operate in the woods, keeping people out by robbing them. Gavino says that he could step up operations - they've been keeping a low profile to avoid pissing off Sigismund off too much. If Tito was willing to provide political cover...
Gaius's preferred option is that they hire the gang, and use them to rob the Pazzi's bank, giving them enough funds to pay them. Gavino is also in favour of this idea - this is turning out to be a pretty good day for him!
Tito, unwilling to make any commitments at this stage, returns to his top priority - getting Valantino back before sunset. He explains why to Gavino, who points out that Valantino is unlikely to be fighting any sorcerous beasts any time soon. Nevertheless, in light of the new, hopefully profitable relationship, he agrees to show the PCs where to find their friend. He'll have someone meet them in town tomorrow or the next day.
And so the PCs go back to Rimini. Sorcerous beasts are not in evidence, which is just as well, as Valantino is at -5 from his wounds, even after aid. Its a quiet night for all.
In the morning, Valantino hashes out the details of the Lamia trap he wants Tito to build, and tries to get healed. Unfortunately, he doesn't have enough vis of the right type. So he goes looking for a trade, first amongst the players, then its flying back to Florence to see if any of the other mages have Creo or Corporam vis. None do, but Tito remembers another mage who might be able to help. Someone who would almost certainly trade Herbam (one of the least valuable types of Vis) for Creo (one of the most valuable types)
Some digression is needed here. Tito specialises in Herbam - plants. He hates seeing plants destroyed, and he's very bad at doing it himself - he can't destroy them using herbam magic, and he can't use fire magic worth a damn either. When the players visited a Covenant near Bolongna, Tito had been very exited to hear about another Herbam specialist. All the other types of mage tend to look down on the Herbam mage, what their flying and teleporting and fireballing. Here was somone he could talk to!
As it turned out though Daunte Rociacasale was a Perdo Herbam specialist, specialising in destroying plants. And worse - on causing them pain. Hey, everyone needs a hobby. When Tito visited Daunte, he was horrified to find the garden that Daunte was growing - a garden filled with plants twisted and macabre, of plants given traits of animals or humans, twisted mockeries of Gods creation.
Daunte, though, would almost certainly be interested in Valantino's trade. So off to Avenio they go. Not all the way though, Tito refuses to go within a mile of the place, so Valantino is forced to walk the rest of the way. When he gets there he is greeted by Uso - a big man who has a habit of turning into a wolf as big as a bear. Uso greets Valantino warily - the PCs don't have a great reputation in Avenio. He considered giving Valantino a hard time, but the first words out of Valantinos mouth are that he needs to see Daunte. Short of attacking, Uso can't think of anything worse than that, so he directs Valantino to the garden. (The rest of Avenio's mages aren't mad keen for Daunte either)
Valantino walks the gauntlet of the outer garden, looking at the bleeding trees and the softly screaming flowers and eventually finds Daunte. He's fairly old, and keen to show off his latest creations, the crying begonias, and the cabbage kids. He gets so few visitors. But he is happy to trade. So pleased is he by the visit that he give Valantino a plant that hes been working on. To all appearances, its a small potted flower. Valantino is too eager to get out of there to ask whats special about it, and too polite to refuse it. He leaves as soon as he can.
Greeted again by Uso, the conversation goes something like: "Finished already? Oh look, he gave you a plant... WellthatsverynicebutI'msureyouhavetobegoinghaveanicedaybye!" SLAM. Valantino walks back to the carriage. When he gets there, Tito is staring at him in horror.
Tito: "Where did you get that plant?"
Valantino: "Daunte gave it to me as a - "
Tito: "No! Kill it! Kill it!"
Valantino: "I can't do that, it was a gift -"
Tito: "Its an abomination! It must be destroyed!"
Then follows an hilarious sequence, where Valantino, who could easily destroy the plant, refuses to, and Tito, who is completely unable to, is desparate to. Valantino is willing to let Tito do as he will in this matter, so he stands aside and lets him try, even pointing out that its quite a small plant and Tito could just step on it. He demonstrates on a nearby shrub.
Tito: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!!!"
Despite the example, Tito is worried that the plant might recover from crushing damage, or worse that it might release pollen or seeds. He tries Plant-rot spells and fire spells, but he never had a chance to succeed. He double botches his Natural Philosophy roll and decides that the only animal that could eat a plant like this is a wild boar. Taking pity on him, Valantino picks up a stick and conjures fire on it - and botches, hitting the flying carriage.
Tito: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!!!"
Tito quickly detaches the piece of the carriage thats on fire (it was just a small spell) and tries to set the plant alight. It refuses to burn.
Tito: "Nooo! Abomination!"
Tito heads off into the forest to find a boar to eat the flower. He takes the control stick for the carriage with him. Valantino waits. Valantino uses his invisiblity ring on the plant and stows it on board. He creates a fake plant and pot. Eventually, Tito comes back out of the forest with some boar poo.
Tito: "Right, lets summon this boar!"
Valantino snaps his fingers and summons a flame that burns the pot to ash.
Tito: "Why didn't you... I've got boar shit on my... Fine! Lets just go."
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