1240, Spring 2
Our Ars Magica campaign continues, as we investigate what the faeries are up to along the Falkirk road. We visited the area about a year ago.There were fey here then, but they seemed more friendly than what is lurking here now.
During the session, there are some spells which we have some difficulty understanding, mostly Intellego Imagonem spells. Their descriptions have changed in the Definitive Edition, in a way that definitely makes things a lot clearer. Some of the spells still don’t seem to be entirely consistent though. Some ‘see things’ spells require Vision as a target (see through own illusions), some don’t (see through other’s illusions). And it’s not entirely clear why they are different.
That is the problem when you have a complex magic system like in Ars Magica. I still think it’s one of the best magic systems that I’ve come across though.
Pisciculus ex Criamon – 1240, Spring
Our plan is to head out and deal with the potential spiders on the road between Falkirk and Stirling. Myself, Maedbh and Allistor decide to fly there. Our two grogs, Malcolm and Knox come with us, and are willing to try a bit of flying.
It turns out that Knox, with his greatly enhanced eyesight, is a really good scout when in bird form. He spots an abandoned hand cart by the side of the road near the wooded section. He lands near to it, and the rest of us follow him down and switch back to human form.
The area is in a faerie aura, level 3. Knox thinks he has found the tracks of big spiders, and it looks like the owner of the cart has possibly been dragged off. So we decide to follow them.
As we progress, we get a feeling of familiarity. We’ve been here before, and though the trees are thicker, we recognise the hill where the bandits were last time.
Allistor and Knox climb careful up the hill. There are webs strewn around the place, spanning between the tree branches. There are also mats of webbing covering the ground. Allistor spots a corpse in one of the webs on the ground. There are cocooned bodies hanging from the tree tops.
There are strands hanging down from the trees. Two of them are swinging as if there were a weight on the end, though there was nothing visible there.
They come back to report to us, and I silently cast a spell to see through any invisibility. I don’t see anything invisible around about. I head up the hill, but trying to climb and concentrate on the spell at the same time turns out to be too much for me. I slip, falling down the hill and losing concentration.
After some planning, we head up to the top of the hill. With my second sight, I see dangling on the end of the two threads are spiders. There is a large crater beyond, but we don’t see any more spiders at the moment.
Maedbh casts a spell to teleport one of the cocooned bodies from where it lays to us. She is a middled aged woman, probably a merchant. I cast Revealed Flaws of Mortal Flesh, and confirm that they have a toxin in them and are currently paralysed.
Sneaking around the outside of the crater, we think there are another four invisible spiders hanging from threads, and two more bodies, though they look dead. There are other piles as well, which may have bodies in. There are also egg shaped objects laying around the cleaning.
There are some split open cocoons. Beneath them, are some bits of clothing and equipment, including a belt and sword. I think that spiders have hatched out of these cocoons. There are six split cocoons, and six spiders. Allistor magically grabs the sword, which is old and bronze.
Maedbh teleports three more bodies out of the pit. The spiders are starting to get active now. One is seriously unwell, the other two are dead. Maedbh casts a ring of protection around them, as the spiders begin to stir.
