1240, Spring
We have finished our investigation into the faerie problem up in northern Scotland in our Ars Magica campaign. A letter is sent to the Quaesitor, to inform her of what we discovered, and to let her know that Dierdre ex Tytalus (who is responsible for the destruction of the Quaesitor’s covenant) might be behind it.
We have also found information on the “angels” who we heard rumours about many years ago, but never got to meet in person. Investigating them further will require some new spells, so we decide to wait until later in the year whilst we prepare ourselves.
One of the good things about the Ars Magica magic system, is that it is very flexible. I needed a spell that would allow me to breathe water – but the standard spell to do that is Lungs of the Fish, which is a Muto Aquam spell of level 20. Though my Muto isn’t bad, my Aquam is pretty awful. It’s a spell with a range of Touch and a duration of Sun.
Cutting the range down to Personal so that it only affects me, drops the level to 15. Dropping the duration from Sun to Diameter (2 minutes) drops it a further 5 down to level 10. That’s within my ability to cast whilst floundering around in water, and also makes it possible to invent within a single season.
The ability to modify spells like this is really useful.
We don’t get a huge amount done in this session – mostly we chat about various things. The new edition of Ars Magica (which is looking very nice), a bit about Traveller, and various other non-gaming related topics. Sometimes gaming is just about getting together with friends.
Jack – 1240, Winter
We have had rumours of bad things happening on the road between Falkirk and Stirling. We thought we had solved the problem there, since there were faeries there harassing travellers. But problems have started happening again. I decided that it would be worth investigating to find out more.
According to those nearby, the woods had been described as pressing in on the sides of the road, but now both sides of the road are overgrown. Merchants and others have been waylaid, and there are stories of things scuttling in the woods. Some people tried cutting the vegetation back, but they went missing.
Taking a walk along the road myself, I found that there were some strange tracks, which look like those I have seen before when encountering oversized spiders. There are also cobwebs amongst the trees. It seems that the spiders have turned up again.
Pisciculus ex Criamon – 1240, Spring
It is Spring 1240, and Allistor has tracked down the ‘healing angels’ who we heard about some years ago. They used to visit cities via ship, and he has tracked down where he thinks they are coming from. There is a small rock, known as black rock, out in the sea about 18 miles west of the Isle of Colonsay.
But how do we get there though? Allistor can ride on his flying staff, and Maedbh can turn into a seagull, but I don’t have any way of getting myself there and back. I don’t really want to be out in the middle of the sea, and having to rely on someone else to cast a spell on me.
In order to solve the problem, I can invent a simplified version of Lungs of the Fish, to enable me to breathe water in case I fall into the sea. I can already swim, but swimming the 18 miles to shore would be beyond me without some level of protection.
Some research in our library brings up another spell – Mercury’s Winged Sandals. This will enable me a limited form of flight. This is more in my area of expertise – Rego Corpus. Given a second season, I should be able to come up with a version of that as well.
Meanwhile Maedbh is looking into a spell to move herself from one place to another instantly. She believe she could get from the shore to the island with such a spell, which would be very useful indeed.
