Game 1
Jack, having done the Extremely Detailed and Overly Complex Character Generation (Yes, that's a real option.) is ready. Everyone else finishes up or works on their characters.
Of note are the travails of each set of characters.
Alciver and David go explore his starting covenant, a magic Regionne where instead of matter being the normal stuff it is, things are instead abstract/impressionist reified ideas. (Very odd place) Alciver botches a second sight test and pops back into the "real" (for lack of a better term) world, outside the Regionne. David, meanwhile, encounters the idea of a wolf.
David, being the softhearted giant that he is, wants to play. The wolf wants to savage him. David tussles with the wolf for a while and easily knocks it unconscious. He then brings the wolf, now named Squishy 1 back to the other grogs and asks if he can keep it. They say yes. He gains a story flaw, Magical Animal Companion.
The focus then shifted to Bonnie and Jen. Yvonne (Bonnie)'s Tytalian master decided to test her by telling her to go rid a village of demons. Bonnie, distaning Jen's assistance rode forth boldy. Jen... followed. Hijinks ensued as they realized that most of the demons were infesting the people of the village as sickness. A cast of Demon's Lasting Oblivion2 later and Jen shouting something about demons being begone and the two obviously plague-ridden people were healed. At which point the other demons rushed the pair as a pair of rats. Further hijinks ensued as Bonnie made a ward around the village, trapping the rats inside and Jen wasted the time by crossing and recrossing the ward, just to taunt the rats. Finally, Bonnie spontaneously Perdo Terramed a pit as the ward fell and the rats persued Jen as he ran way. Most of the rats landed in the pit and Jen was (unfortuntely) unharmed. More nuking followed. Bonnie then sent Jen into the pit to retrieve a few of the rat corpses that survived, suspecting that they contained a pawn or two of vis.
Next up was our... touched... Merinita and his companion. A group of bandits3 ambushed them on a forest path as they were traveling to the covenant. Our bard sang a sad sad song with his Enchanting Music. Which worked on everyone but the bandit leader, a born music critic. After again demanding any valuables the pair carried, Calvin walked back to the large sack being carried by one of his Stone Animae 4 and, under cover of the sack, cast Pit of the Gaping Earth PeTe 15 which cause the earth under the bandits' feet to briefly disappear. Unfortunately, the nature of Calvin's magic meant that the destruction was only temporary, causing the dirt to reappear in the pit the bandits were already in. None survived.
The final travails included our Syrian? Persian? Mercere Magus (name unknown) and his oh so humble "butler" as they made their way from the Levant through the Mediterranean. Stopping at each covenant they passed, the Magus traded books for books. Of interest was a group of very naughty crusaders who demanded the pair's money and their lives. Misjudging the oh so 'umble servant, the 5 crusaders focused their demands on the Magus. At which point, the humble "butler," displaying a completely astonishing understanding of the blade, slaughtered them from behind. That behind them, they arrived that the covenant unscathed.
The covenant of the Axe and Rods is located near a well-traveled inn on one of the more minor trading roads of the province of Normandy. The inn, an ancient structure (original purpose unknown) now repurposed as an inn is surrounded by magnificent fields of winter wheat. Each set of magi and companion was recognized as they came in the inn and directed to walk out through the field, pick a spike of wheat and walk through two parallel pillars. Each magi, extremely trusting, did so without complaint or question.
Upon walking through the pillars, each pair found themselves in a half-ruined temple to Demeter. Two lamps burned on either side of the altar, prominently illuminating a Fasces standing on the altar. They all found a magi studying the inscriptions in the altar and, after a few false starts, each of them was directed out the temple's door. Of note, the Persian Magus was able to read and easily interpret the ancient Greek writings on the walls.
Once out the door, they came upon yet another Regionne, now cast in sepia tones where the wheat waved in gentle waves and a huge temple to Demeter stood opposite the now small vestibule. Crossing a small stream, each pair, then in turn, met "Francis." A man with a Genuine SmileTM of the Reverend Moon persuasion. A gentle welcome was had by all. Suites around the temple were allocated with the exception of Yvonne of Tytalus. The Maga was graciously given use of the basement, once a dungeon.
[1] An aside about Squishy. Yes, Squishy is a wolf of magic might 11. He's wolf-sized and has the impression of being a painted wolf. (He appears as if he's 2d, and is a collection of brushstrokes. The trick is, you *see* a complete 2d representation of him from wherever you're looking (i.e. many 2d slices of a 3d model) and he does indeed represent the idea of a wolf. This means that many people, just glancing at him see a large dog (Wolfhound). Only people who are trained to actually see what is there realize that they're looking at the idea of a wolf and not the wolf itself.
[2]Demon's Lasting Oblivion. As Demon's Eternal Oblivion, Level 5, But with a duration of diameter and doing 4 might damage per round. A truly truly evil spell. Does mightily piss off demons.
[3] (amazing how many generic bandits there are, especially when you walk from one grid square to another and back again a hundred times. ::Grin::
[4] Animae, pesudosentient faeries created by some of Calvin's spells. Right now he's demonstrated that he can cause faerie homunculi to rise from sculpted stone and clay. Nothing could possibly go wrong here, right?
