1225 AD: In Alexander’s Footsteps

 1225 Adventure Oracle

Cabal Legacy—10% (56, no adventure)

Seeker—10% (1, holy hell, adventure)

Regional Produce—10% (64, no adventure)

Multiple Sites—10% (50, no adventure)

Road—10% (62, no adventure)

Tribunal Border—30% (86, no adventure) 

Unsafe—10% (38, no adventure) 

Regio—30% (35, no adventure)

So I actually rolled these twice thanks to how statistically improbably my first set of rolls was. I, no joke, got 5 99s in a row. It almost diminishes the amazingness of having rolled yet another 1 on a d100!

Difficulty—6, hard, EF 15. 

Origin—70, supernatural again. 

Timing—2, our first Spring adventure. 

Complexity—6, complex, two challenges. 

Type—99, again!! And a 91, meaning both are my choice. Thriller/Wilderness is honestly my least favorite type of challenge, but I’m percolating a story idea here, so it’ll be our first, and Combat is our least rolled type, so it’ll be our second.

I really want to invent that Moon duration ReAn spell so I can get to work rounding out Jabril Arts-wise, but when adventure comes a-calling, the seeker must answer. 

Omens—8, yeesh. 

Spring 1225

Crows of the Conquerer

As spring rolled around yet again, Jabril felt unsettled. While he had solved the money issue and had far more vis than he knew what to do with, he felt exposed with that horrid infernal regio so close by. He remembered all too well the feeling of eyes on his back and the bursting stigmata which staggered him. It had occurred to him afterwards that the presence, and aid of the crows seemed unusual. He was not well-schooled in the Infernal thanks to his particular weakness against it, but somewhere deep down, he felt they were not demonic in origin. After all, had it not been said that Alexander had been guided to the oasis by two crows?

And so as spring arrived, he traveled out in search of them, leaving his turb behind once again. It was becoming quite a habit for him to embark on solitary adventures. His first stop was the magical spring where he had emerged from the regio. He had a theory that this was where Alexander’s camp had lain once upon a time. The delicate palm fronds waving in the breeze were imbued with their vis in the Ides of February, when the conquerer had first arrived in Siwa, same as the Stele of Alexander. 

It made sense, too, looking at the spring. Of course, there was a source of fresh water. More important, though, was the feeling of serenity that washed over the place. Jabril arrived as the sun was setting. As the reds and oranges began to glitter in the sky and a cool evening breeze played at the date fronds, it was impossible not to feel a sense of sublime peace here. But he was here to work, and so, from the tree in which he had first seen the crows, he began to track them across the sands. 

The skeleton of a mouse here, a bit of spoor there, a patch of sand graced by the barest touch of a wing—these were the traces that Jabril’s keen eyes picked out as he trekked away from the camp, deeper into the depression. At last he came upon an old palm, dead and desiccated, jutting incongruously from a patch of barren sand. On its bald peak, he beheld the two black crows he had come in search of, and called out to them with a softer tone than before—where had they come from? Why could they pass to that other place? Were they beasts only, or something more? 

The crows, their eyes blinking tiredly in the night, gave no answer, and so his tone grew hard, leavened with wrath, as he commanded the birds to show him where they had come from. Resentfully, the two took to the wing, and he followed across the desert. 

It took longer, far longer, than he had expected. Nights of travel bloomed into days of camping, and he found himself being led on a circuitous route back in the direction he had originally come: towards Aghurmi and Siwa. But at last, before he would reach his home, he beheld instead the salt lake of Al-Zaytun, on whose toxic shores he had once captured a Berber warrior, and lying in shambles next to it, the ruins of Abu Sharef, one of three villages that had once thrived in the valley. 

The crows flew ahead, and took perch atop an old stone tower near the center of the town. He began to follow, but as he did, he became aware that he was not alone here. A band of the Zenata Berbers emerged from the shadows of the ruins, seven in total, armed with spears and shields. 

First challenge: Per+Hunt (specialty, rolled 8+0+3=11, spent 2 confidence to succeed), Com+Animal Ken (8+1+3=12, cast Momentary Command to add mag 5 and succeed), Sta+Survival (specialty, rolled 9+2+3=14, spent 1 confidence to succeed). Three successes. 

The Battle of Abu Sharef

It became clear quite quickly that the Zenata remembered his encounter with them some years ago. With a Tamazight battle cry, they hurled their spears at him, then charged, drawing short swords as they did. Jabril has the reflexes of the asps he so favored, however, and deftly turned to dodge the majority of the thrown spears, using his armor to absorb the shuddering impact of those he could not escape. 

As they closed on him, he was quickly forced on the defensive, outnumbered as he was and likely outmatched by their skill as well. But his intellect was one advantage they did not have, and he had spent years observing the movement and tactics of the Zenata from his hilltop fortress. Their fighting style was hardly innovative, and they favored rote over invention, and so with a great deal of quick analysis and his own skill at brawling, he found himself untouched as the warriors began to grow exhausted around him. 

They had moved deeper into the ruins as they fought, and here the environment worked to his advantage. A loose stone pushed with force cracked the head of one warrior, and he dropped like a stone. Another two he slammed into old walls, a fourth he shoved from a window halfway up the old tower, and the last three were brought down by a vicious asp, formed by his magic. 

At last, though exhausted and breathing hard, he found himself the victor, standing atop the old tower the crows had indicated. Now that he was not distracted, he realized what he had been shown: another temple of the Oracle of Ammon lay here in Abu Sharef, constructed of good stone and, he noticed now, a potent magical aura. 

But why here? What about this place has birthed these crows? He watched them watching him, sitting atop the tower, and felt as though he had stumbled upon something important, something that he didn’t quite understand yet.

Second challenge: Qik+Awareness (specialty, rolled 1, after reroll 8+0+3=11, used magical armor to add mag 5 and succeed), Int+Brawl (specialty, rolled 9+2+3=14, spent 1 confidence to succeed), Str+Athletics (rolled 2+0+2=4, spent 2 confidence and cast Summoning the Creeping Death to add mag 5 and barely succeed). 3 successes.

Result: Complete success, although perhaps tainted by just how much I had to use to succeed. 2 rewards +4 xp for the successes, an additional 9 xp (becoming 16 overall with Independent Study) and 9 confidence points. 5 xp goes to Awareness, 5 to Hunt, 5 to Athletics, and 1 to Animal, bringing it to 15. Jabril has also discovered one of the covenant’s unknown boons: another Important Building in Abu Sharef, the Lesser Temple of Ammon! The downside is that now Jabril has several more sites than he can effectively protect, including the Herbam source. The 15 BP from our rewards and 10 Mythic Pounds from the stocks are spent to give Jabril a Reputation of 1 among the Hermetics of the Levant as a Master Seeker, thanks to his discoveries in the oasis, which should add to his social rolls against other magi. Venti Rosa is paid to spread word of his deeds across the Tribunal. 

Summer 1225

With his ReAn lab total for inventing that Moon duration spell now 44, including his inventing spells specialty, aura bonus, and the bonus for knowing a similar spell, Jabril banished his concerns about the temples and the regio for the moment and got to work on his new spell. As always, he decided to experiment, pushing the risk to a dangerous level (modifier of +3). 

Experimental bonus: rolled 9 (!!!!) with an additional bonus of 3 from risk factor

Extraordinary results table: 7+3=10, Discovery!!! For those not familiar with experimentation, I have basically taken a huge, huge risk and gotten nothing but reward in exchange. Jabril is truly the luckiest character I’ve played. I roll a six on the discovery table, meaning Jabril gains 15 xp towards an Ability related to the spell: let’s do Summon Animals, it feels apropos. 

Overall, he makes incredible progress towards inventing his spell, accumulating 9+9+3=21 points out of 35 this season, and gains 2 exposure exp to Magic Theory. 

Autumn 1225

More spell inventions and more experimentation. I roll a 6+3 on the experimentation table, giving us a bonus of 9, and a 4+3=7 on the extraordinary results table, meaning no benefit from experimentation, tragically. We are still able to accumulate 9 more points towards our total, and thankfully our lab is still intact. 2 exposure xp to Magic Theory. 

Winter 1225

This last season, I’m playing it safe because I want that spell, and a bad experimentation result could ruin this whole year. So, rather than experiment, Jabril simply put in the time this winter, and pushed the final mile to finish off his spell. As the year came to a close, he began summoning asps from around the valley and commanding them to patrol his unprotected areas for the next month, hoping this might improve security. 

2 exposure xp to Magic Theory

Starry Harness of Khonsu

ReAn 35

Range: Touch

Duration: Moon

Target: Individual

You implant a complicated command into an animal for a moon, which it carries out to the best of its abilities. The command must involve completing a certain task, such as finding a certain person. Vague orders, like “protect me”, do not work. If the animal does not complete the task before the end of the spell approaches, it becomes desperately ferocious, especially at night. (Base 15, +1 Touch, +3 Moon)