Well of Urd by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
Description
The place is the former house of a group of powerful Mercurial mages.
It appears to be the overgrown remains of a Roman villa set up top a hill,
much of the tumbled down structures seem to merge with the stones of the
surrounding hillsides and the overflowing vegetation helps this impression.
About the only clearly discernable section is a small group of pillars
holding up a dome on a prominence off to one side. This domed group
of pillars is apparently a temple of some sort; leading out of it is a
small stream that forms a small pool in the.
Once inside the grounds the great age and magical aura (Aura 3) of the place can be felt. There seems to be a timeless feel here and the air seems hazy and golden, especially during sunrise/sunset. The grounds are a chaotic maze with the overgrown remains of walls, gardens as well as Roman statues and columns everywhere. The structures on the grounds have obviously been built, expanded, renovated and abandoned many times over the centuries, apparently with little interest in an overall plan or in properly dismantling previous structures. Indeed most of the usable space is wholly or partially underground, obscured by the layers of collasped structures above them. Water wells up from many points and the gentle sounds of gurgling and dripping water can be heard from almost everywhere within the covenant grounds. You are not sure but every once in a while you think you hear snatches of music and laughter.
Wandering around the grounds if perchance you meet one of the covenant members you will immediately be struck by their archaic mode of dress, short hair and use of the Latin language. It is as if they stepped out of the pages of a book by the Roman historian Tacitus or Pliny the Eldar, something which in fact is not far from the truth.
Well of Urd by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law
History
In the 4th century as the Roman Emperor Constantine adopted Christianity
a group of Mercurial mages constructed this covenant. Fleeing persecution
in Rome and fearing the slow decay of the Roman world they set out to make
an island, an eternal refuge. To this end they employed powerful
magics to somehow make the covenant immune to the ravages of time.
Yet it did not work quite as planned, instead of becoming immune they,
at best, twisted time in some fashion, leading a sort of disjointed shadow
life. At least that is to the best of the recollections of the survivors.
[Section not written yet: PCs brought to covenant, fighting begins, revolt helped by heroic leader of guards. }
battle culminating in the smashing of the Great Hourglass, focal point of the entire time warping constuct. When the time warping spells collapsed there was a tremendous flux of clashing energies as normal time began to reassert it'self. It was a terrible sight to behold, depending upon where they were parts of people, objects and buildings might age, change, revert to an earlier state, then collapse in decay and dust. Amoungst the surviving covenant members the event is refered to as simply 'The Grounding'.
A side effect of the end of the time warping spells is that the walls between the worlds here seem to have become thin. An unusual number of spirts of the dead have been knowen to come forth and molest the living
Site +4
Access: +3pts equal to minor clergy. Not on a road but
there is a nearby town.
Distance: +2pts 60% in, 20% < half day, 20% < 2 days. The plants of the over flowing vegetation are largely food plants of one kind or another. As well a Roman villa was built along the principle of being self-sufficient and it’s current occupants like it that way. In the surrounding valleys are where raw materials and wood supplies are gathered. The nearest town is about 25km away from which the various supplies are traded for. There are at least 3 villages which are closer but none of them provide anything notable which the covanent does not already supply.
Seclusion: +1pts 1person/2weeks. Covenant is located on an isolated hillside but is close to a road leading to a nearby town.
Environment: +6pts There seems to be a timeless feel to
the place. Perhaps due to the hot springs the climate seems to be
more moderate here. This and the healthful spa give +2 bonus to aging
rolls.
Buildings -1
Size: 0pts Room for 6 magi, 20 specialists, 50 grogs. Impressive
bathhouse. This represents the current usable space, though obviously
there had been much more which has long since collapsed. Much of
the remaining interior space is underground, or at least partially buried
and seems to merge with the hill.
Quality:
-2pts (1 hex X Dreadful) – The upper and outer levels of the covenant.
They are decayed and fallen down; mostly open to the elements, overgrown.
Currently used mainly for workshops and storerooms.
-1pts (1 hex X Poor) - Just inside the outermost layers, much
of the area is not serving it’s original purpose (whatever that was) so
it is rated as Poor quality. Currently used mainly for living quarters
for most of the covenant members.
+2pts (2 hex X Good) - The deepest and innermost layers of the
covenant. Some of these sections were obviously originally catacombs,
others are temple like areas around small quiet pools. Was actually
originally built as Excellent quality but there are many small cracks and
collapsed sections. This is where the library is located and apparently
where the former Mercurial cult members lived and conducted most of their
magic. Not surprisingly this is where the current magus have largely
set up their laboratories and living quarters.
Repair: 0 pts Oddly, things do not seem to change much around
here.
Defenses -1
Site: +4pts (4 hex X open slope). Located on the ridge
of a small hill
Extent: -3pts ( 3 hex X None) If there once was a wall or defensive structure it has long since fallen into ruin. The ‘Elaborate Defensive structure’ is a large number of traps, trip wires, dead falls and pits all well hidden by the vegetation and chaotic architecture. What little is protected here is the lower regions of the covenant, mainly by virtue of the bulk of the layers above.
Repair: -2pts (2 hex X Poor) There are many windows, cracks,
and not necessarily strong doors leading into the lower levels.
Stores -3
Vis stocks: -1pts 50 vis in stock.
Supplies: 0 adequate stores
Reputation: -6pts For a Level 3 reputation amongst
the local population as being a haunted place (well it is!).
Contacts -5
Allies: 0 Too new, nobody seems to know you.
Enemies:
-6pts Remains of the Mecurial Cult, they want revenge and their
covenant back( 3pts even in exile they are powerful), intensity 3 (as they
are in exile they are having to spend much of their time rebuilding and
fending off their own enemies).
-8pts Restless and hostile spirits of various forms are be much
more common here and the towns in the surrounding area then what you would
usually expect. Perhaps as a side effect of the powerful time warping
spell of the Mecurial cult but this place seems to call to the undead.
Some may come from the outside, others appear to arise from the nearby
innumerable hidden crypts and forgotten graves of peoples long past.
4 pts for power, 4 pts for intensity.
Contacts: -4pts There are many mosaics and statues of people
and animals scattered about the grounds. Some how some they may be used
to see and hear through them. Perhaps it is the remains of the Mercurial
Cult, maybe the undead; maybe some of the artwork have their own agenda.
Improvement -1
Income: +1pts +50 pounds of silver/year surplus.
A large number of specialists are artists employed in the making and selling
Roman artifacts and artwork, particularly glassware. The large number
of specialists also makes it unnecessary to ‘go to town to buy some supplies’
so much money is saved by being more independent than most covenants. Also
making money from selling herbs and healing to local merchants.
Vis supply: 0pts The standard supply of 30 pawns of
vis a year.
4 pawns of Herbam vis in the Spring from flower blossoms of plants
growing around the pool.
6 pawns of Aquam vis from distilled waters
6 pawns of Ignem vis from vapors off the pool
6 pawns of Terram vis from silt deposits
6 pawns of Corpum vis from sweat collected off those who partake in
the pool
Inhabitants: -3pts Only 4 magi, 20 specialists and
25 solidiers resident. Except for the magi all of the covenant members
are classic Roman civilians and
soldiers. They only speak Latin and are more than a little mystified
and perturbed about the current state of Mythic Europe. Lead by an
officer and a Sergeant there are 23 ordinary legionary soldiers (‘miles
legionaries’) forming three tent groups (a ‘contubernium’) of eight each.
The legionaries are armed with the standard javelin (pilum) and Short Sword
(gladius), protected by a large shield (scutum) and the unmistakable lorica
Segmentata amour. The 20 specialists are of various occupations,
an unusual number of which are artisans of some type such as such as sculptor,
glassware maker, and jeweler. There are about 50 other inhabitants
of other more mundane occupations cooks, scullary maids, stable boys etc.
Library -3
The library is actually quite large and well stocked with scrolls and
tablets but a quick look show that only a small portion is actually usable.
Many of the texts seem to deal with mundane, and trivial maters such as
reports, receipts, advertisements, diary entries etc, stuff that a historian
of Roman antiquities might appreciate but nothing really useful.
Some of the more magical texts in the library were badly damaged in the
distortions of the Grounding. But so much of the rest is simply so
different, too alien from hermetic magic that it is mostly incomprehensible.
The Mercurial magi had long been isolated from members of even their own
order and seem to have traveled down strange paths. You strongly
suspect that they kept most of their knowledge in their heads and did not
bother trying to write everything down in a complete and comprehensible
form. Every once in while there are tantalizing yet obtuse references
to vis stocks, magical items places and people etc.
Spells: -4pts There are 300 levels worth of usable spells.
Hermetic Books: -4pts There are 90 points worth of usable books on magical subjects.
Mundane Books: +0 pts There are 300 points worth of usable
mundae books. There is still an excellent selection of classic Roman
era scripts, but only classic Roman era scripts. Nothing ‘modern’.
Mystical -1
Aura: +0pts Gives a magical aura of Level 3
See the ‘Description’ section above.
Magical Items: +0pts There seems to be plenty of odd items laying about but none of it seems to be functional. Just junk … you think.
Laboratories:
+2pts 4Xlabs with a +1 lab bonus
-6pts 2Xlabs with a –3 lab bonus. Located in the
upper, less habitable, sections of the covenant these labs have been stripped
of almost anything useful.