Tophet's Gate (cont'd)

casting of a network of wards that envelope the crater. Re-casting is required as the bubbling volcano regularly breaks the circular wards. The magi of the covenant are also wellknown as masters of warding magic and other tribunal magi visit the covenant for instruction and study.

Sunder the Gate: Rumors reach the magi of a ritual that can destroy the hell portal. Chasing leads and researching this project might require travel throughout Mythic Europe, and include many years of work. Of course, there is always the possibility that the rumored ritual is an Infernal plot: maybe the ritual will summon a demonic horde to destroy the covenant, or maybe the rumors are just intended to distract the magi from warding the portal.

Devil's Night: Once a year, the forces of Hell batter against the covenant's defenses. Usually, these efforts are futile, but this year Hell has managed to marshal an army of soldiers led by infernalists in the mundane world, near the covenant. The infernalists plan to attack the covenant in the hope of breaking the wards about the hell portal. As the covenant is more used to dealing with supernatural assaults, there may be unexpected problems in dealing with a large mundane attack.

Tragic Heroes

The covenant was founded by a magus whose lover (or beloved friend or family member) secretly turned to infernalism and then died in a state of unrepentant sin. The magus intends to study and then open the portal to hell, so he can travel to Hell and rescue his beloved from eternal damnation. The magus' plan may actually be the playing out of a stratagem of a Deceiver demon (see Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 48).

Some stories that this might inspire include:

Recruitment: The magus tries to recruit a small group of magi to help in his project. Can he trust them? Do they suspect he is an infernalist?

The Devil's Bargain: The devil rises from the hell portal and offers to return the soul of the magus' lover in exchange for the souls of a wealthy family of aristocrats. Is the devil trustworthy? Will dealing with the devil damn the magus himself? (No, and yes, obviously, but the magus might convince himself otherwise.) Can the magus find a way to damn the aristocrats?

Dead Martyrs: Carrying a collection of holy relics will help protect the magus as he walks through the wastes of hell searching for his beloved. The magus can amass relics by raiding churches and monasteries. He might be able to buy relics, too, although he will need to be wary of fakes, and by buying relics the magus will commit the canon law crime of simony.

Heaven's Labors: A saint appears to the magus in a dream and offers to protect him during his journey through Hell. However, before the saint will help, the magus must found a monastery dedicated to the saint on the rim of the volcano. The prayers of the monks in the monastery will aid the magus during his sojourn in Hell.

Accused of Infernalism

A very real danger, of course, from living in close proximity to a portal to Hell is that regardless of the intentions of the characters they are vulnerable to accusations of infernalism. For this reason, the magi may want to keep the hell portal secret. Some possible stories arising from this concern are:

A grog goes missing: Has he merely fallen into the lava, or has he run away? What does he know about the hell portal? Was he a spy from a rival covenant? Can the magi track him down before he reveals their secret?

Visitors: Foreign magi unexpectedly arrive at the covenant. Can the hell portal be hidden from them? Can the visitors be encouraged to leave promptly without arousing their suspicions, or do they already know about the portal? Can the demons on the other side of the hell portal be relied upon to keep quiet?

Framed: Even if the volcano is not really a hell portal, it is common knowledge (right or wrong) that many volcanoes are. This means that a rival covenant might accuse the magi of infernalism, anyway. If the rival covenant is politically well-connected, within the tribunal, the accusation could lead to an investigation by the Quaesitors. Dealing with the investigation could be bothersome and disruptive to laboratory work even if there is nothing for the Quaesitors to find. Of course, a diabolically clever rival could even make their own deal with the devil to plant evidence of infernalism in the volcano crater.

Stone Hammer Effect

PeTe 33

Pen: +0, unlimited uses

R: Sight, D: Momentary, T: Part

This effect is activated when the Stone Harvester detects that its target material is beneath the surface of the earth. The Stone Hammer effect loosens up to one cubic pace of intervening stone or dirt. This allows the target material to be lifted out of the ground.

(Base 3, +3 Sight, +1 Part, +1 affect stone; +10 unlimited uses, +3 linked trigger (Stone Wealth))

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (66), Two Seasons (50), Three Seasons (44), Four Seasons (42).

The Thermal Bath of Good Humor

This invested item is a bath in which the covenfolk (and magi) can bathe in water heated by the volcano. Regular bathing in these waters increases the health of the characters. On the other hand, a version of this bath The Thermal Bath of Scalded Flesh could be invented as a sadistic torture device.

The bath is a huge item; if it is made of stone, it requires 20 pawns to open for enchantment (this takes one season and a Magic Theory Score of 10). If the bath is made of metal (iron or copper), it requires 25 pawns to open for enchantment (this takes one season and a Magic Theory Score of 13). The effects later only require 1 and 3 pawns to invest, which means that there is plenty of room in the bath for other effects.

Test the Water's Effect

InIg 9

Pen: +0, constant effect

R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Individual

This effect determines the temperature in the bath. When the temperature drops below a comfortable bathing temperature, it activates the heating effect Fill the Bath. If the bath is intended to be The Thermal Bath of Scalded Flesh, then this effect is invented to monitor around (and activate the Fill the Bath effect at) the boiling temperature of water.

(Base 2, +1 Touch, +2 Sun; +4 constant effect)

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (18), Two Seasons (14), Three Seasons (12), Four Seasons (12).

Fill the Bath Effect

ReAq 28

Pen: +0, unlimited uses per day

R: Sight, D: Diameter, T: Individual

This effect causes the water in the bath to move through the air, pass over a volcanically heated region, and then back in a circle into the bath. The water travels in its circuit as a gentle stream suspended in the air at about waist height. The water returns to the bath warmed and dissolved in the water are a number of beneficial mineral salts.

If the bath is being controlled to a comfortable bathing temperature, then any characters who bathe once a day for most of the year receives a +1 Living Condition modifier to their Aging Rolls for that year, and a +1 Modifier to any Recovery Rolls they make during the year (see ArM5, pages 168 and 179). This modifier cannot be increased by more frequent bathing. These beneficial effects come from the mineral salts that are entrained in the water. The beneficial effects are not magical in origin, and a character who constantly uses the bath in this way does not gain Warping Points. The bath does not need to be able to detect the mineral salts as they are naturally present in the volcano. If for some reason, the mineral salts are lacking from the volcano (which would be highly unusual) then the bath has no beneficial effects on the bather — apart from cleanliness, of course!

If the bath is being controlled to a scalding temperature, then any character immersed in the bath takes +12 damage each round due to the elevated temperature.

(Base 1, +3 Sight, +1 Diameter, +2 very unnatural effect; +10 unlimited uses per day, +3 linked trigger (Test the Waters))

Required Lab Total to invest effect: One Season (56), Two Seasons (42), Three Seasons (38), Four Seasons (35).

Well Ever-full

This well is an invested item. It has two effects enchanted in it: one periodically fills the well with water from the sea, the other removes the salt from the water. As both effects are momentary, once the water has been affected it is no longer under a magical effect. The water is thus drinkable by characters with Magic Resistance. If there is a suitable river or lake near the covenant, then the well could source its water from there, without the need to remove the salt from the water. However, many naturally-occurring volcanoes are located on islands remote from sources of fresh water. River and lake sources can also be problematic as they may not be available year-round (through either evaporation or freezing), and may even dry up completely for years at a time.

As the two effects require 6 and 3 pawns of vis respectively, the well must be opened for enchantment using at least 9 pawns of vis. A well (a huge item made of stone) takes 20 pawns of vis to open for enchantment (leaving room for extra effects to be invested if desired). It takes one season to open the well for enchantment, which requires a Magic Theory Score of 10.

Fill the Well

ReAq 54

Pen: +0, 2 uses per day

R: Arcane, D: Momentary, T: Individual

This effect is triggered every sunrise and sunset. It instantaneously fills the well with water from the sea (which must be within seven leagues).

The effect requires an Arcane Connection to the sea. Any water which remains from the previous triggering of the effect is sufficient for this. However, if the well is ever completely drained of water, it must be primed with a cup of water from the sea. If the well ceases to work (for some reason) for more than a few months, then the well must also be refilled with a cup of water from the sea, as the Arcane Connection to the sea will have expired.

The volume of water that is transported daily into the well is sufficient to supply the water needs of a covenant of several