Catching Alyates

Alyates keeps appearing in his personae as long as it serves him. Player characters may notice Bonaventura's repeated trips to the balcony to discard articles of clothing. They may also see the fishwife rushing around the plaza trying to catch the articles. Once he has Arcane Connections to seven cardinals — in addition to the Arcane Connection he has to Bonaventura he abandons his persona and retreats to the Temple of Mercury.

Player characters who notice Malgarita early could follow her to the Temple of Mercury and confront Alyates there. They also might be able to trace him using Intellego Vim magic when he casts a spell on one of the cardinals. The Invisible Eye Revealed cast on one of the cardinals reveals that Alyates is watching him from afar, although the spell won't necessarily reveal where Alyates is hiding. If the player characters stayed at Malgarita's shop, the personal affects stored there work as Arcane Connections to her, and since Malgarita is Alyates, player characters can use these items to track Alyates to the Temple of Mercury. Other than his Aegis of the Hearth

spell, the Temple of Mercury is unprotected from intruders.

Alyates does not immediately confess, saying that collecting Arcane Connections to the cardinals isn't a crime. Manipulating one is, and if accused he says that the Augustan wizard Buonacorsus forced his hand. He claims that he discovered that the Virgilian wizard had place an enchanted statue in the Septizodium. Because he could not enter the building, he had to work through agents. "I was only using Arcane Connections to see what was going on inside, to try and find that wizard's damnable device!" If accused of controlling the cardinals he will say that he was trying to make them push the statue over the side of the balcony, but that the Faerie aura kept fouling his spell. He suspects that the wizard lives in the Colloseum and can point out the statue if the magi haven't discovered it yet. If believed, Alyates departs as soon as he can, using his bracelet to vanish when the magi look the other way.

If disbelieved he offers a contest of certamen, a gentleman's duel, to settle this affair. If he wins the magi must drop all accusations; if the player character wins Alyates will turn himself in at the next Tribunal. He will not admit to purposefully trying to control the cardinals for his own gain. If the magi can easily prove he is lying — perhaps they already have Buonacorsus in chains — Alyates snaps. "The pope killed my sodales," he will rant. "I can only be charged with mundane interference if it leads to endangering my sodales. Not doing this endangers my sodales! The pope is dangerous, look at what happened to Thermakopolis!"

If action flares, Alyates flees, using his Homeward Bound Bracelet and an Arcane Connection to his fishmonger shop. If he has Arcane Connections to the magi's assistants he turns them against their masters using mind-control spells. He has Arcane Connections to other places, and may depart entirely. If the player characters find an Arcane Connection to Alyates and can mimic his Rego Corpus instantaneous travel effect, an interesting chase could ensue. The Jerbiton "leaps" from city to city toward Constantinople, perhaps with the magi in hot pursuit. If the player magi cannot follow him with Rego Corpus spells then he is gone. This is not necessarily a bad ending, since success depends on saving the cardinals more than capturing the villain, and Alyates could return in the future, bent on revenge.