Investigation

Most player magi are likely to investigate the appearance of a village that threatens their vis sources. Whether the magi decide to use magic or mundane agents to investigate, what little information they can gather comes quite easily. Relisius as the mastermind runs a tight ship, recruiting and supporting through agents and dead drops. The villagers are suspicious of strangers, but successful use of social Abilities reveals what little information they have: primarily that they have all been recruited by Dieter and receive plans and materials through Axel Gusseisen. Learning the names and appearances of the mundane helpers — Dieter and Axel — is fairly easy. Following Dieter around finds him recruiting more villagers and workers, according to some set plan. He is a very hard man to interrogate by mundane means, and he only knows the schedule and geographical plans according to which he carries out his recruiting. His memory has been altered with Perdo Mentem (Base 15: Remove major memory, +1 Eye), so that he can recall only the name Pierre Relisius and a fuzzy image of his face. Axel can be followed to a warehouse in Bremen where goods and

materials arrive from various places, to be sent to the village as needed.

Even simple Intellego Mentem magic reveals these facts more quickly than questioning the villagers. Using scrying magic, as mentioned earlier, uncovers the occasional visits of Dieter and Axel. Since the villagers make up a small and closely-knit group, infiltrating them is very difficult, although magically assisted disguise helps. The covenant could also arrange for one of their agents to be recruited; Dieter has no way of checking this, and the Soterists may not be given any reason to be suspicious.

If the magi use Intellego Vim magic, the guidelines from ArM5, page 158 and Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, pages 74–75 apply. All the lower magnitude effects and the short-lived magic are hard to detect, unless the player magi are on the scene almost immediately. Enchanted items could yield a lot of information if stolen and investigated in the laboratory. Similarly, the powerful Animal and Herbam spells lasting whole days give the investigating magi something to work with. If the magi can determine the sigils associated with the effects, they can tie them to particular magi. The items are supplied by the Soterists, while the powerful and indiscreet Animal and Herbam spells are cast by the Wächter faction. In order to be able to use this knowledge, the characters need to know which magi have these sigils. The storyguide decides how difficult it is to do this. It may require nothing more than an Organization Lore: Order of Hermes roll, or it may require getting access to Quaesitorial records. The knowledge gained serves to identify at least some of the major magi from one or both of the factions. Early in the story, this forms the basis for a case at the next scheduled Tribunal; later on, it may allow the player characters to persuade the Quaesitores to formally intervene.

The woods surrounding the village are more or less constantly patrolled by Relisius' grogs using invisibility devices (Veil of Invisibility PeIm 24 Touch/ Sun/Ind, Penetration +0, 2 uses/day, environmental trigger: sunrise/sunset). Sometimes, younger magi might patrol the area themselves; otherwise they use devices or spells to keep tabs on the village at regular intervals. If invisible grogs observe magi, the magus casting the invisibility spell has probably broken the Code on scrying, and the magi may clearly do so. However, even if the magi have solid proof, this is not a serious offense, as the offenders were not targeting places the magi were known to be, and its legal resolution must wait for the next scheduled Tribunal.