The City in Need

With the army of Casalmaggiore swelling in numbers, the Veronese city council reaches out to the player covenant offering money and charters in exchange for magical aid against the inevitable attack. If the player covenant hasn't seen the danger, then at least the city has.

This is the crucial event that determines whether the covenant or the city is the object of the siege. By this stage, the magi of the covenant understand that the city is a secondary objective for the magi of Trattato and that the mundane forces could be drawn away from the city by holding out in the covenant.

Assuming that the losing twin from the first act survived beyond that part of the story, he has found himself in opposition to his brother and is lending his influence to Verona. It is this exile who brings Verona's offer to the covenant.

He arrives with a high-ranking Veronese councilor, Migliore Bevilacqua, and flanked by 30 mounted soldiers and council advisors as an overt show of force. Neither Estensi nor Bevilacqua make any demands, but they do offer the friendship of Verona if the magi would reciprocate. If given the opportunity to speak frankly with the magi, they admit that Verona is concerned that the duke's magical allies would make a mockery of the city walls and that his army could walk in with impunity. They recognize that they need advice and resources with which to counter a magical assault.

This may be the prompt that the player magi need to realize that the potential threat against their own covenant comes from a combined magical and mundane assault. And unless they have already started looking at how they might defend against such an attack, they probably start doing so now.

This meeting should also emphasize the two likely avenues of assault: pitched battle or siege. The player magi may choose to address one or both of these, and Federico/Giuliano Estensi can act as a military advisor if required.

If the magi are interested in hearing Verona out, they are invited to attend the council convened in the Basilica di San Zeno Maggiore in the heart of Verona. Bevilacqua champions drafting a treaty with the magi, preferring to call them "philosophers."

But a rival to Bevilacqua (possibly even Ezzalino di Romano, described nearby) addresses the magi directly and cajoles them into admitting their true nature. This councilor, for purely political reasons and a desire to attack Bevilacqua, challenges the magi to prove that they can be trusted and are not in league with the duke. The Gift means that the other councilors immediately find this accusation plausible.

If the player magi, or their representatives address the councilor's baiting well, the council turns in their favor. Remember to apply The Gift's social penalty to any interpersonal rolls made by the magi, and to apply the level 5 Dominion to any spellcasting within the basilica.

Working with a city, or any mundane noble or organization, is not for-