The Vis Cave

Time:		1-3 October 1067 (Winter)
Game Master:		Matt Taylor
Characters:		Domnal mac Sernac Coenred Ivan Victor Egar Tim		Magus Grog Magus Companion Magus Grog		David Ternes   David Farmer   Larry Bingham NPC

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Domnal mac Sernac mic Trion magus of House Tremere, late of the Covenant of Horsingas, arrived at the Covenant of Loch Laggan on the first day of the new season. The winter of 1067 was upon the covenant, and things were dead. All but two of the new magi were out investigating a Monolith far to the east of the covenant. The older magi were, as usual, secluded in their laboratories doing research. The Primus came out for a few minutes to greet the new magus, and then left him in the hands of the covenant's Autocrat, William.

After a tour of the covenant (a quick tour, as the covenant isn't that big), Domnal, his companion Christoph and grog Coenred, were shown to their quarters. This turned out to be a nice, but none to roomy house shared with two other magi. Domnal was also shown a vacant underground laboratory which he would be permitted to use.

The letter written to the Primus of Horsingas had implied that Loch Laggan was a place of many interests, with magic filling the countryside, and adventures just waiting to be had. But, this place was just too quiet. William informed him that nothing was planned, because so many of the magi were gone. Domnal insisted that there had to be something which needed to be done. William noted that the annual vis collection had not been accomplished, and promised to see about it. A few hours later William informed Domnal that the vis collection would begin the next day, and went off to tell the others that they would be needed for it.

The next morning, Domnal, with his grog Coenred, met Ivan of House Bjornaer, Ivan's companion Victor, and Egar of House Criamon. It was a subdued meeting, as neither of the magi really seemed to be very interested in the expedition. A covenant grog, named Tim, was assigned to lead the party to the vis cave. The party then set out.

The trip was uneventful, and took just over half a day. The only item of note was discovering that Victor spoke only some strange foreign language which Ivan said was "Rus". It made it a bit difficult to coordinate things, but the party made do. Tim had no problem locating the cave. It was near the sea at the head of a small cove which was surrounded by cliffs.

The passage into the cave was narrow, especially for seven foot tall Victor. A few hundred yards in, the party encountered a great hole in the floor of the passage. There were only slim ledges on either side. Tim was the first to try to cross, but he slipped. Fortunately a line was tied to him. Victor prevented Tim falling, but when he hit the side of the hole he broke his leg. He was taken back to the entrance and a spell cast on him to ease his pain for a while.

Ivan turned into a huge white cat (which he later said was a "Siberian Tiger"). He had no trouble getting around the hole. A rope was thrown across and made stiff with a simple spell. The rest of the party used this as a hand-hold and was able to cross, although Egar proved to be rather clumsy, almost falling twice.

Beyond the hole was a large chamber whose floor was covered with small round rocks. The party had been told that there would be colored vis stones here. Domnal and Egar were able to tell which stones were vis, and so they, along with Coenred and Victor began to collect them.

Meanwhile, Ivan searched the chamber for dangers. Of course, he found something. At the back was a big pool of water. It began to ripple, and then a large lizard emerged. No one could positively identify the creature, but Domnal came to the conclusion that it was something known as a "Giant Indonesian Cave Lizard". [No, he doesn't know where Indonesia is ... it just came to him!] Ivan and Victor fought the lizard. Neither seemed to be able to do any significant damage to it. However, each managed to injure himself, seriously. Iven broke his right arm, and Victor messed up and let the lizard get a good bite on him.

Seeing a disaster developing, Domnal called for them to retreat while he readied a Ball of Abysmal Flame. After they disengaged, he hit the lizard with the Ball. It quickly ran back to the pool of water, obviously hurt. The party decided that discretion was the better part of valor [That's not quite how they put it, but it comes down to that.] Covered by Domnal and Coenred, the party withdrew back as they had come.

Other than helping Tim, there were no problems getting out of the cave. Camp was made in the woods well away from the cave. The next day the party returned to the covenant. There it was determined that 38 pawns of vis had been collected.