Balbina

Balbina scholae Verditius (in winter 1209)

Balbina is an expert on the repair, reforging, and smelting of enchanted items. This is only a lesser mystery of her House, and it would be more common, except that it is seen as inferior to the more glamorous mysteries. There just aren't that many Verditius willing to dedicate themselves to fixing things others have made. Many of Balbina's clients bring her broken and forgotten artifacts from the Levant or other border regions of the Order. She also gets a steady flow of customers who want to lift curses off items; many of these curses were placed by her grand-sire, Himinis the Mad.

Balbina is one of the best Creo Vim specialists in House Verditius, and she is focused obsessively on her specialty, forsaking almost all other interests. Because she never creates anything new, she is considered irrelevant in the Verditius Contest and will never be influential in the House, but she is very wealthy, never wants for work, and secretly nurses a Hubris-powered grudge against all those in her House who take her for granted and never accorded her the respect she thinks she deserves. She has never taken an apprentice before; she claims this is because she hasn't had the time, but the truth is that the thought of humiliating herself by trying to speak in front of an apprentice horrifies her.

Balbina suffers from a crippling stutter; this makes spell casting even more difficult for her than it is for other Verditius magi, and is largely responsible for her retreat into the lab at an early age. She is deeply ashamed of her stammer and did not choose her Hermetic name, but other Verditius referred to her as Balbina so often that she gave up trying to correct them.

Balbina has only crafted one enchanted item of note: her Talisman. It is an elaborate pair of spectacles crafted mostly of wood but with metal fittings and many lenses which are raised and lowered into place through the use of rotating dials and tiny levers. The lenses, when used over a long period by a user skilled in interpreting what she sees, enable the wearer to perceive and better understand the magical bonds made when an item is enchanted. In addition to its many other spell-like effects, it is a superior quality item that adds +3 to all uses of Balbina's Inner Mystery.

Age 87 (51)

Warping 6 (15)

Virtues & Flaws (+6) Affinity with Creo (+1), Affinity with Vim (+1), Major Magical Focus: Repairing, Reforging and Smelting Enchanted Items (+3), Reforging Enchanted Items (+1), Verditius Magic (0); Afflicted Tongue (-1), Averse to Risk (-1), Hubris (-1), Infamous Master (-1), Poor Formulaic Magic (-1), Reclusive (-1)

Int +3, Per +2, Pre -2, Com -2, Str 0, Sta +1, Dex +2, Qik 0

Abilities Alpine Lore 2, Artes Liberales 3 (logic), Awareness 2, Bargain 3 (Negotiating Price), Concentration 3 (Lab Work), Craft: Armorsmith 5, Craft: Jeweler 4, Craft: Carpenter 7 (13) (fine work), Craft: Goldsmith 4, Craft: Silversmith 4, Craft: Swordsmith 5, Craft: Tailor 4, Finesse 2, Hermes Lore 2 (Enchanted Items), Italian 5, Latin 5, Magic Theory 7 (15) (Enchanted Items), Parma Magica 3 (Ignem), Penetration 2, Philosophiae 5 (Enchanted Items), Teaching 3 (12) (apprentice), Verditius Cult Lore 4 (Himinis's Lineage)

Arts Cr 30, In 15, Mu 5, Pe 5, Re 15; An 5, Aq 5, Au 5, Co 5, He 5, He 5, Ig 5, Im 5, Me 5, Te 5, Vi 30

Lab Total: Tech + Form + 28 (Int 3 + Aura 7 + MT 6 + Familiar 6 + 3 Talisman + 2 lab quality) + 7 if Enchanting

Enchanting her Talisman Lab Total: Tech + Form + 45.

Spells (120)

Doublet of Impenetrable Silk +4 (MuAn 15)

Trap of the Entwining Vines +29 (CrHe 15)

Wall of Thorns +29 (CrHe 20)

Piercing Shaft of Wood +4 (MuHe 10)

Aura of Ennobled Presence +4 (MuIm 10)

Eyes of the Eons +17T (InTe 10)

Edge of the Razor +7T (MuTe 20)

Rusted Decay of the Ten-Score Years +7T (PeTe 10)

Unseen Porter +17T (ReTe 10)

Hubris 4 ("They laughed at me when I offered to help them! But one day I'll show them...")

Personality Traits Ashamed +3, Cautious +1, Hubris +4

Familiar: Balbina's familiar is Geoffrey, a Weasel of Virtue she bound about twenty years after her Gauntlet. His cords are Gold +3, Silver +1, and Bronze +2. He has an Int of +1 and Magic Theory 5, adding +6 to her lab total.

Talisman: Balbina has enchanted a pair of oversize elder wood (+4 vs malicious magic) spectacles as her Talisman; it has fittings of silver (+2 Intellego) and bronze (+3 Terram) and multiple lenses that are adjusted with small side levers. Two of the lenses are clear glass (+5 to see through things). She made the spectacles herself, and they are a Superior item with a +3 bonus whenever they are used. This includes lab work.

Years of Study: 44

Lab Work: 1/4 year. 1 season binding her familiar. 2 magic theory XP: 5 (2).

Labor: 10 years. Balbina generates 21 labor points a season and has no expenses thanks to her covenant. She spends 5 seasons raising her workshop's innovation to +1, also earning 10 exposure XP in craft. Then she spends 10 seasons accumulating another 210 labor points to raise innovation to +2, also earning 20 more exposure XP and raising Craft: Carpenter to 6. Now she earns 24 labor points a season. It takes 12 more seasons to raise innovation to the maximum +3 and she earns 24 more exposure XP in Carpenter. She spends 6 seasons improving her workshop's resources, gaining 12 more exposure XP, raising Carpenter to 7. She has 147 labor points and now gains 27 a season. 6 more seasons gets her Resources to +3 and 12 more exposure XP. Carpenter 7 (13) and a Craft total of 15. Then she hired a journeyman carpenter for a workshop assistant for one season, adding 2 to her Craft total, and exerts herself for that season, in order to craft her Talisman. She makes an additional aging roll and rolls on the workshop exertion table, but crafts a superior item with a +3 bonus, which will add to all her lab totals.

Years of Lab Work: 6 1/4. 2 seasons rearranging her lab for a +2 bonus. 4 XP magic theory. 1 season preparing her talisman for enchantment, spending 10 vis and opening it for 17 worth of effects thanks to Verditius magic. Then she spends 3 seasons Reforging it, each time increasing its capacity by 6 pawns, for a total of 78 pawns. 8 more magic theory XP. She spends 6 more seasons, spending 10 pawns per season, opening her Talisman for a total of 77 pawns and gaining 12 more magic theory XP. Spends 2 seasons enchanting Ribbons of Clear Speech, gaining 4 more magic theory XP. Spends 4 seasons enchanting Discern the Images of Truth and Falsehood, gaining 8 magic theory XP and MT 6 (2). 1 season enchanting with Eyes of the Eagle, 2 more XP. 6 seasons enchanting 7 league stride, 12 more XP.

Spent a season opening the Arts for her apprentice. 2 XP magic theory. And a season repairing an item. 2 XP magic theory. Spent 1207 studying Teaching in preparation for teaching her apprentice. In 1208, her rejection by the Quaesitors and Hoplites triggers her Hubris and she begins obsessing over the creation of a fearsome weapon which will strike terror into all who laugh at her. Summer and Winter are spent enchanting Twilight's Gaze into her Talisman. (Total 12 XP in Magic Theory, and she is 24 points into the enchantment).

Enchantments

Balbina's Talisman, The Eyes of the Forge, is enchanted with the following effects:

Eyes of the Eagle

As the spell. The wearer can see to any distance with a clarity as if the object was only a foot away.

(2 uses per day. Level 26 InIm effect. 1 season and 3 pawns.)

Seven League Stride

As the spell, with casting requisites covering most objects Balbina is likely to be wearing or carrying. Coupled with Eyes of the Eagle, Balbina can use this to travel from horizon to horizon each round, rapidly crossing great distance.

(B 30, +1 Herbam, +1 Animal, +1 Terram, +10 unlimited uses per day. 55 ReCo effect. Lab total 64. 6 seasons and 6 pawns.)

Discern the Images of Truth and Falsehood

As the spell. Sees through illusions of level 30 or less. No penetration, to avoid accusations of scrying on magi.

(B 35, +1 Conc, +10 unlimited uses). Level 50 InIm effect. Her lab total is 64. 4 seasons. Fills 5 pawns.

Ribbons of Clear Speech

Based on the spell Thoughts Within Babble, the wearer of the spectacles sees all speech as ribbons emanating from the speaker's mouth; the words on the ribbons are in a language the wearer of the spectacles understands.

(B 5, +1 Conc, +3 Hearing, +1 Muto for transforming speech to words, +10 unlimited uses per day. Total effect 40, her lab total is 64. Fills 4 pawns.)

Twilight Gaze (CrVi 65, Penetration 50)

R Sight, D Mom, T Ind

By lowering a pair of violet lenses into place and focusing on a single individual, the wearer of the spectacles inflicts 10 Warping on the target. If a magus, check for Twilight.

(B 50, +3 Sight, +10 Unlimited uses per day, +25 Penetration) Effect 100 and 10 pawns of vis. Her current lab total is 105, or 113 with Eva's help, and she's completed 62 points of this by the beginning of Winter 1208.