The story idea would be a winter covenant lead by a powerful NPC Bjornear 'werewolf' who is steadily going into twilight;
Other experienced magi have left the covenant, so right now it is just the PC's and the Bjornear.
The covenant has made many enemies both amongst magi and influential nobles.
The Bjornear is a noble's son, and inherited the property - the covenant itself is located in the nobles mansion; and he is ruling the peasands with a bloody iron fist. And recently, due to Twilight, he spends more and more time in his wolf form, madly attacking and killing animals and sometimes people.
But, due to his influence, Tribunal didn't decide to interfere.
Now the time has come - his rivals have teamed up, and want to burn down the covenant and slay him.

So, the story I want to achieve is one of PC's saving what they can from the covenant's library, and running for their lives to estabilish a new, fresh covenant in some other place.
(Good, because it allows them to design their covenant in-game, building it themselves, and a lot of adventure opportunities while doing so; and they are not overshadowed by powerful parens, so they have to rely on themselves more; and I have a good reason for PC's knowing little about inter-tribunal politics, but getting heaviliy involved; And I will have a whole covenant, but keep the magi power-levels low, because they will be yound and inexperienced; most of texts will be destroyed and they will have to find ways to learn more magic.)

Of course, them defeating the mundane assault in 5 minutes would be very counterproductive to the story - but I want them to be able to use their magic, but simply be overpowered within the rules.

So please help me about that assault ? It should be possible, I hope.

The mundanes could have help from rival magi (but that help must be pretty covert, assaulting magus in his sanctum without declaring Wizar War is violation of Code so big the rival magi don't want to risk)

So, how would mundanes attack ? I'm pretty starved for ideas.

well theres always the good ole seige, but since i dont know much if anything about the magic system, that may be easily overcome......do a Sitzkrieg (yes real term, real war concept)... its a war of waiting.......course thats pretty damn boring...

i guess it depends on the rivals army... eventually any force will get battered down by a stronger, and more fanatical opponant... if done in an assault on a chantry (sorry vampire player, i think ars uses those), then the best idea may be that the PCs are coming back from somewhere, and kinda stumble on to this... so that the chantry is getting a big dent knocked into it, as the PCs return...would they reisk magic, if they know most spells would just help the fanatics?.... but again, i dont know the magic system, im just trying to offer RP help....lol

Have you heard the expression "divide and conquer"? This came up in the aftermath to our last session. The sesson before that, 3 of our young magi got assaulted by a more experienced (but overconfident) magus. They managed to beat him thanks in part to the magus' overconfidence, but they recognise him as a threat.

Now they have just come into some magical resources, which they are intent on gurading from this new enemy. Trouble is, so far they have no grogs or contacts that they can call on. When something draws their attention away, they have a choice of either ignoring it, taking everything with them or dividing their forces.

Dividing their forces makes it easier for enemies of greater number to overcome them.

Where mundanes are concerned, overwhelming numbers may help as magi have to do strange things like concentrate on spells, target them, and of course resist the fatiguing effects of spell casting.

If the mundane power in an area wants shot of the magi, he could simply call them to a council and tell them so. If they decide to stay, pressure can be applied in the form of preventing resources reaching them (sanctions if you will), and then building up an army to handle the situation. More likely, the noble will attempt to gain additional leverage over the magi and allow them to stay under stringent conditions.

It has been known that water supplies have been poisoned to drive people away from an area.

My preferred method is to build up the tension over a period of time. Make the player magi feel threatened. Maybe even have the grizzled old timer laugh it off to give a counter point. Make them want to leave, or at least not want to stay and risk everything.

Additional stories and vignettes could help this (the beaver leaving his lodge when it is attacked etc).

Perhaps word reaches others in the Order, perhaps a quaesitor comes to investigate and concludes that the the covenant has made its position untenable.

After this political nastiness, the fighting begins. Small at first. Covenfolk buying supplies are confronted at market. Grogs are targeted. The church is coerced into lending its support against the magi (remember, a flicker of hope is needed and perhaps not everone is out to get them - can be used as an escape route later).

From there, well, what happens if the covenant is assaulted while the player magi are not there?

What if the small army is about to return as the magi themselves get back?

I hope the above sparks off some ideas for you. I quite fancy doing that myself now.

Mark

I know our group have a bunch of spells that are just plain useless in a fight.

Remember too that the army can attack more than 3 or 4 points at once, so fires can start and spread. Once the covenant infrastructure has gone, what would they stay for?

The old grizzled Bjornaer doesn't need to go into twilight. It would be far more dramatic to have him prepare for battle and to see him fall beneath the mob.

Have a priest go with the mob, blessing to his heart's fill. He is there to drive out the devil, which should benefit the mob no end.

If you want a quick affair then it will likely be a peasant mob. If you want a more organised and drawn out conflict, thnk about proper armed troops and siege engines.

In any case, to make the threat, you'll need in excess of 100 men assualtng the covenant. Maybe the magi can cope with that. Maybe they can kill 100. In which case, a larger army is required for the next assault.

Mark

to achieve what you want I - as a storyguide - would have the locals carry a holy relic with them. This of course assumes pure motives and rightful anger on the locals' side, who just cannot bear the depredations of the 'werewolf' any longer.

Look up the area's local history to decide on a suitable saint, or make up a holy hermit who lived in the area a century or so before the campaign starts.

Have the chosen saint appear to the most humble and devout priest in the area in a dream and request that his body or some specific relic of him be carried along for the march against the covenant.

Have that priest read mass before the assault. Have all the priests surround the relic and chant psalms while the battle rages. Basically, have the relic revered and handled like the Oriflamme at Bouvines.

It then bestows, say, X Faith points on all the participants in the expedition, so roughly X times 10% of the expedition become completely impervious to magical effects during the assault. Determine X right, and the assault should succeed.

After their victory, the locals will then most likely build at least a chapel dedicated to the helpful saint at the covenant site, and thereafter hold the day of the battle as a holiday in his honor.

Yours,

Berengar

Missiles can be herbem - rotten tomatoes, vegetables, etc, terrem - rocks, and depending on your definition - animale/herbem - dung, bones, sticks, ignem - flaming torches, flaming oil. Once they figure out what works and what doesn't they will concentrate on what works. Off course the biggest threat is the corporem missile - a human tackle. Once they are down a mob can rend them limb from limb. Or just render unconscious.

Any missiles will affect concentration and affect spell casting. Also frightened peasants will do some fairly stange things. Flail about, run in random directions, quiver in doorways.

A very powerful magi with the right combat spell combination will be difficult but there are always holes that can be exploited. The magi can be betrayed by a grog or custos - this betrayal may be willing or unwilling. If a character gets taken down then they can always be saved by someone they have helped or someone that thinks they can take advantage of the situation.

Remember also Second Sight is not unknown among mundanes and can reveal invisible or changed magi.

When all hell is breaking loose and the building is burning down around them they will want to get out of there.