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Scribed by Audacia

Spring 1137 AD


Now come I to the Journal. This record kept now since the refounding of Severn Temple has detailed many trials, but this last; the attack of the Dragon, must surely be the closest to complete destruction that this covenant has come. Add to this my personal grief for the death of my Pater, Caisus, who stood fast against the onslaught of the dragon twice; first at Blackthorn where he was driven back by the flames and fury of the beast, and lastly here. That a magus should ever once have to face such a terrible foe speaks volumes for that magus’s courage, but to willingly return to fight such a creature a second time must mark Caisus as one of the finest of my House. His name shall be spoken with honour at the next House meeting where we remember those who have fallen in battle. He lived and died as a Flambeau, and woe betide any who seek to challenge that account.

For the living, we must endure and survive; that is our duty, both to the covenant and to those who laid down their lives for it’s defence. The long and bitter task of rebuilding shall begin. I shall turn my magics to the task of clearing the debris and wreckage from the site so that rebuilding can begin. It is a long job, even with my skills, and will probably require more than one season’s work. Antonius shall scour the land for news; for the nobles make war with one another and we are in no fit state to hold the covenant against a determined mundane army. Caelestis will travel to Blackthorn in the hope that they have a spell in their library to create a new tower for our laboratories. Turold and Ruaridh, the latter still familiarising himself with the political landscape after his long absence, shall seek out the Archimagus Jolyon and encourage him to return from whichever regio he currently resides. The Grand Tribunal meets next season, and it would seem wise that Jolyon attend to speak for his House.

From the shade of Idris we have learnt that, during the attack, a shadowy figure opened the gates of the covenant from the inside. Personally I believe the identity of this figure to have been Darius or his familiar. To gain further evidence of this we had Serenia to attend us again and investigate.

Antonius returned with news. It seems the local mundanes have chosen different sides in what appears to be shaping up to be a bloody civil war. Monmouth, whose activities in the past have oft’ caused difficulty for this covenant and its allies, has sided with Henry and brings with him support from the Welsh. Chepstow, and thus our neighbour Martin of Lydney, has sided with Stephen.

Upon the road, Antonius was assailed by a group of bandits. One of the attackers summoned thick vegetation around Antonius’ legs, trapping him fast whilst the other bandits fired arrows. Fortunately, Antonius had the wit to evade the trap with little injury, save perhaps to his pride. No doubt these bandits were unsettled by the fact that he openly used magic to vanish before their eyes. Whilst they are a small threat, they have attacked my sodalis – for this, mark my words, they shall pay.

At the end of the season Ruaridh and Turold returned. It appears that their excursion was successful, though not without incident. Jolyon has despatched himself to Durenmar, and it is hoped he will arrive in time for the Emergency meeting of the Grand Tribunal.

Summer


Turold and Ruaridh reported that the fae play some game of politics with each other. As ever, Turold has been drawn into their affairs and shall spend a season acting as a go-between for the Gofannon and the Ninniaw. Ruaridh, wisely in my view, will leave the faerie diplomacy to Turold and venture into Mynnydd Myrddyn in search of Vis. The barrows therein are said to contain plentiful amounts of Terram vis in the shape of bronze weapons and armour. To return so soon to the regio where he was trapped for nearly a decade reveals an admirable quality of courage in my sodalis. Caelestis, frustrated that we have chosen to await the possibility of Jolyon’s aid in the reconstruction of our tower rather than cast the spell he transcribed last season, has decided to unpack his laboratory in one of the undamaged buildings. It is hoped from there he will be able to extract some vim Vis so that we can recast the Aegis. I shall continue clearing the site.

Antonius reported that the war has begun in earnest within the Dean. Monmouth has ambitions to capture both Chepstow and Gloucester, it seems. With the Earl of Gloucester away fighting Stephen’s enemies in the Southwest, it has fallen to our neighbour Martin to play a significant role in the defence of the Dean. Antonius believes that, should Stephen triumph, this will play well for our influence over the region. Apparently much depends upon the Archbishop of Hereford, who is yet to declare for whom he shall commit Hereford’s formidable armies. It seems that the Knight of Goodrich has taken the opportunity to seize land for himself during the crisis. We have sent some grogs to keep watch, so that we are forewarned if any attack comes towards Lydney.

Ruaridh returned towards the end of the season, touched by some spell of madness delivered upon him by some entity within the barrow. At the end of the season, Turold returned. He brought with him a horse and cart, apparently a gift from the Ninniaw to Cyrgig.

Autumn

With Ruaridh recovered from the enchantment, he related events that had occurred within the regio. They made base within the abandoned hillfort, but their camp was disturbed by a magical creature which apparently tried to hunt them. This bestial, grey-skinned man was eventually slain by Ruaridh and two pawns of Corporem Vis were extracted from its corpse. From the description given in Radolphus’s journal it appears it was one of the Myrddyn’s brood from the nearby caves. They also espied a hunting party of Celts who made camp just outside the ruined fort. Ruaridh says that a couple of them strayed into the fort and began exploring. He shouted at one, but they were so nervous they broke camp and fled at once back into the forest.

Within the barrows, Ruaridh described how he had felt a cold presence and his Parma tested by some spirit. He sought to use a Perdo Mentem spell he had developed for the destruction of such entities. However, and not for the first time it seems, the spell had an unpredicted effect. The spirit appeared to be briefly empowered by the spell, and was able to inflict a curse of madness upon Ruaridh. Whilst an unfortunate weakness in such a spell, it is possible that the spirit is banished or exhausted by the attack. Both Ruaridh and Antonius have used the spell in the past, both have then been attacked by the spirit, after which no more is seen or heard of it. When I have a laboratory and some time I may investigate this effect, for I have long sought an easier method for the destruction of spirits. This season, Ruaridh shall assist in the rebuilding of a damaged section of the outer defensive wall.

Antonius reported that the Archbishop of Hereford has thrown his lot in with Stephen. This has seriously undermined Monmouth’s attacks on Chepstow and Gloucester, and has probably turned the tide of the war here in the Dean. Antonius will turn his attention to his merchant contacts and attempt to find some recruits to bolster our numbers of grogs.

Turold has brokered a peace between the courts of the wood and the stone, and they are once again allies. It appears the tension was over the Llyn-y-fan, who wished to be released from Ninniaw’s court and wed the King of the Mountain. Turold will speak to Sylvania at Cad Gadu to see if she can give any insight into the ramifications for this union, for Turold believes the couple to be ill matched. I still do not understand why my Sodalis should care so much about their affairs and games, he has such brilliant and ambitious plans enough for his craft to fill his lifetime. One benefit to the covenant has arisen though, the horse and cart given to Cyrgig are of faerie nature and may pass freely and with ease through the faerie regio. This means we can at last install Cyrgig at the faerie settlement and begin reaping the Terram vis produced there. Cyrgig may also be able to provide us with warnings of trouble from our faerie neighbours. Turold will offer his assistance to Jolyon. The Archimagus has offered us help once he has rebuilt his laboratory, hopefully Turold’s aid will speed this process. He may also gain us news of what has happened at the Grand Tribunal last season. We shall meet again in two weeks to finally decide whether or not to await Jolyon’s aid.

Caelestis will extract vim vis. For myself … with Ruaridh’s assistance and some heavily armed grogs, I intend to pay our local nest of bandits, and their hedge wizard, a little visit.

The attack on the bandit camp turned out to be more complicated than I had anticipated. Tracking the bandits to the cave, once used briefly by Petrus as a laboratory, was easy enough. From there I held the others to watch for any bandits trying to escape while I went in. Within a short while all the bandits and the hedge wizard were slain. Only then did we realise that we ourselves were being hunted. From about the clearing edge wolves were seen, and amongst them a dark presence. The giant wolf, which we strongly suspected to come from the Dell, launched an attack against us. Against the ordinary wolves, driven forward by the infernal beast, we held our ground in the entrance to the cave. In the fighting one man, Hassan, is worthy of mention. I saw him first cut down two wolves with a single blow from his great sword. Then, when the great wolf itself attacked, he bought the magi time to prepare defence by standing fast against the infernal beast whilst the other men fled or panicked. In the end my spirit guardian, Ricardo, drew the infernal creature away, allowing us the opportunity to regroup and return to the covenant.

At the end of the second week we met as council. Jolyon had accepted Turold’s help with his laboratory, and was willing to create for us a ritual tower to our specifications. After a brief discussion we agreed to await this generous offer of aid. With luck it will not be too long now before we have a sturdy tower to replace the ruined one.

Of the Grand Tribunal we heard that some rulings had been passed. It seems that Jordael has been appointed the Primus of House Ex-Miscellanea, and that the rights of membership to that House have been restored. Members of Ex-Miscellanea need only present themselves to the senior Quaesitor of each Tribunal to resume their seats and cast votes at Tribunals once again. However, McGreine and his rebels are still held outside the code, and the march against them will proceed until the necessary and inevitable outcome is obtained. For the rest of this season Turold returned to Lear Valley to assist Jolyon, whilst I cleared the remaining debris around the old main building. Come the new year, however, I have plans to hunt again.

Winter

In the council meeting we discussed the danger posed by the demonic wolf. In the end I was content to have Turold prepare three doses of a twelfth magnitude potion of demon’s eternal oblivion. In Spring, when they are ready, Ruaridh and I, accompanied by some men, will try to track and slay this creature once and for all. In the meantime we shall practice the Parma Magica together.

Antonius reported that the Baron of Monmouth has been forced into retreat after Hereford’s men came to Chepstow’s aid. With some considerable effort he was able to recruit nine new fighting men to add to our numbers of grogs. However, despite the increase in the price for iron, the markets have been disrupted by the fighting and our coffers will end the year shallower than they began. He has decided to learn some of the Arabic tongue from the warrior Hassan. Caelestis will travel to Blackthorn to study the Terram books in the visitor’s library.

The season passed peacefully enough, which was some relief after the terrible attack this time last year. We had many discussions about the design of the new tower. Indeed, after a long discussion, we decided to have two joined towers that would be placed near to the surviving section of the old building. Turold advised us that we would need to finalise such a design by the end of the season to allow Jolyon time to incorporate it into the spell. This we did, and so ended the year.
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