Scribed by Pyrrhus
Spring 1305AD
We met on the first day of spring as usual and everyone was in attendance. I drew the meeting to order and asked for any news from the previous season. Because we were all in the covenant during the winter months, there was not much news. I explained my plan for my journey to Gofinwe's cave and Jari suggested that I should leave quickly if Gofinwe does not accept the sword I had retrieved from the grave of Magus Edward. Jari and Volutus told the council of the black lightning they had both seen or had felt over Mynedd myrddyn, I suggested that we should report these findings to the Tribunal in summer as the growth of influence of the shining one is a worry we should share with our sodales. Due to the visitation of the Tegid Foel the previous winter, our vis supplies were quite flush and it was to my sodales' delight that I was able to make a distribution of a rook of vis for each covenant service of which each Magus had done just one. Each magus who so desired (which ended up being each bar Hypatia) was granted one hundred and fifty pennies. Once the division of vis was complete, we declared our seasonal activities for the season of spring. Hypatia as normal would be at court in London, Volutus was again trying to invent his regio anchoring spell and I did so hope he was successful this time. Naevius studied from the Intellego texts, Terentius studied from some of the Vis just distributed and Jari stated that he would be inventing a spell. Terentius, Hypatia and I stated we would train in the parma magica during our free time, Naevius said he would continue his reading of the Intellego texts which is a trait I admire, Volutus said he would read from the books on hermetic law presumably to aid him in his rulings as a quaesitor and Jari said he would learn some chirurgy from his companion Eric.
I travelled to Gofinwe’s cave with the expert guidance of the faerie fox Eanfled, and a personal bodyguard of captain Merrick. It was an easy journey for me as I was waking in the trail of the Captain who looked a little puffed out by the time we got to the cave, I melted the ice off the stairs and entered the cave to meet Gofinwe. He stated he needed to test the sword but I was not happy with that as it was obvious that if the sword did not raise the faerie Turold he would consider it not a suitable sword. However, after some discussion we crossed the hair wide bridge and entered a cavern with a pool of metal just off this cavern was a smaller one where the cold stone body of the faerie that had called itself Turold lay. Placing the sword on the statue-like body Gowinwe waited for Turold to stir but he did not even though Eanfled pulled at Turold;s foot. Gofinwe then declared the sword not suitable and again argued that it was, and we then went into the main cavern where the faerie lord or pagan god Gofannon arose and examined the blade, he stated that the blade was of crude mortal construction but did fulfil the letter of the bargain. We then returned back to the cave, but Gofinwe would not carry me over the bridge, I then used the cloak to lift me and controlling the winds deftly I flew the gap and landed in Gofinwe's workshop. I returned with the captain and Eanfled to the Covenant and finding that only 2 weeks had passed, set to work on improving my art of Creo using some personal vis.
A few weeks later the Redcap Magus Gaines arrived with some news which was very relevant to myself. He informed us that there had been a battle In the Iberian tribunal and in it the traitor Prudentia had been slain along with her Templar bodyguard by the Magus Guido and a group of mages from the south of the Tribunal. Guido is a member of Flambeau whose age exceeds a century from my recollection. Unfortunately two magi of good standing in the order also died in the victory. Gaines went on to inform us that Guido had called a house meeting at Verdi Covenant in the summer of 1306 and if I wished passage then I should talk with Emerius at the meeting of the Stonehenge tribunal in summer about traveling on house Mecere’s ship. We informed Gaines that other covenants should be informed about the abbot of Tintern being an infernalist and he had fled into south west wales. There was a private letter for Volutus.
Later in the season Hypatia returned and reported at an informal council that the English-French war was going badly for Theo on the continent the French had successfully captured some castles in the Bordeaux region and took control of the lands around them. Scotland had elected a new king called Robert the Bruce and it was hoped that he would not ally with the French against the English in the current war. The most interesting news was that the priest of St John's church in Gloucester had, at last, come out of the bishop's house in Hereford and been seized by the king's agents. He was being held in the Lydney manor house the king uses when hunting in the Dean. We were invited to interrogate via magical and mundane means to extract information from him. After some discussion, Jari volunteered to go down and use the orb to extract all the information this traitorous priest had, and report back at the next council meeting.
Summer
We met in the council chamber on the first day of summer, The first order of business was the previous season’s news. Jari reported on his interrogations with the priest held in Lydney. He reported that the priest seemed scatty and not the best source of information however he did report that he knew of two other priests involved in the conspiracy against the king. One was the priest of Ashenden in the county of Essex a lean man in his late forties. The other was the priest of Chertsey on the Thames called Charles Cheverill, whose age was in the late twenties and had the movements of an ex-soldier and had a scar on his left cheek. He also reported that Thomas Morditt was an important member of the brothers in Christ. He also thought that the wizards on the Briavel hill were watched by spies. With this report in hand, we decided we must act quickly on the information and myself and Hypatia decided we would go after the priest in Ashenden, whilst Terentius and Jari would go after the man at Chertsey. With that decided we moved onto other news and Terentius reported that the magical power outside Mynydd Myrddin was waxing and at the campsite could be measured at the second or third magnitude. He also stated that the Old ones, the huge wolves that seem to have managed to escape the Regio wish to move away as the influence of the wild magic was detrimental to them, we discussed the pro’s and con’s of this action and asked Terentius to look into the methodology of transporting them to our forest and what pact we might swear them too. We then went on to discuss Tintern and it was decided that we would check to see if the evil spells remained at the abbey, even though the Abbot had left. Jari also volunteered to investigate the ring at Avebury where Terentius had slain the pagan witch and angered the horned god to see if there was any infernal influence spread there from Marlborough. We also determined our seasonal activities if the investigations did not take much time. Hypatia would train her apprentice, I would learn the spell “wall of protecting stone”, Jari would learn the spell “eyes of the past”, Volutus would also train his apprentice and Naevius would extract vim vis for the covenant as his yearly service.
The investigations into the priests revealed nothing as it appeared they had fled as soon as the conspiracy had collapsed, and so those of us who had planned alternative activities returned to our labs and libraries.
Later at midsummer, we assembled and travelled up to Blackthorn stopping at the new safer campsite outside Mynydd Merddin. Jari attempted to use his enhanced sight on the glows at the old campsite approaching close to the gateway to the Regio, as he did so something went awry. He fell to the ground gripped by twilight and Volutus instructed me to retreat to a safe distance and that he would stay with Jari to protect him, along with his shield grog Sigurd. Come the morning he had recovered some of his wits but was still twilight touched, we agreed to continue to the tribunal and inform the Praeca of his condition when we arrived. Sigurd accused me to my face of being a coward for following Volutus’ advice and I considered my spells to burn the sneer off his face, realising my sodales would be hit by any major spell and wanting to create a gap between myself and the dangerous warrior I walked off fifty yards, turned and started to prepare my bolt of abyssal flame, which would incinerate him. Realising he was about to lose a trusted companion Jari stepped into my line of sight and begged me to hold my spell. Out of respect to my sodalis, I agreed if he would punish Siguard appropriately for his transgression. He went up to Sigurd and I expected a tirade of abuse which I would have considered an allowable punishment but Jari then went on to Insult me by merely slapping the wrist of Sigurd, he forgot about the twilight surging through him though and the merest touch burnt Sigurds gauntlet and wrist. Jari and Sigurd have slighted me and I will have my revenge on them both.
At the Tribunal we met to discuss what we should do about Jari, fuming at his insults I took the reasonable path and said nothing. He talked about what he had seen while under the effects of twilight, he stated he was standing on a storm and heard his Mater’s voice call out to him, telling him it was dangerous and that he should leave. Jari being Jari ignored this direction and questioned the voice about who or what it was and he quickly assumed it was, in fact, the voice of the shining one, he could see the silhouette of a person against the storm and directed his questions towards that image. Suddenly he was no longer Jari but a Viking warrior drinking in a longhouse with his fellows, this seemed similar to Terentius’ experience where he believed himself to be a roman soldier. Using his knowledge of trod’s Jari sought round himself for any hint of a path to lead himself out of the maelstrom he found himself in. Then in front of him appeared a path in the storm which he started to follow, Jari then heard, from the humanoid figure, an ominous warning “Stay on the path and do not return for it will be your death”. Later that evening I talked with both Flambeau about the house meeting and they said that it was too dangerous for us to leave Stonehenge to go to Verdi at the current time and I must admit that their passion swayed my opinion, as I worried about Severn temples chances without my fire magics to help defend it.
The next day the Praeca allowed Jari to sit in the tribunal however he was instructed to sit against the wall away from other magi and I was nominated as tribunal hoplite to ensure he did not threaten any other magus with his twilight touch. Liberata started the tribunal with a quick report as she understood things and an apology for calling a meeting so soon after the last but that she considered the extraordinary circumstances demanded consensual actions of the tribunal against its enemies. She then called Redcap Gaines to report on the news both hermetic and mundane.
The recap stood and reported that the situation abroad was perilous for magi, however, there were possible routes for the Mercere’s ships to achieve Verdi covenant if any wished to make the journey. The unnamed house had resurfaced in Hibernia and was making attacks on covenants there. The templars were massing forces in Loch Legaen tribunal, perhaps to join up with the forces of Scotland for an attack on King Theo’s depleted forces in the north. He went on to state that there were two house meetings in the next year, one in Verdi for house flambeau to anoint their new leader Guido and house Bonisagus’ meeting in Blackthorn covenant, both to occur at midsummer. Concerning the other houses, it appeared that not many had recovered from the disasters of the previous years, There appeared to be violence about who would be primus in house Criamon, although I cannot fathom what arts they would use to fight against each other. Both Tytalus and Merinita had yet to elect a primus or refound a Domus Magnus or even make any attempt to do so, at least Bonisagus and Flambeau seem to be trying. Talks with the order of the east have resulted in no agreements as they seem to be self-interested at the moment. Worryingly most of the knightly orders seem to have abandoned their holdings in the levant to crusade in the west. The Teutonic order was trying to capture a port called Gdansk in the north of a country called Poland. And the order of St John was attempting to capture an island in the Mediterranean for their enrichment.
With this news imparted Magus Gaines took his seat again and prima Liberata called upon Magus McKeith to report on the unnamed house and the dedicated covenant. He stood and said that two covenants in the Hibernian tribunal had been attacked called Moricove and Carricron,3 Magi had been slain and resources had been stolen from Moricove, It appears they had demonic forces in support and that the Hibernian tribunal was like Loch Legaen and not willing or able to assist other covenants in that tribunal. One of the attacking magi had a Sigil of milky eyes and crushed the hearts of grogs that went against them another used must corporem effects to boost his physique enough that he was able to kill a magus in melee,At Carricrom covenant a geomancer attacked and tried to collapse the tunnels but was thwarted by their magical nature . McKeith went on to state with the loses at Holy Isle they were hard-pressed to continue the dedication and that they expected the next attacks in Loch Legaen but did not reveal his source of this intelligence. Liberata asked Llandothwyn what he was going to do about the low membership of Holy Isle and he replied that although Ex Miscellanea would continue to run holy isle other magi could join and help the dedication, to which Primus Argentius of Tremere volunteered assistance. Next Prima Liberata called upon magus Pravia to discuss the happenings in Loch Legaen, The report made difficult listening as it appeared that the Templars were reinforcing their numbers and the master had returned to Roxborough. It was felt that if the most powerful covenant in the tribunal called Glen rRisdal fell then possibly that would signal a general attack on England and Stonehenge tribunal by a combined force of templars and highland warriors. There had been spies caught in Carlisle and another monastic conspiracy was thought to exist. Hypatia reported that Theo now had his longevity potion and would take fight to the scots if they invaded but I wondered if this was just bluster as with the continuing war in the south of France draining the resources of the country what would be left to fight the wily Scots when they came sneaking over the border to rape and pillage the north of England. Llandothwyn reported that although we were beset without we should take care of the shining one in Mynydd Merddin as if the wild magic poured out from there it would be the end for all of us. Continuing the warning Volutus explained what had befallen our sodales Jari and how we ignored this danger at our peril. Durias reported on the hunt for the abbot of Tintern who appeared to be able to cast magic with the sigil of rotting flesh, which made us realise the demonologist we had been hunting was right under our noses in Tintern abbey all along his magic's appeared to be very powerful roughly of the twelfth to fourteenth magnitude which made me glad that my sodales did not catch up with him for they would have been overpowered and potentially slain. Carrion moor reported that they had found a french spy trying to make contacts in the are and the spy along with a local baron called Gemil had been arrested and escorted to London for questioning. With these important matters related, Praeca Liberata called for an end to the day's activities.
The next day we rose before dawn and wove our parma’s. We assembled again in the great hall with myself keeping a close eye on the actions of our twilight blighted sodales Jari.
Volutus reported on his findings of the shining one and described the proto Ganoi, a name meaning pre gods I think. He stated that the shining one was of or from twilight, and much more investigation should be done before any action taken against him. The more Volutus seems to understand the realm of twilight the less his explanations make any sense to me. I mentioned my idea that the device the templars wield might have come from the barrow at Mynydd Merddin but not many people believed this as it was coincidental evidence. The Concilium Quaesitori meeting was discussed and the first vote was put before the tribunal and that was that apprentices of magi can be members of the tribunal without being members of a house, as many houses did not have a primus of a Domus Magnus. This vote narrowly passed with Naveius and Terentius voting against, Jari, Hypatia and myself voting for and Volutus abstaining.
Primus Argentius then brought up the motion of a new covenant which he had decided due to the reconnaissance that Terentius had done, to choose the location of Wythernden which passed easily. Navius voted against volutus abstained again as he is a quaesitor and the rest of us voted in favour.
He went on to ask with the founding of a new covenant and the reinforcement of Holy Isle whether the tribunal would lift the limit on the numbers of Tremere in the tribunal from ten. There was much discussion with people obviously being afraid of the block vote of this powerful house and so I proposed the idea that if at tribunal house Tremere would relinquish their tradition of the primus voting for all Tremere then the limit could be lifted, this seems to please Liberata and although he did not show it, I wondered if I had displeased the primus of Tremere. This vote passed narrowly with Volutus abstaining, Terentius and Naevius voting against and Jari, Hypatia and myself voting in favour.
It was also reported that a magus called Drucilla from Narwold covenant had miscast a spell in a crowded market and had destroyed the minds of several mundanes, she had been arrested and then invoked the fact that she was a member of the hermetic scholars and so was released on the understanding that we would prosecute her. This vote to prosecute her passed easily with only Navius voting against amongst the magi from Severn Temple. Liberata then called on the quaesitori to begin an investigation and report at the next tribunal.
The last act of the tribunal was that Liberata announced that the next tribunal would be in two years.
We returned home without incident.
Towards the end of the season, Marcellius’ experiment into solvents went wrong and an awful stench filled the covenant this caused several grogs to vomit, I quickly recovered the device we use to extract the Ignem vis which provides breathable air and cleaned up the mess in the alchemy lab. Marcellus was typically indignant that the captain had rescued him from the lab, stating he needed no saving and everything was within the parameters of the experiment. This statement was an exaggeration because for the next few months we would encounter strong smells of rotten eggs as we traversed the covenant.
Autumn
We met in the council chamber and to my embarrassment, it still smelt terrible from Marcellus’ failed experiment. And as one of the first orders of business, I was asked to have a word with him to avoid a similar situation in the future. I was quite surprised when Jari then formally apologised for his and his companions Sigurd's actions in the previous season, he agreed he would talk to Sigurd and I warned Jari that I would not be so merciful in the future. We went on to discuss our activities for the following season and Terentius volunteered to investigate Tintern for any remaining taint of the infernal, I do believe he is one of the hardest working members of our council and I do not know when he gets a chance to study his arts, although in writing this I cannot remember the last time Volutus worked in his lab either, It makes me feel a little guilty that I do not do more for the covenant. Terentius and Volutus said that with the spell being ready to tether Volutus to the mundane realm they would investigate Mynydd Merddin this season and hopefully Volutus would be able to cast glimpse through the mystic veil at the barrow and observe the chaos that seemed to be consuming the magical regio. Hypatia said that with the information gained from the tribunal she would go and inform Theo of the developments north of the border. Jari stated he would investigate Avebury and Abingdon to ensure that the infernal presence that was there has not expanded. Naevius stated he would learn from the Rego books and I stated that I would invent a spell similar to a well-known spell called “the silvery scales of the knight”.
Jaris expedition to Avebury proved uneventful and although he quickly looked in the Regio surrounding the stones there found no evidence of any evil presence, his trip to the abbey of Abingdon, however, was more worrying. He reported that there were foul rumors of the camp of men hired to rebuild the abbey that there had been many deaths and the place was cursed and now the only type of men who would work at such a place where the rogues and riff-raff that Abingdon could do without, he investigated the camp which was quite a distance away from the abbey which was unusual and found what the villagers said to be true. Approaching the abbey he found that the repair materials were outside unprotected from any theft and that the work was barely begun, of was going extremely slowly, which could be the case as there was still an infernal regio boundary at the church door and an infernal aura of the third magnitude around the place.
Volutus and Terentius exploration of Mynydd Merddin went slowly as for some reason the anchoring spell would not take hold, indeed at one point they entered the Regio and had to cut their way out quickly with Petrus’ gladius. Eventually, they attempted to move away from the white stones as they theorised it would be better to try at a point where it was harder to enter the regio than one famously easy. They approached each boundary with care and Volutus cast his spell temporarily as they crossed the boundaries, it worked exactly as planned and apart from the nasty side effect of it killing the grass as Volutus worked seemed to be an excellent spell. They finally reached the barrow, but in the mundane level of the Regio is appeared to be a small hillock as if the barrow had been worn down or covered over by centuries of earth and grass. Volutus prepared himself for the last spell to glimpse through the magical veil and Terentius stood y in case anything went wrong., at the last moment to Terentius’ eyes Volutus was distracted by something and did not move his hands in the correct manner, instantly Terentius was alone on the hillside, looking around for our sodales who had obviously fallen into the Regio. He left his familiar there and searched round the are hoping against hope to find some clue but to no avail. He returned to the covenant and reported these events and we ordered that a few grogs with some supplies return to the safe camp and wait to see if Volutus managed to escape the Regio.
Winter
We met on a cold and frosty morning and I could see in the great hall any of the coven folk making use of the Tarian Rhew a horseshoe made by archimagus Astrius that grants the ward against cold and ice as they went about their business. Jari and Tererentius gave their news and we debated what aid we could give Volutus, but unfortunately came to the conclusion that the risk of failure compared to the chances of success were so wide we would be doing more harm than good if we attempted a rescue. We vowed to keep up a watch to aid our sodales if he escaped in this cold month and Terentius said he would ask his familiar Meliorax to watch for his escape as well. Hypatia reported on her talks with Theo and she stated she had convinced Theo of the risk from the north but he had said that he had to go relieve the siege of a castle in Bordeaux for if it fell the french would be free to recapture the city itself and with the loss of the port the ability to reinforce his remaining holdings would be severely diminished. He would go in spring to France with another levy of troops. With the news discussed, we went onto our season's activities.
Naevius would study from the rego texts, Hypatia would lean the leap of homecoming, Jari was performing private lab activities as was Terentius and my covenant service would be to extract Vim vis so the Aegis could be cast in spring. We discussed the potential of an attack at Severn temple and what we might do if it occurred, I posited that we might retreat and I suggested many different locations to see what the consensus of the council might be. We end up on a rallying point in the woods one to the north and one to the south so our coven folk can avoid any fighting if we are assaulted.
The bitter and dark season passed with all of us wondering what was happening to our sodalis Volutus, and we all raised a glass at the midwinter feast to him and his safe escape from the chaos that had engulfed him.
The rest of the season passed without event.
Spring 1305AD
We met on the first day of spring as usual and everyone was in attendance. I drew the meeting to order and asked for any news from the previous season. Because we were all in the covenant during the winter months, there was not much news. I explained my plan for my journey to Gofinwe's cave and Jari suggested that I should leave quickly if Gofinwe does not accept the sword I had retrieved from the grave of Magus Edward. Jari and Volutus told the council of the black lightning they had both seen or had felt over Mynedd myrddyn, I suggested that we should report these findings to the Tribunal in summer as the growth of influence of the shining one is a worry we should share with our sodales. Due to the visitation of the Tegid Foel the previous winter, our vis supplies were quite flush and it was to my sodales' delight that I was able to make a distribution of a rook of vis for each covenant service of which each Magus had done just one. Each magus who so desired (which ended up being each bar Hypatia) was granted one hundred and fifty pennies. Once the division of vis was complete, we declared our seasonal activities for the season of spring. Hypatia as normal would be at court in London, Volutus was again trying to invent his regio anchoring spell and I did so hope he was successful this time. Naevius studied from the Intellego texts, Terentius studied from some of the Vis just distributed and Jari stated that he would be inventing a spell. Terentius, Hypatia and I stated we would train in the parma magica during our free time, Naevius said he would continue his reading of the Intellego texts which is a trait I admire, Volutus said he would read from the books on hermetic law presumably to aid him in his rulings as a quaesitor and Jari said he would learn some chirurgy from his companion Eric.
I travelled to Gofinwe’s cave with the expert guidance of the faerie fox Eanfled, and a personal bodyguard of captain Merrick. It was an easy journey for me as I was waking in the trail of the Captain who looked a little puffed out by the time we got to the cave, I melted the ice off the stairs and entered the cave to meet Gofinwe. He stated he needed to test the sword but I was not happy with that as it was obvious that if the sword did not raise the faerie Turold he would consider it not a suitable sword. However, after some discussion we crossed the hair wide bridge and entered a cavern with a pool of metal just off this cavern was a smaller one where the cold stone body of the faerie that had called itself Turold lay. Placing the sword on the statue-like body Gowinwe waited for Turold to stir but he did not even though Eanfled pulled at Turold;s foot. Gofinwe then declared the sword not suitable and again argued that it was, and we then went into the main cavern where the faerie lord or pagan god Gofannon arose and examined the blade, he stated that the blade was of crude mortal construction but did fulfil the letter of the bargain. We then returned back to the cave, but Gofinwe would not carry me over the bridge, I then used the cloak to lift me and controlling the winds deftly I flew the gap and landed in Gofinwe's workshop. I returned with the captain and Eanfled to the Covenant and finding that only 2 weeks had passed, set to work on improving my art of Creo using some personal vis.
A few weeks later the Redcap Magus Gaines arrived with some news which was very relevant to myself. He informed us that there had been a battle In the Iberian tribunal and in it the traitor Prudentia had been slain along with her Templar bodyguard by the Magus Guido and a group of mages from the south of the Tribunal. Guido is a member of Flambeau whose age exceeds a century from my recollection. Unfortunately two magi of good standing in the order also died in the victory. Gaines went on to inform us that Guido had called a house meeting at Verdi Covenant in the summer of 1306 and if I wished passage then I should talk with Emerius at the meeting of the Stonehenge tribunal in summer about traveling on house Mecere’s ship. We informed Gaines that other covenants should be informed about the abbot of Tintern being an infernalist and he had fled into south west wales. There was a private letter for Volutus.
Later in the season Hypatia returned and reported at an informal council that the English-French war was going badly for Theo on the continent the French had successfully captured some castles in the Bordeaux region and took control of the lands around them. Scotland had elected a new king called Robert the Bruce and it was hoped that he would not ally with the French against the English in the current war. The most interesting news was that the priest of St John's church in Gloucester had, at last, come out of the bishop's house in Hereford and been seized by the king's agents. He was being held in the Lydney manor house the king uses when hunting in the Dean. We were invited to interrogate via magical and mundane means to extract information from him. After some discussion, Jari volunteered to go down and use the orb to extract all the information this traitorous priest had, and report back at the next council meeting.
Summer
We met in the council chamber on the first day of summer, The first order of business was the previous season’s news. Jari reported on his interrogations with the priest held in Lydney. He reported that the priest seemed scatty and not the best source of information however he did report that he knew of two other priests involved in the conspiracy against the king. One was the priest of Ashenden in the county of Essex a lean man in his late forties. The other was the priest of Chertsey on the Thames called Charles Cheverill, whose age was in the late twenties and had the movements of an ex-soldier and had a scar on his left cheek. He also reported that Thomas Morditt was an important member of the brothers in Christ. He also thought that the wizards on the Briavel hill were watched by spies. With this report in hand, we decided we must act quickly on the information and myself and Hypatia decided we would go after the priest in Ashenden, whilst Terentius and Jari would go after the man at Chertsey. With that decided we moved onto other news and Terentius reported that the magical power outside Mynydd Myrddin was waxing and at the campsite could be measured at the second or third magnitude. He also stated that the Old ones, the huge wolves that seem to have managed to escape the Regio wish to move away as the influence of the wild magic was detrimental to them, we discussed the pro’s and con’s of this action and asked Terentius to look into the methodology of transporting them to our forest and what pact we might swear them too. We then went on to discuss Tintern and it was decided that we would check to see if the evil spells remained at the abbey, even though the Abbot had left. Jari also volunteered to investigate the ring at Avebury where Terentius had slain the pagan witch and angered the horned god to see if there was any infernal influence spread there from Marlborough. We also determined our seasonal activities if the investigations did not take much time. Hypatia would train her apprentice, I would learn the spell “wall of protecting stone”, Jari would learn the spell “eyes of the past”, Volutus would also train his apprentice and Naevius would extract vim vis for the covenant as his yearly service.
The investigations into the priests revealed nothing as it appeared they had fled as soon as the conspiracy had collapsed, and so those of us who had planned alternative activities returned to our labs and libraries.
Later at midsummer, we assembled and travelled up to Blackthorn stopping at the new safer campsite outside Mynydd Merddin. Jari attempted to use his enhanced sight on the glows at the old campsite approaching close to the gateway to the Regio, as he did so something went awry. He fell to the ground gripped by twilight and Volutus instructed me to retreat to a safe distance and that he would stay with Jari to protect him, along with his shield grog Sigurd. Come the morning he had recovered some of his wits but was still twilight touched, we agreed to continue to the tribunal and inform the Praeca of his condition when we arrived. Sigurd accused me to my face of being a coward for following Volutus’ advice and I considered my spells to burn the sneer off his face, realising my sodales would be hit by any major spell and wanting to create a gap between myself and the dangerous warrior I walked off fifty yards, turned and started to prepare my bolt of abyssal flame, which would incinerate him. Realising he was about to lose a trusted companion Jari stepped into my line of sight and begged me to hold my spell. Out of respect to my sodalis, I agreed if he would punish Siguard appropriately for his transgression. He went up to Sigurd and I expected a tirade of abuse which I would have considered an allowable punishment but Jari then went on to Insult me by merely slapping the wrist of Sigurd, he forgot about the twilight surging through him though and the merest touch burnt Sigurds gauntlet and wrist. Jari and Sigurd have slighted me and I will have my revenge on them both.
At the Tribunal we met to discuss what we should do about Jari, fuming at his insults I took the reasonable path and said nothing. He talked about what he had seen while under the effects of twilight, he stated he was standing on a storm and heard his Mater’s voice call out to him, telling him it was dangerous and that he should leave. Jari being Jari ignored this direction and questioned the voice about who or what it was and he quickly assumed it was, in fact, the voice of the shining one, he could see the silhouette of a person against the storm and directed his questions towards that image. Suddenly he was no longer Jari but a Viking warrior drinking in a longhouse with his fellows, this seemed similar to Terentius’ experience where he believed himself to be a roman soldier. Using his knowledge of trod’s Jari sought round himself for any hint of a path to lead himself out of the maelstrom he found himself in. Then in front of him appeared a path in the storm which he started to follow, Jari then heard, from the humanoid figure, an ominous warning “Stay on the path and do not return for it will be your death”. Later that evening I talked with both Flambeau about the house meeting and they said that it was too dangerous for us to leave Stonehenge to go to Verdi at the current time and I must admit that their passion swayed my opinion, as I worried about Severn temples chances without my fire magics to help defend it.
The next day the Praeca allowed Jari to sit in the tribunal however he was instructed to sit against the wall away from other magi and I was nominated as tribunal hoplite to ensure he did not threaten any other magus with his twilight touch. Liberata started the tribunal with a quick report as she understood things and an apology for calling a meeting so soon after the last but that she considered the extraordinary circumstances demanded consensual actions of the tribunal against its enemies. She then called Redcap Gaines to report on the news both hermetic and mundane.
The recap stood and reported that the situation abroad was perilous for magi, however, there were possible routes for the Mercere’s ships to achieve Verdi covenant if any wished to make the journey. The unnamed house had resurfaced in Hibernia and was making attacks on covenants there. The templars were massing forces in Loch Legaen tribunal, perhaps to join up with the forces of Scotland for an attack on King Theo’s depleted forces in the north. He went on to state that there were two house meetings in the next year, one in Verdi for house flambeau to anoint their new leader Guido and house Bonisagus’ meeting in Blackthorn covenant, both to occur at midsummer. Concerning the other houses, it appeared that not many had recovered from the disasters of the previous years, There appeared to be violence about who would be primus in house Criamon, although I cannot fathom what arts they would use to fight against each other. Both Tytalus and Merinita had yet to elect a primus or refound a Domus Magnus or even make any attempt to do so, at least Bonisagus and Flambeau seem to be trying. Talks with the order of the east have resulted in no agreements as they seem to be self-interested at the moment. Worryingly most of the knightly orders seem to have abandoned their holdings in the levant to crusade in the west. The Teutonic order was trying to capture a port called Gdansk in the north of a country called Poland. And the order of St John was attempting to capture an island in the Mediterranean for their enrichment.
With this news imparted Magus Gaines took his seat again and prima Liberata called upon Magus McKeith to report on the unnamed house and the dedicated covenant. He stood and said that two covenants in the Hibernian tribunal had been attacked called Moricove and Carricron,3 Magi had been slain and resources had been stolen from Moricove, It appears they had demonic forces in support and that the Hibernian tribunal was like Loch Legaen and not willing or able to assist other covenants in that tribunal. One of the attacking magi had a Sigil of milky eyes and crushed the hearts of grogs that went against them another used must corporem effects to boost his physique enough that he was able to kill a magus in melee,At Carricrom covenant a geomancer attacked and tried to collapse the tunnels but was thwarted by their magical nature . McKeith went on to state with the loses at Holy Isle they were hard-pressed to continue the dedication and that they expected the next attacks in Loch Legaen but did not reveal his source of this intelligence. Liberata asked Llandothwyn what he was going to do about the low membership of Holy Isle and he replied that although Ex Miscellanea would continue to run holy isle other magi could join and help the dedication, to which Primus Argentius of Tremere volunteered assistance. Next Prima Liberata called upon magus Pravia to discuss the happenings in Loch Legaen, The report made difficult listening as it appeared that the Templars were reinforcing their numbers and the master had returned to Roxborough. It was felt that if the most powerful covenant in the tribunal called Glen rRisdal fell then possibly that would signal a general attack on England and Stonehenge tribunal by a combined force of templars and highland warriors. There had been spies caught in Carlisle and another monastic conspiracy was thought to exist. Hypatia reported that Theo now had his longevity potion and would take fight to the scots if they invaded but I wondered if this was just bluster as with the continuing war in the south of France draining the resources of the country what would be left to fight the wily Scots when they came sneaking over the border to rape and pillage the north of England. Llandothwyn reported that although we were beset without we should take care of the shining one in Mynydd Merddin as if the wild magic poured out from there it would be the end for all of us. Continuing the warning Volutus explained what had befallen our sodales Jari and how we ignored this danger at our peril. Durias reported on the hunt for the abbot of Tintern who appeared to be able to cast magic with the sigil of rotting flesh, which made us realise the demonologist we had been hunting was right under our noses in Tintern abbey all along his magic's appeared to be very powerful roughly of the twelfth to fourteenth magnitude which made me glad that my sodales did not catch up with him for they would have been overpowered and potentially slain. Carrion moor reported that they had found a french spy trying to make contacts in the are and the spy along with a local baron called Gemil had been arrested and escorted to London for questioning. With these important matters related, Praeca Liberata called for an end to the day's activities.
The next day we rose before dawn and wove our parma’s. We assembled again in the great hall with myself keeping a close eye on the actions of our twilight blighted sodales Jari.
Volutus reported on his findings of the shining one and described the proto Ganoi, a name meaning pre gods I think. He stated that the shining one was of or from twilight, and much more investigation should be done before any action taken against him. The more Volutus seems to understand the realm of twilight the less his explanations make any sense to me. I mentioned my idea that the device the templars wield might have come from the barrow at Mynydd Merddin but not many people believed this as it was coincidental evidence. The Concilium Quaesitori meeting was discussed and the first vote was put before the tribunal and that was that apprentices of magi can be members of the tribunal without being members of a house, as many houses did not have a primus of a Domus Magnus. This vote narrowly passed with Naveius and Terentius voting against, Jari, Hypatia and myself voting for and Volutus abstaining.
Primus Argentius then brought up the motion of a new covenant which he had decided due to the reconnaissance that Terentius had done, to choose the location of Wythernden which passed easily. Navius voted against volutus abstained again as he is a quaesitor and the rest of us voted in favour.
He went on to ask with the founding of a new covenant and the reinforcement of Holy Isle whether the tribunal would lift the limit on the numbers of Tremere in the tribunal from ten. There was much discussion with people obviously being afraid of the block vote of this powerful house and so I proposed the idea that if at tribunal house Tremere would relinquish their tradition of the primus voting for all Tremere then the limit could be lifted, this seems to please Liberata and although he did not show it, I wondered if I had displeased the primus of Tremere. This vote passed narrowly with Volutus abstaining, Terentius and Naevius voting against and Jari, Hypatia and myself voting in favour.
It was also reported that a magus called Drucilla from Narwold covenant had miscast a spell in a crowded market and had destroyed the minds of several mundanes, she had been arrested and then invoked the fact that she was a member of the hermetic scholars and so was released on the understanding that we would prosecute her. This vote to prosecute her passed easily with only Navius voting against amongst the magi from Severn Temple. Liberata then called on the quaesitori to begin an investigation and report at the next tribunal.
The last act of the tribunal was that Liberata announced that the next tribunal would be in two years.
We returned home without incident.
Towards the end of the season, Marcellius’ experiment into solvents went wrong and an awful stench filled the covenant this caused several grogs to vomit, I quickly recovered the device we use to extract the Ignem vis which provides breathable air and cleaned up the mess in the alchemy lab. Marcellus was typically indignant that the captain had rescued him from the lab, stating he needed no saving and everything was within the parameters of the experiment. This statement was an exaggeration because for the next few months we would encounter strong smells of rotten eggs as we traversed the covenant.
Autumn
We met in the council chamber and to my embarrassment, it still smelt terrible from Marcellus’ failed experiment. And as one of the first orders of business, I was asked to have a word with him to avoid a similar situation in the future. I was quite surprised when Jari then formally apologised for his and his companions Sigurd's actions in the previous season, he agreed he would talk to Sigurd and I warned Jari that I would not be so merciful in the future. We went on to discuss our activities for the following season and Terentius volunteered to investigate Tintern for any remaining taint of the infernal, I do believe he is one of the hardest working members of our council and I do not know when he gets a chance to study his arts, although in writing this I cannot remember the last time Volutus worked in his lab either, It makes me feel a little guilty that I do not do more for the covenant. Terentius and Volutus said that with the spell being ready to tether Volutus to the mundane realm they would investigate Mynydd Merddin this season and hopefully Volutus would be able to cast glimpse through the mystic veil at the barrow and observe the chaos that seemed to be consuming the magical regio. Hypatia said that with the information gained from the tribunal she would go and inform Theo of the developments north of the border. Jari stated he would investigate Avebury and Abingdon to ensure that the infernal presence that was there has not expanded. Naevius stated he would learn from the Rego books and I stated that I would invent a spell similar to a well-known spell called “the silvery scales of the knight”.
Jaris expedition to Avebury proved uneventful and although he quickly looked in the Regio surrounding the stones there found no evidence of any evil presence, his trip to the abbey of Abingdon, however, was more worrying. He reported that there were foul rumors of the camp of men hired to rebuild the abbey that there had been many deaths and the place was cursed and now the only type of men who would work at such a place where the rogues and riff-raff that Abingdon could do without, he investigated the camp which was quite a distance away from the abbey which was unusual and found what the villagers said to be true. Approaching the abbey he found that the repair materials were outside unprotected from any theft and that the work was barely begun, of was going extremely slowly, which could be the case as there was still an infernal regio boundary at the church door and an infernal aura of the third magnitude around the place.
Volutus and Terentius exploration of Mynydd Merddin went slowly as for some reason the anchoring spell would not take hold, indeed at one point they entered the Regio and had to cut their way out quickly with Petrus’ gladius. Eventually, they attempted to move away from the white stones as they theorised it would be better to try at a point where it was harder to enter the regio than one famously easy. They approached each boundary with care and Volutus cast his spell temporarily as they crossed the boundaries, it worked exactly as planned and apart from the nasty side effect of it killing the grass as Volutus worked seemed to be an excellent spell. They finally reached the barrow, but in the mundane level of the Regio is appeared to be a small hillock as if the barrow had been worn down or covered over by centuries of earth and grass. Volutus prepared himself for the last spell to glimpse through the magical veil and Terentius stood y in case anything went wrong., at the last moment to Terentius’ eyes Volutus was distracted by something and did not move his hands in the correct manner, instantly Terentius was alone on the hillside, looking around for our sodales who had obviously fallen into the Regio. He left his familiar there and searched round the are hoping against hope to find some clue but to no avail. He returned to the covenant and reported these events and we ordered that a few grogs with some supplies return to the safe camp and wait to see if Volutus managed to escape the Regio.
Winter
We met on a cold and frosty morning and I could see in the great hall any of the coven folk making use of the Tarian Rhew a horseshoe made by archimagus Astrius that grants the ward against cold and ice as they went about their business. Jari and Tererentius gave their news and we debated what aid we could give Volutus, but unfortunately came to the conclusion that the risk of failure compared to the chances of success were so wide we would be doing more harm than good if we attempted a rescue. We vowed to keep up a watch to aid our sodales if he escaped in this cold month and Terentius said he would ask his familiar Meliorax to watch for his escape as well. Hypatia reported on her talks with Theo and she stated she had convinced Theo of the risk from the north but he had said that he had to go relieve the siege of a castle in Bordeaux for if it fell the french would be free to recapture the city itself and with the loss of the port the ability to reinforce his remaining holdings would be severely diminished. He would go in spring to France with another levy of troops. With the news discussed, we went onto our season's activities.
Naevius would study from the rego texts, Hypatia would lean the leap of homecoming, Jari was performing private lab activities as was Terentius and my covenant service would be to extract Vim vis so the Aegis could be cast in spring. We discussed the potential of an attack at Severn temple and what we might do if it occurred, I posited that we might retreat and I suggested many different locations to see what the consensus of the council might be. We end up on a rallying point in the woods one to the north and one to the south so our coven folk can avoid any fighting if we are assaulted.
The bitter and dark season passed with all of us wondering what was happening to our sodalis Volutus, and we all raised a glass at the midwinter feast to him and his safe escape from the chaos that had engulfed him.
The rest of the season passed without event.