Scribed by Jari
Spring
So, the journal shifts in focus once again as the proverbial quill is placed in my humble hands, loyal aide to Queens that I am and but recently returned from accompanying her majesty on her tour of Avalon, where, as she has just related, she spoke with long-lost dragons and kings.
Sadly, not all recognise Queen Branwen’s regal authority and wise judgement for no sooner had she concluded her extraordinary tale when Pyrrhus asked her why she didn’t take the stone as offered. She replied that it just didn’t feel right, and, though I may be putting words in her mouth, doubtless there were some concerns about the possible consequences removing the item that is almost certainly keeping the Once and Future king alive away from him. Our Flambeau then suggested that one way to ride out the plague might be to tie up the dragon and expand the fruit trees already there into a full farm that could support a good few people. Her majesty did not deign to give her views on the merits of such a plan and Naevius swiftly moved things on, so, for now, I shall just file it in the ‘overly optimistic options’ part of my notes on possible sanctuaries.
Theoclea reported that Myrddin’s memories have faded from the large crystal that she has been studying, meaning she will not likely be able to help further in finding the other true henges. Terrific. Terentius said that he will check the Crystal Caves to see if any remnants of Myrddin’s memories linger there
There have been widespread reports of famine in Southern Europe, with food prices in England up sharply. It will cost us 500d just to keep our stores up this year. Each time such news comes to council, I can’t help but wonder if this is the beginning of the end and we’ve run out of time before we’re ready. If that turns out to be the case now, I guess our only option is to grit our teeth and don our dragon-kicking boots.
Captain Merrick’s longevity potion has unfortunately broken, but given how useful he has been to us, we agreed that we will invest the resources in making him a fresh one. Naevius will make a new such potion this year, but we will also start the search for his replacement. We will speak with Steffan about such to see if he can find any likely candidates, as well as asking other covenants to see if we can buy a suitable lad to train up again.
Branwen asked what she can do to help with the henge plan. She thinks we should be more ambitious with our ultimate aims that creating just a small sanctuary, which is probably fair. In terms of her offer, I said that I could use the help of her house in locating all twelve or thirteen of the main henges.
After discussing my proposed Swansea experiment and other future areas to push my researches forwards, Theoclea suggested a better approach might be to try and work out how to best protect myself or others when dealing with circles like Avebury, taking inspiration from how the runes work to constrain and shape the magic on the Myrddin Stone. An intrigiung idea and one which I shall give some serious thought to!
We next discussed the fallout of the unfortunate affair of Pravia and Deanna. It struck me then that the involvement of the infernal seemed planned and likely with a specific endpoint in mind. With the coming infernal plague, what better way to prevent any resistance to it than by setting the two most powerful house in Stonehenge against each other? No one else seemed to see much value in developing this thought and Pyrrhus said I was reading to much into it. I admit it’s possible I might have the wrong end of the stick but, if not that, what was that demon doing with Toby and the murder of Deanna? I doubt very much it was random.
Jari private journal
I’m not sad about Pravia at all. She had it coming. She’d have condemned me without blinking if she’d thought I’d reveal evidence of her and her House’s involvement in the death of the King and the ensuing civil war. I’m certainly safer with her dead so I’m not going to mourn her at all, though I’m not dumb enough to voice such a sentiment to any of my sodales.
After the council, Terentius went to Mynydd Myrddin, finding all trace of the tower gone. He was able to collect the usual sources of vis from within the caves without any great difficulty before he headed down to the deep regio where the crystal caves lie. However, even with his preternaturally sharp senses, Terentius could only glean one faint scene from a memory that was not his own. There was no sound and it was obscured by mist, but he could see a view from a stone tower. Inside were tapestries and a well-made bed with a pale figure lying on it. Myrddin, assuming it was he, covered the inert figure with a banner, and then pulled out a deep red stone, shot through with lines of grey. As he held it, it pulsed with light, like a heartbeat, and he placed it on the bedridden figure. He then watched the pale man expectantly but there was no apparent change. Then there was a sense of movement of hands and mouth, suggestive of him casting a spell but again, to no apparent effect. The figure then started to pace before trying the spell again, more vigorously this time. The stone glowed for a moment, then subsided, leaving the man still unconscious in the bed.
There was no more to that memory and no sign of any other of Myrddin’s memories, so Terentius made to leave. However, deep as the regio was, he found it hard to access the route back through the regio boundary and after three failed attempts, realised he would have to find a different route. He drew his dagger and made to ‘Rend the Mystic Veil’. Alas, not for the first time, he cut too deep and for a moment teetered on the threshold of the raging maelstrom of twilight that suddenly appeared inches in front of him. Feeling the eerie, frankly terrifying touch of twilight about him, he was able to stay calm enough to close the rift again. Breathing a deep sigh of relief and perhaps wishing for a clean pair of trews, though he did not relay such to us when he told his tale, Terentius sought out a new mundane path out for he dared not try to rend the Veil again lest his near-disastrous attempt had weakened it thereabouts. Happily, he found such a path through to an underground lake, pausing momentarily to puzzle over a spot where the crystals in the wall lay scattered all around in shards, as though they had somehow exploded from the wall.
Taking the form of a dolphin and swimming through the dark underground waters for some long time he eventually emerged in the Llifiau’s lake. Terentius became aware of something large stirring beneath him in the deeper waters there so he made all haste to the shore and departed as rapidly as he could in human form once more.
As he made his way out to the White Stones, he noticed that they bore designs similar to those on the Myrddin stones and on checking found that he was in a rarely visited level of the regio, where the magnitude of the aura was of the seventh level.
Summer
At the summer meeting, Terentius recounted his tale, concluding that Myrddin’s memories are now a lost cause. Theoclea said that the large crystal fragment she has can still show you your own memories so is still of potential use, though Pyrrhus wondered how much vis it contained and what form. Branwen said that the spot where the shards of crystals were found was likely the place where Tiarnan and Astrius fought two members of the UnNamed House, with Tiarnan and his otter familiar Kai slain by a spell that our journal for 1220 records “shattered the stalagmites that littered the cavern. The latter spell was a fell one indeed for the shards that were flung from the rock were not resisted by magical protection”.
This season, Branwen and Terentius will travel North to explore the henges listed in Cad Gadu’s records, five in Anglesey, five in North Wales mainland and four in Cheshire and the lands to its north. I shall await their report with interest! Theoclea will work on developing some Myrddin-style magic, possibly a spell to try and find magical places. Before council ended, Branwen reminded us all to beware of the diabolist magus Toby, whose sigil is that of a watchful fearfulness.
I decided I would investigate the newly re-found level of the Mynydd Myrddin regio and see what I could glean from the runes carved on the White Stones there. A reinvestigation of the stones at the mundane level turned up nothing new so, after a couple of failed attempts to find a trod nearby, I travelled round to the Eastern edge of the forest and found the usual trod into the regio. The magic behind the White Stones clearly draws all paths nearby to them, making it almost impossible to find any alternatives in the vicinity.
Once in the deeper regio, we found a good campsite in the woods, near the bottom of the slope, which here was a steep cliff. I cheerfully left Races the Wind asking Cyprian about what his favourite fish was and began setting up my portable laboratory. I also cast my sight around but the magics were hard to discern and I could get naught but a vague sense that there were maybe two lines, one of which headed to the Northeast. For a perilous second, I thought about casting ‘Picture the Paths of Power’ to see where it next emerged there but fortunately remembered the roiling twilight that lies at the stones there before I could do something even more foolish than usual.
There then followed a somewhat confusing back and forth between the stone and I after I cast ‘Learn the Lost Language of the Legendary Limestone’ and asked it if it would open the path. Races helpfully pointed out when it became clear that I wasn’t getting it, that the stone could simply be reacting to the words ‘open’ and ‘close’, though I still maintain that at one point it got angry with me, as seem to do many such ancient magical powers. Either my usual ‘charm’ doesn’t work on them or they see me as little more than a jumped-up peasant with magic. Like the stone at Boscawen Un and several trees in our locality. Not that the stuck up bacrauts irritate me at all you understand.
Anyway, back to our expedition. Things got a little tricky when we ran out of food and I couldn’t find the trod out, so we had to exit via the White Stones. Fortunately, such interlude it didn’t seem to cost us too much time, and we were able to restock in Skenfrith and return without incident. Over the rest of the season, I was able to glean something of the nature of the stones. I think that, before they were carved and set to their new purpose of binding to a pathway, to make a trod or ley more extant essentially, their essence bore something of the nature of dawn and dusk. This doesn’t appear to be too common an essence from what I’ve seen of my explorations of the stones of this land. I suspect that the perpetual twilight that lingers in this regio may be a byproduct of this original essence. Tracing one’s fingers along the patterns at the heart of the design probably has an effect on the direction of one’s travel but that remains to be proven and we were out of time, returning to the covenant for our council.
Autumn
I began the meeting by talking about what I had learned about the White Stones. Theoclea suggested that part of the purpose of the carvings on the stones was not just to be able to open the path but to close it, for she said that Myrddin likely wanted to ensure that that place was well guarded. She also agreed with Races’ assessment that it was just the words ‘open’ and ‘close’ that the stone was reacting to. Given my naturally likeable and unassuming personality that does on reflection seem more likely.
Next, Branwen and Terentius told the tale of their journey to seek out the fourteen henges that Branwen’s researches had identified in and around North Wales. They had a slightly tricky start when it became clear that Branwen’s new familiar, Gwyla, a rather aloof wildcat, does not like sea travel. Such was her upset that Branwen was forced to get off the ship heading for North Wales at Swansea and make her own way there. Fortunately, she can travel across the land fairly swiftly though she did say that she nearly fell foul of some brigands as she sought to get clear of the Dominion aura around Swansea. Anyway, she was able to rendezvous with Terentius in Chester more or less as planned and so they set off.
The most interesting and alarming event of their season occurred at one of the North Wales mainland henges, Moel Ty Uchaf. There they found chalk markings on one of the centre circle stones, not pagan markings to Branwen’s knowledgeable eye, but possibly something involved in calling ‘darker’ spirits. Terentius found some tracks, a week or two old, probably from just one person who had camped nearby. That night, Branwen saw a shade in the centre circle. It had skeletal limbs with a long, ragged hooded cloak and no sign of a face. Terentius wasted no time in shooting an arrow with an eighth magnitude ‘Demon’s Eternal Oblivion’ tethered to it. However, the arrow passed through it with no apparent effect. As the figure turned to face them Terentius hastily erected a powerful ‘Ring of Warding Against Spirits’ and though it moved towards them, it seemed unable to find where they were, presumably blinded to their presence by the ward?
Jari’s private journal
Branwen later found out from one of her sisters that this was a ‘spirit of vengeance’, apparently quite dangerous but harmless if you don’t harm it. However, if so harmed, it will seek vengeance and will not stop its pursuit of the object of its vengeance. I’ve noted this here for myself as Branwen wouldn’t speak about it in front of Pyrrhus lest he seek to twist such knowledge against her and her sisters in some way. Probably sensible.
Pyrrhus asked whether it was in fact a demon. Branwen then refused to speak on the matter in front of him. Naevius proposed that we should keep it confidential given the possible legal ramifications and called for a vote on the matter, which was unanimously passed.
Pyrrhus then moved on to asking whether the henges could talk with each other. A not unreasonable query but I don’t think that they do. They are connected to the ley lines, the web of ancient power that wells from the land, but they are not the web itself, just access points to it using a related sympathy. Given that Arcanus thought there were thousands, if not tens of thousands, of stones across this isle, we discussed again how we might go about finding the twelve ‘true’ henges. Alas, there was no great breakthrough or idea beyond speaking with some of the older powers.
Jari’s private journal
I then had a brief, amusing debate with Pyrrhus about whether or not the moon was within the lunar sphere! I think he thought himself on the brink of some significant insight but alas.
Here follows a list of the various henges they found and investigated, though much of the detail comes from a later meeting between Branwen and I, for Terentius and Pyrrhus, neither known for hiding their impatience well, got bored pretty quickly with the recounting of details of nine different sites (Branwen and Terentius were not able to visit the five in Anglesey in that one season). Precise directions are listed in a separate addendum.
These five stones are the ones in the North of Wales,
The following four are set in Cheshire,
There was another very interesting question that came up about the extent to which groves parallel henges? It certainly bears more thought and Branwen agreed to look into it further.
A week into the season, Gaines arrived bearing news both hermetic and mundane for the council, with only Pyrrhus absent, being in Gloucester. There was a lot of mundane news. A series of great, blood battles had been fought between the English and French force on the continent, with both armies suffering serious losses. Supply lines were difficult, disease rife and, as usual, lots of non-combatants had perished too. On this isle, the Lords of the North were battling the Scots but had not been able to free Berwick. Over in Hibernia, the Irish rebellion has been in full swing. While English forces still hold the primary castles in the East, with many troops moved over to France by Isabella to try and secure Edward’s claims there, most of the West of Ireland has been lost to the rebels. Fears grow in England that her ambition will cost the country dearly and dissatisfaction is apparently rife amongst the nobles, though some still see great opportunity on the continent.
The hunt for Toby continues with Eurus Aquilae tracking him and the group of men they believe are accompanying him to the North into Scotland. Cad Gadu however believe this to be a false trail and have switched their efforts to the South. There is no cooperation between the two groups. Senior Quaesitor Romanus has reminded everyone that Toby should be taken alive and held for trial if possible. However, given he is a known dangerous diabolist, magi are entitled to defend themselves with whatever force is necessary. Prima Luddwyn has said that she will call an emergency tribunal is Toby s caught alive.
Following this news, we asked Steffan to keep an eye out for the sort of deeds that Toby might do, reasoning that while his disguises were likely too good for him himself to be spotted, his deeds might prove to be a more likely way of noticing if he were to come into the Dean.
Winter
All were present for the final council meeting of the year. Pyrrhus reported that he’d had a quiet season in Gloucester, though signs of food shortages were evident throughout the city. He said that from what he’d seen of the various College masters and from speaking to people who’d studied in Oxford, Cambridge and Paris, colours and fur on a robe generally indicated higher rank but that he’d not seen anything that clearly identified the robes the demon had been garbed in. It struck me then that while the robes could indicate a demonic penchant for scholarly life, it could equally be a casual deception, designed to set any investigating magi or others on a false trail.
Talk then turned to the matter of the carvings on the White Stones at the entrance to Mynydd Myrddin. Naevius said that they reminded him a little of Verditius runes, which he claims an excellent and intuitive understanding of. He caveated that they were not such and did not seem to follow similar patterns or logic, but he felt that there were clear commonalities, with some shared underlying principles. He said that he would take some time to try and come up with something more specific that we might be able to use. I’m summarising the conversation of course. Grateful as I am for such an insight, which had not occurred to me, Naevius took so long to get to the point I wanted to reach across the table and shake him.
I mentioned how it wasn’t entirely clear to me how the designs had been created on the stones, they’re very fluid and stylised, it seems to be the form within them that’s key. The patterns are not simply aesthetic; they have a purpose. Naevius further said that he’d be interested in visiting Trevalga to study the runes in situ in the new year. He agrees that they look reproducible and have some form of underlying language to them.
Sadly, Theoclea’s researches have not gone as well. She reported her frustration as she’d not been able to make any real progress. She fears there is a chance that she is taking the wrong approach, and she is at something of a dead end. She wondered whether she was simply being too ambitious. This however is the dilemma that we face. If we push too hard too quickly, we might perish or miss something key to understanding the riddles left, whether deliberately or no, but Myrddin and the Henge Builders. Yet, if we take things too slowly or carefully, we risk not learning what we need to do before the darkness overwhelms us.
Theoclea said that she will try to create an effect in the same place that Myrddin once worked it, in the hopes that some sort of sympathy with the place will aid her efforts.
I wished her luck as I departed for Mynydd Myrddin next morning, accompanied by Cyrdric and Cyprian once more. There was no sign of the previous campsite. I set about working to determine how exactly to move between the different levels of the regio using the White Stones. Simply walking thrice widdershins around them takes you to the fifth magnitude level of the regio. Talking with the stones again proved slow but effective for I could consistently open or close the way simply by asking, or as Races pointed out, likely simply by saying the words “open” and “close”.
Perhaps a week or so into such researches, the two grogs left behind at our campsite in the regio were rudely awakened by a great, moss-covered stag. It wasted little time in attacking, badly wounding Cyprian in the abdomen. Cyrdic initially fled but turned to see Cyprian managed to stagger, pun intended, out of the forest towards him and the potential escape route offered by the stones. Fortunately, the stag, presumably one of the elkare, ceased its pursuit at that point. After some snorting and stamping of hooves it brayed loudly and trotted back into the forest, the tips of its antlers still dripping with Cyprian’s blood.
The grogs managed to stagger round the stones and back into the mundane world, thence limping as best they could towards Skenfrith. However, just in sight of Skenfrith, Cyprian collapsed, the pain and loss of blood overcoming him as he fell face first to the ground. Cydric ran to Skenfrith for help but in the midst of a cold winter, with food scarce and expensive, he found it hard to get help. Eventually he was able to procure a donkey cart at significant cost from a greedy merchant and get Cyprian into the church where the assistant priest helped stitch up his wounds. It was however clear though that it would be some time before Cyprian would be well enough to return to the covenant. Cydric then faced a second struggle to find accommodation for Cyprian to stay in while he recovered and for transport for himself back to the covenant. You’d have thought that the church of St Bridget would have recognised their plight and helped but no. Christian ‘charity’ is not what its proponents make it out to be. Anyway, Cydric eventually found a pawnbroker for his arms and armour and raised enough money to put Cyprian in a room in the inn and buy himself passage on a barge to Blackney, and thence to the covenant. Captain Merrick then swiftly took charge of the matter and eventually our two grogs were safely repatriated.
Meanwhile, utterly oblivious to these desperate shenanigans, Races and I continued our investigations of the stones, having found a trod to take us to the seventh magnitude level of the regio. The most prominent design appeared to be an extended ‘horseshoe’ shape and experimentation showed that tracing its design widdershins did nothing, even when we then walked around it three times. I focused my gaze into the realm of magical energies and could see that there were three ley lines leading from the stones, two to the Northeast, one likely to the barrow and one to the dolmen, plus a third fainter one which seemed to spiral round the stones sunwise. I tried tracing the horseshoe pattern sunwise but there was again no overt change. However, when I once more shifted my gaze to perceive the ancient magics of the land, I noticed that the third leyline had changed from a spiral to a circle. A quick, well actually quite a long conversation with the stones, as Races pointed out later, indicated that tracing the pattern opens and closes the path through the regio levels. This was confirmed when, after tracing the horseshoe widdershins, we walked thrice sunwise around the stones and emerged into the mundane realm. We stood for a moment, blinking in the sudden bright morning sunlight, then, noting the green buds on the trees heralding the coming of Spring, began the long walk back to the covenant. Thus ended the year 1334.
Spring
So, the journal shifts in focus once again as the proverbial quill is placed in my humble hands, loyal aide to Queens that I am and but recently returned from accompanying her majesty on her tour of Avalon, where, as she has just related, she spoke with long-lost dragons and kings.
Sadly, not all recognise Queen Branwen’s regal authority and wise judgement for no sooner had she concluded her extraordinary tale when Pyrrhus asked her why she didn’t take the stone as offered. She replied that it just didn’t feel right, and, though I may be putting words in her mouth, doubtless there were some concerns about the possible consequences removing the item that is almost certainly keeping the Once and Future king alive away from him. Our Flambeau then suggested that one way to ride out the plague might be to tie up the dragon and expand the fruit trees already there into a full farm that could support a good few people. Her majesty did not deign to give her views on the merits of such a plan and Naevius swiftly moved things on, so, for now, I shall just file it in the ‘overly optimistic options’ part of my notes on possible sanctuaries.
Theoclea reported that Myrddin’s memories have faded from the large crystal that she has been studying, meaning she will not likely be able to help further in finding the other true henges. Terrific. Terentius said that he will check the Crystal Caves to see if any remnants of Myrddin’s memories linger there
There have been widespread reports of famine in Southern Europe, with food prices in England up sharply. It will cost us 500d just to keep our stores up this year. Each time such news comes to council, I can’t help but wonder if this is the beginning of the end and we’ve run out of time before we’re ready. If that turns out to be the case now, I guess our only option is to grit our teeth and don our dragon-kicking boots.
Captain Merrick’s longevity potion has unfortunately broken, but given how useful he has been to us, we agreed that we will invest the resources in making him a fresh one. Naevius will make a new such potion this year, but we will also start the search for his replacement. We will speak with Steffan about such to see if he can find any likely candidates, as well as asking other covenants to see if we can buy a suitable lad to train up again.
Branwen asked what she can do to help with the henge plan. She thinks we should be more ambitious with our ultimate aims that creating just a small sanctuary, which is probably fair. In terms of her offer, I said that I could use the help of her house in locating all twelve or thirteen of the main henges.
After discussing my proposed Swansea experiment and other future areas to push my researches forwards, Theoclea suggested a better approach might be to try and work out how to best protect myself or others when dealing with circles like Avebury, taking inspiration from how the runes work to constrain and shape the magic on the Myrddin Stone. An intrigiung idea and one which I shall give some serious thought to!
We next discussed the fallout of the unfortunate affair of Pravia and Deanna. It struck me then that the involvement of the infernal seemed planned and likely with a specific endpoint in mind. With the coming infernal plague, what better way to prevent any resistance to it than by setting the two most powerful house in Stonehenge against each other? No one else seemed to see much value in developing this thought and Pyrrhus said I was reading to much into it. I admit it’s possible I might have the wrong end of the stick but, if not that, what was that demon doing with Toby and the murder of Deanna? I doubt very much it was random.
Jari private journal
I’m not sad about Pravia at all. She had it coming. She’d have condemned me without blinking if she’d thought I’d reveal evidence of her and her House’s involvement in the death of the King and the ensuing civil war. I’m certainly safer with her dead so I’m not going to mourn her at all, though I’m not dumb enough to voice such a sentiment to any of my sodales.
After the council, Terentius went to Mynydd Myrddin, finding all trace of the tower gone. He was able to collect the usual sources of vis from within the caves without any great difficulty before he headed down to the deep regio where the crystal caves lie. However, even with his preternaturally sharp senses, Terentius could only glean one faint scene from a memory that was not his own. There was no sound and it was obscured by mist, but he could see a view from a stone tower. Inside were tapestries and a well-made bed with a pale figure lying on it. Myrddin, assuming it was he, covered the inert figure with a banner, and then pulled out a deep red stone, shot through with lines of grey. As he held it, it pulsed with light, like a heartbeat, and he placed it on the bedridden figure. He then watched the pale man expectantly but there was no apparent change. Then there was a sense of movement of hands and mouth, suggestive of him casting a spell but again, to no apparent effect. The figure then started to pace before trying the spell again, more vigorously this time. The stone glowed for a moment, then subsided, leaving the man still unconscious in the bed.
There was no more to that memory and no sign of any other of Myrddin’s memories, so Terentius made to leave. However, deep as the regio was, he found it hard to access the route back through the regio boundary and after three failed attempts, realised he would have to find a different route. He drew his dagger and made to ‘Rend the Mystic Veil’. Alas, not for the first time, he cut too deep and for a moment teetered on the threshold of the raging maelstrom of twilight that suddenly appeared inches in front of him. Feeling the eerie, frankly terrifying touch of twilight about him, he was able to stay calm enough to close the rift again. Breathing a deep sigh of relief and perhaps wishing for a clean pair of trews, though he did not relay such to us when he told his tale, Terentius sought out a new mundane path out for he dared not try to rend the Veil again lest his near-disastrous attempt had weakened it thereabouts. Happily, he found such a path through to an underground lake, pausing momentarily to puzzle over a spot where the crystals in the wall lay scattered all around in shards, as though they had somehow exploded from the wall.
Taking the form of a dolphin and swimming through the dark underground waters for some long time he eventually emerged in the Llifiau’s lake. Terentius became aware of something large stirring beneath him in the deeper waters there so he made all haste to the shore and departed as rapidly as he could in human form once more.
As he made his way out to the White Stones, he noticed that they bore designs similar to those on the Myrddin stones and on checking found that he was in a rarely visited level of the regio, where the magnitude of the aura was of the seventh level.
Summer
At the summer meeting, Terentius recounted his tale, concluding that Myrddin’s memories are now a lost cause. Theoclea said that the large crystal fragment she has can still show you your own memories so is still of potential use, though Pyrrhus wondered how much vis it contained and what form. Branwen said that the spot where the shards of crystals were found was likely the place where Tiarnan and Astrius fought two members of the UnNamed House, with Tiarnan and his otter familiar Kai slain by a spell that our journal for 1220 records “shattered the stalagmites that littered the cavern. The latter spell was a fell one indeed for the shards that were flung from the rock were not resisted by magical protection”.
This season, Branwen and Terentius will travel North to explore the henges listed in Cad Gadu’s records, five in Anglesey, five in North Wales mainland and four in Cheshire and the lands to its north. I shall await their report with interest! Theoclea will work on developing some Myrddin-style magic, possibly a spell to try and find magical places. Before council ended, Branwen reminded us all to beware of the diabolist magus Toby, whose sigil is that of a watchful fearfulness.
I decided I would investigate the newly re-found level of the Mynydd Myrddin regio and see what I could glean from the runes carved on the White Stones there. A reinvestigation of the stones at the mundane level turned up nothing new so, after a couple of failed attempts to find a trod nearby, I travelled round to the Eastern edge of the forest and found the usual trod into the regio. The magic behind the White Stones clearly draws all paths nearby to them, making it almost impossible to find any alternatives in the vicinity.
Once in the deeper regio, we found a good campsite in the woods, near the bottom of the slope, which here was a steep cliff. I cheerfully left Races the Wind asking Cyprian about what his favourite fish was and began setting up my portable laboratory. I also cast my sight around but the magics were hard to discern and I could get naught but a vague sense that there were maybe two lines, one of which headed to the Northeast. For a perilous second, I thought about casting ‘Picture the Paths of Power’ to see where it next emerged there but fortunately remembered the roiling twilight that lies at the stones there before I could do something even more foolish than usual.
There then followed a somewhat confusing back and forth between the stone and I after I cast ‘Learn the Lost Language of the Legendary Limestone’ and asked it if it would open the path. Races helpfully pointed out when it became clear that I wasn’t getting it, that the stone could simply be reacting to the words ‘open’ and ‘close’, though I still maintain that at one point it got angry with me, as seem to do many such ancient magical powers. Either my usual ‘charm’ doesn’t work on them or they see me as little more than a jumped-up peasant with magic. Like the stone at Boscawen Un and several trees in our locality. Not that the stuck up bacrauts irritate me at all you understand.
Anyway, back to our expedition. Things got a little tricky when we ran out of food and I couldn’t find the trod out, so we had to exit via the White Stones. Fortunately, such interlude it didn’t seem to cost us too much time, and we were able to restock in Skenfrith and return without incident. Over the rest of the season, I was able to glean something of the nature of the stones. I think that, before they were carved and set to their new purpose of binding to a pathway, to make a trod or ley more extant essentially, their essence bore something of the nature of dawn and dusk. This doesn’t appear to be too common an essence from what I’ve seen of my explorations of the stones of this land. I suspect that the perpetual twilight that lingers in this regio may be a byproduct of this original essence. Tracing one’s fingers along the patterns at the heart of the design probably has an effect on the direction of one’s travel but that remains to be proven and we were out of time, returning to the covenant for our council.
Autumn
I began the meeting by talking about what I had learned about the White Stones. Theoclea suggested that part of the purpose of the carvings on the stones was not just to be able to open the path but to close it, for she said that Myrddin likely wanted to ensure that that place was well guarded. She also agreed with Races’ assessment that it was just the words ‘open’ and ‘close’ that the stone was reacting to. Given my naturally likeable and unassuming personality that does on reflection seem more likely.
Next, Branwen and Terentius told the tale of their journey to seek out the fourteen henges that Branwen’s researches had identified in and around North Wales. They had a slightly tricky start when it became clear that Branwen’s new familiar, Gwyla, a rather aloof wildcat, does not like sea travel. Such was her upset that Branwen was forced to get off the ship heading for North Wales at Swansea and make her own way there. Fortunately, she can travel across the land fairly swiftly though she did say that she nearly fell foul of some brigands as she sought to get clear of the Dominion aura around Swansea. Anyway, she was able to rendezvous with Terentius in Chester more or less as planned and so they set off.
The most interesting and alarming event of their season occurred at one of the North Wales mainland henges, Moel Ty Uchaf. There they found chalk markings on one of the centre circle stones, not pagan markings to Branwen’s knowledgeable eye, but possibly something involved in calling ‘darker’ spirits. Terentius found some tracks, a week or two old, probably from just one person who had camped nearby. That night, Branwen saw a shade in the centre circle. It had skeletal limbs with a long, ragged hooded cloak and no sign of a face. Terentius wasted no time in shooting an arrow with an eighth magnitude ‘Demon’s Eternal Oblivion’ tethered to it. However, the arrow passed through it with no apparent effect. As the figure turned to face them Terentius hastily erected a powerful ‘Ring of Warding Against Spirits’ and though it moved towards them, it seemed unable to find where they were, presumably blinded to their presence by the ward?
Jari’s private journal
Branwen later found out from one of her sisters that this was a ‘spirit of vengeance’, apparently quite dangerous but harmless if you don’t harm it. However, if so harmed, it will seek vengeance and will not stop its pursuit of the object of its vengeance. I’ve noted this here for myself as Branwen wouldn’t speak about it in front of Pyrrhus lest he seek to twist such knowledge against her and her sisters in some way. Probably sensible.
Pyrrhus asked whether it was in fact a demon. Branwen then refused to speak on the matter in front of him. Naevius proposed that we should keep it confidential given the possible legal ramifications and called for a vote on the matter, which was unanimously passed.
Pyrrhus then moved on to asking whether the henges could talk with each other. A not unreasonable query but I don’t think that they do. They are connected to the ley lines, the web of ancient power that wells from the land, but they are not the web itself, just access points to it using a related sympathy. Given that Arcanus thought there were thousands, if not tens of thousands, of stones across this isle, we discussed again how we might go about finding the twelve ‘true’ henges. Alas, there was no great breakthrough or idea beyond speaking with some of the older powers.
Jari’s private journal
I then had a brief, amusing debate with Pyrrhus about whether or not the moon was within the lunar sphere! I think he thought himself on the brink of some significant insight but alas.
Here follows a list of the various henges they found and investigated, though much of the detail comes from a later meeting between Branwen and I, for Terentius and Pyrrhus, neither known for hiding their impatience well, got bored pretty quickly with the recounting of details of nine different sites (Branwen and Terentius were not able to visit the five in Anglesey in that one season). Precise directions are listed in a separate addendum.
These five stones are the ones in the North of Wales,
- Cefn Coch, known locally as the Sailors’ Stone, a dark grey slab of unmarked stone set in reddish soil near a cliff edge . Fourth magnitude aura, linked to foresight of bad weather. No sign of spirits. Vis site of Cad Gadu (red soil).
- Bryn Cader, an imposing, unmarked dark grey stone, set in a clearing in a secluded forest near the sea. Surrounded by smaller stones. Sixth magnitude aura, no sign of a regio. Animals nearby are magical and in the fine mist that hangs about the place can be seen watchful wolf spirits. Vis site of Cad Gadu (bones of animals from the wood).
- Llanrwst, set inland, three tall spindly unmarked stones with several accompanying stubby ones. Set in a bowl in a valley, enclosed on three sides with a natural spring nearby. Third magnitude aura. No sign of spirits but the stones are extant to those with the Sight. On the edge of hearing you may hear distant rumbles of thunder. Little known about the place, though the stones go deep and there are a lot of animal bones in the ground suggestive of offerings. Some of which appear recent. Possible religious aspect? Vis site of Cad Gadu (birds with Au vis in them).
- Moel Ty Uchaf, inland, 35 miles from Cad Gadu, sizeable, prominent but unmarked stones set in a broad ring, with a concentric ring of smaller stones running around it. Fifth magnitude aura, no sign of a regio when investigated in the daytime. Used by magical practitioners, though not likely pagan, to summon a vengeance spirit.
- Deriwodes, to the South of Cad Gadu, small collection of plain stones with a more prominent central one. Third magnitude aura during the day. Set on a slight hill amidst light woodland. No regios, no spirits.
The following four are set in Cheshire,
- Bridestones, range of fifteen to twenty man-sized stones (they couldn’t have counted properly?). Second magnitude aura. Sleeping there is said to cause you to forget your troubles forever.
- Arbour Low, isolated, near-circle of large stones, mostly three to four feet high, with one rising to seven feet. Set in a magical-feeling forest with no tracks nor trails, believed likely to disorientate people with magical protections. Fifth magnitude aura, no regios. Trees very extant, may talk.
- The Nine Ladies, nine moss- and lichen-covered but otherwise unmarked stones in a curve. Believed to control the weather, weather at site may be unseasonal, though possibly linked to the turning of the seasons (could be worth investigating for potential sympathies with new Spring or rebirth?) Fifth magnitude aura. Ghosts of witches may be seen moving between the stones at night, possibly conducting a ‘Festival of Spring’ ritual. Speak of the tragedy of the ‘War of the Trees’. Later that same night, the spirits conducted a ‘Celebration of Samahin, all within half an hour by our timings.
- Hadron’s Edge, pair of stones on each end of a barrow mound. West end is tallest, the East end more spindly. Second magnitude aura. Source of imagonem vis? Local legend holds that hadron was a ‘mad piper’ and that you can hear strange music at night that can send men mad, though the night that Branwen and Terentius spent there was all quiet.
There was another very interesting question that came up about the extent to which groves parallel henges? It certainly bears more thought and Branwen agreed to look into it further.
A week into the season, Gaines arrived bearing news both hermetic and mundane for the council, with only Pyrrhus absent, being in Gloucester. There was a lot of mundane news. A series of great, blood battles had been fought between the English and French force on the continent, with both armies suffering serious losses. Supply lines were difficult, disease rife and, as usual, lots of non-combatants had perished too. On this isle, the Lords of the North were battling the Scots but had not been able to free Berwick. Over in Hibernia, the Irish rebellion has been in full swing. While English forces still hold the primary castles in the East, with many troops moved over to France by Isabella to try and secure Edward’s claims there, most of the West of Ireland has been lost to the rebels. Fears grow in England that her ambition will cost the country dearly and dissatisfaction is apparently rife amongst the nobles, though some still see great opportunity on the continent.
The hunt for Toby continues with Eurus Aquilae tracking him and the group of men they believe are accompanying him to the North into Scotland. Cad Gadu however believe this to be a false trail and have switched their efforts to the South. There is no cooperation between the two groups. Senior Quaesitor Romanus has reminded everyone that Toby should be taken alive and held for trial if possible. However, given he is a known dangerous diabolist, magi are entitled to defend themselves with whatever force is necessary. Prima Luddwyn has said that she will call an emergency tribunal is Toby s caught alive.
Following this news, we asked Steffan to keep an eye out for the sort of deeds that Toby might do, reasoning that while his disguises were likely too good for him himself to be spotted, his deeds might prove to be a more likely way of noticing if he were to come into the Dean.
Winter
All were present for the final council meeting of the year. Pyrrhus reported that he’d had a quiet season in Gloucester, though signs of food shortages were evident throughout the city. He said that from what he’d seen of the various College masters and from speaking to people who’d studied in Oxford, Cambridge and Paris, colours and fur on a robe generally indicated higher rank but that he’d not seen anything that clearly identified the robes the demon had been garbed in. It struck me then that while the robes could indicate a demonic penchant for scholarly life, it could equally be a casual deception, designed to set any investigating magi or others on a false trail.
Talk then turned to the matter of the carvings on the White Stones at the entrance to Mynydd Myrddin. Naevius said that they reminded him a little of Verditius runes, which he claims an excellent and intuitive understanding of. He caveated that they were not such and did not seem to follow similar patterns or logic, but he felt that there were clear commonalities, with some shared underlying principles. He said that he would take some time to try and come up with something more specific that we might be able to use. I’m summarising the conversation of course. Grateful as I am for such an insight, which had not occurred to me, Naevius took so long to get to the point I wanted to reach across the table and shake him.
I mentioned how it wasn’t entirely clear to me how the designs had been created on the stones, they’re very fluid and stylised, it seems to be the form within them that’s key. The patterns are not simply aesthetic; they have a purpose. Naevius further said that he’d be interested in visiting Trevalga to study the runes in situ in the new year. He agrees that they look reproducible and have some form of underlying language to them.
Sadly, Theoclea’s researches have not gone as well. She reported her frustration as she’d not been able to make any real progress. She fears there is a chance that she is taking the wrong approach, and she is at something of a dead end. She wondered whether she was simply being too ambitious. This however is the dilemma that we face. If we push too hard too quickly, we might perish or miss something key to understanding the riddles left, whether deliberately or no, but Myrddin and the Henge Builders. Yet, if we take things too slowly or carefully, we risk not learning what we need to do before the darkness overwhelms us.
Theoclea said that she will try to create an effect in the same place that Myrddin once worked it, in the hopes that some sort of sympathy with the place will aid her efforts.
I wished her luck as I departed for Mynydd Myrddin next morning, accompanied by Cyrdric and Cyprian once more. There was no sign of the previous campsite. I set about working to determine how exactly to move between the different levels of the regio using the White Stones. Simply walking thrice widdershins around them takes you to the fifth magnitude level of the regio. Talking with the stones again proved slow but effective for I could consistently open or close the way simply by asking, or as Races pointed out, likely simply by saying the words “open” and “close”.
Perhaps a week or so into such researches, the two grogs left behind at our campsite in the regio were rudely awakened by a great, moss-covered stag. It wasted little time in attacking, badly wounding Cyprian in the abdomen. Cyrdic initially fled but turned to see Cyprian managed to stagger, pun intended, out of the forest towards him and the potential escape route offered by the stones. Fortunately, the stag, presumably one of the elkare, ceased its pursuit at that point. After some snorting and stamping of hooves it brayed loudly and trotted back into the forest, the tips of its antlers still dripping with Cyprian’s blood.
The grogs managed to stagger round the stones and back into the mundane world, thence limping as best they could towards Skenfrith. However, just in sight of Skenfrith, Cyprian collapsed, the pain and loss of blood overcoming him as he fell face first to the ground. Cydric ran to Skenfrith for help but in the midst of a cold winter, with food scarce and expensive, he found it hard to get help. Eventually he was able to procure a donkey cart at significant cost from a greedy merchant and get Cyprian into the church where the assistant priest helped stitch up his wounds. It was however clear though that it would be some time before Cyprian would be well enough to return to the covenant. Cydric then faced a second struggle to find accommodation for Cyprian to stay in while he recovered and for transport for himself back to the covenant. You’d have thought that the church of St Bridget would have recognised their plight and helped but no. Christian ‘charity’ is not what its proponents make it out to be. Anyway, Cydric eventually found a pawnbroker for his arms and armour and raised enough money to put Cyprian in a room in the inn and buy himself passage on a barge to Blackney, and thence to the covenant. Captain Merrick then swiftly took charge of the matter and eventually our two grogs were safely repatriated.
Meanwhile, utterly oblivious to these desperate shenanigans, Races and I continued our investigations of the stones, having found a trod to take us to the seventh magnitude level of the regio. The most prominent design appeared to be an extended ‘horseshoe’ shape and experimentation showed that tracing its design widdershins did nothing, even when we then walked around it three times. I focused my gaze into the realm of magical energies and could see that there were three ley lines leading from the stones, two to the Northeast, one likely to the barrow and one to the dolmen, plus a third fainter one which seemed to spiral round the stones sunwise. I tried tracing the horseshoe pattern sunwise but there was again no overt change. However, when I once more shifted my gaze to perceive the ancient magics of the land, I noticed that the third leyline had changed from a spiral to a circle. A quick, well actually quite a long conversation with the stones, as Races pointed out later, indicated that tracing the pattern opens and closes the path through the regio levels. This was confirmed when, after tracing the horseshoe widdershins, we walked thrice sunwise around the stones and emerged into the mundane realm. We stood for a moment, blinking in the sudden bright morning sunlight, then, noting the green buds on the trees heralding the coming of Spring, began the long walk back to the covenant. Thus ended the year 1334.