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Scribed by Cormoran

Spring 1151 AD


This is my first time at writing the journal and I hope that my Latin is good enough for the other magi here to understand my scribing. I am newly joined here and I hope that my actions and ideas will be acted upon or at least listened to as my Pater warned me that my views might not be listened to because of my house and origins.

We met on a cold and frosty morning and in the council chamber it was even colder than the outside with the fire in the great hall barely permeating through the walls. I worried that the slighter magi would take a chill and need Aelfwin's ministrations but it seems they were made of sterner stuff. Our initial discussion were about financial worries and after deliberation about what to do with the cease of supply of iron ore from Blackney it was decided that Dialectica would organise deliveries of ore to the new quay at the bottom of the hill so that our forge can keep producing the fine range of iron ware and weapons that seem in such demand in Chepstow. Regarding the disaster at Blackney, because of the range of foes set against us and because of our lack of skill in attacking such foes it was decided to just keep watch upon the undead to ensure an attack against the covenant would not occur. We also decided to raise the ninth magnitude aegis to protect us from the infernal creatures that now lurk in Lydney. As for the tasks of season and year, Tiarnan was going to study from the Intellego texts in spring and study the magic of the Fae in his spare time, Astrius was going to study from the Auram books and improve his control of magics in his spare time, Medius stated that he would learn to ride as it would be important to him for travelling around and in his spare time practice the art of Parma Magica with myself and Theo. I studied from the Rego texts attempting to raise my knowledge enough to learn the spell seven-league stride. Theo declared he would ride out to gather information as his covenant service, Dialectica also declared she would go out to gather information and ask the reeve for a tax reduction as the loss of Blackney had hurt our finances so badly. Dialectica also stated that she intended to study from the journal more to learn what mistakes had taken place in the past in an endeavour not to repeat such mistakes. Finally, Aelfwin stated he would learn from the Aquam texts not for any immediate purpose but that his son was nearly ready to be taken as an apprentice and he would like to do so himself. In his spare time he would be assisting his wife Helena as she is pregnant once more and he would not want to see her hurt herself or the unborn child by exhausting herself in the infirmary.

A few days into the season, Serenia arrived to explain some points about the charter. Tiarnan was nervous about some points and I swear that I did not understand many myself as the Latin was quite complex. She explained that is was typical for the Pontifex to demand greater powers than are granted in our new charter and that we were on the edge of acceptability as far as the Concillium Quaesitori would be concerned. Tiarnan spoke at great length to be rebuffed time and time again when he tried to amend the charter to make it more lenient towards the standard members of the covenant. Serenia also explained how Medius must appear to be unbiased in his creation of the document, as it would go badly for the covenant if it were rewritten without Medius�s moderating input. The one section Serenia was worried about was the challenge to the Pontifex via Certamen, she felt this would be a hard fought battle to get the other Quaesitori to accept this but that there was precedence and therefore it might pass. Serenia was quite gracious in her description of Dialectica as Pontifex and she stated we were lucky to have her implying that we might get someone else if we argued too much with the work of Medius. We accepted her findings and stated that we would like the Concillium to examine the charter at the earliest time; she stated this would be towards the end of spring.

An expedition to Lydney was mounted and, through skill and magics, we found the footprints of a heavily burdened man, a bipedal creature with hooves and very large wolf prints leading to the Dell, a place of devils and demons. From there they seemed to go directly to the church in Lydney, however it appeared that the man did not go into the church. After some deed was done in the church, the man camped in the wood and the signs of a campfire were discovered by our eagle eyed scouts. The next morn Medius, after obtaining the time of the fire from my spontaneous magics, scryed the camp to observe the visage of the man so we could hunt him down. He later told us that he observed a man entering Lydney; he described him as a non-descript man with a scar on his face. The man then left Lydney heading for the dell in the company of a cloaked form that he could not distinguish very well but assumed to be the demon with the cloven feet. A short while later he observed in his spell the wolves race from the Dell to Lydney.

We then reconvened the council back at the covenant and had a meaningful discussion about the otherworld and how spirits worked in this phantom realm. Astrius being a bit of an artist drew a picture of the scarred man so Theo could take it to Maelgwyn in Gloucester to see if any information about him could be discerned. In the meantime, Theo had managed to break the code on the books of evil he borrowed from Maelgwyn and discovered that they were in fact books of sacrifice and we determined that Theo should talk Maelgwyn into destroying the books.

Theo departed the next day, met with Maelgwyn and tried to persuade him to destroy the evil books, but Maelgwyn had other plans for he proposed a deal that if the search of Snigs End, the ritual site used by the diabolists, proved profitable then yes he would ensure the books distruction but if not then they must have value to someone and his financial needs came first as far as he was concerned. An expedition to Snigs End was therefore organised and came across the empty grove used by these evil people. A quick excavation revealed nothing but buried sacrificial victims, mainly corpses of babies It looked as though the mission was going to be a failure when a group of people were spotted headed towards the grove. Maelgwyn quickly formed an ambush for the supposed diabolists and when they entered they were quickly set apon by the gang. Entering the glade were a Knight, a woodsman, two women (one holding a baby) and a hunchback. Also, two peasants were holding a pair of nervous horses just outside the glade. A thug called Tolwyn was first to the fray and chopped down one of the women thinking her to be the head Diabolist, then by accident Maelgwyn shot Tolwyn in the thigh with his crossbow. Myself and Astrius have had conversations about battles and he has explained to me that it is quite common for flambeau to be hit by spells cast by friendly magi but targetted in error but that wards and other magical protections can protect you from this friendly fire. The woodsman, who was obviously magically enchances or a demon in his own right, then distainfully swept his sword and dispatched Tolwyn by the action of removal of his head from his body. At this time the knight moved forwards to duel the bandits but was blindsided by Tostig. Theo describes him eloquently as a brute of a man with a brutish brain to boot. This Tostig tackles the black knight from behind espousing the use of weapons for the primitive weapons his brain could use and proceeded to pound the evil Knight's brains out by smashing his head against a rock, which the knight's head seemed to rest on. The woodsman, seeing that the most significant threat lay in this apparition of primitive ferocity, moved in to slay this Tostig but was foiled when his blade was parried by the body of the knight that Tostig used as a shield. Animal cunning and pure anger drove the thug who now with the strength of many men pulled the demon woodsman's leg from under him. A tustle then ensues and it seems as if the demon will win untill Theo places his blade between the woodmans shoulders and eviscerates him. Although Theo is a bard and not a warrior it still took bravery to enter the fray and stike this demon down from behind whilst wrestling the thug. The noblewoman then reveals herself as a user of magics by killing one of the men with an ageing spell and his body shrivels and collapses into dust under the hammer of ages that she inflicts apon him. Realising that Theo is somehow a Magus, she then blinded my sodalis by the use of demonic magics and fled the scene leaving the baby crying on the grass. Theo and Maelgwyn's gang then escaped themselves after being chased by knights and dogs via barge to Gloucester. Theo then returns to the Temple of the Severn where he is cured and the sacrificial baby put into the care of one of the covenants women. Apparently some sort of green sword and armour made of human skin were recovered by Maelgwyn, which he took as loot. Let us hope that he finds these hellish objects enought to sate his greed and destroys the books as promised. However, I would not trust him to do so as he seems to be a man of little character.

Theo thence travelled to Michealdean to investigate Yvonne, who it seems had fled to Gloucester but his investigations there come to naught and it seems as if she has vanished from this world and reading back in the journal of the troubles Ruaridh had in the city this is not entirely infeasible.

At the tail end of the season the Concillium Quaesitori arrives to discuss the new charter. They argue back and forth like a couple of falmouth fishwives and after a day sat listening to them discourse minor intricacies of the law I decided to leave them to it as they had swum out of my depth of the law so quickly I rapidly became lost and confused. We were summoned to be told that the charter had passed as Medius and Serenia said it would which pleased us all, with the possible exception of Tiarnan.

We collected 5 pawns of Creo vis from the spring and 3 pawns of Rego vis from the Boar Tide.

Summer

The inital council meeting was taken up with voting in the new roles as stated in the charter. There seemed to be a voting block at work here, and although I stood against all the candidates, I stood as much chance as a tree in a cornish storm of overturning the block vote. In the end, Theo was made Mediator and Astrius was made Imperator and I cannot argue with these postings as it seems to me that Astrius is an excellent warrior and my House mate Theo will be an excellent arbiter of justice as long as he is not overly influenced by outside forces. We then discussed our money worries and decided by council vote of 6 to 1, Tiarnan voting nay, to sell our quality glass to Tintern Abbey as this will help our severely depleted funds. Our Seasonal studies chosen were as follows: Dialectica studied from the perdo texts, Tiarnan went to investigate the fae regio and took some silver twigs with him, I studied from the rego texts and soon will have the learning to cast the seven league stride, Astrius studied from the Muto texts, Medius went the the House meeting along with Theo but planned to study from the Creo texts as well, Theo went to find a mason and gather rumours and finally Aelfwin trained an apprentice glassmaker so the glass could be made without interupting his studies.

A quick survey of Blackney and Lydney was carried out which discovered that Blackney seemed normal and free from malignant forces whereas Lydney was still in the thrall of evil, This led to some heated debates over the dinner table about repopulating Blackney with Medius and Tiarnan both advocating it but the rest of us would not risk the lives of mundanes until saftey from the demons of Lydney could be assured.

The House meeting was eventful in that a new Primus was chosen this being LLandothwyn, who assumes the role again now he is free from persecution by holy isle it seems. Medius presided over this ascension and appointed Harnol, a dangerous and savage member of my house, as Hoplite which seems to have generated much hilarity from the Hoplite. LLandothwyn called for assistance to track and slay Mcgraine, obviously trying to cement his grasp of the House and also to reclaim the robes of dusky dawn that McGraine holds still. Apart from these events, apparently the meeting was a farce with lots being shouted and little achieved. We remain a rabble and personally I enjoy the freedom that this gives me in my daily life.

Late in the season Kieran returned stating that Tianan would be remaining in the faerie regio to continue his studies and we should not be alarmed if he was a time in returning.

Autumn

At our council meeting we discussed what to do about Lydney. After a long discussion it was agreed that we should seek outside help and the advice of older and wiser Magi. Also we decided to commission a magical device to aid us against the demons that dwell there. To this end Astrius decided to visit Orlania and Moravius, Aelfwin declared that he would spend the season making glass panes of such quality that there sale would aid our dwindling reserves of cash, Dialectica declared that she would extract vim vis for the covenant and it seems a shame that one so talented as her should have to do such a menial task I wish I was able to assist in some way but by the nature of my magics I am hampered even in this task as it is not personal to myself. Because of our troubled finances Medius declared that he would travel to Narwold and Carrion Moor to seek possible trade with the covenants. Theo went out and about in the local area to recruit able men to man our walls and to possibly find a merchant who would deal in the quality glass that Aelfwin is making nowadays. I myself studied from Rego vis, still struggling to obtain enough knowledge that would enable me to learn form the library the spell Seven League Stride.

A few days into the season one of the grogs who had escorted Tianan into the faerie Regio returned alone to state that there had been an ambush and that Kieran and Tiarnan were both captured by agents of the Erechwyth. This puzzled us as Kieran had reported none of this and after some magical probing we discovered the truth that he had been under the influence of glamour. He believed the Erechwyth to be his mistress and he then acted as if one of her agents. Luckily at the same time a powerful Merinitan Magus was abroad in the confines of the Dean. After a quick hunt, I found this Magus, who went by the name of Quellior. He wanted to strike a deal for the return of our sodalis. It consisted of 5 rooks of vis, Llyn-y-fan's healing device and 3 seasons of my time. Athough a steep price, it seemed cheap compared to the life of our sodalis. Tiarnan was then almost instantly returned to us, though how this Quellior managed to sneak into the ice queen's realm and out again I do not know.

Astrius' travels were fruitful as he apparently gained insight from Orlania about the problems that plague us from Lydney, and in his discussions with the weather Verditius, Moravius, managed to commission a lighting wand. Demons seem to be able to be hurt by this form of damage whereas fire often has little effect on their corporeal form. It transpired that it would take 3 seasons of work for him to craft this device and require us to pay the cost of the device and in addition 5 rooks of vis.

Medius' journeys were not without incident as he traveled to Narwold. In a small wood between Witney and Cambridge he was attacked by 4 men on horseback. Medius was alerted when the men stopped at the bottom of the hill on which he had camped. A bat flew up from this group of men and appeared to scout out the location, acting in many ways unusual to that species, and it appears now that it might have been a familiar reconnoitering the territory before they struck their terrible blow. As the men and Medius observed the dark horsemen, green fire was observed and at that evil sign a screech was heard in the sky. Descending from the sky a beast appeared; Medius later described it as a huge serpent with wings and a pair of powerful legs. It pounced on Giovanni's horse, ripping its spine from its body. As this was occurring the men attacked and between the grogs and Giovanni they managed to kill one of the men. Grabbing the magical saddle Medius led the men into the cover of the woods where they hid until the danger had receded. Returning to the site of the fight Medius quizzed the dead man's spirit who said that now the wyvern had his scent it could follow him anywhere. After this incident Medius was able to travel safely to Narwold where he learnt of problems that covenant was having with a vis site, which was defended by spirits.

On his return he asks me to apport to Blackthorn to deliver a message bound for Holy Isle to report what was probably and attack by the Unnamed House. At Blackthorn I talked to Eloria who offered the covenant the opportunity to purchase back the Heart of the Forest for the princely sum of a queen of vis.

We held a council meeting to discus plans if the wyvern attacked Severn Temple, which in the end consisted of finding places to hide, as we considered ourselves not powerful enough to fight off such a menace if it breached our Aegis.

Dialectica extracted the not insignificant sum of a rook of Vim vis from the aura.

Winter

At the council meeting the activities of the previous season were discussed and it came to light that the demon we fight might have a focus which binds it to this plane of existence. It is not without possibility that Maelgwyn, the thug of Gloucester, might be in possession of such a focus and if we could get hold of it we could force the demon to disperse. It was decided that an investigation of the demonic woodsman's body might be advantageous and plans were made for another expedition to Snig's End. Dialectica stated she would invest the wand with the vis to prepare the item for Moravius to enchant, Astrius declared that he would be inventing a spell. I was finally able to learn the spell Seven League Stride. Medius was to learn from the Intellego texts to improve his ability to investigate breaches of the code. Theo was inventing a spell, Aelfwin was broadening his Arts by learning Auram, and I believe this is so he can take his son as an apprentice into the Order. Tiarnan was learning from our huge tome on Mentem. So apart form the expedition to Snig's end we all spent our time in the covenant, which made for a jolly yuletide.

The expedition to Snig's end however did not go without event. On the way to the site there were traps, which luckily the scouts were able to detect and disarm. On arrival there, and although a mighty search was mounted, no sign of the woodsman's body was found. It was as if he had vanished into mist, which well he might of being of a demonic nature. The scouts then heard voices on the wind and on observation it appeared as if a big hunting party was coming to Snig's End, for mayhaps a small spirit or demon was watching the place and warned the locals of our invasion of the evil clearing. Astrius declared that the party should flee south back towards the covenant. However fleeing form men on horseback is difficult and soon our men were exhausted and they had to make a stand. Astrius chose an ambush site, but unfortunately many people escaped as it was poorly executed. However the hunt was scattered and this enabled our group to stagger back to the covenant unmolested.

To check that this disturbance had not caused problems for us in the mundane sphere, Theo and Dialectica ventured out on the frost covered roads to spread rumors of it being the work of the welsh war wizard and nothing at all to do with Briavel village. Medius also criticized Astrius and Theo for their handling of the affair as it could have brought the wrath of the mundanes down upon us.

Apart from these events the season although chilly past without further incident.
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