Scribed by Maximus
Spring 1245 AD
We met on the first day of spring and discussed the previous season's activities.
With the death of Primus Jerbiton, Urbanus had been offered the position of Primus, and is considering his position at the covenant. To protect Aithen from any who might wish him harm, Urbanus declared him amicus.
Husam reported the successful slaying of Dougal, the gang member who was caught and turned as my poor Duncan was turned into a creature of death. He also reported that Giordino had successfully boarded the ship associated with the unnamed house and was not watching the unloaded cargo in a nearby warehouse.
I explained my story of my travels through Bristol, how Duncan came to my room at the Wagoneer's Rest in the night and wished to talk, he said he would protect me but I was afeared and sent him away. He also informed me that he has been set to watch over my comings and goings by the white lady, which instilled me with little confidence. I reported our journey to Keynsham and the fact that Duncan followed us there, how I interviewed the priest and the blacksmith and their story was not accurate however when I used magic to confirm their stories they believed them to be true. They told me that the manor burnt down on the same night as the old knight was buried but we know that those events were separated by at least a year. I discovered that the graveyard was not consecrated as there were a lot of spirits there. Talking with a spirit I discovered that this situation had been persisting for at least a hundred years. The spirit also told me that although people had gone into the knight's family mausoleum there was nothing there. I must admit to being a bit confused by this statement but it became apparent that the spirit could not see the corpses because they were in an infernal regio. On returning to the inn we encountered Duncan again and he warned me to leave the place. I stayed the night in the tavern and at the witching hour Rufus awoke me to say that he felt funny, it became apparent when I looked through the veil that a insidious infernal effect had washed over the whole village wiping the memory of any unusual activity from all who were asleep. We returned to the covenant evading Bristol and travelling over the hills via Stroud to Gloucester. Near Stroud we lost sight of Duncan who had been trailing us since Bristol.
With Fabius leaving for his house meeting, our Pontifex asked Lysimachus to stand as Ministrator, who will serve that role well as he is a hard working studious man.
We then went about planning the raid on Keynsham and discussed many options until we decided on a straight raid from outside the village. I will now recount the sorry tale.
We set sail down past Bristol to avoid any entanglement with the white lady or her agents. Disembarking at a small town called Clevedon, heading south from there Husam, myself, Lysimachus and a grog walked south and camped overnight, the next day we continued south and camped in a copse near Keynsham around midday and had a nice lunch of bacon, bread and mushrooms. Whilst we waited for nightfall we discussed our plans and I had a little nap. We crept up to the Mausoleum that night and Husam used magics to silence the doors as he pulled them open. Lysimachus then entered the crypt and vanished from sight, he had entered a regio and he later stated that he saw a body in each alcove and was attacked and after casting magics about himself to protect him from the blows was terribly afraid and fled. This was totally unlike Lysimachus who is normally a very brave man and so we chased after him as he burst from the regio, once we had calmed him down we talked to him and it was as if we were talking to a child, I convinced him to drink his leap of homecoming potion and then followed him to assist him to the infirmary. Husam then returned mundanely bring the grog Osmer back to the covenant. I reported this to Astrius who then cast from text a spell to cure Lysimachus from the effects of the malady that the demon must have put on him.
After discussion with my sodales I decided to visit Liberata at Trevalga covenant and thence to Narwold and Fergus to discuss the White Lady to try and discover what kind of creature she was. The first part of the journey went well and I agreed to study at Liberata’s Library for a rook of vis, but when I traveled onwards to Narwold we became lost near the fens and unfortunately Sergeant Jeffery was abducted by a Fae of the trees. Harold, a grog and myself entered the small copse and entered two regios, talking with the tree I was instructed to leave, given no chance of negotiating a peace I started a fire, the Fae attacked us and it is with great sadness that I report that Harold the grog and Jeffrey were all lost to this witch, I fled and returned back to the ship and thence to Trevalga. I learnt that the White lady shuns the light of day, feeds on blood, does not sleep, is magically strong and quick which intensifies after drinking blood. There was a legend from Ireland which was 300 years old. Apparently a lord's daughter was raped and murdered and the Irish lord sold his soul to the Devil to raise his daughter up, the Devil duly obliged but she was accursed and now drinks of human blood. The Daughter killed all who had abused her and then fled to avoid killing her father.
Later in the season Constantius had a vision of Ildernacht and Fabius being attacked by a pirates assisted by what sounded like a demonic efreet. Astrius quickly rode to Blackthorn to repeat the tale to the redcap but unfortunately Alanus was not at home and so he reported to Praeca Edith who passed the message on. Husam also helped by going to Carrion Moor to try and find Alanus which he did and so word was quickly sent out to try and assist our sodales from what peril he might have fallen into.
Summer
We met at council and discussed plans again to assault the demon at Keynsham. Lysimachus, then recovered, explained what had happened in the tomb and we decide as a council to all go and investigate, with Astrius accompanying us I felt a lot more certain of victory (private thought: I pray Keynsham does not fall to the same fate as Cotterley). We followed the same route as before and Hussam scouted the village in the form of an Owl. in that feathered fowl form he spotted three candles and a table in the burned down manor, we investigated the manor and I shimmied over the walls and carefully followed Astrius through the loose bricks and burnt timbers. I appreciated Astrius constantly looking round to check on my well being although the scowl on his face suggested I was doing something wrong. After some searching we discovered no one up on the surface, and Hussam and Astrius went down a small tunnel Hussam had found into the dungeon, down they went into the dark and casting magics detected a regio boundary, they held hands so they could pass through together and appeared in the crypt, Suddenly they were in a fight to the death and using various magics managed to destroy the demon that had so feared Lysimachus before, it was interesting to note that the Demon's Eternal Oblivion wand that Fabius created did not function at all in the fight and so led us to suspect that Fabius’ devices were in some way linked to his lifeforce. Exiting the regio they were met by a figure wielding a sword, Astrius stated that it looked similar to a lich. He cast a massive spear of ice into its body and although it stumbled it soon arose again and hacked at Astrius wounding him, Astrius then summoned up all his many years of knowledge and power and cast a bolt of lightning at that evil creature and slew it, quickly searching around Husam found the book he had aspied on the table in the manor, although how he was drawn to it when it was hidden in the wall of the graveyard I do not know, it must have been his exceptional eyesight. Astrius picked up the sword that had wounded him so. Hearing sounds from the village the group of avenging heroes, myself included retreated back to our base camp and from there the next day returned to the covenant.
Back at the covenant I assayed the sword and using my magical sight saw a shadow on the blade but not on the book. Astrius attempted to destroy the sword with sunlight but to no avail and stated that with the pagan spirit Morrigan's power he could destroy the blade at the autumn equinox.
Examining the items Fabius had created, it became apparent that none were magical and using hermetic precedent it was sadly my duty to state that Fabius was dead. The worrying thing was that although the loss of so many devices was hard to bare, it was the fact he had constructed Lysimachus’, Husam’s and my own longevity potions and thus we would have to quickly work on recreating them. Lysimachus then offered to help me make my potion if I would make his, and knowing his skill around magic I quickly accepted this generous offer. I stated that his should be created first however and so we created the potion in my laboratory. Astrius went and reported the news about Fabius to Blackthorn, in the hope that Husam who was in Bristol that season could be contacted and warned about his longevity potion, whilst he was at Blackthorn, Luvidicus offered to make my potion for me, which was good news when it was returned to Severn Temple for my pater is more skilled than I in the arts of Intellego and Corporem.
Later in the season Alanus arrived with news both hermetic and mundane. He stated that the house meetings of Verditius and Jerbiton had both taken place, Ildernacht and Fabius did not attend the meeting at Verdi, and at Valnastium our Sodales Urbanus was invited to become Primus and he accepted the position. Of mundane news there was a war between England and Scotland in spring the English nobility won the battle and forced the scots back to their lands in the tribunal of Loch Legaen, I hope not many people were killed at the whims of the nobles who no doubt were doing it for financial gain. There was some good news, Depercy ,Husam's amicus, had negotiated with the prince of Gwynedd and thus with the promise of lands he retreated his army of deadly longbowmen without engagement. There was also news of an abbey being built in Westminster which would serve the capital well as a great place of worship. The benedictine monks are very humble and generous, and because of that have made friends in many places and have acquired a lot of lands, the Cistercians who reside at Tintern are a lot more austere and follow the precepts of saint Benedict in a much more rigorous manner. Yet again the Holy roman emperor has been excommunicated, Innocent IV declared Frederick to be deposed as emperor, characterising him as a "friend of Babylon's sultan", "of Saracen customs", "provided with a harem guarded by eunuchs" like the schismatic emperor of Byzantium and, in sum, a "heretic". These words were a bit harsh I felt but who am I to question God's bishop? A very brave Franciscan monk traveled to the land of the mongols and talked with their king, and has returned with intelligence of the power of these invaders, I admit guilty relief that I live on this island for living in fear of these mighty warriors on horseback must be terrible for the people living in the east. Alanus also brought a letter from Urbanus, in it he stated that after talking with his father he had accepted the position of Primus Jerbiton as the best way to defend his father and himself from the retributions of other magi’s petty jealousies of his lofted position. Because of his acceptance he with heavy heart resigned his position of Severn Temple but stated that his father would still like to reside here, and as everyone liked Aithen we had no problems with this situation.
Husam spent the season in blackthorn brewing his longevity potion with the Praeca of the tribunal, Edith.
Autumn
A quiet season where I was out of the covenant in Blackthorn taking up my pater's offer to brew my longevity potion in blackthorn Husam was doing some work for his house (private thought: At least that will keep him out of mischief). Lysimachus had a more frightening season he travelled to Gloucester to work at the college and after discussions with the other masters about giving financial stipends to clever students discovered that another death had occurred due to students fighting over a piece of music which after the incident could not be found. This felt similar to the previous incident and he wondered if it was the demon being his corrupting self again. He didn't have long to find out as he encountered the demon and had a discussion with it where it tried to convince him of that he was trying to re enter heaven by performing good acts and could Lysimachus task him to perform some good acts. Lysimachus saw through this ruse and said to the demon that he would not tell the demon what to do as in the case that the demon was lying the action could be twisted against him and if the demon was telling the truth (a minute chance) then being told what to do negated the goodness that self thought out actions created. the demon left him but I fear not in peace.
Winter
The winter council meeting was fairly jubilant as we had defeated two demons in summer and that good feeling had pervaded the covenant ever since (private thought: although to be honest when I say we I mean Astrius). We discussed the fate of the book and as I could not find any evidence of corruption I decide I would take it and read it hopefully to learn what the figure was trying to do. I agreed to make a device to detect regio boundaries this season, Husam went off exploring bristol, Astrius studied from some personal Vis and Lysimachus studied from the Intellego text. But no plan survives a surprise visit from the Redcap and so it was to be. He arrived a few days into the season with two messages. I received a letter saying that I was wanted on an investigation and I made this known to the pontifex and left soon after knowing that I would miss Harold on this trip, I still feel guilty for his death. Alanus also brought a message to Astrius. I went about my Investigation part of which led me around the Dean and abroad but back to Chepstow near the end of the season and back to the covenant with a few days to spare. I did hear a rumor from around Chepstow, that there was plague in the Shire but I saw no sign of it in Chepstow, Monmouth or anywhere else I visited.
Private Journal.
I rode quickly to to confer with my pater at his request, and was told some troubling news, a fellow Guernican had gone missing. His name was Hugo of Hidden Isle covenant near the city of Rouen, he was apparently coming to study at Blackthorn and had not arrived. This would not normally warrant a quaesitorial investigation so soon but the Primus was worried and had personally ordered it. Now I know that the code forbids scrying but I was trying to help my fellow sodales at the order of my Primus and so that night I tried to have a dream about what had delayed Hugo in coming to Blackthorn. It was a disturbing dream and I espied an island in the mist and a man with a quaesitorial chain around his neck in a tower safe and secure. There was a distant bell and the man opened a letter. Reading the letter it was obvious that it worried him from his facial expressions and then he burnt the letter. He gathered his possessions and went to a church where he met a monk in a black robe. He spoke in latin to the monk and the monk said we need your aid to which the guernican answered with I am a servant of christ and agreed to assist the monk. He travelled on a long road escorted by two men suddenly there was a dagger in the back indicating betrayal and I awoke. With orders from the primus and working out that this might be because Hugo was the filius of Verdesius of greater alps covenant, an Archimagus of our house. I quickly obeyed and traveled down to Chepstow and the probable ports of south Wales trying to assess if the ship had come ashore but to no avail, none of the harbour masters knew, and none of their records showed any ship arriving from Harve in the time period expected. Frustrated I decided to return to Blackthorn and report my findings to my Pater. With Alanus’ assistance I then journeyed to Harvre in France and from there down a river to the Hidden Isle covenant. It appeared to me to be an Autumn covenant quickly slipping into Winter, with a typical Tytalan acting as pontifex called Livicus. He told me that Hugo had left the covenant on the 10th of September. Apparently a message was received from Jean Luke the redcap early in summer. Talking with the crazy Merenitan who resided there she said that the local fae had seen him go to a local church. I travelled to the church with the assistance of Livius and talked to the priest who said that a monk by the name of Brother Gerard from the local Abbey De San Marie had talked to the lost Guernican. Knowing from my dream what must have occurred and that it appeared that Hugo was conspiring with the enemies of our tribunal, the brothers in christ, against us, I decided to return to Blackthorn and report to Luvidicus. After reporting he asked if I knew anything else and I admitted that I had scryed and he was shocked that it appeared that our Primus was using or allied to the Brothers in Christ.
Spring 1245 AD
We met on the first day of spring and discussed the previous season's activities.
With the death of Primus Jerbiton, Urbanus had been offered the position of Primus, and is considering his position at the covenant. To protect Aithen from any who might wish him harm, Urbanus declared him amicus.
Husam reported the successful slaying of Dougal, the gang member who was caught and turned as my poor Duncan was turned into a creature of death. He also reported that Giordino had successfully boarded the ship associated with the unnamed house and was not watching the unloaded cargo in a nearby warehouse.
I explained my story of my travels through Bristol, how Duncan came to my room at the Wagoneer's Rest in the night and wished to talk, he said he would protect me but I was afeared and sent him away. He also informed me that he has been set to watch over my comings and goings by the white lady, which instilled me with little confidence. I reported our journey to Keynsham and the fact that Duncan followed us there, how I interviewed the priest and the blacksmith and their story was not accurate however when I used magic to confirm their stories they believed them to be true. They told me that the manor burnt down on the same night as the old knight was buried but we know that those events were separated by at least a year. I discovered that the graveyard was not consecrated as there were a lot of spirits there. Talking with a spirit I discovered that this situation had been persisting for at least a hundred years. The spirit also told me that although people had gone into the knight's family mausoleum there was nothing there. I must admit to being a bit confused by this statement but it became apparent that the spirit could not see the corpses because they were in an infernal regio. On returning to the inn we encountered Duncan again and he warned me to leave the place. I stayed the night in the tavern and at the witching hour Rufus awoke me to say that he felt funny, it became apparent when I looked through the veil that a insidious infernal effect had washed over the whole village wiping the memory of any unusual activity from all who were asleep. We returned to the covenant evading Bristol and travelling over the hills via Stroud to Gloucester. Near Stroud we lost sight of Duncan who had been trailing us since Bristol.
With Fabius leaving for his house meeting, our Pontifex asked Lysimachus to stand as Ministrator, who will serve that role well as he is a hard working studious man.
We then went about planning the raid on Keynsham and discussed many options until we decided on a straight raid from outside the village. I will now recount the sorry tale.
We set sail down past Bristol to avoid any entanglement with the white lady or her agents. Disembarking at a small town called Clevedon, heading south from there Husam, myself, Lysimachus and a grog walked south and camped overnight, the next day we continued south and camped in a copse near Keynsham around midday and had a nice lunch of bacon, bread and mushrooms. Whilst we waited for nightfall we discussed our plans and I had a little nap. We crept up to the Mausoleum that night and Husam used magics to silence the doors as he pulled them open. Lysimachus then entered the crypt and vanished from sight, he had entered a regio and he later stated that he saw a body in each alcove and was attacked and after casting magics about himself to protect him from the blows was terribly afraid and fled. This was totally unlike Lysimachus who is normally a very brave man and so we chased after him as he burst from the regio, once we had calmed him down we talked to him and it was as if we were talking to a child, I convinced him to drink his leap of homecoming potion and then followed him to assist him to the infirmary. Husam then returned mundanely bring the grog Osmer back to the covenant. I reported this to Astrius who then cast from text a spell to cure Lysimachus from the effects of the malady that the demon must have put on him.
After discussion with my sodales I decided to visit Liberata at Trevalga covenant and thence to Narwold and Fergus to discuss the White Lady to try and discover what kind of creature she was. The first part of the journey went well and I agreed to study at Liberata’s Library for a rook of vis, but when I traveled onwards to Narwold we became lost near the fens and unfortunately Sergeant Jeffery was abducted by a Fae of the trees. Harold, a grog and myself entered the small copse and entered two regios, talking with the tree I was instructed to leave, given no chance of negotiating a peace I started a fire, the Fae attacked us and it is with great sadness that I report that Harold the grog and Jeffrey were all lost to this witch, I fled and returned back to the ship and thence to Trevalga. I learnt that the White lady shuns the light of day, feeds on blood, does not sleep, is magically strong and quick which intensifies after drinking blood. There was a legend from Ireland which was 300 years old. Apparently a lord's daughter was raped and murdered and the Irish lord sold his soul to the Devil to raise his daughter up, the Devil duly obliged but she was accursed and now drinks of human blood. The Daughter killed all who had abused her and then fled to avoid killing her father.
Later in the season Constantius had a vision of Ildernacht and Fabius being attacked by a pirates assisted by what sounded like a demonic efreet. Astrius quickly rode to Blackthorn to repeat the tale to the redcap but unfortunately Alanus was not at home and so he reported to Praeca Edith who passed the message on. Husam also helped by going to Carrion Moor to try and find Alanus which he did and so word was quickly sent out to try and assist our sodales from what peril he might have fallen into.
Summer
We met at council and discussed plans again to assault the demon at Keynsham. Lysimachus, then recovered, explained what had happened in the tomb and we decide as a council to all go and investigate, with Astrius accompanying us I felt a lot more certain of victory (private thought: I pray Keynsham does not fall to the same fate as Cotterley). We followed the same route as before and Hussam scouted the village in the form of an Owl. in that feathered fowl form he spotted three candles and a table in the burned down manor, we investigated the manor and I shimmied over the walls and carefully followed Astrius through the loose bricks and burnt timbers. I appreciated Astrius constantly looking round to check on my well being although the scowl on his face suggested I was doing something wrong. After some searching we discovered no one up on the surface, and Hussam and Astrius went down a small tunnel Hussam had found into the dungeon, down they went into the dark and casting magics detected a regio boundary, they held hands so they could pass through together and appeared in the crypt, Suddenly they were in a fight to the death and using various magics managed to destroy the demon that had so feared Lysimachus before, it was interesting to note that the Demon's Eternal Oblivion wand that Fabius created did not function at all in the fight and so led us to suspect that Fabius’ devices were in some way linked to his lifeforce. Exiting the regio they were met by a figure wielding a sword, Astrius stated that it looked similar to a lich. He cast a massive spear of ice into its body and although it stumbled it soon arose again and hacked at Astrius wounding him, Astrius then summoned up all his many years of knowledge and power and cast a bolt of lightning at that evil creature and slew it, quickly searching around Husam found the book he had aspied on the table in the manor, although how he was drawn to it when it was hidden in the wall of the graveyard I do not know, it must have been his exceptional eyesight. Astrius picked up the sword that had wounded him so. Hearing sounds from the village the group of avenging heroes, myself included retreated back to our base camp and from there the next day returned to the covenant.
Back at the covenant I assayed the sword and using my magical sight saw a shadow on the blade but not on the book. Astrius attempted to destroy the sword with sunlight but to no avail and stated that with the pagan spirit Morrigan's power he could destroy the blade at the autumn equinox.
Examining the items Fabius had created, it became apparent that none were magical and using hermetic precedent it was sadly my duty to state that Fabius was dead. The worrying thing was that although the loss of so many devices was hard to bare, it was the fact he had constructed Lysimachus’, Husam’s and my own longevity potions and thus we would have to quickly work on recreating them. Lysimachus then offered to help me make my potion if I would make his, and knowing his skill around magic I quickly accepted this generous offer. I stated that his should be created first however and so we created the potion in my laboratory. Astrius went and reported the news about Fabius to Blackthorn, in the hope that Husam who was in Bristol that season could be contacted and warned about his longevity potion, whilst he was at Blackthorn, Luvidicus offered to make my potion for me, which was good news when it was returned to Severn Temple for my pater is more skilled than I in the arts of Intellego and Corporem.
Later in the season Alanus arrived with news both hermetic and mundane. He stated that the house meetings of Verditius and Jerbiton had both taken place, Ildernacht and Fabius did not attend the meeting at Verdi, and at Valnastium our Sodales Urbanus was invited to become Primus and he accepted the position. Of mundane news there was a war between England and Scotland in spring the English nobility won the battle and forced the scots back to their lands in the tribunal of Loch Legaen, I hope not many people were killed at the whims of the nobles who no doubt were doing it for financial gain. There was some good news, Depercy ,Husam's amicus, had negotiated with the prince of Gwynedd and thus with the promise of lands he retreated his army of deadly longbowmen without engagement. There was also news of an abbey being built in Westminster which would serve the capital well as a great place of worship. The benedictine monks are very humble and generous, and because of that have made friends in many places and have acquired a lot of lands, the Cistercians who reside at Tintern are a lot more austere and follow the precepts of saint Benedict in a much more rigorous manner. Yet again the Holy roman emperor has been excommunicated, Innocent IV declared Frederick to be deposed as emperor, characterising him as a "friend of Babylon's sultan", "of Saracen customs", "provided with a harem guarded by eunuchs" like the schismatic emperor of Byzantium and, in sum, a "heretic". These words were a bit harsh I felt but who am I to question God's bishop? A very brave Franciscan monk traveled to the land of the mongols and talked with their king, and has returned with intelligence of the power of these invaders, I admit guilty relief that I live on this island for living in fear of these mighty warriors on horseback must be terrible for the people living in the east. Alanus also brought a letter from Urbanus, in it he stated that after talking with his father he had accepted the position of Primus Jerbiton as the best way to defend his father and himself from the retributions of other magi’s petty jealousies of his lofted position. Because of his acceptance he with heavy heart resigned his position of Severn Temple but stated that his father would still like to reside here, and as everyone liked Aithen we had no problems with this situation.
Husam spent the season in blackthorn brewing his longevity potion with the Praeca of the tribunal, Edith.
Autumn
A quiet season where I was out of the covenant in Blackthorn taking up my pater's offer to brew my longevity potion in blackthorn Husam was doing some work for his house (private thought: At least that will keep him out of mischief). Lysimachus had a more frightening season he travelled to Gloucester to work at the college and after discussions with the other masters about giving financial stipends to clever students discovered that another death had occurred due to students fighting over a piece of music which after the incident could not be found. This felt similar to the previous incident and he wondered if it was the demon being his corrupting self again. He didn't have long to find out as he encountered the demon and had a discussion with it where it tried to convince him of that he was trying to re enter heaven by performing good acts and could Lysimachus task him to perform some good acts. Lysimachus saw through this ruse and said to the demon that he would not tell the demon what to do as in the case that the demon was lying the action could be twisted against him and if the demon was telling the truth (a minute chance) then being told what to do negated the goodness that self thought out actions created. the demon left him but I fear not in peace.
Winter
The winter council meeting was fairly jubilant as we had defeated two demons in summer and that good feeling had pervaded the covenant ever since (private thought: although to be honest when I say we I mean Astrius). We discussed the fate of the book and as I could not find any evidence of corruption I decide I would take it and read it hopefully to learn what the figure was trying to do. I agreed to make a device to detect regio boundaries this season, Husam went off exploring bristol, Astrius studied from some personal Vis and Lysimachus studied from the Intellego text. But no plan survives a surprise visit from the Redcap and so it was to be. He arrived a few days into the season with two messages. I received a letter saying that I was wanted on an investigation and I made this known to the pontifex and left soon after knowing that I would miss Harold on this trip, I still feel guilty for his death. Alanus also brought a message to Astrius. I went about my Investigation part of which led me around the Dean and abroad but back to Chepstow near the end of the season and back to the covenant with a few days to spare. I did hear a rumor from around Chepstow, that there was plague in the Shire but I saw no sign of it in Chepstow, Monmouth or anywhere else I visited.
Private Journal.
I rode quickly to to confer with my pater at his request, and was told some troubling news, a fellow Guernican had gone missing. His name was Hugo of Hidden Isle covenant near the city of Rouen, he was apparently coming to study at Blackthorn and had not arrived. This would not normally warrant a quaesitorial investigation so soon but the Primus was worried and had personally ordered it. Now I know that the code forbids scrying but I was trying to help my fellow sodales at the order of my Primus and so that night I tried to have a dream about what had delayed Hugo in coming to Blackthorn. It was a disturbing dream and I espied an island in the mist and a man with a quaesitorial chain around his neck in a tower safe and secure. There was a distant bell and the man opened a letter. Reading the letter it was obvious that it worried him from his facial expressions and then he burnt the letter. He gathered his possessions and went to a church where he met a monk in a black robe. He spoke in latin to the monk and the monk said we need your aid to which the guernican answered with I am a servant of christ and agreed to assist the monk. He travelled on a long road escorted by two men suddenly there was a dagger in the back indicating betrayal and I awoke. With orders from the primus and working out that this might be because Hugo was the filius of Verdesius of greater alps covenant, an Archimagus of our house. I quickly obeyed and traveled down to Chepstow and the probable ports of south Wales trying to assess if the ship had come ashore but to no avail, none of the harbour masters knew, and none of their records showed any ship arriving from Harve in the time period expected. Frustrated I decided to return to Blackthorn and report my findings to my Pater. With Alanus’ assistance I then journeyed to Harvre in France and from there down a river to the Hidden Isle covenant. It appeared to me to be an Autumn covenant quickly slipping into Winter, with a typical Tytalan acting as pontifex called Livicus. He told me that Hugo had left the covenant on the 10th of September. Apparently a message was received from Jean Luke the redcap early in summer. Talking with the crazy Merenitan who resided there she said that the local fae had seen him go to a local church. I travelled to the church with the assistance of Livius and talked to the priest who said that a monk by the name of Brother Gerard from the local Abbey De San Marie had talked to the lost Guernican. Knowing from my dream what must have occurred and that it appeared that Hugo was conspiring with the enemies of our tribunal, the brothers in christ, against us, I decided to return to Blackthorn and report to Luvidicus. After reporting he asked if I knew anything else and I admitted that I had scryed and he was shocked that it appeared that our Primus was using or allied to the Brothers in Christ.