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Scribed by Pyrrhus

Spring 1295AD

Mixtures of metals can produce interesting results. Take two weak metals Copper and Tin, mix them in the correct proportions of twenty-two twenty-fifths Copper to three twenty fifths Tin and you make Bronze a metal stronger than both individually, a metal better than its component parts. Sometimes the mixture can be even more one-sided take iron ingots and melt and bash together with a pinch of charcoal and sometimes you make a metal that is the strongest ever made without the use of magic, the purity of the iron has to be diluted with the dirtiness and randomness of the burnt wood to make something glorious. Thus you make a strong covenant, sometimes one or more magi seem the strong backs of the covenant but you need the chaos and moral flexibility that some magi bring to make the covenant stronger. A covenant made up of just one house can often fight one foe very well but against another, they fall like autumn leaves from a tree. A good leader recognises in his men the various talents and skills and when a particular problem occurs he will apply the correct men at the correct time to the problem to vanquish it. A poor leader does not recognise or care about his men and will soon be defeated.

We met in the council chamber just after the first light of dawn, It was a brisk day and the sun shone weakly through a fog that had risen up from the Severn overnight. Hypatia reported on the feelings of those in court in London and her words described it as tense, which was understandable with the Scots potentially coming south would at least prevent the Duke of York from joining Theo in France and also as the Duke was not the strongest of allies opened up the possibility of him just allowing the Scots to go past York maybe to the west and strike down into England. Theo was in the process of creating a parliament to enable the country to be governed without the direct input of the King. Some would see this as a weakness in giving some of his power to the lesser nobility but others might see it as the actions of a considerate ruler, I hoped that no one would try and take advantage of this perceived weakness to attempt to dethrone Theo as our sodalis Hypatia would surely have to get involved to save her brother. Hypatia stated that she would travel again to London that season to assist with the creation of the Parliament. We went on to discussed our covenant services and Terentius and myself offered to venture into Mynydd Merddyn later in year around the season of Autumn, Volutus would create an item to assist in the passage through the woods, Jari volunteered to go to the faerie regio and get vis from the tower that is a covenant vis site, although Jari holds the title from the Erechwyth. I wondered if as it is given to Jari does the Erechwyth hold title to it anymore? Hypatia’s mundane dealings will count as her covenants service as in all previous years and I cannot complain as she brings with it much needed coin for our covenant with which we can improve our libraries and buy gemstones. Six pawns of vis per covenant service were allowed to be withdrawn with restrictions on some techniques and forms to allow us a healing reserve and the ability to cast our aegis. 500 silver pennies were also distributed.

As to the season's activities Hypatia was in London as previously mentioned, Volutus said he would enchant an item or help me with my longevity potion depending on how my horoscope of the experimentation went, Jari was to study from personal vis and Terentius studied in the library from the Perdo texts. After I had cast my horoscope I could not work out the complex pattern of events and so I decided not to create my longevity potion that season but instead I used some Creo Vis and tried to learn the secrets of that techniques by expending the vis in research.

Three weeks later into the season Acerbia the Redcap arrived with news both hermetic and mundane. She reported that the village of Northam in the county of Cornwall had had a strange fog roll in and floating on the sea and washed ashore were lots of dead fish. Of mundane news, Acerbia first reported about the Scottish and French treaty against England and with the war in the area Borritor covenant had said to call in first there to learn of recent news before travelling north of the border. The Redcap went on to explain the new model parliament King Theo had called, in which clergy and nobility and two representatives from each county and city would assemble to discuss the great matters for the country. Apparently, King Theo had said, “What touches all should be agreed on by all”. Further abroad a man had returned to Venice from a long expedition to the Far East he was called Marco Polo and his travels had made him very wealthy, I wondered what secret from the east he had brought back and would any of them be alchemical in nature.

A few weeks later Maga Marissa arrived to talk to Jari about some Fay business I would guess.

The rest of the season past without incident.

Summer

We met just after dawn and the council was not as jovial as it had been on previous occasions but this was understandable with the grave news constantly coming to the covenant. Hypatia reported that Theo had done a lot of politicking with the northern lords to maintain their trust in him and their loyalty, I wonder what it cost him in promised tithe reductions or promotions. We discussed the Scabbard and its origins which led to a lot of speculation as we didn’t really know much, and with our pagan history books now all translated into Latin Jari volunteered to read them to glean some knowledge of its origin. With no other news we decided our season's activities and Hypatia wanted to learn from the Auram texts, Volutus enchanted the item he had invested the previous season, Terentius studied from our extensive tomes Perdo and I learnt the spell the ball of Abyssal flame which was to prove very useful in the next season. Unfortunately, I failed again to ascertain my horoscope for my longevity potion and so delayed that activity again. After the Council, we recast the Aegis and then we went about our business.

The season was quiet and all that happened was that later in the season Acerbia arrived bringing a private missive for Terentius.

Autumn

We met just after dawn as usual but we had little to report and so moved on to our season's activities. Jari studied further from the books on pagan lore that we have in our library, Volutus learned from the texts on Ignem and Hypatia studied from the Herbam texts. With so many Magi being in the library I hoped that they would not get in each other's way, I know I need my space when I am trying to learn and irritating distractions or noises can be an obstacle to learning. Terentius and I declared that this season as agreed in spring we would venture into Mynedd Merddin and we asked permission to take various magical items to assist in our travails.

I asked Marcellus if he wanted to come with us and although he was initially keen when I mentioned some of the potential dangers he quickly decided that it was not for him and said he would study instead. Thus venturing into the regio would be Terentius, his consor Branok, myself, my shield consor Arnulf and a scout called Aelwyn.

We travelled up to Skenfrith as per normal and camped in the camping spot just outside the regio. It was observed that during the night the normally clear hillside was suddenly populated with a forest, we postulated that this was potentially a leak through the curtain that divides the mundane from the regio and may only happen at night because of the weakening between our world and the magical at that special time.

We entered the Regio and using the magic ladder soon ascended to the plateau where the great wood started. We used the device that Volutus had crafted and it successfully pushed the branches of the trees and flattened the clinging briars from our path. Terentius’ familiar Meliorax successfully spotted one of the tree creatures I believe is called a Velkha from up above heading in our direction and it was decided to hide from the creature to see what it might do. It shambled towards us and although we were hidden it came straight towards us. We engaged it in melee but to no avail as the men's swords bounced off and Branok with his huge axe seemed to continue to hide for some reason, I do not think it was cowardice but just that the big man is a simple soul and was following the last order given to him. I struck the creature twice with fire using my new spell and it died. Terentius extracted the vis from the creature and we continued on towards the tower.

It was not long before Terentius suggested the supposition that the item by manipulating the awakened forest was in some manner attracting the Velkha but we were then torn between the option of continuing to use the item for easier passage or not using it and struggling for every step. We decided to continue and Terentius’ familiar again warned us of three Velkha approaching on a small ridge above us. I laid two charges of Bacon’s powder in the hope of ambushing them and as they came down the slope one stood almost upon the charges but as Terentius had decided on the tactic of hiding I chose not to ignite them. Unfortunately, it appeared that one of our members, Aelwyn, had not disguised his whereabouts in a sufficient fashion and they made a beeline for him. Terentius then lept out and led two of the Velkha chasing him leaving just one attacking our scout. I thought about my options and if I attacked too early the two chasing Terentius might turn back and so I waited to attack but by the time the two Velkha were out of sight the remaining Velkha had grappled Aelwyn and was carrying him off with purpose northwards. I tried to follow but without the device clearing the path it was hopeless and I returned to the original spot and collected my Bacon’s powder. Terentius in the meantime had evaded the other two after leading them on a merry dance and thence came back to us in the guise of a wolf. With the device now back with use, we pursued after Aelwyn but it had seemed as if the forest had swallowed him. Almost immediately Branok twisted his ankle and Terentius not having time to care for his consor hid him in a hollow of a tree and told him to stay there, Branok being the obedient soul that he was sat and concentrated on that order. Then somehow Terentius spotted some moss which had been ruffled in a different direction to the rest and we were back on the chase. Just as we caught sight of the shambling creature Terentius found a sinkhole with his feet and fell fifteen feet into it, not wanting to lose the Velkha I continued on alone and Arnulf stopped to help Terentius out of the hole (I cannot remember if I ordered him to do this but if this happens again and my Shield consor abandons me without permission I will chastise him harshly). Eventually, I caught up with the Velkha and I blasted it twice in the back with my Ignem magics rendering it inert. We rescued Aelwyn from under the fallen tree and we then returned to seek Branok.

When we returned to the tree where we hid him he was not there and using an arcane connection Terentius had, we discovered he was underneath us. I ordered Arnulf to start digging and cast the spell pit of the gaping earth spontaneously to assist in the initial hole, Terentius then leapt into the hole and did the same twice more to discover an unconscious Branok face and lips blue, Arnulf performed some basic chirurgy on him and we used the Filwyr Rhwym on him to restore some of his vitality, but we did not have any Vis to make the healing permanent. This left us in a dilemma and wanting to preserve the life of the consor we decided to retreat out of the forest. First, we rested and it was a scary time and although the sun did not set sleeping near trees that apparently eat people led to some restless sleep. I created some small clay jars and filled them with lamp oil in case we are assailed again as the men's swords seem to have little effect on the Velkha. We headed toward the exit and Terentius’ familiar Meliorax this time did not spot an approaching Velkha and we were surprised, Luckily my training took over and I was able to rapidly put two balls of abyssal flame into the creature stopping it before it even reached our men.

We descended from the plateau using the ladders without incident and exited the regio on the second attempt after I had given Terentius some encouragement to get it right. After we had excited the regio and not wanting Branok to succumb to his wounds on sunset Terentius gave him a potion to drink to apport him home with strict instructions to go to the infirmary, He did this dutifully. We then returned as per the normal route without incident. It appeared after the time we had spent in the Regio only three weeks remained of the season and I used the time to record our adventures there and consider what we could have done better.

Winter

At the council, we explained our journey in the previous season and it turned out that we had collected twelve Rego Vis from Velkhas' smouldering corpses. Jari explained a lot of what he has learnt from the pagan texts and it could be that the scabbard was created by a fae like being and so could possibly be detected by faerie sight. This would give us a chance of detecting false scabbards that we know our enemy has used in the past. He went on to say that a creature called Llugh LlawLliffe (please accept my apologies for the spelling but I speak little Welsh and went with how it sounded) who was a patron of crafting created a scabbard in legend and he was (or should that be is) the son of the goddess of dawn.

It was we great happiness that I described my success with my horoscope and with some sadness for Mercury was now moving out of alignment with the other planets and I don't know when again we will be able to predict the outcomes of experimenting on magical activities. With my success assured I called upon Volutus to assist me this season in the creation of my potion, Terentius learnt from the Vim texts, Hypatia studied from the Herbam texts and Jari travelled to the realm of the Erechwyth to pay her homage and extract vis from the tower she gifted the covenant.

We discussed my faerie bargain and Hypatia kindly offered to go to the Gofinwe’s cave and ask about it but we decided not to do so before the grand tribunal as she might lose track of time in the regio and that could've been disastrous.

Later in the season, we had two visitors to the covenant, the magi Blanche and Agnes arrived and had discussions with Hypatia. Hypatia then called an emergency council and without revealing her source stated that horrific visions of the grand tribunal had been had and it appeared as if the Templars would attack the tribunal and the vision was of a battle with the Templars on one side and the towers of Durenmar on the other. It was not sure if this was a real attack or a political attack and so we discussed the ramifications of both. After the council, Volutus travelled quickly to Blackthorn covenant to share the visions message with Arcanus and Theopholous to warn them of the potential dangers.

The rest of the season was cold but passed peacefully.
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