Scribed by Pyrrhus
Spring 1300AD
We assembled in the council chamber and greeted each other in our normal fashion. Volutus asked for reports from the previous season but as we had all stayed in the covenant during the winter there was nothing to report. Terentius’ touch of twilight had seemed to have faded and he felt better and had not had any more of the episodes where his mind drifted off into that of the Roman centurion from Iberia. Jari asked Terentius about the Romans name for some reason, I did not know if he was trying to induce an episode or was genuinely just trying to find out information. Jari then went on to ask about Terentius being a Roman scout which seemed to be a coincidence as that is Terentius’ chosen role. With no useful information gleaned Jari finished his questioning.
Volutus asked Terentius if he had cast any spells in the area where he experienced the twilight and he confirmed that he had, he said that he cast sense the elusive boundary and he had then felt he had come to the attention of an entity in the location, which probably meant the shining one. Hypatia said the flow of magic was similar to the magical area through the portal in our great hall and she doubted that mastered spells would go wrong and cause a twilight in the normal fashion that all our paters warned us about. Jari said that the magic could have spiralled out of control even if cast correctly saying that once released it could have been enhanced by the general magic in the area to a state beyond control. Jari asked Terentius about the fact that if he had never seen a Roman how did his twilight include this facet? He went on to state that if it was an induced twilight by the shining one he could have chosen that imagery. We discussed whether the tomb that Terentius saw was a real place or a figment of twilight. I suggested we were seeing a different time or season of Mynydd Myddyn but Hypatia corrected me by stating that there was something deeply wrong in the regio and did not think it was just a change in season.
Terentius made a reference to Radulfus’ spells failing as he flew over the Northern hill and I suggested that the Templars might have taken a device that stopped magic from leaking into the world but there was no way of proving that. I examined the journal to get some dates and discovered that we detected the change to the aura in 1284, the first mention of the Templar anti-magic device was in 1281 and there was a mention of three Templars visiting Tintern Abbey in 1279 which nothing was done about, so theoretically they could have taken something from the regio used it in Iberia and we noticed a change a few years later but the chances of this theory being correct are slim. To quantify the changes to Mynydd Merthyn we decided to take measurements of the aurae and size of the regio to determine if it is growing. I suggested another avenue of investigation could be conversing with the spirits of the barrows as they might know some of the history of the northern hill and the great barrow it contains.
Volutus stated he would be travelling to Blackthorn to spend the season with Phaedra to study twilight. Jari said he would go through Arcanus’s notes with Providus and would accompany Volutus on the journey and study the regio from the outside in passing.Hypatia offered to go and talk to Llandoddwyn to talk about Mynydd Myddyn as someone of his age might know something about the shining one or the history of the regio. Terentius asked about the lost covenant Wytherenden in the weald south of London as it might have been used by the Templars but stated he did not know how to find it and so Volutus volunteered to get its location from the libraries of blackthorn in his season there.
Terentius asked Hypatia to see if the king's agents had any further information about the Templars so we could bring the fight to them which I wholeheartedly agreed with. We examined the Axbridge incident with the Templars in the infernal regio and tried to work out where the Templars were going, but without much knowledge, we had to admit defeat and so Hypatia said that the agents of the crown might have that knowledge and would ask them.
Terentius ever the explorer stated he would try to go to Swallowcliffe to see if there were any traces of the lost covenant or Templar interference at the site. We went on to discuss the Roxborough documents and the fact that they were in code and unfortunately the librarian had failed to break the code. Terentius asked if kings agents could break the codes, to which Hypatia suggested that she could take the notes to them to attempt such however Volutus stated he was uncomfortable with that as if the notes contained information that we would prefer the King and his men to be ignorant of, such as details of the Order, he would like it if we could decode it rather than outsiders.
Terentius asked us about how to stop the horned god from hunting him. Hypatia suggested that Lugh might be able to intercede on his behalf, then Jari suggested that the Cerdywyn the weaver might be able to furnish a solution to his quandary. Hypatia stated she might be able to contact her by doing a little rite on a particular night where the rego vis was collected as this had worked before, she did warn Terentius though that Theo did not fulfil a bargain with her and it went very ill for him. Hypatia then showed off her knowledge of the pagan powers and how each might be able to help Terentius with his problem. She stated that a bargain made with the Morrigan might not have obvious consequences but would not be too onerous, a bargain with Lugh would be tough but there would be no hidden repercussions and the weavers would be the trickiest but maybe the easiest if you were willing to put your morals aside. If it was me I would probably go with Lugh as I have already been caught out in a deal with unforeseen repercussions with the smith Gofynwy, but we will see what decision Terentius eventually makes.
Vis was distributed with six pawns per season being awarded. Coin was also given out with 150 silver pennies being given to each magus who wanted such.
We decided what our season's activities would be, Volutus travelled to Blackthorn to talk with Phaedra, Terentius said he would be on private business, Hypatia would perform covenant service in London, Jari learned sight of the active magic and travelled up to Blackthorn to ask Providus about looking at Arcanus’s writings and I created a spell to bind wounds which would last longer than a day.
Most of us agreed that in our spare time in the covenant we would practice the Parma Magica with each other. Volutus said he would want to practice his English even though he has been here for many years his English is still broken and finally, Terentius said he would read from Corlear’s notes on magic theory.
Private Journal
A few weeks into the season Maga Blanche came to the covenant to talk with Terentius and left with him without announcement then towards the end of the season he returned alone, my suspicion was he did something with Blanche to rid himself of the hounds that hunted him as he announced in the next council. I wonder which of the pagan powers he did a deal with and what will be the long-term consequences of his actions, for a man keen to avoid entanglements with the great powers he seems to gather them to him.
Summer
We assembled into the council chamber exchanging pleasantries and assumed our normal seats.
Hypatia reported that King Theo was in the north of the country fighting the Scottish rebels. She went on to say that the kings agents had detected the boat that had dropped off the templars we fought in Axminster docking again in Chester where it just took on provisions before leaving again, none of us knew if this was normal behaviour or if this was suspicious. The agents were keeping an eye on Bridgewater one of the potential destinations of the templars for the Baron there a man called Godwin was known to be a pious man, there was no direct evidence against him, but a priest of Bridgewater has given sermons against King Theo. There was another potential destination which was that of the the village of Sherbourne where bishop Henry was a man who had spoken out against the king. Once again the matter of the Roxborough documents came up and to solve the dilemma between my sodalis I volunteered to decode them this season with Marcellus help.
Tetrentius reported that the hounds of the wild hunt had been called off but refused to elaborate on the matter or how he had solved it, although maga Blanche coming last season might have had something to do with it.
Volutus reported that he had talked about Mynydd Myddynwith magus Phaedra and also about Terentius’ experiences inside the regio. Phaedra offered the insight that the shining one was obviously not malevolent. Volutus stated that in his seasons study he had brought on a state of twilight in himself and in his vision he had been on the northern hill in Mynydd Myddyn standing unable to move when suddenly he was hit by a bolt of lightning and then he heard his pater's voice in his head saying saying “Not yet, you are not ready”. Volutus could not provide us with any insight as to what this vision meant and it seems to me that trying to make sense of a twilight vision is much like trying to make sense of a faeries motives what appears obvious is devious and what appears inconsequential is of the utmost import.
We talked about our seasons activities and Volutus stated he would return to Blackthorn to study from there libraries and attend the quaesitori concilium at midsummer. Jari joined Volutus for the journey as he was going to study Arcanus’s writings with magus Providus to find out if there was any mention of the shining one. Terentius went searching for the lost covenant of Swallowcliffe, Hypatia trained her apprentice and I attempted to decode the Roxborough papers as I had stated I would do so.
On the way up to Blackthorn Volutus and Jari camped outside Mynydd Myddynand overnight Volutus’ horse became agitated much like Hypatia’s had become when she came this way. Jari heard a wolf on first watch and then he noticed a glow above the woods that looked to his faerie blood endowed site to be of an ancient magic, both Jari and Volutus felt an occasional breeze emanating from the regio but only they in there group felt it and I wonder if they sensed the outpouring of magic from that storm inside.
I successfully translated the texts with the help of my colleague Marcellus the alchemist. The texts were fragmented but gave a comprehensive assessment of the Loch Leglaen tribunal including the locations of the covenants and the political situation between each covenant. This is the sort of information Volutus did not want falling into the hands of the mundanes, even if he is our ally, for who knows what might happen to king Theo and who might replace him in the future. The documents also included evidence of the fall of Durenmar with the statement and I quote “When Durenmar burns then Loch Leglaen will fall into infighting”. This appears to have happened, telling us of the amount of knowledge that the templars have gleaned over the years.
The documents also examined how spies might enter into the Stonehenge tribunal and advised against crossing the border with Loch Leglaen but rather to sail around and keeping clear of Holy Isle, although they did not name the dedicated covenant, and dock at a port called Aberdovey near Harlech castle. They obviously have a network here as their assessment of the kings spies in Wales was extensive as well . There were mentions of investigations into Carlisle to gather information on Boriator covenant and we passed that information on the our sodales there as soon as we could. They mentioned that an expedition into north Wales attempting to scout out Cad Gadu was made based in the abbey of St Asaph but to no avail as the magical forests there defeated the templar spies from gaining any information.
Of Loch Leglaen they stated that the only covenant that might give them problems would be Glennrisdal, but they might get help from some of the Scottish nobility notably the Knight of Drumlanrig castle, the abbot of Jedburgh abbey and the baron of Huntley castle near a place called Aberdeen. With Loch Leglaen in such turmoil it would be terrible if something were to happen to all three and they all burned down.
Terentius flew down to Swallowcliffe with his familiar Meliorax and spent a few days searching for the entrance but found it had collapsed and, with no means to excavate any further, returned to the covenant; but at least he did discover the entrance to this dangerous place and if he needed assistance in the future to open up the entrance I'm sure it will be provided for him.
Halfway into the season the Recap Gaines arrived to bring us news both hermetic and mundane, he discharged his duty by relaying the following news. Of news hermetic he told us that Harco covenant had been abandoned and evacuated as Templar forces had approached saving that covenants documents and libraries but unfortunately the gates that had been put in place there had had to be destroyed to avoid allowing easy access to other covenants for our foe. Of news Mundane we were told that there had been a battle fought in the north of Stonehenge tribunal by king Theo's army that had pushed the Scots back over the border into Loch Legaen hopefully for good. Travel around the mediterranean sea might have been made easier by a peace deal between the city states of Pisa and Genoa, two great naval powers of the Rome tribunal. A fire had broken out in Westminster palace and caused extensive damage but as no one of import was in residence, as they were off fighting the Scots in the north, it was not considered suspicious. Another city state in the Rome tribunal called Florence had banned Arabic numbers and reverted to the use of Roman numerals as the Arabic numbers were considered ungodly, this was a mistake in my belief as the Arabic numbers allowed easier use of mathematics to solve problems due to in no small part to the number representing nothing a value that the Roman numerals do not have. The acting senior redcap lefts the next day and we continued our studies peacefully for the rest of the season.
Autumn
The leaves were turning as we met in the council chamber, we took our seats and greeted each other.
Terentius reported on his disappointing exploration of Swallowcliffe the previous season. Volutus reported about the Concilium Quaesitori and the fact that they had discussed the Templars. He said other covenants will now join the search of other lost covenants after he has revealed our attempts. Volutus also told them about the Roxborough papers but obviously not their content as I had not finished decoding them yet. Loch Legaen will be investigated by the quaesitori even though it is out of their jurisdiction which could be a very dangerous thing to do and if it were me going up there as a quaesitor I would want some good hoplites with me. Volutus said that he had found mention of the lost covenant of Witherenden, a description of a series of caves in a powerful magic aura and that the covenant used to control a village called Bodiam which lay south of the Sussex downs on a road running to Maidstone. The village was just a few miles to the east of the covenant , and so if you could find the village it should be simple to find the covenant.I reported my findings of the documents, which led to many discussions about the Templars and who we should broadcast this information too. Jari reported that he had learned from Arcanus’ writing about the stone circle sites in Wessex and Avebury and how there seemed to be many of these old ritual sites, it seems that at one time you could with a strong arm throw a stone from one to another and crisscross this tribunal, is this what happens when the pagans and faeries become so strong that man will become beholden to the powers completely, I suppose it's not that different from churches in more recent times as villages spread. Jari said that there was a copious amount of notes and he would return to blackthorn in summer next year to continue his investigations. Jari mentioned that whilst in Blackthorn he had a drink with the magus Mckeith who was worried about the shining one, saying anything else was trivial compared to it. Volutus told us about his finding in the camp just outside Mynydd Merthyn. Jari, ever the inquisitive, asked about the Westminster fire and he and Volutus said they will check out the incident to make sure there was no foul play on there way to Witherenden. Terentius and myself stated we were still going to Mynydd Merthyn as stated earlier in the year, Hypatia said she would study from personal vis this season. With all business concluded we went to the treasury to divide the magical items between us for our separate missions.
Jari and Volutus went to London to investigate the fire and to pick up a guide to the village of Bodium, Once they were there they met up with one of the kings agents who informed them about the fire and he offered his assistance to move about the Westminster palace. After performing some investigations including the exhumation of the corpse and a simple spontaneous spell to determine the cause of death they found out that the man who dies had been murdered by a cut throat which led them to the conclusion that the fire had been set to cover up his murder. The agent said he would continue the investigation. They left the city with a guide provided by the kings agent via the docks and thence down the Thames to Rochester port where they took the south road. The ship returned to London to wait for them Bodiam was a fair journey from the port but they made it to the town of Maidstone in one day where they found room in an inn but then they had two more days to Bodiam. They found the village and stayed overnight within the local inn. Then next morning they saw a forested hill two miles to the west and proceeded to investigate. They approached the hill and scouting round with keen eyes and magics found a holly bush which looked unusual as it had berries in this season. The grog Albrict grabbed Volutus’ hand as he reached for the berries saying he had a bad feeling about the bush and on closer investigation he proved correct for under it were several corpses of animals. Jari cast magics to talk to the bush and discovered that is was a blood hungry plant, sending the trackers out they caught a rabbit and fed the bush its blood and some of the berries fell from the bush which Jari collected, it was later discovered that these were perdo vis. Investigating further they found a campsite which was nearly two decades old there tracker eric supposed, but because it was a near permanent camp it has survived the intervening years. Jari and Volutus wondered if it might have been a camp set up by the Templars or the Brothers in Christ when they were searching for weaknesses in the teachings of Bonisagus. A few dozen yards from this campsite was a cave but there had been a rockfall at the end, this could have been intentional to hide the place. Sigurd and Merrik were instructed to to clear the rockfall and this they did to a certain degree which allowed a shrunken Jari and erik who is a slight built man to squeeze into the dark cave.
Entering the cave they found a worked stone passage on there left and entered it there a few yards in they came to what could have been the great hall of the lost covenant and exploring left and right passages they found a flooded storeroom and the remains of a library with a magical light source but no books. Following the passage out of the back of the great hall they came to a junction and carried straight on . there they found a chamber with a functioning spell , which seemed to be a form of “chamber of spring breezes”. From there led off three sanctii which had been cleared bar one which still had some evidence of a lab with some empty bookshelves. Jari was keen eyed enough to spot a small fragment of vellum between two of the shelves and pocketed it to examine later. Retracing their steps to the junction they took the other path that led to a vertical shaft with water dripping down into a well. Leaning out into the darkness and looking down Jari felt something move above him and pulled back just as a huge spider landed near his feet. Jari attempted to flee but was bundled over by the spider and looked doomed until his companion Eric attempted to use his borrowing skill on the spider. This upset the spider and it then chased Eric who retreated enough to allow Jari to regain his footing and flee towards the exit. With his feet flying down the corridors Jari made it to the exit and screamed at the others to expect their arrival, he tumbled out of the narrow entry that Sigurd and Merrick had cleared quickly followed by Eric, but not by they spider. After gathering there breath Jari and Volutus decided to send Merrick back to Lydney on the ship to fetch some miners to excavate the entrance properly to allow access for fighting men to deal with any threats. They waited for a few weeks until the men came and started the work, with the season coming to a close they decided to leave the men excavating and returned to the covenant for the council. The recovered vellum seemed to have some form of perdo spell written upon it.
Terentius and myself flew up to Mynydd Merthyn and camped outside as planned then next day we entered the regio via the white stones and invisibly flew to the lake to gather supplies from there our plan was to investigate the barrows but this was not to be as at the lake we were attacked by a harpy but we had thoughtfully brought cheese to protect our ears from its cries, after I had scared off the harpy with bolts of fire we attempted to recover the reed but a giant eel like creature approached and I took to the air, Terentius went to the other side of the lake and summoned the corpse of a pig and attempted to roll it into the lake but suddenly the eel like beast surged out of the lake onto the shore and attacked him. His magics protected him from the first blow and I managed to strike the creature with fire, which outside of the lake seemed to do much damage and forced the beast to retreat back into the lake and safety. We then heard a mighty roar and sensing the dragon approaching we both hid. The creature a good fifty yards long landed at the other end of the lake, crushing many trees as it settled and let out a roar so loud it dazed us, Terentius must have much more sensitive hearing than myself for I saw blood coming from his ears. The dragon looked around for a while then with huge beats of its wings leapt to the sky and back into the clouds. It was apparent that Terentius had been deafened but the dragons roar and without the means to heal him there ands then we decided to retreat to the camp just outside the regio. We spent the remaining few weeks of the season examining the regio as it waxed and disturbingly I found that sticks i had placed at the regios edge seemed a few weeks later to be inside it evidencing its slow growth.
Winter
We met at dawn on the first day of the winter season, there was a thick frost hanging in the air and heavy snow had turned the world white apart from the tracks of our grogs and covenfolk from building to building.
We discussed Mynydd Myddyn and the dragon and what we could do, my suggestion of a methodology of killing the dragon with a charge of Bacons powder was dismissed as I thought it would be but I felt I had to give the council an option that although distasteful might sought one of our problems with the regio out.
Terentius suggested only investigating as an animal to avoid raising the ire of the inhabitants would be a good move. Private Journal: as he was the only one capable of taking the form of an animal I wondered if he just wanted to keep the adventure to himself. Volutus said we should continue investigating the Regio to which we all agreed bar one, Hypatia said we should not poke the bees nest as we may end up arousing the ire of its inhabitants. Terentius stated he would gather arcane connections inside the Regio and thence by just entering we would be able to scry on various locations in the regio without having to make the dangerous crossing under the potential gaze of the Dragon.
We discussed Wytherenden and tried to work out what we could investigate in the future, we came to no concrete ideas but agreed that the regio in the covenant should be investigated.
Hypatia asked about the slaying of the man in Westminster palace and Jari reported that the man had a
scar on his right eyebrow and that he had not appeared to be the magus Kareem, but face changing spells are easily cast. I suggested that an arcane connection might have been taken but Hypatia does not think so, she sais she would look to see what papers were missing from the offices above the kitchen that were burnt and see if any of them were important.
We decided to keep an eye on Skenfrith and the activity of the wolves by increasing the spies in the area via our spymaster Lucky and his apprentice Vasilly.
With the Council ended we went about our season's activities. I decided to experiment with some Cinnabar and ore from which Mercury is extracted. I suggested to Marcellus we should make it a game and we both tried to outdo the other. I succeeded in creating silvery water which I called Elixir Argenti. I determined it would massively enhance longevity or healing potions of hermetic or alchemical nature, Marcellus, unfortunately, breathed in some fumes and ended up spending much of the season in the infirmary with a cough which to this day plagues him.
Halfway during the season, Hypatia reported on what was lost in the fire, It appeared that the most important documents in the offices were some shipwright contracts, so if someone wanted details on the fleet then those documents would describe capabilities of the king's ships. I still feel this might have been a ruse to throw us of the trail of what was actually done in the palace but we might never find out.
Vasily and Lucky were asked to go to chepstow to organise the increased scrutiny around Skenfrith, once they reached Lydney however they sent back a report that 4 of the miners had gone up to talk with the old wolves of Mynydd Myddyn. Terentius went to speak to the grandfather wolf at the miner's village to discuss the interaction between the two packs
It is with much sadness that I must announce the retirement of Sergeant Hereward, He was an excellent companion and soldier, always being at the right place at the right time but still with enough leadership presence to allow his men to learn by doing rather than watch him do all the work. It must have been hard for him to delegate when he knew he could do a much better job himself but he did so, and I admire him for it.
Thus the season ended and the cold crisp days of winter merged into the wet and windy days of spring.
Spring 1300AD
We assembled in the council chamber and greeted each other in our normal fashion. Volutus asked for reports from the previous season but as we had all stayed in the covenant during the winter there was nothing to report. Terentius’ touch of twilight had seemed to have faded and he felt better and had not had any more of the episodes where his mind drifted off into that of the Roman centurion from Iberia. Jari asked Terentius about the Romans name for some reason, I did not know if he was trying to induce an episode or was genuinely just trying to find out information. Jari then went on to ask about Terentius being a Roman scout which seemed to be a coincidence as that is Terentius’ chosen role. With no useful information gleaned Jari finished his questioning.
Volutus asked Terentius if he had cast any spells in the area where he experienced the twilight and he confirmed that he had, he said that he cast sense the elusive boundary and he had then felt he had come to the attention of an entity in the location, which probably meant the shining one. Hypatia said the flow of magic was similar to the magical area through the portal in our great hall and she doubted that mastered spells would go wrong and cause a twilight in the normal fashion that all our paters warned us about. Jari said that the magic could have spiralled out of control even if cast correctly saying that once released it could have been enhanced by the general magic in the area to a state beyond control. Jari asked Terentius about the fact that if he had never seen a Roman how did his twilight include this facet? He went on to state that if it was an induced twilight by the shining one he could have chosen that imagery. We discussed whether the tomb that Terentius saw was a real place or a figment of twilight. I suggested we were seeing a different time or season of Mynydd Myddyn but Hypatia corrected me by stating that there was something deeply wrong in the regio and did not think it was just a change in season.
Terentius made a reference to Radulfus’ spells failing as he flew over the Northern hill and I suggested that the Templars might have taken a device that stopped magic from leaking into the world but there was no way of proving that. I examined the journal to get some dates and discovered that we detected the change to the aura in 1284, the first mention of the Templar anti-magic device was in 1281 and there was a mention of three Templars visiting Tintern Abbey in 1279 which nothing was done about, so theoretically they could have taken something from the regio used it in Iberia and we noticed a change a few years later but the chances of this theory being correct are slim. To quantify the changes to Mynydd Merthyn we decided to take measurements of the aurae and size of the regio to determine if it is growing. I suggested another avenue of investigation could be conversing with the spirits of the barrows as they might know some of the history of the northern hill and the great barrow it contains.
Volutus stated he would be travelling to Blackthorn to spend the season with Phaedra to study twilight. Jari said he would go through Arcanus’s notes with Providus and would accompany Volutus on the journey and study the regio from the outside in passing.Hypatia offered to go and talk to Llandoddwyn to talk about Mynydd Myddyn as someone of his age might know something about the shining one or the history of the regio. Terentius asked about the lost covenant Wytherenden in the weald south of London as it might have been used by the Templars but stated he did not know how to find it and so Volutus volunteered to get its location from the libraries of blackthorn in his season there.
Terentius asked Hypatia to see if the king's agents had any further information about the Templars so we could bring the fight to them which I wholeheartedly agreed with. We examined the Axbridge incident with the Templars in the infernal regio and tried to work out where the Templars were going, but without much knowledge, we had to admit defeat and so Hypatia said that the agents of the crown might have that knowledge and would ask them.
Terentius ever the explorer stated he would try to go to Swallowcliffe to see if there were any traces of the lost covenant or Templar interference at the site. We went on to discuss the Roxborough documents and the fact that they were in code and unfortunately the librarian had failed to break the code. Terentius asked if kings agents could break the codes, to which Hypatia suggested that she could take the notes to them to attempt such however Volutus stated he was uncomfortable with that as if the notes contained information that we would prefer the King and his men to be ignorant of, such as details of the Order, he would like it if we could decode it rather than outsiders.
Terentius asked us about how to stop the horned god from hunting him. Hypatia suggested that Lugh might be able to intercede on his behalf, then Jari suggested that the Cerdywyn the weaver might be able to furnish a solution to his quandary. Hypatia stated she might be able to contact her by doing a little rite on a particular night where the rego vis was collected as this had worked before, she did warn Terentius though that Theo did not fulfil a bargain with her and it went very ill for him. Hypatia then showed off her knowledge of the pagan powers and how each might be able to help Terentius with his problem. She stated that a bargain made with the Morrigan might not have obvious consequences but would not be too onerous, a bargain with Lugh would be tough but there would be no hidden repercussions and the weavers would be the trickiest but maybe the easiest if you were willing to put your morals aside. If it was me I would probably go with Lugh as I have already been caught out in a deal with unforeseen repercussions with the smith Gofynwy, but we will see what decision Terentius eventually makes.
Vis was distributed with six pawns per season being awarded. Coin was also given out with 150 silver pennies being given to each magus who wanted such.
We decided what our season's activities would be, Volutus travelled to Blackthorn to talk with Phaedra, Terentius said he would be on private business, Hypatia would perform covenant service in London, Jari learned sight of the active magic and travelled up to Blackthorn to ask Providus about looking at Arcanus’s writings and I created a spell to bind wounds which would last longer than a day.
Most of us agreed that in our spare time in the covenant we would practice the Parma Magica with each other. Volutus said he would want to practice his English even though he has been here for many years his English is still broken and finally, Terentius said he would read from Corlear’s notes on magic theory.
Private Journal
A few weeks into the season Maga Blanche came to the covenant to talk with Terentius and left with him without announcement then towards the end of the season he returned alone, my suspicion was he did something with Blanche to rid himself of the hounds that hunted him as he announced in the next council. I wonder which of the pagan powers he did a deal with and what will be the long-term consequences of his actions, for a man keen to avoid entanglements with the great powers he seems to gather them to him.
Summer
We assembled into the council chamber exchanging pleasantries and assumed our normal seats.
Hypatia reported that King Theo was in the north of the country fighting the Scottish rebels. She went on to say that the kings agents had detected the boat that had dropped off the templars we fought in Axminster docking again in Chester where it just took on provisions before leaving again, none of us knew if this was normal behaviour or if this was suspicious. The agents were keeping an eye on Bridgewater one of the potential destinations of the templars for the Baron there a man called Godwin was known to be a pious man, there was no direct evidence against him, but a priest of Bridgewater has given sermons against King Theo. There was another potential destination which was that of the the village of Sherbourne where bishop Henry was a man who had spoken out against the king. Once again the matter of the Roxborough documents came up and to solve the dilemma between my sodalis I volunteered to decode them this season with Marcellus help.
Tetrentius reported that the hounds of the wild hunt had been called off but refused to elaborate on the matter or how he had solved it, although maga Blanche coming last season might have had something to do with it.
Volutus reported that he had talked about Mynydd Myddynwith magus Phaedra and also about Terentius’ experiences inside the regio. Phaedra offered the insight that the shining one was obviously not malevolent. Volutus stated that in his seasons study he had brought on a state of twilight in himself and in his vision he had been on the northern hill in Mynydd Myddyn standing unable to move when suddenly he was hit by a bolt of lightning and then he heard his pater's voice in his head saying saying “Not yet, you are not ready”. Volutus could not provide us with any insight as to what this vision meant and it seems to me that trying to make sense of a twilight vision is much like trying to make sense of a faeries motives what appears obvious is devious and what appears inconsequential is of the utmost import.
We talked about our seasons activities and Volutus stated he would return to Blackthorn to study from there libraries and attend the quaesitori concilium at midsummer. Jari joined Volutus for the journey as he was going to study Arcanus’s writings with magus Providus to find out if there was any mention of the shining one. Terentius went searching for the lost covenant of Swallowcliffe, Hypatia trained her apprentice and I attempted to decode the Roxborough papers as I had stated I would do so.
On the way up to Blackthorn Volutus and Jari camped outside Mynydd Myddynand overnight Volutus’ horse became agitated much like Hypatia’s had become when she came this way. Jari heard a wolf on first watch and then he noticed a glow above the woods that looked to his faerie blood endowed site to be of an ancient magic, both Jari and Volutus felt an occasional breeze emanating from the regio but only they in there group felt it and I wonder if they sensed the outpouring of magic from that storm inside.
I successfully translated the texts with the help of my colleague Marcellus the alchemist. The texts were fragmented but gave a comprehensive assessment of the Loch Leglaen tribunal including the locations of the covenants and the political situation between each covenant. This is the sort of information Volutus did not want falling into the hands of the mundanes, even if he is our ally, for who knows what might happen to king Theo and who might replace him in the future. The documents also included evidence of the fall of Durenmar with the statement and I quote “When Durenmar burns then Loch Leglaen will fall into infighting”. This appears to have happened, telling us of the amount of knowledge that the templars have gleaned over the years.
The documents also examined how spies might enter into the Stonehenge tribunal and advised against crossing the border with Loch Leglaen but rather to sail around and keeping clear of Holy Isle, although they did not name the dedicated covenant, and dock at a port called Aberdovey near Harlech castle. They obviously have a network here as their assessment of the kings spies in Wales was extensive as well . There were mentions of investigations into Carlisle to gather information on Boriator covenant and we passed that information on the our sodales there as soon as we could. They mentioned that an expedition into north Wales attempting to scout out Cad Gadu was made based in the abbey of St Asaph but to no avail as the magical forests there defeated the templar spies from gaining any information.
Of Loch Leglaen they stated that the only covenant that might give them problems would be Glennrisdal, but they might get help from some of the Scottish nobility notably the Knight of Drumlanrig castle, the abbot of Jedburgh abbey and the baron of Huntley castle near a place called Aberdeen. With Loch Leglaen in such turmoil it would be terrible if something were to happen to all three and they all burned down.
Terentius flew down to Swallowcliffe with his familiar Meliorax and spent a few days searching for the entrance but found it had collapsed and, with no means to excavate any further, returned to the covenant; but at least he did discover the entrance to this dangerous place and if he needed assistance in the future to open up the entrance I'm sure it will be provided for him.
Halfway into the season the Recap Gaines arrived to bring us news both hermetic and mundane, he discharged his duty by relaying the following news. Of news hermetic he told us that Harco covenant had been abandoned and evacuated as Templar forces had approached saving that covenants documents and libraries but unfortunately the gates that had been put in place there had had to be destroyed to avoid allowing easy access to other covenants for our foe. Of news Mundane we were told that there had been a battle fought in the north of Stonehenge tribunal by king Theo's army that had pushed the Scots back over the border into Loch Legaen hopefully for good. Travel around the mediterranean sea might have been made easier by a peace deal between the city states of Pisa and Genoa, two great naval powers of the Rome tribunal. A fire had broken out in Westminster palace and caused extensive damage but as no one of import was in residence, as they were off fighting the Scots in the north, it was not considered suspicious. Another city state in the Rome tribunal called Florence had banned Arabic numbers and reverted to the use of Roman numerals as the Arabic numbers were considered ungodly, this was a mistake in my belief as the Arabic numbers allowed easier use of mathematics to solve problems due to in no small part to the number representing nothing a value that the Roman numerals do not have. The acting senior redcap lefts the next day and we continued our studies peacefully for the rest of the season.
Autumn
The leaves were turning as we met in the council chamber, we took our seats and greeted each other.
Terentius reported on his disappointing exploration of Swallowcliffe the previous season. Volutus reported about the Concilium Quaesitori and the fact that they had discussed the Templars. He said other covenants will now join the search of other lost covenants after he has revealed our attempts. Volutus also told them about the Roxborough papers but obviously not their content as I had not finished decoding them yet. Loch Legaen will be investigated by the quaesitori even though it is out of their jurisdiction which could be a very dangerous thing to do and if it were me going up there as a quaesitor I would want some good hoplites with me. Volutus said that he had found mention of the lost covenant of Witherenden, a description of a series of caves in a powerful magic aura and that the covenant used to control a village called Bodiam which lay south of the Sussex downs on a road running to Maidstone. The village was just a few miles to the east of the covenant , and so if you could find the village it should be simple to find the covenant.I reported my findings of the documents, which led to many discussions about the Templars and who we should broadcast this information too. Jari reported that he had learned from Arcanus’ writing about the stone circle sites in Wessex and Avebury and how there seemed to be many of these old ritual sites, it seems that at one time you could with a strong arm throw a stone from one to another and crisscross this tribunal, is this what happens when the pagans and faeries become so strong that man will become beholden to the powers completely, I suppose it's not that different from churches in more recent times as villages spread. Jari said that there was a copious amount of notes and he would return to blackthorn in summer next year to continue his investigations. Jari mentioned that whilst in Blackthorn he had a drink with the magus Mckeith who was worried about the shining one, saying anything else was trivial compared to it. Volutus told us about his finding in the camp just outside Mynydd Merthyn. Jari, ever the inquisitive, asked about the Westminster fire and he and Volutus said they will check out the incident to make sure there was no foul play on there way to Witherenden. Terentius and myself stated we were still going to Mynydd Merthyn as stated earlier in the year, Hypatia said she would study from personal vis this season. With all business concluded we went to the treasury to divide the magical items between us for our separate missions.
Jari and Volutus went to London to investigate the fire and to pick up a guide to the village of Bodium, Once they were there they met up with one of the kings agents who informed them about the fire and he offered his assistance to move about the Westminster palace. After performing some investigations including the exhumation of the corpse and a simple spontaneous spell to determine the cause of death they found out that the man who dies had been murdered by a cut throat which led them to the conclusion that the fire had been set to cover up his murder. The agent said he would continue the investigation. They left the city with a guide provided by the kings agent via the docks and thence down the Thames to Rochester port where they took the south road. The ship returned to London to wait for them Bodiam was a fair journey from the port but they made it to the town of Maidstone in one day where they found room in an inn but then they had two more days to Bodiam. They found the village and stayed overnight within the local inn. Then next morning they saw a forested hill two miles to the west and proceeded to investigate. They approached the hill and scouting round with keen eyes and magics found a holly bush which looked unusual as it had berries in this season. The grog Albrict grabbed Volutus’ hand as he reached for the berries saying he had a bad feeling about the bush and on closer investigation he proved correct for under it were several corpses of animals. Jari cast magics to talk to the bush and discovered that is was a blood hungry plant, sending the trackers out they caught a rabbit and fed the bush its blood and some of the berries fell from the bush which Jari collected, it was later discovered that these were perdo vis. Investigating further they found a campsite which was nearly two decades old there tracker eric supposed, but because it was a near permanent camp it has survived the intervening years. Jari and Volutus wondered if it might have been a camp set up by the Templars or the Brothers in Christ when they were searching for weaknesses in the teachings of Bonisagus. A few dozen yards from this campsite was a cave but there had been a rockfall at the end, this could have been intentional to hide the place. Sigurd and Merrik were instructed to to clear the rockfall and this they did to a certain degree which allowed a shrunken Jari and erik who is a slight built man to squeeze into the dark cave.
Entering the cave they found a worked stone passage on there left and entered it there a few yards in they came to what could have been the great hall of the lost covenant and exploring left and right passages they found a flooded storeroom and the remains of a library with a magical light source but no books. Following the passage out of the back of the great hall they came to a junction and carried straight on . there they found a chamber with a functioning spell , which seemed to be a form of “chamber of spring breezes”. From there led off three sanctii which had been cleared bar one which still had some evidence of a lab with some empty bookshelves. Jari was keen eyed enough to spot a small fragment of vellum between two of the shelves and pocketed it to examine later. Retracing their steps to the junction they took the other path that led to a vertical shaft with water dripping down into a well. Leaning out into the darkness and looking down Jari felt something move above him and pulled back just as a huge spider landed near his feet. Jari attempted to flee but was bundled over by the spider and looked doomed until his companion Eric attempted to use his borrowing skill on the spider. This upset the spider and it then chased Eric who retreated enough to allow Jari to regain his footing and flee towards the exit. With his feet flying down the corridors Jari made it to the exit and screamed at the others to expect their arrival, he tumbled out of the narrow entry that Sigurd and Merrick had cleared quickly followed by Eric, but not by they spider. After gathering there breath Jari and Volutus decided to send Merrick back to Lydney on the ship to fetch some miners to excavate the entrance properly to allow access for fighting men to deal with any threats. They waited for a few weeks until the men came and started the work, with the season coming to a close they decided to leave the men excavating and returned to the covenant for the council. The recovered vellum seemed to have some form of perdo spell written upon it.
Terentius and myself flew up to Mynydd Merthyn and camped outside as planned then next day we entered the regio via the white stones and invisibly flew to the lake to gather supplies from there our plan was to investigate the barrows but this was not to be as at the lake we were attacked by a harpy but we had thoughtfully brought cheese to protect our ears from its cries, after I had scared off the harpy with bolts of fire we attempted to recover the reed but a giant eel like creature approached and I took to the air, Terentius went to the other side of the lake and summoned the corpse of a pig and attempted to roll it into the lake but suddenly the eel like beast surged out of the lake onto the shore and attacked him. His magics protected him from the first blow and I managed to strike the creature with fire, which outside of the lake seemed to do much damage and forced the beast to retreat back into the lake and safety. We then heard a mighty roar and sensing the dragon approaching we both hid. The creature a good fifty yards long landed at the other end of the lake, crushing many trees as it settled and let out a roar so loud it dazed us, Terentius must have much more sensitive hearing than myself for I saw blood coming from his ears. The dragon looked around for a while then with huge beats of its wings leapt to the sky and back into the clouds. It was apparent that Terentius had been deafened but the dragons roar and without the means to heal him there ands then we decided to retreat to the camp just outside the regio. We spent the remaining few weeks of the season examining the regio as it waxed and disturbingly I found that sticks i had placed at the regios edge seemed a few weeks later to be inside it evidencing its slow growth.
Winter
We met at dawn on the first day of the winter season, there was a thick frost hanging in the air and heavy snow had turned the world white apart from the tracks of our grogs and covenfolk from building to building.
We discussed Mynydd Myddyn and the dragon and what we could do, my suggestion of a methodology of killing the dragon with a charge of Bacons powder was dismissed as I thought it would be but I felt I had to give the council an option that although distasteful might sought one of our problems with the regio out.
Terentius suggested only investigating as an animal to avoid raising the ire of the inhabitants would be a good move. Private Journal: as he was the only one capable of taking the form of an animal I wondered if he just wanted to keep the adventure to himself. Volutus said we should continue investigating the Regio to which we all agreed bar one, Hypatia said we should not poke the bees nest as we may end up arousing the ire of its inhabitants. Terentius stated he would gather arcane connections inside the Regio and thence by just entering we would be able to scry on various locations in the regio without having to make the dangerous crossing under the potential gaze of the Dragon.
We discussed Wytherenden and tried to work out what we could investigate in the future, we came to no concrete ideas but agreed that the regio in the covenant should be investigated.
Hypatia asked about the slaying of the man in Westminster palace and Jari reported that the man had a
scar on his right eyebrow and that he had not appeared to be the magus Kareem, but face changing spells are easily cast. I suggested that an arcane connection might have been taken but Hypatia does not think so, she sais she would look to see what papers were missing from the offices above the kitchen that were burnt and see if any of them were important.
We decided to keep an eye on Skenfrith and the activity of the wolves by increasing the spies in the area via our spymaster Lucky and his apprentice Vasilly.
With the Council ended we went about our season's activities. I decided to experiment with some Cinnabar and ore from which Mercury is extracted. I suggested to Marcellus we should make it a game and we both tried to outdo the other. I succeeded in creating silvery water which I called Elixir Argenti. I determined it would massively enhance longevity or healing potions of hermetic or alchemical nature, Marcellus, unfortunately, breathed in some fumes and ended up spending much of the season in the infirmary with a cough which to this day plagues him.
Halfway during the season, Hypatia reported on what was lost in the fire, It appeared that the most important documents in the offices were some shipwright contracts, so if someone wanted details on the fleet then those documents would describe capabilities of the king's ships. I still feel this might have been a ruse to throw us of the trail of what was actually done in the palace but we might never find out.
Vasily and Lucky were asked to go to chepstow to organise the increased scrutiny around Skenfrith, once they reached Lydney however they sent back a report that 4 of the miners had gone up to talk with the old wolves of Mynydd Myddyn. Terentius went to speak to the grandfather wolf at the miner's village to discuss the interaction between the two packs
It is with much sadness that I must announce the retirement of Sergeant Hereward, He was an excellent companion and soldier, always being at the right place at the right time but still with enough leadership presence to allow his men to learn by doing rather than watch him do all the work. It must have been hard for him to delegate when he knew he could do a much better job himself but he did so, and I admire him for it.
Thus the season ended and the cold crisp days of winter merged into the wet and windy days of spring.