1212

Peregrinatio

In August, six magi come together in the council chamber of Icy North and bring their apprentices with them. Athena of Guernicus explains to Rene, Breandan, Eva, Garcette, Cassidy and Gustov that they are assigned a task. They are to investigate the reports of large groups of poor peasants crossing the Alps. Why are they here? What is their goal? Are they are threat? The apprentices are to learn what they can about this movement and return. The depredations caused by large groups of people moving through the Alps is also a concern, as it may have done damage to vis sources. While it is unusual for apprentices to be assigned a task of this sort, the resources of the magi are currently stretched thin and, besides, it is said these pilgrims are mostly children. They may respond better to fellow young people.

Eva brought up the question of Gifted children. Do we know if there are Gifted children among them? Athena admitted she had not considered this possibility, and she directed the apprentices to identify any potential apprentices and, if possible, collect an arcane connection from them which could be used to retrieve them later.

While they sat in council, an intruder arrived at the covenant and demanded admission. Armed with a boar spear and bow, and accompanied by a massive hound, he was immediately recognized by Cassidy as Iovar, the chief huntsman to her Faerie father in Arcadia. Iovar placed himself into Cassidy's service, though she was afraid to see him again lest he had changed his mind about killing her and had come to finish the job. Kynthia, Cassidy and Iovar left to get acquainted, there were a few more questions among the apprentices, and then they too left and gathered supplies for their overland journey.

They walked for two days through the mountains, with all the apprentices managing to get along in the outdoors, led by Breandan, Rene, and the resourceful Iovar. As the group journeyed, most of the apprentices noticed that Rene's behavior towards Eva had changed, perhaps due to the fact that she was no longer a child, and had matured into a young woman of beauty. Accordingly, that evening, while Eva slept, Cassidy worked her magic to disguise herself as Eva and approached Rene, asking why he never talked to her anymore, and why he was acting so different. Rene fumbled and stammered for a while until he finally noticed Eva sound asleep by the campfire, whereupon he grew exceedingly wroth and Cassidy fled, laughing.

The Children's Crusade

The apprentices and their new companion found the pueri ("little poor people") the next day; they numbered at first in the hundreds and then in the thousands, and were obviously struggling with hunger and deprivation as they walked through the mountain passes. For the apprentices, who had spent the last seven years as the privileged students of some of the most wealthy and comfortable people in Mythic Europe, the sight of thousands of hungry pilgrims clad in little more than rags was a painful reminder of the life they had left behind. Iovar distributed his food to those nearby and tried hunting, but was forced to admit that the large presence of so many people had chased almost all the game away.

After an initial conversation between some of the pueri and Eva (the only one of the apprentices with fluent German), they were introduced to Otto "Rufus" ("Otto the Red"), a young German who had, until recently, been enrolled in a cathedral school in Cologne. Otto could therefore speak Latin and became the interpreter for the apprentices. He answered what questions he could while leading them to Nicholas of Cologne, the leader of the pueri movement.

Nicholas was found to be a young, handsome German with a charismatic presence and a unique symbol: a staff surmounted by the tau, a symbol of the Christian faith. As he explained the story of the pueri, the apprentices tried to verify the presence of the Divine or other powers in the region, and concluded that a weak Divine aura was present. Nicholas explained that the pueri were on a Crusade; they intended to walk to Jerusalem "dry shod," that is, without getting wet and without the need of boats. Nicholas had adopted the mantle of leadership of the pueri after their initial leader, Stephen, led the pueri to Cologne from France. Various of the apprentices questioned Nicholas about the wisdom of his plans, including the choice of route across the Alps, the powerlessness of the pueri to fight in a Crusade, and his insistence not to use ships to cross the sea, and he responded to all of these queries with sincere conviction and faith in God. Force of arms had already failed the Crusade, he explained, citing the last three Crusades as examples. When the Crusaders hired ships, the sinful Venetians turned them to Constantinople, where the capital of the Roman Empire was sacked and looted. As to the route across the Alps, yes, the journey was hard, but this was the most efficient route to reach Italy and had been used by pilgrims for centuries. God would not allow them to fail, if their faith was strong.

While they spoke, pueri approached Nicholas and it became clear that there was a crisis of some sort. Nicholas explained that, the day before, a small group of pilgrims had become separated from the others and had descended into a valley from which they had never returned. If they were to spend another night without shelter, Nicholas feared for their lives. But the apprentices were clearly veteran travelers with proper equipment and supplies. Could they find the wandering pilgrims and lead them back to the nearest abbey? To this, the apprentices agreed. Iovar asked for any object which once belonged to one of the lost group, and after he was given a pair of shoes one of them had worn, he was able to use his Faerie powers and those of his hound to follow their trail.

The Valley of St. Nerius

The apprentices hiked for hours through the mountain passes, running when possible to try and catch the lost group before dark. They found the ravine as the sun was going behind the mountains, and with the help of Cassidy's Second Sight realized it was the boundary to a Divine regio. After some debate, everyone linked hands and Cassidy led them through this barrier and into the ravine, which was very narrow, dark, and treacherous in its terrain, forcing everyone to move slowly. Cira could sense the pueri about a mile away at the end of the ravine and was sent to scout.

The group discovered an unusual feature which marked the center of the ravine: a well made up of tumbled stones piled about five feet high. The stones did not block passage, though it would require some effort to climb over them and continue on. Eva investigated the well and promptly stopped moving, leading Rene to leap up and retrieve her. She was alive and her eyes were open, but she would not regain consciousness. Cassidy took out a mirror and tried peering into the well, and even as Breandan and Iovar cried out for her to stop, she too ceased moving and seemed lost in a trance. Rene was about to try diving into the well when, after a few minutes, Cassidy awoke with no memory of what had happened.

A man approached from the far end of the ravine, accompanied by Cira. He was immediately recognized as a Criamon magus, a slender man of indeterminate age whose body was marked with a variety of Christian symbols, barefoot, wearing a thin robe. Speaking Latin, he identified himself as Nerius and, when the apprentices introduced themselves, he inquired as to what brought members of the Order here. Rene was carrying Eva and was desperate for someone to help her; Nerius whispered something into Eva's ear and the girl awoke, remembering little of her time staring into the well. As Nerius spoke with everyone, it became clear that Eva had experienced a Twilight episode and Cassidy had nearly escaped the same fate. Nerius explained that he had also fallen into the trap of the well and had been rescued by the archangel Michael. Eva recalled the legend of Nerius, Patron Saint of Hermetic Magi, and the Criamon confirmed that he was, indeed, the same magus. He invited the apprentices to accompany him to the wandering pueri.

At the end of the ravine the survivors were found, initially afraid of the apprentices but then grateful for their aid. Nerius charged the apprentices with a task: his own apprentice, Valoran, had survived Nerius himself but was now wandering, lost. The apprentices were told that, if they did not lead him home, no one ever would. When asked how they would know Valoran when they saw him, Nerius replied that they would know Valoran because he would be wearing Nerius's mantle.

Iovar fashioned a rope ladder and Rene climbed the ravine wall before lowering the rope for everyone else to follow. Nerius had vanished. The pueri were saved. Upon exiting the ravine, Nicholas and his thousands of followers could be seen in the distance. The apprentices hiked down the slope but, as they neared Nicholas, they sensed they were being watched and turned to see that a pack of wolves had apparently followed them. The pack was led by a Corrupted Beast, an Infernal Wolf. It and a dozen wolves attacked.

The Hounds of Hell

The battle was furious. Breandan had initial success, killing a wolf with a multi-cast Dagger of Ice, and Eva drove one off with a serious wound when she used Piercing Shaft of Wood on her alpenstock. When Rene charged the wolves with his greatsword, Cassidy followed him and concealed him with a Veil of Invisibility. As the Infernal Wolf and five of his packmates formed a Trained Group, Rene raised an Instant Ring Fort. Gustov created a Circle of Beast Warding and called for his friends to take cover within it. When some of the wolves made for the pueri, Garcette slew one with Pilum of Fire.

The Infernal Wolf led his pack against Iovar, and both he and Cira were ravaged with multiple wounds, though Iovar's Faerie nature allowed him to ignore the pain. Breandan's Daggers of Ice, though numerous, failed him and a wolf managed to bite his leg, inflicting a Medium wound made all the worse by the young Tremere's increasing fatigue. Rene killed the wolf vanguard, forcing the pack to disperse. Another perished to Garcette's Pilum of Fire. With the Trained Group of wolves scattered, the apprentices were able to target their Infernal leader, and Eva made good use of Twisting the Demon's Tail, penetrating the wolf's Infernal Might and burning him into nothingness over two rounds. With their leader destroyed, the few remaining wolves made a half-hearted attempt to get at Gustov, Eva and Cira where they hid inside the Circle of Beast Warding, and then fled into the night.

As the apprentices regathered their wits, and the severity of Breandan's wounds became clearer, the apprentices saw that a troop of some twenty mounted men had rode up the pass and were now approaching... Things were about to go from bad to worse.

A Crisis of Faith

As Rene casts Bind Wounds on Breandan and Gustov improvises a similar effect for the greviously hurt Caera, the horsemen pause near Nicholas and engage in conversation. The apprentices are acutely aware that their booming voices and exaggerated gestures were observed by the thousands of pueri, not to mention the new arrivals, and Eva conspicuously prays within the sight of everyone. When they are better able to travel, they approach Nicholas and the armed company who, they soon discover, are the retinue of Frederick Hohenstaufen, King of Sicily.

Frederick is a red-haired 18-year old of good education and bold demeanor, speaking Latin, German and French. He is accompanied by Sir Anselm von Jusintingen, a veteran knight of Swabia and emissary of the German barons. He seems interested in magic, rather than suspicious of it, and mentions Muslim and Jewish wizards who live in Sicily. Curious about wizards and their "secret brotherhood," he plies the apprentices for more specific information, learning that they are apprentices, "like squires to a knight," and that they are servants of what he comes to call "Master Wizards."

Frederick explains his situation: he has been elected King of the Germans in abesentia by German lords, but he still needs to get to Germany to claim his crown. And Otto, the Emperor of Rome, will do anything to stop him. Otto's ally, the Duke of Bavaria, has soldiers combing the mountain passes blocking Frederick's direct course to Germany. But wizards -- even apprentice wizards -- must have great powers. Surely they could help him travel a great distance in a short time. If he could reach Lake Constance, that is inside Germany and he would be among allies.

Meanwhile, Nicholas welcomes the apprentices back as "Magi," comparing them to the Three Magi who witnessed the birth of Christ. To Nicholas, the sudden conjunction of child wizards, an 18-year old king, and Christ's chosen -- the pueri themselves -- is nothing less than a sign from God. "Surely," he explains, "this could not be mere chance. Surely you are meant to accompany us. Just as Balthasar came from the farthest edge of the world to see Christ's birth, so now you will come with us to the farthest reaches of the world to return Christ's city to him." Frederick is also a part of Nicholas's vision, since he is a king in search of a crown. "Come with me, my lord king," he says, "And I shall give you the Crown of Jerusalem!"

Frederick and all the apprentices, one by one, refuse Nicholas's plea, some more reluctantly than others. Breandan cites his duty to his domina, Gustov says he has much still to learn. Garcette says the only place she is going is home, and that's in exactly the opposite direction than Jerusalem. For Rene and Eva, who are Christian, the decision is a hard one, but Rene cannot leave the others or break his oath to Hugh, and Eva is too devoted to Balbina to abandon her. For his part, Frederick admits that he admires Nicholas's faith, his courage, and all he has done. Frederick longs to see Jerusalem, but he feels the time is not right. He must go to Germany and, perhaps, to Rome.

Nicholas is confused and frustrated for the first time in his long journey. He cannot understand how Frederick, Rene and Eva can ignore God's wishes when they are demonstrated so plainly. He leaves them, dejected. The Divine Aura which has followed him all this time fades. Nicholas has, at least temporarily, lost his True Faith.

The King's Request

The apprentices are still debating whether or not they should help Frederick when he makes things more difficult for them by adding a stick to his carrot. If they help him, they will have the King of Germany for an ally and friend, a man who looks upon wizards and magicians with kindness and good favor. But if they refuse his help, then they will have made an enemy for themselves and for all their kind. Gustov accuses Frederick of acting beneath his station by threatening a child; Frederick replies that, when he was Gustov's age, he was already King of Sicily. Frederick admits he is giving the apprentices a hard choice, but his crown is in the balance and he will do what he must.

After some debate over the Code, "intereference with mundanes", and the concept of "ruin", the apprentices decide to take Frederick to Valanstium, which is about a day and a half to the west. There, they can dump the problem in the lap of senior magi who, if they wish, can help Frederick on his way by allowing him through Portal Arches which lead directly to Constance. Frederick is amenable to this plan, as it will allow him to meet "the Master Wizards." The apprentices also note that a major vis source is nearby, and they intend to investigate it. Frederick is asked to provide help in the form of his personal guard of knights; he agrees, over the objection of Sir Anselm.

It being after dark, Frederick and the apprentices make camp, while the pueri are attended by the local abbey. In the morninng, Nicholas leads the pueri down from Brenner Pass into Lombardy, out of the Tribunal. For the first time, the pueri find their feet heavy and their spirits dark. Nicholas has lost his Divine power to sustain the pilgrims along the march.