1214

The new year began with a secret mission to a faraway land. But as the apprentices prepared, one of their friends needed help.

Spring

The Trouble with Alys

Initially, the news was good. Alys, the washer-woman who had taken such good care of all the apprentices when they were students at Icy North under first Profundus and then Scamandrius, finally announced her engagement to Samuel the Butcher. Of course, this meant she would need to leave the covenfolk and become a woman of the town, but life goes on.

But fate seemed to be against the couple. Within a month or two, Samuel's butcher shop was struggling for customers and he himself had fallen so ill that he could no longer stand. Unable to provide for Alys, he called off the marriage. When the apprentices learned of all this, they decided to investigate.

It was discovered that, when Samuel had become betrothed to Alys, he had also moved into a new, larger, house and butcher shop. His former apprentice, Friedrich, was now running his own butcher shop out of Samuel's old home and doing quite well. But there were no customers for Samuel, and for good reason, as the sausages seemed to have lost all their flavor. While the apprentices poked around the shop and the house, Samuel's animals escaped their pen, and his new apprentice, Heinrich, struggled to recapture them with the help of Gustov and Rene.

The apprentices found many signs of Faerie activity around the new house, including wards against bad faeries and appeasements which would have lured good ones, save that they had all been painted over or partly removed. Where milk had once been left for faeries at the hearth, the stone had been filled in with mortar. Where the exterior of the house had been marked with a sign inviting faeries to come in, it had been whitewashed. Breandan found Samuel weak and starving in his bedroom, as well as a large bible and candles surrounding the bed. Garcette confronted Heinrich, announced herself as Athena's apprentice, and learned that Samuel had ordered all the signs of the Old Ways removed from the house when he moved in, because he was a devout Christian. The apprentices now began to understand Samuel's financial difficulty, and Cassidy even made contact with the kobold who lived in the house. Heinzelmann by name, he was very unhappy with Samuel, who was proving to be a very bad host, and he was punishing Samuel.

A brief visit to Friedrich's shop in Samuel's old home confirmed that the signs of the Old Ways were still present there, and Friedrich was taking care of the faeries which lived in the house.

The apprentices had some suspects, but it was not clear who had put the idea into Samuel's head that the faerie markings should be removed. Alys was questioned, and it became clear that Samuel was himself devout, but that this was fairly recent, and he had in the past had a relationship with a mysterious woman of bad reputation by the name of Gertrude, whom Alys strongly disliked.

Meanwhile, Conrad the baker, who had lived in the house where Samuel was now, was also struggling for customers. When the apprentices went to his home, they again saw faerie signs, but they were carelessly placed and poorly maintained, as if Conrad had attempted to recreate what had been done at his old home, but without true knowledge. He, too, had a past relationship with Gertrude.

Breandan, Eva, Cassidy and Garcette went to see Gertrude. She appeared to them as a licentious woman of lusty nature, but she agreed to help because of Alys, not out of any debt or fondness for either Samuel or Conrad. She was indeed the woman who had brought faeries into the homes of both men, and she could repair the signs in those houses, but she wanted something in return. To the apprentices, it seemed that she wanted sex with Breandan, who quickly agreed, noting that he needed to learn about these things. But after the girls left, they realized their perceptions of Gertrude had been affected by a curse, and that she was not actually the whore which her reputation made her out to be. Breandan only had lunch with her and then was sent on his way. Gertrude was the victim of a supernatural effect which made her appear to be other than she was.

Everything was soon sorted out: Gertrude visited first Samuel's house and then Conrad's, and she prepared the faerie signs and gave specific instructions. Samuel recovered and the wedding was back on. But Eva returned to Gertrude's house with silver and a request: having realized that Rene had loved her when she didn't know it, and now had lost that love even as she began to love him in return, Eva was desperate for a way to regain Rene. She offered to pay Gertrude for instruction, to be shown how to make a man love her. To this, Gertrude agreed.

When Eva returned to the castle, Garcette was waiting. The perceptive Guernicus could tell what Eva was thinking, and tried to persuade her to change course, but Eva was too desperate to regain Rene. Resigning herself to the inevitable, Garcette consoled her friend and offered to help however she could.

Advancement

Everyone gets 6 Adventure XP, to be spent on anything used in the story. No more than 5 XP can be spent on any single Art or Ability.

Choices

With Alys and Samuel's marriage back on track and their future looking bright, it was time for the apprentices to return to the task for which they had been training all season. Near the end of Spring, Athena Alpina called them into the Council Chamber of Icy North and told them the fate of Hugh of Flambeau.

A year ago, Hugh left Icy North for Provencal, where he took command of a group of militant Flambeau magi intent on executing the Wizards March named for Grigori of Bonisagus. Grigori and his fellow infernalists were still encamped with Simon de Montfort, whose conquest of the region around Toulouse was almost complete. It took a few months for the magi to find the right time to attack, but finally they did, when Simon's army was preoccupied with Raymond of Toulouse and the Shadow Magi were relatively unprotected.

In the middle of the attack, Hugh vanished. No one knew where he went or what happened to him. It was presumed he was killed. For lack of his leadership, the Flambeau raid failed. Many demons were killed, but Grigori and his allies are believed to have survived.

Athena, however, has an Arcane Connection to Hugh and has used her magic to find and observe him. Hugh is in the middle of the Novgorod Tribunal, where he has become a captive of a coven of vampires. There, he is tortured and fed upon by the creatures. Athena does not know how this happened, or what Hugh was doing in the middle of Russia. But if Hugh's abandonment of his allies in battle, and his abandonment of his apprentice, became common knowledge, Hugh's reputation would be ruined and Rene would be given to a new master. In order to help Hugh, who has been a loyal Hoplite for many years, Athena is attempting a rescue. The apprentices can do this unofficially and preserve deniability. Their masters have agreed to try.

The apprentices are charged with traveling to the region where Hugh is being kept prisoner, investigating, and affecting a rescue if it can be done. If his familiar Bathild and his talisman Troll-Wife can be found, so much the better. Iovhar will accompany them as a translator and scout. They are given a signaling torch which they can use to call for a rescue. And their masters have each arranged for some material aid.

• Gustov is given a rook of Animal vis by his master Kentigern, who apologizes for the humble nature of his gift and warns him that some vampires are shapechangers, and may appear to be common animals.

• Eva is given a Ring of Demon Warding which protects her from such creatures. Once a day, for two minutes, the ring can enlarge to a five foot diameter hoop. Balbina also stresses that if things go bad, Eva is to think of herself first and escape. To ensure this, Balbina gives her an Acorn of Return, a single-use item with Leap of the Homecoming.

• Rene is given, by Athena, a ring of Endurance of the Berserkers, allowing him to ignore wound penalties for as long as it is worn.

• Cassidy is given the Chiroptera Cloak, a long cloak and hood magically fashioned from whole bats. When she dons the hood, she is transformed into a bat.

• Garcette is given a Staff of Vilano, a relatively simple weapon enchanted with a number of aimed spells intended to bypass Magic Resistance.

• And, finally, Breandan is loaned the Wand of Nestor the Old, the talisman of his great grand-sire, a Tremere who died in the Schism War. Many of the Wand's powers are designed to work only for its maker, so Breandan was also given a Talismanic Writ, a single-use scroll which allows him to tap the Wand's many powers. Breandan is told "Come back with this wand, or don't come back."

After a bit more preparation, the apprentices gather in the courtyard, where Rene thanks them all for putting their lives on the line. Gustov has collected a small pack of hounds. Kynthia arrives and uses Hermetic Pilgrimage. A moment later they are in a catacomb system under the oldest monastery in Russia, just south of Kiev along the banks of the River Dneiper. With a final admonition to remember the signal torch, Kynthia departs.

Eva arranges their escape from the catacombs through a locked iron gate and, with Kiev visible in the early morning light, Iovhar goes to arrange passage on a river boat. After giving over a large amount of silver (which will turn to acorns eventually), he buys passage for everyone on a merchant barge heading north. Three days of travel follow, with Eva remaining up on deck with Rene whenever possible, Cassidy and Garcette huddled in a tiny cabin below decks, and the men folk generally sleeping on the deck by night.

After a few days the barge pulls into a town to sell its wares and take on cargo for the south. The apprentices leave and, with Iovhar's help, Rene finds a strong and sturdy horse in town, which he purchases for an exorbitant sum. The group goes cross-country, northwest, bound for the region where Hugh is being kept. After two more days, Caera, Iovhar's Magical Hound, spots a village. Iovhar investigates while the magi remain behind in camp.

Iovhar's arrival is soon spotted by the locals of the village and he is met by their leader, a barrel-chested gray-haired man named Tamsin. When he learns Iovhar is looking for a friend who has been lost, and is traveling northwest, he warns him of the vampires which dwell there. "Your friend is surely dead," he says. "You should go home." But Iovhar persists, and Tamsin eventually tells him that there is a sorcerer, the village's koldun, who might be able to help him. The koldun lives in a cabin with his wife not far from here.

Iovhar and the others reunite and they agree to find this sorcerer and see if he can help them. Following the directions they were given, they find a small and isolated log cabin on the banks of a stream, surrounded by trees. A young dark-haired woman is out front doing wash, but when she sees strangers coming she hurries into the cabin. A man emerges, his face covered by the thick fur hood of his cloak. He speaks to the apprentices in Latin, and when they say they have come looking for someone, he asks them, "What does Hugh of Flambeau mean to you?" For a moment the apprentices are surprised, and they ask how this sorcerer knows Hugh. The koldun lifts his hood to reveal that he is Akakios, their old school friend and Sebastien's former apprentice.

Inside Akakios's home, the apprentices learn more details about what happened. Hugh's attack on the Shadow Magi was intended to rescue Akakios, and he took Akakios with him out of the camp, riding north. His intention was to take Akakios to a border region out from under the eye of the Quaesitores, where he could live in peace and forge a new life for himself. They went deep into Novgorod but stumbled across the den of the vampires. Taken by surprise, Hugh held the demons off while Akakios and Bathild, Hugh's horse familiar, fled. That was months ago and Akakios has not been able to rescue Hugh. The vampires are too numerous.

Akakios does, however, know the secret to Parma Magica and he offers to teach it to the apprentices before they enter the vampire lair. Breandan immediately agrees. When Gustov consults Garcette, she insists this is a bad idea and they could be killed for it, should they survive this expedition. Rene decides to accompany Breandan and learn the secret. Eva, Gustov and Cassidy refuse, and wait in the cabin with Klara, Akakios's wife. Outside, Breandan and Rene raise their Parma for the first time, under Akakios's direction.

But there is more. Akakios knows of ancient powers of the underworld who may be able to provide help. This prompts a long debate among the apprentices, some of whom consider this to be a very bad idea. Akakios insists that, if everything goes according to his plan, they will secure valuable help and no one will get hurt, but the idea of bargaining with powers of death and darkness makes Eva especially uneasy, as she is sure Rene, ever the martyr, will volunteer to pay whatever price is necessary. Nevertheless, they agree to try.

Akakios leads them out away from his home into a swamp, where he leads them into a Faerie Regio. After more exploring, they find a small hut standing on stilts in the middle of the swamp. Already afraid they know what is coming, they creep closer and see that the stilts are, indeed, knobby chicken legs. A gray-haired hag with a long nose appears in the entrance to the hut and warns them off, but they approach anyway and the hut lifts them up into the doorway a few at a time.

Baba Yaga is predatory and insane. As soon as Akakios begins to speak to her in the local language, she hates him. Her hut is dominated by a giant stove. Following directions Akakios gave them, Gustov demands Baba Yaga's horns. She gives them to him, reluctantly, and he blows one then the other, but holds the third aside. They use this to bargain with Baba Yaga, and she agrees to help them if they agree to eventually give her back her horns. The group quickly flees the hut and the regio.

Returning to Akakios's cabin, they sleep through the night and the next day go to the den of the vampires: a cluster of hills surmounted by a single cave framed with boulders. Bathild is found by Caera and led back to the others; she is overjoyed to see everyone, especially Rene, but blames Akakios for Hugh's capture and suggests that, if the apprentices get a chance to abandon Akakios to the vampires, they should. This particular suggestion is not translated for everyone by Gustov, who is the only person that can understand Horse.

Preparatory spells are cast and the apprentices realize they have entered an Infernal aura. Breandan uses the Writ of Nestor and activates some, but not all, of the spells within the Wand. Entering the hill, the group is immediately attacked by three of the Orboroten, vampire-witches who once were mortals, but who died and returned to inhabit their own bodies as living dead. A furious battle takes place, with the vampires resilient to most of the apprentice's attacks. Gustov's three hounds take Medium Wounds as the vampires savage them. Eva is able to kill one with two castings of Twisting the Demon's Tail, but Breandan's Balls of Abyssal Flame, courtesy of the Wand of Nestor the Old, are instant death for the creatures who, it appears, also dislike and are harmed by light.

After Gustov takes a short time to staunch the bleeding of his hounds with spontaneous magic, the group resumes their descent into the hill. Rene takes the lead, and so he is the first to discover some kind of sleeping chamber, a deep well about ten paces in diameter filled with dozens of the Orboroten in a deep torpor-like sleep. The apprentices have a hurried and whispered conference where they debate various ways they might collapse the room or seal it, but eventually they decide to simply withdraw and find another route down. Moving carefully, they avoid notice.

Descending deeper, they find Hugh. He has been lashed to a stone pillar in the middle of what can only be called a Feeding Chamber, and even as the apprentices arrive two vampires are trying to get meals out of him. Hugh is emaciated and covered in open sores, unconscious and near to death. Rene kills one of the vampires with his greatsword and Breandan destroys the other with the Wand. While Breandan and Garcette stand watch in the corridor, everyone else investigates the chamber and releases Hugh, who cannot be awoken.

No sooner has Hugh been freed when those on guard hear movement in the tunnels: the vampires are coming for them. As a swarm of the creatures begin to run, crawl, and creep into the room, a battle breaks out. But there are far too many of the vampires for the apprentices to fend them all off. Eva enlarges her ring to create a safe area, but only about half the apprentices fit inside. Garcette uses the Staff of Vilano to create a Pit of the Gaping Earth at the entrance to the chamber but this only slows the vampires down. Gustov blows Baba Yaga's horn and she appears. Precious seconds tick by as she demands her horns be returned before helping them. Gustov agrees. The legendary witch begins to snatch and devour the vampires by the handful, grabbing them with fantastically elongated arms and hurling them into her oven, where they are cooked and go up in flames.

The master vampire arrives; a colossus of a man wearing layers of leather armor and wielding Hugh's talisman, Troll-wife, his eyes burn with green flame. Breandan cripples him with Ball of Abyssal Flame and Cassidy blinds him with an Illusionary Blindfold. This sets him up perfectly for Rene's heroic leap over the Pit of Gaping Earth which -- with a little help from an overhead chicken leg -- allows him to bring his greatsword down on the vampire's head, destroying him.

The apprentices flee back up the tunnel. There are some vampires there, but most are either trying to get down the tunnel to their master, or flee back up the tunnel to escape Baba Yaga. Running swiftly, the apprentices emerge from the hill and Garcette uses the Staff of Vilano to collapse the stones framing the entrance. The cave mouth collapses. Iovhar lights the signal torch and, within about a minute, Kynthia arrives. With Hugh, there is not enough room for everyone to come home at once, and it's not clear whether Akakios will return with them or stay in Novgorod, where he has a new life. Eva and the others agree to speak for him if he wants to return, before Eva uses her Acorn and vanishes, appearing in Balbina's sancum. Kynthia brings everyone else back to the Council Chambers of Icy North using Hermetic Pilgrimage.

The Alpine Apprentices have succeeded in their mission, but questions remain. Will Akakios return to the Order? Is there a place for him, if he does? Will he be an apprentice, like the rest of them, and if so, to whom? What of Hugh? And what will happen to Rene and Breandan, who have chosen to learn the Parma Magica, in violation of the Order's most strictly enforced rule?

Advancement

Everyone gets 8 Adventure XP which can be spent on anything used in the story, with the exception that no more than 5 XP can be spent on any single Art or Ability.

Summer and Fall

With their mission over, and Hugh of Flambeau alive and in recovery, the apprentices expect to return home, but instead all their school mates are brought back to Icy North for the return of Master Profundus.

Their beloved teacher has spent a half dozen years at Valnastium -- teaching and translating books over the summer and winter while tending his gardens in the spring and fall -- and looks in excellent health. He is all smiles as he calls the first class to order. "When I left you," he says, "you all had a basic grounding in magical theory, enough to help your masters in the laboratory. But soon you will be the master, and you will need to construct your own laboratory. For that, you will need more knowledge and experience. And that is what I am here to teach you." The enormous, magically illuminated, copy of Bonisagus's masterpiece Principia Magica, is carefully carried back in by two Grogs, and instruction begins at once.

Some of the apprentices, notably Akakios and Gustov, already know enough about Magic Theory that they are ahead of the rest of the class, but Profundus remains the most knowledgeable person in the room and skillfully prompts the advanced students to help the others, organizing impromptu debates over fine points of Hermetic magic for the edification of the class.

The Profound Doctor also moves back into his former home. While the garden there had gone to seed and suffered for a short time under Scamandrius's familiar, Rene appears to have spent no small amount of time trying to repair it, and for this Profundus is deeply grateful. Still, he can't help lamenting all the damage that has been done, and whenever he is not teaching or leading the class in exercises, he is obssessing over the small garden and its meticulous cultivation.

Everyone meets Klara, Akakios's wife, who replaces the now-departed Alys as the domestic servant to the apprentices. She speaks only a little Latin, but is friendly towards those apprentices who are kind to her and, uniquely, she is not affected by the Gift. She has long dark hair, big dark eyes, and a lovely face, and several of the male apprentices are openly jealous of Akakios, at the same time that they seem confused as to why a magus of the Order would marry anyone, especially a mundane.

Alys and Samuel marry in June. At the wedding, Eva wore a dress she had sewn herself for the purpose of catching Rene's eye. After the reception, she sneaked over to Rene's room and knocked on his door. When her fellow apprentice answered, Eva entered and quietly pleaded with Rene: "I love you. You loved me before, love me again." Then she took off her clothes in front of him.

For his part, Rene was completely surprised and fumbled with his words. The least fumbled word out of his mouth was his cry of exasperation: "Eva!"

With uncharacteristic assertiveness, Eva recited Rene his poem back to him in German. "That wasn't in German for Profundus's benefit, my love," she explained to him. The young man looked down at his sketchbook and was greeted with the picture he had been drawing of a young woman... bearing a striking resemblance to Eva that he had never consciously recognized. He turned back to the naked young woman in his room and lifted her chin up until their eyes met, repeating her name, this time in a comforting tone. Then he kissed her.

In June, Diana of Tremere is invited to the covenant. She is attended by a ravishing blonde who, by the sound of her melodious voice, is French. Hugh is seen to rise from his sick bed and limp around on a cane. These two magi join Athena and an unfamiliar, black-clad magus in a series of private conferences. After three days of this, Rene and Breandan meet with Diana, who matter-of-factly explains that, for their own safety, she is going to remove the secret to Parma Magica from their memory. Both Rene and Breandan are under the distinct impression that one of the other apprentices told Athena about the Parma incident and, judging from her downcast gaze and look of shame, it was almost certainly Garcette.

Diana offers both men a chance to name anyone else to whom they have told the secret. Her spell takes only moments to cast and it is over quickly. Both young men know their memory has been altered -- the minutes spent behind Akakios's cabin in Novgorod is simply a blank. The incident is never mentioned again.

After Rene has left, Diana calls Breandan aside and introduces her 'servant,' Isabeau. "I understand you are interested in learning the art of seduction," Diana says. "This is well bethought. But we cannot leave such matters to hedge witches and amateurs. I have arranged for a courtesan with excellent credentials to tutor you in this."

Isabeau curtseys low, taking the opportunity to both show off her ample curves and give Breandan a rather shameless physical inspection. She says, "It will be my pleasure, domina," with a twinkle in her eye.

The Fate of Akakios

By July, Akakios has sworn the Oath of Hermes and takes the name Innocentius, a Latin translation of his Greek name.

It is administered by Athena Alpina, in her role as Senior Quaesitor. "With this Oath," she adds, "you are a magus. Your former master, Sebastien of Tytalus, has no further obligation towards you, nor you to him, but he will always be your parens and you his filia. As a courtesy to your father, I have arranged for a magus of considerable experience and age to come to the Alps and tutor you for one season each year in those Arts and spells which will help you to survive in the onerous path you have chosen. But the Toymaker -- for so he is known -- is not your dominus. He is being compensated for his time. You and he have been given the use of the Tower of Solomon, a chapter house of Icy North, and by the charter of the covenant all the decision making power of the chapter house has been vested in him. Profundus has also expressed a desire to complete your training. Otherwise, how you choose to use your time is your own affair."

The Toymaker turns out to be a black-clad and portly magus who has been a member of the Order for a century. He has a quiet but genial demeanor and seldom smiles, though smiles would be hard to see anyway through his fulsome beard. He greets the young man formally as 'Innocentius filius Sebastien ex Tytali' and withdraws to the Tower of Solomon, where he spends the next six months setting up a laboratory.

Akakios's position among the other apprentices for the rest of the summer and fall is a bit uncomfortable. Profundus -- always a stickler for decorum -- insists on referring to him by his new name and always in a deferential tone. But other magi see Akakios dwelling with and learning alongside apprentices, and scoff behind his back. He acquires a reputation as a "Tiro," a word normally used for apprentices, but also in a derogatory way to refer to a magus who is young and inexperienced.

By the end of summer, Hugh has regained his health and seems only a little the worse for wear. He departs for a brief tour of Provence, an effort to repair the damage he left in his wake when he abandoned the attack on the Shadow Magi to rescue Akakios, but returns before the end of fall.

Advancement

Summer and Autumn: 40 XP in Magic Theory and 4 points in Profundus XP. Characters with Apt Student get an additional 10 Profundus XP.

Breandan can choose to spend his Profundus XP on Charm (seduction) instead.

Of Note: By the end of Autumn 1214, Profundus's Teaching rises to 10+2, and his Teaching total for the class rises to 23. However, extended Warping has made him Offensive to Divine Creatures.

Winter

In November most of the apprentices depart via Portal Arch for their home covenants, where they are taught the Arts by their masters.

Akakios finds the Toymaker to be a bit of an eccentric, obsessed with warding himself and the Tower against malicious spirits. Apparently from Provencal (Akakios has spent two years in the region and can recognize the accent), he is a magus Ex Miscellanea and a member of the tradition known as the Donatores Requietas Aeterna, or the Givers of Eternal Rest. The Toymaker is one of the founders of this tradition, having been visited by Saint Gertrude of Nivelles over a century ago, and he has spent the last century fighting a mysterious "Cult of the Dead" which appears to be responsible for waves of unquiet spirits and walking corpses which have terrorized the Normandy and Stonehenge Tribunals. The Toymaker specializes in peacefully granting spirits and ghosts their final rest, but he has also waged many battles against Infernal powers which have, in the form of Infernal Ghosts, terrorized common folk. He casually mentions that he has trained two apprentices in his life. Every morning and every evening at dusk he makes the rounds of the Tower, checking to ensure that all the wards and protections against enemy spirits are in place.

Over the winter, he teaches Akakios the following spells:

• Whispers Through the Black Gate (InCo 15)

• Lay to Rest the Haunting Spirit (PeMe 15)

• Ring of Warding Against Spirits (ReMe 20)

• Gather the Essence of the Beast (ReVi 15)

Advancement

Garcette gets 14+5 Creo

Breandan: 15 Muto

Eva: 18 Study in Vim

Rene: 13+5 Corpus

Gustov: 13 Terram

Cassidy: 13 Imaginem

Akakios is taught spells and gets 2 Exposure XP.