1104

YEAR 1104

Scribed by Lothar

Spring 1104AD

Osric our stewardwent on a buying spree and bought a bowl for Turold and two Irish wolf houndsfor myself. Godwin, a self proclaimed demon hunter, and his assistant Andrewarrived at the covenant and were briefed by Ruaridh on our demon problem.I had such a hard battle with the demon that I do not understand how thesenon Magi hope to best it. Idris was obviously upset by their arrival as theyare blatantly Christian. At the time of the Spring equinox Idris conducteda ritual of Anu by the pool. All it seemed to me to be was a big party andI joined in with gusto. A few days later Quaesitor Jania arrives and startedher investigations. She initially went to the heart of the forest and casteyes of the past, observing Idris leaving the glade just before I was attackedby the Demon and so proving him a liar. Back at the covenant we questionedIdris and after several minutes of questioning we revoked his good standing(as per the charter) as he has obviously lied to us on several occasions.Then Jania questioned him using various magics, and when he answered a questionabout associating with House Diedne in the affirmative she rendered him unconsciousand stated that he will have to go to Holy Isle Covenant for further questioning.The next day Idris’s unconscious body was loaded onto our boat and Varsaviaand Ruaridh travelled with Jania as her Hoplites. That night while Varsaviawas on guard Idris somehow overcame the spell Jania had cast on him and smashedVarsavia in the head with a bit of Iron ore that was left in the hold of theboat. He then made his escape over the side. The next morning when Ruaridhwent to relieve Varsavia all he found was her corpse, her blood covering thebottom of the boat. Ruaridh flew back to the covenant to bring us the newsand collected two vials of Idris’s blood to use in locating rituals whichhe then flew to Holy Isle covenant. The Boat returned a few days later andVarsavia’s body was taken to the Summer Glade in the faerie regio. ThereLlyn y Fan appeared and took her up into Arcadia.

Summer

The summer meetingwas full of discussion over what we should do about Idris and it was decidedthat we should be vigilant and if he should come back we will kill him withouthesitation. A few days later we saw lights in the sky and a halo around thesun, usually thought to be a bad omen, and the grogs were worried. Stassiusthe red cap arrived and brought us the news that Henry of Normandy, assistedby the King of France had fought successful battles against the armies ofBlack Hugh. Hugh met his uncle and agreed to pay 1000 marks in reparationto Duke Henry in return for a peace treaty. It is said that no soonerwas Black Hugh upon a ship for England that he renounced the pact with hisuncle, swearing that he would yet bring Henry to his knees. As for Hermeticnews, Du Clerc has requested confirmation from Tyriania that magi are notobligated to send men or mundane resources at the command of the King.Tyriania has confirmed that because no mundane can be the master of a magusthat even royal commands may be refused; however - this cannot be used tobring magi in conflict with the mundanes. Krekaranius has warned that therecent solar halo seen throughout England is a warning that evil is abroadin the land. He counsels that each covenant should prepare their defencesfor the storm to come. Venius and Darius have travelled to the Loch LegaenTribunal to investigate rumours that the unnamed house has been active there.Holy Isle and Blywyddan covenants have mounted a search for Idris, they believethat he may be hiding within a regio somewhere in Wales. They will attendSevern Temple covenant to continue their investigation and the case will bebrought to the next Tribunal.

Autumn

Half way throughthis season a great storm descended on us and a bolt of lightning hit thetower killing one of our grogs. Then from the skies a screech of anger anda Griffin descended on us. Maddog organised his men into a spear block, butit proved of little use against so mighty a foe and quickly one grog afteranother was lifted into the air and dropped with a dull thud onto thehard earth. Maddog’s men held firm until Maddog himself was subject tothis treatment, at which point they broke for the buildings. The Griffin thenstarted to attack the doors to the Great hall and while Turold and Petrustook cover in the cellars I started to summon bears to fight this magicalcreature. While I was distracting it Ruaridh made himself invisible and thenbegan to cast lightning bolts of his own to defeat the creature. After a fewblasts of his magic the Griffin turned in fear and flew away. Ceadwith triedto help the wounded all she could but still we lost four grogs, Aelfwold tothe lightning and Bedwyn, Howell and Dogfael to the Griffin.

Scribed byPetrus in the official covenant record

Winter

It is perhapswith a heavy heart that I, Petrus, take up once more the task of recordingthe events and times of our covenant. As we met for our first conciliumof winter we were all painfully aware of the two absences from our counciltable: Idris, the renounced traitor, now fled and hidden perhaps withinsome regio in Wales; and Varsavia, lost to us by Idris's treachery.The council meeting was a sombre affair; Ruaridh will study from threepawns of Perdo vis, Turold shall continue his studies of his late pater'snotes, and I shall develop a sixth magnitude version of Maintain the DemandingSpell. We discussed Lothar's covenant service, and decided that giventhe fears we have of another attack by the unnamed house we would send himto Blackthorn. I have sent him with a letter to my Pater, Xeros, requestinga copy of a ninth magnitude version of Aegis of the Hearth.

Lothar raisedthe matter of warning the surrounding villages about the return of the demon.We feel that his appearence, despite his gentle gift, means that it wouldbe wiser if Thurstan carries out the task, and attempts to recruit new grogsin the process. It appears that Lothar also wishes to move into Varsavia'ssanctum, her laboratory in a better state of progress than his own.The council decides that it must be undisturbed until the Quaesitor arriveto investigate Idris, and the possible role that Varsavia took in assistinghis escape. Lothar, again, suggests that we could allow him to travelto other covenants during this season to try and exchange vis. He iskeen to continue his studies of Animal. We decide that given the amountof vis we can expect as part of our deal with Carrion Moor, it would be foolishto try and deal with a vis rich covenant like Blackthorn at this time.For a copy of our Mentem Books we are expecting nine books of Imagonem andfour and twenty pawns of vis. Given that they have a source of Animal,we may hope for some of that form upon concluding our deal at the next Tribunal.

At the time ofmid-winter, after the feast we hold each year, Ruaridh reports to us a strangeand disturbing dream. In this dream he is standing on the tower lookingover the courtyard to the north battlements. A storm gathers with preternaturalhaste and Ruaridh can see the covenant's grogs manning the battlements andmaking their way into the great hall. Then he is visited by the Morriganwho tells him, again, to honour her in the old ways in return for her aidin the fight. The dream apparently ended with the tower being struckby lightning. I know not what to make of such a dream, in truth.Indeed, Ruaridh's reference to the Morrigan as a 'god' caused me no smallconcern; that Idris's superstitious ways have come to infect the survivingmembers of this covenant. We agreed to discuss this matter again inspring. Thus the season and the year concluded.