1125

YEAR 1125

Scribed by Caelestis

Spring 1125AD

I would just like to record whatan honour it is to be allowed to scribe here following in the footsteps ofPetrus. I know my style and demeanour may not be as good as his, but I praythat you forgive my efforts. The council began with a discussion about whatto do about capturing Frances the diabolist who put a spying spirit in Blackneywhich killed a villager and thus revealed its presence. We decided to followthe plan aforementioned and then went on to discuss methods of interrogationwhich we decided that Edith with her skills of Chirurgy would be best equippedfor. We could not use Intellego magicks as they are not always accurate whendealing with the infernal. We also decided to trade some of our little usedVis for Vim Vis, Antonius volunteered to go to and try to trade Ignem Visfor Vim Vis at Blackthorn covenant.

Antonius asked me to help himinvestigate Florence, wife of Red Morley, whom he suspects of being a diabolistbecause of Bledwins accusations. He thinks that (and I agree with him) myastronomy may be a better method of gaining an insight into the diaboliststhan Intellego magicks.

This season I helped Turold inhis lab with the creation of his house item. It is an interesting creation,a stone bird with wings furled; he was very reluctant to discuss its propertiesand as we were only investing it (with two rooks of Vim Vis no less) it wasimpossible to divine its nature. Ruaridh developed a spell to discern thetrue gift in someone, useful I suppose when looking for an apprentice or testingsomeone as a Quaesitor. Antonius decided to venture abroad as his covenantservice to discern the influence of the Fells. Edith decided to study fromthe Corporem text.

Frances of Stent arrived at Blackneyand Sergeant Fulk ran to the barracks there to use the Leap of Homecomingpotion that Idris made. He threw the dust over himself but nothing happened.He then had to decide whether to risk the Pybaw and run to the covenant orwait till morning. He waited by the gates and as he tried to make his mindup the patrol came in noticing how relieved he was at their arrival. He appraisedSergeant Bernard of the situation and they mutually decided to wait till morningand then send grog Horsta as a runner in the morning. Leaving a guard on thegate the rest of the grogs and sergeant Fulk retired to the barracks. Laterthat night there was a terrible scream from the barracks and the men camepouring out minus sergeant Fulk. It was later found out he was killed in asingle bite by a green eyed demon with a snakes body and many little legswhich dripped poison from its fangs. As the men ran out one of them ran intothree henchmen of Frances' and was struck down without hesitation. SergeantBernard and Rufus advancing from the main gate met the charge or these threerogues and defeated them in less than a minute. Two of the rogues fled thefight and ran into a hut, Rufus being impetuous advanced into a certain ambushand was struck but not fatally and he then quickly finished off the men, inthe process setting fire to the hut they were hidden in. Leaving them to burnhe returned to Sergeant Bernard to hunt for Frances but nothing was seen.It later transpired that Frances turned himself invisible and left by themain gate. In the mean time Horsta decided to risk the woods and tried torun to the covenant. However he found that the woods were confusing in thedark and ended back where he had started, claiming to have met the Adder queenon his run and being scared out of his wits. The next dawn Horsta eventuallymade it to the covenant and alerted the Magi who investigated Blackney andthe surrounds plus interrogated the spirits of the rogues but to no effectas it appeared that Frances made a clean escape.

Summer

At the Council Meeting Antoniusreported on the fight at Blackney; he also stated that banditry was rife andwe should mount a guard on the barges. This suggestion was taken up. We thenwent on to discuss the fells and whether to take an aggressive or defensiveposture towards them. Turold and Edith expressed their view to defend thecovenant and not stir them up in activity against us but myself, Antoniusand Ruaridh decided that the best form of defence is offence. We decided thatwe will gather information prior to making a strike and this idea was agreedon by all as the most prudent. This season I decided to research the Vim textsas I am sadly lacking in this art and we need people who are good extractorsof Vis. Ruaridh studied from the Corporem texts, Antonius decided to go andinvestigate the diabolists in his own time but wanted it noted in the journalthat this was almost a second covenant service. Turold continued to enchanthis house item and Edith went abroad searching the woods for the Pybaw.

Caisus agreed to swap 19 pawnsof Vim Vis for a dozen pawns of Ignem Vis, which Antonius flew up to Blackthornto exchange. Turold in need of some Corporem Vis swapped 4 pawns Aquam Visfor 4 pawns of Creo Vis, which he duly sent to Scarfell covenant in exchangefor the Corporem Vis.

Later In the season Antonius checkedthe monies for debased coinage and discovered that 250D was debased and sonot wanting to pass the bad coin with the penalties that ensued (having onesright hand and testicles removed) he destroyed it. We received a tax demandfor 250D that was paid.

The meeting of House Ex-Miscellaneaoccurred at midsummer and from what I could gather from Ruaridh over the dinnertable this is what occurred. Initially Ruaridh tested everyone he didn’trecognise at the door with a spell to detect the true gift. This action apparentlyinfuriated McGreine as it was mainly his men who were checked (and turnedaway). Some Hibernians turned up which appeared to be some political manoeuvreby McGreine to turn the vote if there was one to his side. Ruaridh calledthe meeting to order and explained the precedents for selecting a Primus whenthey were both of the same age as Jordael and McGreine were. He cited a caseof about a century before where the situation was solved by Certamen. No soonerhad these words left his lips that Praeco McGreine shouted out "Muto".Jordael looked stunned and after a few minutes answered weakly "Imagonem".The Certamen followed and between the two protagonists appeared an image ofthe throne of House Ex-Miscellanea with a man wearing the Robes of Dusky Dawnbut his face indistinct. The Certamen followed with both men trying to puthis face on the figure but it was a fairly one-sided affair with McGreineclearly in the ascendant. Soon it was over and Jordael lay on the floor unconscious.A huge cheer went up from the loch Legaen tribunal and a stilled hush fellover those from Stonehenge tribunal as Primus McGreine took his throne androbes as victor. His inaugural speech talked of strength and not bowing tothe will of other houses which in my opinion is probably going to alienatehouse Ex Miscellanea more than it already is. Harnol brought up the assassinationissue and wanted to know if anything was going to be done to Darius as hewas sure he was the man behind the attack. The big shock came as McGreinethen declared that the Domus Magnus for House Ex Miscellanea was to be movedto Blackridge and all the lore was to be moved up to Blackridge as soon aspossible. He put Jordael in charge of this I think as a punishment for standingagainst him for Primus. He also wanted a Redcap permanently positioned inBlackridge, a duty I’m sure House Mercere will loathe.

The house meeting broke up witha huge feast from which Ruaridh excused himself early to investigate whereEdith was, as she hadn’t turned up to the meeting at all. Ruaridh metMeredith in one of the halls on his preparations to leave, who warned himthat Edith was in danger. When asked how he knew this Meredith said that hehad seen it in a dream. Ruaridh flew back to Severn Temple covenant with Meredithwho changed shape into a falcon and raised the alarm. Ruaridh and myself andMeredith then flew over the woods and using one of Ruaridh's scrying spellsdiscovered Edith's location. When we got there Edith was under attack by aMagus whose face was shadow, Piewackit lay dead at his feet and he was stranglingEdith. When he saw us arrive he fled, taking Ediths staff of tree controllingwith him, but not before striking Meredith who was in wolf cub form a blowthat broke bones.

We carried the bodies back tothe covenant and then I flew to Cad Gadu to get Blodwyn to heal Edith. Shehealed both Edith and Meredith for 12 pawns of Creo Vis.

The next day Ruaridh went to thesite of the fight and cast Eyes of the Past using my Intellego Vis. He discoveredthat the unknown assailant had covered his tracks well with a spell that changedthe sigil of a spell to make it look like Harnol had cast the spells. Turoldflew to holy isle to report this in case it was a plot by the unnamed houseand Ruaridh flew to Cad Gadu to report it to Serenia.

During the Season Antonius hadbeen out and about scouring the land for signs of "The Fells" andin his travels had gone to Bristol and determined that the city was virtuallyowned by them and nothing escaped there notice for more than a few days. Hethen went to Red Morley to spy on Florence wife of the knight there. He decidedto obtain an arcane connection from her bedroom so he could scry on her there(a dubious practice if I do say so myself). As he was doing so with the spell"Veil of Invisibility" upon himself he awakened her. Then to hisshock she called on a demon in the room to discover if anyone was presenthe felt his Parma resist a scrying spell of some kind and then heard the demonreply from just behind him that no presence was detected. She then calledout to speak to the invisible intruder thinking it was Silus who obviouslyhad a cloak of invisibility saying that if he was going to try to assassinateher then he would have to try harder than that. Antonius stood stock stillthrough all this hardly daring to breath but when midnight arrived Florencerose and went out riding (probably to do some unholy rite) so Antonius fledsafely back to the covenant to report this.

Autumn

At the council meeting Antoniusinformed us of his seasons activities and we also discussed the events surroundingEdith's assault. I came to the conclusion that the motive was the theft ofEdith's staff that could control trees and although this idea was initiallydismissed my consortis eventually saw the light of my wisdom. I believe thatthe reason for this theft was that in some way it was connected to Llandoddwyn’sassassination as he specialised in Herbam and almost looked like a tree himself;maybe the staff could be used against him in some way. Turold informed usthat he would continue to enchant his house item, I do not envy him the timeand effort he must put in for these competitions. Ruaridh amazed me by declaringthat he was taking Meredith as an apprentice when I was sure that the reasonthat Turold gave up training him was that his gift was fixed and could nottrain him in Hermetic ways. Antonius declared he was going to learn the "Giftof Achilles" a spell that protects the user from physical harm. I decidedto improve my magical theory by studying from 3 pawns of Vim Vis. Edith didnot come down to the council meeting and was still recovering from the mentalshock of losing her familiar in her sanctum.

It was a quiet season with justtwo incidents of note.

I espied from my sanctum windowthat Harnol came to Severn Temple and discovered off a grog it was for a chatwith Ruaridh and he later left looking most unhappy.

The barge we has put a guard uponwas apparently attacked by bandits and although the grogs were slain the cargowas saved, I hope the bandits will have learned their lesson as they alsotook severe losses at the hands of our grogs.

Winter

The Council meeting convened andit was with trepidation when we saw that Edith had returned to our meetings.We discussed the previous season’s events, which were minimal and discussedwhat our actions would be in the upcoming season. I, as my covenant service,stated that I would scribe the Aquam texts. Ruaridh stated he would studyfrom the Corporem texts, Antonius studied from the Mentem texts, Turold madeseveral "Leap of Homecoming" potions so in an emergency we couldreturn to the covenant. Edith stated that she would study from the Perdo textsand there was a nervous look around the table when she stated this.

Later in the season Mathus theRedcap arrived bearing news both hermetic and mundane. He reported that themoniers that had been in operation had mainly been caught or had desistedfrom their trade after much punishment. He also said that a Cardinal fromRome had arrived to speak with the Archbishops of York and Canterbury andhad then returned to Rome with them. There was also a report that Coleford'smilitia was building up and there were a few nervous looks around the tableat that remark. The hermetic news that Mathus brought was interesting as inan effort to quell the disturbances in this tribunal Primus Bonisagus haddecided to send a mediator from House Bonisagus (probably of the Trianomafaction) to Cad Gadu to assist in any way he could. Primus McGreine declaredthat all members of House Ex Miscellanea must pay 3 pawns of vis to be deliveredto Black Ridge covenant as tithe.

Edith reacted angrily to thisannouncement stating that she would not pay this ridiculous tax.

Late in the Season the Fae knightknown as Tegid Foel arrived at the covenant demanding hospitality. We arrangedfor a feast to be thrown in his honour and during this he declared that heneeded the stone horse that Turold owns to fight the Pybaw as his own horsewas too scared to close with the monster. He proposed a gamble the Horse forsome of his landholdings in the Fae regio but Turold would have none of itand refused the gamble. For his hospitality as he left Tegid Foel gave usa bronze helm that Turold quickly determined contained 5 pawns of Terram Vis.