1131

YEAR 1131

Scribed by Caelestis

Spring 1131AD

So it falls to me again to scribethis tome. It seems such a short time since I last wrote here, but with theadditions of two new magi hopefully my studies will not be interrupted againso quickly. The snow lay thick on the ground, with not a sight of the welshflower poking through. I hated the chill that persisted it reminded me ofthe mountains near Antioch. How I longed for the warmth that summer brings.

The council met and Audacia relatedthe tale of how she bested the Ruadan when Turold discussions about the returnof the repaired wand turned sour. She apparently had no problem resistingthe Ruadan’s enchantments and then broke her arm with a simple formulaicspell. Audacia then took the Ruadan’s mask as a reminder to her thatshe must fulfil the bargain!

Antonius discussed his foray intoBristol where a watching spirit apparently followed him but when it got closeto the covenant Idris dispelled the evil spirit. The share out of Vis wasdone with 3 Ignem and 7 Herbam being divided equally between the 5 magi. Antoniusreported that blackthorn had voted to continue the alliance after Eloria hadpushed for its dissolution. Apparently she had suffered a Mentem twilightand has been acting strangely especially towards Antonius who seems to beher pet hate at the moment. Antonius declared that he would be travellingin the spring , I was learning from the Aquam texts, Ospectus was learningfrom the Imagonem texts, Turold declared that he was going to make an infernalward for Antonius and Audacia was going to learn a tenth magnitude "layto rest the haunting spirit".

Early in the season Gofynwy arrivedto speak with Turold. A council was called to allow his admittance and hewas admitted. Turold then left his work in progress and after consulting withSylvania in Cad Gadu covenant he disappeared into the Faerie Regio.

The rest of the season past withoutincident at the covenant and we had a very peaceful if cold spring.

Summer

The council meeting convened withTurold informing us of an alliance in the faerie regio between Gofannon theking of the mountain and Nynniaw the Lord of the oaks with the objective ofrecapturing the Summer glade. Turold then related how he went to the summerglade to reconnoitre the area as he was supposedly an ally of the Erechwythwho held the glade (this did seem a bit dubious to me but I bow to Turold’sgreat understanding of the fae and their ways). Apparently things did notgo smoothly in the glade with Meredith losing control of his shapeshiftingand attacking a stone fae before then fleeing. When Turold tried to followhim he found he could not easily escape the glade as his magics were turnedawry by the strange fae regio.

Eventually he escaped the gladeand returned after reporting the force strength. Audacia reported speakingwith Dialectica during the spring season and discovered that a wizard’swar had been declared between Eloria and Marea. Antonius reported that hediscovered that Baron of Monmouth had been asking about the Baron of Chepstow’slineage, which could mean a precursor to a claim on his lands and an attack.He also reported that the Fells were observed in Lydney, in the guise of afake merchant and Gerald’s grave had been disturbed. Sir Martin had apparentlyhad a bad dream about it and when shown the disturbed grave he ordered a manhuntfor this merchant. I suggested that the "eyes of the past" spellmight reveal the visage of this merchant and it was decided that after Audacialooked for watching spirits we would go and cast the ritual at the Inn wherethe merchant stayed. At this council my sigil fell out of my pocket, whichwas very strange, as I had gone to Blackthorn and handed over to the Quaesitor.We then sent to Blackthorn for a Quaesitor but none were there as they werebusy investigating House Ex Miscellanea. We held a discussion about the sigiland I suggested that a spirit might be bound into the item and would Audaciainvestigate it. I then submitted to be put to sleep in case my mind was alteredor changed to defend the sigil. Apparently there was a spirit of an Arab boyin the sigil and through the use of tongue of the folk Audacia was able tointerrogate it. It transpired that my pater had had the spirit bound intothe device to stop me returning to the Levant because if I did some dark prophecycould come to take place. Audacia then destroyed the item freeing the boundspirit and freeing me from its influence. I was then awakened and quizzedabout my past with Antonius prying quite intensely. Turold stated he was goingto read from the Ignem texts if his time in the faerie regio didn’t disturbhis studies too much. Antonius declared he was going out and about once again,when does this man ever study magic? Audacia was going to learn the spell"gift of Achilles", Ospectus was again learning from the Imagonemtexts and I studied from the Herbam texts.

A few days later I went down toLydney with Antonius and cast the eyes of the past in the room to determinethe identity of the merchant. When I cast the spell I felt through some infernalmagics he was aware of my scrying and so I fled the tavern. When we gatheredat the covenant I cast an illusion of the man I had seen and it was determinedthat it was not a fell that Antonius recognised.

Later that season we heard reportsof animals disturbed in the woods and Turold declared that this must meanthe Fae war had started. A few days later the entire Seelie Fae contingentarrived at our gates and was granted entry by council permission. They heldtalks with Turold about his Fae holdings and he swore an oath to Nynniaw thatthe "Lord of the Oaks" can have the resources of this land (exactlythe oath he gave to the defeated Erechwyth).

The rest of the season passedwithout incident.

Autumn

The season started cold and foggywith a thick dense mist rising off the Severn obscuring all. Our council meetingstarted with us discussing what we were going to study. Antonius decided tostudy from the rego vis, Audacia studied from 3 pawns of Perdo vis, but toaccomplish this she had to exchange a rook of Muto for a rook of Perdo withher parens. Turold decided to make the ward versus demons for Antonius thathe had been meaning to make but had been interrupted before by his activitiesin the fae regio. I observed my obligation to the covenant by extracting Vimvis from the aura and Ospectus improved his English.

The fog persisted for many a dayand Antonius decided to cast perceive the magical scent to determine if thefog was magical. He discovered it was and mounted an expedition with 4 grogs,Ospectus and Meredith. Ospectus in falcon form flew far and wide and discovereda man shaped form in the river. When he reported this to Antonius, Meredithannounced that it might be a water elemental of ancient legend called theLadra. We then had a council meeting where we were appraised of the facts.At this meeting Turold informed us that Meredith had spoken with the shadeof Idris and had confirmed his suspicions that this was the creature calledthe Ladra. We decided to ask our Blackthorn allies for assistance and Ospectusflew up there that afternoon. He returned with Caisus who reported earthquakesat Blackthorn and he immediately returned to Blackthorn with Audacia to clearthe fallen rocks with her Perdo spells.

A few days later Mathus arrivedat our covenant tired and feverish. Indeed as he was putting his horse inthe stable he collapsed. Antonius took him to the infirmary and the chirurgeonapplied a balm apon his chest. Antonius wanted to try magical healing butwas stifled by the fact that he knew that Mathus would have some sort of magicalprotection. He started to strip Mathus but then saw an obviously magical pieceof jewellery around his neck and he instructed the chirurgeon’s helperto remove it.

A spell was cast and the girlfell dead at Antonius’ feet, the rest of the mundanes in the room werestruck down with a sleep spell of some variety and Antonius himself felt hisparma Magica resist a spell. Later that evening Mathus awoke and healed himselfwith potions he carried. We then held a council meeting where Mathus toldus the following news

The Mundane news was sparse andreported that famine was about and that some Christian priest had been actinginopportunely which did not surprise me as they seem as corrupt a bunch ofpeople as any in this land. The hermetic news was more interesting in thatBlackridge covenant had been thrown out of the order and that the order ExMiscellania might be re-formed. Four of the Ex Miscellaneans had been quizzedby the Quaesitors and had been passed by them but confined to their respectivecovenants for the duration of the march. He also reported that several otherof the covenants had been attacked by weird occurrences like our fog and Blackthorn'searthquakes. He informed us that there was supposed to have been a meetingin Borri-Tor covenant 4 days ago but because of the fog he could no find thecovenant so we had missed this. I had a small sack of mail for Mathus to deliverfor the forum idea that I had.

Later in that season I had a vision(my first) of a door with the stars revolving around it. I asked Meredithabout this but he offered no suggestions.

Winter

The council meeting convened withAudacia being absent, due to helping Blackthorn covenant with its earthquakeproblem. Antonius had unfortunately been pursuing a dead end of research involvingthe rego Vis he used and had gained no insights into that technique. Ospectusdeclared he would perform his covenant research and scribe the spell "Truesight of air". Turold was enchanting a device for the tribunal for itsefforts in assaulting Blackridge covenant. Antonius developed a spell andI studied from the Herbam texts. I am getting very close to being proficientin all the techniques and arts now and within a few years will be able totake on an apprentice as all followers of Bonisagus should.

Audacia returned a few days laterto report that she had been up to Borri-Tor for a meeting to discuss the attackon Blackridge covenant. She reported that there were no representatives fromCarrion moor, Narwold, Morstow, Lear valley or Scarfell. She also stated thatshe would be studying from 3 pawns of Perdo Vis this season.

Meredith went missing which apparentlywasn’t an unusual occurrence but he had been gone for nearly a week whichprompted Turold to search him out. Turold decided that as the boy liked totalk to Idris for long periods of time he would examine the spring area. Wewere alerted to these events only when a grog came running back into the covenantfrom the spring to alert us to the fact that Turold and another grog had vanishedwhile inspecting the spring. Suspecting foul play we dispatched Ospectus toscout the area who spotted a shadowed form. I then with Audacia providingdefence went down to the spring and using my own vis performed the ritualof "Eyes of the past". I saw Turold walk down to the spring , themissing grog then spotted something in the water and pointed this out to Turold.A hand then rose from the water and touched both the grog and Turold causingthem to liquefy in some manner and descend into the spring pond. A day laterMeredith returned and informed us that he was hiding from some malign entity(the shadowed form) and could not leave the otherworld as he calls it. Hestated that he spotted Turold from this otherworld and fearing for his safetyasked Idris to help. Idris apparently asked the Ladra to assist who took bothTurold and the grog into its realm for safekeeping.

The next day Turold and the grogreturned unharmed at dawn. We then called a council and at that meeting wesummoned the spirit of Idris and quizzed him although Audacia’s attemptsto coerce the spirit seemed to not achieve the results she wanted. I thensuggested that I use the spell "Voice of the Lake" cast from text,to quiz the Ladra about who summoned it here. We set up by the spring andsuccessfully summoned the entity who stated that she had been summoned bya druid of some sort which instantly made us think of the unnamed house. Audaciawent and reported this information to Caisus at Blackthorn.

The rest of the season passeduneventfully.