1169

YEAR 1169

Scribed by Aelfwin

Spring 1169 AD

We meet for our first councilof the year and I'm swiftly forced to make a difficult decision. It's my intentionto head up to Lear Valley for most of the year, to study with my pater Erinand learn more of his particular techniques for brewing longevity potions.It seems I am not the only one planning to be absent. Our Ministrator, Medius,must travel to his House meeting and so shall be away until winter.

With Theo so often away, it isa choice between Tiarnan and Cormoran for Ministrator. I appointed Tiarnanand turned the agenda to our forthcoming activities for the Season.

After the events of autumn lastyear, where Medius led an investigation into Snig's end, together with Astriusand Theo, and discovered renewed diabolic activity therein, it was proposedto attempt entry to Edwin of Huntley's manor via the crypts which lie underthe Church. A plan was quickly prepared: Theo and Giovanni would travel, disguised,into the village and wait until nightfall. Giovanni would then make his wayto the stockade and give a signal for Astrius and Medius to climb over witha ladder. Then the three of them would make their way to the Church and waitfor Theo to arrive. From there they would sneak through the crypt and throughthe secret passage into the basements of Edwin's manor house. The intentionwas to take an arcane connection and locate any books or scrolls which mightidentify what this remnant of the Fells were up to. Finally, presuming allwent without hitch, they would return the way they had come, resealing thepath as they went so that minimal suspicion would be aroused. However, asany of us might have expected, events did not entirely play out as they hadplanned.

All went well until Medius andAstrius reached the Church; dark and quiet ever since the priest was slainby one of Edwin's men. They espied a mysterious bundle on the altar. Managingto break a lantern in the process, they dared a little light to inspect thecontents of the dark rags, discovering a child's body; ritually slain in somediabolical practice.

Deciding to press on to the crypt,aware that the secrecy of their investigation may have been compromised bythe disturbed body and the aftermath of the accident with the lantern, Mediusbecame concerned that an entity was watching them from the entrance to theunderground tombs. It seems a spirit, known to Theo, was guarding the entrancefrom a demonic presence summoned by the murder of the child. This puzzle wouldhave to wait until later, as the group pressed onwards through the narrowgate and down into the crypts.

Within that burial place theyfelt more brooding presences and watching eyes. It appeared that the deadthere had been disturbed. They followed the crypts and discovered the tunnelleading to Edwin's cellars. As they left the tunnel they were presented witha choice; a doorway ahead of them and a large, heavy wooden door, reinforcedwith metal studs. Here Theo was assailed by some infernal spirits; fortunatelyMedius was able to drive them away with judicious use of 'The Demon's EternalOblivion' and Theo was able to recover slowly from the attack. Guessing thatthis well protected door might lead them to some of Edwin's secrets they attemptedto gain entry by magic. However, most surprisingly, the door proved resistantto spontaneous magics designed to rot the wood away.

Unfortunately, perhaps suspicionshad been aroused within the household, for noises were heard beyond the fardoorway leading to Edwin's cellars. The door opened and a servant spied theintruders. Thinking quickly, Astrius filled the end of the hallway with websto keep any guards at bay for as long as possible.

With the purpose of subtlety lost,Astrius turned to more direct means to force open the protected door. Fortunately,it's resistance to magic did not suffice in the face of lightning! As thedoor was blown apart, a monstrous serpent loomed out of the smoke. However,Astrius was able to slay the creature using more lightning.

Behind the door lay a fair sizedroom, adorned with occult paraphernalia, books and demonological devices.However, all appeared fairly general and there is no sign of a diary or personalcorrespondence belonging to Edwin. With time running out, the wizards startedto grab as much stuff as they could reasonably carry. Then Giovanni discovereda secret store behind one of the tapestries. Having taken an arcane connectionand grabbed what Medius hoped was the information they needed; the party swiftlyused potions to return to the covenant, as the guards cut through the lastof the webbing.

Having returned safely, Theo listenedinto the aftermath at the manor using 'an Ear for Distant Voices'. To oursurprise (and when we'd had time to think about it, alarm), Edwin appearedto blame Yvonne for the break in and theft. Given what Edwin's servants musthave seen of Astrius' lightning, this suggests that Yvonne is capable of significantmagics! However, better news is that it appears the Fells are divided andinfighting amongst themselves and that there is no suspicion yet of our involvement.

Summer

At the meeting of the councilthe matter of the investigation is further discussed, though Medius is absent.Cormoran, hearing of the events in the Church, tries to question Theo furtherabout the pagan spirit; though Theo was unwilling to go into great detail.What Theo has discovered, though, is that Edwin is using a form on non-Hermeticmagic. He can only guess, but Theo believes that whilst Edwin is certainlya diabolist (and at least three of his servants are also involved) the Knightis also able to use occult rituals to create magical effects. Edwin, afterthe initial shock of the raid, is now no longer certain that Yvonne was responsible,but as yet has made no mention of any suspicion towards us.

The books and parchments retrievedfrom the raid will wait for Medius' return from his House meeting. The hopeis that they may reveal something of what is going on at Snig's end and theplans of the remaining Fells.

Theo has also managed to recruitthree mercenaries, including two military scouts. His plan for the momentis to have them watch Red Morely to see if they can track any movements ofFells through that area.

Cormoran then broke the sombremood of the meeting by introducing a new topic. He has hopes to be able tolearn the ways of his father and tend magical animals for the purpose of food(for himself) and for occasional vis. He announces that he intends to searchthe forest for magical pigs (though he changes his mind backward and forwardsa few times during the discussion). Theo reminded him not to hunt the magicaldeer that live within the forest - as he believes them intimately tied tothe well being of the forest itself.

With that, activities for theseason were discussed. I'm off to Lear Valley for the rest of the year andMedius won't be back until winter. Tiranan intends to explore the faerie forest.Astrius will remain in the covenant and develop a weather spell. Theo willbe abroad (again) looking to his land holdings. Cormoran, as discussed, willhead off in search of magical pigs.

Scribed by Astrius

Autumn

With the long summer finally drawingto a close, the four magi present, myself, Theo, Tiarnan and Cormoran metin council. Theo began the proceedings by informing us that he had becomethe knight of Skenfrith, the great English fortress on the Welsh border thatlies en route to Mynydd Myrddyn. Sir Lionel, the cursed werewolf knight whoformally held that title has been forced to flee back to the woods. Incredibly,Sir Lionel, along with Theo and many of the local nobles, had been travellingdown to London to see the King when he realised that the moon would becomefull while he was at the royal court. Sir Lionel turned to Theo for help ashe was the only one in the party who knew of his curse. After some thought,Theo invoked Jack of the Green and renegotiated the terms of our existingbargain with the werewolves. With the agreement of the pagan spirit he thenarranged for Sir Lionel to leave the group without warning. As soon as Lionelwas safely away, Theo went to speak with Baron Martin to explain Sir Lionel'ssudden departure. Once there, Theo judged that to withhold the full factsof what had happened from such an astute man could be more damaging than thetruth itself and so he told the Baron the whole sorry story, werewolves andall.

Thankfully, Theo had judged BaronMartin correctly and not only did he accept this news as calmly as could beexpected, he even gifted Theo the now knight-less landholding of Skenfrith.Although Theo cannot move soldiers from Skenfrith to bolster our turb, itwill nevertheless be an excellent place to recruit mercenaries. Theo assuredus that this new title will incur no great new responsibilities beyond theseason a year he is already spends in his existing noble role. Apparentlyit is not uncommon for knights with more than one landholding to so neglecttheir other places. There will be difficulties if, or given the two countries'previous histories, when, war comes between the English and the Welsh, butfor now, all is well. Another positive outcome from all this was that Theobelieves that Jack of the Green accepts that Theo's initial misgivings aboutletting Lionel rule Skenfrith were correct and with luck this will strengthenout hand in any future discussions with that entity.

Theo also mentioned that on thistrip he had met the King of England, whom he described as a fierce-heartedman, utterly loyal to his friends, but murderous to his enemies. Theo wasnot the only noble to have gained greater station on the trip for our sodalis'sefforts in informing Baron Martin about the situation in Gloucester evidentlypaid off as Martin was confirmed as the new Earl of Gloucester. Theo himselfis now knight of four different landholdings, Lydney, Blackney, Skenfrithand Ysgywyd Fawr and is widely seen as the Earl's right-hand man. With allthese responsibilities it was no surprise to learn that Theo intends to spendthe season visiting the Welsh court. After some discussion, it was agreedthat Cormoran will accompany him for at least part of the journey to YsgywydFawr. Cormoran had suggested that with our current parlous relations withthe Celts and the ever-present threat from Myrddyn's Brood, it would be agood idea to see if he could find a second passage through to the Mynydd Myrddyn.Given that Ysgywyd Fawr lies just to the northwest of that forest, it seemslike a fair place to search for a fresh path. With the potential threats lurkingin that region, I volunteered to accompany Cormoran, but Tiarnan, as actingPontifex, pointed out that this would leave just him in the covenant. As ImperatorI obviously could not risk the safety of the covenant and so I agreed to remainwithin the walls for the season, requesting use of the animal vis to furthermy studies in that art. For his part Tiarnan will extract vim vis on behalfof the covenant.

Theo also requested monies tobuy a horse suitable for his new role and 300d were made available to him,with the proviso that he use funds from Skenfrith to help pay if possible.With that the meeting ended and we set about our various tasks. Theo and Cormoran'sjourney by barge to Skenfrith was uneventful. Cormoran and his band of companionsproceeding separately on foot from there, for a goodly number of them havefaerie or magical blood so would arouse naught but suspicion in the town itself.Sir Theodore was however warmly welcomed to his new castle and was able topick himself a fine stallion from Skenfrith's stable to take as his personalmount. Another of his first acts was to order the kennels to be refounded.Given the taint that lay about him, Sir Lionel had had them disbanded forfear that the hounds would be able to sense the festering madness in his heart.After speaking a little with the local priest, who is apparently a goodlyenough man, Theo proceeded on to check on Ysgywyd Fawr, which apparently alsofares well. Leaving behind instructions for his steward to treat well withCormoran, Theo then headed off to pay audience at the Welsh court in Powys,where by his account he was again well-received and treated with much honour.

Unfortunately for our giant, andultimately the whole covenant as a whole, Cormoran's expedition did not goas planned. Things started inauspiciously when Dermot got into a fracas withsome of the burlier villagers from Ysgywyd Fawr, but eventually order wasrestored and Cormoran and his men were given sufficient provisions for theirtrek into the forest. After little more than a day's walking they reachedthe edge of the forest and made camp there for the night. A good night's sleepwas had by all and with fresh limbs they set off into the woods, searchingfor a path or tracks of some sort that might lead them into the regio. Theirinitial searches turned up little, but that afternoon Dermot discovered alone wolf pawprint in the damp mud of a small riverbank. Deciding to waituntil they had a full day ahead of them before pushing on, Cormoran orderedthat they return to the previous night's camp. That night however, two ofthe men on watch heard the ominous sound of wolves howling from all aroundthem. The mettle of those individuals present soon became clear as a numberof the men fled for the safety of the trees, without thought for the safetyof their fellows. Cormoran, Conrad, Edward and Henry however stood their groundin what little armour they had managed to put on in time. Seeing the wolvesclosing in and suspecting from their aggressive behaviour that they mightbe werewolves, Cormoran loudly declared himself as a magus from Severn Temple,but the wolves still attacked. While my sodales and the men fought bravely,with naught but ordinary weapons to hand they were hard pressed to deal significantwounds to these preternaturally tough opponents, yet all stood their groundeven though Conrad and Edward were both bitten. Again, Cormoran declared himselfand this time, with doubts perhaps creeping into their cowardly and treacherousminds, perhaps half of the werewolves retreated, before a few moments laterthe rest turned to flee. As one of the werewolves fighting Conrad tried torun he caught it with a mighty blow from his halberd and shattered its spine,killing the wretched creature instantly. After dying, its body reverted tothat of a naked woman, confirming the nature of the enemy beyond any doubt.

With Dermot maintaining his cowardlyvigil from high in the branches of a nearby tree, Cormoran quickly instructedEdward and Conrad to purge any taint in their wounds with burning brands.This they did, eager to escape the curse, though Edward could barely walkby the time it was done. As everyone hurriedly donned what armour they hadnot had time to put on in the first rush of the fight, Dermot espied a groupof six werewolves in human form approaching. From the sound of it, one ofthem was the pack leader and the old man, presumably the Grandfather wolf.How I wish now that I could have accompanied Cormoran, for I would have endedthis feud with these most faithless and treacherous of creatures there andthen.

Acting in good faith, despitetheir breach of our pact, Cormoran returned the body of the dead werewolfwoman to them. Once it had been reclaimed, there then ensued a bitter argument,translated by Henry from Welsh into English. Incredibly, it seems that despitetheir unprovoked attack on a declared magus of Severn Temple the werewolvesclaimed that it was we who had broken the pact! The werewolves initially demandedthat, as payment for the dead woman, Cormoran hand over the two men who hadbeen bitten. Cormoran quite rightly refused and instead offered a compromisethat if either of the men became infected as a result of the bites that hewould send them to join the werewolves. Although this would have been bitterlydisputed had it ever come up at council, the Grandfather wolf refused to acceptthe offer, saying that the wounds had been purged and so it was worthless.With neither side yielding any further, things degenerated into an argumentabout which side had broken the pact.

The werewolves claimed that underthe terms of the original deal struck by Theo, the covenant had agreed notto enter the werewolves' territory, save by the path to the white stones andthat Cormoran had broken the pact by entering the forest thereabouts. Theyrefused to accept his explanation that he was simply looking for a new routeinto Mynydd Myrrdyn and accused him of trying to find their secret dwellingplaces. This was of course untrue, but at least we now know the approximatearea in which these places can be found. Eventually the werewolves left, sayingthat the wrath of Jack of the Green would fall upon Cormoran and the men.It seems that this pagan spirit agreed with the lycanthropes, for soon afterthey had left, Dermot, still quaking in his tree, sensed something bad coming.Cormoran cast a spell to grow tall enough to rescue Dermot from the tree,but, even as he grew, vines shot up from the forest floor and entangled everyonesave Cormoran. Seeing this, Cormoran tried to run for the edge of the forest,but by now the trees were now awake and hostile, lashing out at him with thick,heavy branches that soon rendered him insensible. Back in his tree, Dermotheard a whispering in the leaves as Jack of the Green spoke to him. The spiritsaid that it would take Conrad's life for slaying the werewolf, but it wouldrelease the others. Jack of the Green also warned Dermot that none of themshould return, save Theo, who had struck the original pact. As the spiritsaid this, the vines holding all save Conrad withered and shrank back.

Sensing what was coming, Conrad,who had become a servant of the Morrigan some years back, began to chant andinvoke her vengeance on those that were about to slay him. Sure enough, asthe others watched on in horror, the vines holding him began to grow intomouth and eyes, choking him to death. Jack of the Green then disappeared,apparently content with his one victim, for the remaining men saw nothingelse until morning when Cormoran regained his faculties. After a short discussion,Conrad was buried in a shallow grave and they left the woods.

Afeared for Theo's safety whenhe returned by the forest at the end of the season, Cormoran hurried the groupback to the covenant as quickly as he was able, even shrinking the injuredEdward and the corpulent Dermot to the size of children to enable him to carrythem. The barge was still waiting for them at Skenfrith so they were ableto make good time back to the covenant. Once there he went straight to Tiarnan,the acting Pontifex, who immediately called an emergency council to discusswhat had happened.

After some debate, Cormoran leftto go and warn Theo using an arcane connection to his manservant, Anthony,to locate him. Transforming himself into a red kite, Cormoran was able tofly swiftly over the mountains to the welsh castle where Theo was staying.As soon as he heard of what had gone on, Theo made his excuses to the princehe was staying with and apported home using a potion that Cormoran had carriedwith him for that purpose. Once he was back, we met again, though not as aformal council, to further discuss the implications of what had occurred.Theo said that the Morrigan would be greatly angered by the death of one ofher servants, especially one such as Conrad who she had apparently made oneof her champions.

There was much debate as to whatprecisely had been agreed before in the pact. Theo blamed himself, sayingthat he had not realised how far the werewolves territory had extended. Whileno one was certain as to the exact wording, it seems likely that while thewerewolves' territory had not been adequately defined, nor had the route bywhich we could enter Mynydd Myrrddyn. Given that Cormoran was trying to enterMynydd Myrddyn, then to my mind at least, it is the clearly the werewolveswho broke the pact, not this covenant. Treacherous, two-faced beasts thatthey are, it comes as no surprise that they should try to twist things outof true. Hopefully, if nothing else, this incident will show the folly ofexpecting such creatures to honour deals.

After the meeting, Theo went offto speak with Jack of the Green to try and resolve the dispute. Fortunatelyhe was able to do this in our forest rather than the now extremely dangerousone about Mynydd Myrrddyn. Two days later he returned with poor news. Jackof the Green was very angry that the pact with "his children" had been irrevocablybroken and blamed Theo for it. The spirit even went so far as to suggest thatthe only way for Theo to make amends would be to sacrifice himself. Giventhis spirit's close identification with the werewolves, it seems obvious nowthat he is blatantly biased and in no way an impartial arbiter of such pacts.Maybe Cormoran was right when he said we should just burn the forest down.

Theo went on to explain what hethought would happen next. He expects the werewolves to launch a pre-emptiveattack, as given their nature they will fear what we might do to them first.However, the deal we have with the Huntley werewolves still holds good, forwhat little it is worth. Given the demonstrated nature of werewolves, I believethat at some point in the future we will have to deal with them too. Theohowever suggested that we use the Huntley werewolves as allies in this fight,for if the Mynydd Myrrddyn pack come to the Dean then they are just as likelya target as the covenant. To this end he went to speak with their pack leader.

Afterwards he returned with muchinformation of interest. The Huntley werewolves told him that they would expectan attack to come in winter next year, when enough blood moons have passedfor the pack to have created a dozen or so bloodwolves. They can only createone bloodwolf per blood moon so if we keep a track on the number of them thenwe should have a good idea of how many they have created, though of courseour last fight with them showed just how quickly that ravening madness canbe passed on. Also, only one of these new bloodwolves will be powerful enoughto reanimate his own corpse, as we saw before. We shall have to remember thatwhenever each of these beasts is slain that its body is dismembered and burntto ash.

The Huntley creatures were ableto confirm what the Mynydd Myrddyn werewolves had inadvertently revealed aboutthe locations their favoured camp sites, and also, details of the traps thatthey set about their woods. If we are ever to launch an attack then this informationcould be invaluable, though of course we must always remember the untrustworthynature of the source and be careful not to place too much faith in its accuracy.Theo also said that the Huntley werewolves were going to set wolf spirits,the shades of normal wolves who had died within this forest rather than anylycanthropic ones, to watch the Otherworld for any sign of spying or attack.They will also watch the mundane borders of the wood themselves.

In the meantime, I set about makingpreparations for an attack on the covenant or its associated villages. Blackneywill henceforth be evacuated for the week surrounding the full moon each monthuntil the matter has been resolved. Although this will disrupt the mining,and thus our income, mundane force of arms will not be sufficient to holdoff a bloodwolf attack and a 5th magnitude Aegis of the Hearth is unlikelyto keep them out. The covenant itself, with its high walls and powerful Aegisof the Hearth is well protected, but I suspect that as before, any battleswill be fought in the forest. If war ensues then our primary target must bethe Grandfather wolf, for if he is slain then the curse should be broken forall his bloodline. This could potentially extend to the whole cursed lot ofthem and hopefully a good number of the Huntley werewolves too. I will haveto renew my practice with my targeted magics to ensure that if I am presentedwith a chance again I will not miss.

Winter

A couple of days before our Winterconcillium, Medius returned from his House Meeting. He spoke a little of therulings that his House had made, which all seem sound enough to me. The investigationinto the pagans has been ruled to have been completed satisfactorily and nofurther investigations, nor reference to Holy Isle, are required. However,there will be an investigation into the Kabbalah, in which Medius will takepart. The Order Ethiopicus has unsurprisingly been ruled to be an organisedgroup of Gifted magi and as such shall be invited to join the Order. I donot believe for a moment that this invitation will be accepted given the bloodthat has been shed so far, but I do wonder what would happen if they did takeit up? Without such an unlikely happenstance it seems very likely that thefights will intensify between our two orders. Perhaps I should give some thoughtto how I might conceivably fight such an enemy for I suspect they will becomea long-term thorn on the Order's Southern borders, much as the Order of Odinare to the North. The last matter that the Quaesitori voted on was to continuewith the new interpretation of how certamen is conducted, for the immediatefuture at least.

After Medius had finished impartinghis news, Cormoran brought him up to speed on what had happened with the werewolvesand there was another debate, though this time at lawful council, on how bestto proceed. In an attempt to forestall further complaint from Blackthorn Iagreed to go and speak with their concillium to inform them of what had happened.Although the road between our two covenants runs perilously close to the forest,it does not actually pass beneath the boughs of the trees there and so, withthe moon waning, it should be a safe enough trip, though I was given a Leapof Homecoming potion to be on the safe side. Before I departed we also discussedwhat preparations the covenant can make for a possible conflict with the werewolves.It quickly became obvious that the prime necessity was an item imbued withthe 'Ward Against Beasts of Legend', to replace the one that Turold had crafted.A sixth magnitude version of that spell would also be useful for our libraries.We agreed to make enquiries as to where best we might attempt to obtain suchthings. To aid our efforts, Cormoran will brew some more Leap of Homecomingpotions for the covenant and Theo will investigate whether he might be ableto launch some sort of attack against the Grandfather Wolf through the Otherworld.

I have just returned from Blackthornand while the ride back through the cold air has calmed me somewhat my angerhas still not entirely abated. As expected, it was Praeca Eloria who met meat the gate and so I informed her of what had happened. After a few acid remarksabout how pleased she was that the council of Severn Temple was botheringto let Blackthorn know of such problems on its doorstep, she then launchedinto a tirade about how this was another example of how our poor managementof a vis site so close to Blackthorn endangered the magi there. How much ofher anger was genuine was impossible to tell, far sharper men than I havetried and failed to read our Tytalan Praeca, but her casually phrased offerto fix the problem in return for our gidfting the entire site to her makesme suspect much of it was put on. After I told her that I could not accepther 'generous' offer she became angered again and told me that as Praeca shewould take a very dim view of a magical battle taking place just a mile fromher covenant. Out of respect for the office she holds I shall put down myquill now and retire to the great hall for some ale, before I write somethingI should not. Woe betide any grog or servant I find shirking their dutiesen route.

After my anger had subsided somewhat,my sodales and I held a further meeting to discuss what the Praeca had said.Medius subsequently brought up a motion stating that the covenant should notattack the werewolves in their own forest, save for any possible spiritualattacks that Theo may be able to make, but instead would focus solely on defence.Medius, Theo and Tiarnan voted in favour of this, with Cormoran against. WhileI could see the sense in such a motion, given our Praeca's thinly veiled threats,the idea of backing a motion which hamstrings us stuck in my throat and Iabstained.

The rest of the season, and thusthe year, passed without incident. There were no sightings of any werewolvesor spirits within our forest and while the villagers from Blackthorn grumbleabout the evacuations they have worked smoothly enough thus far. I wonderhow long this will continue, but each peaceful season gives us more time togrow in strength and so we must be thankful for them.