1182

YEAR 1182

Scribed by Cormoran

Spring 1182 AD

This spring found our covenant in a confidentand prosperous mood, our grain store and apple store were still packed afteranother bumper harvest last year. the buds were soon on the trees which worriedme as an early frost would hurt them but even though a frost did come thetrees seemed to shrug it off and hopefully another glorious year of appleand wheat production approaches. The council meeting convened at dawn as usualand the first action of acting Pontifex Astrius was to reward those who performeda season's services with 2 pawns of Vis per service. I took Herbam, as itwas my intention to continue to fund the bountiful feast ritual. He also distributedfifty pennies to each magus regardless of services to enable each magus tohave some personal wealth so they would not have to come cap in hand eachtime they want some mundane item. He stated that someone would have to undertakethe boring duty of Vis extraction this year, as we were short of Vim Vis forthe Aegis but no one stepped forward this season to perform that role. Carwenstated he would be inventing a spell. I studied from the Vim texts and Dialecticastated she would be going abroad to Val Nastium. As for the yearly activitiesCarwen studied the magic of the fae. Astrius and Dialectica agreed to attemptto breach each other's Parma to better understand Bonisagus' greatest giftto the order. As usual I carried on with my new passion, which was brewingfrom wheat and apples the perfect ale, as that is the only drinkable liquidthat does not taste disgusting to my cursed palette. As nothing else of notewas left to discuss we separated to our studies. A few days into the season,Hugh our spy in Huntley heard about some riders being observed by some charcoalburners acting suspiciously at night. These men were riding from the northof the village towards the road and before dawn returning back north. Thearea they seemed to be coming from was towards the village of Red Morley.Our stout Mercere colleague relayed this news to the Pontifex and he decidedto investigate. They met the three men that night and slew them quite easilyand quickly and then tried to capture the three horses that were panickedby the violence and fire of the slayings. Astrius used his ability to talkto animals and calmed one of the beasts. Another ran away and one lamed itselfbut Astrius cast unicorns healing touch and healed the horse. He then talkedto the horses and asked them about where they had come from. They talked ofa man who smelt funny whom they met. It was a tiring and annoying conversationfor the horses were simple creatures and had no concept of human structuressuch as time. After a lengthy conversation it appeared they came here 2 wintersago. It occurred that the men were able to ride in the dark quite easily becausethe horses had been infernally augmented to be able to see at night. Aftera discussion with his familiar Astrius decided to bring them back to the covenantto see if they could be cured. He created a lean too stable near the covenantwalls so as that the cursed beasts would not be inside the Aegis. Astriustried to bind the horses lame leg mundanely but to no effect and apparentlythe normal course of action would be to destroy the animal but of course Astriusbeing the kind and caring man he is refused to do so, it makes me wonder whetherit is more kind to put the beast out of its misery or to maintain it in thepain it was in.

Summer

Summer came with a warm spell that down inthe orchards I could almost hear the apples ripening, the grain in the fieldsalso was burgeoning well with little sign of blight. It is a happy time inSevern Temple with the abundance of greenery brings about an abundance ofinsects and up the birds are enjoying a bumper harvest of bugs as much aswe are enjoying the growth and although traditionally summer is the lean periodfor grains because of out bumper harvest last year the grain store still holdsplenty for ale whereas there have been harvests where we would be laying infamine stores at this time to still produce enough ale to keep all happy.The apples from last harvest are almost all gone but again our apple storeis full of small but tasty ones with virtually no bad ones in the barrelsto ruin the rest.

The council met and Giraldus told us of newshe had discovered upon his travels. It appeared that he had talked to thespies about the covenant the we employ to keep us updated with mundane newsand the bandit attacks had finished in the area where Astrius slew the menwith the infernal horses. Giraldus also went to Tintern abbey and found thatmonks from Huntley had had an audience with the abbot and this was thoughtunusual although I'm sure we will not investigate this further as non seemto keen on investigating the Dominion, does this make us vulnerable to eventsfrom that quarter is my question. The tasks we choose to perform were as follows,Astrius created a spell to speed up his familiar, I learnt a ward againstlightening and Carwen was learning a spell, the nature of which he chose notto divulge. With Dialectica and Medius away the season passed quickly to autumnand with it a beautiful summer in the forest of dean.

Autumn

The apples ripened by their friend the warmautumn sun begin to fall as the wind shakes the trees, the loaded branchesleap skywards once released of there heavy golden burden. The late summerflowers feed the bees who must think summer will never end there honey makinga wonderful mead, the sweetness of which is a nice change from the ale. Ifconditions stay like this here it might be worth growing some grapes for thenI could make some wine for Medius which he misses from his home country.

Dialectica had returned for this meeting andlittle of import was reported to have happened during the previous peacefulseason, but Giraldus reported that Xanthia of Tremere beat Tostig of Houseex-Miscellanea in wizard's war authorised by Pontus. With nothing else toreport we decided our studies and Carwen extracted vim Vis, Dialectica researchedmagic theory, and Astrius developed a spell. I learnt from personal Rego Viswhich was a bit silly as the covenant had some and I could have used that.Later in this blissful season Alanus of house Mercere arrived with a letterfor Carwen. The season passed peacefully and the harvest filled the grainstore and apple store to overflowing with perfect fruits and grain.

Winter

The snow fell heavily this year in the deanafter a warm start to winter the false promise of those early days fell tothe soft flakes that smothered everything in there shroud. The trees cloakedin white looked beautiful and walking in the snow to check the orchards wasso quiet it was like walking in the covenant with its inherent magical effect.The blanket of snow glistened under the apple trees in a way that remindedme of Gofinwii's cave it looked like the orchards were planted in a fieldof diamonds. For the trees it was a time of rest to recover from the the hugeeffort they had delivered the previous season, to rest to ready for the effortof spring which lay just round the corner. As I went down to the river tofish Iespied with my mediocre skills the tracks of fox, rabbit and deer, remindingme that every creature that does not sleep out the winter needs to hunt outfood as I did. Sitting in the snows it reminded me of the witch queen of thefae and how I had almost lost my soul to her and her witchcraft. I am tornby my lusts and cravings away from the path of magic and the brotherhood ofHermes, but I fight them for I know that my future lies in the politics ofmy house by fist and thought I will help my house and my order. Fishing isgood for me, it promotes peace and harmony in my soul and brings me closerto nature. I can hardly believe that it was me who destroyed the swath offorest to aid the miners, but I have found my peace now fishing and brewingin the dean and would live out my life happily defending my covenant, my houseand my order.

What a quiet year this had been, and we assembledon a surprisingly warm dawn to discuss our actions for the forthcoming seasonas no one had news to report to the council. It was with pleasure that wesaw that Medius returned to take charge of the meeting. After some small talkwe discussed our seasonal actions and Astrius studied from Rego Vis, Carwenstudied from Intellego Vis, Dialectica scribed tongue of the folk whichmight be useful for my travels to come, Medius taught his apprentice and Giraldusstudied from the mundane library. Medius told us that the tribunal had suggestionsfor the grand tribunal, that the order of Ethiopicus was an enemy of the order,that the Kabbalah were not an organisation and therefore could not be declaredan enemy of the order and that a formal investigation should take place ofHoly Isle. He also mentioned that a Hibernian quaesitor told him that thefells have set up a base in Dublin. He also informed us that in Transylvaniasome of the monastic orders have more information than they should of theorder and that an investigation would be taking place there. Medius then wenton to ask about Arctrus who has vanished investigating the London Christiancult but we new naught of his story. We cast the aegis successfully and wentabout our studies as is our want. During the season as I was fishing for suppliesfor my trip to come, I was told of the reed witch attacking fishermen by Blackney,I told Carwen and he investigated. Apparently some wandering priest blessedthe reed bed and now the reed witch cannot live there. They found a new reedbed over our side of the river so it can avoid the priest. A worrying developmentwas that he blessed the river but that must have been beyond his power toaffect as Carwen could find no trace of his influence.