Autumn Equinox 1237:
All the Magi but Pumilius decide to attend the Autumn mini thing, in order to try to determine their loyalties and try and finagle them into the Order act as responsible members of the community.
There are various small cases to Consider, one that catches the attention is a Galdraman by the name of Valkur Geraldsson has been accused of cattle rustling. Apparantly the great bull of Magnus Gizurarson went missing, last winter, and Fr. Vebrand Throoddson of skaholt is accusing Valkur of the theft.
However first on the agenda, is the formality of the reports. The ond tax is required to power the wards against trolls and other beasties, and it is traditional to start the thing with a report that these duties were indeed discharged succesfully.
Alas one group of Galdramen has not arrived, and there is consternation. Leaving Vincent at the thing the magi and Vifil Stride/Fly to the road, and after scouting it discover a fresh pile of corpses covered by snow. Landing they inspect the area, and are disturbed by a rocky thing weilding a club.
Said rocky thing attacks them. Valeri looses some arrows, Gunther neatly sidesteps, and Vifil throws up a ward.
Physical attacks seem not to do much, and Vifil's sword is rusted away when he attacks.
Orlaith makes cunning use of a Concentration duration Earth to Air spell, wich she ends, trapping rocky neath the earth, but somehow it simply dissolves all the earth.
Eventually casting a flawless ward ( no botch rolls at all) Orlaith feels more secure, and Valeri's Childlike faith combined with an illusion of another target cast by Gunther, allows the rocky thing to be distracted by hitting the image over and over.
Since they seem to have no way of harming it (Gunther's Pilum of fire rolled appaling penetration)n Vifil goes back to the thing to try and summon more aid.
He brings Fr. Hallado Ormsson from the southern school, who immediately declares the rocky thing as a demon, and starts to recite the Lord's Prayer.
With the information that it is demonic, the magi finally start to think to use DEO at it. Orlaith helpfully gives a running commentary of Fr Ormsson, that, although she herself has rejected christ, demons are terrible things and they must be destroyed.
Orlaith is caught in the death throes of the demon, and suffers a medium wound from the shrapnel, which Gunther Binds until they can get pumilius to cure it.
With more time they carefully examine the bodies and discover that the ond that the galdramen were carrying happened to be the same ond that had been payed into the general stores by Aoide, specifically the perdo Vis from the devil fish. Orlaith agian, helpfully points this out to all present. They stop Vifil in time from using the rest to finish the road warding.
Meanwhile back at the thing
Martin gets Valkur completely off the hook (earning the ire of the northern church) by establishing that the Guardians were arming themselves to repel an invasion from the East, and that the church should feel lucky that the bull tarried so long. Whilst making the oration, he (not so) subtly made clear that Aoide was on speaking terms with Vindsfall, and Pancaudrax.
And so to bed.