Adventure Summaries

Summaries of the adventures undertaken by the Covenant of Sagehollow.

Spring 1190 - Lenton Prison Breakout
After a game of football in Stratford got out of hand, Robert Giscard sent his newly-appointed right hand, Guy of Gisborne, to arrest the participants. Seeking to stamp his authority on Sherwood, guy sent them to Lenton to await a public execution.

The mages all set off to conduct a jailbreak in order to gain some covenfolk. Rian summoned a handful of wild boards from the nearby woodland to cause a distraction, informing them that the basement of the jail held a wealth of food. He then opened the door with magic and the boards merrily charged in to gorge themselves, while the guards all ran over and then pondered how they could intervene without being killed.

While this was going on, Essel and Evelyn snuck up to the prison and puled the roof open with magic to get the prisoners out, fleeing and leaving a mocking note signed by Robin Hood. Arianwen (in gyrfalcon form) spotted Guy and his retinue on their way, so she created an illusion of more boars blocking their path. When the first of them put his lance through empty air, they swiftly realised that "witchcraft" was afoot.

Now free, the footballers reluctantly agreed to serve the weird mages for a year, after which they would decide if they wanted to stay.

Spring 1190 - Journey to Coventry
Essel took several covenfolk to the Mercer House in Coventry to register Sagehollow with the Redcaps. In Nottingham, the wagon was stolen and later recovered without fuss, and en route to Leicester, a large group of bandits attempted to rob them – being blasted back by Essel and intimidated convinced them that they had been mistaken.

They later encountered the runaway nuns Ari and Caitlyn on the road, who they offered employment to help run the covenant. Giles beat the shit out of Little John in a fisticuffs bout organised by Silk and Theopania, and Essel arranged for some books to be delivered to the covenant.

At the Mercer House, Essel registered the covenant and discovered that the old covenant it was built upon was Diedne, and that a Tytalus mage lived in Sherwood but disappeared some time ago, whose mail was being redirected to Cad Gadu.

She then met Fredegisa of Guernicus, who knew of the Lenton Prison Breakout, and subtly requested Essel convince Evelyn to create magic items for the Templar Ser Balian as thanks for keeping quiet about it.

Summer 1190 - Exploring Sagehollow
A mysterious doorway appeared within the caves beneath Sagehollow. A small group was assembled to investigate, including Arianwen and the newly-arrived “knight”, Lady Tessora. After consulting with Evelyn, they figured out that a specific poultice needed to be created and applied to the runes around the doorframe to turn the stone within into some kind of portal.

After applying it and entering, the group determined that it was a regio, within which were several other (inoperable) doorways, and a collection of ruined buildings and charred skeletons.

After exploring the remnants of libraries, laboratories and living quarters, the group entered a room that seemed to be frozen in time, with a knightly figure kneeling amidst roaring flames, being thrown at him by a mage – the kneeling figure being shielded from them by angelic wings.

Arianwen figured that the spell, in combination with the angel’s protection, ended up causing a wizard’s twilight in the area which dilated time. She had no idea how to end the effect, so Tessora dropped to her knees and prayed to the angel Midael. He granted his aid, ending the time dilation. The mage, facing the backblast of his own spell, immediately crumbled into ash, and Tancred began gasping for air, with the wings disappearing.

After gathering his bearings, he introduced himself as Tancred, knight and loyal servant of the Order of Hermes. He explained that the covenant in its previous iteration was of House Diedne, and he had led the assault on it during the Schism War. Given all of his associates were long dead, he decided to continue his service of the Order by joining the covenant.

Autumn 1190 - The Cambridge Fayre
Essel decided that the next covenant for her to visit was Schola Pythagoranis, and brought along Cass, Falko, Islwyn, Oskar and Silk. While stopping off at the Red Boar, they came across Iudicium, a Guernicus from Blackthorn and the senior Quaesitor of the Stonehenge Tribunal, along with a bodyguard and a speaker, who were headed the same way and elected to join the group.

They were later attacked by bandits on the road who seemed to be targeting them specifically, and after interrogating the one surviving bandit, discovered that they had been sent to attack a man matching Silk’s description and those he was with, by a man named Gar Lawrence, who Silk had no recollection of.

Iucidium and his cohort left the group at Cambridge, where Essel let the grogs attend the local fayre. She tried to persuade the mages at Schola Pythagoranis to attend the next tribunal, but they said they’d only do it if Julia of Voluntus supported her.

When the grogs looked around the fayre, they noticed that there was a child named Thomas competing in the melee who had made it a shockingly long way through. An old woman, Mathilda, claiming to be Thomas’ faerie godmother, asked Islwyn for help – Bomburkhan, a suspected demonic imp, had given Thomas the power to get to the final and build up his pride before letting him fail, and possibly even die.

The grogs followed Thomas to a clearing in the nearby forest, but were seen by him and accused of being goblins. Silk rolled with this and span a yarn about needing Thomas’ aid, and after roping in Essel, Cass, Oskar and Islwyn for aid, managed to put on a slapdash piece of theatre to tie Thomas up for long enough for him to forfeit the final.

Silk then competed himself, in which he won. Cass competed in an obstacle course and became a local celebrity, Oskar won a pig in a guessing game, and Mathilda taught Islwyn how to make charms.

Spring 1191 - Red Moon Rising
After Rian began receiving night terrors involving his death at a castle, he matched it to a real Castle, Boristrum, and after gathering Cirice, Tancred and some grogs, set off to investigate it.

The castle was inhabited by a large number of travellers, who behaved suspiciously. The group followed some of them to the nearby forest, where they met with a mysterious shadowy entity called Fandaniel, a type of being known as an Ascian. They spoke of a ritual being performed that night, at the rising of the red moon.

The group then left, and after being tailed by some of the travellers, doubled back and attacked them before racing back to the castle. All of the remaining travellers lay dead, and once the group were in their midst, reanimated them to attack before he disappeared.

Most of the group were badly injured during the ensuing fight, and Rian ended up alone and wounded on the roof of the keep. Fandaniel reappeared behind him, impaled him through the back, and then cut off his head.

A short while later the undead collapsed, and the surviving members of the group found a nearby Gifted folk witch called Granny, who healed them. She then told Tancred that she would have her associates look for more signs of these Ascians and report back.

Spring 1191 - Visions at Wishborne
Evelyn, accompanied by Lady Tessora and a few grogs, set off to deliver her bespoke enchanted armour to the Templars. They encountered the Templar Ser Baldevere on the road, who brought them to Wishborne Manor. After being shown the armour’s enchantments, they were happy and took it. Brother-Priest Cyrus bade the group go to the nearby St. Brigit’s Cave, to partake in a ritual and receive some spiritually important visions.

Evelyn received one of her facing a viking raid by the sea in which she fell, and Tessora received two – one in which she failed to keep Evelyn on the path of harmony and humility, in which they butchered the other inhabitants of Sagehollow, and another in which they were peaceful and made the world a better place.

The group returned to Wishborne, in which Baldevere returned with many relics recovered thanks to the armour, and Cyrus offered to build a church in the area near Sagehollow, operated by a retired templar, and having regular templar patrols of the area. Not considering the implications of having such a presence at the covenant, Evelyn and Tessora enthusiastically agreed.

Spring 1191 - The Lidby Leet
Arianwen, alongside several grogs, met Ser William Peveral, a Forester-in-Fee, at his castle in Lidby. She presented herself as a noblewoman looking to improve her marriage prospects by owning land in Sherwood, which he was receptive to.

Peveral was accompanied by an Ethiopian knight, called Yeshua but often referred to as The Black Knight. Peverel is an eccentric horticulturalist, who owns a cinnamon tree alongside other exotic plants, and has as a pet a mysterious white fox.

The group also learned that covenant members had been seen and taken note of coming and going from Sherwood by locals, and also that some local crops were apparently “scared” to grow out of the ground.

The leet was held the next day, which was also attended by Guy of Gisborne, who appeared to recognise Arianwen and Old Giles from the trial at Normanston. Arianwen laid out her proposal for assart rights, which Peveral was midway into accepting when Guy interrupted, insisting on her providing proof of nobility. He gave her six months to return to Wales and secure it and bring it to Robert Giscard’s brother for verification, at which point he would be “delighted” to approve her appeal.

Talking to Peveral afterwards, he said that he gets along fine with Guy, but was surprised by his interruption. He suggested going to Giles of Vennes and Baron Richard of Blyde - close friends of the king - for aid in outmanoeuvring Guy, as neither of them are fans of Giscard's.

Summer 1191 - The Miracle of Summerbridge
Tessora received a vision from the angel Midael, telling her to go to the village of Summerbridge and “find the way to paradise”. Gathering Tancred and several grogs, she set off, stopping in at Normanston and Danecastle on the way. At the latter destination, Tancred and Tessora’s two squires had a practice fight in the stables, wherein both participants failed to land a hit on one another until they collided heads and fell over, moaning. Their spirits swiftly recovered when Tancred helped them up and Tessora congratulated them on fighting courageously. Upon reaching Summerbridge and talking with the priest, Father Edward, they learned that the village had been hit by a plague, which was then healed by a man named Jonathan, who claimed to be instructed by an angel named Castanel. He was then heralded as the villages’ new holy leader, and began holding sermons in which he reinterpreted The Bible to relay its “true meaning”, in which women exist to absolve men of their sins and otherwise obey them at all times. His followers – known as the Children of Eden – consist of the entire village besides Father Edward, including the former headsman, Alwin. Seeing as the villagers all seemed to be good people who had been led astray, rather than actively malicious, Tessora promised to do everything she could to resolve matters peacefully. The group then attended Jonathan’s sermon and then engaged in a theological debate afterwards, in which he remained convinced that Castanel spoke the truth. Returning to the church, Edward and Tessora explained to Tancred about the merits of encouraging sinners to repent, rather than delivering divine punishment by default, leading to an epiphany from him. He and Tessora then renewed the shaken faith of Father Edward, and the trio planned to hold a sermon outside the church the following morning, sharing their experiences with the divine and preaching the actual words of the Bible. The group set up camp outside the village, and during the night, Chimi heard the church bells ringing. After racing back, they saw that the inhabitants had dragged Father Edward out of the church and burned him at the stake.

After Tessora strode into the square to confront Jonathan, the fire behind her formed into a humanoid shape who stepped out, revealing itself to be a fallen angel named Zodiacus, masquerading as Castanel.

As the villagers fled or dropped to their knees in terrified awe and Tessora drew her sword, he raised his hand and the village’s far gate exploded inwards. In rode four knights, who Tancred raced to hold off on the bridge.

Haeddi grabbed Chimi to run to the church and look for relics, Alison led the kids to follow them to take shelter, and Adelaide slipped off to don the mask that had been found in Normanston that she’d quietly stolen from Sagehollow. With it she spoke with the spirit of Father Edward, who helped her to raise a handful of skeletons, which she instructed to aid Tancred as he fought the knights.

Tessora exchanged blows with Zodiacus, but it was clear that he was a superior combatant. Alfred charged in to help, but was swiftly batted aside with a heavy wound. Chimi found a broken sword and handed it to Tessora right as Zodiacus disarmed her own, but she was quickly incapacitated by a swing that cleaved straight through her shield.

She found herself in a pure white space in front of Father Edward, who informed her that she had been chosen by God to be His sword on the earth. He also advised that going on Crusade in the Holy Land doesn’t absolve one of their sins.

She awoke again in front of the daemon with her wounds fully healed and the missing length of the sword in her hand being formed out of golden light. She swiftly struck him down, and then prayed. A gateway to hell opened behind her, dragging him in.

Meanwhile, Tancred decapitated the first knight and the two others, seeing Tessora’s smiting of their presumed liege, fled. The last was then tackled off his horse by the skeletons summoned by Adelaide and torn apart, which Tancred attributed to another miracle.

Tessora spoke to Jonathan, who she permitted to seek forgiveness in the Holy Land, before she picked up Edward’s remains and took it to the church. There, she used one of her newly-granted abilities to prevent Alfred’s wound from worsening.

A funeral was held for Edward that morning, after which the headsman told Tessora and Tancred that the villagers would be leaving to make a pilgrimage of penitence, and offered them whatever supplies they desired from the village.

Summer 1191 - The Red Boar Lock-In
When the grogs heard a lock-in was being held by Al Murray at the Red Boar for his regulars, they decided that it was the ideal time to pay him a visit and negotiate regular “donations” to him in exchange for using his establishment as something of a drop point and meeting place for any business coming into Sagehollow.

Other attendees included a Goblin band, a pair of Satyrs, and two nymphs; one river and the other wood. They formed one team, and the grogs the other.

Several contests were held, each earning a number of points for each team, with additional points being earned for each drink imbibed.

Old Giles won the wrestling, Lohse the song and dance contest, Silk the card game, and the River Nymph the beauty contest.

During the contests, one of the satyrs approached Old Giles, offering to give him youth in exchange for losing eye, which he declined. The other approached Aroh Byait, offering some faerie wine in exchange for his account of the battle at Boristrum Castle. He accepted due to his alcoholism, and found himself without any memory of that adventure.

Silk was the judge of the beauty contest, and after opting to declare the River Nymph the most beautiful, the Wood Nymph cursed him to be forever hassled by the woodland of Sherwood, and the River Nymph took him upstairs to have sex. Unbeknownst to Silk, this was considered equal to finalising a marriage – though he did gain a minor blessing when in water for his troubles.

The drinking contest was won by one of the Satyrs, and lastly was the hectic bar stool race, which was won by the other Satyr. Prizes were doled out, and the grand prize was given to the participant with the most points accrued; Silk. He was given a mysterious and no doubt mighty hat of sturdy material of unfathomable craftsmanship, possibly a relic from ages past, or even perhaps an artefact from the distant future...

Autumn 1191 - The Basilisk of Longlake
Cirice learned from the metal cats that the Viking hero V killed a basilisk on the island on Longlake, with the aid of a potion made by her ancestor Ceridwen.

She assembled a grogs and Will and set off for Longlake. After gathering information, they encountered a pagan woman being harassed by the locals, which they broke up. Talking afterwards, she told them that she was fleeing Guy of Gisborne and seeking the covenant to shelter her. Inferring that the group were members, she promised to help them in their exploration of the island as thanks for them rescuing her.

After hiring a boat to take them to the island, they saw that another basilisk was living there. The combatants, having buffed their shields to reflect its gaze, killed it before dismembering it for materials.

Cirice and the pagan explored the cave that the basilisk came from together, coming across statues depicting V, Ceridwen’s granddaughter, and her husband, the necromancer Arawn. They then came to some kind of sepulchre. Using their different spheres of knowledge to translate and comprehend the many inscriptions and carvings on the walls, they read the story of the Cauldron, which lay on a plinth in three pieces, and V, whose greatsword also lay shattered before them. There were two tombs; one for Arawn, and another for Percival (one of King Arthur’s knights). They also found a map to an island on the opposite side of Ireland. Exploring other sections of the cave system, they found many basilisk eggs, which they opted to spare as protectors of the tombs, and a hidden underwater exit to the island. Cirice collapsed the main entrance to the tombs from the caves making it the only way in, and the group returned to Sagehollow – including the pagan, who Cirice decided was useful enough to bring despite the unease of the others.

Autumn 1191 - The Goose Fayre
Several grogs attended the Nottingham Goose Fayre, ostensibly to buy geese for the covenant. Oskar diligently bought a gaggle for a good price whilst fleecing his customers, and with that the group entered the various games being held.

Alistair won the Hook a Goose and the Goose Dress-Up contests, winning a fine black cloak and some magic beans. The latter, when planted, would grow into a giant beanstalk, atop which resided a “great monster” with a pet goose, which would lay golden eggs.

Giles won the Guess the Weight of the Goose and the Fisticuffs, with his arthritis rendering both his arms useless in the latter and winning via kicks. He won an emerald brooch and a mastiff puppy.

Lohse won the singing contest, with second place going to a remarkable string of performances by Hamlet, Oskar’s pig. Lohse won a sparrowhawk, and Hamlet was given a goose.

Gilly won the melee tournament after an exhausting string of duels, winning a cavalry horse. Before the final she was very fatigued, so Oskar unleashed a goose-fat-covered Hamlet into the arena to buy her time to recover while the guards tried to wrangle him.

The archery contest was won by a disguised Robin Hood, and upon being given the prize of a longbow, he revealed himself to the crowd before escaping amongst them before Guy of Gisborne’s men could capture him.

All of the contest winners were also rewarded with a goose.

Winter 1191 - The White Stag
Arianwen, Torvi, Chimi, Islwyn and Osanna set out to thwart the royal hunt taking place for the White Stag of Sherwood Forest, as it is a source of vis for the covenant. After some discussion, Chimi raised the idea of talking to the Black Dog, the guardian of the forest, and after hearing her description of it, Torvi recalled that it was a pagan spirit named Rylon.

Armed with that information, they went into the forest, called for it, and talked. It had a keen interest in Osanna, and agreed to help turn the hunting dogs on their masters in exchange for the covenant finding him a mate from Ireland.

After Chimi led the dogs to Rylon’s territory, they attacked their masters and sent the nobility fleeing. One of them, who Arianwen recognised as Prince John, was thrown from his horse and hit his head, being left by the others in their panic.

Torvi emerged from hiding to tend to his wounds, and was soon joined by the others when he sat up. Arianwen fed him some bullshit about being a noblewoman and the others being her retinue, which she didn’t question; presumably not willing to look a gift horse in the mouth.

The group took him to the Royal Hunting Lodge, where he rejoined his worried fellows and gave particularly foreboding words to Guy of Gisborne and Robert Giscard for abandoning him to his fate. When Arianwen mentioned her denial of assart rights, John was outraged and promised her he would approve it personally.

Meanwhile, Chimi met once more with Rylon; the White Stag joined them, and bowed to her in thanks. Rylon then told her of a stone tree within Sherwood, which through context should hold vis (or something else of significance to the covenant).

Spring 1192 - The Heir of Farnesfield
Essel sent a group of grogs to bring Rohen d'Aincourt, stepson of Marian and the heir of Farnesfield, to Sagehollow. The plan was for her to take the guise of “Ser Humphrey”, and claim that Sagehollow was a secret hunting lodge being built as a surprise for King Richard. Ser Humphrey was willing to protect Rohen from the assassination attempts of Robert Giscard’s men and support his claim to Lordship – the plan being to reveal “Fairhaven” as a covenant of mages when Rohen was in too deep to back out, and thus have him firmly in the covenant’s pocket.

The group found Rohen with one wounded knight, Ser Robert – the others had died in an earlier attack. They reached Newark being followed by several of Giscard’s soldiers, and slipped into a tavern. That afternoon, the soldiers tracked them down to the pub and attacked them there, badly wounding Ser Robert but being driven off.

He was left at the hospital while the others travelled to Lexington, the castellan of whom (Anselin the Butler) was an old friend of Rohen’s father. There, they spoke to the headsman, a famously wise old farmer named Toki, and then Anselin himself. They discussed Rohen’s current troubles and who was responsible, and Anselin promised him his friendship.

They then continued on towards Sagehollow, running afoul of more of Giscard’s men in the woodland on the way. Islwyn and Percival conducted themselves commendably and drove them off once more, killing and wounding several.

Rohen was blindfolded due to “Fairhaven’s” secrecy, and he was taken to “Ser Humphrey”, who clarified the situation and his offer. They then went to Farnesfield itself, where Rohen talked with several of the overworked villagers, who told him of their numerous issues under the extortionate and selfish leadership of Giscard’s man, Ser Walter.

The man himself then fought Rohen in a public debate, which Rohen won when Cuthbert delivered a letter from Giscard begrudgingly allowing him to reclaim lordship of Farnesfield, on the condition that he donated a considerable amount of money to King Richard’s Crusade.

Rohen then went to his dilapidated family manor, where the slightly mad ghost of his father resided. Rohen was then left to work through the huge pile of issues the village faced – which promised to take up much of his time and resources for the foreseeable future – while the others returned to Sagehollow.

Spring 1192 - Legendary Kingdoms
Cirice journeyed to Tintagel, rumoured to be the location of Camelot, bringing Torvi and several grogs. After stops in Bath and Loughborough, they arrived and Torvi led them through the regio and into Camelot, which seemed frozen in time after an assault.

They discovered a diary written by Duros mentioning the Ascian Emet-Selch, who was looking for a pot that could resurrect the dead, and another account that spoke of being betrayed by worshippers of a “dark god” who couldn’t enter the regio. Duros had hidden what seemed to be a means of bringing back King Arthur in Cantre’r Gwaelod, a legendary kingdom that had allegedly sunk beneath Cardigan Bay, and could be accessed by “the liars”, a group of faeries.

They found the resting places of eighteen of the twenty-four Knights of the Round Table (missing Gawain, Lancelot, Percival, Morfran, Mordred and King Arthur), along with Caliburn, Rhongomyniad and Prydwen – his shattered longsword, broken spear, and shield. Falko looted the arms and armour of Ser Kei, and Cirice took a selection of books, including the diary of Ser Morfran.

It described the fallout of the Battle of Camlann, where they interred Arthur, returned Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, and found Emrys (Merlin) imprisoned, leaving him on top of the tower until Excalibur can be used to free him.

Morfran then returned treasures and “the witches’ cauldron” to Prifdinnas, where he awaited Arthur’s return; leaving clues in case he was needed. Consulting with Torvi, Cirice figured out that Prifddinas is the capital city of Gwaelod, and discerned its location.

After passing through the room containing the Round Table itself, they travelled to the roof, where they found Merlin entombed in a giant pillar of quartz. Torvi saw him as a younger man, and the others as an old one.

They then looked in King Arthur’s bedchamber, where Torvi found a transmission mirror – a device which could show any location the user has travelled to, and could even be travelled through. It would, however, give anyone travelling through a lot of warping points.

Cirice had it show her Sagehollow and had a conversation through it with Essel, who berated her for “scrying” and then Tessora, who suggested Falko return Ser Kei’s belongings. When severing the collection, Cirice and Torvi saw a momentary image of a young girl crying in a cave, in front of a ring of stone engraved with Rego and Terram symbols, though they couldn’t get the mirror to show them it properly.

They then travelled to a cave they saw below Camelot, and after solving a couple of puzzles, Falko came across Excalibur in a stone. He drew it forth, after which he was made to duel an apparition of a knight. He won, albeit being heavily wounded, and Torvi patched him up as best she was able.

An apparition of Merlin appeared and congratulated the group on passing his tests, rewarding them with two excellent quality longswords, short swords, heater shields, enchanted tunics (which would turn into the wearer’s favourite colour) and enchanted cloaks (which would camouflage themselves with their background). There was also a high quality tractatus on the four elemental arts, written by Bonisagus himself.

Falko was taken through the transmission mirror to Sagehollow, along with much of the group’s rewards, and they then travelled to Stratton, where they hired a ship to take them to Wales for the following morning.

Waiting in the pub, the ships’ crew arrived; of which half were women, and a significant chunk were Norse. Torvi chatted amicably with one called Astrid, who invited her to the Isle of Man where her brother, Erik Giants-Blood (a Trollson) lived.

On the ship, the Captain turned out to be a sentient talking black cat, named Captain Sabre, who chatted with Cirice. He knew a fair amount about Hermetic society, and talked of several notable ship-bound figures – The North Sea covenant of magi, and Eustace the Pirate King.

After arriving in Wales, the group came to Cardington, where they arranged to be rowed out into Cardigan Bay by some fishermen, where (with a spell from Cirice) Torvi saw the ruins of a town and a petrified forest below the water, hundreds of feet below.

They learned from the fishermen that the Liars were given ritual offerings by the villages of the area in order to be left alone. The group then travelled to the clearing it was performed in, with Torvi seeing it had a connection to Yggdrasil, and Cirice recognised it as a Trod – AKA a Faerie Road. They left an offering and waited until the Liars arrived to take it.

Oskar optimistically asked the faeries to take him and his friends to Gwaelod, and they arranged a price – he would give them the colour from his eyes (making him look blind) and ten words per person. Torvi asked to pay for herself. Cirice had taken the form of a fox and successfully argued that she didn’t count. Erik was left to look after the cart.

The faeries led them through to a forest in the middle of the night, where Torvi could see they were underneath Cardigan Bay. They came to a fortified town called Lleyta, which Cirice talked their way into as the only Welsh speaker, with Torvi miming along as if she was the one speaking.

After slipping into the town’s castle, Cirice taught Torvi a few Welsh phrases, and after much awkward fumbling, managed to get past the guards and into an audience with the resident lord, Baxtorian Hefin.

He saw through the ruse and spoke directly to Cirice, explaining that Prifdinnas was grown out of a seed, and had reverted back. The eight clan leaders needed to sing to regrow it, but one – Iorwerth – had betrayed the others and the rest were scattered, including Baxtorian’s mother, Lady Carys Hefin. There was a splinter faction of Clan Iorwerth, Clan Cywir, but they were believed to have been wiped out.

Morfran had left long ago, and regrowing the city would awaken an evil of some kind. Iorwerth wielded the power of death, and Baxtorian believed they somehow had help from outside Gwaelod. He had intercepted a letter mentioning a “Temple of Light”, and that the authors would focus its power towards Vim. Cirice decided to return to Sagehollow to research this temple.

Baxtorian gave her some of their tools – which they make out of crystal – for research purposes, and the group returned to the forest and reunited with the Liars. Cirice traded their secret of how to use the Trods in exchange for her secret that Ceridwen was Diedne. Torvi thus gained the ability to open the Faerie Roads with Cirice’s help.

Returning to Wales proper, Erik was gone, and they followed the tracks to the abandoned cart, its contents rifled through and no one around. He had clearly been ambushed, and investigating the area he had seemingly fled with a redcap, pursued by the attackers.

They followed these tracks to a hill fort ringed by woodland, and Torvi had a premonition of great danger. When they entered the woods and saw it covered in cobwebs and spiders, they retreated and Cirice instead flew over to the hill fort in bird form, seeing Erik chatting to a wounded man.

He was a redcap named Rufus. They had run into one another on the road and decided to travel to Sagehollow together when they were attacked. They fled through the woods, where giant spiders lay. Erik had fought them off, but they were stranded.

Cirice used her magic to distract most of the spiders as Erik carried Rufus through, handing him to Torvi before a handful of spiders charged out of the woods. Erik, Hamlet and Alfred fought them off without injury, but Cirice was pounced on and poisoned. Torvi stabilised her and Rufus before they returned to Sagehollow for long-term care (stopping on the way to reclaim the mules from Cardington, where the bandits had sold them cheap), alongside Falko.

Summer 1192 - Diplomatic Introductions
Essel, with a handful of grogs, travelled to Ungulus and then on to Voluntas to persuade them to attend the upcoming tribunal to try and topple Blackthorn’s monopoly. After braving storms and the dodgy people of Kendal, they came to Ungulus and were allowed inside.

They were left in a waiting room for the mages to gather and speak with them, where they met Millie, a newly-gauntleted Redcap of Voluntas on her first mission. She spoke with the group at length about their respective covenants, and when it emerged that they were heading to Voluntas, she offered to accompany them.

They were then invited to talk with some of the mages of Ungulus. Flavius was willing to bring new blood into Ungulus and to attend the Stonehenge Tribunal, but Sinead wanted the dragon that had killed her love, Parsirus of Verditius, dead. Essel told her that she would speak to the dragon first to determine culpability, and then take necessary steps. Espera refused to detail a faerie curse that had been put on her, but Flavius gave Essel a hint – a location and date.

After that, the group set off towards Voluntas, where Millie bombarded Essel with questions about Sagehollow and her plans to make Stonehenge operational. At the meeting with the mages of Voluntas, Essel tried to convince Julia to attend the tribunal to break Blackthorn’s stranglehold.

However, Julia (supported by Millie and Silk) argued that strong-arming the more powerful Blackthorn wouldn’t work, and they should instead undermine them by boycotting the tribunal and then convincing other covenants to form their own, forcing Blackthorn to leave their power base to attend.

Essel eventually accepted this, and would write to Flavius to request he not attend after all. She would also work on convincing Schola Pythagoranis to form a quorate, which would then have the power to move the tribunal to somewhere more neutral, like Ungulus.

Julia then asked Essel for her opinion of Millie, who diplomatically gave a positive account. Julia then explained that she didn’t deem it suitable for Millie to be based at the covenant she apprenticed at, and that as Essel thought so well of her and that Sagehollow had no resident Redcap, she would surely be a welcome addition. Essel, finding herself painted into a corner, plastered a smile on and agreed. After stopping to visit the Lord and Lady Ethelwald of Wilton, the group returned to Sagehollow with Millie.

Summer 1192 - The Giant and the Beanstalk
The covenant decided to plant the magic beans won at the Goose Fayre, which shot up into the clouds over the course of a day. This was then climbed by Tancred and several grogs, emerging on top of a cloud that they could walk on, upon which was a giant-sized giastle.

After entering, the floor beneath them vanished, dropping them into a room with four doors. After discovering that some of the doors would lead them back to the start and others into new, identical rooms. After much trial and error, they encountered several lines from the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk in some of the rooms, before reaching one with a puzzle.

The puzzle consisted of concentric rings bearing the symbols of hermetic arts, which needed to be matched to each consecutive line of the story. Eventually the group solved it, and the seal opened to reveal a cave. Within was the golden goose itself, a golden harp that played music befitting its holder, and five golden eggs.

The giant himself then appeared and attacked, but was swiftly cut down by the combined efforts of Tancred, Adelaide and Erik. The group then travelled into the castle proper, where they found giant gold cutlery and several hermetic books. They then assembled a group of covenfolk to facilitate the transfer of loot from the castle to Sagehollow.

Autumn 1192 - Gresham Barrows
Evelyn gathered Tessora, Will and the entirety of his Chosen Men to help her retrieve the runic axe she learned about from the wounded mercenaries at Gresham Nunnery. Despite Torvi’s warnings of the danger, Evelyn proceeded to the nunnery.

After reading the diary of the former Monastery’s monks, Godfrey, detailing his own efforts to retrieve a relic from the barrows. He listed several riddles, and after answering them, the group ventured into the nearby forest.

The group encountered statues of monks near the ruins of the former monastery, where the group camped. At night, they were swarmed by rats, which were driven off, and the tortured spirits of the monks appeared, to which Tessora prayed for them to be granted rest.

The following morning, they encountered several trials which they surmounted. The spirit of Father Godfrey appeared, who led them to an ancient fort, telling them that he had come there to ask for the relic from the Viking Chief. The Chief wanted the power of the relic, but killed Godfrey when he was told that he would have to convert to Christianity.

Godfrey explained that the Chief’s motivations were understandable, given his people’s plight. The Chief made himself a sacrifice in order to beseech the Gods for aid, and then his spirit would protect the clan. He was buried with both the relic and the bones of Godfrey, which he believed would help him. While Evelyn and Tessora listened, the others returned to the forest to resupply their waterskins.

As they travelled back, they were caught in the midst of a battle conducted by the long-dead warriors; Saxons, Vikings, Romans, Celts, Normans, Picts, and many others, which is repeated every night. During the fighting, Alistair and nine other Chosen Men were killed, whose spirits rose to rejoin the battle.

Tessora was told that they would continue forever unless their bodies were laid to rest in consecrated ground, and so she vowed to petition the nuns to allow the construction of a church on the field.

Continuing to the barrows, they encountered the spirit of the viking chief Olav, who refused to allow them to borrow his things unless they prove themselves worthy in combat against his champion, granting her the death in battle she deserved in the process. Tessora stepped forward and fought, eventually killing the champion with help from Evelyn and the others.

Evelyn was then allowed to retrieve the axe and the remains of the Christians from the tomb, before being led out of the regio. They returned the bones to the nunnery, and attended a mass for him and the fallen party members. After returning to Sagehollow, Haeddi identified the rune on the axe as “heirloom”.

Autumn 1192 - The Irminsul
Arianwen gathered Tancred, Torvi, Chimi and some combat grogs to investigate the “stone tree” that Rylon had told her about. After camping en route, Chimi and Torvi were on watch when they discovered many bare footsteps, apparently slightly skeletal in nature, which Torvi feared were draugr.

The next morning, they reached the densely forested hill that the stone tree apparently stood atop. Arianwen scouted it out in her heartbeast form, where she saw large standing stones in a ring around the top, and what Torvi and Tancred later identified as an Irminsul in the centre, with a tall wooden platform built beside it

Investigating several of the standing stones, Torvi read that they described Ragnarök. Chimi felt that the aura present was bad, and after more investigation, Torvi realised that there was old magic lingering that was likely tied to the Múspelli, some of the most dangerous foes in the north.

They decided that the undead (and their leader, possibly a Múspell) would be seeking to perform a ritual to help bring about Ragnarök, which would result in the destruction of much of the faerie realm. Tancred was keen on bringing this about, and Arianwen was sorely tempted, but was eventually persuaded by Torvi and Chimi’s wholehearted disagreement.

It was instead decided that they prevent the ritual by taking the Irminsul back to Sagehollow, which would also serve as a vis source. At its base, Arianwen found and retrieved a clay fertility idol from amongst a pile of weapons, which Osanna looted from.

That night, undead came out of the trees, and the group climbed up the platform as a point of defence, except Chimi who climbed the Irminsul itself. Amongst them was a Múspell, who began performing a ritual as Tancred climbed down to fight the undead’s leader, killing him and then being mobbed by many of the rest.

Chimi tackled the Múspell, preventing the ritual and forcing her to instead turn into a dragon to try and shake her off, to no avail. A Valkyrie flew down to confront her, but the Múspell ate her, before shaking Chimi off by flying through the trees. The others drove off the undead unscathed, and they regrouped to rest up, before dragging the Irminsul back to Sagehollow the following day.

Spring 1193 - Exploring Sagehollow II
During a snowball fight amongst the grogs, a section of the ground fell in to reveal more tunnels beneath Sagehollow, formerly inhabited by the old Diedne covenant.

Giles was quick to shush the witnesses and conspire to keep it a secret from the mages, with the intention of turning it into a grog clubhouse. Therefore, he, Percival and Theopania explored the system without any mages providing insight (or oversight).

After walking through room after room containing over a hundred corpses, they gained a renewed fear of Tancred, and selected a laboratory storage room for the location of their clubhouse. There was a mage lab that they couldn’t access due to some kind of magical barrier, a hallway that had been caved in, and some stairs leading to another floor further down that they ran out of time to explore.

After assigning roles to one another for their new “No Mages Club”, they agreed to bring in covenfolk piecemeal to protect against whistle blowers. They planned to have the hole they’d inadvertently made in the ceiling repaired, and explore the next level down at a later date.

Spring 1193 - Headhunting in Nottingham
Several grogs (and the labourer “Number Seven”) were sent to Nottingham to gather some skilled labourers for the covenant. They were shadowed en route by a group dressed as merchants, and when Cass tipped the town guards to challenge them, they simply presented them with a piece of paper and continued unmolested to the pub where the group was staying.

Falko noticed the barman was very nervous, and so he slipped upstairs and told Richard to fetch Cass to go there too. However, before he could, two dozen guards filed into the pub and “dismissed” the merchants – more of the guards who had been in disguise. The guard captain told Cass and Richard that he wanted to ask them “a few questions”.

Upstairs, Falko heard this and, seeing five men waiting in the alleyway outside of his room, opted to get captured fighting or not at all. He leapt out of the window onto them, knocking four out and breaking the other’s leg. With the momentary distraction offered by this commotion, Cass and Richard darted away from the guards and out of the back door, stopping outside only to agree with one another to scatter and meet in the poor district.

They escaped pursuit in varied ways, and Richard was collared by one of The Fox’s men who took him in. Falko got into a bar brawl with another of the Fox’s men over a dice game, killing him, before then being ordered by another to visit The Fox.

Seven told them how he had overheard the guards talking about a spy within Sagehollow, a woman who had a loved one held hostage by Giscard, who regardless refused to divulge its location (or nature).

When meeting the Fox, he reiterated his offer to meet with their bosses for a business proposal, and told them that if he was ignored again, he would make it difficult for them to visit Nottingham unmolested. He then forgave Falko for the death of his man, promised to send them several of the labourers they sought as a show of good faith, and then had them smuggled out of town.

Part 1: Banditry
Essel received a letter from Rohen, accusing Robin of robbing a cart of tax money headed for Giscard. After establishing that Robin did no such thing, she went to Farnesfield (disguised as Ser Humphrey) to investigate alongside Arianwen, Millie and Robin’s man Attacan.

The group and Rohen searched the forest, where they ran into some of Giscard’s men. Essel hid from them, and then had Arianwen tell Rohen that Ser Humphrey had left to gather replacement money in case they couldn’t recover the taxes, and had instead sent a wise woman named Susanne to help him. Essel then returned to female form and rejoined them.

They then set up a trap to lure the bandit out, which worked. It was, in fact, Robin Hood – or, specifically, a faerie who had come to inhabit the role of the legend that Robin of Loxley had been generating. Robin Hood had given most of the coin away to the poor, and was outraged to hear of the “imposter” Robin of Loxley. He agreed with Rohen to only attack the nobles that were deserving of it, as informed to him by Rohen himself.

“Susanne” left to “check on Ser Humphrey”, joined by Arianwen, and they met Silk in Sagehollow. Arianwen and Silk wanted to simply kill Rohen and be done with the whole mess, but Essel insisted on a plan to get extra money – not by withdrawing covenant funds, but by robbing Loxley.

Essel then returned to Farnesfield, claiming Ser Humphrey was robbed by Loxley, and led the group to recover it. She launched Loxley and his men back with magic and robbed them at arrowpoint, with Loxley outing her and Millie by name as mages who he worked for, before stomping away in a rage.

Essel told Rohen the truth, but opted to maintain the “Ser Humphrey” lie. Rohen then returned to Farnesfield, and Robin Hood was taken back to Sagehollow.

Part 2: Blackthorn
Essel, Arianwen and Millie then made their planned trip to Blackthorn, joined by Islwyn and Lohse. After stopping by the Mercer House and passing through the storm-ravaged Gloucestershire, they met Iudicium at Blackthorn, along with the mages Goliard and Golias.

Goliard took point, and Essel told her that the Tribunal would not have a quorate due to so many covenants boycotting it, being sick of Blackthorn’s authoritarian governance. Goliard insisted that she was new to the tribunal, was willing to discuss issues, and that she should not be tarred with the same brush as her predecessor – as well as that Julia was using Essel to sow discord in the Tribunal to study its effects.

A meeting was agreed on between Blackthorn, Voluntas and Sagehollow in Stonehenge itself, trying to come to an understanding before a boycott of the Tribunal was made. Essel also outlined her plans to resolve Ungulus’ problems to pull it back from the brink, which Goliard was sceptical of.

Millie therefore left to travel to Voluntas to deliver the meeting invitation, accompanied by Lohse, and the others continued to the west coast.

Part 3: St George's Channel
The town had been ravaged by the storm, and there was only a single intact ship at harbour; a small cog. It was captained by Vick Sloane, who insisted that Arianwen (pretending to be a normal bird) be caged for the journey.

A huge storm appeared unnaturally swiftly on the horizon and headed straight for them, to which Vick Sloane asked if the group were cursed or witches or anything else that would bring ill fortune, which Essel denied. The ship’s crew struggled in vain to battle through the storm, and after a huge wave, the ship tipped and everyone was knocked out. They awoke on an island, with the ship having beached itself and tipped onto its side, and much of its cargo lost in the storm.

They eventually noticed that the horizon was strange, and the mages recognised that they were in a regio. After growing sick of the weird situation and behaviour of the passengers, Vick Sloane angrily confronted Essel, to which she and Arianwen admitted to being mages. Vick Sloane was angry at their deception, but acknowledged that they would need to work together to get out of the regio.

Investigating the town further inland, they found it inhabited by barely-cognisant eight feet tall Atlanteans, and eventually they spoke to Hythlodaeus, who was self-aware. He offered to help them leave the regio, causing the sun to set and the ship to capsize as it hit the horizon, with the ship righting itself back in the Irish Sea.

The ship was badly damaged and barely limped to port at Dublin, where repairs would take two months and cost thirty pounds of silver, and they also learned that they had lost a month in the regio. Vick was pissed, and when Essel offered to pay for repairs, she insisted on her paying the full price for transporting mages, as well as compensation for the lost time and for lying to her.

Essel reluctantly accepted and the two went to the Mercer House, borrowing the money from the Gifted arsehole and Redcap Cadmus, who then charged her an extortionate amount to hire the Redcap Miles as a guide.

Summer 1193 - Hibernian Hounds
The ship was badly damaged and barely limped to port at Dublin, where repairs would take two months and cost thirty pounds of silver, and they also learned that they had lost a month in the regio. Vick was pissed, and when Essel offered to pay for repairs, she insisted on her paying the full price for transporting mages, as well as compensation for the lost time and for lying to her.

Essel reluctantly accepted and the two went to the Mercer House, borrowing the money from the Gifted arsehole and Redcap Cadmus, who then charged her an extortionate amount to hire the Redcap Miles as a guide.

Cadmus called Vick back for a private talk, in which he offered to establish her ship in the profitable North Sea with the Order of Hermes, based in Sagehollow, in exchange for reporting to him whether those outside of Sagehollow had encountered Ascians.

At Lámbaird, the group arranged the purchase of Rylon’s mate, and both there, at Elk’s Run and Circulus Ruber, they discussed Cadmus’ bullying of Essel. All agreed that he was in the wrong, and eventually Essel was persuaded to initiate a formal hearing about it – knowing that it was unlikely to result in any action against him, but would show that she hadn’t taken anything lying down.

Whilst taking the faerie trods between the covenants, Vick ran afoul of the Black Dog called Fear, wanting her greatest fear and eventually pulling an answer out of her.

They encountered Emrys, Arianwen’s vengeful parens, who then apparently came to a deal with Fear to send them into the middle of Connacht on the return journey. After Essel was discovered by the Druids of the town of Ballymote, they made the group swear geasa not to harm druids and told them of a druid called Donn, who sought to gain power and begin a punitive war against the Hibernian Tribunal for their repeated breaking of the non-aggression treaty they had agreed to, including summoning their gods, the Tuatha de Danann.

Despite Vick stabbing a local who possessed an abundance of confidence and a deficit of intuition, they were allowed to leave via another trod, in which Essel had to defeat a faerie version of Pralix in a debate.

When picking up Rylon’s mate from Lámbaird, Essel also took another dog to bind as a familiar, before they set off back to England. The mages and Islwyn were dropped at Gloucester, while the crew of the Thorn circled round to the west coast to Nottingham.

They travelled to the Red Boar and met Silk, who vetted them and brought them to Sagehollow.

Summer 1193 - Questioned Knighthoods
Robin of Loxley returned to Sagehollow having calmed down – after a meeting with a few of the council members, he agreed that both he and Essel should have conducted themselves better, and agreed to return in exchange for an apology from her and an agreement not to need to rob for Sagehollow in the future.

Tancred and Tessora, accompanied by Adelaide and Eadric, attended Sunday Mass, and upon leaving were accosted by four knights led by Baron Louisoix d’Valerian. He was sent by Prince John to clamp down on people claiming knighthood without paying the tax.

Tancred was ordered to find a liege-lord within three months, while Tessora was accused of not being a noble or a knight at all, and ordered to surrender her weapons and armour. She steadfastly refused, stating that her sword was given to her by God and that her status as knight had received his blessing.

Discussing matters later with some of the other covenant members, Tancred agreed to request Lord Ethelwald of Wilton (a firm ally of the Order, and host of Voluntas) to claim the role of liege-lord, allowing Tancred to retain his oath to the Order of Hermes.

Tessora wrote a letter to her father requesting proof of her nobility, and began preparing to gather witnesses as to her divine blessing (those privy to the events at Summerbridge and the Gresham Barrows), and character witnesses as to her knightly conduct.

Autumn 1193 - The Isle of Man
After gathering Chimi, Haeddi, Percival and Silk, the group travelled to Chester to charter a ship to take them to the Isle of Man. There, they encountered Captain Sabre and The Naglfar, who took them free of charge.

They learned that many were travelling to the Isle as its king had died, and a thing was being held to decide his successor, presided over by the Vitki Thormund Odinson. There were three main candidates: the battle-keen Osric, the peaceful Sigurd, and the cunning Brea.

They arrived to a feast, with Torvi being extended respect as a Seiðkonur and introduced to Thormund, Osric and Brea. After Torvi debated Brea at length over his plans to wage war with Christendom by summoning the Norse gods, she told the people about her encounter with the Múspell at the Irminsul, which was met with discomfort. Thormund advised that there was a Múspell known as Angrboða travelling England, and that it was likely she who they had encountered.

Brea asked where the Irminsul had been taken, which Torvi refused to answer. He then turned to Haeddi upon learning that she was a part of the Order of Hermes, grilling her about the organisation and mocking her Christian beliefs. Osric asked for details of the battle with Angrboða, and when Torvi told him of Chimi’s large part in it, named her “Vogflá” – Scale-Taker.

The following morning, Torvi was controlled by Angrboða and forced to kill Sigurd, and was left to face the consequences. Brea led the prosecution, but Chimi had felt Angrboða’s magic and discovered her, returning to the trial and leading the amassed warriors of the Isle to her location, where she was joined by a large group of undead and Lahabrea – who had heretofore been disguised as Brea.

A battle ensued, in which Haeddi and Percival were killed by Lahabrea, before Chimi killed Angrboða and Silk forced Lahabrea to teleport away. Afterwards, the fallen grogs were given Christian burials, and Thormund quietly told Torvi that an alliance between the Order and the Rauðskinna was a strong possibility.

The group returned to Sagehollow in low spirits, with Torvi in particular being badly shaken up by Sigurd being murdered by her hand and bearing witness to the deaths of so many; Haeddi and Percival not least among them.

When they reached the covenant, Silk sombrely broke the news to Essel, who broke down in tears once he had left to gather the other council members for a meeting.